It's a HorsePower first - the buildup of a classic Buick 350 small block. From the boneyard to the dyno cell, discover how to enhance the factory performance of a little-known Chevy cousin and keep its original looks.
I had a 1969 skylark with the 350 and it had 80.000 miles on it and after 11;years it had 377.000 miles on it in that time I replaced a carb ,starter fuel pump 2 water pumps it was the most reliable engine so far ! I wished I never sold it lol thanks for the video guys ! 👍👍👍
My grandmother owned a 1969 Buick Skylark GS350 Ram Air, automatic with bucket seats and A/C, during the early 1970s when I was a kid. She bought it from the original owner when the car was a couple of years old (rather than him trading it in on a new car). I loved riding in it as a kid.
Great to see the Buick 350 alive. Thank You, for the introduction to Mike Phillips. He does really nice work! Don't tell him you guys are too cheap to do a proper cam upgrade by spending $100 on a a double roller timing chain. UNBELIEVABLE.
I really wanted to watch this but the way the guy talks, is he in jr high? If that’s Mike Philips from AMP, he sold his equipment last year, he is atill doing parts. Im not impressed with the numbers on the build, stock 68 PP code motors rated 295 hp.
I have a 350 Buick in my 66 Chevy pickup. I used it as a daily drive with many tens of thousands of miles of hiway driving and thousands of miles of towing. Even stock, they are awesome truck engines.
In 1970, Buick offered three engine options on the GS - 350/315-hp, 455/350-hp, the Stage 1 455 rated 360-hp. I bought a second hand mostly highway miles driven GS - 350, changed out the points with one the first electronic ignition retrofits and installed glass packs just to increase gas mileage. I was supporting a young family at the time but I got to enjoy the GS 350 torque and better than factory horsepower along with better than factory gas mileage. I was asked many times why I hung on and drove that car as my daily driver for 10 years. I didn't understand the question because I just loved that car and enjoyed driving it every day! Complete no brainer. It was awesome through 8 inches of snow with feather throttle and the right tires. It took us through thick and thin over adventures and I could race my buddies on the weekends. Thanks Buick! Awesome times.
Learned how to drive in my dad’s 69 Skylark with a 350 4bbl. I could squeal the tires for 3 blocks. No top end to speak of, but man could it accelerate!
lol, awesome. Went out with the guys in HS to do burnouts in my dad's 70 Skylark Custom 350 2bbl (that I bought later). One guy had an exact, measured, 12" shoe. 20yr class reunion and Everyone brought up the 312ft burner it did. sweet memories!
The Buick 350 was actually slightly undersquare (3.8x3.85). This would give it more low end torque which made sense considering the relatively heavy cars it was installed in. However it was almost as large as many big block engines. Chevy and Olds went the big bore short stroke route on their 350s.
I love the other guy engines. My engine of choice is an AMC V8. They share elements of other Engine families like the external oil pump from Buick, and intake ports from a big Block Mopar. If you lay the intake manifold gaskets on top of each other everything lines up. In fact I saw an article where the cross ram intake used on Mopar engines with bolt up to an AMC! Sounds like fun to me! No matter what other engine you build, you’ll find that the guys who do it well are the smartest builders out there. The one thing I’ve heard over and over again that just drives me nuts as it shows the ignorance of the guy saying it is, “ I only know how to work on Chevy’s. I don’t know anything about Buick, Ford etc.” can’t these people read? Can they search the web?
Thanks, I found this video right when I was about to torque the rod caps on a Buick 340 engine. I didn't know or even consider the method of using two feeling gages to even out the clearance between the rods. Worked well!
