Valve sizes, bore:stroke ratios, CID when added to how screwy auto manufacturers already are I’m sure there was a lot of fun to be had confounding insurance companies.
I would like to add a few things please. The Buick 215 and the Olds 215 were only different in the heads. The Olds had 4 more head bolts than the Buick and you could use Buick heads on the Olds but not the other way around. In 1952 Dan Gurney drove a Micky Thompson car in the Indianapolis 500 with a bored out version of the Buick (255 CID). In 1966 the Repco company in Australia built overhead cam heads for the 215 block and Jack Brabham won the Formula 1 championship with it. According to the figures I have seen the 340 Buick was significantly lighter than the Chevy SB. All the Buick V6 engines can trace their design back to the 215 V8. The starter carts for the SR-71 were built by famous racing car constructor Frank Kurtis who's midget cars and Indy cars were dominate in the 1940's and 1950's.
@@buzzwaldron6195 Yes and no. The blocks are the same with the same 4 bosses in the lifter valley just not drilled and tapped. Can be done with little effort. You do need those 4 bolts though as those 4 bolts also hold the rocker shafts on the olds.
Only in as much as they had the bolt hole drilled and tapped. You could do that to a Buick block if you wanted to go to the trouble. If you had Buick heads, why would you? Whole point was that you could use either block if you were using Buick heads. I expect Olds heads are a very rare item because there were many more Buicks made. The 1964 300 ci Buick still had the aluminum heads. @@buzzwaldron6195
The venerable Buick V6 was created by chopping two cylinders off the iron 300 V8. Same bore and stroke of 3.75 X 3.40. When GM bought the 225 V6 back from AMC in 1975, they bored it to 3.800, making it the 231, and having the same bore as the Buick 350 V8.
The 3800 V6 was one of the best ever GM engines. They should still be running it instead of the terrible 3.6. My uncle back in the 50s had a large irrigation farm in west Texas and he ran Buick engines as pump engines and bought a new Buick every two years from Scoggin-Dickey in Lubbock. I've had three- the last being a 2001 LeSabre with the 3800. They've all been great cars.
I still drive a 1999 Buick Park Avenue Ultra with the 3800 Series II. I paid $400 for it, dragged it out of a pasture, put about $1200 into it, more that it needed. I get over 30 mpg going easy down the highway and around 24 in the city. It is the easiest engine to work on I have ever owned and the best driving car, and quick enough for any sensible driving.. You can keep the over head cam unnecessary crap with the long timing chains. I don't see any reason for that.
the 3800 was the best thats why they quit making them 400k miles on a few and cheap parts i agree been a tech for 26 years the 3800 is a stout motor that will handle even boost up to 21 psi stock and not give up... great engine
I ran the 455 in my circle track racer and won EVERY race I entered. I now have a 600 hp 430 in the BINDERBIRD. It does 80 in 1st, 105 it n second and God only knows how fast it will do in third. I smoke Teslas, new Camaros and run side by side with Hellcats/Scat packs
Dude, that 4WD Firebird ain't smokin a Tesla or a Hellcat. I have a 2wd '92 S-10 Blazer with procharged LS7 that makes 585 WHP and I barely gap those cars.
@@genefogarty5395 Older engines have a way longer stroke making way more torque instead or RPM's, Torque wins races, and one of the most important things is axle ratio, if running 3:63 or 4:11's you could whoop almost anything out there, Manual transmission would be even better too!
@@1_BlackDog_23 Understood. But I still stand by my comment. Old or new, power is power and a 4x4 on 33" tires with less HP and TQ than a car is just not going to beat it. BTW, the LS7 had more stroke in stock form than the 430 Buick. The LS7 made 505hp and 481 ft/lbs of tq stock. And that's SAE net vs. gross figures, net the 430 made far less.
I know a local dirt track racer that ran an A body Buick who ran nothing but a Buick 455 and he dominated every week, and the last year he ran that car the engine blew, and he had a spare 350 Buick engine that he ran for the rest of the season, and although it wasn't the torque monster of the 455 it was still very competitive and won races.
Good job, besides a few small errors as noted in the comments. I'm a long time Buick owner/restorer, just sold my last Electra which had the 401 in it. I've built countless big block Buicks, and a few Nailheads, my favorite was the 401 for reliability, and the 455 for brute power. The 430 Big Block and the 425 Nail weren't bad either; my last 2 Wildcats had both, the 430 was a little peppier than the 425, but not by much. The nice thing about a Buick engine in a collector car, is once they're rebuilt, you never have to look at them again, they'll run forever. Modern seals and bearings are an improvement on those older engines. But what's too bad is that they killed the 350 Buick in 1980, which would have been a killer V8 if they had done to it what they did to the 231 V-6. It would have been a heck of a lot better than that miserable small block Chevy, which had being cheap to make it's only real redeeming factor.
I work for a classic British sports car shop. One customer ran a 215 Buick/Rover in his `68 MGB GT at Lemons. It fit really well, and light weight made it handle fantastic. I was the only guy in the shop who knew how to tune this engine. Most had never worked on a Holley before. The car did great in the race.
One amazing thing that very few folks are aware of is their use in starting a famous jet. Two of these big-block V8's were tied together and linked mechanically to each engine on the SR-71 high speed jet to spool up the turbines. In fact, later on two large Chevy V8's were employed. However, the chant "start the Buicks" was still used. Very cool, indeed.
I love these engine history series, but also miss your machining videos too. I'd absolutely love to see you start building some of these awesome vintage engines. I particularly love the early hemis, the Buick engines and I'd love to see you do a Packard V12.
In the nail head engines, the valve push rods come up on the exhaust side of the head. The valves are vertical on the intake side. Because of this odd arrangement, the valves had to be very long and resemble nails, hence nail head. The rockers are offset too. This can be seen in cutaway drawings of the engine. The Buick V8s were high torque engines. I have owned two Skylarks with 350s (1968 and 1972) and a 1970 Riviera with a 455. They were all good tire smokers.
I put a Buick 350 in my Chevy C60 for hauling my vintage excavating equipment. It would pull not matter how hard you lugged it down, way out did the 366 truck engine it replaced.
Even though it's a V6 I think the Buick 225 & 3.8L line deserved a mention. Just like the 215 V8 the original 225 would see duty in many Jeep Kaiser Vehicles. (When AMC bought the remnants of Kaiser in 1970 they promptly replaced all Buick engines with their own AMC engines.) The thought of an easy swap to a built 455 Stage 1 in a Jeep Wagoneer... Somebody must have built one. What a sleeper! 600+ torque and 4-hi lets GOOOOOO.
I grew up on the Buick’s my pops worked for a Buick dealership for 17 years and I was fortunate to be able to see all the new models. Fabulous cars all of them.
I ride in my friends 64 Buick Skylark Sportwagon and it has an unbelievable amount of torque for a small 300 cubic inch V8 with a 2 barrel carburetor. Aluminum heads
These historical videos have been great. I’m learning a ton. The anecdote about the SR-71 start carts is super cool, I’ll have to find a video of one running!
The land rover 215 was also sent to Australia where the deck was raised 15/16ths , and made into a 270 CI ( 4.4 litre) engine. Cast and made in Australia, but still a version of the 215.
