Engine and Transmission Tech

It seems that plans are afoot to build some aluminum heads for the 350 Buick. As far as I can tell right now, the first ones are going to be billet pieces designed with drag racing in mind but if successful they could lead to castings suitable for street use, bringing the weight of the engine down to around 400 lbs and making it competitive weight wise with the '64 SBB 300 and the SBF. More importantly the engines are common and inexpensive, often in good running condition. The downside? Size and lack of headers for our applications. But as this is a new development I thought I would pass the word along.

Jim

That is good news for the 350 Buick crowd. Nagging question is, what about the crank ? 3.85" stroke , 3" diameter mains, in old school cast iron, will be problematic ! So far, all I've found is billet, for $2,800 each. Good Luck, roverman.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2012 11:38AM by roverman.

The "new" heads will retain paired center exhaust ? Most will use a single plane 4 bbl ? If so, best performance will require a "4/7" cam swap, like sbc's./etc. Another plus point of 215-340 and RV8's is, they do not, based on intake runner lay out. Cheers, roverman.

The weight sounds pretty attractive. I'm not as familiar with the 350 Buicks as I am with the 215 so does the newer engine retain the oil pump in the timing cover and that rediculous long passage cast into the side of the block? If so, maybe a little external plumbing and a dry sump?

Jim, It is possible to use the newer V6 or Rover front cover and gerotor oil pump. Some mods, like a flat milled on the damper to fit the gear. I think the 87 Buick V6 front cover or interim Rover with distributor hole. There was a thread on here a while back.

Ok, Let's add-up the features. The 350 sbc "does" have a larger base circle for the cam. This made possible by having all the cam bearings being one size. Extra tall deck height, not needed. Single plane intake manifold-no. Two bolt mains with cast iron crank and caps-yes. One piece rear seal-no. Readily available aftermarket rods and forged pistons- no. 3.00" main journals, to help the cast crank live-yes. I suspect the oem rover crank has better metalurgy/strength than sbb. Weld repair, cast iron or aluminum ? I hope the sbb folks achieve all of their build dreams, after all, they are cousins. IMHO, roverman.

Well, with the skirted block and large mains the stock crank has seen over 1000 hp and 7000 rpm without modification so I think it is strong enough for most of us. The size is the real issue here due to the increaseddeck height. Like the 340 it will not fit in the MGB without a series of higher level body and suspension mods essentially identical to those needed to put the 455 in the Roadmaster, with the exception of the lower tunnel cut alongside the gas pedal which is not required. But it does mean serious firewall, steering, lower control arm, and radiator support mods so it would be a rather involved swap. The good news is that the trail has been blazed already so the issues are known, and taken separately the required mods are not particularly difficult and do not involve extensive cutting. As for headers there are quite a few SBB header sets available so modifying one of those to work shouldn't be too difficult or expensive. If they do make the street heads an alloy single plane is sure to follow.

Like Art, I am not a big fan of paired exhaust ports. In fact I would like to see a 350 short block with the TA Rover heads. But that would require a custom cam and probably an individual runner type intake and carb or injector system. And that isn't likely to happen any time soon. But it would make for a sweet engine with readily available short block assemblies.

The currently preferred rod and piston combo seems to be Hersche rods with Diamond pistons, both forged, although I seem to recall some rumor of Diamond going out of business.Unfounded I hope. Regardless the other piston makers are at about the same place on prices. Finding an off the shelf slug is, as always, a challenge to get exactly what you want but a lot of piston sets go through ebay. Oh, and I believe the 460 Ford rear main seal works, just the same as with the big block.

Jim

Jim B, and clan, the engine crankshaft you describe, is listed as a "stock configuration", this does NOT mean stock ! They used a custom/one-off crank, made by Eagle, and I suspect billet. The entire rotating assembly is custom made, and pricey as any quality pieces, in custom would be. I don't want anyone to get a wrong idea, of what the stock sbb crankshaft is capable of. This could be disasstrous, to say the least. The aftermarket,"cast steel" cranks available today, are far superior, to what was oem. cast, 30+ years ago. Onward, roverman.

True in some cases Art but not all. There are plenty of racers running stock cranks and Sean's dual turbo motor was bone stock except for the turbos. So while the combination of 1000 hp and 7000 rpm may not have occurred in one engine I think the claim still stands. I may not have remembered Sean's hp results correctly.That is a possibility as my memory is not always completely infallable. I know for sure he was over 700. And I know there are guys hitting 7grand with the stock crank. Either way it's more than enough for most of us, and if Sean did in fact hit 1000 it's way way more. But I'd have to ask. Maybe he'll finish his book soon. It's bound to be in there.

Jim

Ok," Bone stock, except for the turbos with 700 hp", That's very impressive ! roverman.

I know, right? Too bad it doesn't fit a little easier.

Jim