The Holden V8 was designed in 1966 by GM Australia engineers after they toured the engine foundries of the GM US subsidiaries and picked the brains of the engineers at the different foundries, they then went back to Australia and designed and built the Holden 253 ci and then later the 308 ci engine and quite a few years later a 350ci, When shown to an American it's immediately recognized as a Buick with it's aluminum timing cover and external oil pump but has the rear distributor as the Chevy, the Holden 308 made 30hp and 15lbft more than the 307 Chevy it replaced in the holden and the 350 Chevy was phased out after it's last fitment into the HQ Holden during the oil crisis in the 70's. I would love to see you build one and see what you could do with it. I know that REPCO made a flat plane cranked Holden 308 for the F5000 series cars and it made 525HP. Alas Holden has been shut down now and the rest is History.
Plenty of Stuff for the Holden V8 ya use a Group A block 304 as ya starting point ya can get a 383 rotating assembly Come racing Heads and someone makes great Intakes for them MATE
I hears that the first cylinder of the Holden is on the opposite side of American V8 engines to have more underhood space in RHD cars. Since the USA had no need for a Holden V8, I guess it had no negative consequences. It wouldn't have made a difference on V-engine cars that sold in both RHD and LHD versions, so I never thought about what difference it made to the Z31 Nissan 300ZXT and Fairlady for example.
@@skylinefever Nah ya got it wrong, It's an inverted Vee with valve cover oil scavenging because it is upside down here. The lower CoG by inverting the Holden V8 helps stop the cars from flying off into space from the combined effects of being upside down in Australia and inverted physics laws where centripetal is converted to centrifugal force from the rotation of the earth. Everything is backwards down here. Watch out for taipans.
At last, a Buick! I had a Buick 350 in my 1970 Chevelle SS. I bought it that way. That thing had a lot of torque and sounded really good, but definitely sounded different that a BBC.
I agree with the Cam comments, Those spec's are nothing like those on my Kenne-Bell Mark ll and that 70 350, out ran SS396 Chevelle's - with the totally stock 2bbl
12:55 A Buick 455 was rated in 1975 at the rear wheels, through the ENTIRE drivetrain, with EVERY power robbing accessory in place on the engine and drivetrain, NOT on an engine dyno with the engine JUST driving a water pump. HUGE difference, and I guarantee you if you put the 455 engine on the dyno, the same way, it'll make way MORE power than that 350 did.
I'm surprised that the vale seats needed replacement. In 1975, every engine needed to be compatible with unleaded gasoline, so they either got induction hardened valve seats, or pressed in hard seats at the factory. 6:59 I'd never want to reuse a timing cover with oil pump gears in it anyway. I'd be afraid that there would be wear where the gears are, and make the new oil pump gears less effective than they should be. 7:36 It also works in the Olds 455. Everybody does it when rebuilding the engine in the GMC FWD RV. 10:54 It did delete the EGR, so it might be street legal in some places. 14:07 Nearly anything that makes a better spark lowers smog. That is another reason many modern engines went distributorless, and later went coil on plug. None of them had E3 plugs, but platinum plugs were replaced with iridium plugs soon after they went on sale. Later, there was iridium on the electrode and ground. NGK now uses ruthenium in some spark plugs, but I don't think new cars have it yet. 17:06 Well, when the patent expires on something, that often lowers the price. At that point, the only reason people would be paying extra for Loctite is because it is a name they love and trust. It is sort of like going to Walmart and buying Great Value Ibuprofen instead of Advil. It's the same stuff, has the same effect, only the name is different. I'm happy to see a Buick get built because I want to see something less common. One quirk I see in the Buick shaft rocker is nylon holding the rockers in place. I have never seen that anywhere else.
GM ignored emissions requirements for the 1974 model year and the early '75 model year. EPA fined them MILLIONS! They were in Full compliance by '76. My point being, a GM motor from'75 might not have hardened seats yet.
the buick 350, and 455 were already hardened due to the extra nickle in the block and heads. they dont need hardened seats but it never hurts to do so.