About 21 minutes into your presentation there is a picture of a man with the Olds 215 V8 on the left and the Buick 215 V8 on the right. I recognize him, Phil Baker of Seattle. Note he figured out how to install a Buick electronic ignition distributor in the Buick 215 V8 in the picture. I have met Phil. He also figured out how to install the crank from a Buick 340 V8 into this 215 V8, brining it up to 262 cu in. I personally saw his vehicle so equipped. More: he figured out how to adapt a Turbohydamatic 350 to both of these 215 V8s, I find to be a hug improvement over the auto trans the factory offered on these 2 engines in the early 1960s., My last contact with Phil he was in failing health, I believe he has gone onto car heaven now. Phil built racing engines for number of years, too. He was recognized as unusually smart anything cars related.
At age 74, I have seen much over the years, & while I am a dyed-in-the-wool Dodge [& Mopar] man [I use a 1957 Dodge 325 Hemi in my '33] I know full well that other makers produced some good engines too. A friend pulled the alloy Toyota Century series 3.3L Hemi from his 'T' bucket about thirty five or forty years ago & replaced it with one of those wonderful Buick alloy 215 engines. At age 80, he is still driving it. I was very impressed when you said that some of the street guys went for the torquey engines because it was what really did the deed for them. Something I agree with 100%. My stepfather, an old time mechanic, [RIP] always said "Horsepower sells cars, but torque wins races" which is why my little street Hemi has been built for torque, not just horsepower. So thank you for mentioning that, as many of my peers still hold a different view & I now feel vindicated. 👍 PS, greetings from Australia.
13:01 Ford Edsel had torque ratings on their engines. Dad paid cash money for a 1958 Edsel with 361 solid lifter engine and steel crank, electronic shift, but that is all I know, I don't know model. He said that car would go 135 mph. He drove from Thunder Bay to Saskatoon in under 13 hours and that was on gravel and on the square, no highways. When he did burns, it was black tire smoke and I argued with Dad that in my age, tire smoke was blue.
This was an awesome video. My grandfather liked 1950s Buicks he owned a few of them with the straight eight. This taught me a lot thank you for making such an awesome video
Love old Buicks! David Buick was a plumber and inventor. He invented the valve in head design. Buick never ran a flathead. When David Buick sold the company it became the first car division of GM. Top Dog! This is why the Skylark GS got away with 401 c.i. and why the GSX of 1970 closed out the muscle car era smoking all of the competition. The GNX was also allowed to smoke Corvette like a brisket. Carol Selby got the idea for the Cobra from the Buick 401 powered Ole Yeller he destroyed the competition with. Great video 👍
I commented before on another post about the 7 Buicks I owned. 3 Wildcats, a 64,a 68,and a 70. 2 Rivs, a 70,& a 73 boattail and 2 Electra Deuce & 1/4s, a 73 Limited, and a 75 Custom. All but 2 had 455s. The 64 Wildcat had a 401-445 nailhead & the 68 Wildcat had the 430. They were all great engines.Very reliable and powerful. Of course the 455s had more power but also more torque. The 401 nailhead had 445ft. lbs. The 430 had 465ft.lbs. & the 455 had 510 ft.lbs. of torque.Now that's quite a jump in torque considering they had good torque to begin with!! Buick always made great engines!!!
My 72 Buick 350 rocket engine that I got for 200 bucks off a little old lady. I threw a four barrel on it done a few other tweaks and I would smoke my friends trans am and which really pissed him off… Lol… Great show… Keep on rocking
The 1953 Special used the straight 8. In 1953 the Roadmaster, Super and Century used the 322 V8. The 264 V8 was exclusive to the 1954 and 1955 Special. In 1956 the 322 was used "across the board."
I had a 1962, Buick Le Sabre with a 401 Nailhead, 2v. I think it was rated about 275 hp. It had dual valve springs. It was easy to work on. Its big problem was its camshaft gear was nylon coated to be quite. The nylon coating came loose at 50 mph and the cam went out of sync. The distributor quit turning. The valves hit the pistons and the push rods were bent. The mechanic did not find the bent push rods and it would overheat. The transmission with one gear was awsome.
IN THE 6O,S I learned to drive in a 53 v8 . Drove a invicta and a 65 buick skylark GS . One practice day a 365 hp corvette was beating everyone . He challenged a black bubbletop buick .The guy opened his headers and rolled up. His windows that had a decal stating National Record Holder . HE WON EASILY WAS A 401.
I had a Ford F150 6 cylinder and hook up an electric pre lube pump out of a catalog. The engine lasted for over 350,000 miles and was fine when I sold the truck. Thanks for video. My aunt always would buy the demonstrator models of the Buick with the big engines. She loved to pass cars and drive fast. Plus the demo's cost less.
In 1970, the Buick GS cars with the 350 4 barrel engines were 10.25 to 1 compression SP code engines. One year only. 315 HP and 410 TQ stock, the most powerful factory Buick 350 made. I am kinda surprised you didn't mention those. I have two of those SP engines, both in Jeep full-size pickups. No, they did not come stock in the Jeeps, I dropped them in myself. My 71 J2000 did come with the Buick Dauntless 350 2 barrel, and it was plenty powerful for that truck, but it suffered from low oil pressure and developed a bad rod knock. So I picked up a running Buick 350, not knowing then that it was an SP engine. It got a TA Performance cam a couple steps up from stock, a stock Buick 4 barrel intake with a 750 CFM QuadraJet, and man she is a torque monster! The other 70 SP is in my 74 J20 3/4 ton Jeep pickup. That Jeep came with a dead Olds 350 in it (the truck had sat for 34 years when I got it, that Olds 350 was stuck, but I managed to get it freed up and running on 7, but #4 cylinder was rusted pretty badly, and toast) that someone had swapped in after the original AMC 360 apparently went belly-up. Whoever did that engine swap many years ago also went through a T400 trans and added the proper output shaft for the QuadraTrac transfer case. The SP engine I got from a friend of mine in trade for some work on his Buick Skylarks had come out of a 70 GS. It had sat outside under a plastic tarp for about 12 years when I got it, and it ran rough when I dropped it in the 74 J20 and fired it up, but looked brand new inside. Had a badly dished lifter and flat cam lobe on #1 intake, I figure that happened during break-in after the rebuild or shortly thereafter. I have everything I need to rebuild that engine, and it will happen soon, with a TA Performance cam, NOS Johnson EDM lifters from the 80's, and an assortment of other goodies like an aluminum TA Performance intake and an 800 CFM QuadraJet. Just a matter of time. I figure that SP should be good for around 350 HP and 460 or so TQ. Those Buick V8's are torque monsters, for sure! And at low RPM's. Perfect for off-roading.
I believe that the high compression 350 4 barrel engine you refer to originally came out in 1969 as an RP coded engine, back when GM was first attempting to meet California emission regulations; used premium leaded fuel (98 octane or higher) only, a 195 degree thermostat to increase exhaust gas temperature to reduce unburned hydrocarbons. I have one of those engines in a 1969 Buick Lesabre. I have never considered it to be exceptionally powerful, but it has been very fuel efficient (20 miles per gallon cruising the highway) and reliable/durable. At 325k miles it would be nice to rebuild it, but cost of parts (let alone time required) would most likely exceed the value of an LS crate engine.
