From the Reference Section:
- Musclecar Enthusiast March 06 - the Jim Burek 350 porting article
- Ancient mid 12's secrets for your Buick *350*
- Poston Camshafts, Buick 350
    - 350 casting Numbers
- Buick 350 Drag Strip Tests from Kenne-Bell
- 350 Engine Specifications
Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: Stroker motors

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    Phoenix AZ
    Posts
    18
    Rep Power
    0

    Stroker motors

    Are there any stroker kits for the 350 BUICK motor? (like a 383 kit for the the 350 chevy's, etc)
    I have not read of any.
    It seems that getting parts for a Buick is much more difficult then even a Mopar!!
    I'm beginning to wonder if I should have bought a chevelle instead of the skylark.
    I can't even find a cloth seat cover for my 71 Skylark Custom from legendary or Year one.
    I'm on the back burner for an upholstery guy!

  2. #2
    sure, there's an easy .050" stroker kit people use all the time. it's called a 455.

    more seriously, the Buick 350 architecture was originally used in a production engine in 1961. for a displacement of 215ci ( this aluminum block engine is the same thing as the later Rover 3.5L v8 ).

    because the original design was so small, the camshaft and crankshaft are very close together. which means that the 3.850" stroke of the Buick 350 is pretty much the most stroke that you can get out of a PRODUCTION version of this architecture. otherwise, the big ends of the rods and crank weights start whacking the cam lobes. and this is not an unusual failure mode for this engine if you lose a rod bearing ... the rod will seize up and then it will hit the cam and then the cam valley gets broken out of the block.

    bore spacing on the Buick small blocks is 4.240" so it's theoretically possible to go to a 4" bore and still have a .120" cylinder wall, which is about the minimum that an engine shop will work with, but due to casting core shift and the generally thin wall casting techniques you should really just leave the bore size alone except for cleaning up wear.

    having said all that, there are guys pushing ~380 cubes out of these blocks.

    most of them are doing it by getting NASCAR take out rods, and having the machine shop cut the crankshaft rod journals down to Ford or Chevy big end sizing. when they do that they are also moving the center of the journal outboard ( most of the cutting is done on the inboard side of the journal ) so that the outside of the rod is the same distance from the cam that it was before, but the total stroke still goes up. you could also do this with Honda rods.

    due to the long stroke, the Buick 350 requires a pretty long rod, just so the bottom of the piston can clear the crankshaft at BDC. of course, the factory pistons get thrown away in this type of an upgrade. so you'll also get more clearance that way.

    TAPerformance.com has both dual and single plane aluminum intakes and they are actually working on aluminum heads which should be out this year ( knock on wood ). TA heads for the Rover / previous iterations of the Buick small block are already on the market.

    there's a valve order swap between the 350 and earlier gens of this design so attempting a Rover head onto the 350 hasn't been attempted and probably isn't advisable.

    due to the massive stroke of the Buick 350, there really isn't much difference in external size of a Buick 350 and 455 ... and a Buick 350 often gets mistaken for a 455. and the 455 shares lots of the design principles of the 350, so it actually is a pretty easy swap. the 455 is a bit longer front to back ( larger 4.750" bore spacing ) and has the same bell housing the primary changes for the swap are new frame pads and engine mounts along with a big block fan shroud because the fan sits higher.

    the big block is almost 200 lbs heavier than the 350, but that's because the Buick 350 is lightest of the GM 5.7L designs. the 350 also has more structural integrity than the big block ( it's the source of the notorious Buick turbo 6 cylinders of the 1980s ) so turboing or NOSing the 350 are popular options.
    The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.
    Vladimir Lenin

    Government schooling is about "the perfect organization of the hive."
    H.H. Goddard, Human Efficiency (1920)

Similar Threads

  1. 401 Stroker build
    By turbo2256b in forum Nailhead: 264, 322, 364, 401, 425
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 07-01-2012, 08:58 AM
  2. Building a 215 stroker.
    By capt546 in forum Tools, Shops, and Garages
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 03-19-2010, 09:04 AM
  3. Stroker question
    By bob k. mando in forum Nailhead: 264, 322, 364, 401, 425
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 10-08-2007, 05:56 PM
  4. 215 Stroker questions
    By Skreeeboy in forum Small Block 215, 300, 340 (and Rover V-8)
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 12-05-2004, 08:36 PM
  5. 494 Stroker
    By BadBuick in forum Big Block: 400, 430, 455
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 12-15-2003, 07:48 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
TeamBuick.com Privacy Policy