Challenge accepted.. lol There were a few that nobody’s gotten of them was Roy Orbison pretty woman I was pretty proud that nobody got that. I think it’s the Nash Healy episode but I’m not 100% sure it’s around that episode there was three episodes. Nobody got one of them was a cars song moving in stereo I think I don’t remember the episode. I’ll have to go back and look generally everybody gets the name that tune stuff so I don’t have to remember it for a long time and that was always what happens if I forget what it was. lol I’m good for a couple days but not months later
That block was super light. In auto tech school in 1973 I painted one bare block chevy orange and packed it through the halls on my shoulder with some bug eyed observers. Some were converted to V8 2 man chainsaws.
The photo at 1:35 shows the back of two engines. On the left is the Buick 215, but on the right is the 1964 Buick 300, which is a cast iron block version of the 215. Note that the 300 has the :normal B-O-P bellhousing bolt pattern, the block does not extend below the crank centerline, and the starter bolts to the block rather than to the bellhousing. Also note that it still uses aluminum cylinder heads. In 66, they bored and stroked that to 340 cubes and the heads went to cast iron. The 215, and especially the 300, was also sort of the genesis of the 430 and 455 Buick V8s starting in 67. Sounds like you did your research pretty well here, Jay!
Let me add this: the bellhousing bolt pattern for the 215 would only fit the crappy automatic transmissions that Buick and Olds offered with these cars.
Thank you so much for pointing that out they both looked like Buick engines because of the valve cover arrangement but I didn’t want to use the other picture with the distributor in the front to show the difference between the nail head and the 215 so it was hard finding a picture for that.. Happy dig this episode =)
People may have forgotten, but I knew people who were around when the 215 V8 was the latest and greatest. They remember that the 215 V8 had some serious overheating issues. The basic design was retained but Buick remade the engine in cast iron. They also increase the displacement. I remember seeing 310 on the air cleaners, but in Buick lingo(and like Edsel) the numbers represented torque and not displacement. That engine came out in 1964 and at the same time Buick introduced the ST 400(later TH400) and the Powerglide-based ST 300. For 1964, the ST 400 was available in a mid-size Buick and behind the new 310. Yep. I drove one and was surprised that it was a 3-speed automatic. It had no 2nd gear position. Man, that car flew! Now, sadly, GM forgot what it had learned from the 215 V8. When it created the new Vega 4cyl., they decided to cast the block out of aluminum, but didn't use liners. The block design had an open deck.They made the head out of cast iron and because of dissimilar metals having different heating and cooling properties, the head gasket was being scrubbed and soon there would be combustion leaks. The engine rebuilders had already been sleeving the block, but GM finally caught on and introduced the Dura-built engines, which came from the factory sleeved. When GM went for the next aluminum block engine, it was the Cadillac HT 4100. This started life with cylinder liners, which were wet liners(not integrally cast into the block). These engines created another learning experience for GM, with problems showing up immediately. I probably would go for the Olds Jetfire, as long as it had a manual transmission. The automatic was the disastrous Roto-Hydramatic.
Iv got a 63 skylark convertible with the 215v8 4 barrel 2speed runs like a bat outa hell 75-80 mph all day long All original barn find with 80 k miles Thanks for your video!!!!
