The publisher dropped car craft which was a far more informative magazine and kept hot rod which I personally seemed like a bunch of wannabe people that probably never turned a wrench in their lives.
As a Buick “nut” myself I have built both the 350 and the big block family engines and they are very competitive against any other make. I had a 72 GS 350 that ran heads up against any other make. They make great torque and favorable hp. Also the Buick motors have a great weight advantage over other mfgs
Have a look at the Australian Leyland P76 tall deck alloy V8 270 ci motor based on the Rover , runs big valves and an alloy four barrel intake for a GM Quadrajet . The heads use chevy style rockers .
Unfortunately those Leyland 4.4 Liters were never available in the USA. I’d love to see one upclose and personal. I have heard of them before and would love to see one.
@@mr.roddersneighborhood2740 yeah tall deck , Alloy 270 ci , Australia put them in Leyland P76 cars trying to beat GM Holden and Ford Australia. Was a nice motor , it was going to go out to 368ci the 270 ci was the first motor , but Leyland Australia went bust and no bigger motors came about ! I would have loved to see a 6.0 litre Alloy Buick/Leyland !
I ran a switch pitch 400 in a '80 GMC Heavy Half from 1988 to 2008 behind a 350 then 454. I had a few problems but none related to the switch pitch set up. GM called the transmission with the switch pitch version of the 400 a Super Turbine 400. Non switch pitches were Turbo Hydramatic 400's. Kenny-Bell seems to be credited for naming them switch pitches. According to any literature that I found Chevys and Pontiacs never used them but several guys that worked in transmission shops back in the day said they saw many Pontiacs with them. Kenny-Bell claimed that a normal 400 converter would give up to 2:1 multiplication at max stall and a switch pitch would go up to 2.5:1 at max stall. I was told by a tranny guy once that multiplication was really 1.6:1 and 1.9:1. If you crunch the numbers you set the same results. GM made two sizes, a 10 inch for mid sized cars and 12.5 inch for large cars. GM apparently referred to the switch pitch converter as a 12.5 inch and a non switch version a 13 inch. Both converters were the same size and a switch pitch stator can be put in a normal 13 inch convertor. Three ways of telling are; 1.the splines on a switch pitch input shaft for the stator are markedly shorter. 2. If you stick your finger in a switch pitch converter you can't quite, or barely, touch the stator splines where you can more easily in a non version. 3. The pump also has passages and such all the way around the body whereas a non version doesn't. According to Kenny-Bell the lower the rpm the greater the difference there is between stall speeds. By 4000 rpm they have equalized. If you can find an early Turbo 400 book it gives the stator angles in fixed and switch pitches, I don't remember them but it's impressive engineering. Most things I see claim you need a switch pitch valve body but Kenny -Bell claimed you didn't. I ran both at different times and couldn't tell the difference. After a lot of experimenting I ended up using a dirt bike rear brake light switch mounted in a washer welded on the end of the throttle cable bracket and a spring to the bottom of the throttle arm on the carb so it pulled when the throttle was opened. The brake light switch is rugged, cheap, and the body is threaded with a round nut designed to fit in a lug welded on the bike frame, it then makes your activation point very adjustable. I also had a temporary on push button switch out of sight on the bottom lip of my dash where I could easily reach it as well. I was running propane {cheap then here in Canada} which used a selenoid for high idle. I used a sensor designed turn on a cold light in early '60s Chevys to activate a relay wired to the brake lights to give high stall to cut down on brake creep when stopped on high idle. I had OHG mixers which have a power valve or enrichment circuit that opened at @ 4.5 inches of vacuum and I found that cutting in the converter at @ 5 inches of vacuum seemed to be a little easier on fuel for normal driving and was noticeably more lively than just opening the enrichment circuits alone. Push the pedal a little farther and you get it all. What it allowed was when you go to pass in high gear it gave the feeling of going halfway to second, splitting high like a two speed rear axle in a larger truck popped into low range would feel like. It's much smoother on icy roads when you are looking a little bit more than kicking down to second and getting too much. My hot rodding friends thought I had two heads when I was tinkering with this but after a couple of rides they always wanted to drive. One thing you can do to your 400 is getting the planetary gears from a medium duty truck 400. they are a 2.98 first gear ratio instead of the normal 2.48 but, they are straight cut gears and not that easy to find. I'm not sure how much noisier they are, I've been told they sound like an M22 rock crusher. I don't know but I'm going to find out. An old, from the sixties transmission book I have somewhere claimed the 1964 Buick Super Turbine had planetary ratios around that ratio and in 1965 they went to the 2.48's. I wonder if they were helical cut. I don't know but I'm looking for one. Also the Gear Vendors overdrive splits ever gear so that would eliminate the larger steps between the gears. Money, money, money I know but interesting stuff to think about. You could have a 12 speed transmission. No lockup, but otherwise right in there with the new stuff, two more speeds than the Allison in my 2024 High Country HD 2500. I ran soft Pirelli all season tires and with the weight of my propane tank and posi it didn't spin the tires very well but I could bounce someones head off the back window if they weren't prepared any time I wanted to. One thing all the old tranny guys that I talked to told me if you're going to use it on hills for towing, run a big cooler. According to John Kilgore Automatics the low ratio planetaries, switch pitch and overdrive combination was the darling of the GM motorhome crowd until the bigger overdrive transmissions came along. One year of Toronados used it too, I think 1966, which had the front wheel drive GM motorhome guys looking for them. Bottom line, those who have them, love them.
