The Buick V6 got its start as a 198 cube engine in the 1961 Buick Special model (same body style as the 61-63 Pontiac Lemans and Oldsmobile F85)
and was infact based off of the aluminum 215 cube V8 shared (minus heads) between the 3 car models. It was an odd fire design with each connecting rod sharing the same crank pin as a V8.
Because of high production costs, GM sold the tooling to Land Rover and starting in 1964 GM came out with the 300 cubic inch iron V8 that eventually became the 340 and 350 Buick engines. The V6 became 225 cubes starting in 1964 and was a derivative of the 300 cubic inch V8.
The Buick engine are totally different than a small block Chevy and only share starter locations. Thats it.
Because of the low volume of V6's made, GM sold the tooling off to AMC/Jeep in 1967. When the energy crunch of the 70's hit, GM bought the tooling back and re-released the V6 in 1977 with 6 more cubic inches as the odd fire 3.8/231 V6. 1978 was the release of the even fire 3.8 with each rod having its own crank pin. In the mid 1980's GM retooled for another version of the Buick V6 for front drive applications. The 3.0 was one and the 3.8 was another. Later there would also be a 3.3 liter version.
The 3.0/3.8 front drive heads are similar to what the TTA used, but the TTA has unique casting numbers as some people have stated previously. I believe the last 3 digits were 702 and 703 for a TTA?
The Chevrolet V6 was introduced as an odd fire 3.3 liter/200 cube model and was a derivative of the small block V8 minus the end cylinders. Like the odd fire Buicks, the odd fire Chevy V6 has connecting rods that share crank pins like a V8 does. in 1980 it became the 229 /3.8 liter and was used until the 1984 model year when it was replaced by the even fire 4.3/262. The 4.3 shares the same 4.00" bore and 3.48" stroke as a 350.
The Sy/Ty's were done on a shoe string budget and used the existing Vortec TBI 4.3 V6 long block. What was different was the MPFI intake and special cast iron manifolds. GM used the same ECM that was used in the 2.0 Pontiac Sunbird/Grand Am turbo models.
Btw, Sloride.......how many guys with TR's live in the Cayman Islands. I find it funny that this is what was listed on the Supra Forum for your id:
sloride
Junior Member
Registered: Apr 2003
Location: Cayman Islands
Posts: 0
Are you Drew Sharpe?? Why is you registration date for this board March 2003?
And to answer your question...........yes I am an opinionated jerk. Mike and I have been through this. But no harms been done
