85 heads, intake, cam, cam sensor... work on a 79?

[FlintBuick4Life]

I brought this up awhile back and Matt kinda got me thinking again... would my 85 heads, intake, cam, cam sensor... work on my 79 block? It was a blowthru engine, I`m sure the heads, intake and hopefully the cam should fit, but wound the cam sensor fit in where my distributor is? I`v never tried it, so I thought I`d see if anyone else has before I do. If it don`t work, couldn't I just swap timing covers? The 85 and 79 blocks are the same, other than the timing cover, oil pan and the 79 didn't have a knock sensor.. other than that their the same. My point in all this is to avoid having to remove the old engine... maybe I`m just being lazy:biggrin:

 

[WarWagon]

The heads, intake and the cam and cam sensor will fit on the '79 block which will upgrade you to better heads (8445). The timing cover will bolt on the block but you wont be able to put an oil pan on it, unless you drilled and tapped the timing cover for 14 bolt oil pan. Should have a 20 bolt oil pan and block in '85 BUT some wer estill 14 bolt.
Also the factory crank sensor is also on the '85 timing cover.
I think you mean drawthru too, Buick never made a factory blowthru.

 

[FlintBuick4Life]

The heads, intake and the cam and cam sensor will fit on the '79 block which will upgrade you to better heads (8445). The timing cover will bolt on the block but you wont be able to put an oil pan on it, unless you drilled and tapped the timing cover for 14 bolt oil pan. Should have a 20 bolt oil pan and block in '85 BUT some wer estill 14 bolt.
Also the factory crank sensor is also on the '85 timing cover.
I think you mean drawthru too, Buick never made a factory blowthru.

Yeah, I meant drawthru... I get them confused:biggrin: Well the 79 is complete and the 85 engine is in pieces in my garage, so if everything will swap, then I will just keep the 79 timing cover and oil pan on the 79 block and swap the heads, intake, cam... off the 85, onto the 79. I just wasn't sure if the cam sensor would work on the 79 timing cover. The oil pan on the 85 is a 20 bolt and I have the 85 timing cover too. all good news to me, saves some time and money to just use the engine in it now... Thanks WarWagon:biggrin:

 

[charlief1]

The only thing that won't work is the cam sensor, if that's what it is. If you're talking about a distributor then yes, it will work and fit. In 85 there's a weird block that is an 85 but has 20 pan bolts so you need to check that.

 

[FlintBuick4Life]

The only thing that won't work is the cam sensor, if that's what it is. If you're talking about a distributor then yes, it will work and fit. In 85 there's a weird block that is an 85 but has 20 pan bolts so you need to check that.

I want to swap the distributor out and put in a cam sensor, but if that wont work, than the 85 timing cover should fit on the 79 right? and yes... I have the weird 20 bolt oil pan:biggrin:

 

[charlief1]

I want to swap the distributor out and put in a cam sensor, but if that wont work, than the 85 timing cover should fit on the 79 right? and yes... I have the weird 20 bolt oil pan:biggrin:

The cover won't fit and unless you plan on converting to C3I then you can't use the cam sensor. Sorry.:redface:

 

[FlintBuick4Life]

The cover won't fit and unless you plan on converting to C3I then you can't use the cam sensor. Sorry.:redface:

Humm... What about a 14 bolt cover off an 84? Cant see why that wouldn't work:biggrin:

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/ca...store=2138&searchText=timing&brandName=Dorman

 

[WarWagon]

Humm... What about a 14 bolt cover off an 84? Cant see why that wouldn't work:biggrin:

AutoZone.com | | Timing Cover | TIMING COVER

Yes an '84 timing cover Will fit. Charlie the cam sensor should fit in all of those timing covers and engines. I stuck the cam sensor out of my '85 block in my '83 and it slid right down in and engaged with the oil pump drive, just like I'm using a distributor on the '85 block and timing cover in my Regal.

Flint you have it sorted out now. Won't be long and you will have it all buttoned up.

 

[FlintBuick4Life]

Yes an '84 timing cover Will fit. Charlie the cam sensor should fit in all of those timing covers and engines. I stuck the cam sensor out of my '85 block in my '83 and it slid right down in and engaged with the oil pump drive, just like I'm using a distributor on the '85 block and timing cover in my Regal.

Flint you have it sorted out now. Won't be long and you will have it all buttoned up.

Well, i`ll try it out when I get the rest of what I need to covert it over. Your using a distributor on an 85, is that just a stock carb engine? and I need to get a socket to get the damn crankshaft nut off... anyone know what size that is?

 

[usetaboost]

My block in my car is an 82. I will walk you through what you need to do. Not hard. As I understand it you are swapping 85 SFI onto a 79 turbo motor???

Well anyway, all you need to do is swap the parts. BUT I highly advise you make sure you are running a baffled 14 bolt pan and at least have a gn or a 204/214 cam put in. Beings you have the exhaust manifold off I would port match them and polish as much as you can and check for cracks. Everything will swap over just fine. Cam sensor drops right in. Beings you have a 79 you need to make sure you have the rear hole tapped for the knock sensor on the block. I think on the 79s the hole is there, it just needs to be tapped. If it isn't there just drill it and tap it. Now would be a good time to put in new mounts also. You need to check the backside of those parts house mounts too. Look at the backside, the side that faces the frame. If there is a small hump in the metal you will need to grind that flat for it to go on and sit properly. Your mounts may not be broke, but they do squish and dryrot over time.

