Alright, this is my first post, so please bear with me. I have a 70 Jeep pickup with a buick 350 in it. The engine in it is the stock engine. I also have another engine that appears to have come from a 72 car (I don't know which, because the engine was transplanted into a jeep, which is where I got it from). I am planning to rebuild the spare engine so that way I can do a quick switch when the one in my truck now dies. I was wondering what are the best ways to get performance out of the engine? I already have an HEI distributor, and quadrajet carburetor. What are the best parts to upgrade? What parts will give me the biggest bang for my buck? Where is the best place to get parts? I know TA performance offers good stuff, but they seem really pricey, is anywhere else to get parts? How about an aluminum intake, is there such a thing, is it affordable, and is it worth it? Should I keep the heads from the original engine, because they are older and may have larger chambers, or are they the same as a 72? I am trying to weigh cost vs performance before I get into this, so I will know for sure that I want to do this. I may end up going to a chevy, although so far I really like the Buick. The main thing for me is that I want an engine that has good power, but that I don't have to sell everything I own to do so. Thanks in advance, and any help is very much appreciated! o No:
TA is basically the only place to get stuff. Prices are higher than the usual chevy part, but when they only sell very few parts they need to charge more to make any money. And it is quality stuff. If you do swap to a chevy it would be cheaper... alot cheaper, just have to remember that Buick-Olds-Pontiac motors share the same transmission bolt pattern, but chevys have their own pattern, so you'd need a chevy trans to match. The disadvantage of the chevy is it doesn't make as much low end torque/power, and in my opinion is not as strong of a motor as far as reliabilty. Order a TA catalog. They have an aluminum intake, i think it's about 16 ibs, whereas stock is 50... word is all stock heads are basically the same... I'd opt for the buick personally... but if finances are a problem, price both options out and see...
Not true....... Poston also sells Buick performance parts, and you can get camshafts from a few other manufacturers. There are more than one Buick performance retailers around...... The aluminum intake and a good set of headers with a cam to match will make a 350 come to life. The 72 will be lower compression more than likely but with the same parts should run very close to the 70 engine. And if you really have a lot of time on your hands you could port the heads......... a gain of 25hp is there for the taking easily.
How does a person port the heads themselves? Thanks for the help! Is there any shorty headers for the engine (I don't believe normal headers will work, because they get in the way of my transfercase. Of course, I am wrong more than I am right
I've had numerous Full-size jeeps with the Buick 350's. Don't believe anyone who says the Chevy swap is cheaper. By the time you buy the Chevy motor, and the conversion parts / adapter, you would have lost more than a few $$$. I say stick with a stock 350, add a Q-jet on a stock intake and run dual exhaust. You will end up with plenty of horsepower and lots of torque. And it wouldn't have cost much.
