There are major differences in the cylinder heads, they are not the same
castings. Buick heads sit up, Olds splay outwards. Rocker arm mounts are
much different, combustion chamber design is not at all the same in plug &
valve placement. Valves, rocker shafts are not interchangeable.
If you have a D & D catalog, look at the picture on the cover. The head on
the left is an Olds, the other is a Buick. If you look closely, you can see
the Olds head is straight up & out from the block, while the Buick head is
angled much more upwards, less outward. The Buick is an easier fit in a
tight engine bay. Placement of the intake & exhaust ports is identical, as
both manifolds are interchangeable.
My first conversion used an Olds engine, and after about a year, I swapped
in a set of Buick heads to up the compression. That was a really great
running engine. Lots of power, very quick acceleration. With heavier valve
springs, ran to 6500 rpms without valve float. Probably why I broke a rocker
shaft at only 270,000 miles.
Jim Stuart
Reply to <jimbb88@usa.com>
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgb-v8@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgb-v8@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of james
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 9:59 PM
To: kdad@ezl.com; mgb-v8@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Buick Block with Olds Heads
Lets see how far I can get
> I recently purchased a 215 ci engine. It is suppose to be a buick block
> with olds heads. I read some articles that say you can't put olds heads on
> a buick 215 block due to an extra head bolt.
The olds used six per cylinder the buick used five. If you have buick block
olds heads then there should be a few empty holes on the head. I've heard
the buick block olds head combo won't work because you end up with painfully
low compression (see below).
Plus open bolt holes in the heads
> I have also read an article
> that says 1960 buicks, pontiacs, and olsmobile all used the 6 bolt heads.
I
> know the heads are Oldsmobile, because the valve covers have 5 bolts in
> them. Buick only used 4 on the valve covers. Is there an easy way to tell
> if the block is buick, or does it matter when ordering parts like alt
> brackets. I know the valve covers are different.
the casting is the same, the guts differ. I'm pretty sure the head casting
is the same too, just with the extra hole drilled for olds. Buick varried
compression ratio by altering combustion chamber volume, Olds did it by
altering piston dome. The Pontiac is identical to the Buick. Rover adapted
the Buick so the early Rover blocks are identical but within a few years
they took the block and added some stiffening ribs internally but are still
interchangable. I don't know at what point things got different enough to
disallow interchanges.
> By the way anybody know
> where I can get the 5 bolt valve covers in aluminum?
> Arlie
D & D used to stock the Offy valve covers for both Buick & Olds, the only
aftermarket valve covers I have ever seen for the 215.
can someone please confirm this my memory is not what it used to be :)
james
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