not a big budget, looking for 350-400hp, 3.50 gears maybe. just a good street motor, a little canyon carving, auto trans, fuel mileage not a concern. what can I get with say good torque cam, match ported cast heads and intake, good carb, ign., headers. want to keep it somewhat simple.
according to the ID plate on the side of the trans it's the turbo 400, what's going to be involved in installing this into my 76 skylark behind the 350 engine?
To install a 400 trans you will need to move trans cross member back about 2.5 inches . its possible that bolt holes are already in frame for that. Then shorten driveshaft and change trans yoke on driveshaft. There is the downshift switch mounting on accelerator pedal and wire to trans. If you don't mind downshifting manually for heavier loads then you can forget about switch. A good port job with bigger valves is the way to go. Then the 212 cam can get you 300-350 with the right combo 284 and 310 can get you closer but I suggest a custom grind. Finding many guys going this way and making more power then expected. Clearing 400 HP on custom camshafts. I'm sure the 310 can get you there with higher compression and the right combo.
thanks for the info, are all these cams from ta performance? i'll look at all the different options. thanks again, keith
Yes all cams from TA . a few people have had really good luck with custom ground cams from Scott Brown at buyracingparts.com with decent pricing. I just got custom pistons and custom headgaskets from him and with be going back to him for cam grind since nothing off the shelf will work with my custom build. Email him and see if its something you might want to consider.
there's another set of holes 6" farther to the rear for trans cross member. found a small local machine shop with knowledge with older buick motors so I'm gonna go talk to him tomorrow. posting motor pics on x-bodys thanks
Those are the 400 trans holes then. Been awhile since I swaped a 400 into something. I prefer the tuning of a 350 trans. It good that the shop you have knows Buick. There is plenty of good information on this thread. So reference it as much as possible to your machine shop to help you both get you the engine you want built. Don't use a longer gear hi volume oil pump. It tends to put a lot of load on front cam bearing. Worse with thicker oil or colder climates when oil gets thicker from tempature
thanks, dropped off at machine shop this morning, getting cleaned and magna fluxed and then getting with him next week to come up with the plan
a little history on the engine, it was pulled out of a full size buick 30yrs ago and I believe sat outside for quite sometime uncovered with the carb just kind of sitting there not bolted on. was told it was a low mileage motor,(it is). well, water had set in 1 cyl. and a few intake ports for quite few years an ate into 4 intake valves so replacing all. the cyls have very little wear but had to take the one with the rust 030 to get all the rust out. so new 030 over 10 to 1 pistons,( more like 9.7 or 9.8),crank good, just polishing. Budget reality is that I'm gonna have to run stock heads and 4bl intake for a while. thinking about running the comp 268h cam. machinist says cant go more than about 9.8 comp. with the cast iron heads because of heat displacement, crap gas, and our 6000ft elev. I still have to get electronic dist., headers, rebuild the 400 trans., t/c, posi unit and 3.42 gears. (have 2.56 right now). been reading the posts under the ta 284 thread and guys are getting decent power from combos like this. if I didn't have to do everything else I could do more with the motor. keith
I think the 284 will work decent on 9.8 compression.the 268 is personally didn't care for .if anything look at the crower 50258. TA is making a single plane intake for street use which could be nice with either cam. the only pistons that might make that compression is hyperutectic.. I suggest decking block .025-.035 .as it has high deck. if you are replacing all intake valves go with TA larger stage 1 350 valves . cant cost much more to get them blended In. 3.42 gears will be good .stock heads and intake will be fine with TA or crower cams.i can see a 13 second car with either cam. don't forget to drill out oil pick up passage to 1/2 inch and get melling pickup tube, ta cam bearings would be best if you can swing it. a custom cam from scott brown/buyraceparts.com would really be the hot ticket.hei will be fine but recurve to have 34 degrees in by 2500.
just left machine shop. going with stock rebuild, polished crank, 9.8 to 1, 30 over hyper pistons, comp 260h cam and kit, no milling of block or heads, stock 4bl intake and Q-jet, stock heads, turbo 400 trans with stock t/c and 2.56 gears for now. engine is a 1968 4bl. 350 gong in a 76 skylark keith
Just be sure that the bearing specs are within tolerance after the crank polish, as many engines require the crank to be cut.... Same goes for the bore, ensure the shop bores it out if needed.
Have to run 68-69 style lifters or you need pushrods and rockers. Make sure he knows that when ordering parts. Personally doesn't sound like he's that knowledgeable on Buick. Was just thinking that the 400 trans might be a switch pitch if its a 68. Maybe Derek would know more. Engine might produce 250-280 HP with that setup.
don't know what makes some of you guys think that my machinist doesn't know what he's doing, everything you guys bring up has already been addressed by him. I AM the one that made the choices on cam, pistons ect.
you did mention you would have liked to see 350-400 hp. that setup will net you a decent little runner but falls short of that goal. that's all. I have built that almost the same engine several times. only a different cam.tryed the 310 and 118 cams both where very weak until 3000-3200. the 118 hit hard at 3200 like you just hit NOS but under it was very disappointing. the best cam that I tried in that setup was the rv112. lots of low end torque. worked great with stock hiway gears. the 118 gave me the fasted time in my 83 regal with 3.42 gears and a 2000 stall. ran 14.4 and 91 mph . the one with the rv cam went into a 77 regal never made it down the track but was fun on the street. my current build im hoping to see over 500 hp with a .103 overbore
Yep, welcome to hot rodding. The never ending pit. This is why people take years to build their car. That's why planning now for changes later are important. As far as cam hoice I would consider the Crower 50258. Its a low end cam and Steve's "pure stock" class car nets 13.77 100 plus with it as its all for torque. That's with stock heads and cast iron intake and exhaust manifolds.this is more inline with you choices on the rest of engine. Maybe check with your engine guy on what he thinks of the 2 cams
Since your TH400 needs a rebuild you might want to change to a TH200 4R and 3.42 or 3.73 gears. That alone will probably do more for performance than the engine mods.
