Whats needed to put a chevy engine in my 72 skylark?

im trying to find the right thing to do. if i could avoid taking out a loan and getting in debt i would. but then ill be so pissed if this next marshall crap engine fails on me within a year of installing it.

heres my email jonathangarcia05@yahoo.com

my car has been sitting out in front of pandas auto repair out on old lockhart rd rusting away even quicker.

from what i can tell most of you guys are in the north east not south.

i dont have alot of tools. all i have is the mechanics set my grandfather bought me from autozone he said in his experience itd be all i needed.

 

Someone here in Tx help this dude out please. Show how a Buick 350 dominates the chevy 350.

 

What do you mean by "60 pull & 40 pull" I've never heard of that. I very much doubt that a Chevy engine would get better mileage than a Buick. If you can get a Chev crate engine & have it installed (different trans, wiring etc) for less than having a competent mechanic rebuild your Buick engine that might be the way to go??? You said that the original engine dropped a plug. Was it in good shape otherwise? If it was and only the one piston /cylinder was damaged you may be able to fix that engine cheaply.

 

no the original engine was FUBAR now this one i dunno what happened to it. As it was explained reman engines get bored out to 30 pull 40 pull and 60 pull as the number gets larger the less life the engine itself will have in the long run.

 

OK, so you are talking about 30 thousandths over when you say 30 pull.

As for the better milage, that depends on the build of the engine with both the Chevy and the Buick.

I do understand the fixed budget and that's all the more reason to stick to the same family of engine. You will spend more on converting the car to a chevy than the cost of a runner Buick 350.

Now that we know where you are, maybe someone from Texas will chime in with a decent runner used 350 they can sell.

Good luck.

 

:bglasses:

 

thx ive got the 40 over engine from marshall im just scared its gonna fail like the last one did.

 

Just embrace yourself in larrys power timing thread, zddp, and good gas lol...:beers2:

 

messing with the timing scares the bejeezus outta me.

i dont want to break this next engine.

 

Find a mechanic then

 

i have one. i may not trust him but hes the only affordable mechanic i know. ill keep the buick 350...i just wish it would last, and have better mpg im not asking for prius mpg just you know better than 7mpg city

 

You should be able to pull 15-20 mpg out of that car unless you have some steep gears in the rear or you have the carb/timing all messed up.

 

There's no engine swap that's cheap, and buying a junkyard motor, be it a Chevy, Buick or Cadillac is going to be equally risky. Your best bet is to locate a drivable donor car where you can hear the engine running that is roughly the same year as yours and pull the engine from it. Anything from maybe 74 and earlier would be best bet since there's no emissions equipment on the engine.

When I say donor car, that's what I mean. Some car that runs, but is only worth about $300-700 bucks at the most. You can find one if you look. I picked my 72 up in Dallas for around a grand last year, and it went from donor to patient once I got it home, it was so solid.

I've seen members on the board selling cars for *low* prices when they knew someone was going to put it to good use. That's how a lot of us are.

The benefit of the donor car is also if you go with a Chevy, you're getting the engine, trans, motor mounts, accessories and wiring harness.

Any 68-72 2 or 4-door (or wagon) Chevelle, Monte Carlo, Cutlass, Le Mans, Tempest, or Skylark should fit the bill. Even finding a non-running donor with all the brackets, accessories, wiring and trans may be cheaper than trying to determine every piece you'll need to make a successful and pain-free engine swap.

In my opinion, if you're going Chevy and want to locate all the pieces for a swap separately, find yourself a good Chevy 350, 383 stroker or even a 400. Just make sure it's complete.

As for me, the only engine I'd ever consider putting in my Skylark is a 500 Cadillac. Simply because if I'm going to desecrate a Buick, I'm going to do it upscale, not downscale.

 

Here's a few guys in and around Austin area. I'm sure if they can't help you out themselves, they can point you to a competent mechanic you can trust. Good luck!


http://www.v8buick.com/member.php?u=80

http://www.v8buick.com/member.php?u=4715

http://www.v8buick.com/member.php?u=217

 

Or a REAL heavy foot. I get 14mpg average with 3.42 gears and a 2800 stall. I think you need to score an old Chilton's manual and start researching how to set your timing, read your plugs, and clean and adjust your carb. 7mpg means someone seriously needs a tune-up.

 

That's probably why your reman blew, very few 350 Buicks can safely be bored 0.060 over, the cylinder walls are too thin. The block needs to be magnifluxed before attempting this. I would guess that your engine cracked a cylinder. A 60 thou over bore should qualify for a manufacturing defect IMHO. BTW I've been around engines for close to 50 yrs & never heard of an over bore being called a "pull", learn something every day. 40 thou should be OK & you shouldn't worry about that engine. Definately easier & cheaper than installing a Chevy.

 

Power timing really isn't that hard just follow the steps larry gives:3gears:

 

To answer your question without the Purist BS...

A chevy 350 will fall in if you use 69 Chevelle frame stands and motor mounts. Unless it is A BOP transmission you will have to find a replacement. You can use a T-10 Manual with a Turbo 400 yoke on your existing shaft with no modifications. Check out some of the tranny specs looking for Bell housing/Mount and Tail measurments to find other possable combos. You can shag some chevy brackets for the accessories. Run the buick Radiator. A set of Chevelle headers and you're golden.

If this is truly a low buck answer you are looking for, you're better off finding finding a used buick 350. If you're looking for a new power plant on the cheap you can get there with a chevy if you have most of the parts, but if you need to buy all the parts to do the conversion, a more expensive buick will be cheaper in the long run.

 

Its not a purist thing really but why do people think that "BUICK" people on a "BUICK " website would be the place to ask "how to install a chevy in a buick" Its more like common sense.

 

I think this is the place to ask that question. I don't think most of the answers were based on a purist philosiphy, we just feel that using a Buick engine would be the cheapest & easiest for jagarcia, especially since he does have a reman Buick 350 from Marshall that I assime they sent him to replace the blown one.