I've read on this board plenty of times about how it's better to get your BBB rebuilt at a place that knows buicks due to tolerances and such. Well now this is making me worry about the 430 I have that was rebuilt long ago. The Riv that I'm restoring was my dad's and origianlly it kept overheating and had cracked heads so once he finally found good replacment heads he had it rebuilt by some place here in town(San Antonio, TX) that rebuilt a lot of commercial trucks and vans and stuff. Also, this was about 15-17 years ago. He lost motivation and the rebuilt engine sat in a crate in the garadge until I got older and picked up interest in restoring the car I was brought home from the hospitol in after being born. Well my question is now, what kinds of things should I be worried about or watch out for if this shop didn't treat it right during the rebuild? To my knowledge it wasn't bored out any, but I really can't say since I was about 6 or 7 at the time and it was along time ago. I'm wanting to turn this engine into a mild-mid performer(ported heads/intake, tweaked carb and ignition, and cam). So far it's purely stock except with a TA oil pressure regulator and oil pump booster plate and it doesn't have more than ~5-10 miles on the motor since it's only been driven in my neighborhood a few times in both the Riv and in a 3rd gen camaro. I always thought this fresh rebuild engine would be the one to build up rather than rebuilding an old 68 430 I have with over 100,000 miles but now I don't know if that's true or if I should get the old one rebuilt by someone who knows buicks? Thanks for the help.
My bad experiences were all with a Nailhead, especially with tight cam bearings and loose crank bearings. Loose bearings should run ok but tight ones will spin (trust me on that one:af: ) The only way to be sure is to take it apart and check everything over. Do you feel ambitious?:Brow:
So what would that entail? Taking the engine out, putting it on a stand, taking the oil pan off and checking clearences with a feeler gage?
You would have to remove the bearing caps and check them with plastiguage. The cam would have to be taken out th check those bearings. Then there's piston clearance, just to mention a few things. In my opinion, I would just drive it and if you don't hear any strange noises and it runs good, doesn't use oil, doesn't leak, just leave it alone. :bglasses:
