I8 to V8

Spatacuulous

Spatacuulous

Member
My 1st post and it's a doozy. Glad to be a part of the forum. Thank you.

So.. Here it goes! I have a beautiful drop top 1949 buick super 50. All original. I8 with 3 on the tree. Just finished a 455 out of a 72 sklark. Sea of Chrome. What I want to do is put this in the buick. I know, I know, "sacreliege!", "NO!" blah, blah. It's my car! It's beautiful, but I dont like the slow motion driving, stopping and steering. I want it to be fun too!

I have a bunch of questions, but I'd rather hear some suggestions on what to do first. Do I use the original frame? Do I use a clip from a later model? Disc brakes? This car cost alot and price is not a problem. I want to do it right. I want power brake, power steering, air conditioning and 6-12v upgrade. It's currently all-hydraulic which I've heard can be great if correctly tweaked and maintained.

Any input would help me tremendously. Thanks again!! Hope this is the first of many posts.
 
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Sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure why you would want to start with such a nice finished example. That car looks like you spent a bit. Why not start with an unrestored car. Depending on values, it looks like it could save you 10s of thousands!

Many may suggest putting the body on another frame, but I would probably prefer to keep the original frame and look at a clip and rear change and by the time you have gone that far, their arguements start to sound reasonable:)
 
i agree

u sure u want to heavily modify a pristine car, i totally believe in changing things and modernizing (having done a few myself) but would never start with what appears to be a perfect car, need to find a donor car for what u wanna do.....like the one i`m picking up tommorow
 
I-8 performance

there's allot of Kat's on this forum that can help u to beef up that motor, u can get a dual carb set up, headers, dual exh, pertronix ignition. I recently got a summit racing ignition box and a hotter coil big difference, mill the head put bigger valves change gear ratio of a 55 Buick 3.60 lower rpm.:shifter: changing to 12 volt is easy could also put a alternator there's a thread some where that explains how
 
You currently have an enclosed drivetrain which is an obstacle. You might use an early 70s wagon frame for the transplant. You will get a more modern suspension, brakes, a drivetrain that can live with a 455 etc. These donor wagons are cheap but make sure you inspect what you will use for corrosion and stay away from northern states cars. I saw a 57 Super on an Estate wagon chassis and the owner said it was a naural fit.
 
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I like the feedback a lot. Thank you. My biggest concerns with the car currently are :

1. Lack of power steering.

2. Lack of power brakes

3. 6 volt system ( thanks for a link to the thread on this)

4. The hydraulic system for the windows and top are not in working order.

So, you are saying that it is possible to soup up the I-8 in there and to be pretty happy with the results?

Let me know how. Thanks a million.
 
If is going to be a heavy vehicle no matter what. If you really want some grunt under the hood go to the 455. With all due respect to the straight 8 design and look it is not going to mke the torque-hp of the 455. For one thing the advent of the 455 aluminum heads by TA is a huge advantage.The trans options for the 455 are many-- 5 speeds, 200R and Th 400 etc.
 
Awesome car. First of all, with a car like that you don't need to go fast!! You can do some upgrades without cutting the car all up. You could get a power steering set up from a 1952 Buick straight 8. And to step up the performance you could get either an Edmonds dual carb intake or an original from a 1941-42 buick. There may be clearance issues with the factory dual exhaust manifolds and the motor mount (search the forum regarding that). I've seen front disc brake conversions on ebay. I would guess that power brakes could be added as in a street rod application.

Good luck,

Duane

PS: I see you're in the Philly area. They just started a Mason Dixon chapter of the BCA. Their first show is June 20th at Freysinger's Pontiac/Buick in Mechanicsburg, PA (near Harrisburg).
 
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