While in Jr College,, in roughly 1980, I was in the Electronics program, but being a gearhead I knew several of the one of the guys in the Auto Mechanics program. One of them brought his 72 Buick GS-455 Stage 1 behind the school, with snow tires mounted on the rear. He had somehow disabled the rear brakes and proceeded to roast the tires until they blew out. A huuuuge cloud of smoke engulfed us, wherein one of us said "that's gonna show on the channel 5 weather radar". The rear quarter panels were covered with tiny rubber chunks.
I use Lucas in oil pumps, they can sit for a year,. And still get instant oil pressure. Mostly SBC pumps , but with Lucas it's just like the engine had been running , all but instant oil pressure!
Back in the day when nail valves were readily available we put them in early 50's Ford coupes. The 322 was cheap and made WAY more torque than any flathead. You could run around town with a docile idling engine that kinda sounded like a flathead. But if somebody called you out, it was usually your race to loose. HP sells cars, but on the street TQ rules and Buick motors did the job for pennies from a wrecking yard 😁
Another awesome video,,,buicks and olds are my favorite cars god knows i had alot of them growing up,,,cant wait till the olds video comes out,,,keep up t awesome work and thanks for sharing😊
My first new car purchase was a 1966 Buick Skylark with a 340 CI engine with a 3 speed standard transmission and heavy duty suspension. It was one of the best handling cars that I've owned.
I can't wait for the rocket series ! I bleed GM v8. One note about 68-70 Buick 350. 4bbl heads and intake are only for those 3 years. 2bbl 68-80 & 71-80 4bbl intake and heads are mix and match. Mikel
Loved my ‘68 Cali Special. My first car that I drove daily to high school. Many of my friends had 60’s era cars handed down from their parents. A girl I liked drove a Karmann Ghia. Another had a Studi. Great times!
Buick was actually the engineering department of general motors up till about the 80s. Cadillac was the art and color design department and I believe Oldsmobile was a kind of test bed department for new ideas and concepts before other divisions would receive them.
I had a Buick Lesabre, 1969, with the 350 in it and a 4 barrel carburetor. That thing could pass anything except a gas station. Idled as smooth as glass. It's a shame that all Buick sells now are look alike SUV. Not one car in their lineup.
I remember the 67 GS had 340-4 and had different stroke than the 340-2 in the Skylark I had both cars and miss them very much Thanks you like your videos very much
Longtime follower. One thing on the 455. The light casting would bend and warp the block. I was taught if your gonna build a performance 455 find a stage 1 block if it kills you. They had a high nickel content.
These Buick engines are tough! When my 35O had a head gasket problem, and the heads were removed, the cross hatching from the factory was still visible in the cylinder bores. This at 109,000 miles! The only other thing I did was to replace that nylon timing gear with a steel gear timing set, and replace the front cover, oil pump, etc. with parts from TA Performance. Anyone doing anything with these engines should have a TA Performance catalog on hand.
Those startermotor ,s for the SRT BLACKBIRD where cool! Never heard that. My friend had a Electra Wildcat I dont remember the year. She went really well. Put ya back in the seat!!!!
The Repco Brabham ‘RB620’ V8 won the 1966 World F1 Championship. Brabham identified an alloy, linerless V8 GM Oldsmobile engine, Jack pitched the notion of racing engines of 2.5 litre and 3 litre displacements using simple, chain driven SOHC, two valve heads to Repco’s CEO Charles McGrath. GM developed a family of engines comprising the F85 Oldsmobile and Buick 215. They were almost identical except that the F85 variant had six head studs per cylinder rather than the five of the 215 and was therefore Brabham’s preferred competition option.
A friend had a jet fire complete and a matching straight regular car,both for 2000. But I couldn't find anything about value so I didn't buy them. I have thought I made a mistake not buying the pair. A very interesting show,thank you.
Further comment on Phil Baker and his alum 215 V8s --- he also developed an adapter to install the overdrive from a Ford stick shift onto the auto trans, he offered it on the 727 Torqueflite, GM Turbohydramatic 400 & the Ford C6 auto trans. I have the one for the 747 in Dodge PU, With 4.10 gears in the rearend, shift into o'drive, the rearend gear ratio effectively becomes 2.87 gears and a mere flip of switch it reverts to the 410 gears. He brought it out in the 70s long before the car manufacturers offered an auto trans w/ an o'drive.
The 401 came out for the 1959 model year through 1966. The 4bbl version had 325 HP. The 425 from 1963 model year through 1966 had 340 HP with the 4bbl and 360 HP with the 2-4bbl (Super Wildcat) both had the 465 torque rating.
Just one more comment about the Buick engines in the SR71 starter carts... I've read a few books about the SR71. All of these sources say the original starter carts had Buick V8s, but vary on which engine, depending on the source. They vary from "Buick Wildcat", "Buick 401" and "Buick 425". The original starter carts were built in 1963 or 1964. Anyway, the story I read about the engines in the starter carts blowing up is this : The starter cart was connected to the J58 jet engine by a flexible drive shaft. This drive shaft had a solid, direct connection to the gear box on the jet. As the jet engine started and began to turn faster than the starter cart, there was no ratchet mechanism (for lack of better words) to allow the jet to safetly overrun the starter cart. The starter cart had to be manually disengaged from the jet by the ground crew when the jet started running under it's own power. If the starter cart wasn't disengaged quickly enough, the jet would overspeed the engines in the starter cart and they blew up. The ground crews did say starting an SR71 sounded like a day at the race track. The original Buick engined starter carts were used until the middle 1970s. By this time, the new starter carts had Chevy 454s and remained in use until the SR71 was retired.
Lots of incorrect information stated here...All 455 4 bbl engines in 1970 made 510 ft-lb , The base model did not make 450 ft-lb as stated. The 455 bore was not 4.310", it was 4.312".Why did you mention the Stage 1was a monster especially in a Cutlass ? The Cutlass was an Oldsmobile model.
Great video! Didn’t know about the starter carts for the SR71 interesting! I do have a 1964 Buick Wildcat with a factory 401 in it so wrong on the years of production of 401 other than that great my job on this video
I had a built 401 nail head, bored to 413 in a 1959 LeSabre. Just a kid, learned how to build engines with that car, had a lot of fun. I also build a 215 for a sand rail around 1980. That made for an incredibly torquey buggy. It would lift the front wheels off the ground in second gear. Thanks for the video. Now when do you start on the V6's?
Very interesting info on the vintage Buick v8 engines i never knew that Buick only advertised the torque ratings on the air cleaner instead of the actual cubic inches I remember my Dad told me that Buick and especially Cadillac were know for there torque on very low rpms
The Wildcat model was a trim package on the 1962 Invicta 2 door hardtop. They only made 2000 those. In 1963 the Wildcat replaced the Invicta as a model though the station wagon remained the only Invicta for 1963, model discontinued for 1964. The rarest Wildcat model was the one year only Wildcat GranSport for 1965. I have only seen ONE in person and heard of two others online. The production figures range from dozens to hundreds ever made.
I had a 1957 Chevy fire truck. It had a Buick 322 Possibly they were saving the then-new 283 for the cars. Made a beautiful noise. I had a 65 riviera with a 401 . Lots of torque;-))
this side of the pond the 215 rover V8 was reworked in to a v6 with 4 valves and 4cams went into the MG metro 6r4 rally car and was used in the jaguar XJ220
I have a 69 Buick Skylark Custom with the L88 350 4 B. This motor makes 375hp and over 400ft lbs. Very high compression. Very very fast car!! Very rare indeed.
