I started with a $700 parts car and really should have bought a better car. In the end it will turn out fine, just more work to get where we are now. The engine is a 421 HP Buick 350 at 8.7:1 compression, iron heads, mild street cam, but some nice forged parts. T3/T4 hybrid turbos on each side with dual 3" exhaust and mufflers. Buttons on the steering wheel will manual shift a 4L80E overdrive trans and a toggle switch on the dash for lockup on the highway, custom cro-mo driveshaft, Mosier 12 bolt rear with 3.42 gear. 6 point custom bent cro mo cage in the car, no fender or body mods all stock, new front glass, camaro bucket seats black interior with new carpet.

I still need to build the fuel system, setup the water/methanol, re-do the brakes, and drop the good engine in place

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These are custom made Hershe rods that should be safe to about 850 HP with my nice light pistons, I save about 100 grams EACH vs stock:
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Diamond custom pistons put me at 8.7:1 They are 555 grams, that is about 150 grams lighter than stock! Times that by 8! That is a lot less stress on the crank and rods!

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The custom sheet metal intake and turbo kit are done!!!! All this goodness and torque fits under the stock hood without a scoop!!! SLEEPER!!! When people ask i can just say its a mild 355 inch with low compression!

Now I just have to install the good engine and trans and have some fun!!!!!!

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lookin good!!!

 

Nice work, always been a Buick fan, "going fast with class",

 

I like it!! That block looks like a fairly stout piece. How hard have people pushed those?

 

So far without a block girdle a Buick 350 has been pushed to 1021 HP, raced for a while in the 8 second range with 7500 RPM shift points and finally the engine block cracked.

There are a few Buick 350s in the 800 HP range that seem reliable on the street/strip and those also have no girdle. The Buick 350 is actually a really good design, just not many aftermarket parts available...

I was going to have a 1" thick girdle made but I am going to just let it go and see what happens.

It would have been less cost and more HP if I went with a LS engine but I like doing something different with an engine that we can not even get alum heads for.

My goal is to run 10.50 in the quarter so I should be able to do that without too much boost.

 

Uhhm, not 100% true. That head look familiar? The Rover V8s and the 215 Fireball heads should fit, there is a caveat to it and you're going to hate it too; The problem is the deck height of the original Fireball 215 and later engines such as your 315 is different, thereby making the angle of the intake flanges different meaning you would need to make either adapters to use an intake on it or build a new intake. The other thing is that the 4.4s up to say 06 use a DOHC setup. That being said I have absolutely NO clue if these heads would even work for you. At the very least you could probably grab some HGs from a Rover compare em to what you have and verify that they will work or not.

Looks great though, keep going fast with class.

ED:looks like the DOHC stuff is a Ford/Jag part. Sorry to get hopes up.

 

Thanks for the link to the head info. There are a bunch or reasons I stuck with the Buick 350 heads and block compared to the Rover variants.

1. A custom intake manifold would be required as the deck height of my 350 is different than the Rover
2. A custom camshaft would be required to fit the 350 cam journals and have the rover lobe pattern. I do not even know if cam blanks are available for this.
3. There are about 500 times more Buick 350s around here. I find them complete for $50-$100 so I collected 25 in my barn for this project
4. The Buick 350 heads flow great compared to the rover and 215 heads. These heads when using oversized valves and head porting they easily support 550 HP at 10:1 or 400 HP at 8:1 and with boost on top of that they are enough for me.
5. The 350 is a solid design, with stronger rods and pistons they are reliable and cost effective without any other mods just boost. Or if staying under 600 HP they work great bone stock even the stock camshaft works well with boost.

I have a publishing deal for a book I am writing about Small Block Buick Performance, I just need to get some R&D complete and put the book into the publisher to be printed. It will be on Amazon.com, Chapters etc. and I already have about 120 people trying to pre-book a copy. I will use the money from the book to get my car painted and some better brakes all around.

The car stuff is a hobby for me but I have done pretty good with making some $ off of it recently! Here is an article I wrote and had published in Canadian Hot Rods mag:

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Here are some pics of during the body resto.. The pics at the start of the thread are after all the body work.

Also worth mentioning, this car was a really rough parts car at best and it was doomed for the crusher for sure till I saved it. Once we got it all the glass was removed, quarter panels cut off, front clip tossed away, and a ton of time put into adding new sheet metal, fixing little bits of rust here and there and setting all the gaps.. Now with fresh front glass, and all the rest of glass back in it is looking a lot closer to being ready for paint. I am really happy with how the car turned out! Who would have known it was a MESS a few years ago... It is laser straight! During the resto pics:

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I forgot to add more pics of the roll cage... There was no cutting done to the body, not even the wheel wells, just a 6 point cro-mo cage was custom bent and welded in. Even the stock dashpad still fits... I have more work to do as far as installing the sound deadening material, Grant detachable wheel, new carpet and putting the interior back together, all black interior with harnesses on Camaro buckets:

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It looks like it will take about 650 HP to run in the 10.50 range in the quarter mile (even at 3700 pounds) so I should be able to do that without too many PSI of boost... I got some tubular suspension arms for the rear and they are adjustable to help dial in the launch...

