To Alleycat

You guys are too much!I must admit I havent read all of the post on this thread yet,I need time to soak it all in.Alleycat,would you be interested in building a motor for me?I am a retard at motors,but I can paint the crap out of some stuff!.....lol
 
Possiably...Continue to read this post. It will give you a idea as to what can be done to these engines, and I've only spelled out about half of the stuff I do to these things. However, since you live on the east coast and I'm on the west, there are some logistics involved....Alleycat
 
I was just wondering if they ever made a magneto for the straight 8? and also Hudson had a flat 6 that was fairly quick, I think it was like 307ci or something like that with dual cards (Twin H power) . I wonder how the that would fair against a 320 with dual carbs in a 1/4 mile shootout?
 
hudson 6

At the Antique drags out here in Ca. ive seen a hudson 6 race a pretty quik 38 buick century coupe, and the Hudson won. And also a couple of years ago at the San Diego vintage road races an old nascar replica Hudson could pretty well stay with some of them Mustangs on the straightaway! But Mel Tull has done 170 at Bonnieville in a 32 ford roadster, with a roadmaster/century straight 8, Dont think a Hudson has done that yet??

check this out http://www.uncommonengineering.com/
 
buick magneto

Yes there was a mag that was made for the Buick strt. 8. It was a Ronco, Vertex, Scintilla, magneto. It is now being reproduced for the traditional rods in a HEI form and adverised in the hot rod magazines.I dont think they have a Straight 8 Buick one but the Pontiac HEI is almost a clone of the old Buick distributor, [cept the pontiac rotates opposite way]
 
Sure, there's mags for the str8. I don't think that I've seen any on Ebay or such, but I'd guess that vertex or scintilla could make one up. As 39cent says that they all made 'em, probably still can! Trouble is, while a mag certainly looks cool, moderen electronic CD type ignitions work better.
Now, the hudson vs buick, I have to agree with 39cent, Hudson. Why? Hudson was very serious about their cars being fast, and hence, the engines. A really good breathing flat head is better than a bad ohv engine in spite of the seeming advantage of ohv. The buick with a well prepped head and the duals? Well now, that may be intresting! alleycat
 
Breathing Buick Heads

Alley

Well i guess I,ll have to put up or shut up on my claim of the "Toyota mystery head!!" The 2 Toyota heads that Mel Tull welded together, for his Buick 320 straight 8. I have to find that mag article. or get ahold of Mel for some pix! Just think! a 16 port hemi overhead cam head!! and its gotta get all the horses and torq to pull under 5000 rpm. wud be awesome on a 263!
 
Hey 39! If you could indeed find any info on such a head I would be hugely intrested, even if its not a working head, perhaps a different viewpoint could see a way that it could become working.
A intresting thing I've figgured out while doing some background work on my str8 preformance book. I am highly suspicious that the boys at buick DID build a much better head for the str8! And, I think that they made more than 1. I'm also about 100% sure that the story about buicks str8 in about 1938 is vastly different than what we think or have been told. Soon as I get a few more ducks lined up I write more. alleycat
 
mels racer

I met Mel Tull at one of the Buick club meets, he also had a 39 century 4dr. It had homemade stainless steel headers, dual 4barrels, and a Hone overdrive. said he was getting pretty good mileage too. we got to talkin and he mention his DOHC Toyota head set up and some other things he had been doin, i was blown away. His roadster was featured in a 'Tex Smith Hot Rod Mechanix' mag of which i have, but cant find! He said his strt 8 ports were copies of chevy ports, well i want to see that? His roadster was really a cut down 32 ford 3 window cpe. body. [thats what they did way bak] and he set his buick up with racing headers, and a huge holley 4bbl wen he went to bonneville. Anyway he,s a wealth of information on strt 8,s . GADS they dont recognize DOHC headsfor x and xx at Bonneville??? well seems an old gent from New Zealand got a few records on a bike he modified! they didnt want him to run iether. So what if they dont recognize it!! ggggg who cares he still would be among the fastest of his kind. He just wont get the Bonne trophy! But everybody would know he had the Bonne spirit! Isnt that what its all about?
 
A very interesting thread going back 9 months to Alleycat and Jryki.
I guess we have been very lucky or the key to making the 320 spin is a blower.
At Bonneville this year we were turning 5100rpm at 143+ mph in a relatively stock bodied 1950 super. We have the 320 with good Venolia pistons and rods, cadillac valves and bb valve spring with an otherwise stock valve train and head.The cam was ground for the blower.
Some old timers that used to race dirt track around here told us not to spin her over 5500, so we have always shifted at 5200. We had our eyes on 150 mphwere thinking about pushing to 5500 next year. After reading what some pretty smart guys had to say, we might just go to a taller gear instead.
Mike
 
Mike,
You guys are awesome. When I'm driving my '53 down the road at 75 and it feels like it's going to lift off, I stop and think about doing 143 in that thing! What a cool car!

Aaron
 
alleycat

My project is a '40 Super with a 263, hyd. lifters, .075 milled head and dual carb./exh. Strictly a driver/ non-racer engine backed up by a 700R4 and 3:27 gears. This winter's project will be a throttle-body f.i. on a single carb manifold. I recently read your comments on the poor fuel distribution with the single manifold and that the dual carb manifold was much better. How about retaining the dual manifold, fab a center mount plenum for the f.i. and run header-type tubes to each carb mount?
 
Thats not a bad idea at all. I've only mentaly fooled around with the idea of fuel injection, and it could eliminate fuel distribution problems that the str8 has had since, like day one!. Over on the "whats new with the str8 hot rodders" thread, the red buick there is fuel injected, I only basicly get what that guy did, but that car is so over the top....So obviously, it can be done. You have the right engine, it can make a ton of power. You really can't hurt it, I think its worth a try. alleycat
 
Fuel Injection

I just sold my 37 Century for health reasons, now I find out things may be okay after all. In any event one of the things that I have been screwing with is a Honda flat six Valkyrie. I know its not a Buick, but what I am in the process of doing is adapting a MSD crank trigger wheel to the 6. Then the MSD systems can be used, they have the drivers for fuel injection, special retardation circuits for blowers, (which I will be running) plus retards for NOS. This may be an avenue for better ignition for a straight eight.
maddog
 
straight 8

MadDog,
Look at the Electro-Motive site. Their system combines the ignition system and EFI, even allows for full sequential setup. Just a thought. :waving:
Doug
 
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