[Tigers] the Buick 215

[Randy Smith]

  Back in the 60's, we called this engine the "BOP" aluminum V-8 (Buick, 
Olds, Pontiac).  When I was in high school, one of my buddies and I put 
one in a Morris Minor (the wood-trimmed wagon model).  It looked great 
and was quite the sleeper.  Not sure where that car ever ended up!

-Randy

On 9/3/2010 8:17 AM, rande wrote:
> 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

-- 

Randy Smith
INNER QUEST, Inc.
34752 Charles Town Pike
Purcellville, VA  20132
703-478-1078
540-668-6699
540-668-6253 fax

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