The Air Force later went to the Buick 455 for the SR-71 start carts. As the cores of available 455s became scarce, they had to switch to the Chevrolet 454.
Slight correction. AS mentioned below It was the Rover car company of Solihul England (later British Leyland) who bought the rights to manufacture the Buick V8 in the UK to replace old straight six engines in the P5 & P6 models back around 1968. I believe Rover sorted out the casting problems. This V8 Buick design English Built engine was fitted into the then new Range Rover along with other cars etc a little later. Joe Turley, who was a Buick engineer ready for retirement came across to Rover to help set up production. It is said after Rover fitted the V8 into the P6 they took joe on a trip down to London on the then brand new M1 Motorway at over 120mph. The test driver looked at Joe and said Yep, Joe, It's a good un !!!!!!!!!! I have a 1973 P5B (B standing for Buick) a superb old car with that wonderful engine, in my estimation the best car engine ever built in the UK.
l love your videos. One small tip. Engine output is meaaured in pound-feet (lb-ft). That's different from when you torque a bolt, you apply force in foot-pounds (ft-lb). It has to do with the direction of the lever. So you say the engine has 445 lb-ft of torque.
I've had two 455's resting on a rack in my garage for about 32 years. Both are .030" over, so 463 Cu. In.. The first one used for circle track racing is high compression with flattop pistons, zero deck, stage 1 heads cut .100", mild cam, and requires a minimum of 100 octane gas. Compression is over 12:1 so this is a torque monster & would work great in a Skylark bracket car. Can't remember whether there is a TH300 or TH400 transmission attached. The second engine and trans was built for my Suburban tow vehicle, so designed for 89 octane regular gas, dished pistons, custom towing cam, external oil cooler ports, & MSD ignition. It has a Buick case TH400 built for a Suburban style bolted driveshaft yoke. Rat rod or two, anyone?
Absolutely! I owned three AMC Ambassadors. I had the most enjoyment and the fewest problems with those three than with all the other domestic vehicles I owned.
The 401 came in 3 forms. A 2bbl "regular gas" lower compression version called Wildcat 375. The more common high compression 2bbl version called Wildcat 410. And the high compression 4bbl version called Wildcat 445. The two 4-bbl version on 1965 and 1966 Skylark GranSports were dealer installed. Wildcat 375 was also a 1966 340 4bbl. In 1967 it was renamed 340-4.
I'd love to have an old big block Buick 455 to put in my 1996 Roadmaster sedan. The 2nd gen small block LT1 engine is okay. But a big block torque monster would be a lot better. Especially the way I drive. I don't need high speed. I just like to jump off the line quickly
The 1996 Roadmaster gearing isn’t that great from what I recall. Maybe the 9C1 gearing (3.42 or 3.73 instead of 2.73 or 3.08) would get you more punch? But a 455 would be a lot of fun.
From what I have researched in regards to the Buick nail head engine(s), the cylinder heads where much narrower making the Buick V8 engine narrower so it could be installed into the narrow frames and engine compartments that Buick had previously designed for Buick inline six and inline eight engines. Please reply. Dave...
I have a question I don't think you mentioned...my brother bought a used 66 skylark and supposedly it has the original engine and it was a all aluminum V6 with a 2 bbl. That thing ran like a champ...or was it a Pontiac v6?
I apologize for a mistake a moment ago, it was the crank from a 300 cu in Buick not a 340 Buick that went into the 215 V8 making 262 cu in. I was to Phil Baker's home in Seattle numerous times and also talked with by phone likewise. Phil shared with me a number of other what I would describe as highly remarkable innovations he carried out.
Buick itself never referred to its V8 engines as "Nailhead" - that was a nickname given to the engines by enthusiasts and magazine writers. The first several years, as you mentioned, it was called the Fireball V8, and later became the Wildcat V8, with various designations like "Wildcat 445" denoting, as you said, the torque output. In 1967/68 the Wildcat designation was phased out and they started referring to the engines by cubic inches and carburetor, like the 350-2, 400-4 and 455-4.
My knowledge of American vehicles is limited. The early Fords and Chrysler were side valve but even 1920s Chevrolet were using OHV 6,s i do not think they used sidevalve i could be wrong. Yes the alloy 215ci Buick/Rover in the UK it is still a very popular engine it has found its way into many Many different vehicles. Buicks V6 3.8 was used in Australian Holden Commodore around 1990s, it was a good stong powerful engine!! A guy in Australia with a Rover SD1 car it had a bored and stroked V8 from a Leyland P76 same engine but 4.5ltr instead of 3.5, it was 5ltr in a light weight wedge shape car it should have gone very well!!
The Buick 430 and the '70 455 were both rated at 360 hp. I think that they were both underrated. I regularly defeat 454's and Hemis. Long live Buick!
Valve sizes, bore:stroke ratios, CID when added to how screwy auto manufacturers already are I’m sure there was a lot of fun to be had confounding insurance companies.
Yeah I had a 1970 455 and that car was killer. It was a torque monster.
@@missdivine5408 absolutely!
I would like to add a few things please. The Buick 215 and the Olds 215 were only different in the heads. The Olds had 4 more head bolts than the Buick and you could use Buick heads on the Olds but not the other way around. In 1952 Dan Gurney drove a Micky Thompson car in the Indianapolis 500 with a bored out version of the Buick (255 CID). In 1966 the Repco company in Australia built overhead cam heads for the 215 block and Jack Brabham won the Formula 1 championship with it. According to the figures I have seen the 340 Buick was significantly lighter than the Chevy SB. All the Buick V6 engines can trace their design back to the 215 V8. The starter carts for the SR-71 were built by famous racing car constructor Frank Kurtis who's midget cars and Indy cars were dominate in the 1940's and 1950's.
So the Olds 215 blocks were also different to allow the extra head bolts...
@@buzzwaldron6195
Yes and no. The blocks are the same with the same 4 bosses in the lifter valley just not drilled and tapped. Can be done with little effort.
You do need those 4 bolts though as those 4 bolts also hold the rocker shafts on the olds.
Only in as much as they had the bolt hole drilled and tapped. You could do that to a Buick block if you wanted to go to the trouble. If you had Buick heads, why would you? Whole point was that you could use either block if you were using Buick heads. I expect Olds heads are a very rare item because there were many more Buicks made. The 1964 300 ci Buick still had the aluminum heads. @@buzzwaldron6195
The venerable Buick V6 was created by chopping two cylinders off the iron 300 V8. Same bore and stroke of 3.75 X 3.40. When GM bought the 225 V6 back from AMC in 1975, they bored it to 3.800, making it the 231, and having the same bore as the Buick 350 V8.
@@andyharman3022 - Actually the Buick V6 was around long before the 300 V8... it was fashioned in iron from the aluminum 215 V8 of 1950...
The 3800 V6 was one of the best ever GM engines. They should still be running it instead of the terrible 3.6. My uncle back in the 50s had a large irrigation farm in west Texas and he ran Buick engines as pump engines and bought a new Buick every two years from Scoggin-Dickey in Lubbock. I've had three- the last being a 2001 LeSabre with the 3800. They've all been great cars.
