No respect, no respect I tell 'ya.... The Buick 350 has got to be the "Rodney Dangerfield" of all engines!!! Nobody even gives 'em a second look... And that's sad, because they dont know what they're missing. I think this is great, a forum exclusively for the sbb!!! Maybe now us 350 guys wont get lost in the "ocean" of big block questions... Maybe now we can get some respect!
Hot rod 350 coming I have a 84 regal with a 350 from a 70 GS I am working on around all the other things Im doing. It will be a 350 5 speed w/ a 342 rear should be a screamer!!
I've had two 350s and both ran flawlessly and required little, to no maintenance. Kinda reminds me of those Toyota commercials where they weld the hood shut and just drive!
Any of you guys have the same lifter noise problems the 455's have? Aren't they the same lifter? Just before I garaged mine for the winter, I started to notice a little noise on the driver side, pretty much constant, warm or cold. I haven't done the hose test yet to pinpoint the location, but seemed to be under the valve cover. There's about 5000 miles on a $2800 rebuild, done about 4 years ago, I just bought last fall. For all I know, someone may have been doing 1/4's with it too. The th350 has pretty crisp shifts. It was rebuilt about the same time. Any tips on diagnosing the "ticking"? I'm not equipped to do any work myself at this point, and will probably be trying to locate a Buick-experienced mechanic soon, for working on it before spring comes. Any suggestions? Maybe I can make the 4hr drive over to Jim's shop this spring with it. I wonder just how busy he is these days?
I personally have never had a lifter problem with a 350, with the exception of having the oil passage in one lifter bore get clogged up once. Drove me crazy, replaced that one lifter twice B4 I figured it out. I have had noise from the valve cover because the plastic button that holds the rocker in position on the shaft boke, and let the rocker move off the valve stem, caused a little "click-click-click"...
Dave, I agree with Darryl. I would pull the valve cover and check for the obvious. I have seen the nylon buttons break and also pushrods that pushed through rocker arms from too much preload. Do you have an adjustable valvetrain?? Larry
Thanks for the tip Darryl. That's the first thing I'll check when I get some spring temps up here in the cold northlands. I didn't feel inclined to check things out right before I put 'er into storage in the fall. I suppose TA or Year One have the buttons? Or might they be available at my local NAPA? Larry, I only bought the car in Sept, and I drove it 1400 miles home without a glitch(or click). It ran great for the next 6 weeks or so. At this point I assume it's a non-adjustable valve train, won't know 'til I crack it open!
Ticking I used to have a 69 GS 350 with a 70 350-4 low compression... only mod being a poston GS114 cam. Never had any lifter noise but it had an exhaust leak on the drivers side rear that sounded exactly like a lifter noise. Btw, car ran 14.990 @ 93 w/ 70 350-4 9:1, GS114 cam, TH350, 3.23 non-posi, street tires. :stmad:
I had a noise in my 350 that sounded alot like a lifter or a bad valve. It turned out to be the rocker arm assemblies, specifically the shafts were worn and damaged. I bought a pair off a buick performance list member installed them and no more problem Mike 71 Skylark Custom Convertible
I have a 72 GS 350 ragtop that I am currently restoring. It is #'s matching (not that i really care about #'s matching) and of course my plans initially called for dropping a 455/400 combo into it... The more I think about it, the more I feel I should keep it as original as possible, its such an odd car. I could sell all the parts needed to put the 455 in and use the money for the resto, but I really enjoy the torque of the big block.... Of course the small block is lighter (better handling) plus I have three sitting around (hell, you can buy a rebuilt Buick 350 for the price of a decent set of 455 pistons anyway) I also considered dropping an LS1/auto into it if I could do it without modifying anything.... yeah, ok, I'm confused....350 or 455???? ou: ou: Tim
Ok, do the LS1 thing and I think thats grounds for being kicked off the board... Remember v8 BUICK... 72 GS anythings are kinda rare, especially converts. It all depends on what you really want to do with the car, not too many people are going to like you less for putting a 455 in the car, as long as you don't hack it up or anything.. My 72 SportWagon has the original 350 in all its smogged out, single exhaust glory and I'm actually impressed how it moves that 5400 lb chunk of metal around... Get yourself a set of 10.25:1 350 pistons and build yourself a 400 hp Buick 350 on a budget.
You know, if GM ever were to build a real kick ass new buick GS, guess what they would use???LOL then whatta ya gonna do???:Brow: later Tim
Fat chance of GM coming out with any NEW cars that will have a driveline capable of handling anything more than a v6. With trucks being the exception. Hell, even those are starting to get FWD v6's... Thing a Buick 350 will bolt in place of a 3800 Series 2?? Dan
Read my post in the bench titled "GM--finally getting it right!!" Read very carefully the part about the "new" Buick V8!!!! There may be hope yet!
I doubt very much that GM would spend the money on another v8 when the LS1 series is already proving to be an awesome engine and it meets the LEV specs too... Hopefully GM will build a RWD high perf car of some sort in the future, if not they will lose my following for sure. All the other manufacturers have them(or have them coming) in one form or another.... later Tim
Have faith Tim... The "C5" LS1 is the "high performance" V8 The Northstar is the luxury car motor The only other V8's in the GM lineup are truck models There is no "middle of the road" V8 for regular passenger car or light truck applications... The way I see it, the new buick V8 has a good shot... Especially since it would cost GM a lot less to re-design the 3800 than an all new made from scratch V8.
Darryl - I would have to agree with that. The 3800 is such a good motor - just make a V-8 version. Shouldn't be rocket science...it came from a V-8! Scott
All of GM's truck engines are basically LS1's, just don't have the aluminum blocks (not sure about heads on the trucks)...the LS6 is king of the hill, somewhere around 405 NET hp, down to the 260 hp 5.3 in the trucks, all based on the LS1, that was GM's reasoning, all the development costs could be absorbed by the truck sales they would surely get... Its an awesome engine, I drove my friends 99 TA with a six speed and 4.10's, that thing was crazy.... later Tim
