Designing a new project and I need a light weight engine in a V style. I seem to recall that Buick offered a aluminum block and head V8 a few years back. A V6 would do. Anybody know a older car that I could pick up cheap that would have one of these engines? HP is not important. In fact. I would prefer low hp. Thanks
Hi Chief,
IIRC I believe it was Buick who had a small aluminum V-6 in the early 60's (61-63) in their Buick Special... but I would imagine those are hard to find these days... Hope this helps.
Mid 60s Olds F85, Rover V8
The '61, '62, and '63 Buick Skylark, Oldsmobile F-85, and Pontiac Tempest (61 and 62 only) used a 215 cid aluminum block engine, good luck finding one cheap. They are rare as hens teeth. Gm didn't know how to market them, the public was on a no replacement for displacement kick, and the sales were low. Buick division designed it, and then sold it to Rover in 66. It then ended up in land rovers, range rover(the car) two years in the MG GT. It was also used in the Triumph TR-8. Of course by that time it had been re-designed to use English thread on fasteners, along with a few other changes, like a redesigned intake to use English cards, and the American intake which used a Rochester 4 bbl on many models will not work, nor will the manifold for the 2 bbl Rochester. In V-6 there are tons of 2.8 liter gm engines out there that will semi fit the bill, as well as 3.1, and 3.4. These are 60 degree engines and more compact than the 90 degree 3.8. Early 2.8 were carberated, manifold will fit most of the GM 60 degree blocks. Why must it be a V-engine if horsepower isn't wanted? Why not 2.5 liter iron duke 4 cylinders instead which are easier to find, and cheaper to buy.
Whitelightning
My dad bought a Buick in 63 that had that Aluminum V8, it ran great when it was new but it did eat a head gasket and that was enough for Pop he sold it.
There was another GM product tha had an aluminum engine and that was a Chaparral 2, also had a automatic transaxle, I know one of there engines cube out at 366 CUI. All Aluminum too....
it was a V6 Buick special.. The engine rights were later sold to JEEP ( American Motors )
, it ran great when it
Antifreeze ATE the HEAD ( Not The Gasket) My family owned a Auto Salvage Yard and We sold lots of Those HEADS
and we got lots of those cars in With The HEADS EATEN up.. Thats win I learned to WELD alunimun!!
and that was enough for Pop he sold it.
Wrong, it was a 215 cid V-8. The V-6 was the 198 cid, later grew to 225 cid, and the rights were never sold to All Most a Car, AMC bought engines from Buick, both V-6's and V-8s (the 340 cid used in CJ3B models was one, the Buick 350 replaced the AMC 327 in 69) Jeep dropped the V-6 when it went to the Tornado OHC straight 6 engine, and then to the standard 250 they used for eons after.
There once was a baby blue convertible, 1963, 215 cid V-8, 4 bbl, convertible (black top) blue leather interior, factory ac, automatic transmission. Why oh why did I part with it I'll never know. (well getting sent to Germany might have had something to do with it)
Whitelightning
The Vega. Well known for engine lock up.
Wierd that this artice says that GM Bought the tooling Back From JEEP in
1974I live in BUICKTOWN ( FLINT, MI ) My Brother got layed off when GM sold the engine rights to AMC ( JEEP) and there was a Buick V8 that also had Alum Heads. as well as the V6
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I drove a 65 F85 convertable for a summer. White with blue interior, dual exaust. It was sweet
Might be a little higher priced than what you want, but you might try finding a used LS-1 out of a late model Corvette, or Camaro/Firebird. Might be too powerful and too expensive.
You didn't specify what you mean by "cheap". Just how little money are you wanting to spend?
On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 02:45:58 GMT, "Whitelightning" wrote something wonderfully witty:
Getting sent to Korea did that to a certain `72 455 HO SD GTO with only 33k miles on the clock when I sold it in `79. Same color scheme as well. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I have been looking to replace that car, and perhaps a part of my youth as well, for the past couple of years. I've seen them for as much as 65K, with an average asking price in the middle 30's. They certainly aren't going down in price either.
When I had put it up for sale a woman came to look at it and I was explaining to her that this was no normal car that she was buying and she might not be happy with it. She responded that she was buying it for her son's 17 birthday and he was the one who had told her he wanted that car. I immediately had visions of terror and told her I wasn't going to sell her that car if she was giving it to some 17yo kid since it was way to much car for a new driver. She threatened to sue me if I didn't sell it to her, she turn from a nice lady into a she-bitch real quick when I disparaged (in her mind) her kids driving skills. Three days after she bought it he got into a high-speed chase with the police, lost control, hit a center divider, then two other cars, finally rolling off the side of the road three times. I went to the junkyard they towed it to and it was a mess and the interior was bloody as hell. I don't know what happened to the kid.
On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 22:03:13 -0500, snipped-for-privacy@mydeja.com wrote something wonderfully witty:
No shit I had two of them. I two-door wagon which I really set-up nice as well as a Cosworth which I should have also never sold. Another duh!
In that case I would look for a GM 2.8 or 3.1 V6 out of a multitude of cars. They 3.1 is a good reliable engine and the 2.8 is almost bullet proof. Quite few performance mods available for the 2.8 as well as they were used in the Fiero's, another car I should have never sold. Double duh, duh!
Try to find a 1985 Cadillac Sedan Deville with the HT4100 engine. Regards, JR
NO no no no, god not the 4.1.. The 4.3 and later yes, as the bugs were worked out of them by then, but the 4.1 was a troublesome beast that loved swapping fluids between the oil system and the cooling system., and blowing head gaskets. Whitelightning
Did the Vega have an aluminum V6, or did it just have the infamous aluminum I4? I had a Chevy Monza that I had to overbore the cylinders to drop in steel sleeves. The top edges of the cylinders chipped where it met the head. The sleeves did the trick until the edges of the head began to chip off internally. Got rid of it fast after a new head.
Cheers - Jonathan
I had one of those Jeep's -w- OHC 6 pretty damn powerful little motor... Who made that motor anyway? Paul
Here's a page with a few engine weights, pick what works. The Buick/rover v8 is great at 318 lbs. Actually less than most 4 cylinders.
Where did you get this idea from? The 2.8 put a lot of mechanic's kids through college.
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