I still drive a 1999 Buick Park Avenue Ultra with the 3800 Series II. I paid $400 for it, dragged it out of a pasture, put about $1200 into it, more that it needed. I get over 30 mpg going easy down the highway and around 24 in the city. It is the easiest engine to work on I have ever owned and the best driving car, and quick enough for any sensible driving.. You can keep the over head cam unnecessary crap with the long timing chains. I don't see any reason for that.
the 3800 was the best thats why they quit making them 400k miles on a few and cheap parts i agree been a tech for 26 years the 3800 is a stout motor that will handle even boost up to 21 psi stock and not give up... great engine
I ran the 455 in my circle track racer and won EVERY race I entered. I now have a 600 hp 430 in the BINDERBIRD. It does 80 in 1st, 105 it n second and God only knows how fast it will do in third. I smoke Teslas, new Camaros and run side by side with Hellcats/Scat packs
Dude, that 4WD Firebird ain't smokin a Tesla or a Hellcat. I have a 2wd '92 S-10 Blazer with procharged LS7 that makes 585 WHP and I barely gap those cars.
@@genefogarty5395 Older engines have a way longer stroke making way more torque instead or RPM's, Torque wins races, and one of the most important things is axle ratio, if running 3:63 or 4:11's you could whoop almost anything out there, Manual transmission would be even better too!
@@1_BlackDog_23 Understood. But I still stand by my comment. Old or new, power is power and a 4x4 on 33" tires with less HP and TQ than a car is just not going to beat it. BTW, the LS7 had more stroke in stock form than the 430 Buick. The LS7 made 505hp and 481 ft/lbs of tq stock. And that's SAE net vs. gross figures, net the 430 made far less.
I know a local dirt track racer that ran an A body Buick who ran nothing but a Buick 455 and he dominated every week, and the last year he ran that car the engine blew, and he had a spare 350 Buick engine that he ran for the rest of the season, and although it wasn't the torque monster of the 455 it was still very competitive and won races.
Good job, besides a few small errors as noted in the comments. I'm a long time Buick owner/restorer, just sold my last Electra which had the 401 in it. I've built countless big block Buicks, and a few Nailheads, my favorite was the 401 for reliability, and the 455 for brute power. The 430 Big Block and the 425 Nail weren't bad either; my last 2 Wildcats had both, the 430 was a little peppier than the 425, but not by much. The nice thing about a Buick engine in a collector car, is once they're rebuilt, you never have to look at them again, they'll run forever. Modern seals and bearings are an improvement on those older engines. But what's too bad is that they killed the 350 Buick in 1980, which would have been a killer V8 if they had done to it what they did to the 231 V-6. It would have been a heck of a lot better than that miserable small block Chevy, which had being cheap to make it's only real redeeming factor.
Well boo to you . Snob .
Memphis Dan LeLoLai
I work for a classic British sports car shop. One customer ran a 215 Buick/Rover in his `68 MGB GT at Lemons. It fit really well, and light weight made it handle fantastic. I was the only guy in the shop who knew how to tune this engine. Most had never worked on a Holley before. The car did great in the race.
One amazing thing that very few folks are aware of is their use in starting a famous jet. Two of these big-block V8's were tied together and linked mechanically to each engine on the SR-71 high speed jet to spool up the turbines. In fact, later on two large Chevy V8's were employed. However, the chant "start the Buicks" was still used. Very cool, indeed.
No idea. Cool fact indeed.
Chucho Agrelot
I love these engine history series, but also miss your machining videos too. I'd absolutely love to see you start building some of these awesome vintage engines. I particularly love the early hemis, the Buick engines and I'd love to see you do a Packard V12.
That aluminum 215 V8 fit well under the hood of the Chevy Vega, we did one back in the mid 1980's
The Buick 215 version also goes well in an MG Midget...
In the nail head engines, the valve push rods come up on the exhaust side of the head. The valves are vertical on the intake side. Because of this odd arrangement, the valves had to be very long and resemble nails, hence nail head. The rockers are offset too. This can be seen in cutaway drawings of the engine.
The Buick V8s were high torque engines. I have owned two Skylarks with 350s (1968 and 1972) and a 1970 Riviera with a 455. They were all good tire smokers.
The valve heads were also small, giving hail nickname... the small valves, low airflow had Buick concentrating on torque...
I put a Buick 350 in my Chevy C60 for hauling my vintage excavating equipment. It would pull not matter how hard you lugged it down, way out did the 366 truck engine it replaced.
❤❤😅@@oldamericaniron5767
Even though it's a V6 I think the Buick 225 & 3.8L line deserved a mention. Just like the 215 V8 the original 225 would see duty in many Jeep Kaiser Vehicles. (When AMC bought the remnants of Kaiser in 1970 they promptly replaced all Buick engines with their own AMC engines.)
The thought of an easy swap to a built 455 Stage 1 in a Jeep Wagoneer... Somebody must have built one. What a sleeper! 600+ torque and 4-hi lets GOOOOOO.
I grew up on the Buick’s my pops worked for a Buick dealership for 17 years and I was fortunate to be able to see all the new models. Fabulous cars all of them.
I ride in my friends 64 Buick Skylark Sportwagon and it has an unbelievable amount of torque for a small 300 cubic inch V8 with a 2 barrel carburetor. Aluminum heads
Very strong 300 ci
These historical videos have been great. I’m learning a ton. The anecdote about the SR-71 start carts is super cool, I’ll have to find a video of one running!
ua-cam.com/video/JjdyQpEUYzI/v-deo.html
The Air Force went to the 454 after Buick quit making those engines.
A friend had a ‘63 F-85 with the 215. It was fast!
The land rover 215 was also sent to Australia where the deck was raised 15/16ths , and made into a 270 CI ( 4.4 litre) engine. Cast and made in Australia, but still a version of the 215.
The 215 commonly went up to 5.2L/318"...
Your overview was absolutely fascinating. I see the lineage far clearer and the relative merits of each generation. Very nicely done.
About 21 minutes into your presentation there is a picture of a man with the Olds 215 V8 on the left and the Buick 215 V8 on the right. I recognize him, Phil Baker of Seattle. Note he figured out how to install a Buick electronic ignition distributor in the Buick 215 V8 in the picture. I have met Phil. He also figured out how to install the crank from a Buick 340 V8 into this 215 V8, brining it up to 262 cu in. I personally saw his vehicle so equipped. More: he figured out how to adapt a Turbohydamatic 350 to both of these 215 V8s, I find to be a hug improvement over the auto trans the factory offered on these 2 engines in the early 1960s., My last contact with Phil he was in failing health, I believe he has gone onto car heaven now. Phil built racing engines for number of years, too. He was recognized as unusually smart anything cars related.
We appreciate you taking the time to provide this series. Really a fantastic resource.
I'm about to start casting a new 455 Buick Block with all the updates like crank oiling,four bolt mains ETC...
Are you a Greta Thornberg fan?
At age 74, I have seen much over the years, & while I am a dyed-in-the-wool Dodge [& Mopar] man [I use a 1957 Dodge 325 Hemi in my '33] I know full well that other makers produced some good engines too.
A friend pulled the alloy Toyota Century series 3.3L Hemi from his 'T' bucket about thirty five or forty years ago & replaced it with one of those wonderful Buick alloy 215 engines. At age 80, he is still driving it.
