Original SAE Conference BB handout booklet- scan

A couple of years ago, I was privilege to meet and talk with Cliff Studaker, who was the lead designer of the 400/430/455 engine family.

He was kind enough to bring a fresh, never even opened, copy of the original booklet that was handed out at this engine family's introduction, at the SAE conference in Detroit, circa Jan 1967.

It contains some fascinating, little seen engineering photo's and diagrams on this engine family. It covers the 400 and 430, as the 455 was not reality as of yet.

While there were minor revisions in a few areas over the years, this book covers the basic architecture of the engine family, from a photo an technical standpoint.

Back when I got the booklet, photobucket's technology was such that it would have taken a long time to upload all 20 pages here, but times change, and I did it in just a couple hours this morning, while doing other office paperwork.

A question relating to the 430 oil system by a member here this morning prompted me to dig it out, and I thought I would share it with everyone.

Enjoy!













































It was a rare treat to have this man sit across my desk from me, while we discussed the time period, and what was done, and why.

JW

 

That's awesome! Thanks for posting that!

 

:gp: Thanks

 

Great info, thanks.

 

Kind of a reinforcement to all ive learned on the board. Very cool to see.

 

Great reading, first time I've seen pictures of the cores used for casting.
Thanks for posting Jim.

 

Maybe i speak for myself only but reading this is like watching Playboy when i was 14.....:eek2:

Jim thanks for posting this.

 

Awesome read. Yes, thanks again for taking the time to scan and post.

 

Very interesting.
The journal overlap is shown as 1.04 square inches, never seen it given that way.
The usual method is just the cross-sectional thickness. The M is main journal diameter, R is rod journal diameter and S is stroke:
OL = (M + R - S) 2
(3.25 + 2.25 - 3.90) 2 = .80"

By comparison, the 401/425 are .578 square inches, and .555" cross-sectional thickness.

The math for the area in square inches is very irritating, but I wrote an Excel spreadsheet that does it automatically, e-mail me for a copy.

 

UNBELIEVEABLE!!!
The amount of original information you all provide to us regular type folks.
For a "hobby" it really is amazing what you more senior members provide.
THANK YOU for all you JIM and the rest do for us!!!
:TU: :TU:

 

VERY interesting read! My eyes are sore from the small print, but it was worth it:gp: Thank you!

 

very, very cool.

I like that the bottom of the lifters 50-80" dia curvature grind to them.
The crankshaft info is also very cool describing how they had problems with the main bearings originally 3" bumped up to 3.25"

 

JW is the Julian Assange of the Buick world. can we call it Buickileaks

 

The backstory was even cooler.. It cost Buick 500 grand in 1965 dollars to change the size of the mains, and that was no easy sell to the top brass, even for a company the size of Buick at the time. We had quite a discussion about that, and the TA block gridle. He was actually very impressed with the engine I happened to have on the stand at the time, with the TA girlde on it, after inspecting it. It was the first one he had seen.

As also was mentioned in the booklet, they not only made the crank bigger, they also beefed up the main webs. I wonder what the original ones looked like, if the ones we are used to looking at are the "beefed up" ones!

He also asked me where I was getting "new blocks".. having seen a couple of them cleaned up ready for builds. I took that as a great compliment, and then proceeded to tell him about our used engine clean up proceedures.

JW

 

Jim, you helped spark a memory from my one and only time sifting through the file cabinets at the Sloan Museum Archives in Flint, sometime in or around 1986.

The booklet you scanned was on file, as was another I have yet to see or hear about since; a bound presentation authored by Buick Marketing and Buick Engineering targeting the GM top brass as to how their GSX package was leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, and why it should be green-lighted for production. It contained photos of the Dodge, Plymouth and Ford striped "supercars" as well as Chevelle SS, Olds W cars, and GTO.

I made photocopies of the GSX presentation as well as destructive 430 dyno tests performed in 1966. I'd kill to have them available again but lost all to a house fire in '97.

I don't know if a person can just waltz in and leaf through those files like I did back then, but I should make a point to drive an hour north and find out.


Thanks for sharing this stuff and moreso the background story.

Devon

 

SAE still sells historical pamplets. this appears to the same pamplet as listed here:
http://papers.sae.org/670083

so, it's possible to own your own paper copy for $16 + shipping.


here's a list of SAE papers for Buick subjects:
http://www.sae.org/search?searchfield=buick

 

Great information here...and very interesting reading, too.
Thanks, Jim! :TU:

Russell

:3gears:

 

X2, Schwiiiing:TU:

 

Awesome!!! Thanks x1000 for posting...this thing's got everything on my block, all the way down to the AIR system!

:3gears:

 

Absolutly stunning. Way to go Jim. The cut aways give so much insight.