Buick 3.8 to Buick 350-1981 Century Wagon Build

[Oldsmoletick]

Though I have gotten pretty good at removing and installing g-body hoods by myself without damaging anything

x2! It's nice being 6'2" with long arms :lol:

Yes it is!! but I'm 6'1 :lol:

 

[G_Body_Enthusiast]

this'll be fun to follow. i plan on putting in a buick 350 with a 2004r though. cant wait to see how this works out.

 

[Blake442]

Though I have gotten pretty good at removing and installing g-body hoods by myself without damaging anything

x2! It's nice being 6'2" with long arms :lol:

Yes it is!! but I'm 6'1 :lol:

I removed/installed the hood on my Cutlass wagon by myself (I needed the light) for it's motor swap.
I did it, but my back wasn't happy with me... The aluminum hoods sure are a lot easier to lug around.
And I'm also 6'2". It comes in handy every once in a while... :lol:

I had a friend of mine sandblast the exhaust manifolds for me and throw a coat of hi-temp paint on them for me. I told him to use whatever he had laying around, so they're black.
Once I wake up later this afternoon I'll grab a new 3/8" tap and finish fixing the last bolt hole, and I can throw the manifolds back on. There is a small crack at the bottom of the center ports on the driver-side manifold, but I'm not concerned about it right now. Probably caused by the uneven stress caused by the broken bolts...

Transmission and then motor should be in the car tomorrow.

 

[Blake442]

Made some good progress on the wagon on Friday nite and Saturday.
As far as everything I've done so far, I'm blown away at how easy this swap has been, and am flat out stunned that more people don't take this option as opposed to all the extra dicking around to put a SBC in instead.
Can't wait to get back over and start hooking everything up.

Friday I got the second bolt hole repaired finally.
Turns out there was still a small piece of the easy-out left in the hole (the smallest chunk), and that's what broke the first tap...
The second largest chunk is what was left of the original bolt (guess I didn't drill straight 😳 )
The rest is the broken tap...

Manifolds all cleaned up...

Crack in the drivers side manifold...

Ready to drop in Saturday afternoon...

TH-350 in place. I was even able to re-use the cooler lines from the Metric 200...
Anybody got an extra TH-350 kickdown cable laying around?

350 going in...

350 in place!

Valve cover clearance is 0. The cylinder head is actually touching the a/c box.
Looks like I'll be making some cuts and fabbing up a small section to get the necessary space.
Hopefully I'll be able to snake the transmission dipstick back in. I had to take it out because it was wedged inbetween the head and the firewall.

 

[tobyp]

I'd like to see how you overcome the AC box clearance issues and the Trans dipstick issues. I have the same swap going in this weekend. I'd live to take care of the A/c box or eliminate it if it causes too many issues. That Trans dipstick concerns me a bit though.

I'm going to put my build on now as well, I feel same about the swap, very easy.

 

[G-Body_Vet]

-I'm blown away at how easy this swap has been, and am flat out stunned that more people don't take this option as opposed to all the extra dicking around to put a SBC in instead.

-TH-350 in place. I was even able to re-use the cooler lines from the Metric 200...

-Valve cover clearance is 0. The cylinder head is actually touching the a/c box.

This is what I've been saying for years! You can't beat how everything drops right in. it's almost as easy as a 307 to 403 swap for an Olds.

IIRC, the trans lines usually just need a tiny amount of tweaking to work...another plus!

I'm glad you mentioned the a/c box issue. I completely forgot about that. I remember having that problem in a '78 Cutlass, but don't recall it being an issue in an '83 Cutlass with the same swap. Maybe I just don't remember, but it's still a good point when doing this swap. Can't wait to see the final product!

 

[Blake442]

Luckily, before I started the swap I read on V8Buick that a fellow had experienced trouble with the '70 valve covers (that I also have), but was able to sneak a later '70s cover in place to make it work.
However, I just don't have the room. I don't know if it's because of sagging body mounts or what, but it'll be easy to cut out a chunk and fab up a piece of tin and rivet it in place like I had to do on my 442...

The dipstick issue may vary depending on what variation of the tube you have.
I was using the tube out of the '70 Skylark, and it should have worked, but I think I screwed up. 😳
The trans was sitting all the way back on it's mount, so when I dropped in the motor onto it's mounts, it was still an inch away from the bellhousing flange. To hopefully remedy it, I pulled the motor back up and yanked out the tube, only to find I still had the same problem. :x I was then able to wiggle the trans forward enough to get some bolts started and pull it into place.
I'm sure there is plenty of tubes out there with the necessary angles to make for a clean installation...
I just need to find out which one it is because I'm NOT putting one of those awful Lokar dipsticks in

 

[G-Body_Vet]

I don't recall who makes them, but there is a fairly cheap universal dipstick tube out there. IIRC, you have some adjust-ability options with the bracket

 

[tobyp]

Definately keep me posted about the dipstick and trans issues and post some pics, I'll do the same.

Funny,

Two SBB swaps going on at the same time.

 

[Blake442]

Another thing I forgot to mention was my choice of bolt-holes to use to hook the chain up to the motor on the back of the passenger side cylinder head. There was no room to remove the bolt once the motor was in place. Since I sure as hell wasn't going to pull the motor back out, I said **** it and backed the bolt out, making a nice dent in the firewall in the process...

A motor plate that bolts to the carb flange would prevent this, but alas, I didn't have one...