Engine and Transmission Tech

Eric, The cams are regular hydraulic cams. It is the lifters that are different. Their 50233 grind is what Chris used. Lunati and Comp Cams have faster opening and closing but unfortunately they don't carry them for the 215/300/340 Buick. They do Buick V6 and Buick 350 and 455 V8's. They may be able to do a custom grind but it would be more expensive.

[www.crower.com]

[www.crower.com]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2022 01:27PM by mgb260.

Jim, thanks for the clarification and information.

Hi all,
Here's a short video I shot of the current situation once I got everything shuffled around and organized.
I haven't found any specific information on the marine cam for this engine, but what I've read so far suggests marine cams in general are close to a truck/RV grind in that the torque curve is broader and flatter, and because the exhaust exits below the waterline, the lobe separation angle is wider by a few degrees, to prevent negative pulses from drawing seawater up into the exhaust during idle (a theory that makes sense to me) and the effect it would have for me is that the idle would be very smooth, and breathing at high RPM would be quite poor (this I don't necessarily find objectionable as I really don't want to overspeed the engine, but I may have a problem with my wide-ratio T5 and certainly with a 3.9 axle ratio). With the money I'm saving I don't mind revisiting that part of the equation, though.
The mild concern for me at this point is I'm seeing a slow ramp-up of oil pressure to about 30PSI at a brisk idle, so I'm going to have to look a bit deeper. Compression/leakdown test still isn't done, hopefully there will be time for that this weekend. In any case, this puts the project light-years ahead of where I was at with the other engine, and for very little money, comparatively.

[youtu.be]

For now unless you have a flattened lobe you are much better off leaving the cam alone. The stock cam is not BAD, and the engine will make more than adequate power with it. See if you can find compression specs for that marine engine, maybe run a compression test. You'll note that the factory spec for HP is at 4600 rpm so I would not expect anything much over 5K from it unless you make changes. Definitely fit the 4bb intake if you have one. Your oil pressure is quite good. No real need to even touch that if you don't want to, but you are going to need a different oil filter base. When you swap that, get the TA shim pack and set the end gap on the gears tight. The booster plate is a good addition.

Great find. You'll be happy with that one. Be sure and use oil made for vintage engines.

Jim

It's Alive!

Irrelevantly, but for fun, this car has a marine engine, and it's running backwards.
Was somewhat tempted to buy it but had an attack of common sense.
[bringatrailer.com]

Ivor

Ivor, Corvair stock were reverse rotation and the v8 was changed otherwise it would run backwards!