Someone should weld up a year 2005 Buick V6 and add 2 cylinders same with the heads and make a modern day Buick LS . As this Buick Small Block is were the 3800 and 4100 V6 injected Buicks came from.
The LS engine is a v8 variant of the Stage 2 v6 Buick. Technically the 300 Buick is a v8 version of the 225 v6, which is what because the 3.8 and 4.1 liter v6. The entire small block Buick and v6 Buick engine family is 100% a derivative of the 215 All Aluminum Buick V8. Even the 400-455 takes its linage from the 215.
@@mr.roddersneighborhood2740 that's my point , except the 2005 Buick V6 as a V8 cut up would be different ! I think you might want to look up some pics of the 1988 to 1998 Holden 5.0 and 5.8 injected engines , if you want to see were the LS came from , the Holden came out as a 5.0 litre injected version of the older 308 ci V8 and 253ci V8 only made in Australia. Once you see a pic of this engine you will know what I'm talking about , the Holden 5.0 EFI has the exact same intake as LS1 but in alloy, same port layout and location as LS1, same engine mounts, same type roller cam/lifters , same bellhousing , same Delco engine management, but the Holden was designed in late 1980s 10 years B4 LS1 came out .
Do you've any idea where i could find a full rocker arm assembly for the 430.4? I recently got a Wildcat and it came without them, could i buy some from a different buick model?
Unfortunately the early rocker assemblies were only used from 1967-1969, but were available on a 400 Buick also. You can buy refurbished early rocker assemblies from TA performance in Scottsdale, AZ.
I have a buick 310 cui engine from 1966 and i have the intake manifold aluminum from a 64 because i would like to install a 4bl carburetor. How far as i understand it would fit but is that making sense? And would be possible to make the ports bigger of the intake manifold to fit the 66 heads? Greetings from Switzerland.
Yes you can make the ports bigger on the intake to accommodate the 65-67 heads, but you will run out of room to port it fully to match. Compare the 65-67 300 intake gaskets to the 64 manifold and you will see exactly what I’m talking about. But… it’s not really an issue since the head port is larger than the intake port. If it was the other way around, it would impact flow terribly.
@@mr.roddersneighborhood2740 thanks a lot for your fast response. I will give it a try and see how it works. Im not sure wich gasket i should use so i ordered the 64 and 66. would you port the heads as good as possible or leave it just as they are?
That I’ve never tried. The drum Is small, just like the g body and s10 style drums I used. If the 67-69 Camaro came with 9” drums in the front, then yes they should fit.
Would you please comment on the Engine to Transmission Adapter Plates useful to transplant any GM LT1, 350, 400, or 327 into a P38 V8 Range Rover 4.6 L HSE due to slipped cylinder Liners, I would prefer to transplant a Chevy, GMC, or Buick, V8, or even a Nissan VK 5.6 L V8. Thank you
Somebody got their feelers hurt... There were plenty of other stock block Indy engines, besides the ones mentioned... Flathead Ford, Studebaker. Pontiac. Plymouth. Rambler inline six. Ad nauseam. Repco started with surplus Olds versions, with more head bolts, before switching to new in-house version. Open chamber, no-quench wedge, is nothing like a poly, or pentroof. Standing up the valves, without raising the ports, is a step backwards. Olds are 6 degrees, and flow poorly too. Where are the specs for 290hp? All I've ever seen is the 11:1 4bbl at 250hp.
