Hello, I just bought this 72 Buick Skylark 350 2 barrel. It runs great. I was gonna drop some headers and true duals on it to boost hp and sound, but a couple of my more mechanically inclined friends say i should do a rebuild and bore the motor out before messing with the exhaust and carb. Due to the low compression the 72's had that year. What would you recommend I do to the motor to maximize hp? What parts would you buy? Any advise would help. I'm pretty wet behind the ears for this stuff. Bryan
The question is how much $$$$$$ do you have to spend on this rebuild. It will be much easier to help you once we know that.
First off welcome, You have come to the right place!!! I am going to take a stab in the dark and say that this is a street driven car and will only be raced in the quarter mile a few times a year if at all... If I am wrong then please let me know how you intend to use this car. I am about 3 weeks away from releasing my book which is a technical manual on how to build and tune SBB engines and in particular the Buick 350. This information has been gathered over the past 10 years of R&D, networking, and research. So here is my quick version of what I would do in your shoes without spending too much money: Being a street car the Q jet carb is the best option for a close to stock build. This is one of the best builders I know of, I trust him for all my carbs. Ken can even help you find a core to rebuild. there are a lot of little tricks to these carbs and he knows them all. There is no aftermarket Holley or E-brock carb that can touch the fuel mileage of the Q jet. http://www.everyday-performance.com/ Try to locate a stock 4bb intake manifold, as the TA Performance intake costs a lot and offers little to no gain. Post a part wanted add on here looking for a stock intake in your area. I see no reason to open up the rest of the engine if it runs well. Sure a cam swap would wake up the engine but it is one of those things where once you get started it can turn into a full engine overhaul. A low cost exhaust is to leave the manifolds in place and have a muffler shop bend you up a 2.5" set of duals with some cheap mufflers. At very least you need to let the engine breath... Headers are great but this setup works great too! If you can go with a set of headers, I even have a spare used set I can sell for cheap if you want. Then go with a 2.5" dual exhaust kit from magnaflow, I know it seems expensice but it works and sounds GREAT! http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mpe-15894/media/video/make/buick/model/skylark/year/1970 Next onto the ignition get a set of Taylor wires, AC plugs, new cap and rotor and this kit to get rid of the points in the dist: http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Pertronix-Ignitor-Points-Eliminator-Kit-1957-74-GM-V8,5399.html I feel that dollar for $ there the above mods are your best bet for doing things right the first time. Yes you can save money using a mystery rebuild Q jet or having a cheap exhaust added, but in the long run this is all money well spent. If you were to start the build with boring out the block and raising the compression you would never see the gains without the above mods anyways. Having said all that what I would do once I had that done is drive and enjoy the car while I kept an eye out for a spare Buick 350 to rebuild. Northern has the best deal on rebuild parts for the 350 Buick. http://www.northernautoparts.com/ProductDetail.cfm?ProductId=985 So If I were to build a budget Buick 350 I would look for a 70 high compression engine and have the machine shop inspect the engine to see if it needs to be bored or just honed. If it only needs a hone then you are money ahead as you can keep the high comp pistons. If it needs to be bored out then just go with a 20 or 30 thou bore, there is not much performance to be gained with a larger bore. Plus the smaller the amount of overbore the cooler the engine will run. A second best would be a 9:1 compression 1970 engine, with some head milling it would be easy to get about 9.7:1 which is great. If you need new pistons either because you are using a 71-80 engine or if your engine needs an overbore then TA Performance sells a high comp piston. The place to gain mega HP with the Buick 350 is in the heads, larger valves from TA and head porting are the key to making lots of power with the 350. For a mild build just a light porting and smoothing will help a lot. I like to use the adjustable pushrods in these engines as it is the easiest way to ensure proper pre-load on the lifters due to the non adjustable valvetrain. Variables such as deck squareness, machine work, valve tip height, gasket thickness, etc all effect the length of pushrods that are needed. For a camshaft there are two favorites for a street car. The TA212 cam is always a safe bet and can support 350 HP if the heads are well ported. If you were to get more interested in adding a higher stall torque converter and a different rear end gear ratio then a TA 284-88 is a good bet. I hope this helps!
Sean, what took you so long to get here?:laugh: Bryan, Sean is our in house Buick 350 go faster go to guy IMO. He will not steer you wrong if your trying to pull hp out of that motor.
thanks sean, wow thats a lot of great info. How much would you sell your used headers for? Where you located?
You are welcome! I guess the bottom line is that yes high compression is great but it is not the main ingredient to making power with this engine, head porting is. I know of a Buick 350 that made 421 HP with 8:1 compression due to lots of well done head porting, and I know of lots of 10:1 Buick 350s that make no more than the stock ratings. I am up in Canada but I can sell the headers for cheap, shipping would not be too bad... Send me a PM and I can tell you more.
One more question. If the motor is running great right now, would i be ok doing the carb, headers, and dual magnaflows before messing with the heads? I'm pretty anxious to drop the headers and magnaflows for some killer sound. I just dont do anything backwards ya know.
Yeah sure go for the headers and exhaust and find another set of heads to have ported and added later. That brings me to another option of doing a top end rebuild next winter and using the time between now and then to get your parts and $ together. Just keep in mind that when you start un-bolting the manifold bolts you could have one or more break off and you would pretty much have to take the heads off and take them to a machine shop to have the old bolts removed. Use some PB Blaster to soak into the bolts before you try to remove them. Also take a hammer and firmly tap each one of the bolts before you try to remove them. I alway turn them a little bit tighter and then back them out, works for me. Here is what i would do with this option if you get your headers and exhaust all on and you are happy then: Search locally for a Buick 350 4 bb intake manifold Search locally for a set of spare heads (68-70 are the best for performance) Buy the: oversized valves, TA stage one valve springs and retainers, TA 212 cam and lifters adjustable pushrods for the 70-80 application as they are hollow for the later style oiling system new timing set Then you could have the heads rebuilt and ported as well as shaved down about 60 thou to raise the compression up to about 9:1. This would save a lot of cost vs a full rebuild.
Seems ashame to rebuild a good running engine. $1500 isnt going to go very far. I think your about $2000 light
that's what I meant to say, but I was being a dickI've been told time and time again to go from back to front and open things up, and to expect the cheapest labor costs to be the most effective mods. Sean is right for sure, head work is great for HP gains. All I've got is a full exhaust and a big-block Qjet, and I'm happy with the pull when I stomp the gas pedal!! I've always assumed that the biggest A-body gains are to be found in the suspension, but historically I'm an AutoX kinda guy
thanks guys, I'm gonna start with the magnflow duals, hooker headers, and 4barrel carb . I'll be out of $$$ after that. haha
I would guess around 330 HP but the best part would be the torque would come on strong down low. Just for a little "motorvation" here is a 73 low compression Buick 350 that I gave a 4 hour tune up to. I did new plugs, new wires, cap and rotor, pertronix kit, custom timing, hooker headers (open), new Q jet, new air fliter. No mods or rebuild to the engine, BONE STOCK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbiqdPVLpnE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy1cOuE4x4Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GljRr5PauLI
I thought I would add some KEY advice. Listen only to the Buick guys on this site, that know Buicks. NEVER listen to you "friends" that know all about cars. A 350 Buick engine will run best when built and tuned like a Buick 350. Many people spend all of their money bolting on what might help a chevy 350, and it will make you slower.
I do not post much here anymore but with that said I suggest you take Sean's advice. He is well versed in 350 and has done his homework. Friends try to give you their advice but most come in their experiences on Brand X cars. We look forward to hearing how you progress.:TU:
