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FYI: I'm getting one assertive billy-goat station wagon!!

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elagache:
Dear WeatherCat fans,

The LWC faithful and folks on MacWeather have been able to follow along in my efforts to restore our family heirloom 1965 Buick Special station wagon.  An abbreviated family history can be found in: The grand adventures of a trusty "billy-goat" Wagon!

For newcomers to this tale, I ordered a new engine for the car over a year ago and finally the engine is complete and really beautiful:





Yesterday I got preliminary results from the initial break-in of the engine on the dynamometer.  I don't have the precise numbers but the engine peaked out at just under 510 horsepower!!

That's over 20% more power than I was expecting and there are very few cars on the road with this horsepower.

So looks like I'm gonna have one assertive billy-goat wagon!!

I now return you to your usual WeatherCat programming  [cat]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

Randall75:
Hi Edouard
 That's a beauty I thought it was supposed to be a family cruise car not a hot rod [woohoo]
 Looks like you'll be getting tickets for burning rubber speeding [goofy]  or are you just going to use it as a show car
any way thats a great looking carb you got there is it stock carb for a Buick?
Don't be poping any wheelies  [biggrin]
 [cheers1]

elagache:
Howdy Randall and WeatherCat hotrod cool cats!  [rockon]


--- Quote from: Randall75 on July 27, 2012, 01:01:29 AM --- That's a beauty I thought it was supposed to be a family cruise car not a hot rod [woohoo]

--- End quote ---

Uh, well, that was the plan - really!!

Even the engine builder was more than a little surprised by what happened.  Here is a choice snippet from his email with the results:


--- Quote ---Your motor . . .  is simply an incredible piece.
 
It will idle at 650 rpm, with just a barely audible lope from it's STG 1 roller cam.. with over 16 inches of vacuum (and 30+ lbs of oil pressure, thank you TA for the great front covers to work with!)
 
 And I expected, and built it to do just that.
 
 But I didn't expect the power.. I was not trying to build power...
 

    small CID for better efficiency
    small camshaft for low end torque and mild manners
    dual plane manifold

 But, because you invested in a hyd roller cam, and STG 2 heads, and the FI you are rewarded with a 500+ hp motor for the Billygoat.. that purrs like a kitten going down the road.
 
 Final numbers were 538 Torque/509 HP as I recall. I have all the documentation out in the truck, I just walked in, fed my dogs, and sat down there a while ago.
 
 I expected maybe 450HP. This is the first motor that has really surprised me. . . .  I had no thought in my head that we were building you a 500 HP motor for the wagon.
 
WOW.. everyone that wants power, but not the hassle, wants this motor. I am sure I will build many copies, although more likely with the bigger CID 470.. for folks not going for the period look..
 
Could not have gone smoother, motor did not leak a drop of anything, and ran like a champ.
 
 You will love it. I am glad it turned out so well for us
--- End quote ---

If I understand what happened, the modern components make these older engines much more efficient.  It appears that about 50 horsepower for this engine comes out of reduced friction over the original factory model.  That's one of the reasons the engine is going to be so much quieter than the smaller engine in the car now and . . . .(I hope, I hope, I hope ) the car will get much better fuel-economy then the car ever got.

So we'll see what happens when the engine finally gets fitted to the car!

Thanks for the reply Randall!!  [tup]

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]
 

elagache:
Dear WeatherCat fans,  [cat]

Matters automotive have been consuming huge amounts of my time lately.  I've been horribly busy because I've been trying to make sure the new engine for my trusty wagon would arrive in Orinda in time for this year's Classic Car show.  This year it is happening this coming Saturday, the 22nd.

The engine finally shipped from Minnesota on Monday and is supposed to arrive Thursday some time.  A custom bracket had to be "spliced together" to add a compressor for an after-market air conditioning system.  Here is a photo of the engine with the compressor:



So, things related to weather have been forced to take a back seat.

The mania should end by Saturday . . . . I hope!!

Cheers, Edouard   [cheers1]

Doc:
OK, that's going to use more gas than my truck!   [lol]

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