Buick/Rover V8 Go Fast Goodies

[Dan Jones]

I drove to Atlanta over the weekend and made a major Rover/Buick
parts score.  The most interesting parts were a pair of Buick
race heads.  In the "Hotrodding the Buick" book, they have a
section on the Buick aluminum V8 that covers Mickey Thompson's
Buick-powered Indy racer and Lance Reventlow's Buick-powered
Scarab road racer.  They show pictures of Mickey's ported
cylinder heads next to a set of stock Buick 215 heads.  The
ports on the ported heads are so much bigger, I couldn't see
how a Buick 215 head could be safely ported that far.  At first,
I wondered if they started with Buick 300 heads which have larger
ports but the pictures clearly show Buick 215 combustion chambers
and the 215's extra head bolt bosses.  Turns out Mickey and Lance
were using special heads cast for racing by GM that combined the
Buick 300's larger ports with the Buick 215's smaller combustion
chambers.  The heads carry a cast-in reverse Buick 300 part number.
Since Mickey's car raced at Indy in 1962, the heads were cast a
couple of years before the Buick 300 went into production, so it's
likely the heads were 215 racing parts and the 300 heads were
based upon them, rather than the other way around.  The heads have
been ported and fitted with Manley Severe Duty stainless steel
valves (1.625" intake, 1.496" exhaust).  The heads have also
been modified (rocker stand bosses milled flat to accept a steel
bar) to accept stud-mounted 1.6:1 narrow body Crane Gold race
roller rocker arms.  Given the size of the exhaust, I think the
heads can benefit from a larger intake valve.  I fitted the
1.775" Ferrea from my ported Buick 300 heads and it looks like
they will fit but new seats will need to be installed and the
bowls blended.  Also, I'll need to find a longer valve with a
similar head diameter as the valves fitted to these heads are
longer to compensate for the conversion to stud mounted rockers.

Also included in the deal were a bunch of other parts.  It'll
be a few weeks before I get a chance to catalog it all but
included is:

 GM dual four barrel intake manifold (polished)
 2 rebuilt Carter AFB 4331-S carburetors (1966-67 Buick 340 carbs)
 2 Carter WCFB carburetors
 1 dual four barrel linkage kit
 1 pair of Range Rover headers
 1 box of Header-by-Ed header tubes
 1 box of Hedman header tubes (for SBC)
 Buick 300 exhaust header flanges (large to fit ported heads), stubs
 and gaskets
 multiple gasket sets
 several starters (including MGBV8 starter nose)
 flywheels and flexplates
 cast iron exhaust manifolds (Rover, Buick 215 and 300)
 1 pair of unmodified Buick 300 heads (no corrosion)
 2 boxes of pulleys and brackets
 2 timing TR8 covers, one has polished short nose "Made in USA" water pump
 1 polished water pump
 1 TR8 oil pan and windage tray
 1 Rover pan similar to TR8 but with longer sump and baffled pick up
 1 pair of chromed Buick 215/300 valve covers
 1 pair of polished aluminum Rover-lettered valve covers (very nice
 with wire looms and caps)
 1 Tilton mini starter (small diameter)
 1 2 barrel Buick intake manifold
 1 Rover intake manifold
 1995 Rover 4.2L (255ci) engine parts
 block - cylinders bored and honed, fitted with cross bolted main caps and
 align bored, ready for final assembly
 Rover 4.2L crank (3.03" stroke) crank and balancer
 Wiseco forged pistons & rings (10.75 to 11:1 compression with the race heads)
 2 sets of Carrillo 6.200 H-beam rods, 2.1" small journal SBC, narrowed to
 fit Rover crank, optional SPS-CARR bolts
 Cloyes true roller timing gear set with the French Renold chain
 "Made in USA" roller timing chain with Rolon chain
 Crane solid lifter cam
 billet steel flywheel
 rotating assembly balanced
 Vandervell main bearings
 Clevite rod bearings
 TRW bearings
 ARP Buick 215 head stud kit 124-4002 (190 KSI fasteners)
 Note inside of box has several individual part numbers so studs maybe a
 custom set for this engine
 Milodon studs (partial set of 9 studs, nuts and washers)
 Chevy Lakewood scattershield with removeable inspection plate and block
 plate indexed to fit the 215 bellhousing bolt pattern, flywheel, pressure
 plate and clutch
 inspection plates for GM bellhousings
 Holley dual Projection TBI fuel injection set-up, two sets (Holley and
 GM) throttle bodies with different bore sizes and CFM ratings
 Rover/TR8 distributor with ballast resistor
 Gutted Rover distributor
 GM HEI distributor
 GM point-type distributor
 custom distributor with red HEI cap (not the coil in cap type), Rover gear
 and drive, no vacuum advance
 MSD 8548 Buick V8 215-350 Pro Billet Distributor (no vacuum advance)
 MSD crank trigger kit p/n 8610 for SBC, trigger wheel modified for Rover crank
 MSD cap kit
 Accel points 110400
 50211 chilled lifters?
 hi-volume oil pump kit
 several oil filter bases
 2 Buick blocks, one has sleeves removed, other has crankshaft installed
 2 sets of Buick rods and pistons
 Comp Cams 0.080" wall pushrods, 8.350" long
 Crane 99250-16 solid lifters
 Crane solid lifter cam (part number 901341)
 Grind Number F-256/3412-2-8 Compucam Special
 Good mid and top end power.
 292/302 degrees advertised duration
 256/266 degrees @ 0.050"
 lobe lift 0.3412"/0.3528"
 0.546"/0.564" intake/exhaust lift with 1.6:1 rocker ratio
 108 LSA
 70 lbs seat pressure @ 1.625"
 230 lbs open pressure @ 1.112"
 recommended spring part number 99891
 4000-8200 RPM (8800 RPM max)
 79 degrees overlap @ 0.020" tappet lift
 Intake Opens 42 degrees BTDC
 Exhaust Closes 39 degrees ATDC
 Intake Closes  70 degrees ABDC
 Exhaust Opens  83 degrees BBDC
 Checking clearance (cam timing) at 0.050" tappet lift
 Intake Opens 25 degrees BTDC
 Exhaust Closes 20 degrees ATDC
 Intake Closes 51 degrees ABDC
 Exhaust Opens 66 degrees BBDC
 Max lift at 103 degrees ATDC Intake
            113 degrees BTDC Exhaust
 hot lash 0.026" intake and exhaust

