Hey Guys; im here at work with some buick grease monkeys and everyday we battle on my 65 mustang with its 351W beating there 65 and 70 buick skylarks with a 350. I would just head out to the track and put these guys to the test but my stang is still in the shop getting the engine rebuilt and it will be a while before i can really punch it like i would like to... one of the guys sent me the article below to strike fear into my heart so now im turning to my fellow ford comrades to be enlighten on the subject.
One of the Most Underestimated Engines
The 350 Buick engine is probably one of the most underestimated engines, even by Buick people. These engines are well designed, they are built strong, not overbuilt. They are also the lightest of the "Small Block" engines, weighing 100lbs. less than a SBC. These engine have a super long stroke, as far as I can find, its the longest stroke of all the small blocks, by a good margin too. The bore size does suffer a little bit from this but torque makes horsepower and long strokes make torque. A chevy or ford has to wind up to a much higher rpm to come even remotely close to the torque that the Buick 350 puts out at 3200 rpm. I have a low compression 350 with a Poston 114 cam and an 800 cfm q-jet. With no posi I can get into the 14's, that's with a stock engine, no headers, stock intake, just a cam and a carb. It really doesn't take much to make these little engines go, 13's are fairly easily obtainable, the engine will make the power, but its really hard to keep the high torque from spinning the tires! (throw a posi on my setup and 14.5's easy). There are no real aftermarket 350 heads, BUT the stock heads do have large intake ports and a straight exhaust port, there is also plenty of metal you can take out for more flow. A good high power build for this engine would be 10:1 compression pistons, ported heads, Aluminum intake, Headers, and a good cam (Poston 114 is good, but there are many out there, Jim Burek can help on which one to pick).
I have heard of these engines running 12's with not too extreme setups. Maybe one day mine will, or Yours!
One of the Most Underestimated Engines
The 350 Buick engine is probably one of the most underestimated engines, even by Buick people. These engines are well designed, they are built strong, not overbuilt. They are also the lightest of the "Small Block" engines, weighing 100lbs. less than a SBC. These engine have a super long stroke, as far as I can find, its the longest stroke of all the small blocks, by a good margin too. The bore size does suffer a little bit from this but torque makes horsepower and long strokes make torque. A chevy or ford has to wind up to a much higher rpm to come even remotely close to the torque that the Buick 350 puts out at 3200 rpm. I have a low compression 350 with a Poston 114 cam and an 800 cfm q-jet. With no posi I can get into the 14's, that's with a stock engine, no headers, stock intake, just a cam and a carb. It really doesn't take much to make these little engines go, 13's are fairly easily obtainable, the engine will make the power, but its really hard to keep the high torque from spinning the tires! (throw a posi on my setup and 14.5's easy). There are no real aftermarket 350 heads, BUT the stock heads do have large intake ports and a straight exhaust port, there is also plenty of metal you can take out for more flow. A good high power build for this engine would be 10:1 compression pistons, ported heads, Aluminum intake, Headers, and a good cam (Poston 114 is good, but there are many out there, Jim Burek can help on which one to pick).
I have heard of these engines running 12's with not too extreme setups. Maybe one day mine will, or Yours!