I was very impressed when you said that some of the street guys went for the torquey engines because it was what really did the deed for them. Something I agree with 100%.
My stepfather, an old time mechanic, [RIP] always said "Horsepower sells cars, but torque wins races" which is why my little street Hemi has been built for torque, not just horsepower.
So thank you for mentioning that, as many of my peers still hold a different view & I now feel vindicated. 👍
PS, greetings from Australia.
13:01 Ford Edsel had torque ratings on their engines. Dad paid cash money for a 1958 Edsel with 361 solid lifter engine and steel crank, electronic shift, but that is all I know, I don't know model. He said that car would go 135 mph. He drove from Thunder Bay to Saskatoon in under 13 hours and that was on gravel and on the square, no highways. When he did burns, it was black tire smoke and I argued with Dad that in my age, tire smoke was blue.
Now that I think about it, my Dad was the last Dad to do burnouts, for 1000 miles around.
Yes, the Edsel E-400 was the torque rating for the 361 FE V8. The E-475 was that of the 410 MEL V8.
This was an awesome video. My grandfather liked 1950s Buicks he owned a few of them with the straight eight. This taught me a lot thank you for making such an awesome video
Love old Buicks! David Buick was a plumber and inventor. He invented the valve in head design. Buick never ran a flathead. When David Buick sold the company it became the first car division of GM. Top Dog! This is why the Skylark GS got away with 401 c.i. and why the GSX of 1970 closed out the muscle car era smoking all of the competition. The GNX was also allowed to smoke Corvette like a brisket. Carol Selby got the idea for the Cobra from the Buick 401 powered Ole Yeller he destroyed the competition with. Great video 👍
Carroll Shelby didn't create Old Yeller. That was Max Balchowsky. Although I don't know if Shelby might have driven Old Yeller?
He drove it! Borrowed Maxes idea of a V8 sports car to create cobra. He drove for Max@@andyharman3022
Thank you for the lesson, and a special thanks to your tip on priming the oil pump gears with vaseline or assembly lube before assembly.
I commented before on another post about the 7 Buicks I owned. 3 Wildcats, a 64,a 68,and a 70. 2 Rivs, a 70,& a 73 boattail and 2 Electra Deuce & 1/4s, a 73 Limited, and a 75 Custom. All but 2 had 455s. The 64 Wildcat had a 401-445 nailhead & the 68 Wildcat had the 430. They were all great engines.Very reliable and powerful. Of course the 455s had more power but also more torque. The 401 nailhead had 445ft. lbs. The 430 had 465ft.lbs. & the 455 had 510 ft.lbs. of torque.Now that's quite a jump in torque considering they had good torque to begin with!! Buick always made great engines!!!
My 72 Buick 350 rocket engine that I got for 200 bucks off a little old lady. I threw a four barrel on it done a few other tweaks and I would smoke my friends trans am and which really pissed him off… Lol… Great show… Keep on rocking
Fantastic video! Thanks for taking the time to learn us a lesson!
Well done!! Ive owned a few 455 that was in my olds 98 it was a BEAST!!
Awesome as always Mr. T!
You taught me in phase 1 and I enjoy continuing to learn from you!
nice!!
And there were handful of manufacturers that also used overhead cam engine.
The 1953 Special used the straight 8. In 1953 the Roadmaster, Super and Century used the 322 V8. The 264 V8 was exclusive to the 1954 and 1955 Special. In 1956 the 322 was used "across the board."
I had a 1962, Buick Le Sabre with a 401 Nailhead, 2v. I think it was rated about 275 hp. It had dual valve springs. It was easy to work on. Its big problem was its camshaft gear was nylon coated to be quite. The nylon coating came loose at 50 mph and the cam went out of sync. The distributor quit turning. The valves hit the pistons and the push rods were bent. The mechanic did not find the bent push rods and it would overheat. The transmission with one gear was awsome.
My cousin has a 61 Electra that my uncle left him. The 401 was actual 325 hp.
@@joca6282 The Electra had a 4v carb, but the Le Sabre onlly had a 2v cab. and lower compression to run regular gas.
Brilliant explanation, great lessons, a joy to watch
Glad it was helpful!
IN THE 6O,S I learned to drive in a 53 v8 . Drove a invicta and a 65 buick skylark GS . One practice day a 365 hp corvette was beating everyone . He challenged a black bubbletop buick .The guy opened his headers and rolled up. His windows that had a decal stating National Record Holder . HE WON EASILY WAS A 401.
Imagine if they had added 2 cylinders to the 3.8 SFI Turbo! That would have been a monster.
I had a Ford F150 6 cylinder and hook up an electric pre lube pump out of a catalog. The engine lasted for over 350,000 miles and was fine when I sold the truck. Thanks for video. My aunt always would buy the demonstrator models of the Buick with the big engines. She loved to pass cars and drive fast. Plus the demo's cost less.
I once had and rebuilt a 72 Buick 350. I loved that engine. I've got a supercharged 3.8 right now and love that one also.
In 1970, the Buick GS cars with the 350 4 barrel engines were 10.25 to 1 compression SP code engines. One year only. 315 HP and 410 TQ stock, the most powerful factory Buick 350 made. I am kinda surprised you didn't mention those. I have two of those SP engines, both in Jeep full-size pickups. No, they did not come stock in the Jeeps, I dropped them in myself. My 71 J2000 did come with the Buick Dauntless 350 2 barrel, and it was plenty powerful for that truck, but it suffered from low oil pressure and developed a bad rod knock. So I picked up a running Buick 350, not knowing then that it was an SP engine. It got a TA Performance cam a couple steps up from stock, a stock Buick 4 barrel intake with a 750 CFM QuadraJet, and man she is a torque monster! The other 70 SP is in my 74 J20 3/4 ton Jeep pickup. That Jeep came with a dead Olds 350 in it (the truck had sat for 34 years when I got it, that Olds 350 was stuck, but I managed to get it freed up and running on 7, but #4 cylinder was rusted pretty badly, and toast) that someone had swapped in after the original AMC 360 apparently went belly-up. Whoever did that engine swap many years ago also went through a T400 trans and added the proper output shaft for the QuadraTrac transfer case. The SP engine I got from a friend of mine in trade for some work on his Buick Skylarks had come out of a 70 GS. It had sat outside under a plastic tarp for about 12 years when I got it, and it ran rough when I dropped it in the 74 J20 and fired it up, but looked brand new inside. Had a badly dished lifter and flat cam lobe on #1 intake, I figure that happened during break-in after the rebuild or shortly thereafter. I have everything I need to rebuild that engine, and it will happen soon, with a TA Performance cam, NOS Johnson EDM lifters from the 80's, and an assortment of other goodies like an aluminum TA Performance intake and an 800 CFM QuadraJet. Just a matter of time. I figure that SP should be good for around 350 HP and 460 or so TQ. Those Buick V8's are torque monsters, for sure! And at low RPM's. Perfect for off-roading.
I believe that the high compression 350 4 barrel engine you refer to originally came out in 1969 as an RP coded engine, back when GM was first attempting to meet California emission regulations; used premium leaded fuel (98 octane or higher) only, a 195 degree thermostat to increase exhaust gas temperature to reduce unburned hydrocarbons. I have one of those engines in a 1969 Buick Lesabre. I have never considered it to be exceptionally powerful, but it has been very fuel efficient (20 miles per gallon cruising the highway) and reliable/durable. At 325k miles it would be nice to rebuild it, but cost of parts (let alone time required) would most likely exceed the value of an LS crate engine.
