I love Buicks, always have; and think that with the body of knowledge on how to build these motors, I can give an LSanything a run for its money with the same amount of dollars spent. That means a LS7 or LS3 with a blower costs between 13,000 and 17,000. I say I can build a Buick motor that performs better for the same or less dollars.... So here it starts. I have a 1976 block that I bought a long, long time ago - it's at the machine shop getting bored, and girdle attached Here it is after it was done wrong: add two of these a couple of these yeah, I know some on here don't like Edelbrock heads... let me save you the rant - I don't care what you think... I'm selling tickets to the event of "I told you so" when I'm done with this build - so please, if you feel the need, do buy a ticket and wait in line and I had these laser cut To recap, expected HP is 700, torque should be close to that number; all in by 5500. It's going in a 70 Skylark (my avatar) with a suspension that is tubular, boxed, and braced for road racing; large disk brakes and (to be changed) 3.73 gears. It will be port fuel injected and I probably will build the manifold for it, and I am building the headers. This upgrade should be done by end of summer
Very Cool! I hear there is a popular CNC program for porting those heads, and the owner of the shop has a nice boosted big block. Curious why youre building the headers yourself. Lots of choices out there.
sounds awsome what brank fuel injection you doing? mega squirt, holley, accel? and if you need a fuel pressure regulator i have a new in box fuelab brand
oh damn, i really didnt look at the pic till you mentioned....and ah ...yea.. whats with th emis-matched shapes there? \ as long as the diameter of the circle is big enough not to block the square inlet then its all good..
D'oh.... I clearly saw the picture of the turbo but when I saw the flange my brain turned off and pictured a regular header. Makes sense now, thank Sean.
I'm with you on that, but this guy is definitely no dummy, I'm sure he has something figured out for it and it was done for a reason. He's GOOD with the header building. I'm going to be starting a set for my OHC six soon because of motivation from this and other project's he has going.
im sure he has it figured out. im just curious what he had going on. maybe we could learn something. unless its a secret
The first headers I did were square port - and it was a b*t*h to both blend and line up the pipes.... however, it's really easy to cut the corners once the pipes are welded in place and make a square to round port... and it's LOTS easier to put the pipe where you want it. So that's why - the sides are covered by the 16 ga (1/8") pipe, and the corners are blended. Why do I build it myself - because I can? I actually enjoy puzzling out how I want the headers, and I also like that headers cost me less than $200.... here's ones I did before (they are WAYYYYYY oversized for that stock motor - but my original plan was a supercharger for this motor's build) and with paint
Let's see... update Never, ever, ever use Jim Green's Performance Center in Monroe Washington. I'm still dealing with the aftermath of what they did wrong (they didn't follow the TA performance instructions on how to install the girdle) then claimed they were perfect and never made mistakes. As you might imagine, many words are being exchanged. Once that's straightened out, I'll be back on the build. Otherwise, I'm working with a couple different suppliers for the chassis that will get this motor.
Sorry to hear of your troubles. Keep is updated when you get back moving in the right direction, im really intrigued by this build. Looks like youve got a recipe for one nasty ride!
Why not pick up a set of nice rods for half price: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?246756-Crower-4340-billet-steel-rods
Zombie thread alert So life happened, I built a couple other cars. Jim Green Performance has my complete hatred and the story will come out over time.... but suffice to say they completely ruined the 76 block and what you'll see next is not that block. But some pretty stuff first custom pistons work-of-art rods another block that was sleeved to get better wall thickness (don't start with me about a TA block, that's another long story but the highlight is I didn't realize I'd be spending as much as I did.... but it got done, money is spent, and I'll be running something built by Buick - which is something, though it might also be a way to keep myself from cussing) believe it or not, it's not done. I still need to do something about the oil passages, I think this is a 73 block and clean up some slag so I pulled it back out tonight. washed it and you can see one of the vehicles I built in the mean time So here's the plan 430 Ci, edelbrock heads, stock crank, callies rods, diamond pistons, roller TA custom ground cam, MS3x computer, crank fired ignition, likely external oil pump, turbo 400, no air bags, just low. Chop the top a bit.... but here's the deal - I'm not building the to first. It's going to look just this pretty until everything else is done. I will do the chop, won't finish the welds. Eventually it will be pretty, until then it will be pretty fast. The suspension is a Panther platform front, 9" rear, 4 link which you will see soon. The first step is the floor. so this is what I just finished started as this a couple years ago
gotta love the old FJ40's. I have a 72 that I love. Sorry to hear your troubles with all the machine work. I was looking into a lot of the same things as you on the built by buick stuff... gets expensive in a hurry.
It does get expensive, especially when you have to do it twice. Putting that cost aside for a bit, at the expected hp levels, the cost is about the same as if I'd bought a LSA except that I get Buick torque and a bit more hp. Oh yeah, and I don't have an LS motor in a Buick
Nice projects, please keep us posted!!!! Once you feel the boost kick in you will be addicted! I know I am!
