Anyone drop in a 502 crate motor in a 70-72 skylark

True Buick Die Hard Fan.

If you where a true buick die hard fan like you say in one of your posts. You would be putting a built 455 in that car. :TU:

 

I too fell into a great deal on a 600+HP BBC a few years ago. I bought it with full intentions of sticking it in my 67 tubbed Skylark until I saved up enough cash to build a proper 455 for it.

BUT... when it got right down to it... I just couldn't do it. I couldn't drop the BBC in my beloved Buick. I wouldn't hold anything against you if you did it though. I like fast cars. ALL fast cars. Even "rice burning imports" if they are fast.

I ended up buying a tubbed Monza to stick the BBC in. It's been alot of work getting the car ready for the transplant, but I hope to finish it this winter, sell it next summer, and then I'll have my cash to start putting together a real engine (455) for my tubbed Lark.

What you do is completely up to you. Good luck!
:beer

 

Way To Go Rick

Now thats a die hard buick guy :beer

no B.S.- no excuses- no cop out........ a die hard buick guy :bglasses: :beer :TU:

I hope it pays off for you Rick :3gears: :bglasses: :TU:

:moonu: to chevy in a buick :moonu: your not die hard buick guys
period :shock:

A few years ago I saw a monza wagon with a mild BBC in it.... that was a cool car :bglasses:

 

uzzled:

My late 80's Riv came from the factory with a Olds 403...

Nice car, ran just fine, no one I know cared that it didn't have a Buick engine in it...

For those who love / maintain / restore these Rivs, you'll have a hard time convincing them that they are less a Buick fanatic than you are.

There are a lot of Buicks that didn't come from the factory with Buick engines. Do we gang up on these guys and boot them off this website, or help them find them another website that can help them on their way. I say give them a link to another website that can really help them and wish them well on their project.

 

thats not what I'm talking about

I'm refering to the guy who wants to put a bbc/sbc into an older buick that had a buick engine :ball: thinking there going to get some great prformance gain :eek2: I really don't care for that... (aka die hard buick fan)

what GM did .... well... o No: uzzled: o No: uzzled: not much you can do..... they still can't get it right

an.... when you do recommend another sight they think your trying to get rid of them :eek2:

bottom line this is a BUICK ENGINE SIGHT ABOUT BUICK ENGINES
the guy don't no chevy or olds or poncho.....THEY KNOW BUICKS :beer
FOR YOUR OLDS ENGINE try realoldspower.com.... i'm a olds guy to :bglasses:

 

www.realoldspower.com.....:laugh:

Yeah, I like to go there when I really want to see an all out internet fiight. One of the better no-holds-barred performance sites. :rant:

 

Buick HP vs Chevy HP

For some it's all moot....it just comes down to cost. Some guys can only afford running engines out of a salvage yard. Blow an engine and it's back to the salvage yard. How are you going to do that with a BBB??? It's not going to happen! In that scenario I would think that a Chevy is the only practical choice. As I mentioned previously, the 502's are showing up at salvage yards, some in running condition for a reasonable price. I know a lot of guys who have enough for an engine, but not enough money to take care of the rest of the car. I'd rather see rust free Riv with a salvage yard Chevy inline 6 vs a rusted-out Riv with a HI-PO Buick 455 on its way to the scrap yard. Seen that happen too many times.

So.......Let's forget about my ranting above and look at the following:

My friend's 65 Chevy Impala weighs in at about 4,600 lbs, 4 speed manual (5 speed might be on the way), salvaged yard roller cammed 502, 3:42 posi...My Riv has weighs in at about 4,600 lbs, 3 speed auto, has the original 8.5:1 455, 2.93 9 3/8" non-posi. Both cars have AC.

His engine idles smooth as glass, my engine idles smooth as glass...That's the way we like our engines to idle. So what exactly am I supposed to do with my current Buick combo to embarrass this guy???

