I'd like to ask you all a favor

When the section is set up let me know. I'll tell ya all about it. :3gears:

 

Can I tell you guys a story??

Way back iin 1986 when i was young and stupid(as opposed to older and still stupid now) I had my 71 Stage 1 in the garage with a blown engine. It was not the #'s matching one, which was long gone. I was pricing out building up a 455 and a frerind had a old chevy pickup with a running 454 in it. I was seriously considering doing the swap when a mechanic guy I knew (much older and super nice guy) told me that "Really, you know, the car is a Buick and what makes it cool is the fact it is a Buick, and if you put a chevy engine in it, yeah its cheaper and might rev more and make more power, but you know, it just won't be a Buick".

The point is, the guy was decent about his point of view. I trusted his judgement and he helped me assemble the 455 I eventually found for my car. I had to sell my truck to pay for the engine, but the first time I got on it and somebody said later "yeah well I could do launches like that if I had a standard too"...and I got to tell him, in front of all his friends, that my car is an automatic and look at his face while he stood beside his rat powered chevelle....well that just made it all worth it.

I am 100% for keeping our Buicks all Buick. But in some cases it won't happen, and despite what anyones point of view is on the topic, being a jerk about your viewpoint won't help.

On the other side, if a person were to replace that Buick engine with something that is not available as an equivelent in the Buick world, then thats ok with me. I've often thought a LS2 powered six speed 72 GS ragtop would be cool (there are no modern Buick engiens that would come with all those features)or even a turbine powered GS would be really something, and I'm sure everyone here would hate it, but in the end it is MY car and I can do whatever I chose to with it, right??

State your viewpoint, but be decent about it. FAST WITH CLASS is our motto, correct?

later
Tim

 

don't be coy now :Brow:

 

Five pages on this thread so far. I wonder if anyone has changed his/her mind on the subject yet?

 

Well said Larry^^^^^^^^.

I would image myself between easy going and not so. When I see someone put in a non buick motor into a buick, all I think of is one of the following:too poor or cannot afford a buick motor, maybe a buick motor is rare to find around their area, or they just like to hybrid cars. When I see a chevy with a buick motor, I figure it must be reverse opposite to what was said about the non buick motor in the buick, or I find it intriguing. I wouldn't mind finding a 1970 Chevelle and putting in a buick 350 or a big block buick crate motor in it to just be different, but im not too much into cross breeding cars, that's just me. I also happen to like all kinds of american classical cars, mainly pre-88 cars. Buick just happened to "hook" onto me as my # 1 pick. I wouldn't mind having a 1970 442 W-30 or cutlass W-31 or even a 1965 Impala or 1970 Chevelle SS 454, but I just happen to love buick power, styling, and class above all others. I have seen a few chevy's, in fact quite surprising how many, with buick motors. One or two people on here have chevy trucks with a buick motor. Sorry for the long rant, had to let it out of my system. Thanks. :TU:

 

Larry, your right, there is a ton of great info here. I'm tring to restore my 65 GS and I just picked up another 71 skylark with a 455. I don't mind helping anyone and when i saw the other thread about the Buick w/the 305 and all the responses that where almost all negitive it pissed me off. here's a kid who just got his first car and people freak out on him. Man, you think they might say congrats for getting a Buick, a car that I can say I hardly see at car shows. Now I bet he's wishing he never even got the car. Anyway, this is a great site. Thanks Larry for your post :beer

 

Kirt-
I've read every word on this thread; laughing, agreeing, disagreeing, on and on, until I just read your post about the 'kid with the buick and 305', probably wishing he had never bought the car.

You know, you're right. Many, if not most of us are getting older, and we ought to be encouraging the younger enthusiasts coming up. How many of us were Buick lovers from the beginning? And out of those guys, how many owned a Buick as their first car? Or did you come to love them later?

I don't really like Chevrolets, either, but my point is, as was originally stated on this thread, that we should encourage the guys asking questions with tact; state your reasons for using/not using X engine; and if you're really passionate about something, explain why. I really doubt there are 'Chevy guys' coming over here just to rile us up. Why waste their time? They already look down on us as inferior.

Who knows? Had that guy with the 305 gotten a good first impression of us here, felt like an 'insider', stayed around for the comraderie and info, someday he may be building a Buick plant for the car. Gotta start somewhere. If he turned around and went to a Chevy site for info, what kind of reception do you think he got from them?? ou:

 

Reid,

Thats point and you hit it on the head. This is supposed to be about having fun not reaming a kid or anyone for that matter. awesome post

 

Just one other thing I'd like to add, so bear with me:

I've been a Pontiac guy all my life. I'm basically as knowledgeable about them as most of you are about Buicks. However, my first car was a '79 Skyhawk, all original with a 231, which I still have.
I wanted more power, and wanted to build it for SCCA racing. I knew the V-6 could be built up, but I really wanted V-8 power. I always wanted to '455' it, but I knew then that the swap would have been beyond my capabilities at the time, plus it's too heavy. So, it got a Ch***. I'm not proud of it; never have been. I've always hated Ch***s in Pontiacs, and here I am with the same kind of abortion. How can I re-do it so I'm proud to say, "it aint a Ch***"? (I just love to say that).

The problem is/was, that I don't have alot of Buick engine tech knowledge. Where do you get that? There may be 8000 guys on here, but spread that out over the continent, and there aren't many close to home. By chance, I ran into Brad Conley on another site, who led me here, and I find out he's only 15 miles away from me. He's about as die-hard a Buick guy as I believe I will ever meet, but he doesn't seem to care what engine I'm using, and he's always helpful (thanks a million, Brad). Most of the people I've asked questions of have been helpful, and I thank all of you. I'm reading posts, gaining Buick engine insight, and eventually, when I get all the parts collected, my Skyhawk will have either an aluminum 266/300 crank engine, or a 350....all Buick, all V-8, and still do what I wanted......all because of the amount of knowledge here.

I dropped out of the BCA after one year when it became apparent I wouldn't be welcome at their shows. After I re-power my car, I suppose I could go, but I'm not sure I care anymore.

For all of you guys that absolutely despise a non-Buick powered Buick, hey, I understand.....I can't stand anything Pontiac has built since 1980 with the 'corporate nonsense' installed, especially that d*** so-called 'GTO'. I guess I'm guilty of looking down on the generic-Ch***-guys as much as they do us, and as I said, I admit to my own blasphemy. Still, we all have to start somewhere. If this site can't be the wake-up call to those who haven't yet 'seen the light' about what a real Buick is capable of, where else are they going to get it? Car Craft and Hot Rod? Highly doubtful.

 

reaming? who's reaming

I just went back and read the "305" thread and to be honest I really didn't see any reaming going on. The majority of the posts (mine included) were about what a dog the 305 in particular is and if you're going to look for another motor it might as well be a buick.

Later in the thread the kid said he was going to save his money for a buick 350. Several folks asked where he lived to try to hook him up with motor but he didn't respond. I'd be willing to bet that if he posted his location and a board member near by had a motor that they'd go out of their way to get it to him and possibly even help put it in. I know I would!

Bottom line:

1. This is a buick site and you can't blame folks for being passionate about buick power.

2. No one should be slagged for asking a question. We have to give them the benefit of the doubt and be as helpful as we can while remaining true to our beliefs. It can be done!

 

Let me ask you all a question: Do you think that the Chevelle websites(or whatever) have people asking about putting a Buick engine in their cars?
I think that if there was,there would be people asking "Are you crazy?","You're going to put one of those engines that resembles the engine in my aunt's Buick Electra?" (of course I myself consider the Buick engine to be superior to a chevy engine).

Just my two cents.

 

ok, you put the shoe on annother foot and go ask how to put a buick 455 in a ls6 chevelle over in chebby land... see what kind of support you get..... Should we be rude? no... but why would any person got to a web group that advertizes a v8 buick and ask chebby questions? it in itself is kinda rude to the group that is being asked dont you think?

Jon

 

Soo.....why doesn't someone start an INFORMATIVE thread in the FAQ section and make it a sticky so we can steer people there when they inquire about putting a Non-Buick motor into a BUick ?? List all the difficulties (trans, wiring...etc. that ISN"T compatable) - keep it civil and let THAT be the place for these future discussions to take place.

 

Jon, if someone asks that kind of question, they don't know much about cars, and they need help. Because the Chevy guys might be rude, that does not give anyone the right to be a jerk because someone asks the same question here.

They own an old Buick, and need advice. This website is about old Buicks and they come here and ask. You think that's rude?

You assume these people know as much as you do. The trouble with that logic is that if they knew everything, they wouldn't be asking for help.

I can't beleive that this is so hard to understand. I think maybe some folks who are still indignatly responding to me should read this whole thread without skipping anything

I can't beleive I'm responding to this again. I am slowly losing some of my high opinion of Buick owners. Most of you have the same attitude as the Chevy guys whose attitudes you say you don't care for

 

I think everybody should put a chebby in their Buick. What the heck, the parts are cheaper, more plentiful, hell........I've even seen them in Wal MArt for God's sake. And if you have a Chebby problem, there's always someone conveniently closeby that can help. And if you show the Buick with the chebby in it at a peer judged event, you will almost certainly get some attention and maybe a few votes from the guys who reckognize the small block. Then maybe if more of us Buick owners can be enlightened to this improvement, we will get more respect from the majority who love to see that "inferior" boat anchor BBB get melted down to cast another "corporate" GM (chebby) powerplant. Maybe it will be lucky enough to become perched in a new "GTO" as an LS1 or something. Then as a side bonus, as Buick owners we will no longer be able to get any parts at all for our beloved torque monsters because by switching to the chebby we just fueled the demand for the aftermarket to make even more chebby parts........and even cheaper! :Brow: And now that our Buicks are all chevelles we will be welcomed with the red carpet approach by the magazine propaganda industry.....not to mention Chebby hot rod TV, and all the like TV shows that wish to appease their majority of chebby viewers who only watch a Buick makeover if it involves putting the vastly superior smallblock inside the Buick. Ebay would also benefit, as the already scarce Buick parts will now be worth more to those of us "true" buick purists who would be willing to shell out our entire life savings just to keep the Buick all Buick. How stupid we are we? :spank:

Anybody got a small block to sell me? I think I've seen the light!!! ou:

 

You're a fool if you really think I'm trying to convince anyone to put a Chevy engine in their Buick.

What you're doing is a childish attempt to bait me. You're out of your league

 

The horse is dead..........

 

You're talking about Delta, sir

 

Ive been following this thread and I reckon I'll throw my 2cents out there.

I've had some personal experience with the chebbyizing of BOPs :af:

The first was one of my first cars. An 83 regal, great body, good int, fragged motor :ball: As a Buick man(or kid at the time), I wanted to ''keep it Buick'', so I looked high and low for a good 3.8.(common as dirt till you need one) After a few weeks I find one, buy it, and attempt my first engine swap.(by myself at 16) after lots of fighting, cussing, beating, more cussing, straining, and did I mention cussing, I got the engine swapped out. :beer So I wire it up, turn the key and fire it up It purrs like a kitten then proceeds to spin a bearing :af: ou: :blast:
I get so discuraged that I sell it to a friend for $100 :ball:
My friend then proceeds to yank out the V6, install a 350-sbc and has it running in less than a day and a half and the hell of it was the sbc was 10times easer to install than the V6 :shock: He then drives the wheels of it for 3years, untill a drunk rearends it in front of his house :spank:

If I had known how much easer the chebby was to install.....

I still would have put a Buick motor in it :TU: Only I would have put a V8Buick in it :3gears: