Buick Motor Works- Baby LS1

[Richard454]

I had this car since 83-Put the Buick 215ci V-8 in it sometime in the late eighties. Drove it a few thousand miles or so- took it apart because of low oil pressure (worn out rocker arm shafts) and then it just sat... The motor came out of a 1961 Buick Special-the bellhousing/5-speed trans out of a Triumph TR8 and the shifter out of a Jag. The intake is a Edelbrock 4bbl w/ a Holley 390CFM carb.

Buick weighs in at 325lbs -the M10 4cyl weighed in at 340lbs.

After talking about putting it back together- I'm finally doing it!!!

I've got a few bugs to work out-want a bigger oilpan (have to modify because E21 requires a front sump) and had to pull the brake booster because of the needed clearance-Brakes work w/o boost but it's like kicking a rock.

I have my mock-up motor in-a spare block and heads I had - The short block is at the machine shop awaiting some upgraded Rover 3.9 heads.

Richard

Here it is-

[PJ325i]

AWESOME

[garretvs]

The Buick 215 is a nice little motor -- more compact and lighter than a Gen1 SBC. GM sold the engine & all tooling to the British, who used it until the mid 90's in various Rover and Land Rover applications. Take a look at adapting an E34 remote vacuum booster. Good luck!

[hefftone]

DAMN, thats a cool engine!
I'd never really heard anything about them.... lets boost it!!!

[Visceral27]

good post

[Richard454]

good post

Thanks- I've basically been cleaning up the engine bay. Cutting/drilling out all the brackets and stuff in the engine compartment that won't be needed. I think I'm going to replace the old porcelain fuse block/box w/ an E30 piece. Battery has been moved to the back-dropped in a stainless steel tray after cutting the pass side of the trunk floor.

I've got my welder back tonight from loaning it out- so hopefully I'll be filling holes tomorrow.

Just about everything is ready to roll as far as the car mods go.

Tach is from a Rover 3500-using the BMW faceplate. Exhaust is already done- using Rover 3500 manifolds.

Speedo was semi calibrated by putting the closest gear to match the BMW's rearend ratio in the LT77 5-speed transmission. I used a Rover speedo cable and modified it to fit the BMW Speedo. I'm using a shorter shifter of a mid 70's Jag- almost in the same position as the original.

The BMW's 3.64 rear should work good w/ the Jag/Rover/Triumph 5sp gearbox-

Old 5sp New 5sp
1st 3.368 3.32
2nd 2.16 2.09
3rd 1.58 1.40
4th 1.24 1.00
5th 1.00 .83

Not as close ratio- as the original- but with almost TWICE the size motor and a lot more torque should work really well. The driveshaft has already been shortend w/ the correct piece to fit the tailshaft of the new 5-speed.
I used a Triumph TR7 trans mount bracket- actually used two of the BMW trans mount bolts and added two more.

These small v-8s -because of the rod ratio and lightweight pistons have no problem seeing 7000rpms.

I've aquired a fuel injection set up- so this will be a future project once I get it running.

Richard

[PJ325i]

Keep it up Richard!! I always wanted to get one these into a Super 7 Clone

[mattrunner]

I recently made a 400 sbc and what a fun it was. however had to let go in middle because of serious cash crunch. should be going all out later this year.

[boostdog]

what kind of HP will you expect to be making out of that motor? cool build by the way!

[Richard454]

what kind of HP will you expect to be making out of that motor? cool build by the way!

The engine should be good for 250 REAL usable Horsepower at the crank- Not an OGD rating (On a Good Day)!!! Originally rated (1963) at 200 hp at 5000 rpm and 240 ft·lb at 3200 rpm- I've upgraded the cam and newer/bigger valved/better flowing Rover heads w/ Edelbrock 4 bbl intake and a 390 CFM Holley.

Richard

[Irurou]

sweet jebus, i want to see some track times

[PJ325i]

The engine should be good for 250 REAL usable Horsepower at the crank- Not an OGD rating (On a Good Day)!!! Originally rated (1963) at 200 hp at 5000 rpm and 240 ft·lb at 3200 rpm- I've upgraded the cam and newer/bigger valved/better flowing Rover heads w/ Edelbrock 4 bbl intake and a 390 CFM Holley.

Richard

Don't forget to shoot some vids!! It sounds like it's going to be a riot!!

[trophyyride]

Good work Richard. I hope that I can see some improvements of that sooner.