I was half way done building a Buick Skylark Turbo car and after having out first baby and working 70-85 Hours a week I just could not complete it. I sold it, kept my good engines. The new owner of my old car has lots of time and is making rapid progress so I am super happy to see it getting done!


I bought this car though to replace the project.... 2980 Pounds and about 800 estimated HP, street legal:


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-Original iron heads fully ported
-Custom crower turbo cam 2500-6500 range sbc roller rockers modded to fit buick
-Aluminum X-Factor intake (one of only three ever produced)
-Holley 650 w/full annular swap, aftermarket metering blocks, and new baseplate w/four corner idle (massively modified for blow through)
-Fresh engine rebuild
-Aluminum radiator with two speed fan
-Tri-Y turbo headers
-HEI distributor w/vacuum advance/boost retard
-MSD CD ignition box w/rev limiter
-Taylor 8mm wires
-High amp chrome one wire alternator
-Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump and Mallory referenced bypass regulator
-TA Performance high volume oil pump
-Two 50mm hybrid turbo's running through a 2 in, 1 out style intercooler and tuned conservatively at 8 psi
-Twin 35mm wastegates and dual blow off valves
-Full mandrel bent 3" exhaust
-Stainless perforated tube race mufflers
-TH350 transmission, trans brake w/alto reds, kolene steels, stage 2 shift kit, extra frictions, and stand alone trans cooler w/10" fan
-3800 rpm 9" nitrous converter
-B&M dual lockout Pro-Stick shifter w/custom aluminum .44 magnum revolver cylinder handle that holds live rounds (minus their primers)
-Stock driveshaft w/heavy duty universals
-Buick 10 bolt rearend with Richmond 4.56 ring and pinion, and Zytanium locker
-New Cragar Wheels
-New M/T ET Street Slicks: 32 x 17.50 x 15
-Back half suspension is made from 1/8" wall, 2x3" rectangular steel w/Camaro/Nova monoleafs
-Custom traction bars integrated into the spring plates
-6 point roll bar (.135 wall 1 3/4" steel)
-Summit racing bucket seats w/drivers side RCI harness
-Grant woodgrain/polished aluminum steering wheel
-Aluminum dashboard full of Autometer Sport Comp gauges
-Innovative wideband AFR system (electronic tuning)
-All new 1970 Buick GS fiberglass bumpers, hood, fenders, and truck lid from VFN
-New custom fabricated aluminum core support
-Battery in the trunk
-RCI 16 gallon fuel cell in the trunk.

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Mark Burton a close friend of mine built the car and ended up selling it to another guy after a divorce and I bought it off of him so I am super happy to have this car! Here is some info about the build:

http://www.burtonmachine.com/the-buick/

 

My plan for the car is to add windshield wipers and get it on the street again, change the rear axles to moser units, change to a 4.11 gear ( it has heavy 32" tall by 18" tires so it needs some gear. Swap in my good short block and crank up the boost... Ta performance is currently developing an alum head for these engines and it will be super cool! I also need to add nee carpet and a few other things to make it my own...

Any comments or suggestions?

 

Why 4.11s? What are you planning on running in the 1/4? Even with "conservative" turbos it seems as if you'd run out of RPM. Maybe I've got the wrong impressions here?

Besides that, I'd love to know how you knocked this beast below 3K. I need to get my Lemans to the scales and figure out how to put it on a diet!

 

Hi there, I would consider a 4.11 or 3.73 gear but with my 32" tall tires I need some gear ratio I think. If I had a 26" tall tire then sure a 3.42 or 3.08 would be a good gear. I am not planning to run any faster than 10.00 in the quarter.

The car is lightened mostly with fiberglass parts, hood, bumpers, front fenders etc all glass, the core support is alum, interior is very stripped out, and thats about it. The engine is very light, it is about 450 pounds with the turbos. I will loose about 40-50 pounds when the alum heads come out for this engine and should gain an easy 100+ HP as well with them.

 

damn thing looks mean! Nice setup!

 

A few videos of the car earlier on in it's progression, when owned by the previous owner:





A more recent one:

 

I ran the numbers and with the current 4.56 gear I should be at 6391 (so say 6500 with slippage) at 130 MPH... I do not want to run faster than 10 seconds due to safety rules for faster than that. If I used a 4.11 gear I should be at 5760 (so 6000 with slip), so that should help...

