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Hi there i was hoping some one could help me with some questions.
This weekend im going to go look at a 1967 buick skylark, with a 340 wildcat? Im not sure that a 340 wildcat is, I have built hotrods out of just about every type of car but a buick. Is a 340 wildcat a good motor? can you get some horse power out if it? The car its self is the cleanest car i have ever seen for a 1967. So my any info would help? is it worth suping it up? thank you
no aftermarket go fast parts other than internals(cams-pistons-etc).the 340 is called a wildcat 375,tourque rating.that being said...i love mine:D
in 67 there was an 'NA' code, low compression ( 9.0:1 ) 2v 340 which was rated at 340lbft.
a Buick 340ci motor is the third variant ( 1966-67 ) of the Buick small block. the first two were the 215ci aluminum block from 1961-63 and the 300ci iron block from 1964-67. each of these engines has a different deck height so intake swaps between them are practically impossible.
the 340 shares the deck height and stroke of the Buick 350 (the 4th small block variant) but the intake and exhaust valves on the center cylinders were reordered and pretty much nothing on the top of the motors can be interchanged.
as you might expect from a 2 year production run, there is no aftermarket for this motor. if you want to look for dress up items, look into the Rover market. Land Rover purchased the aluminum 215 from GM in 1964 and it was in production as THE British Leyland / Rover v8 of choice from 1965-2004.
the 340 and the other variants of the Buick small block are very good, durable, torquey engines from the factory. the v6 variant became the primary GM corp 3.8L / 4.1L v6 and was named one of the 10 best engines of the 20th century and turbo versions of the v6 have supported over 1000hp.
sadly, due to the lack of production time and the dominance of Chevy powerplants in the GM world, the SB v8 Buick, especially the pre-68 ones has been almost totally ignored.
the primary advantage of a low compression 340 is that it can easily be swapped for a Buick BB, 350 or v6 turbo engine although you can have it rebuilt and it will perform very well.
just make sure a Buick/Rover guy rebuilds it. Chevy tolerances and build practices WILL NOT WORK. if you let a chevy guy, who doesn't know any better, rebuild that motor it will blow up with less than 500 miles on it.
I have a 67 convertable and it is a great car, it does have the 340/4bbl engine along with the ST300 trans. But what you see is what you get almost no after market zoomie parts. it is pretty good right from the factory