ok guys, i know what your thinking.... WHAT THE HELL!?!?! but i have seen it done!! here is my dilema... ive got a 72 skylark with a 350 sbb. crank bearings went to hell causing a near catastrphic emergency. ok, so it didnt do anything but burn the pump outta my new transmission but still!! so i yanked that bad boy out and im looking to upgrade to a 455. here is where it gets tricky. i dont just want any old 455. i want a fresh tight slightly modified one. you know, nice lil cam, clean heads, alum intake, fresh carb...the whole kit & kaboodle. well, as all of you know motors = money. and sice money = a factor at the moment im left with a shell of a car... :rant: so along comes a friend with a spare rebuild chevy 350. at first i point my finger and laugh at him. "silly guy, why would i ever want a chebby motor in my buick? buick is far superior" "blah blah blah" he says. "you want it or not?!" OK!!! ILL BITE!! FREE IS FREE AFTER ALL!!! so what do i need to do to get this stupid thing to (temporarily) adapt to my car? will i have to midify the frame pads? will my existing 2 1/4" exhaust bolt up? (i doubt it will directly, ill probably have to get the manifold side modified) what is it gonna take to get this baby purring again? ***keep in mind, if im running chevy, dont tell anyone cause i wont! im not gonna pop my hood for nothin!!!***
Frame pads from a Chevelle, trans adapter plate from virtually anywhere, exhaust won't fit you'll be redoing it. Cheaper to repair the trans and rebuild the 350". You might want to look through the 350" section here in depth. You can make good street-fun-able hp, and not have to go 455". Your gonna spend some coin no matter what. Get that 350" cleaned up and back in there. Just my opinion............
i forgot to mention, i have a fresh rebuilt TH350 uni-case, fits B.O.P. and chevy. frame pads for a chevelle are $40 or so. you think this is a feasable idea? i think if the exhaust was cut at about the transmission and redone from there up to the motor that would work, professionaly done i mean. im not at all for it except i miss my damn car and i have this nice sbc 350 thats free lol
That tranny is a big help, I wonder why GM never made all of them uni-case? What about brackets for alternator and PS? Hoses, belts, distributor, the list goes on. You will need new exhaust for the 455, so hacking up the SBB exhaust is no big loss. I would weight lost seat time to the amout of money you would spend on a SBC instead of putting it towards a BBB. I would apply for a credit card and spend the money on interest rather than the SBC. Sell it and use the money to buy a 455 core. John
That chevy gonna be a pain in the neck to modify the engine bay for, then have to mod it back for the Buick engine. I Thought I read somewhere in the board here that the wirings different too? o No: Probably easier to just rebuild your buick until you can get a 455.
I know I'll get shot, but I've done this. I'm certainly not a Chevy guy either, but my brother gave me a Corvette engine and my SBB was not so quick. It really isn't that hard and Chevy parts are cheap so $$ isn't going to be high. The only real challenge I had was adapting the Buick powersteering pump to the Chevy. It just bolts in by gosh and like they said above you weren't keeping the sad little exhaust with a warmed over 455. Bolt her in and enjoy the Buick again. If your coming from a SBB/2spd to a SBC/350 you're likely to have fun spinning some rpms unlike the stroking SBB. Don't shoot the messenger, but sticking an Olds, Chev, or Pont into your Buick isn't going to be very challenging. Get her out there. She will age quicker if she's just left to sit.
go ahead, install the chevy, and enjoy the car. when u have the 455 available, then swap out the motors.
gerry thats pretty much what it boils down to. i just want my car back i havent driven it in close to a year. shes not getting any younger sitting on my car trailer, ya know? as for the power steering pump, do you think the fittings would be the same size as a chevy one? im thinking maybe i could use the sbc 350 p/s pump instead of having to custom fit a buick one on there. o No:
u s/b able to use all the chevy hardware. as for the p/s the only problem may be the hoses. worst case, go manual. my 70 chevelle with a 350v8 did not have p/s and actually i preferred it. had a better feel of the raod, especially on snow covered roads.