I've always liked the front fenders and grill of that Buick special, and the wagon wears it equally well. On the second choice my "be different" gene picks the Olds but my "exciting" gene picks the Corvair. The Olds wins the fight, film at 11... Of course GM should have kept and developed this engine as is proven by it's long-lived success with Rover. It's a popular hot-rod-mod basis in places where that brand was common and can produce some great horsepower-to-weight numbers, as well as the lightness making it far more suitable for swapping into smaller lighter cars without ruining the F to R weight balance like a cast iron engine would. The V6 developed off this was the 231 odd-fire which had some vibration issues, then was reworked into the legendary 3.8L even-fire engine which again proves the potential for this concept that GM prematurely sold. I don't do social media but whatever you bring us it will as always be interesting. Thanks for putting in all the work to bring us these vids Jay 😁
Definitely going to cover the rover as well as the fireball. V6 as well. Figured we needed a genesis point for both of those engines plus this engine never gets talked about but it seems like a lot of people in the automotive sector decided to talk about this engine at the same time, and I can tell you on my end it wasn’t planned lol just happens that way sometimes where a lot of the automotive channels have the same ideas. =) I can’t tell you how happy I am to just have this opportunity to do this. This is all I ever wanted to do. I wanted to be an automotive journalist but I wanted to be an automotive journalist for Classic Cars, but I wouldn’t consider myself a journalist per se I just like making mini documentaries on Classic Cars. Thank you so much for digging this channel as well as sharing your wealth of knowledge, as well as information stories, and most importantly, thank you so much for sharing the memories with all of us =)
Awesome Definitely going to cover the Rover V8 as well as the fireball V6 but figured we needed to establish this episode before getting into those .. =) Glad you dig this episode
Lots of information here I was not aware of before, so thank you for your research. I chose the Pontiac Wagon because I had a high school friend with one. He gave my girl friend and I a ride in it. The girl friend was being annoying by playing with the controls on the dash, He pointed out not to touch one of those controls, so she waited until we were doing about 50 to push the transmission control into reverse. Not sure why that didn't destroy that car, but it survived. Never got an offer for a ride again. The guy across the street had one of the turbo cars. He was a self declared car expert, that managed to rig it up so if he ran out of boost fluid the car would still give him boost. It absolutely blew up at the end of his drive way coming home from work one day. That was the end of that car. A few years later the same neighbor had a VW 412 - just about the first electronic fuel injected car around. If you popped the hood there was a big sticker warning you not to jump start the car. So he did anyway. Another junked out car for his driveway. He wasn't very sharp, but his four daughters were really cute.
The Australian company Leyland produced a car in Australia around the 1970s called the Leyland P76 it had a big block version of the 215 , tall deck block different heads , it was 270 ci that was later to be increased to 368 ci but never got there . The Aussie F1 Champion Sir Jack Brabam along with REPCO Australia took the Oldsmobile version and cast/built double over head cam and 32 valve heads for it ! They won 1960s Formula 1 championship with it and in a car built in Australia by Sir Jack Bramam , the only person in F1 to be a owner/builder and driver to Win F1 in that capacity . Probably the only GM engine ever to win F1.
The 215 CID aluminum V-8 was NOT available in the 1963 Model Year Pontiac Tempest/Lemans. For 1963, the optional V-8 for the Tempest/Lemans was a 326 CID cast iron V-8 (actually 336 CID for just one year). I owned a 1963 Pontiac Temoest sports coupe with a 3-speed manual transmission. It was awesome! A year earlier, I owned a 1962 Oldsmobile F-85 with the little 215 V-8, automatic & factory air conditioning. It was certainly nice but not awesome. I lusted after a used turbocharged 1962 Olds Jetfire with 215 HP but couldn't afford the salesman's lowball offer for my little 4-door in trade. JJS
Good research. It was a good idea, but aluminum blocks and heads tend to have issues related to the casting process. Some Chevy Corvette aluminum engines were manufactured by Mercury Marine in Stillwater, Oklahoma because of their experience with aluminum. The 215 engine was also used in the Triumph TR8 and MGB-GT V8
The General's problem came from the cast iron cylinders and core shift. When Rover purchased the rights and tooling, they used pressed in liners and beefed the blocks a bit. They did have a minor problem with liners coming loose and slipping. Repair was to put "top hat" liners in with a bit of a lip on the top. One thing Rover should have done would have been to install the 6th head bolt as the Oldsmobile block had, but install from the lifter valley. Eventually Rover cross bolted the mains to stop main cap walking on the larger displacement newer engines.