 

don't worry about it.... enjoy yor Riv for what it is :Brow: :bglasses:

if you beat him cool if you dont who cares p he's got the advantage how can you lose :shock: just like the mighty hemi vs.the infamous stage1 :TU: how can you lose o No: uzzled:

for you Riv posi first thing hotter cam some head work and a good exhaust
shift kit ect.and cruise it till the tires fall off :TU:
if you want to really go fast buy Ricks monza :TU: thats going too be a hang on machine :eek2:

 

You don't want to know what my friend thinks my Riv really is. He keeps telling me that the second place trophy is in the ladies room. :spank:

We had a challange when we were in high school; Who could maintain a glass smooth idle and go faster. Based on his current combo, I guess I'll have to settle for the ladies room.

I just e-mailed him for more info and he said the he will be working on a large displacement small block chevy (World block??) with a fuel injected underhood supercharger, full power everything, AC. That's is what the 5 speed manual is going to be used on. And yes it will have a glass smooth idle. He said I can have both 502's when he's done. :blast:

 

Thanks for the comments Mark, but I hope my written words are not being misunderstood....
I consider myself a pretty die hard Buick guy, and I would surely hope I wouldn't lose any "Buick friends" because I dropped a BBC in my Buick. I decided not to because of many reasons. One of the big ones being that I know that if I got it running, I would have been having so much fun with the BBC, that it would have been years before building a BBB for it regardless of the cash situation. "Don't fix it if it ain't broke" right?

I wasn't telling Andrew he shouldn't drop a BBC in his Buick..... I was merely sharing my personal experiance with him. If he's in a position to keep his Lark on the road by putting a BBC in it.... so be it. I wouldn't do it, but I'd rather see his car stay "alive", than to see it sit under a pile of boxes in his garage because the 455 would take him years to build.

Personally.... if you haven't bought the BBC yet, I'd talk with a few of the reputable Buick builders here and crunch some numbers. You might be suprised how affordable it could be to reach your performance goal with a 455 Buick.

Andrew, you haven't answered the question about how fast you want to go?
That'll tell us alot, and help in our opinions about what you should/could do.
:TU:

:beer

 

well aparently the last one was not my last post since this one will be directed towards a question too me, I was asked how fast do I want to go with my skylark. I want it to drive to a few cruise ins, go to the track to race every now and then, and drive it on the street also, all while hoping to be pulling around a low 11 sec to high 10 sec quarter time, and of course it will not see the rain here in oregon like it has not for the last 9 years.

 

For that kind of performance you can do it with a 455 for the same amount of money.

Remember to put in the 502 Chevy, you'll be needing to change several things around on the car. Swapping in the Buick is an easier task.

 

Although putting a Buick motor in a Buick makes the most sense (as far as originality and "sticking to your guns" goes), I don't see how a BBB can be just as affordable or durable as a BBC.

The Chevy engine has a TON of aftermarket support, where as the Buick guys only get a few options. There are more proven combos, more parts, more machine shops that are familiar with the engine, etc. Just do a search for BBC aftermarket heads on Ebay and see what you get... do the same for a BBB. You get my point.

Whatever you want for a BBC you can get, and there is almost always a like-new used part out there for you if you really want to save some cash. With an abundance of parts comes options... something you will be more challenged with when going the Buick route.

All that being said, however, I am going with the BBB. I got my Skylark because it is special. It may not look it just yet, or in the next few years... but every chance I get I am doing something to it. Cleaning this and that, unscrewing this and that. It is a lot of hard work, and of course a lot of fun. You can save some cash and build up a stout 454 chevy motor on a budget, but I think paying a little extra and really putting a lot of research and hard work into a 455 would put a bigger smile on your face in the long run.

Whatever you choose, don't let a website sway you... you know what you want and you should go for it. No matter if it is BBB or BBC powered, if it is clean and goes like a raped ape no one can tell you that you messed up! p

 

So, how much are you spraying?

 

I was curious so I did a little looking around and found this;

http://www.v8buick.com/showpost.php?p=434007&postcount=49

 

That is pretty damn quick for an iron header without FI... how much does the car weigh and what have you dynoed at?

 

Yep, pretty amazing, but very believable to me from my prespective. Looks like in his avitar it is a good sized car too.

 

This is great, I appreciate the fact that you can see that I was searching for opinions on the plus' and minus' to this swap that was all, and it is nice to see somone who can set aside their differences on what they like and hate about something then it makes it all that much more worthwhile to post a thread.

 

Exactly......It's really turned into a waste of space.

For X-mas we all need to ask for a clue..... :af: