Hi,
A couple of things about the discussion about the 215 CID GM V8. A lot of this
user group talk references the motor as an Oldsmobile brand, for some reason.
If anyone has any knowledge about what visual aspects separated a early 1960's
Buick motor from the other GM brands, they would not make this error. Buick
motors were characterized by having the rocker covers on the same plain. i.e.
facing straight up, not angled away from each other, as SBF and other GM brands
looked. The 215 CID was decidedly a Buick design shared initially with another
GM compact, the F-85. I'm not sure about the early Tempests, but the 1963
version
used a Pontiac 326, while 1963 was the last for the Buick Special/Skylark(the
compact)using the 215 V8. The GM compacts all switched to different motors
unique
to each brand, and Chevelle was also added, for 1964 when the redesigned A
Body(Olds
442, GTO, Malibu, Skylark) was introduced. If you don't have early Buick Special
picture to compare, look at a photo of an early Morgan Plus 8 motor.
The aluminum 215 V8 garnered a bad reputation shortly after its introduction,
for aluminum scraps ending up in the crankcase and cooling system. This,
connected
to the fact that GM hated the added expense of producing an aluminum motor,
explains why GM only used this motor for three model years. In 1963, my dad
was shopping for a new car for my mom, and looked(and liked) the Buick Special.
But a Consumer Reports article really discouraged him from getting a car with
that motor, and he ended up moving upscale to a fullsize Buick with cast iron
401 CID.
Land Rover WAS the last manufacturer to use a variation of this motor, on the
Discovery model, but dumped it around 2005, when the LR3 replaced the Discovery.
The LR3 started using a Jaguar 4.4 litre V8, and IIRC, the current model series
Range Rover uses a BMW V8.
The Brits clearly did nearly the lions share of the development work on the
Buick small V8. Five years ago, a Land Rover engineer, at an auto show, told
me that if you were to place the then-current 4.2 litre version next to the
original 3.5 litre(215), you'd be hard pressed to find any similarities.
RB
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