The car is now at my house so I can complete all the re-assembly... It got dirty during transport but man it still looks mean as F__K!

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What wheels are they?

 

Summit wheels they were really inexpensive... I think they look great. A little heavy but F it I have turbos LOL!

http://www.summitracing.com/search/...cing-polished-drag-thrust-wheels?autoview=SKU

 

So I need a little advice for my build:

1. Is there any reason why I can not add a BOV on each charge pipe where the white circles are on the pipe?

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** Edit. I am using two name brand 50 mm BOV where the white circles are**

 

Nice build - really like the bar placement - kit or custom? I custom'd mine so I could place pipes as tight to things while still allowing things like dashpad/pilar trim removal. took longer fitting but the end product is much better


For the wastegate placement I try to place them on the outside of a bend (help flow) but they will work where pictured. I ran a couple turbonetics 38's for a while w/o issues.

As for the tank I think you will need to cell or sump. At a minimum you will need to place a return line into it somewhere. Factory line location risks sucking air upon accelerating unless you rework where the lines pickup from - the cell is not sleeper and will ruin your trunk space but will allow things to be up and not as visable as a sumped tank

 

What he just said, but replace wastegate with BOV
With BOV's it really doesn't seem to matter if its on the outside of a bend as much as it does with a WG. With two BOV's I doubt you'll ever run into surge issues no matter where you put them. Run cheap shitty ones if you want. if a BOV fails, its not like a WG where you motor eats shit.

 

Good catch...I was thinking wastegate I routed my hot side to the turbo at the carb and placed wastegates.... in similar locs but on the outside...

charge side as you asked will be fine in those locs especially having 2 as stated you could go with just about any available having 2 may help in the event of one failing

 

It is a custom Cro-mo cage. I bought a bunch of material and a bender and my buddy went to town. It feels really safe when I sit in the car! The only thing I am not really too happy with is how tough it is to get in the car... Once I get the removable steering wheel it will be easy though so no big deal. I would have liked to have the cage tighter to the front pillars however I also wanted to keep the stock dashpad so something had to give... I will not run faster than 10.00 in the quarter as I am not willing to do the stuff required to make it "safe" for that. I think that 10.50 to 10.99 will be a good goal for me to hit with the little 355 engine and a heavy car.

 

Well after about a month of research into my fuel system I finally sorted it out LOL.... The stock fuel tank and pickup, lines etc are NOT going to work for my application.

*** Please give your input, I am doing my best but I am not an expert! I need some help here***

I am trying to keep the info basic and informative for newbies as maybe it can help others learn as I go.

I found a fuel tank built for EFI applications and it features extra baffles, and a large hole so I can mount a MASSIVE fuel pump in the tank, and it is galvanized so it should last well. I always say start with a good clean fuel system and a rebuilt carb so I am taking my own advice. Top of the line 10 AN fuel lines go to and from the fuel tank. A Boost referenced fuel pressure regulator will feed the Holley 650 Carb which is modified to handle boost. The fuel pressure will rise with the boost to keep things in check.

I did not want the fuel pump out of the tank due to cooling issues and being that I wanted to ensure it was never "pulling fuel" up hill out of the tank or running dry. Ideally an elect. pump is either in the fuel tank or down under the fuel tank and gravity fed. Obviously the factory setup does not work in my application.

The reasons I avoided a fuel cell are: I want the trunk space and I do not want possible fuel fumes in the car. I also like the sleeper look of the stock tank in place and I also want the capacity as I want to drive the car 200 miles between fill ups. I considered sumping the fuel tank but then I have to worry about it leaking and it would be obvious with the sump and my car is a sleeper... Tinting the widows to hide the cage LOL.... Flat hood etc.

An air fuel sensor on each side of the exhaust along with exhaust temp moitors will help me keep the carb in check. A throttle position sensor will be attached to the carb and the megasquirt computer will data log everything from the air fuel ratios, exhaust temps, intake temps, throttle position, RPM etc. This way I can tune the car like a modern tuner WITHOUT any computer actually controling the fuel or ignition system. At some point I may swap in the EFI system I have but I think I can get it running 98% perfect with the carb, MSD triggered HEI and MSD ignition box. Using a MSD Boost Timing Master ignition box so I can set the timing to retard under boost.

For timing I am starting with 18 degrees initial timing, 12 degrees of mechanical advance all in by 2300 RPM and 10 degrees of vacuum advance on a ported vacuum source so I will only get vac. advance at part throttle. One way check valve in the vac. advance line so it does not blow off under boost. Then I will play with the amount of boost that the box takes out. Starting with 0.5 degrees per PSI of boost (so 5 degrees with 10 PSI). This should be conservative and leave me with 25 degrees of timing at 10 PSI of boost.

Please add your input or ideas, comments whatever.... Thanks in advance!

 

That should work pretty well. The modded tank is better than a cell as long as the baffling fully controls upon acceleration. And you will enjoy the trunk room... once the cell is in... trunk is pretty small if you put a real street cruiser sized cell in.

Keep up the good work...

 

cool buick, I like to see people do different stuff. keep up the good work!