Hi Jay! These engine episodes just keep getting better and better! Somehow, the fact that these engines were aluminum escaped me somehow! I had, of course heard of the Olds turbo version, as the induction system is pretty much similar to the Corvair one. The Corvair one doesn't have the water injection, though. GM was on an aluminum engine kick around 1959. The Corvair engine was supposed to have aluminum cylinders that were a special alloy that precluded having to have cylinder liners(!). Fortunately, they changed their minds and did cast iron cylinders, but it hurt the balance of the car, as the engine was much heavier than designed. Anyway, I also knew about the Buick/Rover V--8, but the fact that THAT engine was aluminum as well. By the way GM DID come out with the liner-less aluminum engine, on the VEGA!! It didn't work there, either!! WYR's are really hard this time! I like all the wagons, but am going to pick the Buick. #2 Is even more difficult! The Corvair was a little smaller car, but had only 160 h.p. in the earlier 145 Cu. In. version. The Olds had all that power but had that water injection system, which is a bit of a nuisance. We'll go Olds, I guess. Just put a 5 gallon water injection tank in the trunk!!
WYR: - Buick Special wagon. In ‘61, Buick had the best looking cars of all the GM divisions, IMO. When I saw the ‘61 Invicta, I immediately wanted one. This Special had the Invicta/LeSabre front end styling. - Corvair. Another car from the 60’s that was unique and interesting. In their day, air cooled engines had a lot going for them. Ralph Nader was (is) a bsatard !
Great vid. Just fyi, the 190-hp 215 ci V8 with 4-barrel carb in the ‘62 Buick Skylark had 11:1 compression ratio, not 10.25:1. It was one of the first compact luxury cars back in the day, but the lack of torque hampered its performance. I always felt the 215 would have been a great choice for the Opel GT. 😊
Errata, Oldsmobile gave up on the Turbo, not Chevy. Buick heads work on Olds blocks, the Buick block did not have enough bolt holes tor the Olds heads. I would rather have the Starfire because they are so much rarer than the Monza Spyder. The block was the basis for the engine in the 1966 World F1 champion Repco-Braham with Repco building custom single over head cam heads to fit the Olds block bolt pattern. 1962 Dan Gurney drove in the Indy 500 in a Mikey Thompson car with a Buick engine. The 215 was the progenitor of the Buick 300, 340 and 350 engines. I am not sure but I think Reynolds Aluminum was GM's partner on the aluminum engine projects.
Thank you so much for sharing all that insight and information General Motors pull the plug on this engine. I have a really bad habit of calling Chevy General Motors is something that I need to work on. Did not catch that. I catch it and change it before I post it.
61 Olds wagon 62 Monza Spyder It's actually quite interesting that they were already branching out into aluminum in favor of cast iron. And there was a smart idea the way they did the cylinder liners. I will add though that my dad bought a Pontiac tempest little station wagon if I recall correctly it had the aluminum engine in it. The only thing I know is that it constantly vapor locked and overheated. My dad kept it for a year and then dumped it. I remember he was really happy when he finally got rid of it. LOL
The first segment was wagons, 1961 Buick special wagon or 1961 Pontiac Tempest wagon or 1961 Oldsmobile F85 wagon The second scenario was only two pics because there wasn’t any other turbo charge models to choose from 1962 Corvair Monza spider or 1962 Oldsmobile jet fire =)
I just saw that, this is all I ever wanted to do was to be an automotive journalist, although I’m not in the mainstream, I never wanted to be I will always wanted to do Classic Cars somehow someway.. I just wish I would’ve started earlier. I’m just really touched that people dig this channel. It really does mean the world to me to put out content that you guys love. =)
I've got one of these in it's final iteration, 2004 Land Rover Discovery 2. By then it was 4.6 liter, 217 HP and 300 ft-lb with Bosch Motronic injection. A very smooth engine but uses a lot of gas by modern standards.
