The shop wants to throw in a Chevy engine, they won't like working on a Buick Motor. They will talk you out of that deal. My 350 is 20 years old now since it was rebuilt, Show your Chevy guys my video, I am only using a 75 shot of nitrous, think a Chevy will run this strong. I have way over 500 runs down the 1/4 mile all ran to 6 grand and also have made at least 50 runs on nitrous using mostly a 125 shot which netted me a 11.81et run spinning 5 feet out of the hole which is usually worth 2 tenths. I am now running this 75 shot and running 12.42 and I still spun the tires some out of the hole and that is with new MT drag radials. Start small and dream big and one day it will happen, I had a dream on how I wanted my car to be with a Kenne Bell book in my hand in 1985, by 1994 I had the car done, that was engine, paint, interior, suspension. 20 years later it is still rocking. If I go with a Chevy motor it would be a LS motor and I would carb it if I had to. It would run just fine with that. Who the heck needs FI anyways. So you may want to try some nitrous on that 350 it will sure keep the 455 guys worried...some.
Find the "Family Member", and...encourage...him to pay you back. Possibly by kneecapping the bustard. The LS is not a "Chevy" engine. It was designed by GM Powertrain, not "Chevrolet"; and shares nothing with the traditional SBC except the bore spacing and most but not all of the bellhousing bolt pattern.
I would add boost to the 350 you have, sure it is costly but well worth it. Can you learn to do the work yourself so you don't have to be at the mercy of this shop?????
It shares the same rod journal size, the same rod big end thickness, in some instances the same wristpin diameter, the same roller lifters as the sbc roller blocks had and probably a few other things I'm not recalling at the moment. Get a sbc turbo kit and cut off the header flanges and weld on the sbb flanges. The exhaust ports line up almost exactly with the only difference being the shape of the exhaust ports and the bolt hole locations. Perhaps you can make an adapter to bolt on to the Buick heads the sbc turbo kit bolts to that would even correct the angle? I'm sure there is an A-body sbc turbo kit out there for less than $2,000 that would work to adapt to your sbb 350. If you aren't stuck on the turbo thing, then there is the sbb 350 stroker you could build. Here's a thread of a sbb 370 stroker that has a pro-charger; http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?200499-the-dyno-numbers-are-in&highlight=1021 Either turbo or pro-charger, the bottom end was built just about bullet proof that held up to more than 700 HP with a factory crank and without a jock strap. LOL Anything over 600 HP on the 455 block then it'll need the jock strap.(full girdle) To get up to 700 HP with the sbc platform it would be a good idea to upgrade to an aftermarket block. To go to 700 HP with a junkyard LS 5.3L would require a diaper to keep from running over the crank on one to many WOT runs. LOL Derek
Me rolling up on him like that would cause other issues within the family. I just decided to cut my loses and not deal with him again. Which would be the better option rebuilding that 5.3 with a carb or rebuilding my current motor? I know that's a hard question to answer without seeing and hearing my current motor. I think I may have a video on my phone.
Rebuilding a 5.3 is pointless, they are throw away engines, just get one from a yard it will have a warranty
I was reading the procharger that Bob build with h his son. I see he hasn't been on here in a few years. Do you know a rough amount on how much time and money he spent on his build?
Procharger is big money, I got $5500 in my setup and I got lucky with finding just the bracket separate and buying the rest here and there, I could boost a 350 for about $1500 if I had to with some Chinese stuff but I can perform all the work , but that's besides the point I guess. 5.3 will handle absurd amounts of power as wi the 4.8's we have several guys local to me who have filed stock rings open a little and screwed it back together with eBay rods and run 5's in the 1/8 close friend of mine has one in a fox that I know is approaching 250 passes blowing a 300shot thru a stock 5.3 with rods. Just like anything else you gotta watch the tune. Not trying to be pessimist but without being able to perform the work yourself your not gonna go down the 'boosted' path with that budget, no matter the engine you choose, N20 would be your only way
I guess will have to try that later. I'm either going to make some modifications to get more HP out of my current motor or buy that 5.3.
You could get things done to prep for an eventual turbo engine that can work with your can now. You can get a 3.23,3.42,3.73 gear and traction devices like posi and control arms. A higher stall convertor. A Scott Brown custom cam for boost. Porting heads and big valves. And shaving heads .030 for about 8.7 compression which is still ok to boost but will increase potential of your engine without. Or you can do .060 off heads for close to 9.45 compression and get the crower level 3 cam. And tune the setup. Would be a very noticeable difference with converter and gears. It's not boost but is more affordable and still near twice the potential.add a 50 nos shot for I decent kick for the track.
Isn't this the guy with the SP 350 that was having the spark knock problems? If so, he can do big valves and have port work done and ad a thicker gasket, no need to mill heads. These are supposed to handle 20 psi of boost; http://www.buyracingparts.com/gaskets/buick-350-severe-duty-head-gaskets.html And are .050" thick, .030" thicker than the factory steel shim head gaskets with 2 different diameters to choose from to help dial in the compression ratio easier, so should bring compression down some for boosting? Need to do the math after measuring how far down in the hole the pistons are to see how far the ratio can be dropped. Derek
Some of you with your complicated answers are missing one very basic thing. Read above. He needs something that a shop can do on a smallish budget.
I've heard that over and over from others. I call BS. With some ballpark numbers, explain how this is possible. Assume starting with a bone stock car. And you don't already have anything. Everything has to be bought. Try to think about all of the little things that you will need and do as well.
How much HP does a stick Buick 350 make?Im looking at TA performance website and I could add an intake and headers to add between 30 & 60 HP
If you are the worlds greatest scrounger and can build a all of your own stuff you could get one running for $1500. I got my Procharger for free and I know that I went by $5000 on it a few years ago.o No:
Few 2.25 mild steel bends , CX racing or on3 Turbo for $250/325, $150 used carb ,hanger 18 Carb mods,mount Turbo inline under car, few 2.5 cold side bends, cheap or even home built Carb hat, $60 wastegate, run it off spring and that's pretty much it, no intercooler, boost controller, BOV none of that is needed for a low boost setup
My NEW F1c was $2800 Carb and EV pro hat $1250 Bracket and pulley. $1000 Tial BOV. $230 Belt and blower pulley. $170 Blower oil. $35 Charge pipe free Water pump pulley. $100 I did buy 1 blower pulley and belt I shouldn't have so I won't count them,
I just got off the phone with TA performance. The guy said replace the pistons, intake, cam, headers, and lifters would put me at about 350 HP. The shop wants $55 an hour. They said about $1000 to do the swap so I'm using that as a rough estimate for cost of labor. That puts me at $2500. I'm guess another $500-$1000 in other parts, cleaning up the engine, and machine work if needed. That puts me at between $3000 and $3500. Think that's a decent guess?
