I see that some guys are running T-350's behind their 455's. Anything particular required to do this or is it just a bolt-on deal? Strikes me as a good way to go with the new project roadster. It has a 455 in it now as well as a T-400. The car should come in at about 2200-2300# total weight ready for the street. Since this car is running narrower tirea than I've run on another BBB powered roadster I think the T-350 would do the job and knocking another 50-80# (guessing here) off the car wouldn't hurt my feelings. Little cars, big engines.... :3gears:
The 350 should work fine. It's a good idea to upgrade at least to the hardened srag race. The light car wil help. I don't know who keeps putting out this bogus info on the 350 being 50 to 80 pounds lighter that a 400, it just aint so. 150 to 20 pounds max difference. Jim Burek
Thanks . . . looks like swapping them wouldn't be worth the trouble. Specially so since I have the floorboards in and the trans X-member & mount in. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Did you buy the home made roaster on Ebay??? " No, got my own home-made roadster. 31 Model A on 32 frame rails. Brookville body, American Stamping frame rails, Ford 9", the BBB & T-400 as mentioned as well as a lot of home-made stuff. Like an aluminum ball bearing steering column, Teflon bushed all aluminum throttle pedal etc....
Th-350 I read somewhere that a th-350 takes less power to drive than the th-400. The TH-350 is a good trans. It can handle a lot when built right. I have a TH-350 on my BBB 455. I like it and would probably not ever switch over to a TH-400 unless a deal came along and I need a trans. Do you have a picture of your roadster? Way cool...a Buick powered one! Mike
I tried to post a picture. I clicked on the manage attachments button, but it didn't do anything. I have posted photos in the past - directly as an attachment from my files. I'm guessing you have to create a link to another site. Unless there's another way and I've missed it.
As you can see in the pic of the 32 above, I found a way to do it. Here's a close up of the engine - it is in a stock wheelbase 32, the hood top and sides fit fine. All that was required was to make an indentation about an inch deep on the right side of the firewall. It runs a mechanical fan as well. All that was required there was to machine the front sheave off a three sheave crank pulley.
Here's a pic of the under construction 31 Model A on 32 frame rails. BBB which will be 462", T-400, Ford 9", lotsa home-made stuff. This car, a little more traditional appearing than the 32 and it will be lighter yet and carry perhaps 80-100 HP more. :eek2: (Thought I could do another pic using the edit feature, but it won't go through.)
One more option, a really well built 200 (one with GN hard parts) will hold up to the 455. It would be even lighter, less of a power vampire, plus an overdrive.
The only things different on the GN 200-4r vs a regular 200 are the valve body, governor, pump regulator valve and pressure spring. The rest of the internal parts are the same. Now granted, the gn valve body is the one to have, but it did not use any special internal parts. Jim Burek
Photo quality isnt the best, but here are some more. Sure looks like a tight fit C9. I used to have a blown small block chebby in it which sat alot lower so I have had to lift the BBB up in the chassis which means less foot room, but am willing to make that sacrfice for some BBB power. Royden
Looks great so far Slim. I especially like the strongly triangulated frame, mine is very much the same although I'm running Chris Alston Chassisworks 4 bars in the back (1 1/4" diameter.) - (Car started out to be a dry lakes car and I decided to put it on the street - maybe race it later on.) Here's a pic that may give you an idea of how high the engine in the 31 is. The 32's engine is the same height as it has identical motor mounts. Pan is 6" off the ground and the collectors are about the lowest point with the right one 5 1/2" off the ground. The 32 has never dragged on a speed bumps or driveways.
Here's another shot which may help. The headers shown are Schoenfeld's for the SBC - maybe with the Brodix head since the port center to center distances are about the same as the BBB. Fairly sure I'm gonna use these, they'll save some work. Building in frame headers on the 32 was somewhat complex, but not too bad. Just have to decide on how I'm going to build the hood sides. Right now, leaning toward using a NACA scoop for carburetion intake - cold air plus they're an aerodynamic freebie in terms of aero drag. So that means the headers may come inside far as the aero thing goes and if not the hood sides will get blisters for additional header clearance - burned the paint on the 32 since it's engine is set 1" to the right (the 31's engine is centered) and maybe run two rows of louvers in place of the NACA scoops. Regardless, hood sides for these style cars are easy to make and knocking out another set is an afternoons work.
One last one and I'll let the full size door slammers get back to it. Here's an alternator mount I made for a Pinto alternator on the BBB. (The same mount style and Pinto alternator have been on the 32 for 41,000 miles.) You may have seen me comment on the 32's alternator single belt drive. It works ok, but slips on quick acceleration or deceleration. The 32 does not have room for two V-belts. There is room on the 31 for two V-Belts so they should work well. The plates are 6061 T6 aluminum. Spacers are 1" OD 6061 T6 alumimum. Curved alternator brace is a threaded both ends piece of 3/8" stainless. The double pulley on the alternator is an aftermarket item. I think it fits both GM and Ford alternators. One problem with using the stock BBB pulleys on the crank is that the front two sheaves are slightly different diameters. To that end I bought an aluminum SBC water pump pulley and aluminum crank pulley from Summit. Prices were reasonable. The water pump pulley bolts on and is spaced out to match things with a 3/16" spacer between water pump flange and the aluminum SBC pulley. The crank pulley gets an adapter plate made from - I think - 1/4" aluminum utilizing six countersunk holes for flathead stainless allens to bolt the adapter plate to the BBB dampener and threaded for regular stainless allens to bolt the SBC crank pulley to the Buick with the typical SBC three bolt arrangement. Sounds complex, but it's not. I am fortunate to have acces to lathe and mill. One of the participants here on the V8 Buick board makes and sells aluminum pulleys for the BBB and that would be an easy way out. Prices are entirely fair from what I've seen, the quality looks to be there and the design is very good looking.
