1970 Buick Street/Strip Skylark Build

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

The goals for this car are:

-All steel 3850 pounds and running mid 10s in the quarter mile
-Only 355 cubic inches using factory Buick 350 block, crank, heads, etc
-Smooth idle and strong torque from 2500-6000 RPM
-Cruise at 70 MPH at 2000 RPM or less
-Flat hood, no scoop

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

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:

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Diamond custom forged 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!

Here we go! 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!

1970 Buick Skylark 350 street/strip with 6 point cage: Custom tube headers feed Twin T3/T4 Turbochargers, Holley 650, sheet metal single plane intake, heavily ported iron heads with oversized valves, mild Poston 114 camshaft (2800-6000 RPM), Diamond forged pistons on Hershe forged rods, balanced, ARP everywhere, dual 3" exhaust, Paddle shifted 4L80E 4 speed overdrive, Moser 12 bolt with 3.42 gear.

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

I pushed the car out of the garage to coat the floor with epoxy and decided to snap a few pics:

car poised and ready for the re-chromed bumper and new lenses:



Nice angle:

 

[bullet]

Holy freak out, that's some muscle. I always liked those cars.

 

[clean8485]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to the updates.

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Thanks guys! I am having a lot of fun with this project! When I was 16 on Vancouver Island I bought my first Buick:





I had a lot of fun with that however started collecting Buick 350s at that point...

Then after I was done at BCIT I moved to alberta, bought an acreage and stockpiled more Buicks and engines:





The above pics are the 75 Regal with 50,000 miles. I parked it in the barn 7 years ago and drove it out on my 30th birthday this year. After such a long sleep in the barn it ran amazing with just a new battery, fresh fuel and a few toonies at the car wash. Plans for this one is a single turbo, possi, and an overdrive trans. Building it for a highway hauler sleeper.

The poor 35,000 mile 73 Century had to go to scrap due to rotted roof and moldy interior but for $400 it was a lot of fun for a week or so then I yanked the 350 engine and salvaged what I could:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbiqdPVLpnE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy1cOuE4x4Q

So as you can see I have fun with these old Buicks and the under appreciated 350....

 

[58chev]

Looks like you are having fun with the Buicks.

I had a 70 4dr Wildcat that I kept the 455 out of.
See pic in my sig.

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Oh here is a good one:

The 73 Century after I tore into the bone stock car at 35,000 Miles, yes 35,000.

What I did was my 5 hour tune up consisting of:
HEI dist swap, plugs and wires, custom timing curve, New In Box 73 Q jet for Buick 350, Hooker headers to single 3 inch exhaust (dump no muffler) to give backpressure, K&N air filter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GljRr5PauLI

Then before the engine cooled down we had it on the stand and poor car on the flatdeck to be crushed. The car could not have been saved easily and my 75 was safe in the barn at the time so the 73 donated its 35,000 mile heart to be a spare for the turbocharged 75 Regal...

 

[Pete the Rocker]

Nice job on the Skylark. I've always been a Buick fan, and I like what your doing.

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Nice job on the Skylark. I've always been a Buick fan, and I like what your doing.

Thanks!

I am having a lot of fun with the Buick 350s and the Turbos work great on them! This prompted me to write this article for Canadian Hot Rods:




I know it is much easier to zoom in on the article if you click this link and find the + zoom icon:

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/seanbuick76/media/TURBO ARTICLE/img001.jpg.html?sort=9&o=0


I am also working on completing Small Block Buick Performance, which is a technical manual to build a better buick:

http://www.v8buick.com/forumdisplay.php?183-Small-Block-Buick-Performance-Book

 

[cocobolo]

Not much doubt that you're a true Buick junkie!

I'd be interested to know what sort of horsepower you expect to get out of that engine. Have you tested it on the dyno yet?

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

I am not trying to get caught up with HP numbers however a pretty sure bet would be about 600 ft of TQ at 3400 RPM and 600 HP at 6000 RPM red line. Those are at the wheels numbers. I will make about 300 Rear wheel HP without the turbos.

Here is an equivalent build (just larger cubes) with a 383 both before and after boost. This one was 300 HP without the turbos and 800 HP with them and no other changes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m89i4z8UKWQ

 

[bullet]

well that was way sick ........

I have a question that may be a bit lame, but it's crossed my mind as something I've never seen.
If you had a small blower motor, such as my 355 SBC / 400hp, is it possible to run turbos with it or is it pointless and/or impossible.

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Not much doubt that you're a true Buick junkie!

I'd be interested to know what sort of horsepower you expect to get out of that engine. Have you tested it on the dyno yet?

I have not had this engine on the dyno under boost, that will wait till the chassis dyno.

I have been involved with 6 different Buick 350 builds that were really successful and these will be covered in my upcoming "Performance Guide" which will be published by Friesen Press out of Victoria and sold at Chapters and on line as well.

One of the most inspirational stories in the book:

A friend of mine named Bobb Mackley out of Michigan has a machine shop, dyno and some 2000 HP Buick big blocks. I was on the phone with him one day and he said that he was going to help his 16 year old son build a nice mild 600 HP Buick 455. I said, why not a Buick 350? Bobb Laughed and said, I have 15 Buick 455s here, maybe if I had a few 350s then I would try one of them little baby engines. I said yeah at 450 pounds with twin turbos is pretty light! So I found a 68 jeep Wagoneer that was being parted out in Michigan, called the owner, paid him to remove the engine and deliver it to Bobb.

So Bobb calls me and says a Buick 350 showed up, and he does not want it....

