Hot Rodding a Buick 215

That's a new one! Will that work on the Olds 215? That's what I have set in my Model A.

 

Yes, the short blocks are "basically" the same with different head design & valve trains. I believe the Pontiac version was based on the Olds.

 

There used to be a Pro Rover class in England in the 90's that all ran these engines in cars as fast as 8 seconds.

 

Will that work on the Buick 300 as well? The 215 and 300 Buicks are narrower than a SBC but a tad longer. Shaving an inch or two makes a big difference when it comes to fitment. What about pulleys?

 

My engine came with a "short" water pump, but the PO made a spacer (about 3/4"-1") so the stock fan pulley would work. I'd also like to find the short fan pulley.

and I just stumbled upon this...Nice.

http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/pumps.htm

 

That is very popular setup for the Buick 215's. The aluminum heads were only offered one year, I think 63 or 64 on the 300's. I like the 215's because they are so light and compact. There is a company making aftermarket aluminum heads for them now, however I can't remember the name. I remember they build parts for Buick V6's also I remember the heads being very expensive. The sites listed above have great ideas and pointers when building these 215's.

 

Most likely TA Performance.

 

Here's a few pictures of my "59 English Ford Escort. with a 215" Buick. I installed the engine in 1973, and it has been there since. The original firewall is at the middle of the carburetor, which means an engine box in the passenger compartment, which means moving the seats,pedals, steering, etc.back. The picture of the car in brown is from 1973, the pictures in black are from 2007, after a few changes, but still the same engine. Bob

 

Both TA and Wildcat offer heads much better than any practical modification of a production head could provide. But yes, they are expensive.

 

Although not necessarily multiple sources/options, between what's available from past and present you can find pretty much any intake most would want.
An incomplete list :
- Single 4-barrel dual plane from Edelbrock
- Dual 2-barrel dual plane from Edelbrock
- Single 4-barrel 360 degree from Offy
- Dual 2-barrel 360 degree from Offy
- Single 4-barrel single plane "trarantula"-type from Harcourt and Wilpower
- Downdraft and side-draft for four Weber carbs from various makers
- Constant flow mechanical injection from Hilborn
- 2 & 4 barrel intakes from GM
- Dual SU and assorted EFI manifolds from Rover

 

Oh yea i especially like these, they are sO the "Traditional Hot Rod LOOK"

 

This is one of the best performing manifolds, overall, especially for the money - $240 @ Summit Racing and they work well with hotter motors below 270" with a 600 Holley, BUT nothing looks "Traditional Hot Rod" like a Four One Barrels Log Manifold.... Most other manifolds mentioned are quite tuff to find....Just my opinion...

 

That is them thanks!

 

Some of the manifolds I listed are rare, some can only be had from a limited number of places, others are easily found. I have searched out stuff a lot harder to find than any of those manifolds. So far, a combination of time, dedication, effort, and money, have never failed to eventually turn up what i am looking for. I ran across a guy who had parts from the Mickey Thompson Buick "215" Indy car engine. I once owned one of the original auto show 215 display engines. I did some trading for a new/unused stock 215 camshaft. I once passed on 215 Hilborn set-up. Point being, stuff is out there if you look hard enough and long enough.

 

"Just because something can be done doesn't mean it's a good idea. Why not do that, trust me, plenty of reasons."

 

The above quote was lifted from a completely different discussion. Why was that done and what's your point? Is this a childish mocking because you didn't like me posting some counterpoint to what you said? If something is hard to find should one just give up and take the path of least resistance? Are you saying that because something is rare or not mainstream that it's not worthwhile. If so, odd you would post that on a forum that revolves around such things. I have LOTS of stuff that's hard to find, and to one degree or another so do many others here. If you would rather just buy the new Edelbrock manifold you posted(which wasn't even available in the old days) that's fine, it's one of the best street manifolds for most applications. On the other hand, possibly some would rather do something else. Webers are traditional. Hilborn is traditional. The currently available Offy manifolds are the same pieces they were making in the '60s, so was the dual 2-barrel Edelbrock.

P.S. : The 600CFM carb you mentioned is on the big side for most 215 builds.

 

"P.S., the 600CFKM carb you mentioned is on the big side for most 215 builds."
Yes, how correct you are, It was even marginal with that one at 250" on the stock manifold, saving grace was a light car with a 4 speed.

 

Buick had some great motors... never knew the 215 was that popular in those British cars.

 

Yea GM pulled a "boner" in my opinion when the sold the tooling and the rights to produce the motor to Rover.... Hindsight is always 20/20...

 

One of my volvo's is running the same motor, so please sent more Info! Cool stuff!

The Rover engine is actualy 20kilos lighter in total then the stock cast-iron the Volvo is born with! An in Stock trim it delivers from 90 to 200HP depending with cars it was made for!

Does anybody have pictures of a buick 215 w/ hilborn? It makes my pants tighter just thinking about it!

There is a guy on here who build at cool car with a 215. Search kiwi build Lake style racer, if i remember correctly.

 

The stock Rover came with a cool looking Velocity stack type injection set up.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/215-OLDS-BU...Parts_Accessories&hash=item3c924fb0a6&vxp=mtr

 

Hmmm... Strip off that electronic krap, weld up a few holes & make a plenum top and there might be a little old "Tunnel Ram" in there...

 

What is that engine setup? What are the performance numbers?
What is the application ie: what type of vehicle is it in?

Just purchased Triumph GT6 with the 215 installed and BW 5spd.
Looking to get history, performance numbers and mods.

 

Do some TVR parts interchange also?

 

I'm running a 215 in my "A" coupe. I bought a 300 short water pump. Save about an inch ad a half.

 

I'm not sure about the water pump talk on here but I bought a pump from Autozone and it lines up perfect with the pulley on my turbo motor, (no AC or PS) Simple inexpensive and it looks the same.
With A/C 3 7/16" hub height or
With A/C 3 21/32" hub height or
Without A/C $19.99 to $32.99

 

It was built by my buddy Ian Stewart, its in a Ford mk 2 Cortina, 3.9 rover, toyota 5 speed, toyota rear axle, ran low 12s without gas.
all work by the owner.

 

I posted this earlier

http://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/pumps.htm

 

I am thinking about a Rover engine from 1970, but I like it to look older. It has à manifold with to SU carbs angled to the sides-looks great!

I would like to have some older style valve covers on it (and not "Rover"). What valve covers are or were made for the Buick 215?