Hi, I went to look at an engine today. The seller is telling me it's a 72 350 out of a Skylark convertable. I have never seen an intake like this, it looks to have two coolant runners on the outside of the intake running the length of the block. It has two blanking covers on the intake. The oil pan is the same as a Buick 350. They put a 430 in the car to replace it, it's currently hooked to a BOP th 350 tranny. There is no large cast numbers on the back of the intake manifold (eg350). I have the intake from a 71 and a 68 350 here and it's not that. I've looked at pictures for a 300, 340,430, none seem to match. o No: Runs like a top. Thanks Bruce
Both my smogger 350 2bb and 4bb have the rails down the sides. I say snag it, pretty sure it's a Buick 350. Heres a pic of a 72 455 intake just for comparison. It has the rails but is 4bb. This 72 wagon came with our property, 455 needs a full rebuild:
Its a Buick 350 alright. The runners on the intake are not for coolant, they are for air. This is an engine that was equipped with a smog pump. A line used to go to that runner, but someone blocked it off. (common) The blocked thing behind the carb was were the EGR valve used to go. The EGR block-off is not as commonly done as the smog pump block off, but its understandable since new EGR valves aren't cheap. None of these changes will have hurt the engine. If its a good runner I hope you get it.
What year did they start putting those runners on there?Out of all the Buick big and small blocks I've seen,I have never seen those.Are those plumbed directly into the intake or the heads?Quite strange looking. :shock:
My 68 and 69 Buick 350's don't have em but my 76 and 80 Buick 350's do. My 72 455 has em so I guess that narrows it down to 70-72 were they added them.
Hmmm...I've had a 72 and and now a 71 so I'm guessing that they would have started in 73 when the smog police were starting to really crack down on emissions.Too bad you can't convert those rails to fuel rails for a fuel injection set-up!! :laugh:
Quote from above:"Are those plumbed directly into the intake or the heads?Quite strange looking." In the first pic you should be able to see if the heads are different from your earlt ones in that area. I haven't removed the intakes of my older motors so I wouldn't know. Yes they are strange looking, maybe if you zoom in on the intake in the bottom left corner of the second pic then you can see where the rails go to, I'm not sure.
thats def a 72 vintage 350, when i popped the hood of my 72 skylark '350' thats the first thing that i did was pull off the smog stuff (dont worry i saved it all) and blocked off that smog hole on the intake. car was built in freemont,ca so it was under strict emissions, dont know for sure, but some cars built elsewhere mightnot have had the somg equipment and possibly a diffrent intake without the provision for the smog stuff. buickbert
That's what I was wondering,if it was a California emissions thing only since my 72 350 didn't have those.The car was bought originally in Oklahoma...As was my 71.Both were built in Flint. o No:
NO 71 motors had the AIR rails. Some, but not all of 72 models had them. From that point on in 73, every motor had them. Jon, check the casting number on that intake. I would venture to guess it's not a 71 vintage.
It looks like a 72/73 350 mtr with the points dist. The 73 heads have the year 73 cast into the exhuast outlets on the heads
1242015 reads as follows. 1242015 72-73 350 4bbl* * is for Air Injection Reactor Info available at This link HTH
Thanks for the great reply. Can I take that intake manifold off and replace it with an earlier 4 BBL intake, or will I end up with intake runner alignment problems. Thanks Bruce
My '79 350-4 didn't come with that type of manifold,I've never seen one until this post.I believe that will explain the 1/4" or 5/16" holes coming from each cylinder by the intake flange of the head and dead ending at the manifold.I couldn't understand why the factory would route all that heat to the manifold with no other place to go,the heads that I'm replacing do not have these holes.Does that intake has four holes coming out that "runner" on the sealing side of the mounting flange?If it does,maybe that was how the air injection was routed. o No:
Yeah, I'd say you can replace it with older intakes or aftermarket. The ads you see just say 350 SBB, nothing about what years they fit. In the big blocks there's a problem because of manifold heat ports. My 72/350 SBB had the same intake, and I have 2 of the 455s with that type manifold as well. Dave B
I'm not sure about the intake holes. I'm off at school right now but during spring break I'll get some better pics. It shouldn't be a problem to block the holes in the head and use an earlier intake.
