1981 Buick LeSabre - The Oldsmobuick - 455 big block swap

[akku]

A couple of years ago I bought a 1981 Buick LeSabre 4.1 V6 as a daily. It was a decent enough car.



Seen here on holiday in Whitby



Unfortunately the thing started using a lot of oil. Like I had Buick's prototype 2-stroke motor under the bonnet. So it got parked up.

Also I owned the world's least appealing 1973 Oldsmobile 98 with a 455 big block V8 in it.

So a plan formed.

The 455 from the Oldsmobile would be pulled and installed in the Buick. To create The Oldsmobuick.

All manner of "fun" was had stripping the motor out of the donor.













Which was then run via "the tame welder" to fabricate the mounts and prop etc. It also acquired headers and Steve made up some evil looking exhausts with some bends Stef donated.

And then it kind of got shoved in Stef's yard and forgotten about for a while

Except by the local wildlife who appeared to have been using it as target practice







So it was time to load it up and bring it home to work on.

So a transporter was arranged



But Oldsmobuick caused the suspension on the truck to bottom out...



So a week later another truck came...

And finally Oldsmobuick is home...











And then washed and scrubbed and disinfected...



And so the recommisisoning can begin.

So far I have been identifying what goes where and does what with all those pipes and wires.



I have got the alt wiring in place OK, the wiring for the HEI upgrade the distributor will be getting fits OK I think and the heater hoses are done.

Some fuel hose and top rad hose to do and then its just get some power feed to the stock points distributor and see if it will fire and run its new home, then swap in the HEI distributor.

It will need an electric fan, custom top hose and some dickery with the heater return feed.

The starter is the other side to what it was so I need a longer cable for that and some other bits

I also have about half a ton of wiring with a million multiplugs on to dispose of as well as a mile of vacuum hose.

Its not far off.

[glen62]

Glad to see you back on here
will follow your adventures with interest

[qwerty]

Back with a bang!
I'm assuming that will be fairly entertaining once complete?

[varelse]

About 7.4L of fun.
What's the story on the other old barges, do they have threads on here too?

[grifterkid]

This just ooozes gas-guzzling cool...!!!

[SamJ]

Don't suppose you still have the 98? Got a 1970 98 I am getting back on the road at the moment and might scavenge some parts from you

[Mike]

Will the slots from the Olds fit the Buick?

[guz]

98 has gone north and is getting a roof chop, build thread is on here

[Seth]

Great to see you pop back in to this part of the internet

[akku]

ooh, whats the story with the '70? Lovely cars. I don't have anything left from the '73, Matt took the carcass away complete.

The LeSabre weighs 3600lbs. Thats about 1.6 metric ton. Its not a heavy car. It should have some potential for fun.

I'll do some other threads on the other stuff at some point.

Buick is 5x4.75" PCD on the downsized B body and the Oldsmobile was 5x5" so no, but they will fit my '66...

Basically just been collecting parts together (hoses, clips, wires, etc.) for the next hit at it. With the bank holiday probably won't get onto it until Monday now.

[mercman]

Is that a Mk1 Scirocco on the left? I've been fruitlessly searching for a MK1 Scirocco for ages, preferably a Storm. Sorry to deviate from the thread topic but what's the story with it?

Cheers

Ian

[guz]

it is, that me in the lovely green fleece BTW, we were storing it for Marshall
off the scirocco register, its gone back to one of his workshops now, afaik he's
collecting one for each year of production.
another mate of mine has just sold his mk1 storm, lovely brown one, scirocco
register forum is the place to find one, or german ebay

[stefan]

Yard looks massive now, with this gone and the 51 plate transit sold. Oh and the 70 ton mound of curse word left by the tenant also gone

[guz]

May 1, 2014 13:07:10 GMT SamJ said:

Don't suppose you still have the 98? Got a 1970 98 I am getting back on the road at the moment and might scavenge some parts from you

retrorides.proboards.com/thread/148380/1972-oldsmobile-roof-chop-eleven

[EmDee]

YAAAAY

Welcome back. This honey should indeed shift with the Olds motor.

Also I thought I'd leave this here - found it in my photobucket and can't find the related thread containing tales of shonky vehicle purchasement and long distance buick relocation woe. And fire.



So is it done yet?

[akku]

I've done some today. Car is filthy again but good "being worked on" dirty.



So far I have removed a lot of stuff...



That's about half of it.

And about a half a mile of vacuum hose.



Some of this is just mocked up, or trial fit, but its going together



What I really need if anyone has one is the heater box for a NON-aircon GM B Body - that's Chevy Impala, Caprice, Olds 88, 98, Buick LeSabre, Electra, Pontiac Catalina, Bonneville from 1977-1986 so I can do a fairly factory look AC Delete. If anyone knows of any of these cars being broken anywhere I could use the access to the right rear spark plug!

[SamJ]

How urgently do you need it? I've got some parts for a 98 coming over from Texas, don't know if it's an ac car they are cut from or not, but can ask for you. Won't be here in the Netherlands for a month or so, and then got to get it to you. Unf mine is an AC car, otherwise I'd offer you the heater box as I'm adding an under dash system and clearing the firewall.

[akku]

Thanks! I would imagine that in Texas it will be an AC car but if you can check year and heater type would be cool. I'm in no great hurry for it, although access to #8 spark plug is tricky with that great big box there...

[jimmy9852]

can't believe I found this. I own this car. I brought it of someone who turned it into a replica police car. in my time of owning it I've fitted a big cam.

big job coming car has a massive oil leak from the sump and a high stall torque converter needs to fitted

[rodharris83]

Would love to see how this has progressed...