@@BuzzLOLOL yes but it took me 20 minutes to rebuild it, without pulling the engine, and you can get housing extensions that really up the volume and pressure. Way better than an internal oil pump
The legendary SR-71 Black Bird was started using 2 start carts, 1 start cart per engine. Each start cart had 2 Buick wildcat 401ci V-8s in tandem. That means there was a total of 4 Buick V8 running at full throttle to start the SR 71. Could you imagine what that must’ve sounded like! Than incorporate that with the Pratt & Whitney J58 firing up!
That's correct.... And you know what else is correct about that? They eventually had to switch over to Chevy big blocks in the start carts, because the Buicks couldn't handle the constant 6000rpms required to start the jet engines, and they blew SO many of the buicks up that they ended up using all of them up from local junkyards and had to switch to the Chevys. After the switch, they had NO more blown engines. And that was DIRECTLY out of the mouth of the guy who worked on the start carts.... It IS what it IS. 🤷
I work on them all .i have run them all..but a small block chevyor a big block pontiac.wil stay together longer.ive ran them both..my weapon of choice is a small block 400 chevy..or the best pontiac motor ive ever thought was wicked fast.was in a 69 grandprix..street racing my small block chevy 400.of course it was stretched out to 424...beet everything with it....
Buick 350 weighs 100 less than a 350 Chevy to start , and swapping to the aluminum intake your now below 400 pounds for a strong V8 , take that any day!
7:50 You have to coat the washer or underside of the nut, along WITH the threads, to end up at the proper torque... If you don't lube ALL of the friction surfaces of the fasteners, and you go ahead then use the specific torque value indicated for moly, you'll end up quite a bit under-torqued for the fasteners.
Me too! Comp doesn't know Buick cams. No mention of the v. springs used. Comp told me that had no "good" drop-on springs for the 350 or 455 Buick that could take over .500" lift. Only .470" lift MAX for the 350.
@@LR-my2di I "reverse engineered" which cam it was from the lift specs they gave. It's the Big Mutha' Thumpr with 243/257 degrees at .050" lift. I see that much timing hurting the bottom end, and the restrictive heads choking off the top end where that cam would want to run. I believe the engine would have been better off with the basic Thumpr, better low end and mid range with no loss on the top end because the heads didn't let the big cam shine there anyway.
@@davidmarshall8628 Agreed! Wow ... thanks for the @.050" specs. Probably on a 110-degree lobe separation to boot! Way too big for such a "budget" build! I'm surprised the valves even missed the cast and un-notched pistons. This cam will not operate power brakes for sure. We wouldn't even use that cam in any street 455 with power brakes!
@@davidmarshall8628 Oh Boy! Yeah, now I remember the whole point of this line of cams ... the "sound" and not necessarily how well the cam suits the application. . This again explains the lackluster perf. of that cam with that engine combo.
The first engine I rebuilt was the 350 out of a '68 Buick Special. It had eaten the plastic "quiet cam gear" coatings and pumped the pieces into the 3-4 rod journal, starving it of oil, locking up the engine. This was no budget build. I estimate they spent 2-3 thousand dollars on it, half of that machining costs. On my build I spent about $200 for a complete rebuild kit from JC Whitney and $25 for the block bath. I borrowed a 4" dingleberry hone from a neighbor and put a 30 degree cross hatch on the cylinders and reinstalled those full skirt pistons. I have always used the feeler gauge in the thrust clearance of the rods before torquing them down, (BTW you can do that with only one gauge if you put it on the correct side of the rod) and I rebuilt the old rocker arm shafts using washers for new thrust surfaces and a jig to grind off the extra metal on the stud caps. Those pistons slapped like hell until it warmed up but after that it was a torque monster, 350 ft/lbs at least. Yeah the Buick 350 is set up for high torque because it has a 3.8 inch bore and stroke and being a "square" engine it will outlast anything that isn't square. I put another 35,000 miles on that engine before I sold the car. I'm a big fan of that old Buick 350: For that matter any of the "square" torque monsters of the 1960's. (a .060" over bore on an Oldsmobile 455 is a killer engine that's almost square, close enough) These are engines you can put a million miles on and only have to change the oil, filters and points & plugs on.
spark plugs,,,,,, I ran split fires in a lima engine that was souped up ,plus an big ass blaster coil on dual points the voltage at the plug was double stock, plus you can add more fuel.