 Isky solid lifter cam, #665 pink valve springs, aluminum retainers
 260 degrees advertised duration
 0.410" lift
 0.015" lash
 42 degrees overlap
 Intake Opens 20 degrees BTDC
 Exhaust Closes 22 degrees ATDC
 Intake Closes  60 degrees ABDC
 Exhaust Opens  58 degrees BBDC

 Schneider 284-F solid lifter cam (work order 14726)
 284 degrees advertised duration
 240 degrees @ 0.050"
 lobe lift 0.320", 0.512" lift with 1.6:1 rocker ratio
 110 LSA (intake lobe degreed to 108)
 100-120 lbs seat pressure
 270-290 lbs open pressure
 recommended spring part number 6700
 64 degrees overlap
 Intake Opens 34 degrees BTDC
 Exhaust Closes 30 degrees ATDC
 Intake Closes 70 degrees ABDC
 Exhaust Opens 74 degrees BBDC
 Checking clearance At 0.050" tappet lift
 Intake Opens 12 degrees BTDC
 Exhaust Closes 8 degrees ATDC
 Intake Closes 48 degrees ABDC
 Exhaust Opens 52 degrees BBDC
 cold lash 0.016"

 GM Factory race heads:
 Buick 215 chambers with Buick 300 ports
 reverse Buick 300 casting #
 ported and modified to accept stud mounted adjustable rocker arms
 Manley Severe Duty stainless valves (1.625" intake, 1.496" exhaust)
 heads are externally polished

 Miscellaneous other parts - Buick rods and pistons, bolts, oil filter
 bases, MGBV8 conversion booklet, MGBV8 newsletters, Buick and Rover
 engine manuals, distributor parts and gears, pushrods, transmission
 shifter housing, etc.

 All packed in multiple plastic boxes which fit perfectly in the rented
 U-Haul trailer.

Dan Jones

[NixVegaGT]

Holy SHit, Dan!! That is totally hot! I can't wait to see pix of those heads. Really cool post.

[hoffbug]

Nice haul!!

 Of course this thread is worthless without pictures..;-)

 If that collection of your gets too big let me know.. Id like to find an unmolested Huffaker intake.

[roverman]

Dan, congratulations. Regarding bigger Int. valve, you may want to look at, Ferrea # F6273GRX, 1.78dia,4.705" long,(lash cap)?7mm stem and 82 grams light. Might have to make own retainers to get the combo to fit. All you need now is a Reventlow race car to go vintage racing.  Maybe a Huffaker "Genie"? Best of luck! roverman.

[Dan Jones]

> Regarding bigger Int. valve, you may want to look at, Ferrea #F6273GRX,
> 1.78dia,4.705" long,(lash cap)?7mm stem and 82 grams light. Might have
> to make own retainers to get the combo to fit.

Those are too short in this application which uses 4.905" length
valves due to the stud conversion.  There are some other Ferrea
valves that might work like the F5000 small block Chevy valve
which has a 1.725" head and is 4.910" long.  I'll need to mock it
all up to know for sure.

> All you need now is a Reventlow race car to go vintage racing.
> Maybe a Huffaker "Genie"? Best of luck! roverman.

I dearly love that era of race cars, probably because I grew
up watching Speed Racer cartoons, but at 6'5" tall, I'd never
fit in them.  The main reason I got the TR8 was because it
was the smallest car I could get comfortable in.

> Of course this thread is worthless without pictures..;-)

I'll try to take some pictures soon.

> If that collection of your gets too big let me know.. Id like
> to find an unmolested Huffaker intake.

Will do.

Thanks,
Dan Jones

[mabie1978]

Wow, you are quite the shopper Dan.  Now if you could come across another Buick intake manifold cheap, you just let me know since I need one in order to put the carb on (until I figure out the FI).  Sounds like you got quite a haul, and I do think pictures are needed too .

[Dan Jones]

First round of pictures.  

 http://www.bacomatic.org/gallery2/v/hidden/dan/dan-cars/album10/Buick_Rover_Parts_Score/

Some are blurry.  I'll take better pictures later.

Dan Jones