Cruised the 75 about an hour today then put it away for the winter. I put a new master cylinder in it and had the alignment completed. It drives amazing... even the suspension feels good. I love the combo of the SP code 10:1 engine with the 2004R. 120 mph is easy.
It’s only 1500 RPM at 70 MPH, I normally don’t let it go into 4th until I’m over 80 MPH. It’s 2500 at 120 MPH on flat ground, and will hold 3rd up hills at 3800 RPM at 120. I use a toggle switch for the torque converter lockup. It’s got a 3800 stall so it leaves the line fine for a big beast with highway gears... a turbo should make it more fun! It’s got 2.56 gears out back, even with the th-350 it was only 2200 at 70 MPH. If a person used a 4.10 rear gear, 27” tall tires and a 2004R it would be 2750 RPM at 80 MPH. Or 3.73 gears would be about perfect at 2500 RPM at 80. Unless the car is light it’s likely going to get better fuel mileage between 2400-2700 in most cases. Lugging the engine at low RPM under load normally hurts highway mileage. My Skylark with 32” tall tires and 4.56 gears runs 2600 RPM at 80 MPH. If you are hunting for a 2004R trans be aware there are rumoured to be some Chevy pattern ones however I’ve only found them to be either Buick, Olds, Pontiac pattern or Dual BOP and Chevy pattern. The trans on the right I pulled from a 88 olds with a 307 and it came complete with a TV cable and Q jet bracket. The other one is from a GN and it’s got the dual pattern for BOP or Chevy.
Hey Sean, long time... house/garage is looking great. Make sure to reach out if you’re travelling down the QE2 by my place. I’m getting set up to do a Fitech swap this winter on the old girl... You still collecting quadrajet cores? Have some spares I picked up that I won’t be needing anymore. Good luck with the garage!
yes sir we will have to meet up! Yes I’m still collecting Q Jet cores. Thank you for the compliments, it’s great hearing from you!
Santa brought me a CSU custom Holley carb setup for E-85. The previous owner had it on a stock 5.3 LS with 27 psi and it made 944 rear wheel HP. I will have to re calibrate it but it will allow me to run higher compression vs the 9.3:1 I was planning for. E-85 has a bunch of advantages over race fuel. You can run higher static compression, and more boost, plus it burns much cooler, had a larger tuning window, and lower cost per gallon.
yes switching to E-85 on my skylark and then using the other turbo carb on my Regal. Just picking a turbo now, looking to keep it street legal and fun.
Some cool info here about E-85 vs traditional race fuel. A 1500 HP engine on race gas made 1900 on E-85 for a fraction of the cost per Gallon. https://borowskirace.com/blogs/news/pump-gas-or-e85-for-boosted-street-engines
I'm getting pretty darn eager to get the Buicks can on the road! In a few months the snow should be gone.
Making a bunch of 1/2” thick stainless Buick 350 header flanges if anyone wants some let me know. $60 US per flange. The prototype here:
Shuffling some engines and parts around. Getting ready to finish up the roughly 13:1 iron head buick 350 engine (forged internals). Selling a few LS engines... trying to get organized to assemble the 4 post lift this week.
we should establish a ANONYMOUS BUICK PARTS HOARDER HELP group lol I ve been there, when i moved to TX i got rid of a bunch of 350 parts, to be honest most went into the trash...
