Sounds expensive. I have about $2000 But I need a bunch of little things too. Distributor, coil, timing set, water pump, oil pump, gaskets, seals and I’m sure a few other things I’m forgetting. Would a cam be worth the juice?
Buick 350
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I've been pretty quiet on this thread, mostly because much of what I'd add gets covered before I see things.
That said... I like to go through levels of invasiveness, and, through levels of necessity.
You have choice a) just get it running, reliably, and at the minimal cost. Here you do what I call spring cleaning, things guys have said - oil pump, check bearings, replace gaskets and seals, do your pumps, tstat, ignition parts, etc. Maybe you check the existing carb out, or get a perfect working and cheap 2bbl & intake combo someone pulled for a 4bbl. Beyond that... you save your bullets so to speak. You actually plan on future downtime for the car where you get into pistons, cams, shaving heads, port jobs, carb upgrades, so on so forth.
Then there's choice b) you plan what your garage/downtime situation is like, and, thinking about exactly what you need before you're happy with the car, you do stuff to avoid repeated efforts. Then, you do the most invasive stuff first, while the engine is out, and things are pulled apart. Heads you can change in the car later to add porting. Maybe you choose a big carb or a FI conversion down the road. That's all easy to lean over a fender and mess with. A cam you might as well do while everything is already apart, front cover is off, oil pump is getting redone, etc and it's already apart under this approach.
Time also impacts things. Looking for DEALS saves you money and gets you further. Getting it done NOW means paying higher prices for stuff. So you can stretch your budget based on how things work for you, and, your rush to get it together.
So I got about six weeks until my daughter is out of school and that’s when I plan on d the swap. I plan on doing the engine and transmission at the same time. I already have everything for the transmission. I have about $2000 to spend on the swap. I realistically have about $3500 but I’m gonna need exhaust, springs and a few other suspension pieces I wanted to address while I’m at it. Plus I want to reseal my ac/heater box also. I really only want to do this once. I want to throw everything I can at it and once it goes in that’s how it’s going to stay. It’s on to the interior and paint after this. So that’s my plan.
If I was you I would leave it alone, except for the oil pump kit. Get it running and evaluate it. I had a 1968 LaSabre and the 350 had very high compression that made driving difficult. I found out Buick set the compression by the pistons so any head will fit any block and the compression stays the same. I swapped the 1968 block for a 1974 block, put the big valve '68 heads and 4 barrel intake w/Q-jet on the '74 block, and had a very good breathing low compression 350. From that point on the 350 was a super duper street engine and motivated that land yacht no problem.
Yeah to be honest I feel like I’m getting ahead of myself. I still need to get it torn down first. I haven’t even taken the oil pan off yet. You guys know how it is though
There is some discrepancy with head swapping... i dont remember if its early block with late heads or late block with early heads, after 74 i belive they changed the water passage ports so a certain combo will leak coolant into the valley, not that you have to worry about that. Granted i already had an aluminum intake and headers and a good built qjet, disregarding those, you can realistically build it for around $1500. If the cross hatch in the cylinders is good, id leave it alone in that regard. If the bearings are in good shape and clearances measure out fine, leave em. If the oil pump measures fine, leave it. If the front cam bearing isnt grooved up, still install the TA bearing. As said, better oiling by moving the oil hole from the bottom to 7 and 3 o clock. Northern auto parts sells re ring kits for a few hundred, and it cost me about $400 to have my heads gone through as i described. I used the 980 springs because thats what the GN guys use, but i had to have my guides cut to use the smaller viton seals because the larger oe style hit the damper in the spring and i didnt want to remove em. As for exhaust, TA sells downpipes that fit the manifolds and go under the crossmember on the driver's side so you dont even have to buy a new dual hump one yet. Unless you bought one for the new trans already. That's all i really have to add at this point.
How deep is the ridge? The very top of the cylinder bore above the top ring where it doesn't get worn.
It looks like it has a fair amount of miles on it but it does appear it was taken care of.
To remove the lifters you need a tool like this.
It looks like it has a fair amount of miles on it but it does appear it was taken care of.
To remove the lifters you need a tool like this.
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