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Dan Jones
Dan Jones
St. Louis, Missouri
(280 posts)

Registered:
07/21/2008 03:32PM

Main British Car:
1980 Triumph TR8 3.5L Rover V8

Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
Posted by: Dan Jones
Date: July 01, 2009 04:17PM

I drove to Atlanta over the weekend and made a major Rover/Buick
parts score. The most interesting parts were a pair of Buick
race heads. In the "Hotrodding the Buick" book, they have a
section on the Buick aluminum V8 that covers Mickey Thompson's
Buick-powered Indy racer and Lance Reventlow's Buick-powered
Scarab road racer. They show pictures of Mickey's ported
cylinder heads next to a set of stock Buick 215 heads. The
ports on the ported heads are so much bigger, I couldn't see
how a Buick 215 head could be safely ported that far. At first,
I wondered if they started with Buick 300 heads which have larger
ports but the pictures clearly show Buick 215 combustion chambers
and the 215's extra head bolt bosses. Turns out Mickey and Lance
were using special heads cast for racing by GM that combined the
Buick 300's larger ports with the Buick 215's smaller combustion
chambers. The heads carry a cast-in reverse Buick 300 part number.
Since Mickey's car raced at Indy in 1962, the heads were cast a
couple of years before the Buick 300 went into production, so it's
likely the heads were 215 racing parts and the 300 heads were
based upon them, rather than the other way around. The heads have
been ported and fitted with Manley Severe Duty stainless steel
valves (1.625" intake, 1.496" exhaust). The heads have also
been modified (rocker stand bosses milled flat to accept a steel
bar) to accept stud-mounted 1.6:1 narrow body Crane Gold race
roller rocker arms. Given the size of the exhaust, I think the
heads can benefit from a larger intake valve. I fitted the
1.775" Ferrea from my ported Buick 300 heads and it looks like
they will fit but new seats will need to be installed and the
bowls blended. Also, I'll need to find a longer valve with a
similar head diameter as the valves fitted to these heads are
longer to compensate for the conversion to stud mounted rockers.

Also included in the deal were a bunch of other parts. It'll
be a few weeks before I get a chance to catalog it all but
included is:

GM dual four barrel intake manifold (polished)
2 rebuilt Carter AFB 4331-S carburetors (1966-67 Buick 340 carbs)
2 Carter WCFB carburetors
1 dual four barrel linkage kit
1 pair of Range Rover headers
1 box of Header-by-Ed header tubes
1 box of Hedman header tubes (for SBC)
Buick 300 exhaust header flanges (large to fit ported heads), stubs
and gaskets
multiple gasket sets
several starters (including MGBV8 starter nose)
flywheels and flexplates
cast iron exhaust manifolds (Rover, Buick 215 and 300)
1 pair of unmodified Buick 300 heads (no corrosion)
2 boxes of pulleys and brackets
2 timing TR8 covers, one has polished short nose "Made in USA" water pump
1 polished water pump
1 TR8 oil pan and windage tray
1 Rover pan similar to TR8 but with longer sump and baffled pick up
1 pair of chromed Buick 215/300 valve covers
1 pair of polished aluminum Rover-lettered valve covers (very nice
with wire looms and caps)
1 Tilton mini starter (small diameter)
1 2 barrel Buick intake manifold
1 Rover intake manifold
1995 Rover 4.2L (255ci) engine parts
block - cylinders bored and honed, fitted with cross bolted main caps and
align bored, ready for final assembly
Rover 4.2L crank (3.03" stroke) crank and balancer
Wiseco forged pistons & rings (10.75 to 11:1 compression with the race heads)
2 sets of Carrillo 6.200 H-beam rods, 2.1" small journal SBC, narrowed to
fit Rover crank, optional SPS-CARR bolts
Cloyes true roller timing gear set with the French Renold chain
"Made in USA" roller timing chain with Rolon chain
Crane solid lifter cam
billet steel flywheel
rotating assembly balanced
Vandervell main bearings
Clevite rod bearings
TRW bearings
ARP Buick 215 head stud kit 124-4002 (190 KSI fasteners)
Note inside of box has several individual part numbers so studs maybe a
custom set for this engine
Milodon studs (partial set of 9 studs, nuts and washers)
Chevy Lakewood scattershield with removeable inspection plate and block
plate indexed to fit the 215 bellhousing bolt pattern, flywheel, pressure
plate and clutch
inspection plates for GM bellhousings
Holley dual Projection TBI fuel injection set-up, two sets (Holley and
GM) throttle bodies with different bore sizes and CFM ratings
Rover/TR8 distributor with ballast resistor
Gutted Rover distributor
GM HEI distributor
GM point-type distributor
custom distributor with red HEI cap (not the coil in cap type), Rover gear
and drive, no vacuum advance
MSD 8548 Buick V8 215-350 Pro Billet Distributor (no vacuum advance)
MSD crank trigger kit p/n 8610 for SBC, trigger wheel modified for Rover crank
MSD cap kit
Accel points 110400
50211 chilled lifters?
hi-volume oil pump kit
several oil filter bases
2 Buick blocks, one has sleeves removed, other has crankshaft installed
2 sets of Buick rods and pistons
Comp Cams 0.080" wall pushrods, 8.350" long
Crane 99250-16 solid lifters
Crane solid lifter cam (part number 901341)
Grind Number F-256/3412-2-8 Compucam Special
Good mid and top end power.
292/302 degrees advertised duration
256/266 degrees @ 0.050"
lobe lift 0.3412"/0.3528"
0.546"/0.564" intake/exhaust lift with 1.6:1 rocker ratio
108 LSA
70 lbs seat pressure @ 1.625"
230 lbs open pressure @ 1.112"
recommended spring part number 99891
4000-8200 RPM (8800 RPM max)
79 degrees overlap @ 0.020" tappet lift
Intake Opens 42 degrees BTDC
Exhaust Closes 39 degrees ATDC
Intake Closes 70 degrees ABDC
Exhaust Opens 83 degrees BBDC
Checking clearance (cam timing) at 0.050" tappet lift
Intake Opens 25 degrees BTDC
Exhaust Closes 20 degrees ATDC
Intake Closes 51 degrees ABDC
Exhaust Opens 66 degrees BBDC
Max lift at 103 degrees ATDC Intake
113 degrees BTDC Exhaust
hot lash 0.026" intake and exhaust

Isky solid lifter cam, #665 pink valve springs, aluminum retainers
260 degrees advertised duration
0.410" lift
0.015" lash
42 degrees overlap
Intake Opens 20 degrees BTDC
Exhaust Closes 22 degrees ATDC
Intake Closes 60 degrees ABDC
Exhaust Opens 58 degrees BBDC

Schneider 284-F solid lifter cam (work order 14726)
284 degrees advertised duration
240 degrees @ 0.050"
lobe lift 0.320", 0.512" lift with 1.6:1 rocker ratio
110 LSA (intake lobe degreed to 108)
100-120 lbs seat pressure
270-290 lbs open pressure
recommended spring part number 6700
64 degrees overlap
Intake Opens 34 degrees BTDC
Exhaust Closes 30 degrees ATDC
Intake Closes 70 degrees ABDC
Exhaust Opens 74 degrees BBDC
Checking clearance At 0.050" tappet lift
Intake Opens 12 degrees BTDC
Exhaust Closes 8 degrees ATDC
Intake Closes 48 degrees ABDC
Exhaust Opens 52 degrees BBDC
cold lash 0.016"

GM Factory race heads:
Buick 215 chambers with Buick 300 ports
reverse Buick 300 casting #
ported and modified to accept stud mounted adjustable rocker arms
Manley Severe Duty stainless valves (1.625" intake, 1.496" exhaust)
heads are externally polished

Miscellaneous other parts - Buick rods and pistons, bolts, oil filter
bases, MGBV8 conversion booklet, MGBV8 newsletters, Buick and Rover
engine manuals, distributor parts and gears, pushrods, transmission
shifter housing, etc.