Maybe a 3.73 would be better I am not sure???

 

Didn't realize you were on a 10.0 limit and 32" tall tires. Makes quite a bit of difference.

The Buick engines do have a weight advantage to the Pontiac stuff in a big kind of way. I didn't think that much of one, but even the BBBs were known for being light as in SBC weight. It's amazing that the aftermarket is catching up to these engines now. Is TA making the heads or is it going to be Edelbrock or someone else?

 

Sorry to see the original car go --- but you did get a NICE upgrade. Looks like a fun ride. And keeoing your friends car in good hands --well that is just a bonus

 

Ta is making the heads and a single plane intake, very exciting news!! I am involved in the R&D and will get the first set of heads made.

I will post pics when i can but i kept all my good engines and in the middle of building a girdled Buick 350 for the upcoming heads. It features a custom billet crank, scat rods with arp2000 bolts, diamond pistons, 9:1, blueprinted block, 1" thick girdle, roller cam, and then the alum heads and the turbos. Will only wiegh about 400 pounds complete!

 

Thank you! And the guy who bought my project is now a friend of mine! He is painting the car now and already done the brakes and suspension... He has the interior done too! I will update the old thread with pics as he gets it done.

I just drove and picked up 7 engines in a snow storm, a little nerve wracking:

Well I booked today off work and drove about 250 miles each way to get 7 Buick engines.... It snowed like crazy! Had to tow in 4x4 the whole time. I know i needed a lower drop hitch to level the trailer but it towed well anyway. I will take more pics tmrw as we unload.

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Got 10 mpg towing in 4x4 not bad..

 

Didn't realize you were on a 10.0 limit and 32" tall tires. Makes quite a bit of difference. If it's there may as well run and see how it goes.

The Buick engines do have a weight advantage to the Pontiac stuff in a big kind of way. I didn't think that much of one, but even the BBBs were known for being light as in SBC weight.

Keep it up, I always enjoyed your fab work.

Good score on the Buick Engines. Heard they're not making them any more.

 

Sad to hear that your previous project had to go. I was enjoying the build.

Time to watch the new one now.

Keep us updated.

Mike

 

No garage work done but some Muscle car Education. He turns the pages himself and squeels at the cars he likes... So far he prefers the yellow, red, and white cars!

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Its his favorite book! Big pictures!

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I had to get the car shipped up to me so I patiently waited... ITS HERE!!!

Its here!!!!!

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Some video for you guys!

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This video does have the car in it but not till 1:10 into it.

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Home safely - very good

And the helper you have is awesome - cherish those times man - days seem to fly by

Took my boys to harbor freight yesterday - just cuz lol we make trips to Summit racing for the same reasons - quality guy time

 

Subscribing

 

Being new to turbocharged vehicles i am not sure if it is normal for my vacuum to go from 15 at idle to 20 as i ease into the throttle? I have never seen that before on a NA engine...

The oil pressure is low at idle but holds steady at 50 psi at 4000 rpm so im not worried about that... This engine will be replaced soon once my new engine is ready... Buicks have a poor oiling system so im using a belt driven external oil pump on the good engine.

How does it sound? This is all from idle to 3000 i dont want to rev it too much without a load on it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ivXylF70RN4

 

Vacuum will fluctuate and as you can see in the spike actually it occurs as butterflies add restriction closing). w/o load vacuum will move up a bit with rpm to an extent. Nothing wrong with the oil pressure really. Would a little more be better? who knows. Some would call it wasted power. 10 per thousand and you have a little more than that so it's fine.

I do think it would wound better once the snow is gone and you can upload a boost video ;-)

 

So i am taking the car to the chassis dyno soon but I want to up the boost from 8psi to 20 psi but i am not sure what the best way to do this is? Should i replace the springs in the wastegates or add a bleeder valve before the wastegate?

I am also not sure what to do with the bov to make it stay closed till 20 psi or until i let off the throttle?

I am ordering a c&s carb all custom for the application as well.

 

#1 Badass carb - one off and different in many ways but they work very well

some use the cheap bleeder valve MBC. They are fairly sensitive to small changes but they work. If you have additional springs that is also a route you can take. which WG?