Buick 3.8 to Buick 350-1981 Century Wagon Build

Blake442

Geezer
Apr 24, 2007
6,864
1,996
113
Minneapolis
Finally got some pictures up...

For starters, here's the fancy new radiator for it...
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You can see how much I cut out of each hose... I should've gotten V8 hoses instead of V6 hoses... oh well.
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To fix the fan shroud, I had to trim each corner like so...
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And then I made this fancy spacer...
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Carb all torn apart...
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I cut the end off the stock V6 fuel line and put a quick flare on it...
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My custom throttle cable stud... I made it with my Dremel and it works like a charm... :banana:
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All hooked up
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Runs like a top!
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Stance is sweet, but it needs new shocks desparately...
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Blake442

Geezer
Apr 24, 2007
6,864
1,996
113
Minneapolis
I'm not proud of the exhaust... :lol:
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Two brackets for the V6 accessory drive didn't line up and need to be modified.
This first one that goes to the alternator misses the hole in the intake.
The car will be getting a 4bbl manifold, so it wasn't worth the time to find a solution.
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The other that comes off the back of the a/c compressor is close, but will need to be lengthened.
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All shined up! :banana:
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G-Body_Vet

Comic Book Super Hero
Oct 15, 2010
2,937
81
48
Cool to see it up and running now. How does it feel compared to the old V6? BTW, I'd leave those 3.8 Liter badges on the fender too!
 

Blake442

Geezer
Apr 24, 2007
6,864
1,996
113
Minneapolis
The 350 is nite and day from what it was with the old V6!
No more nervously watching the rear view mirror as I try to pull out into traffic... :lol:

The 3.8 litre badges will stay, for now. When I bought the car, one was in the glove box so I put it back on.
The other had clearly been masked off for some paint touch up, so removing it would reveal a nice noticeable patch of different paint hue... they help complete the vibe of the car anyways.

I'm really happy with how everything on this car came together, and it's not very often you can pull off a complete motor/trans swap like this for under $500 like I did. Granted, I did cut a few corners, but given my time frame I had to work with I'm as happy as a clam! :banana: I almost want to keep it now... :lol:

Hopefully I can put a few more miles on it before it gets loaded up and sent to it's new home in California.
 

307 Regal

Royal Smart Person
Oct 21, 2009
1,667
915
113
Northern Indiana
Glad everything worked out! Love to see a video of it running or driving.
I'd really like to do this to my own car one day. It'll be far down the road though.
 

v2vera

G-Body Guru
Sep 13, 2010
710
41
28
in the Desert!
Blake442 said:
Lue said:
v2vera said:
Awesome work. I think its gonna look good once you get it all buttoned up and painted. I hope I dont have to do that to my car :(

Just in case, try to get ahold of some late 70's 350 valve covers.

Nah dude, I'll sell you the templates I made for $50! :lol:


Im crossing my fingers mine will clear but if it doesnt youll be receiving a pm from me lol but well negotiate on the price haha
 

Blake442

Geezer
Apr 24, 2007
6,864
1,996
113
Minneapolis
It's pretty easy to do if it comes to that, but hopefully you'll have enough room to avoid it...
I could've made it look really nice if I had taken the motor back out, but **** that noise. :lol:


I took the junk engine and trans to the local recycler and got $30 for it. Together they weighed 536 lbs.

The wagon should be headed out west in a couple weeks! :banana:
 

Blake442

Geezer
Apr 24, 2007
6,864
1,996
113
Minneapolis
Final update on the wagon.
I got a new pair of hood shocks for it since the 30 year old originals wouldn't hold the hood up when it was below 50* outside...

The wagon should be leaving for California in the next few days... :banana:
 

85cut420

Apprentice
Nov 19, 2011
99
1
0
Wake Co, NC
Good looking swap, you know what you're doing. I was thinking of doing the same on my Cutty, but it's not worth the money and time to me as the car is for sale. Too bad you won't get to put more miles on it and drive it before you ship it off, I'd love to see the faces of the Civic punks when they get owned by an old school wagon.
 

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