If you are robbing ALL of your engine parts to put into the 79, make sure you keep all the lifters, pushrods, and rocker shafts in the same locations. Hope this helps you out some. GOOD LUCK

 

[FlintBuick4Life]

My block in my car is an 82. I will walk you through what you need to do. Not hard. As I understand it you are swapping 85 SFI onto a 79 turbo motor???

Well anyway, all you need to do is swap the parts. BUT I highly advise you make sure you are running a baffled 14 bolt pan and at least have a gn or a 204/214 cam put in. Beings you have the exhaust manifold off I would port match them and polish as much as you can and check for cracks. Everything will swap over just fine. Cam sensor drops right in. Beings you have a 79 you need to make sure you have the rear hole tapped for the knock sensor on the block. I think on the 79s the hole is there, it just needs to be tapped. If it isn't there just drill it and tap it. Now would be a good time to put in new mounts also. You need to check the backside of those parts house mounts too. Look at the backside, the side that faces the frame. If there is a small hump in the metal you will need to grind that flat for it to go on and sit properly. Your mounts may not be broke, but they do squish and dryrot over time.

If you are robbing ALL of your engine parts to put into the 79, make sure you keep all the lifters, pushrods, and rocker shafts in the same locations. Hope this helps you out some. GOOD LUCK

The hole for the knock sensor is not there, but I can drill and tap that later. I have the 85 GN cam. I am going to port and polish the heads and exhaust headers as much as I can. The mounts where replaced in 2000, but I do have new ones to put in. and I have to get new lifters, the ones in the 79 are shot. Thanks, that helps very much:biggrin:

 

[usetaboost]

I wouldn't worry too much about porting the heads. If anything put some money into freshening them up and having new seals put in with some manley valves. At bare minimum at least put some new valvespring on them. Spend most if not all your time on the intake and exhaust manifolds. Go look around in the hot air forum for a guide on doing these. You dont need head and cam work to make these cars fast. Its all getting the upper part to flow. Anyone will tell you the biggest choke on a hot air (carb or turbo) is from the intake and exhaust paths. Just remember though, your car isn't going to be a powerhouse on just modding stock parts. It's about adding boost and getting the tune. If you need some good info on HA modding, talk to turbonut85 or jerryl

 

[charlief1]

I may have missed something. Are you converting the car to SFI HA or trying to use the block ect to put the original C/T system back together?

 

[mat231v6]

i told you these turbo buick guy would set you up. post some pic of your progress i would like to see.:smile:

 

[usetaboost]

If the 85 motor is assmebled and runs I would just drop it in the car if you are dead set on having it. I myself would not go through the trouble of putting a hot air in something unless I had an entire donor car to pull stuff off of. If I had a regular carb motor I would just put a drawthru setup on it and be mod it.

 

[FlintBuick4Life]

charlie, I`m converting from carb to SFI. mat231v6, I will usetaboost, the 85 is in pieces and needs to be fully stripped and cleaned... some rust, dirt and paint chips in the block

 

[charlief1]

My bad then. You can put the cam sensor in any of the timing covers but you may have a problem with some of the aftermarkets ones. There seems to be an alignment issue as well as the hole to put it in may not be the right size. If you have the complete engine assembled then I'd just drop it in and go with it, but I do agree with Jesse. If you have everything to put it back to stock I would do that myself.

 

[usetaboost]

If you plan on parting out the rest of the 85 motor pm me. I know someone that is looking for a good turbo crank.

IMO, this is going to be more work than what it's worth. If it was me I would sell off all that 85 stuff and buy a 79 carb turbo setup for it. Hell I know where there is a whole 79 SC for 600 bucks for parts.n Plus it has aluminum bumper braces

 

[FlintBuick4Life]

I`m going to SFI for gas mileage reasons and more power. I`m starting with this HA setup until I can get a 87 setup:biggrin:

The block and heads
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/8044/1000583j.jpg

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/7550/1000584.jpg

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/7562/1000582a.jpg

The 79 engine
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/5025/1000693s.jpg

Intake
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/4540/1000681.jpg

Turbo...
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4056/1000682.jpg

I have pics of everything I got:biggrin:

 

[usetaboost]

I'm tellin you you aren't going to gain anything by doing this. If you want to switch to 86-87, you have A LOT more to switch over than what you think, and hardly anything is compatible between the hot air and IC setup. I'm telling you for your own good. Sell or part out what you have, buy a carb turbo setup for a few hundred bucks and stick the rest away for an OD trans and crossmember or a rear with 3.08 gears for your 3 spd trans. You can get 16-18 MPG with the carb turbo motor not even trying. Hell you can get that with the N/A setup. Unless you have an entire car or a big chunk of change to get all the parts for this hot air, get rid of it. If it came down to having an n/a motor in my car, I'd do a carb turbo setup way before a HASFI. Hell you could have a carb turbo done and driving in a weekend.