Ok..Ok...Ok I already know

Discussion in 'A boatload of fun' started by Radlark, Feb 8, 2010.

  1. Radlark

    Radlark Well-Known Member

    That I will get flamed for asking this question but can you install a chevy motor into a 1970 buick Lesabre? Again I know I will get flamed but please try to keep it to a minimum :TU: while you answer the question. thanks.
     
  2. Ken Mild

    Ken Mild King of 18 Year Resto's

    Original Parts Group has a conversion kit for installing a BBC into a Buick, but I think it's for A Body Buicks. They may still work for the big cars I assume. Give them a call.
     
  3. Ken Mild

    Ken Mild King of 18 Year Resto's

    I must say I am bummed though. :Dou:
     
  4. BUICKRAT

    BUICKRAT Got any treats?

    I would imagine once you get the right frame pads/trans crossmember, it shouldn't be too bad. Maybe impala parts?
     
  5. Radlark

    Radlark Well-Known Member

    I was just asking really I have 2 Buicks, the other is a 1966 Skylark and I know you can install the SBC into the A-Body but I REALLY would like to install a nice 455 into that one! I am not going to change over to the SBC I was curious if any one has done it. The LeSabre is a good running car and I was really checking to see if any has done it. it's all original and I kinda want to keep it that way.
     
  6. Radlark

    Radlark Well-Known Member

    I appreciate the replies. I am really looking forward to the turbo system for the buick 350 that one of the other board members has developed!
     
  7. austingta

    austingta Well-Known Member


    No. No, you can't. It wont fit. The flubber is inverted on chevy's and the bowtie dipoltripulator isn't electric, it's diesel.
     
  8. Dale

    Dale Sweepspear

    Worlds will collide!
     
  9. bob k. mando

    bob k. mando Guest

  10. Joe65SkylarkGS

    Joe65SkylarkGS 462 ina 65 Lark / GN


    This is what i'm saying.

    But seriously, why do you want to do this?

    I ran a 73 LeSabre with a mild 455 to 14.00 at the strip. 49freakinghundred lbs too!!!So why would you do it? Do you have it and own it allready? Thats the only reason I can think of.
     
  11. 66electrafied

    66electrafied Just tossing in my nickel's worth

    If the 350 Buick is gone in that 70, it'll cost only a bit more to rebuild it than it would a comparable Chevy motor, or to do the swap. The Buick offers torque, the Chevy just makes noise. There's no easy way to swap a Buick for a Chev. (It's actually easier to do it the other way around) To effectively change it over you'd have to modify the saddle, welding in new mounts. Change the transmission, a corporate big block won't mount to a SB Chev bolt pattern. Now, modify the driveshaft, 'cuz the Chev tranny is longer. Replace the exhaust, toss the rad, or make up some interesting hoses 'cuz the Chev vents the other direction than does a Buick.

    Too much trouble for a crappy, cam-eating, leaky, little cheaply-made econo-box engine. Rebuild the Buick, you'll be a lot happier.
     
  12. Golden Oldie 65

    Golden Oldie 65 Well-Known Member

    While I will admit that this is not a practical swap, it's also not as difficult as some have made it out to be. The radiator will not have to be replaced, the outlets are on the same sides. The transmission will but a Chevy transmission merely has a different bolt pattern but is not longer than your Buick transmission. As already mentioned, perhaps Impala mounts will bolt in but if you have any kind of fabricating skills at all you should be able to make something work without having to turn the world upside down. Your fuel line might be on the opposite side and possibly your alternator so you may have to do a little wiring. Exhaust.....well, refer back to your fabricating skills or just take it to an exhaust shop. If they can't do something that simple then they shouldn't be in business.

    Now, I understand the love for Buicks but in defense of the SBC, why do some of you exibit so much hatred towards them. As for "the Chevy just makes noise" and "a crappy, cam-eating, leaky, little cheaply-made econo-box engine"?? Come on, these engines were in production vehicles for 44 years!!! What other manufacturer can make a claim like that? And they are still producing them as crate engines. How bad can they be???? I've got a `96 GMC with 229,000 miles on it that doesn't even burn any oil yet and still runs as good as the day I bought it, and this in only one example. I suggest you drop the hatred of others and reduce your stress. You'll be a lot happier.
     
  13. 1967GS340

    1967GS340 Well-Known Member

    You can get darn near any engine that you want in there. Think outside the box like a hot rodder if you can't find a conversion kit.
    I'm not going to try and tell you what to do, but think about the resale on the car. That car with a Buick motor will have far better re sale than with a chevy motor in it. When I look at Buick's with chevy motors in them, the first thing that I factor in is the cost of changing the motor back.
    Cars are investments so re sale is an important thing to keep in mind.
     
