Buick 350 Cam/Intake Swap.

Oh, yeah, OK!

 

Jeff,
How's it been coming together?

 

Yes. We wait...and wait....

 

Well you two must be psychic, as I finally got all the parts a couple of weeks ago (I thought) got the block cleaned up and Painted, got some time and the energy to work on it again this weekend.
1st new picture the new TA Performance Cam

The Block Cleaned up and Painted.

The cam Lubed up and insertion started.

Cam, New Cloyes True Roller Timing Chain (installed straight up as TA claims it is ground 2 degrees advanced) Fuel Pump eccentric, Dist drive gear and bolt installed and torqued to 48 Ft lbs, Lifters push rods, rocker shafts installed and torqued to 15 Ft lbs.

Intake installed with new Bolts and torqued to 45 Ft lbs for the Aluminum intake. I think it cuts 45 lbs off the front of the car!
And Finally the EGR Valve installed, the new 5-port Thermostatic Valve installed, and the Thermostat Housing installed with new Bolts. I found a few issues with the S-divider intake with this Stock Late 70's non Buick installation. The Stock intake has 4 threaded holes in the water crossover passage, the S-divider has only 3, The large 5-port valve screws into the large one as shown, but the Temp sender is larger than the hole on the driver side, I will have to see if there is a smaller sender available. As for the Heater Hose nipple the same applies, larger than the Threaded Hole, and I will have to rig up a T connection to plumb both the Heater Hose and the smaller 2 port thermostatic valve into the 1 remaining hole on the passenger side. Hopefully it will not look to bad.
Now I have solved 1 of the 2 Vacuum port issues, the transmission Modulator connection was larger than the stock hole, but I had a connector on a spare engine that would work. I will have to find an adaptor to connect the Power Brake booster to the other Hole in the intake. Hopefully small issues.

I still have quit a bit of work to do, put in the oil pump Kit (standard not High Volume) put timing cover on, install the Dist, install the electric choke kit on the carb, wire it up, install the carb spacer (recommended for use with the S-divider Intake) Adjust the carb Linkage to match the new carb height. Pre Oil the engine, Hook up the cooling system, break in the new cam ECTRA.....

 

Any idea when that'll all be done and you'll be video shooting the fire-off and break-in?

 

Hard to say, just after I got all the parts, a coworker quit, and I got the wonderful assignment to take over his job in Spring Hill TN. I may be there the rest of my life. I get to come home again this weekend, so hopefully I will at least get the Timing cover, oil, fuel and water pumps installed. Stay tuned it may be the worlds longest cam shaft change.

 

Damnation. Just when it was getting good, too.

 

Well I finally was able to get back to this. I was able to assemble the Oil and water pumps onto the timing cover, install the oil defector over the new timing chain, and install the timing cover and Harmonic balancer, and torque all the bolts. I will post some pic's soon. Back to work on it Tomarrow.

 

Good to hear. I hate frustrations.

 

Well as promised a few more pictures This one with the timing chain and water pump installed

The next one with the Fuel Pump, Crank shaft Pulleys, and aftermarket A/C bracket & Altinator installed. Found a few unexpected issues. I am attempting to keep all the stock emissions equipment. 1st problem is there are only 3 threaded holes in the new intakes coolant crossover, I need 4 so the heater hose nipple and the small thermostatic Vacuum valve will have to share. The 2nd issue is the 2 available threaded holes are 3/8" and all the old parts are 1/2" I solved the engine temp sender by spending an hour at our local NAPA warehouse and making them bring out all the available coolant senders for gauges and found one for $14.95 that has 3/8" threads and a 100 to 250F temp range. But it will require modifying the wire harness to hook it up. Small detail. I also got a hose nipple with 3/8" mail treads, and a Vacuum nipple with 3/8" threads to hook up the power brake booster. I also had to modify the PCV Valve grommet as the only one I could find had a 1/2" hole and my PVC is 5/8" doesn't sound like much but it would not go in!!!! Little things!!!!!!! I am going to skip installing the carb spacer for now as I am running out of time to finish this as my wife wants to take the Greyhounds and her Mother to her famaliys reunion this Saturday, a 6 hour round trip. Fingers crossed!!!!!

I also found that the thermostat bypass hose had been rubbing the bottom of the HEI and was basicly worn thru! I will be replacing that as well.

 

Good that you found that now. But the problems with the intake differences--I can't wait to see how you solve them.