While in Jr College,, in roughly 1980, I was in the Electronics program, but being a gearhead I knew several of the one of the guys in the Auto Mechanics program. One of them brought his 72 Buick GS-455 Stage 1 behind the school, with snow tires mounted on the rear. He had somehow disabled the rear brakes and proceeded to roast the tires until they blew out. A huuuuge cloud of smoke engulfed us, wherein one of us said "that's gonna show on the channel 5 weather radar". The rear quarter panels were covered with tiny rubber chunks.
I use Lucas in oil pumps, they can sit for a year,. And still get instant oil pressure. Mostly SBC pumps , but with Lucas it's just like the engine had been running , all but instant oil pressure!
The Buick 350 was a true small block. It really had no relationship with the 400-430-455 motor.
Back in the day when nail valves were readily available we put them in early 50's Ford coupes. The 322 was cheap and made WAY more torque than any flathead. You could run around town with a docile idling engine that kinda sounded like a flathead. But if somebody called you out, it was usually your race to loose. HP sells cars, but on the street TQ rules and Buick motors did the job for pennies from a wrecking yard 😁
Great video & history
Another awesome video,,,buicks and olds are my favorite cars god knows i had alot of them growing up,,,cant wait till the olds video comes out,,,keep up t awesome work and thanks for sharing😊
My first new car purchase was a 1966 Buick Skylark with a 340 CI engine with a 3 speed standard transmission and heavy duty suspension. It was one of the best handling cars that I've owned.
I can't wait for the rocket series ! I bleed GM v8.
One note about 68-70 Buick 350. 4bbl heads and intake are only for those 3 years. 2bbl 68-80 & 71-80 4bbl intake and heads are mix and match.
Mikel
Loved my ‘68 Cali Special. My first car that I drove daily to high school. Many of my friends had 60’s era cars handed down from their parents. A girl I liked drove a Karmann Ghia. Another had a Studi. Great times!
Thank you for showing and explaining the nail head. This is the reason i watched the great video
Many people think that Buick had the best engineering and quality control of any of the GM divisions during the classic US car era.
Buick was actually the engineering department of general motors up till about the 80s. Cadillac was the art and color design department and I believe Oldsmobile was a kind of test bed department for new ideas and concepts before other divisions would receive them.
I had a Buick Lesabre, 1969, with the 350 in it and a 4 barrel carburetor. That thing could pass anything except a gas station.
Idled as smooth as glass. It's a shame that all Buick sells now are look alike SUV. Not one car in their lineup.
Been a Buick guy most of my life. My grandfather had a two cylinder Buick w a a y back.
I remember the 67 GS had 340-4 and had different stroke than the 340-2 in the Skylark I had both cars and miss them very much
Thanks you like your videos very much
Ran a 455 stage II in and off road Jeep Pickup. Great engine!
Longtime follower. One thing on the 455. The light casting would bend and warp the block. I was taught if your gonna build a performance 455 find a stage 1 block if it kills you. They had a high nickel content.
Great video series! Thanks and keep up the good work!
These Buick engines are tough! When my 35O had a head gasket problem, and the heads were removed, the cross hatching from the factory was still visible in the cylinder bores. This at 109,000 miles! The only other thing I did was to replace that nylon timing gear with a steel gear timing set, and replace the front cover, oil pump, etc. with parts from TA Performance. Anyone doing anything with these engines should have a TA Performance catalog on hand.
I agree T/A is my go to place when I am working on a Buick
Great info/video !!
You made my nostalgia run amuck….
Those startermotor ,s for the SRT BLACKBIRD where cool! Never heard that.
My friend had a Electra Wildcat
I dont remember the year.
She went really well. Put ya back in the seat!!!!
Brilliant! can't wait for Oldsmobile.
The Repco Brabham ‘RB620’ V8 won the 1966 World F1 Championship. Brabham identified an alloy, linerless V8 GM Oldsmobile engine, Jack pitched the notion of racing engines of 2.5 litre and 3 litre displacements using simple, chain driven SOHC, two valve heads to Repco’s CEO Charles McGrath.
GM developed a family of engines comprising the F85 Oldsmobile and Buick 215. They were almost identical except that the F85 variant had six head studs per cylinder rather than the five of the 215 and was therefore Brabham’s preferred competition option.
A friend had a jet fire complete and a matching straight regular car,both for 2000. But I couldn't find anything about value so I didn't buy them. I have thought I made a mistake not buying the pair. A very interesting show,thank you.
My daily driver back in 1960's was the 1962 Jetfire. A cute little car:
ua-cam.com/video/Jzw5W1rRMog/v-deo.html
Further comment on Phil Baker and his alum 215 V8s --- he also developed an adapter to install the overdrive from a Ford stick shift onto the auto trans, he offered it on the 727 Torqueflite, GM Turbohydramatic 400 & the Ford C6 auto trans. I have the one for the 747 in Dodge PU, With 4.10 gears in the rearend, shift into o'drive, the rearend gear ratio effectively becomes 2.87 gears and a mere flip of switch it reverts to the 410 gears. He brought it out in the 70s long before the car manufacturers offered an auto trans w/ an o'drive.
The 401 came out for the 1959 model year through 1966. The 4bbl version had 325 HP. The 425 from 1963 model year through 1966 had 340 HP with the 4bbl and 360 HP with the 2-4bbl (Super Wildcat) both had the 465 torque rating.
Just one more comment about the Buick engines in the SR71 starter carts...
I've read a few books about the SR71. All of these sources say the original starter carts had Buick V8s, but vary on which engine, depending on the source. They vary from "Buick Wildcat", "Buick 401" and "Buick 425". The original starter carts were built in 1963 or 1964.
Anyway, the story I read about the engines in the starter carts blowing up is this :
The starter cart was connected to the J58 jet engine by a flexible drive shaft. This drive shaft had a solid, direct connection to the gear box on the jet. As the jet engine started and began to turn faster than the starter cart, there was no ratchet mechanism (for lack of better words) to allow the jet to safetly overrun the starter cart. The starter cart had to be manually disengaged from the jet by the ground crew when the jet started running under it's own power.
If the starter cart wasn't disengaged quickly enough, the jet would overspeed the engines in the starter cart and they blew up.
The ground crews did say starting an SR71 sounded like a day at the race track.
The original Buick engined starter carts were used until the middle 1970s. By this time, the new starter carts had Chevy 454s and remained in use until the SR71 was retired.
Lots of incorrect information stated here...All 455 4 bbl engines in 1970 made 510 ft-lb , The base model did not make 450 ft-lb as stated. The 455 bore was not 4.310", it was 4.312".Why did you mention the Stage 1was a monster especially in a Cutlass ? The Cutlass was an Oldsmobile model.
The ole story on the I-8 Buick was you could count the fan blades as it idled. Silky smooth low end performance.