It's a shame to see that you guys put the worst possible cam available in that motor. Thumper cams are not designed to make power and I don't understand why anyone would ever think of running one. You guys left a TON of power on the table....
Note that you should end up with more power. Ported heads, TA manifold, some ok duration and good lift, and headers for 300 Hp seems pretty low. I’ve never built a Buick 350 but 350 HP is doable, I’m sure.
That Buick 350 Reminds me of an iron version of the Leyland P76 alloy 4.4 V8, which like the Buick 350 is like the Buick/Rover 3.5 V8 with a higher deck height.
Was the Thread gauge bottom end checked and was cam dialed in. You may have got 330hp. One of the most beautifull cars ever 1970 73 or so skylarks. I wish the put a 400 4 barrel option with buckets and console From australia
The power loss over a 1970 350 is a little odd. Almost 15 hp and 50lbs of torque less is pretty bad. Only thing I can guess is the cam isn't really ground right, for a Buick, or the '75 smogger heads are so bad that basic porting won't make them flow.
Every gasoline engine from 1971 up needed to be compatible with unleaded gasoline, and that meant being able to handle 91 octane or less. Compression ratios were lowered on many engines to make it possible. From 1972 to 1974, they had to lean the air fuel mixture to meet tougher HC and CO emission levels which further cost horsepower. In 1975, every GM engine had to wheeze out of a pellet cat, and those created loads of backpressure. Many Non-GM engines had a grid cat, and they weren't nearly as bad. I'm not sure if Buicks had air injection ports in the cylinder head, but some smog engines did. Those that got them often had an awful exhaust port to accommodate the smog tubes. The 1973 to 1976 Olds was an example of that. However, you can port such heads and get similar exhaust flow to a ported non-smog head. Yes, cam design needed to be compromised on smog engines. I think a reduction in overlap was required so that less of the air fuel mixture could go out of the exhaust at low RPM. That is why some would be out of breath at 4000 to 4500 RPM. There may have been other compromises, but I don't remember all of them. Modern OHV engines can rev higher and not run out of breath partially because hydraulic roller cams allow a faster ramp rate. The MyMopar.com channel has a bunch of videos of what the Chrysler group had to do to make early smog engines, and similar compromises had to be made to many other engines. In 1971, horsepower measurement was changed from SAE gross to SAE net, and SAE gross allowed companies to measure HP with no air cleaner and no muffler. Theoretically there wouldn't be any difference between a single snorkel air cleaner and single exhaust versus a dual snorkel or ram air hood and dual exhausts. Obviously when an engine would be installed in a car, there would be a big difference. As a result, the horsepower numbers declined even on 2 identical engines. The 1970 Datsun 240Z had a completely different rating from later Datsun 240Z models, despite the fact that the engine worked well even on California smog.
@@skylinefever I meant a comparison between the motor they just built and a factory hi-comp 350. Technically, they used 10.5 compression pistons, but they were a little bit closer to 10.2. Yes, the Buicks had the air-injection heads starting in '71, but they still flowed well. That may have changed by '75. The Edlebrock cam is probably designed for a chevy or ford engine. It used to be a common problem. Unless you got a cam from kenne-bell or TA Performance or someone in the Buick world, the cam grind didn't match the Buick heads or powerband.
you need to understand and learn the difference between "net" and "gross" horsepower ratings and the other changes made in the smog era engines.....1970 was gross hp rating,1975 was net....1975 had 8 to 1 compression,1970 had 10 to 1,1970 cams had over .100" more lift,more duration etc
@@trillrifaxegrindor4411 That motor's making 351lbs. of gross torque. No water pump, power steering or alternator. A factory '70 made 410 gross. It's got the same comp as a '70, a "performance" cam and a much better flowing intake, so where'd the power go? As for that being a '75 engine - where are the air injection ports on the heads? It's a 70 that someone slapped an HEI onto and swapped into a later car. Buicks don't have VINs on the block.
I ve redone this motor once on a 1973 Regal. Unlike Ford and Chrysler sharing the same block on their cars GM builts each marks their own engine designs.
I was interested in the part of video, when he checked the side clearance of the connecting rods. When connecting rods are made they use Double Disc Grinders, that grind both sides at the same time. The grinding wheels are large (6 ft in diameter approx) & it is the side of the grinding wheels that do the grinding. The connecting rods are pushed mechanically into the side of a center wheel, that has profiles cut out to accommodate the connecting rods. This center wheel rotates & carries the connecting rods between the two grinding wheels, thus both sides are ground at the same time. I thought you might find interesting? I was told by a mechanic that the clearance is critical. Because it affects oil pressure. That makes me wonder - when they opened up the oil passages (made them larger) will that affect oil pressure?
The last clearence before the oil is in the air, is the rod side clearence. That's how it affect oil pressure. Opening up the passages is time proven on the Buick, it gives better flow. If it's possible grind the inside curve in the passage, you can reach most.
MAN! Those pistons are SLUGS! The friction with those things has to be horrendous, and they GOTTA weight a BUNCH... 😬 What was the bob-weight for that engine?
More power than a 455 of the same year? I'd put a 1973 stage 1 455 buick up against that 350 any day of the week. From 1972,, all horsepower ratings were "net", meaning with water pump and fan and alternator and p/s etc. I didn't even see a factory water pump on that 350 engine. Most engines lost around 60hp and 50ftlbs when the ratings went to "net" in 1972. A 1973 455 stage 1 was rated at 270hp "net" and 390 ftlbs "net" and that was with 8:1 compression. The most pedestrian 455 was rated 225hp and 360ft lbs net. Gross hp would have been 290hp and 410 ftlbs torque. That torquey 455 would stomp this hopped up 350 in a drag race. Not even close.
In addition, in 1972, some engines had to lean out the air fuel mixture to pass California smog. A few mods to the carb changed these engines dramatically, and also reduce the horsepower difference between 1971 and 1972.
Should i bother fixing mine, bought a 71 skylark and it has detonation damage and has chips and chunks missing from the sides of the pistons, im on a very small budget and dont want to dump money into this thing
8:35 Unless you decked the shit out of that block, or gave the heads a substantial haircut, you won't be anywhere near 10:1 with those pistons. You'll be realistically about at 9.2:1-9.3:1 compression.
Yeah, you'll have a lot more grunt and it'll handle better, but you'd need an adapter to fit the chevy trans or you'd have to grab a BOP (buick/olds/pontiac) turbo 350. Not sure about the motor mounts.
not at all, for the price of the motor and "mild upgrades" they did, you could do a junkyard ls build with cam and turbos making 800+ hp and have money for a trans to handle it.
I agree, this is not even close to a budget build. I really don't think these guys know what that is. Don't get me wrong, I love these videos and I do learn things from time to time. Also, these numbers are not great. Stock 4bbl 350 up to 1970 was 285hp and 375ft/lbs. Granted peak numbers don't tell the whole story. Still nice to see a Buick build :-).
Just drove in my 84 buick apollo, stock, 350. Doing a little upgrading now. Is it worth taking this out,taking to a machine shop. Or look for a newer engine that would work great with the rest of my buick?
Yes it was It was the 1st make of the GM company under the William Durant leadership. Holden use the Buick V6 design as a starting point for the VN Commodore
buick was under the GM brand but made it's own V8s until 1980 when it was demoted to producing only V6s. Oldsmobile made their last v8 in 1990 and pontiac their last v8 in 1981. Olds and pontiac were demoted to making 4 cylinders throughout the 1980s.
@@jeffbamford805 The VN SS was sweet a mate had one the 5.0Ltr V8 was good he did update the Exhaust and Cold Air induction that certainly improved things. He gave it a hard time plenty of Burnouts haha
This is sad. You can make 300 HP with a SBC pretty easily, even with bad heads. I remember a story Hot Rod ran years ago about getting 400 HP out of a 5.0 Ford with just an aluminum head swap and 1.6 rockers, keeping the stock cam. Now that might seem a stretch, but I bet it was way more than 303 and still very streetable.
I agree. Something sure seems wrong here. I had the Buick GS Club in GA build me a similar 350 engine with THEIR recommended parts, including a much milder cam, and brought it back here to Streamwood, IL where it made 336 hp @ 5050 rpm after its DTS dyno break-in. It runs great in my wife's air conditioned and fully loaded 1971 Skylark convertible. My '70 Malibu with a similarly worked 350 Chevy can't beat it on the track, either. It's VERY strong for what it is.
To me it's all Chevrolet anything GM that is even though back then they actually had differences other than the newer cars of today having different plastic noses but basically the same damn car
I think the 340 is derived from the little 215, then Buick went to a more conventional engine design for 350 - 455... or maybe they started the new engine at 340"...
@@BuzzLOLOL I think it may have evolved into the V6 that the Grand National used? I drove a Buick Lesabre with a 340 in high school. It was about 10 years old & used oil, but ran good. My parents had a blue 1955 Super Convertible when I was a kid. I always liked Buicks.
Yes, the 1950 concept Buick aluminum V8 went into full production 1960 - 1963, then sold to UK Rover... In USA it spawned the iron V6's and 300, 340, 350 V8's... Buick came out with a more conventional design iron V8 in 1965 of 400, 430, 455"... earlier Buick had iron 'nailhead' design V8's 1954 - 1964... Olds had N/A and turbocharged versions of the aluminum V8 ( I drove one back in the day ): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Jzw5W1rRMog.html Repco-Brabham had an F1 races winning OHC version... UK aftermarket took the 215" out to 318"/5.2L... Jaguar made it into a V12...
Buick engines have one of the best cylinder head designs ever made, they weigh less than chevy, ford , mopar.. weak area is the oiling system..built a few, but all my race motors are chevys
Just a matter of knowing what to do, and it's pretty simple. For the rpm they turn to make best streetable power & torque, oil pressure/volume issues are no problem at all. That's long been solved. As far as oil pressure for racing Buicks above 6000 rpm (when needed) , that's also been solved. The 'huge 3 day 2021 GS Nats. event last May at Beech Bend Raceway in B.G. KY is clear evidence of that.
Let's see if I can reach back in my old brain to the old days..never had much experience with the nailheads. But Buick always had a strong motor. When the 350/455 came along, 350 had 3 versions. Low compression 2bbl, low compression 4bbl. And I had the high compression 4bbl in my 68gs 350. 300hp 350ftlbs is probably realistic, my 68gs a little more than that. In those days a chevy 350- 350hp not a normally sold motor. Buick heads were better because of intake runner layout and straight design. They also had a combustion chamber and valve design more in line of a hemi than others. No siamese cylinder design. I was at a Buick dealership and was racing 1/2 mile late model and looked at racing the 6cyl ( same cylinder design) Buick had stage 1 and 2 parts, and was used in grand national racing ( Winston Cup support series) they made 600+ hp but the cost was excessive..they went to V8. the 3800 grand national used the Buick design head..I know the only reason GM got rid of it was because it NEVER broke. Back in the day the trickiest aftermarket chevys ran aftermarket buick design heads. But in reality, my 650hp alcohol dirt late models in the 90's were 350 chevys
@@billb5029 Bill, what do you mean "the 3800 grand national used the Buick design head"? The 3800 V6 Buick was only used in the late FWD GM platforms and was not a performance. Parts did not interchange with the earlier Buick RWD 3.8 liter (231 cu. in. engines).
