Buick 350 or carb'd turbo 231

[techg8]

whatever youre going to put in it youll have to spend real money to go real fast.

put in something that you will enjoy working on.

Ive put a stock Buick 350 and a carbed turbo 6 in my 83 cutlass, for the fun of it.

In the end I preferred the SBB because it required less tinkering to get the performance I wanted.

The turbo 231 was a fun project, but stock turbo'd it maxxed out at about 10-11lbs boost before detonation became too much of a problem. It required rear gear change to spool and perform well. With turbos its all about the boost you can cram in there, so it was no world beater. I would venture a guess at mid-high 15s in the 1/4. Stock 78 321 turbo setup.

Probably about the same for the 350.

Generally speaking, I found the SBB350 more fun to drive, as the torque mentioned in previous posts gave it a better bottom end.

ANd call me a butthead, but the V8 sounded one helluva lot better.

 

[jetsetw31]

I have a buick 350 in my cutlass...a strong one. I also have a hot air 84 grand national 3.8 that eats the cutlass lunch. Actually the GN will eat most if not all big blocks, small blocks, as well as late model cars on the road....it is not stock,

I meant stock Hot Air cars tobyp. A stock Buick 350 with a 4bbl and duals, in a Gbody with a 200R4 and 3.42 rear gears can run with any stock 84 and 85 GN. A modified GN will always have the advantage.
T

 

[pencero]

I notice when I see a GN at the track it sort of JUMPS off the line whereas other G-bodies really don't. That little less weight and the mild improvements on the 200r4's really make a difference in those first few seconds of the race than a heavy outdated 350 setup that anyone could build. I would still rather have the 350 any day for a daily driver, but at the track I can see why a guy would stick with the Turbo6 and try to make an *ss out of people who spent thousands of dollars just to show up and lose to a v6.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Depends on what year of GN, the early carb turbos do not have the power potential as the late efi, intercooled, turbos do. They jump off the line because the driver holds the brake with one foot or with a Trans brake, and taps the throttle with the other foot to spool up the turbo at the line causing the car to jump. However turbo Buick V6s all suffer from head gasket sealing issues and the parameters must be watched like a hawk with scanmasters and dataloggers to prevent blowing the motor.