Buick 350
- Thread starter Street Sweeper22
- Start date
Ok, that makes sense. He said he bought the motor to put in a jeep but ended up buy a jeep with a V8 already in it.
I wish neoprene RMS was available when I was putting the Buick 455 together. Suppose I was successful with the rope seal as it didn't leak. Anyhoo...seems like there's neoprene offerings for most of the rope seal engines and worth researching what's available. Seem to remember the V6 stuff interchange so timing covers and oil pump upgrades are plentiful.
Valve cover gaskets felpro vs 50034R is discontinued. They're hard to find so you might want to start looking for them now. I just bought a set on eBay. I never liked cork gaskets.
I don't care what the gasket is made of. They all fail. I still use a nice schmear of Ultra Black on every gasket. I never get leaks again. I think I used a TA neoprene rear main seal many moons go. At the time they were hard to find but now even Fleabay has them. Just get a good name brand not a cheapola knock-off.
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How did I miss this nugget of a thread?
Northern Auto Parts (based out of western Iowa, where I am
) has cheap rebuild/rering kits available. Get flat top (no dish) pistons for a buick 3.0/181cu v6, slap them on the rods and you'll get around 9-9.3:1 compression. Runs anything from 87 to 91 no issue. Granted I have a way to big TA_310 cam (.510 something lift, 310 duration), so that helps bleed off some cylinder pressure. If I had a stock cam or say a TA_112 or 212 that'd be a bit hard on 87.
Swap them gears and transmission first. Buicks hate rpm unless specifically built for it, and driving my 350 at 3500rpm on the highway always scares me.
Like the ford FE, you will have low oil pressure. That's just how they are. 10psi per 1000 rpm is the general spec, also the light will come on at idle in gear off the highway, it will. Ignore it. Dont bandaid with thick oil, that'll just shear the oil pump gear off the shaft in cold weather.
Bearing clearances should be .00175-.002 and no higher. Oil pump gear face to pump gasket surface should have maximum .002 clearance or hot idle oil pressure will suffer. Your engine was from a jeep, so unless it was swapped out, it will probably be the 68/69 engines that oil through the rocker arms like a mopar instead of the pushrods like a civilized engine. Even though that adapter is broken, keep it. They're hard to find and someone may pay a pretty penny for it.
You can get gaskets and stuff at any parts store, but make damn sure you get them for a buick and not a chevy 350. I always ask for stuff for a 1970 buick skylark with a 350 4 barrel so that almost garuntees it wont get chevy parts popping up in their dumb system. TA performance makes a nice intake manifold and HEI distributor, but without a cam swap the 4 barrel swap is just wasted money.
Northern Auto Parts (based out of western Iowa, where I am
) has cheap rebuild/rering kits available. Get flat top (no dish) pistons for a buick 3.0/181cu v6, slap them on the rods and you'll get around 9-9.3:1 compression. Runs anything from 87 to 91 no issue. Granted I have a way to big TA_310 cam (.510 something lift, 310 duration), so that helps bleed off some cylinder pressure. If I had a stock cam or say a TA_112 or 212 that'd be a bit hard on 87. Swap them gears and transmission first. Buicks hate rpm unless specifically built for it, and driving my 350 at 3500rpm on the highway always scares me.
Like the ford FE, you will have low oil pressure. That's just how they are. 10psi per 1000 rpm is the general spec, also the light will come on at idle in gear off the highway, it will. Ignore it. Dont bandaid with thick oil, that'll just shear the oil pump gear off the shaft in cold weather.
Bearing clearances should be .00175-.002 and no higher. Oil pump gear face to pump gasket surface should have maximum .002 clearance or hot idle oil pressure will suffer. Your engine was from a jeep, so unless it was swapped out, it will probably be the 68/69 engines that oil through the rocker arms like a mopar instead of the pushrods like a civilized engine. Even though that adapter is broken, keep it. They're hard to find and someone may pay a pretty penny for it.
You can get gaskets and stuff at any parts store, but make damn sure you get them for a buick and not a chevy 350. I always ask for stuff for a 1970 buick skylark with a 350 4 barrel so that almost garuntees it wont get chevy parts popping up in their dumb system. TA performance makes a nice intake manifold and HEI distributor, but without a cam swap the 4 barrel swap is just wasted money.
Also, a ford 460 rear main seal fits. I never use side seals, just a bunch of RTV schmoozed into the crevice, some on the mating surface of the cap where it touches the block, and some on the bellhousing side. Ive had good luck with cork in the past, but eventually they will shrink up and leak. Mine did themselves in after 35,000 miles.
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