Hello all, i recently purchased a new project. (http://v8buick.com/index.php?thread...-volvo-amazon-w-215-swap.320046/#post-2669854) the motor had a head gasket issue and it was parked in hopes to one day fix it. (P.O. used head bolts that were slightly too long.) it has what i thought was just a stock 215 in it. however, after tearing it down, i found some interesting surprises. being a complete noob to old buick engines. i have spent countless hours this past month researching and trying to ID everything so i can properly rebuild the engine. so far, this is what i have discovered: -block has been sleeved and fitted with 3.756 pistons from 305 engine. silvolite 1449 - 020 pistons. -have not been able to ID rods yet, but they are stamped GM and big ends are 2.0 w/ standard bearings. so i want to assume they are from an early sbc. .9xx press fit wristpins. (roughly measured with caliper.) sides have been machined for narrower crank journals. -300 crank with mains turned down to fit 215 block. -aluminum 64 300 heads with portwork and dual springs. still need to ID the valves. but they do not look stock. -215/300 4bbl intake manifold with port matching. -300 exhaust manifolds -crower 50230 cam. weird that they would put a "stock" cam in a 300" engine. -hydraulic flat tappet lifters -double roller timing set. -harmonic balancer - 1235798 - appears to be from 1964-65 buick 300 -timing cover - 25505557 - not sure but it has modern crank seal. maybe 80s buick v6? -waterpump - only numbers on it are 31158- havent been able to cross reference with anything, but it is 4" long from mating flange to pulley face. 4.5" long from flange to end of pulley snout. -starter - delco 1107266 - not able to ID this yet. but it has cast iron nose that has had additional tabs welded onto it. so i am thinking it might be from BOP pattern engine and modified for this engines bellhousing pattern. -flywheel - stamped 305 - round part of OD is 12 1/4". ring gear has 156 teeth and measures 13 1/16". 1 1/4" thick. 3 cross drilled holes in it, so i know its from a buick. 24 balancing holes around the circumference. with 4 holes being filled 180* across from balancing slot which measures ~3.5" long. ID of flywheel is 2 3/8". distributor - HEI. has buick 350 written by hand on the bottom of the housing. the engine doesnt seem like it was ran for many miles before the HG issue arose. all the cylinders still have a very defined crosshatch on them. however a couple of them are stained. so my plan other than a hone and checking the deck surfaces for straightness, is to re-ring and rebush this engine. what i would be interested to know from yall, is from your experiences with these engines. are there any particular types of rings,bearings and headgaskets you prefer? i would imagine because of the bore size, i would be using a headgasket from a 300 engine. id like to use a composite if available since they tend to be more forgiving with surface irregularities. sorry for the long winded post. but a lot of this is new to me and i just want to make sure im on the right track before i make any purchases. i will gladly give more detailed information and/or post pics of anything yall would like to know or see. thanks in advance, -Shanto
With bore that size it sounds like its actually a Rover block, a 4.6L IIRC? Not sure if anyone would sleeve 8 cylinders if they could just use a different block. With that bore and a standard 300 stroke you have 301 CID! Sweet score, not a cheap engine to build for sure. Do you know about D&D fabrications in Michigan? Most of those stroker conversion parts come from them so if you don't know about them look them up on the net, they can answer most maybe even all of your questions. GL Derek
Any engine numbers? For a Buick 215 there should be two sets of stamped numbers on the passenger side, front of the block. An example would be, HI287850 3I15b3840. These are the actual numbers off of one of my 63 Buick 215 blocks. I'm not sure of the engine block casting numbers for the Rover.
hello Derek, it is definitely not a rover 4.6. i have a brand new rebuilt 4.6 that came with the car. the owner said it was a simple changeover and swapping it was my original plan. however, it is a bit more complicated due to the camshaft's lack of a distributor drive gear, as well as longer snout on crank and different flange on rear of crank. i do plan on eventually converting the efi rover motor to a carb/distributor spec engine, but i figure i can have the car back on the road a lot faster/cheaper doing a quick reseal of this engine. this built block in question is definitely a buick since it has all the original stampings on the side as well as in front of cylinder 2. the block has been decked enough that the stampings on the front are not too visible. but from what i can make out, it seems like it is stamped "JI667" which doesnt correspond with any of the engine codes. i suppose it could be a JN engine since that seems to correspond with the year of the transmission thats on it. Based on the engraving on the crankshaft, it seems that this engine was put together in 1987. it has a clutch disc dated 1998 though, and from what the expired registration sticker reads it was last driven in 2005. i was pretty excited to calculate the final displacement of the engine after i got all the measurements. up until yesterday i thought it was a stock bore .020" over. yesterday as i was trying to clean up and Id the pistons/rods i quickly checked the bore diameter with a caliper and was like, "wait a minute!" Based on the final CI of the engine it was a surprise to me to see such a small cam in it. my only guess as to why might be the compression ratio. the pistons have a slight dish to them. but the piston top sits almost .090" below the deck surface. 300 heads already lower the compression. so i will have to calculate the CR after i CC the heads. i have heard of D&D and i do intend to call them soon. however, i was a bit hesitant because i wanted to get all my facts straight before sounding like a total noob over the phone with them. this engine does have an aluminum adapter for the rear main seal. the car came from oregon originally, and i heard there was a place called baker engineering in washington that also did buick 215 builds, so i am not sure who originally assembled it. i do know that the PO had the engine blueprint sheet with him but i forgot to ask him for it when i was buying the car. he said he would send it to me, but i am still waiting for it.
