300 Tips and Tricks

Ok, so I decided to keep my little 300 Skylark and let her take up one of two bays in the garage yet another winter. And, since I will NOT be driving her in the slop that descends on Ohio about this time every year, it looks like I'll have another 4-5 months of tinker time ahead of me. In the past couple of years I've pulled off the top end of the motor and cleaned and polished it up, put in new seals, and installed a 4bbl intake and Carter AFB.

The consenus from 300 owners here who have graciously offered me their advice is that the next obvious modification for my very modestly powered classic is a dual exhaust system. Ok, so that's in the planning stages. Which leads me to my next question: What should I do after that? Any tips and/or tricks out there for punching up this little power plant? I know new pistons, boring, honing, cam mods, etc. will help, but I'd really like to avoid a major tear down seeing as she is running so well. And yes, I should replace that ST-300 with a three speed, but I'm looking for quick, easy, relatively inexpensive mods (who isn't?!). So, any suggestions (no matter how off the wall!)?

 

Tim,

Ah, the good old days of shade tree hot rodding return..a time when cubic dollars wasn't the only way to go.

The dual exhaust system will make a difference, particularly if you add an x-pipe or h-pipe. I bought the headers for my 64/300 from Poston in Alabama. Don;t know if they're still available, but worth the phone call. I've heard that the MSD ignition adds noticeable performance and improved driveability to the 300. The last time I looked, I believe the price was in the $250 range. If you do the swap to '65 heads that we chatted about, you'll pick up a bit more from the increased compression. Also, companies like Eastwood and Summit sell inexpensive head porting and polishing kits if you wanted to spend a little time with a die grinder.

I'm not certain if the Buick 350 and 300 use the same pulleys. If they do, I believe Poston and TA offer under/over size pulleys that will free up another couple of horsepower. A good crank dampener like Fisher or Fluid Dampener are reported to increase horsepower by improving the overall efficiency of the rotating mass. The price tag for one is around $300. Replacing the stock air filter assembly with a high flow unit like K&N will also help a bit.

A rear end gear change won't increase horsepower of course, but a higher ratio will make better use of the low rpm horsepwer. You could look into the big bore stock style headers sold by JE Engineering in the UK (www.jeengineering.co.uk/start.htm). One of the V8 Buick members indicated that the company is a bit pricey, however. Of course, a street-type nitrous oxide system would probably give you the best performance increase on a dollar-per-dollar basis.

Mark Pinhead64US

 

Mark,

I'm going to seriously consider swapping some '65 heads on it-if I can find a decent pair at a decent price. The ignition thing has always intrigued me, too... but I'm a bit skeptical about a hotter spark doing anything significant for a lower compression engine ('cept burn up spark plugs at an alarming rate).

The pulleys and air cleaner tricks are something I'd never even considered, but I'm gonna look into that, too. Thanks!!

Someday, when the rear brake lines explode, the transmision only goes in reverse, and she starts to smoke like bad kids at recess, I'll go with a new rear end, a bigger tranny, and maybe even a big block transplant. But until that day comes (and given how bullet proof all these components are and how few miles I put on her, I'm not holding my breath!) I'm gonna give every low budget, shade tree trick a shot at squeezing a bit more life out of this little set up!

 

Tim,

It's a great set up for a street machine. And if you want great looks, you could pick up a '64 intake and heads, polish them up along with all the other white metal pieces, add a set of Offy aluminum valve covers and presto! instant eye appeal.

One thing I forgot to mention. At around $100/hour, a competent dyno person can tune your car to get the most out of what you already have. Most of us don't go this route unless we're building race motors or testing cam & carb combinations.

Also, locate the threads in the smallblock section from Sean Etson. He has the most on track time with the 300s. Good luck.

Mark