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Thread: Buick 350 Rebuild

  1. #1
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    Buick 350 Rebuild

    Hello and thanks in advance for helping a stranger who is asking for help.
    I am a newbie, so… hello moderator.
    I know this is the welcome forum and I hope to get directed to a thread that is appropriate. Throwing it all out there and will copy and paste if needed.
    I am attempting an Engine rebuild- my first. I think I can pull this off, but I’m in a little over my head but I am determined to make it happen.
    My first job is to identify the motor. The VIN number on the car is no help because the Engine was swapped after manufacture but before I bought the car. I never saw the car it came out of.
    Looking forward to getting help here. The Engine has been in a 1979 Pontiac Firebird. I drove the car with the Engine running from 1993 to 1998. Drove this car when I moved from Mississippi to Pennsylvania. MS had no emissions- I was running dual exhaust with no catalytic converter. I didn’t even try to get it inspected in PA because the car smoked (white smoke) before it heated up, ran hot, and from the sound it was making I self-diagnosed a bad lifter.
    So, I pulled the Engine and disassembled down to the block- had some machine work done and left machine shop with a rebuild kit. Nearly got divorced when my wife heard how much that cost. The car has sat 18 years until I built enough love back into the relationship that I got the go ahead to begin any work again that may have a cost attached. Just had the cylinder heads rebuilt last month and the intake manifold hot tanked.
    I read on a post on teambuick that the casting number on the block which is 1382201 seems to belong to a Buick in the 1967 to 1972 range. Casting number on the cylinder heads is B1233472.
    I found the stamped number on the block which is 4OY176734 - I have no idea whether the second digit is a zero or an "Oh" - and I don't know what year or what plant made this motor.
    I have written to Buick USA- who referred me to GM Media Center- who said to try Buick Heritage Alliance- which seems to be comprised of individuals who volunteer their time. The individual that described themselves as the expert I need has a dead e-mail link- and the next best choice hasn't responded in a week.
    To further complicate things, while I was driving the car I found an intake manifold in a junkyard that let me change from a 2 bbl carb to a 4bbl. I completed this task with no research or close inspection at that time- the bold pattern matched up so I got a new gasket and threw it on there. Now that the engine is pulled and all my parts are cleaned up and laid out on a workbench I notice one of the ports on the cylinder head meets an area on the intake manifold that looks as if it was deliberately “filled in.”
    The casting number on the intake manifold is B1249289-3 (there is also an “H” there off to the side a little bit.
    While I drove this car the engine was a monster (in a good way). I have had many friends tell me to just get a crate motor but I am in love with this old Buick 350.

  2. #2
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    Looks like a 1970 Block (1382201)

    Heads look like 1968 ((1233472)

    Intake manifold, I am not sure off, might be mid 70's.

    The stamped number on the block is the VIN number derivative.

    The heads have coolant ports on both ends, BUT, coolant only flows across the front of the intake. The reason for the coolant holes on both ends is because the cylinder heads can be installed on either side of the engine, they are reversible, no separate left and right side head. The coolant holes in the back are blocked by the intake manifold with the exception of some late 60's intakes having the heater control valve screw in back there.

    Have a look over at www.v8buick.com. You'll find a lot of information and help there.
    Larry

    1970 GS455 Stage1 Race weight 4025 lbs.
    TSP 470, 602 HP, 589 TQ
    MT headers, Gear Vendors Overdrive
    Best E.T. 11.54 Best MPH, 116.06
    1998 Riviera SC3800

  3. #3
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    350 Rebuild

    Thanks Larry. You put my mind at ease about putting that intake manifold back on. Would the VIN number derivative have enough info to tell me what year and model this engine would have been installed in? Where should I look for someone who could decode it for me?

  4. #4
    I found the stamped number on the block which is 4OY176734 - I have no idea whether the second digit is a zero or an "Oh" - and I don't know what year or what plant made this motor.



    that's the EIN, which is a short version of the VIN for the car this engine came out of.


    4 O Y 176734

    4 = Buick
    O = 1970
    Y = Wilmington, Delaware
    176734 = sequential production number, not one of the big cars

    1970 is good, it's the highest compression era available for the Buick 350.

    this is almost certainly an 'SO' code engine, being that that was the only 2 barrel variant of the 350ci that was available in that year. not the high compression 'SP' variant, but still a lot better than the 71 and up engines.

    https://www.teambuick.com/reference/...ine_number.php

    https://www.teambuick.com/reference/...ine_number.php
    The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.
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  5. #5
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    Main Bearings

    Thanks for the help with ID. I wish I could use this engine ID to find the vin # this car had in order to get correct parts.

    I have main bearings for my crankshaft for this Engine- Federal Mogul (4418 M10).

    The flanged one at the rear doesn't quite drop in and I can see that if it did, the tab would be slightly off. I assume it is undersized by 0.1 " - Anybody know what to measure so I get the right part?

    Thanks in advance.

  6. #6
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    Flanged Bearing

    I was told the flanged bearing goes in the middle, not the rear.

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