Buicks
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Hi Tony,
Chevrolet never used the LC2 engine in any of their cars. The Monte Carlo SS had a 305ci Chevy small block and was, in fact, the last US car to have a carburettor.
GM was binning the rear drive G-body intermediate at the end of the 1987 model year, but the replacement front wheel drive cars were slightly delayed so the 87's ran on till, if I remember correctly, late November, 1987, effectively '88 models.
The Grand National is called the Grand National to celebrate Buick's two years of winning the Nascar Grand National championship (80 and 81 I think, or maybe 81 and 82). I think Richard Petty won his last Daytona 500 driving a Buick, and dexpite all the wing car hoopla, the Cheby V8 powered little Regal was his fastest ever Nascar winning car.
Coming back to Chevrolet, Buick had a problem in 1986 with the 235hp rated GN. Its advertised rating was 5 hp more than that of the Corvette, which was GM's 'hero' car. Chevrolet got seriously miffed about this, and added aluminium cylinder heads to the 350 for the 1987 model year and re-rated it at 240hp after some serious development work. The story is that the one guy who did chip work for Buick's engine management systems for the LC2 spent less than 10 minutes changing the fuel and boost coding on the PROM and upped the LC2 engine's output to 245 hp.
Chevrolet were seriously Bananarama! about this.
This was why, when GM put the later 3800 version of the V6 in the 4th Gen Firebirds and Camaros and Buick Power Train slapped their supercharger on it and got the 3800SC outputing more than the LT1 350ci V8, Chevrolet stamped their foot and the car never appeared for the public. No bent six Buick was ever going to outperform a V8 Chevy again.
All the best
Chevrolet never used the LC2 engine in any of their cars. The Monte Carlo SS had a 305ci Chevy small block and was, in fact, the last US car to have a carburettor.
GM was binning the rear drive G-body intermediate at the end of the 1987 model year, but the replacement front wheel drive cars were slightly delayed so the 87's ran on till, if I remember correctly, late November, 1987, effectively '88 models.
The Grand National is called the Grand National to celebrate Buick's two years of winning the Nascar Grand National championship (80 and 81 I think, or maybe 81 and 82). I think Richard Petty won his last Daytona 500 driving a Buick, and dexpite all the wing car hoopla, the Cheby V8 powered little Regal was his fastest ever Nascar winning car.
Coming back to Chevrolet, Buick had a problem in 1986 with the 235hp rated GN. Its advertised rating was 5 hp more than that of the Corvette, which was GM's 'hero' car. Chevrolet got seriously miffed about this, and added aluminium cylinder heads to the 350 for the 1987 model year and re-rated it at 240hp after some serious development work. The story is that the one guy who did chip work for Buick's engine management systems for the LC2 spent less than 10 minutes changing the fuel and boost coding on the PROM and upped the LC2 engine's output to 245 hp.
Chevrolet were seriously Bananarama! about this.
This was why, when GM put the later 3800 version of the V6 in the 4th Gen Firebirds and Camaros and Buick Power Train slapped their supercharger on it and got the 3800SC outputing more than the LT1 350ci V8, Chevrolet stamped their foot and the car never appeared for the public. No bent six Buick was ever going to outperform a V8 Chevy again.
All the best
Last edited by Anonymous on Wed Sep 02, 09 6:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Thanks for posting all the info and pics - interesting reading. IMHO the Buick I like best is the boattail Riviera; beautiful piece of design.
"Now some guys they just give up living - start dieing little by little, piece by piece. Some guys come home from work and wash up, then go racing in the streets...." Bruce Springsteen
Hi Miles,
I just saw your post with, 1 hour to go.
The 'dealer' here in Glasgow had an SS when I had my Buick and I popped around to take it out for a test drive. I had to check afterwards just to make sure that all the plug leads were connected.
However, those GM G-bodies are superb driving cars. Good suspension, stable, nicely weighted steering, seat five adults in comfort and a large boot.
All the best
I just saw your post with, 1 hour to go.
The 'dealer' here in Glasgow had an SS when I had my Buick and I popped around to take it out for a test drive. I had to check afterwards just to make sure that all the plug leads were connected.
However, those GM G-bodies are superb driving cars. Good suspension, stable, nicely weighted steering, seat five adults in comfort and a large boot.
All the best