some of you may know my motor went out. i came accross this wildcat 340 w/ tranny on craigslist. http://boise.craigslist.org/pts/1477894304.html im just wondering if i could plop it right into my 65 skylark? i had a 300
It looks like the transmission on the Craig's List ad is a TH-400 (SP-400?). If you plan to use that tranny you will need driveshaft mods and to move the transmission crossmember, that is if you currently have a ST-300/TH-350. But I would go for it either way. Three gears is better than two, and that TH-400 will handle a big block if those plans are in the future too.
im going to take a look at it tomorrow. hopefully itll be my early xmas present. i think i have a turbo 300? 3spd auto. will it bolt up to my tranny? i wanted to keep it. will the extra power hurt anything or is it not enough to tear up my drivetrain?
The 340 will bolt up to your existing tranny. I doubt the extra power will hurt anything. I had assumed that you had a 2 speed (ST300) transmission and would want to use the TH400 that is on the new 340, and that's where the mods mentioned above come in. If you have a 3 speed, I'm betting that it's the TH350, though it could be the TH400. There is no TH300 3 speed. But using your existing tranny, everything should bolt right up. Though I don't know about the exhaust pipes (head pipes). It looks like there are no exhaust manifolds with the new 340, so you would have to reuse your 300 manifolds, they will fit, but since the 340 is wider at the heads you might need to do some exhaust work too, to make your pipes connect.
by three speed I meant D, L and R. i could always just save or sell the tranny on there. i just wanted to keep mine cause of the mileage (maybe 10k) on it. well hopefully everything goes smooth. thanks.
I'm a little confused The engine in the picture looks like a `67 by the shape of the valve covers. Is this the same dimension as a 350? Was the `66 340 the same engine as a `67? If so, was the `67 340 still considered a nailhead? Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread but I don't know much about the 340's and thought this may a good opportunity to learn. Bill
The 215, 300 & 340 (as well as the 350) were not nailheads and never considered as such. They are small block Buicks. The early sbb upto & including '66 had upright valve covers that were designed to make these engine look similar to the nail head, but they were completely different, having a more conventioal head design where the valves were more or less in line with the cylinder instead of verticle like on a nailhead. The '66 & '67 340 were the same.
yeah i dont know. i think the best bet for me is to go look at it, which im doing later, find some numbers. and figure it out. o No:
Thanks Marc, that is very interesting. I have never had much chance to work on these engines but all these years I thought they were nailheads until '67. I had the original 300 in my '65 for the first 3 years I owned it before I removed it and swapped to a bigger engine and I always thought it was a nailhead. So, Buick had both a 340 and a 350 in '67. I expect that the bore/stroke combination was different but was everything else pretty much interchangeable? Another curious question: I believe my 300 had centerbolt valve covers. Were these interchangeable on all heads? In other words, is there a way to get them to fit on a 350 so it would look like the early engine without changing heads? Bill
Bill, the 350s have different heads, intakes and exhausts than the 340. All 340 & smaller have the valves arranged in a EIEIEIEI order on each bank. The 350 and All BBB (not nailheads) the order is EIIEEIIE. The 340's were only available in '66 & '67. 350's came out in '68. Bore X stroke 300 3.75 x 3.3875 340 3.75 x 3.850 350 3.80 x 3.850 The 340 & 350 cranks may be the same, not sure about journal sizes tho. The 340's & 350's have a taller deck height than the 300 to accomidate the increased stroke, therefore they are physically larger. I doubt that the valve cover would fit as the 340 &350 have 5 holes around the edge.
Thanks again Marc, it's becoming clearer now. Looking back at the picture of the 340 I can see the spacing of the exhaust ports, the same as my old 300. My curiousity is peaked enough now to do some more reading on these little engines. It's always fun to learn. Bill