Only 2% of 1961-63 Pontiac Tempest/LeMans cars got the Buick 215 V8, most used the Pontiac "Trophy 4", essentially one half of a Pontiac 389 V8. In 1963 the new Pontiac "326" V8 was available, but was actually 336 CID in this one year.
rover also cut off two pots from the 215 and made the rover metro 6R4 V6 rally car that would kick out well over 400BHP and this engine was developed in to the jaguar XJ220 twin turbo engine the 215 was a great engine
I had a 1980 TR8 with that engine, as Rover and Triumph had been using it, designated 3.5 litre. A guy pulled up to me in an old Jeep Willys one night and we floored them, he pulled away from me off the line and beat me soundly. We pulled over talk and he told me he had the same engine under the hood and it was producing 300 HP; mine was choked off, because of smog restrictions, down to about 135 HP, such a disappointing car, the TR8, shows you what OPEC and car unions did and have done to once great car companies.
The 1961 Buick wagon is the most attractive of the three especially in the colors shown. Gimme the 1962 Olds Jetfire in metallic blue over that 1962 swing-axle Corvair Spyder. JJS
I have always been fascinated by these. When I was working in garages in the 70's the old hand mechanics told me that mechanics would strip out the spark plug threads when doing tune ups because they weren't used to aluminum and that was a big reason for GM abandoning it. I was never convinced that was true but I sure heard it a lot. My mother had a 1961 Tempest Wagon so I'd choose it for nostalgia sake and the 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire.
@@What.its.like. A little. My mom had it until I was 9. It had the Trophy 4 engine. I recall the car being kind of loud but not too bad. The rear area had a metal floor and the back of the rear seats was metal too. She had a lot of problems with it so they traded it in for a Chevy Nova in 1968. Believe it or not one time the idler arm fell out when we were around the corner from our house. My mom made me go out and pick it up then we drove slowly home.
I'd take any of them in the first scenario, I just really like these designs and they look cool in the wagon versions in my opinion. The second scenario is a little tough but I'd probably go with the F-85.😎
Nearly fell off my seat Jay, at 3:32 you pronounced the word Aluminium the way the rest of the World pronounces it, well done....haha Great episode as always mate.
Aluminum alloys are amazing - both for aircraft and engines. The head warpage issues were from internal stresses coming out under repeated heating and cooling cycles according to my cousin Lawrence. Remedied by proper destressing, but that takes more time than auto makers were willing to do, so i can picture lots of leaky heads. Keeping things torqued down properly is another issue given aluminum likes to expand and contract a lot, and then there's metal creep, so maintenance issues abound. Interesting how chainsaw and small engines had fewer problem with aluminum...
I had a 1963 Buick Skylark that had one with a 4bbl and 11:1 compression and 200 horsepower. It ran good but it went through head gaskets and the two piece drive shaft had problems.
Sweet choice I’ve never seen any of those wagons in the wild, I’ve been looking for oddball wagons as well as oddball cars. There’s tons of great content that 32 Packard two door sedan was something but the nicest car that I did out of all of them was the 30 Cadillac. I still can’t get over the interior that one was sold but I had their permission to do it. That car was absolutely incredible.
Thank you so much for sharing that story even though it was kind of a bad memory, memory of a good car that had a bad destiny I suppose I was talking to my brother the other day and it’s funny I had one mustang he had three but his favorite one was the middle one which was a 2013 mustang GT that he bought brand new he put boss 302 injectors on it as well as tuned it this car was incredible. It was almost unbelievable what it could do.. But just like your brother he had on collided with somebody it’s amazing he lived. He didn’t have any broken bones maybe a couple scratch scratches and bruises and that’s it. Car was totaled. The whole front end of the car was gone.
I was really hoping to get it done yesterday, but I didn’t get home from classic auto Mall until 5 o’clock in the morning that day which reminds me, I’m gonna let you guys vote on the next episode
The turn pike is highway robbery it’s $80 to go one way I take 80 and drop down to state college take back roads it takes 5.5 hours to get there but totally worth it
The worst part of all of it is they don’t have a sign saying how much it actually cost back in the day when they did tickets you knew how much you were paying now you don’t have a freaking clue what you’re paying until you get the bill that’s why I call it high way robbery