Interesting, that is an expensive block if someone had 8 cylinders sleeved! Here is a link to D&D's website; http://www.aluminumv8.com/ A WHOLE LOT of info on their website to read to ready yourself to call them with questions. Derek
hmmm maybe i should have measured before i spoke. but this motor keeps throwing me curve balls. i wanted to order new bearings today so when i pulled the main bearings out of the block i ran the numbers through google. i was linked to a page that that said the bearings were 2.5" huh?! i thought the crank had to be turned down to 2.3" to fit inside the 215 block. measured the bearings with a caliper and they read 2.5". so i went and measured the crank mains. they were also 2.5" so the only thing that could have happened was that the block and main caps were bored to 2.5" for the std size 300 bearings. it also seemed like the thrust bearing was slightly too wide for the #3 journal, so they made a shim for it. the rod journals still measure 2.0" so now is it safe to say that i can order a set of std main/rod bearings for a 300 sbb? at this point i think the most cost effective thing to do is to buy a 300 sbb rebuild/gasket kit with a set of piston rings for a 305 chevy. does this sound about right? trying to figure out everything thats been done to this motor has been a bit overwhelming. its a frankenstein engine to say the least.
so far i only have found this company that offers what i am looking for. http://www.northernautoparts.com/part/ek-er0956 does anyone have experience with this kit or can direct me in the right direction if theres something comparable. with the moly ring upgrade and shipping it all comes out to 260 which i think is a pretty decent price for everything. the crank journals look great. but i was going to micro polish them. is it a good idea to get the .001 or .002 undersized rod bearings to compensate? or should i just get std and put it back together like the way it was?
Sounds like Phil Baker built the engine, I think his son is still running the business. You should give them a call, they can probably answer your questions. A reputable company. I talked to Phil several years back and he was very helpful and informative. They pretty much pioneered large displacement 215s. D&D... well, I'm glad they're there if only because they sell bellhousings and flywheels. But the ones I got from them weren't so great, and Mark doesn't impress me. Dan's OK I guess but he's retired. Jim
i would also like contact info for baker if possible since i am having a hard time finding anything online. now that i have everything measured up, i am ready to order parts. i believe that the 300 rebuild kit i posted in the link above is the way to go, since it seems my engine has now become an aluminum 300 for all intents and purposes. but i am still unsure about the compatability of a few things. 1. the rods are small journal sbc 5.7" rods. the bearings that came out of them were labeled 2500 raa. i can buy them individually, but i really hope that they are the same (tangs) as the buick 300. can anyone confirm this? the reason i am weary is i understand that these rods needed some material removed from the offset face to clear the 300 cranks journals. 2. the pistons for the 300 are 3.750". The .020" over 305 pistons in my engine are 3.756". they are both in a 5/64x2 with a 3/16 oil ring. since most rings need to be filed to achieve proper end gap, i am really hoping that the buick 300 rings will work. any insight on this? 3. all the cylinders looked really fresh with practically all of them still showing the crosshatching marks from the original rebuild. i plan to use a ball hone to simply break any glaze that may be present. any recommendations on piston ring material preference? would cast iron or moly faced be the ideal choice here? i wouldnt consider this thing to be a performance engine, but id like to take it to the 1/8 mile and through the canyons once in a while. 4. im hoping that most of the gaskets included in the kit will work. i already have a composite intake manifold gasket for the 215. i know for a fact that the headgaskets, exhaust manifold, timing cover, thermostat, and water pump gaskets will be the same. but what about valve cover and oil pan gaskets? 5. is it safe to say all the torque specs i will be using are for a 215 engine and not a 300? all the head bolt holes have been heli-coiled already. just not sure if they will require a little more torque due to the fact that they are now only using 4 bolts per cylinder. thanks in advance guys. im excited to put this thing together and put her back on the road. i gave myself a deadline to have the car done before my birthday mid july. then i can focus my attention on finishing my corvair.
