A long way to go and a short time to get there.

[Hawk231]

I spent thursday evening pulling the engine out. The engine bay is dirt and oily... It'll have to stay that way until I get the new engine in. There are definitely a few cans of Gunk and a pressure washer in its future though.

[Hawk231]

I did a trial fit of the Buick 350 on friday. I spent most of the day trying to squeeze it in. Here are the results of friday's effort.

1) It looks like to me that there is no way this will work with the factory A/C components. It might work if you could find a shorter accumulator.

2) There was no way I could fit even a PF47 oil filter on it. This engine did have both a high volume oil pump plate and booster plate on it, so there might have been enough room if it hadn't had these. I wasn't able to turn the steering wheel to see how much the idler arm came in while I was fitting the engine.

3) The plastic piece that covers the lower steering shaft joint must be removed.

4) There must be only certain year exhaust manifolds that will work for this swap. The engine I was using came out of a 69 skylark. In the pictures you can see where the passenger side manifold hits the most rearward upper control arm mount. Even though the manifold hit, the engine mount was all the way down and the hole lined up. The drivers side was another story. With the engine resting against the steering shaft the engine mount was still ~1/2 away from lining up. The manifold hit the shaft and the lower joint. The picture was taken with the lower joint cover still on.

5) The oil pan is very close to the center link. It may need to be slightly relived for that center link and the passenger side inner tie rod. Again, this was a 69 pan and other years may be different. The driver’s side engine mount was still ~1/2" from being seated.

I had to remove the brake booster, power steering pump hoses and A/C accumulator to get the engine in this far. The brake booster will definitely go back on. I'm pretty sure that there is room for the power steering hoses too.

[bugdewde]

Great post....... I'm sure there are others that would love this thread. You should title another post with "Buick V8 in a Skyhawk" or something to get others onboard.

I'm sure others could contribute. As for the exhaust..... header flanges off the heads could easily be had.... then custom fab some tubes.... block hugging or even raised a bit to go down into an easily accessed area.

Steering shaft can be jointed to go around the exhaust..... the big block guys do it.

motor mounts can be raised a bit with spacers to accomodate the pan if needed.....

electric fan.... & short shaft water pump.... ala the Buick 215, maybe?

Keep it up..... this is great info. There's similar info on the Pontiac V8 in an H-body thread.

[Hawk231]

More progress to report.

I got the oil system primed monday. It holds 75lb of pressure with the drill turning 800rpm, at least while none of the internals are moving.

Check out the gaskets that came with the headers. It sucks but you can’t overlook checking anything. These overhung the exhaust ports by ~1/4” on one side and wouldn’t have sealed on the other side. I’ve got a set of FelPro 1400”s on order.

The rear end is together now. It’s a 3.23:1 with a Torsen posi out of an F-body. I put the 28 spline S10 axles in it for the 5 lug conversion. It’s filled and should be good to go, even for a mild Buick 350 someday.

[stage169]

That is great! I have thought about the Buick 350. I wonder how much hp you could get out of one now with aluminum heads and a single plane intake? I'm thinking drag Hawk. Looks good I bet the Buick 350 is lighter than a sbc. Brian

[buickapollo455]

Hello, can you help, I need a tail light for a 79 with a the hawk on the lense, if you can help craig c_geske@earthlink.net

[Hawk231]

Sorry, I don't have any tail lights.

Your garage entry says that it has a 350 Buick in it. Would you care to share some details on that installation? Maybe an entry in the Engine tech section? Pictures!!! Lots of pictures!!!!

[stage169]

I thought somebody here said the Buick 350 was light. I looked around on the web and it looks to be an easy 100lb lighter than a sbc. That is going to be a fun ride.

Have you seen this car? Somebody found it here and this is the only pic I saved. There was a lot of floor cutting for this BBB to fit. Brian

[Hawk231]

Yeah, I saw that awhile back. There was a link to it on the V8Buick.com message board. Bet it was a fun ride!

http://www.thedinosaurgang.com/default.htm

That 350 would be even lighter with aluminum heads and intake. Now if TA will only keep those exhaust ports the same length and in the same location. I still need to find the magic manifolds too. There’s a guy up north of me in Ohio who has a couple complete 78-79 350’s, but he won’t sell me the manifolds off one.

[stage169]

Thanks for the link I couldn't remember. There is one pic where you can see lots of rust at the top inner fender. I can just imagine!

So the 78, 79 manifolds might give you more clearance? That would save some work if you could leave the steering alone. The V6 drivers side manifold is very flat. I have wondered if it was H only.

If I ever get back to working on my red car it needs a Buick engine. Your install has got me thinking again! Brian

[Hawk231]

The manifold thing is still a rumor at this point. I wish there were some specific casting numbers or car models to look for. The late 70's manifold on the driver's side is mentioned here:
http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=61838
He also mentioned notching the rear control arm mount on the passenger side.

[stage169]

I hope you find it. At least there were some pics of it.

[Hawk231]

Got the transmission in today. The torque converter is a 2000 RPM stall from Hughes.

Maybe the Enigne will go in tomorrow.

[Hawk231]

It's in!!! Wow, look at all that room. I've just got one bolt in the transmission bellhousing for now. I'm going to try and get the headers on it tomorrow and I may need to lift the motor some for that.

I edited my post in the transmission forum. You need to grind down the shifter cable bracket when you use an aluminum transmission pan.

[Hawk231]

It was pretty easy to push the headers up from the bottom. The bolts aren't bad to get to either with the A/C accumulator, brake booster and master cylinder removed.