The same thing happened to my 350. The front and rear main seals are shot, luckily it happened 200 meters (about 1/8 mile) from my house . So i got it home and in the garage before i lost too much oil pressure. The engine had bad valve seals, and the oil rings arent the greatest either. I have a feeling its loosing compression too cuz the engine was a lil tired. Might be my 27in tires with the 2.56 rear end, but still. Anyways, im also looking for a decent engine to drop in there, cuz i just dont have the time let alone $ to rebuild mine. I figure it will cost the same to drop in a used engine as it is to rebuild my sb 350. So i havent found a motor yet, looks like i might be toying around with a nailhead, but ive done some research on other motors too. For a chevy, ur best bet is to find frame pads from an A-body of the company that the engine is associated with. ie: chevy 350 ---> chevelle, monte carlo/ olds 350---> cutlass, pontiac 350--->gto, lemans, and so on. When dropping in the engine, to make life easier, bolt in the transmission FIRST, with engine attached or not, doesnt matter. This way you wont need to change the driveshaft. The check to see if the pads line up. If you dont wanna pay $40 for chevelle frame pads, you will need to drill holes in the cross member. After you have it all lined up, you need to see where your fuel pump is. The lines will have to be re-routed accordingly. Check clearances for the starter. Then check to see what kind of distributer you have. If its HEI, you will need further electrical modification. Check what kind of alternator you have. If its internally regulated, you will have to by pass the external regulator, OR just use your buick alternator. Make sure you label your starter wiring before reconnecting. Basically, not everything is in the same place, but you need to hook everything up. To accomplish this you will need to reroute a bunch of wiring, hoses, etc... Just be safe, use plenty of fusible links, and work with a buddy when you start the car. Keep a fireextinguisher handy, and dont do any electrical with the battery connected. Once ur done, check and double check ur wiring before starting. GOOD LUCK, its a big task, just take it slow and be sure of what you've done. Hope this helps.
I dropped a rebuilt 305 Chevy (I did it) into my Skylark ('68 California GS) based on availability. I had that and a rebuilt 700-4(R) available from a car I was junking out. Dropped right in with frame perches from YearOne, although there are many other sources. On my Skylark (built in Fremont, CA), the frame cross member had a butt load of holes to accommodate any motor mount adapter. It looks like Swiss cheese there. The transmission mount had to be moved, and the driveshaft length changed. While I was at it, I used the internally regulated alternator. This means you SHOULD use a voltmeter, but I rely on the fact that the generator light gets brighter when the engine revs up and the alternator kicks in. HOWEVER, I am looking for a 455 with a 400 transmission (I'd like a switch-pitch), and I'll find one eventually. I'll also widen the wheels and put some serious rubber on the ground, and a posi. Those 14X6 inch wheels with an open rear end just don't give traction. I originally did the install to use the Skylark as a daily driver on a long commute where mileage was an issue. I got 18.5 in Los Angeles freeway traffic with it. After I moved even further from work (women and their lifestyles!), I bought a Toyota Corolla (I won't bore you with that story) which will have paid for itself in another 3 years based only on what I saved in gas...if nothing else falls off. The Buick has been more reliable, all considered.
I put a 327 in my Skylark 72 a few years back. I used frame pad adapter brackets by transdapt because the chevy motor mounts are significantly forward of the buick position. I used a transmission bellhousing adapter piece off ebay and it worked great for mating the Chevy block to the BOP bellhousing TH350 I used the powersteering pump and brackets that was original to my 72 Skylark.....I just had to drill one hole in the underneath bracket to allow it to mount to the chevy head. Fuel pump was on the other side of the engine block so youll have to run some sort of fuel line over there. I think that was about it. as long as youre not using headers. For headers you will have to "clearance" the crossmember and use some of those summit shorty deals...what a pain.
i had a '72 skylark also built in fremont. it had the same holes you described on the frame. the 455 i put in was a bolt in swap with the frame pads and hardware from TA. your post struck me as odd though because im reading about you doing the swap, getting amazing mileage (for what it is) and enjoying the car then it gets fuzzy. women get involved and before i know it im reading you have a toyota?! communist....come back to the good team already!!! :Brow:
at risk of getting chastised, l too have a 72 buick convertible with a 350 chevy motor - although I am going the lt1 fuel injected way for my powerplant.. I can tell you my wiring was tricky but if you are doing a similar era setup than it shouldn't be that bad. If you already have everything setup up for the chevy dropin then go for it. Advantage of SBC - aftermarket parts are less expensive and lots and lots are out there so you have a lot of options to make power. So that is something to consider as well. I say Run the snot out of it and have fun doing it..:TU: Dan C.
