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
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 |
Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
Holy @#$%&, Dan!! That is totally hot! I can't wait to see pix of those heads. Really cool post.
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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
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
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.
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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 |
Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
> 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
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 :).
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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 |
Re: Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies
First round of pictures.
[www.bacomatic.org] Some are blurry. I'll take better pictures later. Dan Jones |
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