I'd stick with the Buick and not worry about the headers or intake for now. You're going to lose a little low end torque with headers, and the aluminum intake isn't going to help as much on the low end of the torque curve as it will on the top end, which you don't usually worry about when four wheelin'!! If this was a street/strip engine and you wanted a good top end charge the intake and headers would help. I'd look at taking the block .030 over and putting a set of TRW 10.1 forged pistons in. I'd also pick the Lunati 210-220 cam, which is not a lot bigger than stock, but it works well with the stock converter, it makes good power down low!! ( I ran 14.60@92 with this cam in a stock rebuild 350, no headers or aluminum intake, with 3.23 gears) Try to find someone to help with the heads and do some mild porting work and bowl cleanup, nothing too radical. Gasket match the intake and exhaust manifolds. Go with a 2 1/2" exhaust and try to fit an "H" or "X" crossover pipe into the system. The exhuast system can really wake up a Buick 350, even without headers!! Stock distributor or HEI doesn't seem to matter a lot performance-wise, and the quadrajet carb should be fine. Also make sure the front cover is good and add an adjustable oil pressure regulator, don't go with the high volume pump! This should give you a nice stout 350 that will outpull any similiar Chevy. Shouldn't break the pocketbook either!! Ken McMillan
I think Ken is dead on with this one. If you take his advice you will save a lot of money and frustration. The intake wont make any dif. at the low end and you rarely see the top side of 4500 rpm in a jeep where the intake will do the most good. the stock one is perfect for what your going to be doing. Unless you just have to shave some weight off the front end you will save $300 if you stick with the stock one. Also what altitude are you at and where do you do most off roading if any? Your altitude will determine if you need the higher compression pistons. My 72 350 ran great with 8.5 to 1 at sea level. Most of your expense will be at the machine shop. pick a good one. ask around on this board if you don't know of one in your area. I'm sure some one can help you with making a good choice. Good luck
Hey, thanks a lot for the responses! Here is what I am going to do: throw the buick in the garbage and buy a chevy. Just joking, wanted to get you guys going for a second :laugh: No what I am seriously going to do is (and feel free to tell me if I should do otherwise) : keep the stock pistons and bearings (the engine was rebuilt about seven years ago, just sat forever.), although I will check the clearances on the bearings. I will replace the piston rings. I will also add a new camshaft (should I also replace camshaft bearings?). Do I need new lifters also? (I am under the impression that I do). I will also replace all gaskets and rebuild the heads. Oh yeah, in light of custom sky's response, I will probably just keep the pistons in it now (I am almost at sea level, and its cheaper this way). Of course, my above plan may change if I get into the engine and see scores on the sleeves, bad bearings, etc. Now, some questions that I have, mainly to gscalifornia's response... 1) when you said the Lunati 210 won't be too hard on the converter, were you talking Catalytic? I don't have to worry about that because the vehicle never came w/one (its a 71). ou: 2) When you said find someone to help you w/heads, did you mean machine shop, or is this something I can do myself (what tools to use, etc.) 3) Where do you get the adjustable oil pressure regulator, is it expensive, and what is involved in puting it in? 4) I have 2" exhaust right now (with the original rust holes :eek2: ). How does a person go about changing that to 2.5 w/o changing the diameter at the collector (won't it always be 2" there no matter what)? And when you say X pipe and H pipe, you mean (this shows how unknowledgable about exhaust I am) the pipes cross in an H pattern, or an X pattern, right? Is this for torque? 5) On the camshaft, what I really want is something that I will notice (after all, I want to feel what I paid for!) over stock, but on the other hand I don't want it to be to drastically radical that I can' t drive to the nearest hillside for the jeep!! I just want to know that the camshaft made a difference (the 210 or 220 may be exactly what I am describing, I just want to make sure.) Thank you guys very much, and I want to commend everyone one on an excellent and helpful forum! :beer :TU:
The TA Performance TA212 is a good cam..... It has a good torque range and you will definitely notice it from 2800-5000rpm! If you are just looking for low end torque for pulling and off road, the stock cam would be ok. It all depends what you want to do with the truck. I like to rip off 60 foot black marks once in a while and listen to the engine rev to 5000 while doing it.......
only 5k? I brought mine up to 6k twice after I did my mods!With the 2.56's that equals about 70 MPH in first gear! that was right before I blew second gear in the trans! lol It pulled up to 6k real nice like, and I think it would have went more than that! but on a stock 100k bottom end... I'm not that risky... TA212/headers/intake/personally ported heads/big valves... if you want torqueI won't go for the stock cam, I'd opt for an aftermarket one, maybe a truck/RV cam, an aftermarket cam will at least not be a 30 year old cam design.... The exaust question- if you stick with manifolds, TA sells pipes to hook up manifolds to dual exhuast systems. They are designed for skylarks, but might fit your jeep. They connect to the 2 inch opening on the manifold, and after about 3 inches, it expands out to 2 1/2... Always change lifters when changing a cam! It's the LAW! unless you have roller lifters, cause they work differently... but that's another story
