Buick 350 engine build

You'll never know what you're missing if you never try a roller cam! How about a LVL3 roller grind?

And the TA cam that is similar to the LVL3 would be the TA 212 IIRC.

 

you donate one, and all associated parts i'll give it a whirl.

 

So the spare engine is not really a 68 engine. It has a 68 4 barrel intake, a 71 block and 72 heads. No Quadrajet, but a spread bore Holley instead. Someone’s Frankenstein motor, I guess. Plugs are not too bad. Exhaust manifolds came off pretty easily. More digging to come.

 

Most everyones Buick engine is a Frankenstein of sorts
Mines the original '71 block with '69 heads, SP3, AED 850, headers, roller cam, roller rockers, forged pistons, rods, etc.
Have fun with it

 

Well, the heads showed up today! They look pretty sharp!

HXTI5400 by Darron72Skylark posted Sep 5, 2019 at 3:16 PM

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IMG_4284 by Darron72Skylark posted Sep 5, 2019 at 3:16 PM

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XBLJ3305 by Darron72Skylark posted Sep 5, 2019 at 3:16 PM

 

After a couple weeks away from the project, finished disassembly of the spare Buick 350. Everything looked pretty decent inside. What looked to me like normal wear on the bearings, some fairly heavy carbon build-up on the heads and piston tops, but that is all going to be replaced anyway. Everything Isaak and I took off is bagged and labeled in case we need any of it. Next step is taking the block to my machinist, which should happen later this week. Hopeful that everything checks out well.

 

You should do some oiling upgrades on block, atleast the pickup passage and use a 76 and up 5/8 pickup tube from melling.#20is5.

 

Isn't that 5/8" pickup available from TA performance? I was planning on making that upgrade, as well as enlarging the passages. Is there a thread here on the forum for 350 oil mods?

On a side note, the spare 350 had a flexplate on it, not a flywheel, so any threads detailing that modification would be helpful as well, since I want to keep this car a manual.

Appreciate all the good advice! I'll see if I can throw some pictures up here in the next few days.

 

A few photos of the block after stripping it down. A lot of rust debris came out of the water jackets, as you can see from the photos
Bores look pretty reasonable. Isaak did some clean up work on the lifter valley.

B2F552B7-2C20-43FA-8FB4-E9C54E0D4455 by Darron72Skylark posted Sep 17, 2019 at 7:34 AM

B234A6F8-D159-4A7F-8619-236D3CEFCA74 by Darron72Skylark posted Sep 17, 2019 at 7:34 AM

BFF30AE8-F42A-49E9-9B3A-5A1808F0C69A by Darron72Skylark posted Sep 17, 2019 at 7:34 AM

1AD2C2FB-681D-4C43-953B-6BFDE3C1E357 by Darron72Skylark posted Sep 17, 2019 at 7:34 AM

8410B222-875D-4ADE-929D-01064A7B5C49 by Darron72Skylark posted Sep 17, 2019 at 7:34 AM

 

Looking good!

 

Any suggestions about which lifters to select? Johnson? Delphi?

 

Another exciting box arrived today. TA Performance lifter baffle and a set of TA 1630B forged connecting rods

 

Nice! That's the way to go, no modifying or machining required.

 

Johnson imo

 

Delivered the block to the machinist week before last, and had a look at it today after coming out of the hot tank. Nice and clean! Cylinder walls look good and will probably need very little boring. It went into the shot peen cabinet today for scale and rust removal.
The timing cover cleaned up pretty well and seems to have a lot less scoring and wear than I thought. Packed it up and shipped to TA for the full porting and oil pump treatment.
I am a little concerned about some of the roughness on the inside of the cover, should I smooth it out with a fine die grinder?

 

Melling 20is5 pickup tube can be brought at most parts stores.

 

I ran the 310 for years, good cam, ran the 413 good cam also, switched to a roller now, the roller specs are milder on duration and overlap than the 413, but idles with more lope, but your comparing apples to oranges as far as valve events.
I LOVE the roller cam

 

I imagine the ta 310 roller cam your considering. The ta 310 flat tappet is ok. Straight pattern.
There are better cams.

 

I’m going with a Steve Reynolds oil pan; his pans come with custom pick-ups for the welded-in sump. I shipped off a clean core today.

B3B2BA9A-93FA-4110-86CE-5EE813FD508C by Darron72Skylark posted Oct 8, 2019 at 7:54 PM

900BA809-ADFB-4E84-B8B3-F0D62501EA48 by Darron72Skylark posted Oct 8, 2019 at 7:54 PM

 

Good idea to get your pan modified by Steve. His alum version I’m using is a work of art. But his stuck modified version is plenty nice.