Hot Rodding a Buick 215

Anyone use a Buick 215 V8 on a project car or hot rodded the motor? I never seen them on any custom cars.

 

Very popular in England. Lots of rods use them over there.

 

lots of info on here.....try the Search function to find 'em...

 

The MGB guys use them all the time as well as the Rover engines (same engine but more displacement and better heads). Look here
http://forum.britishv8.org/list.php?2
and here http://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/list.php?40

 

Seen your email and mine is still for sale call me anytime 734-777-4393. You have to find a clean one and always watch for pitting in the passage ways. There was many different intake options as you may know and also the turbo option.

They look good cleaned up and polished!

 

I did an Olds 215 which is just about the same with different heads. The 215s are good motors but I have taken a fancy to the Buick 300 lately.

The mother load of info and parts can be found here:

http://www.aluminumV8.com

 

Yep - my Crosley had one. Wonderful little engine - I built it with an Isky cam and valve train, Offy intake with a Holly carb, aluminum flywheel, etc. Parts still available on internet. I second www.aluminumv8.com - get their catalog for a lot of info - and do a search - lot of info on HAMB.

 

I just saw a 215 on Craigslist with "factory" meth injection supposedly out of an early 60's Olds. Did these factory injection systems actually exist?

 

Yes they did. The methyl alcohol mix was used in conjunction with the turbocharged variant (62 and 63 Olds Turbo Jetfire) of the 215. The injected fluid was called "turbo-rocket fluid", and was a mix of distilled water and alcohol that was injected under hard-throttle to control detonation.

You didn't think it was the same meth the crackheads are cooking nowadays, did you?

 

Yep, the factory turbocharged engine used water injection to control detonation. There had to be an antifreeze in it........hence "meth".

 

I put a 215 in an early Mini Cooper. It had rear wheel drive with a Tempest transaxle.

I Have a '75 Olds Starfire fastbackl(like Chevy Monza) that has an aluminum V-8 and Muncie trans.

I am presently installing a Buick/Rover V-8 with T-5 trans into a Mazda Miata.

Sorry, no pics. The Mini is long gone. The Starfire is buried in my storage building, and there's not much to show on the Miata but the engine sitting in the unfinished engine bay.

There are past discussions here about this engine. You might want to check those out.

 

Wow! That's pretty cool! Any idea of the horsepower rating on that version?

And NO! I didn't think it was that kind of meth. The listing was labled "methanol". I think I saw it in the Charlotte, NC Craigslist but don't remember for sure. It was only a couple of days ago.

 

I think it was 215, same as displacement.

 

Huh! I would have thought it would have been at least closer to the 300 mark. Still cool though.

 

I have a 215 built and stroked with 300 heads and crank... bought it off of an old timer who built it 15 years and had it in a T bucket. Currently mated to a 4 speed Saginaw... should be fun.

 

This belongs to my friend, Dave. It runs like a scalded dog. Has a T5 tranny and narrowed chevy rear end. It's the only MG I'd like to own myself.

 

I am building a custom 62 Buick Rat Fink style with a 215 and a T5 tranny. I plan on using a Charlie Price tri power set up but other wise stock. These are awesome light weight powerful engines. Good luck with the build.

 

Who makes the 3 pot for the 215? Edelbrock makes a four barrel and Offy makes a two pot. Never seen a three pot.

The Oldsmobile/Pontiac 215 and the Buick 215 are not the same. Big difference is the heads. To support turbo charging the Oldsmobile/Pontiac block and heads have five head bolts per cylinder. The Buicks have four.

 

Have one in my 33 coupe, its bored 30thou and has a holley 600 vac sec carby but is otherwise stock.
They are an awesome little engine, my coupe goes surprisingly hard for what it is, and also is incredibly economical, i run a Holden GM 4 speed manual behind it bolted to a custom made bellhousing.

 

I'm building a Model A coupe. I was going to rebuild an old 283 in the shop but it turned out to be a real boat anchor. Not much usable beyond the bare block. Then this 215 Buick V8 came up on a hot rod parts blog and I snapped it up.

The guy bought all of the parts and did all of the machine work and had everything balanced 20 years ago and then it sat in pieces. He was building a kit car.

I bought it for about half of what he had in it. It's a 1963 Buick 215. It has a Kenny Bell 3/4 street cam, 300 aluminum heads, Mallory NOS black cap dual point, Melling HOP oil pump, 300 short water pump, stock four barrel manifold, (for now I plan to run a little square bore Qjet) I added Rover cast iron four-into-two headers. It will be backed up by a T5 five speed stick and 3:33 Jag rear end. Stock it puts out 200 HP. Might get a few more horses with the cam and headers.

 

Here is mine-1961 Edelbrock twin two barrel manifold.



And some old Buick tuning-

http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/memb.../1963-01_Buick_V8_HR_Souping_the_215_1-16.pdf

 

Yes I have built a few... My biggest one was over 300".

 

People always mention all the info. on this site, but I have yet to see the mother load.

 

In the "old days" I used a compilation of Olds, Buick 300 & small block chevy parts to build them... Some of the Rover stuff can now be used.... While intake manifolds are "spotty" at best I have built a "Log Manifold" style like the old Crower "U-fab", putting 4 - Rochester 1bbls.......

 

I have ported & flow tested many of these heads. The Olds design was preferred to me. The Buick's are cool as they look like an alloy "Nailhead"...
There is a "300" alloy head with bigger ports and valves but only good on Big Inch 215's... That's my opinion after 38 years of building Hot Rod Engines...

 

Another "tip"... Remember that this engine shares some heritage with the legendary Buick 231 V -6. Parts that may really help are the timing cover and water pump. Shortens the 215 by a couple of inches....

 

"Yep" back in the early 80's I had a 1971 Vega wagon with the 215, it actually weighed about the same as the "Iron Duke" and ran w..a..y much better!

 

Put one in a Morris Minor sedan years ago, that's when I learned about the water pump deal... Stock all the early 215's I have measured are a bit longer than a short pump Chevy...

 

My friends sister had a jetfire he was brake torqueing it and snaped an axle.