  14. DerekPS77

    DerekPS77 Member

    with enough money....and time...any engine can be swapped in!
     
  15. 66electrafied

    66electrafied Just tossing in my nickel's worth

    Why do I hate SBCs: Let me count the ways...

    Putting a SBC into a Buick is like putting a Fiat into a Mercedes. It can be done, but why? It's like comparing apples and oranges.

    Seriously though, I don't particularly like them because I've probably rebuilt a hundred or so of them over the years. Yes, they're a good serviceable engine in thousands of vehicles. They're easy to rebuild and there are millions of them out there. But, they are designed to be placed in a cheap car, they weren't built to last, and they're generally built with cheaper, softer materials. They have poor gasket surfaces, bad camshaft design due to the angle on the block, not the best heads, and their cooling while not bad, gets worse with increases in displacement. They're an old design, that is probably a lot heavier than it needs to be, and they're cheap to make. But they suffered from poor casting quality, and while every thing bolts up, it never really fits. Like the Ford 302, or the Chrysler 318, they were cheap work-a-day engines. That's probably the only reason GM kept them around for so long. The best one was the 283; - it probably was the best size and design suited to that block. As a truck engine, they were only barely adequate and only if the mains were beefed up (4 bolt mains). They are a good horsepower engine, but have no real torque. So in order to get anything out of them one has to do some serious hot rod work. Usually this is where things start to go wrong, most people don't know how to properly hop them up, they just slap on a whole bunch of parts that'll bolt up without any real research. I guess my biggest beef with them was I always wound up having to rebuild a shot-gunned Chev that was badly hopped up and fix that clown's mistakes. One gets kind of tired of seeing that after a while.
     
  16. doug adkins

    doug adkins love my Buicks

    Golden oldie,
    The council is displeased and is planning to bring you and your little friend up on charges of treson.:blast: :laugh:
     
  17. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    One reason is that back in the day, that's all the magazines pushed. Pull that boat anchor Buick engine out and install a shiney small block chevy!
     
  18. BUICKRAT

    BUICKRAT Got any treats?

    In defense of the sbb, take a stock sbc and sbb, same compression, and look at the torque numbers. The sbb will outperform the sbc all day long. It will out pull and out accelerate any sbc of the same cubic inches. Match add-on for add-on, and the sbb will kill the sbc. Same goes for the bbb's vs bbc's.

    Sbc's were built for the daily driver cheap car. Cheap to build, stamp 'em out. Sbb's were designed to make the extra torque a person of means wanted in their car. Not just another econo-box engine. I seem to recall the 67 gs400 refered to as a "Howitzer with a steering wheel". No stock bbc could ever compare.

    So, if you wanna kill the competition, get a bbb and put it in. And if you wanna run 350 to 350, put the sbb in.
     
  19. RipRohring

    RipRohring 53 SUPER V8 12 Volt

    I'm not trying to throw logs on a fire - but:
    Isn't there a web site for lost sbc folks ?
    Not trying to speak for all others, but I don't think sbb folks HATE sbc's - they HATE the ARROGANCE from the sbc crowd. That's all.

    I sat last night and watched Mecum auction off about a dozen sbc's in mostly Chevy sedan's and Camaro's, but also one "added" to a Corvette, another in a pickup truck. I just couldn't fight the urge to yawn myself to sleep.

    Old car owners are like the playground at elementary school. There's jungle gym folks, and teeter-totter folks, and swing folks. When the BULLIES show up at the playground, they wanna be first in line for all the toys and games, because they are bullies. They don't play well with other kids - they step on their toes, and can't be reasoned with. In real life, everyone that plays nice, gets talked about nice. Everyone that bullies - well, even if they are the vast majority, they end up going off by themselves with no friends.

    IMHO of course
    Rip Rohring :Comp:
     
  20. Golden Oldie 65

    Golden Oldie 65 Well-Known Member

    I guess I better break the bad news to my truck that it has already lived way past it's life expectancy and it's time to die. It's not gonna like that. That poor little crappy built small block has pulled the trailer way too many miles, and to think that it had the nerve to do it and never break, or even burn oil for that matter. Bad, bad small block :blast:

    I am by no means trying to say that everyone should put a Chevy engine in their Buick, only that these little engines have served probably hundreds of thousands of people very well through the years and I don't believe they deserve all the disrespect they are getting here.
     

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