I have found a 78 Electra that is close to me for a decent price. It has a v8 but size isn't listed. I am wondering if it is a 350 Buick or 350 Chevy I know that this was built around the time GM started with the all divisions using the chevy motor in some of there cars. I know I can put any motor in it but wonder what I am starting with. Thanks Tim
might be an olds or a pontiac too! gotta go look at it. whatever it is, assuming its original, it will bepainted blue, regardless of engine family
You need the 5th symbol of the vin #. It should be a letter L or R. I believe the Buick engine is the L. But the easy way to tell is to look at the distributor place. If in the front it's a Buick. In the rear it's an Olds 403 or Chevy 350. the Olds engine is letter code K. JD
One of the guys here in our club has a 78 Perk avenue. Its a Buick 350, pushing out a massive 170hp :sleep:
I heard from the seller it is a rear distributer so I am thinking it is the 403 Olds. Here is a picture of her. Tim
These cars are really nice looking. Being the first downsized BIG cars, they take a bunch of weight off the road. I used to own two, a 78 Electra Limited 4 dr, and a 79 Lesabre Wagon. Both had the Buick 350. Neither was a power house. And they both had their oddities. The main thing being which motor GM dropped in there. The Electra was misrepresented as a 60K car. Granted, I made big mistakes when looking the car over and let my emotions take over at the purchase. I paid dearly for that. The Wagon was just under 100K when I got it and was much better. But both suffered from leaky lifters. I had the 78 first and it came with a warranty. I let them change the engine which then did not have a lifter problem anymore but instead a slight knock which I could hear under every circumstance although others told me I was hearing things. I was told it was piston knock. That knock drove me nuts. Later I got the Wagon. I just changed those lifters and had no more problem with the engine UNTIL I decided to let one of the cars go. I swapped the engine from the wagon into the Electra and sold the wagon. Immediately the head gasket blew. By that time I'd had enough of that Electra and I traded it in, at salvage value, on a new vehicle. The wagon went at least 4 more years that I knew of and then I lost contact with the guy who bought it. It may still be going for all I know. Anyway I digressed. One thing I hated about the Buick cars is the way the rear end tapers in. Looking at the car from the back, and I don't know if this is real or not, it lookslike the rear of the car is narrower than the front. If you look at an Olds or pontiac it does'nt look that way. If you look at a wagon it also doesn't look that way. It always looked to me like the Buick cars had a bent frame as the rear tires did not appear to track directly behind the fronts. I never did measure it out. It alwys made a visual impression on me, so much so I thought if I ever owned another, I'd investigate changing the rear axle to see if that compensated for that. Otherwise I really liked both cars and thought the Buick styling was superior to the other GM models of the era. Good luck with your purchase.