Can´t believe how this engine with all that "go fast stuff" can produce less power then a factory 4-barrel engine. Please get a proper cam shaft to start with. Also, I cant find any thing about that there are a version of this engine that has only 155hp
Buick Skylark 2-Door Sedan 350 V-8 (man. 3 speed) as offered for the year 1971 since September 1970 in North America U.S. Horsepower net: 115.5 kW / 157 PS / 155 hp (SAE net) Took me all of 20 seconds. I also hope you aren't talking about the 350's that were rated before the emission laws came into effect and car companies were required to start rating their horsepower with accessories attached.
@@ERidParasoth Since you are so quick, then maybe you can spend 15 seconds on explaining what emission stuff that is still on that engine that now has high compression pistons, larger valves, Stage 1 port job on the heads, Stage 1 intake, a hotter cam and long tube headers
@@ingemarolsson9705 - The actual compression ratio of this engine may be lower than they thought and the smogger heads even with porting may not flow like stock 1970 heads...
All 350s from every make are small blocks. The Buick 350 and 455 are very similar but share no parts and are distinct from each other. Buick 350 is a small block but is physically larger than its olds Pontiac or Chevy brothers.
@@jordanwiley4582 yeah with mine I took an intake manifold and carb off a 455 and bolted it directly onto my 350. I thought small block motors were 60 degree and big blocks were 90 degree is that wrong???
when I went shopping for that manifold and carb off the 455, my Chilton was very clear that the Buick 350 is a Big Block engine and intake and exhaust manifolds are interchangeable with the 455, I know that's right because the intake manifold bolted right on no problem. My old 1968-1975 Chilton manual told me big block engines were 90 degree V8's and small block engines were 60 degree V8's, maybe the definition has changed since the 1970's or everyone just forgot it was the block design that made it a big block or a small block. Maybe you can tell me why the Chevy small block 400 is called a small block and the big block 396 is called a big block??? I think that will take you right back to the block design, 60 degree versus 90 degree, but then what do I know right??? I'm just a nobody with glasses that read a lot of Chilton books in the 1970's . . . back when a small block was a sixty degree V8 and a big block was a 90 degree V8 . . . I mean I figured you'd know this far better than I would considering you're the professional and I never was . . . on cars anyway. I'm pretty sure if you do your diligent research you will come back and say the Buick 350 is a big block engine and I turned out to be right . . . lets hope anyway otherwise I'm just some yeehaw who thinks I have a few working brain cells and might be wrong . . .
I think that's all wrong dude, really, maybe you better recheck your research into what makes a small block a small block and what makes a big block a big block, because my Buick 350 was a big block and parts from the 455 were interchangeable, I did it, I know for a fact that in 1981 the Chilton American cars and Volkswagon book for 1968-1975 was very clear that 60 degree V8's were small blocks and 90 degree V8's were big blocks and my Buick 350 was absolutely a 90 degree big block V8
sorry, I hate having to school people who are supposed to know what they're talking about . . . because I have glasses and books . . . at least you know now how to tell a big block from a small block . . . you're welcome
Wider than a small block chevy? Yes, because Buick, Pontiac and Olds never made a small block. Except the 215 ci. Aluminum V8. They are all big blocks! Only Chevy made a small block from GMs stable of motors.
buicks DEFINITELY made small blocks. a 350 buick and 455 arent the same. headers wont even fit the same neither will oldsmobiles the headers nor the heads fit the same. oldsmobiles small blocks cant use big block heads because it covers the fuel pump pad. thats why edelbrock tell you to use an electric fuel pump on 350 rockets if you use their heads the only one like that is a pontiac.