All packed in multiple plastic boxes which fit perfectly in the rented
U-Haul trailer.

Dan Jones


NixVegaGT
Nicolas Wiederhold
Minneapolis, MN
(659 posts)

Registered:
10/16/2007 05:30AM

Main British Car:
'73 Vega GT 4.9L Rover/Buick Stroker

authors avatar
Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
Posted by: NixVegaGT
Date: July 02, 2009 11:46AM

Holy @#$%&, Dan!! That is totally hot! I can't wait to see pix of those heads. Really cool post.


hoffbug
Tony Hoffer
Minnesota
(323 posts)

Registered:
10/15/2007 05:25PM

Main British Car:
Olds 215 EFI

Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
Posted by: hoffbug
Date: July 02, 2009 06:42PM

Nice haul!!

Of course this thread is worthless without pictures..;-)

If that collection of your gets too big let me know.. Id like to find an unmolested Huffaker intake.


roverman
Art Gertz
Winchester, CA.
(3188 posts)

Registered:
04/24/2009 11:02AM

Main British Car:
74' Jensen Healy, 79 Huff. GT 1, 74 MGB Lotus 907,2L

Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
Posted by: roverman
Date: July 02, 2009 11:44PM

Dan, congratulations. Regarding bigger Int. valve, you may want to look at, Ferrea # F6273GRX, 1.78dia,4.705" long,(lash cap)?7mm stem and 82 grams light. Might have to make own retainers to get the combo to fit. All you need now is a Reventlow race car to go vintage racing. Maybe a Huffaker "Genie"? Best of luck! roverman.


Dan Jones
Dan Jones
St. Louis, Missouri
(280 posts)

Registered:
07/21/2008 03:32PM

Main British Car:
1980 Triumph TR8 3.5L Rover V8

Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
Posted by: Dan Jones
Date: July 06, 2009 02:44PM

> Regarding bigger Int. valve, you may want to look at, Ferrea #F6273GRX,
> 1.78dia,4.705" long,(lash cap)?7mm stem and 82 grams light. Might have
> to make own retainers to get the combo to fit.

Those are too short in this application which uses 4.905" length
valves due to the stud conversion. There are some other Ferrea
valves that might work like the F5000 small block Chevy valve
which has a 1.725" head and is 4.910" long. I'll need to mock it
all up to know for sure.

> All you need now is a Reventlow race car to go vintage racing.
> Maybe a Huffaker "Genie"? Best of luck! roverman.

I dearly love that era of race cars, probably because I grew
up watching Speed Racer cartoons, but at 6'5" tall, I'd never
fit in them. The main reason I got the TR8 was because it
was the smallest car I could get comfortable in.

> Of course this thread is worthless without pictures..;-)

I'll try to take some pictures soon.

> If that collection of your gets too big let me know.. Id like
> to find an unmolested Huffaker intake.

Will do.

Thanks,
Dan Jones


mabie1978
Michelle Pierce
Elyria, OH
(111 posts)

Registered:
08/25/2008 07:47PM

Main British Car:
1978 MGB 3.5 Rover V8

Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
Posted by: mabie1978
Date: July 06, 2009 06:20PM

Wow, you are quite the shopper Dan. Now if you could come across another Buick intake manifold cheap, you just let me know since I need one in order to put the carb on (until I figure out the FI). Sounds like you got quite a haul, and I do think pictures are needed too :).


Dan Jones
Dan Jones
St. Louis, Missouri
(280 posts)

Registered:
07/21/2008 03:32PM

Main British Car:
1980 Triumph TR8 3.5L Rover V8

Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
Posted by: Dan Jones
Date: July 07, 2009 01:23PM

First round of pictures.

[www.bacomatic.org]

Some are blurry. I'll take better pictures later.

Dan Jones



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