Anyways they built it and it went well and they have since raised the boost to 12 PSI and it now makes an estimated 800 HP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zktYYQhCtqU

There are other stories, like the 1021 HP Buick 350 that was built in New York at a top level racing shop as a personal interest on Saturdays. They did a ton of R&D to make 550 HP NA at 355 inches and then made the 1021 HP with 21 pounds of boost. Car ran 8 second quarter miles and eventually the block cracked. This was all iron, stock rotating assemble specs but with forged crank, rods, pistons, ported stock intake manifold even as only I have a nice intake for these engines!

There is a guy in new york who took a Buick 350 that was a worn out 73 low compression version, added a custom camshaft I helped him spec and he went from 15.8 in the quarter to 12.41 with a nitrous shot. Stock engine except cam swap, all through manifolds and restrictive 2.25 duals. next he is adding a pair of headers I sent him, fuel injection and looking for 11 second quarter miles with some new head porting, re-ring and refresh of the engine, no machine work all stock pistons etc.

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

well that was way sick ........

I have a question that may be a bit lame, but it's crossed my mind as something I've never seen.
If you had a small blower motor, such as my 355 SBC / 400hp, is it possible to run turbos with it or is it pointless and/or impossible.

You know, that is interesting. I have thought about it. Here is what I would do:

1. Sell your Supercharger
2. Buy another cheep Supercharger that is damaged or missing parts, and convert it to a fake blower by building internal runners to the heads from the carbpad
3. Rig up twin turbos and make some serious power

The only two reasons that adding turbos to your existing set up is an issue:

1. Your blower is already heating the incoming air, adding turbos would mean the heat would be raised further. Yes with a good intercooler or water methanol injection you can cool the charge however this would have to be addressed
2. Tuning would likely be a nightmare with the fluctuations in boost between the two. The supercharger would make boost as the RPM climbs but the turbo makes boost more dependent on the load of the driving. Go up a hill, more boost from the turbos.

 

[cocobolo]

Only 305 HP from a hopped up 383? That's a bit hard to believe.

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Only 305 HP from a hopped up 383? That's a bit hard to believe.

It is a 8:1 compression mild cammed engine. Still making about 390 HP at the crank which is plenty healthy for a 383 engine at that compression.

Here is another one, this one about 1000 Wheel HP from a mild smallblock:

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/ccrp_1104_the_wrenchrat_twin_turbo_kit/viewall.html

Here is another Buick 350 Project I was involved with:

Engine was a bone stock smogger 74 Buick 350 that was rated at about 165 HP in that year. We found one in the junkyard, dropped it on the dyno and it made the rated HP so it was healthy. A cheap twin turbo kit $2000 was bolted on and the engine was put in a Buick then to the street and chassis dyno.

Here are the results and it works out to 165 flywheel HP jumping to 350 HP after the calculation is made from the wheel HP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui8jMXTJeOU

That is the type of gain found with low boost, no intercooler, and NO engine mods. Use a custom application camshaft, strong light parts, the right intake, carb, and head combo, and 1000 HP is attainable from almost any engine IF the engine design can handle the power that is.

 

[cocobolo]

Hmmm...adding up the parts cost in the article, I get very nearly $12,000. Not including tax or shipping, or any of that expensive labour that they used. And that still doesn't include the cost of the engine to start with. Add to that the 114 octane race gas and this isn't exactly a cheap operation.

It does, however, produce some extremely impressive torque and h.p. numbers. Two and a half horsepower per cubic inch is nothing to sneeze at, but I have to wonder how long this engine would be expected to last if it were run on the street. Let's face it, with that much power under your right foot, it's always going to be tempting to get on it.

And then there's the cost of the tires...

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

Hmmm...adding up the parts cost in the article, I get very nearly $12,000. Not including tax or shipping, or any of that expensive labour that they used. And that still doesn't include the cost of the engine to start with. Add to that the 114 octane race gas and this isn't exactly a cheap operation.

It does, however, produce some extremely impressive torque and h.p. numbers. Two and a half horsepower per cubic inch is nothing to sneeze at, but I have to wonder how long this engine would be expected to last if it were run on the street. Let's face it, with that much power under your right foot, it's always going to be tempting to get on it.

And then there's the cost of the tires...

There are many people adding turbos to junkyard 5.3 or 6.0 LS engines and making about 800 reliable HP and using cheap Chinese turbos. I have seen vehicles with $1000 into the turbo conversion and making 900 HP...

Not everyone has big money to play with, check out these guys:

http://www.theturboforums.com/threads/366584-sloppy-2500-LD-silverado-(twin-61s)

http://www.theturboforums.com/threads/370005-fairmont-3-0/page2

The LS engines are really well designed and bone stock they are proving really reliable. With some upgrades the 6.0 LS engines are safe at about 1000 HP for a long time.

OF course not all engine designs can handle the power, the ford 302 comes to mind. Guys are adding turbos, running 10s, but then the block breaks in half.

The main extra cost when using turbos is beefing up the trans, rear end, etc to handle the extra power. Even if you are starting with a weak worn out 305 with a turbo it turns into a tire shredding machine.

I think I have about $2500 into my actual turbo kit however it costs a lot more to beef the entire car up to handle 1000+ hp However at some point you have to pay to play.

Here is a cool article about a junkyard 4.8L LS engine making killer power with low cost turbos:

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/hrdp_1109_stock_gm_ls_engine_big_bang_theory/

 

[Twin Turbo Skylark]

\I was about to do the final assembly on my good 350 however I realized I need to make one more order to TA before I start. Here I was getting ready to get her together:



I had the top end assembled for a test fit while I was getting the bottom end together.



Don't worry the stock bolts are only in the mains to keep the threads clean. ARP studs are used everywhere.