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- Buick F-263 Head/Gasket Swaps, effects on compression
- Straight Eight Engine Specifications
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263 Head X-Sections
    - Building a High Performance Straight Eight
- Buick Straight Eight Lifter Adjustment
- Straight Eight Intake Manifold X-Sections
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Thread: A couple questions about my F-263 engine on my 51 Special

  1. #1
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    A couple questions about my F-263 engine on my 51 Special

    Hi.

    Not too long ago I bought my first vintage car, a1951Buick Special Deluxe witha Straight 8 363 cu in engine. So far its been running great, but one thingI've been noticing is that usually the oil pressure gauge reads toward the highend when I start the car, rising a little when I step on the gas and dropping alittle when idling.


    Although I haven't run the car on the highways, if I run it on some of thelocal boulevards and such (say up to45mph or so) when I do come to a stop a lotof the times the oil pressure gauge will typically drop to the lower range whenidling, but still climb to the high end once I start accelerating again.


    Also, lately, now that the weather has warmed a bit, I’ve noticed thatsometimes when I start my car it’ll idle a little fast at first, and whenidling fast it won’t let me shift the Dynaflow Transmission into Low orReverse. However, if I rev the engine once or twice (while in Park) usually therpms will drop and everything else is fine.


    As such, I was wondering if these two things are typical for a car this old orwhether there might be something going on with my engine that I may need tolook into.


    Thanks


    Pat

    Last edited by PFJN; 05-25-2013 at 08:58 PM. Reason: Cleaned up text
    - 1951 Buick Special Deluxe 4Dr Tourback Sedan

  2. #2
    First off, the Buick straight eight is an OHV (overhead valve) engine, not a F head.

    It's been a long time since I've owned an old Buick, but IIRC, the oil pressure is normal.

    Not sure about the tranny issues.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Muley Gil View Post
    First off, the Buick straight eight is an OHV (overhead valve) engine, not a F head.

    It's been a long time since I've owned an old Buick, but IIRC, the oil pressure is normal.

    Not sure about the tranny issues.
    Hi,

    Thanks for the reply. That helps.

    Pat

    PS. I didn’t mean to imply that the car had an F Head engine,I just noticed that in the shop manual that I have it calls it an F-263 (Iguess its short for Fireball 263 or something like that)
    - 1951 Buick Special Deluxe 4Dr Tourback Sedan

  4. #4
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    Yes,the Oilpressure are ok like that, and with the F 263 you are right,thats only the name of this engine.
    I have the same inside,but with the 3speed,because of that i can't answering to your gearboxquestion.

    Jenz
    '38 Special Coupe, pimped 263 cui
    ---- LIFTERS CC GERMANY ----

  5. #5
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    Thanks

    Pat
    - 1951 Buick Special Deluxe 4Dr Tourback Sedan

  6. #6
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    It is normal for the engine to idle fast when it is first started. Any engine with an automatic choke will do this.

    As already noted, your oil pressure fluctuations are also normal.

    Ray

  7. #7
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    Hi,

    Thanks for the feedback. I decided to take my car in to a mechanic that I’ve used before, inorder to get another set of eyes on it. Hopefully, I’ll find out if there are any problems in a couple days.

    Pat
    - 1951 Buick Special Deluxe 4Dr Tourback Sedan

  8. #8
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    I heard back from my mechanic today and it looks like one of my transmission mounts had began to fail a little, which messed a bit with the shift linkages.

    I guess after 60+ years stuff like that can happen

    Hopefully I'll have the car back soon.

    PF
    - 1951 Buick Special Deluxe 4Dr Tourback Sedan

  9. #9
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    I got my car back last week and the new transmission mounts seem to have fixed my issues.
    - 1951 Buick Special Deluxe 4Dr Tourback Sedan

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