My all original 1965 Olds Delta 88 has the switch pitch setup. The clue was the throttle assembly with two wires coming from it. Trips people up at care shows all the time. Rarely to folks know what it is.
This ST400 is not a lockup converter, it has two different stall speeds on a switch. I’m sure since the TH425 is very much a TH400, I’d bet it can be done if the pump and input shaft are interchangeable.
@@mr.roddersneighborhood2740 I’m about to order a switch pitch for a project and would love to be able to lock this thing up. It just dawned on me that maybe, since they use the same converter switch pitch or not.
It'd be awesome if you could switch it manually a torque converter from high to low stall with a switch forget all the vacuum lines maybe a relay switch.
I use a high grit stone like 320 and up. The ideal thing is to get the crosshatch right at a 45 degree angle. Vary your speed of the drill and your arm and you will find the right routine to create the right pattern. If you screw it up, hone it again. It would take a year of honing to make it unusable, so don’t worry about damaging the cylinder surface. Practice, practice, practice and it will fall into place.
@@mr.roddersneighborhood2740 Awsome! One followup question - do you spin the hone in one direction only or do you run your drill in forward and reverse?
very interesting info about the buick 455. Since that number 4 bearing is 2.5 wide, would installing a volume oil pump to assure oil to all the bearings make a difference ? anyway thanks for this video.
I do not use high volume pumps on a 455. By opening the oil passages and by smoothing radius the turns inside the timing cover and block, oil is not really an issue. The high volume pumps put so much load on the cam gear that they cause severe and premature wear on the gear.
Did you watch the video? That’s exactly what we did after fighting all the issues to begin with. Ballast resistor, points issues, carb issues. Finally broke it in at 2000 rpm for 20 minutes.
I had a guy bring me a pair of carbs from a dual quad 427 last summer that were burned badly and had fire extinguisher debris sitting on them. I dumped and cleaned out my glass beads and changed my tip for Medium soda from HF. It worked amazing and I was able to save the main bodies, baseplates and metering blocks. Any good plating stays in tact unless you lay on it to long. I think you should try it out the next time you need to clean the inside of one like this. I would go to coarse for one as bad as this. Finish up with ultrasonic if you think any got stuck in the passages. On the Holleys I had good dry air and just blew them off.
I’m not too sure, somewhere the Rover got a redesigned oil system. If it’s similar to the Buick timing cover, then yes… if it’s the later design, most likely no, but the same principals apply.
I wash mine like you did yours, but I immediately spray everywhere using WD-40 pump bottle, then follow up with KleanStrip Prep-All, mask everything, paint (Using Dupli-color paints)and then go back and use ATF to coat everything that is not painted. Never had any issues with paint adhesion or any flash rusting.
In 1964 I ordered a new 1965 Skylark with the 300-4 high compression engine 4 speed 370 posi rear 2 door hardtop and dual exhaust. It surprised a lot of GTO and MUSTANG owners and small block chevy guys with glasspacks it really sounded great, right now I'm working on a 67 Skylark convertible it has a 340-4 I did exchange the switch pitch for a 2004r turbo hydramatic. I do enjoy your posts.
Nice score !! I been horting up Accel dual point Parts the last to few years for my small block Mopar. Check out the Vintage Mallory Doublelife distributors arguably the best dual point sets ever !
My wife has a pretty rowdy Buick 350 with pretty much the whole TA Performance catalog thrown at it with a 2004r in her Skylark and my basically stock rebuild SBC 406/th350 in my full size Bel Air pulls harder. The Buick sounds great and is nice to work on but it sure is expensive per horsepower. It may be a better base design but it's a hard sell for someone who wants to go fast on a reasonable budget. It's definitely an engine you choose for emotional reasons
Is why you put in squirters on the far holes.. rather than the drip youl get a directed drip aimed right on the money shot.. take a little shitty toyota 2az motor.. they’re known for burning oil which winds up overheating or melting a bearing. Its because the piston design is crap with 4 small holes in the oil ring that get clogged up solid along with the rod holes. That causes gum to clog different passages with that hot burnt oil.. the fix is installing squirters to directly lube everything if the pistons get clogged up and doesnt allow oil to return like it should, the squirters put the oil right on the spots..
Yeah, I can see the welds. Thanks for posting Bruce Roe's adress and e-mail info. It's good to see that someone is still dedicated to keeping Switch-Pitch technology alive
