for Buick small block LOVERS let the flaming begin.

This is ridiculous. What do you expect us to tell you? It sounds like your drivetrain is not even close to being road ready or chassis dyno ready. There is nothing wrong with the Buick 350.

 

Ryan,
My 350 made 551 hp and over 500 ft. lbs. torque, and the one area you need to concentrate is the cylinder heads. Port them out and you'll gain the power you're looking for. And, that carb is too small, even though you know how to tune it well. I ran a 1000cfm Barry Grant and the only reason I didn't go with a dominator was that I wanted street manners. This was a pump gas motor too, not a race only one. A lot of people will help you here and I know you're frustrated, but the advice is free and maybe you can make some changes that will give you greater performance from the people here.

 

I appreciate it tubbed, I know if I wanted to make real power i'd have to port the heads, put new valves in and do a proper multi angle valve job. I'm just kind of perplexed as to why it doesn't make the amount of power it should at this point, rather than trying to just throw more power at it I should probably consider the trans being original and worn clutches a pretty serious problem, which I don't know if it's worth the time and money to fix when I've got a big block setup in the works and i'll be using a TH400 for that.

 

im in your shoes as well w/my 68 350,almost identicle motor up grades and the same money into it.Iguess as we experienced it we can relate to the heart ache.at 210 hp at the dyno shop my drive shaft snapped in 2 hit the 300st tranny case,breaking 3'' off the collar [which was rebuilt last year for a grand ] now i have put in a spare 350 turbo and didnt put it back on the dyno.dont have any more money to replace broken parts,so im just going to drive and enjoy the sound of the old 350.and it does sound nice,and who cares what it does/doesnt do at the track.good luck w/yuor project.chris ps the stress does go away.

 

If the previous owner rebuilt it, and the rear main, oil pan and trans pan are leaking, perhaps it is time to go through it again... doesn't sound like its in a great state at this point. Not to mention, if the trans is as bad as you say it is, how can you expect to put the power to the ground?

"I know if I wanted to make real power i'd have to port the heads, put new valves in and do a proper multi angle valve job."

Well I think you answered your own question there didn't you. There are a few guys who have their 350's running without machining, but for easy power, the heads are where its at. The valves aren't even a huge problem, I'm getting great flow with stock valves.

 

I would highly reccomend a q-jet for it. If there is one major difference between chevy and buick engines, its the amount of cfm and how they are regulated. Buicks need lots of cfms to run well. The stock carb was a 750 cfm q-jet, and that is without any bolt-ons. I know this goes against the grain of every chevy engine builder, but it's the plain truth. I doubt you will ever get much more out of that motor with the small carb you are running.

 

People with years of BUICK experience offer you great advice. You should listen and learn, and apply. You would get better results.

I'm guessing a carb swap would help a lot for now until you finish your big motor. Your buick engine needs air flow.

 

You are using a stock cam, undersised carb, and no real performance mods other than headers.... No surprise you have no power over 4500 rpm, the stock cam sucks. Even just adding a TA 212 cam would get you another 1000 rpm of usable power IF you put a 750-800 cfm carb on there. You need to re-seal the engine anyway, so just add a cam and have some fun.

 

I was thinking about sticking a 212 in there with the chev 2400 stall converter i've got, but if the old th350 is fried it's just gonna burn the trans more, and I don't really see a point in having this trans rebuilt for copious amounts of money when I'm gonna be putting in a TH400 thats gonna get rebuilt for the Big Block anyway. Kinda ****ty but I guess I'll just have to live with it for now. You guys really think sticking on a 750 q jet is going to improve over the 670 holley? I would try it but I bought this holley brand new for 500 bucks about 4 months ago and I don't have a q jet, so i'd end up spending like 500-600 to get one and have it redone+shipping. Ahg. Losing battle.

 

How do you even know the trans is dying? Does the fluid smell burnt, what color is it? Drop the pan and have a look for metal...

First get your trans and engine leak free and go from there. A gasket kit is cheep and you can use a neoprene Ford 460 rear main seal.

You do need a larger carb, find one used and sell your 670. Here is a mild 350 that liked a larger carb....

 

Well Because the engine is running 100% It makes me think the trans has issues, first of all when he dyno'd it in drive twice in a row it made 137 peak hp, in the top of 3rd gear, he held it in second for the last run and made 153. So somethings not quite right there, power is not being put to the ground correctly. Not to mention my car will NOT lay rubber unless you brakestand it, which is surprising considering the decent 3.30 gear and what should be a pretty new 350 with headers and such. When I hear of guys running mid 14's with my setup and leaving a couple strips of rubber it makes me wonder. It's also realllllyyyy soft off the line, like really soft, just doesn't have any jam whatsoever, call me crazy but when I first got the car a year ago with corroded points ignition running like crap, stock intake, stock exhaust mannys, I unbolted the exhaust, loaded the converter up and it launched alot harder than it does now with upgrades and theres two black strips about 6 feet long each to prove it. So could be trans slippage or gimped converter... Just my guess. The trans seemed to feel tighter when I first got it, engine obviously makes more power now though then it did.