Great video! Didn’t know about the starter carts for the SR71 interesting! I do have a 1964 Buick Wildcat with a factory 401 in it so wrong on the years of production of 401 other than that great my job on this video
I had a built 401 nail head, bored to 413 in a 1959 LeSabre. Just a kid, learned how to build engines with that car, had a lot of fun. I also build a 215 for a sand rail around 1980. That made for an incredibly torquey buggy. It would lift the front wheels off the ground in second gear. Thanks for the video. Now when do you start on the V6's?
Very interesting info on the vintage Buick v8 engines i never knew that Buick only advertised the torque ratings on the air cleaner instead of the actual cubic inches I remember my Dad told me that Buick and especially Cadillac were know for there torque on very low rpms
Thank you !
Very interesting.
I LIVE FOR THIS INFORMATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Wildcat model was a trim package on the 1962 Invicta 2 door hardtop. They only made 2000 those. In 1963 the Wildcat replaced the Invicta as a model though the station wagon remained the only Invicta for 1963, model discontinued for 1964. The rarest Wildcat model was the one year only Wildcat GranSport for 1965. I have only seen ONE in person and heard of two others online. The production figures range from dozens to hundreds ever made.
I had a 1957 Chevy fire truck.
It had a Buick 322
Possibly they were saving the then-new 283 for the cars.
Made a beautiful noise.
I had a 65 riviera with a 401 .
Lots of torque;-))
He got it wrong. 55, 56, 57 Chevy heavy duty used Buick 322, Jimmys used Pontiac v8s.
That 455 was a beast of a engine on the drag strip had it's share of winning races
Great video thanks for posting!!!!!!!!!!
this side of the pond the 215 rover V8 was reworked in to a v6 with 4 valves and 4cams went into the MG metro 6r4 rally car and was used in the jaguar XJ220
I have a 69 Buick Skylark Custom with the L88 350 4 B. This motor makes 375hp and over 400ft lbs. Very high compression. Very very fast car!! Very rare indeed.
4.125 x 3.40 stroke is only 364 ci . Your videos are great can’t wait for the OLDS video
The Air Force later went to the Buick 455 for the SR-71 start carts.
As the cores of available 455s became scarce, they had to switch to the Chevrolet 454.
Slight correction. AS mentioned below It was the Rover car company of Solihul England (later British Leyland) who bought the rights to manufacture the Buick V8 in the UK to replace old straight six engines in the P5 & P6 models back around 1968. I believe Rover sorted out the casting problems.
This V8 Buick design English Built engine was fitted into the then new Range Rover along with other cars etc a little later.
Joe Turley, who was a Buick engineer ready for retirement came across to Rover to help set up production. It is said after Rover fitted the V8 into the P6 they took joe on a trip down to London on the then brand new M1 Motorway at over 120mph. The test driver looked at Joe and said Yep, Joe, It's a good un !!!!!!!!!!
I have a 1973 P5B (B standing for Buick) a superb old car with that wonderful engine, in my estimation the best car engine ever built in the UK.
Skylark not Cutlass. 3.8 turbo is an icon. Thanks for the video!
l love your videos. One small tip. Engine output is meaaured in pound-feet (lb-ft). That's different from when you torque a bolt, you apply force in foot-pounds (ft-lb). It has to do with the direction of the lever. So you say the engine has 445 lb-ft of torque.
Well the two of the buicks I own came with a 300cu in V8 in 1967, so I think you got that wrong. In 67, there was 300, 340, 400 and 430.
I've had two 455's resting on a rack in my garage for about 32 years. Both are .030" over, so 463 Cu. In.. The first one used for circle track racing is high compression with flattop pistons, zero deck, stage 1 heads cut .100", mild cam, and requires a minimum of 100 octane gas. Compression is over 12:1 so this is a torque monster & would work great in a Skylark bracket car. Can't remember whether there is a TH300 or TH400 transmission attached. The second engine and trans was built for my Suburban tow vehicle, so designed for 89 octane regular gas, dished pistons, custom towing cam, external oil cooler ports, & MSD ignition. It has a Buick case TH400 built for a Suburban style bolted driveshaft yoke. Rat rod or two, anyone?
These are awesome hope you do some thing on AMC
Absolutely! I owned three AMC Ambassadors. I had the most enjoyment and the fewest problems with those three than with all the other domestic vehicles I owned.
Thank you
The 401 came in 3 forms. A 2bbl "regular gas" lower compression version called Wildcat 375. The more common high compression 2bbl version called Wildcat 410. And the high compression 4bbl version called Wildcat 445. The two 4-bbl version on 1965 and 1966 Skylark GranSports were dealer installed. Wildcat 375 was also a 1966 340 4bbl. In 1967 it was renamed 340-4.
I'd love to have an old big block Buick 455 to put in my 1996 Roadmaster sedan. The 2nd gen small block LT1 engine is okay. But a big block torque monster would be a lot better. Especially the way I drive. I don't need high speed. I just like to jump off the line quickly
The 1996 Roadmaster gearing isn’t that great from what I recall. Maybe the 9C1 gearing (3.42 or 3.73 instead of 2.73 or 3.08) would get you more punch? But a 455 would be a lot of fun.
4.11 is a track ratio but if you value hole shot above drivability this ia where it's at. I'm a road car guy so that means 2.73, usually.
Great learnt alot 👍
From what I have researched in regards to the Buick nail head engine(s), the cylinder heads where much narrower making the Buick V8 engine narrower so it could be installed into the narrow frames and engine compartments that Buick had previously designed for Buick inline six and inline eight engines. Please reply. Dave...
correction the 401 bore/stroke was listed wrong in the video the 401nail head has a bore of 4.187 stroke is 3.640.
pin ur correction
I have a question I don't think you mentioned...my brother bought a used 66 skylark and supposedly it has the original engine and it was a all aluminum V6 with a 2 bbl. That thing ran like a champ...or was it a Pontiac v6?
Edsel rated their engines n torque the edsel 400 was a 361 ci and the Edsel 475 was 410 Cubic inch.
I apologize for a mistake a moment ago, it was the crank from a 300 cu in Buick not a 340 Buick that went into the 215 V8 making 262 cu in. I was to Phil Baker's home in Seattle numerous times and also talked with by phone likewise. Phil shared with me a number of other what I would describe as highly remarkable innovations he carried out.
We had a '64 LeSabre, white convertible, RED interior. 300 ci, 4bbl
Very fast for a big car
Buick itself never referred to its V8 engines as "Nailhead" - that was a nickname given to the engines by enthusiasts and magazine writers. The first several years, as you mentioned, it was called the Fireball V8, and later became the Wildcat V8, with various designations like "Wildcat 445" denoting, as you said, the torque output. In 1967/68 the Wildcat designation was phased out and they started referring to the engines by cubic inches and carburetor, like the 350-2, 400-4 and 455-4.
My knowledge of American vehicles is limited. The early Fords and Chrysler were side valve but even 1920s Chevrolet were using OHV 6,s i do not think they used sidevalve i could be wrong. Yes the alloy 215ci Buick/Rover in the UK it is still a very popular engine it has found its way into many Many different vehicles. Buicks V6 3.8 was used in Australian Holden Commodore around 1990s, it was a good stong powerful engine!! A guy in Australia with a Rover SD1 car it had a bored and stroked V8 from a Leyland P76 same engine but 4.5ltr instead of 3.5, it was 5ltr in a light weight wedge shape car it should have gone very well!!
My Dad had a 400 Wildcat engine in a Skylark that thing had balls and it was quiet.