Wow take a deep breath keep it simple matt, you only need a garage built here not a wal-mart. you don't need any milling machine decking pistons or stall stay with your plan new stainless valves go 192 on intake valve, sleeve guides if they suggest, springs that's easy let them help you, can they polish some do some don't some will give you a small labor cleaning I've done chevy heads buick has more chamber to cover watch a video to understand the slow tedious process
For the 212 cam I don't think he needs polished chambers or the bigger 1.92 valves. And .060 off with the. 020 steel gaskets he will be around 9 to 1 actual compression. Can run mid grade fuel without a problem .that cam likes Alittle more convertor . I have run a 2400 on a stock cam and was enjoyable .
The bigger valves give the machinist fresh material to cut, allowing the seat to end up in the same place as the original. Then they won't be grinding down the tip of the valve much (if any). Sometimes tips are ground past the hardening, as it's not always very deep on aftermarket valves (if at all). The larger valve size will hurt airflow usually, unless some porting is done along with it. As far as possibly losing power from adding a mild cam to a low compression engine... Porting helps the lower part of the powerband, even at part throttle. A mildly ported, mildly cammed, distributor recurved and tuned engine can be expected to make more power than stock, even in the lower rpms. A little bit of converter eliminates the worries anyways. Mild porting and maybe a converter will really help this project. I wouldn't overlook those two things because of budget reasons. Your machinist might give you a break on the porting for using his valves.
Thanks for all the replies! I'm most definitely keeping a converter on my must do list. From your inputs it sounds like thats a big part of helping this cam out. I think you're right about giving me a break for using his valves. I'm very comfortable talking with this guy. Easy to work with and listens to all the concerned and requests I've made. He's been at this small shop since the 80s, and I can tell he knows what he's doing. Feeling confident.
Just received my TA springs, seals, lifters, and gasket kit. Went to drop them off yesterday and have some bummer news. One of my heads ended up not being usable. There is some pitting near one of the chambers and he's not confident in using that head. he said its position is just too close to take the risk and shouldn't be used. So now i'm on hold. I thought I could get an extra head but my Buick parts friend up here doesn't have any more 68-9 heads laying around. I really didn't want to have to pull my running heads off of my car and put it out of commission as I drive it occasionally and pull it out of the garage when I work on our family driver cars. But if I cant find a replacement I may have to, Or put the head rebuild on hold until after the summer. What a bummer.
too bad at least you didn't get to far in BUT now is your chance to get another motor yes there out there 2 on here I've seen recently, and take advice from the power builders here then just switch em out it will take no more time than doing top end build as you planed I know it all sounds easy but its $$$ to play
X2 I agree! if you did "put a Chevy 350 in it" then ya'd have a Buick with "just a Chevy 350" in it:shock: Last week at the track, I saw a 78/79 Regal with a BEAUTIFUL FLAWLESS black paint job, slicks, fiberglass hood, the whole nine, I walked to the front, and in the engine bay was just a small block Chevy! I lost my enthusiasm, BOOOOOORING! In front of the Regal was a 68/69 GS 400, Dull red paint, fiberglass hood sitting on the roof, on the huge hood scoop proclaimed "100% Buick" Sure enough, big block Buick!! He ran mid tens!! FREAKING AWESOME!
Nothing against Chevy but if I wanted a Chevy motor I would just buy a Chevy. My Buick is and will always be all Buick. It still amazes me how many people think because its a 350 its all the same, like Chevy. Makes for good conversation haha. All 3 of my cars are factory 350s and all different.. 68 Buick 350, my 79 Eldorado came with factory olds 350, and my 90 Cadillac brougham came with a Chevy 350. If I decide to cancel the head work and replace this motor it will be a BBB. Always wished mine was a BB.
X2, I had a free 73/74 vintage 455 waaaaaaaaaay back in 85/86, it had a bearing knock, I was going to pull the trigger on the build and swap, but Im glad I kept the 350, the 350 runs:grin: I literally threw the 455 down a dirt hill where I used to work when I decided not to use it
whatever is shaved of the heads, needs to come off the valve tips, the top where the rocker arm touches, or you would have to have shorter pushrods by the same amount, see what were talking about? or adjustable pushrods, to keep the right preload on your lifters.
yes, ive been looking at these buick heads, im going to share some lite porting pics after i get into mine, so far what ive seen is buick heads are pretty damn good from the factory, just removing the casting flash and port matching to intake would be enough for most stockish guys running a t/a 212 cam, also im taking one of heads to be looked at buy one of my old nascar buds, my heads have several round flat casting bumps in the intake runners left from the casting process, but they are equa distant, placing bumps in the intake ports and manifod was something the top nascar guys used to do, it helped w atomization and as opposite as it sounds velocity, i dont have any problem beleiving those bumps were left there and intentional by buick engineers, I would sure hate to grind and smooth out those bumps if they were intentional, but i will get an opinion from a expert, then im going to take a head to the flow bench stock, then go from there!!!
Best gains are in the valve area. Runner isn't that important unless your going with big valves and much bigger cam. Just open runner by pushrod some . the tall runners can feed plenty and port matching takes a lot of time for less gains then laying back valve guide and rounding out valve area on the side next to exhaust valve.with good grinder and stones/carbide bits you will only spend about an hour or less on each port.
I wouldn't spend $$ shortening valve tips drastically, possibly cutting through the hardening, to save $$ on re-using pushrods. I always order those after mocking up the engine anyways.