Heres proof
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Leahy&init=quick#/video/video.php?v=36010300157

 

i thought dyno runs you were suppose to run it at 1:1 which means he should have ran it in third correct?
and trans could be shotty

 

Well depending on what you had to due to your engine to get it running good. When I got my Sportwagon it needed a complete tune up including timing adjustment, hoses, water pump, fuel pump, etc and I don't think I have spend over $2500 including the price of the car. Check your pan bolts as mine where loose and just need tightening hasn't leaked a drop since.

I would give the 350 a second chance. They are a good little motor. I drove my grandfathers 74 350 Lesabre in high school when my GS was stored. it would move that boat pretty good. It was bone stock.

Tim

 

over and over and over again, you tell us that the transmission is shot but you're yelling about the engine? o No:

you want to cry about the engine, pull it and put it on a dyno stand. if you are 98% sure the trans/convertor are giving up it wouldn't matter if you had a 400 SBC in there, you aren't going to do anything but heat trans fluid.

now would be a perfect time to grab a 200r4 out of the junk yard and upgrade to a 4 speed OD trans.

also, you spent $4000 on the car. you didn't spend 4 grand on that motor.

you want to be successful hot rodding, you need to learn to accurately assess what is going right and what is going wrong. blaming a Buick 350 because it isn't a "performance motor" when you've got all this other stuff going on is not going to get you a lot of sympathy.



ps - can't see your facebook because i don't have an account.

 

Well I'm just a bit irritated because I can't figure out definitively if it's the engine or trans. It sounds like it makes decent power but when It launches like a slug with a half decent gear ratio and wont even chirp the tires off the line, and gets to 60 in about 10 seconds I just don't know what to think. I wish my oil leak wasn't as bad as it is LotsGS, the rear main is gone and the bolts are all tight, it leaks from a few different places on the pan. I don't think I want to go with an OD trans, when I put the 455 in in the distant future I think I will get one of those TCI streetfighter TH400's, already brand new guts, handle up to 450 hp and they shift reallllly hard.

 

well something is wrong i could chirp the tires on a stock engine with only 2.5 duals with a 255-60/2.56 rear..

smell the fluid on the trans dipstick and see if it smells like it's burnt
then like others said drain it and check for metal shavings(just reuse the fluid if it does have metal shavings) as if you put new fluid in, theire will me no material to make fricting..and it'll slip/heatup more

50 bucks could get you a good running th350 with t/c on craigslist

 

It definately smells a little, I don't know what burnt trans fluid smells like but theres certainly something funny there. Heres my youtube video taken before I went to the dyno, this is a full throttle launch from about 1200 rpm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBVrgdrDGHI

 

Start with the basics. I think your carb size is fine. Is the Holley a vac secondary? Are the secondarys opening. Timing, cam installed at? Whats your altitude? Whats your compression, Im guessing 8.1.
It sound like a low comp motor with bolt on parts. You would be lucky to hit 15s with what you have and i dont think its your trans at this point( unless you keep standing on it to power brake it with no power):grin:
Do you want best bang for the buck help or do you want to piss and moan.

 

Ryan - I just read through your entire thread. Here is a bit of advice I can throw out there. If you are really going to throw a 455 in this vehicle then stop wasting money on the 350. Do not buy another thing for performance for that motor. If you need to use the car as a driver then my suggestion would be to seal it up with new gaskets. Fix and/or repalce anything that can break and leave you stranded, i.e. water pump fuel pum etc. and be done with it.
If you wish to get some performance out of this motor before you move on to the 455 listen to the advice that has been given to you.
#1 - 800 Q jet (sell your Holley or trade it here on the board I am sure you can come out even with a good swap)
#2 T/A 212 (or bigger)cam. Dont go too big you don't have the compresion. Call them Mike will help you out. If you are doing the waterpump and such you will be in a better position to get it done. do a timing chain while you're at it of course.
#3 Pull the stock converter out of the car and throw in a 2200-2400 stall converter (you said you have one- If not I got one for $150). You will be amazed what you lose there in performance.
Lastly PLEASE stop comparing a Buick to a chevy- I did the same thing when I started with Buicks and have a treasure trove of useless parts that I bought treating my Nailhead like a SBC. Its a learning thing, and everyone here WANTS to see you succeed, so take the adivce and become less aggrivated.:TU:

 

another one a them there non-performing Buick 350's:
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=186824