Improve Performance on '74 LeSabre

[Guest]

Hi everyone, I'm a 17 year old in Colorado. I've got a 1974 Buick LeSabre Luxus, with a 2 barrel 350 engine with 61,000 orig miles. Anyways, what are some ways I can improve the performance of this car? Its faster than all my friends cars, but still not enough to turn the heads of the girls (grin). Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

[Guest]

#1. a 4 barrel carb, i like the quadrajet, many folks like the holley. that is a matter of personal taste. you can have too much carb. dont go over 700 cfm (imho) with the buick 350, since that begins to hurt torque.<P>#2. you will need a matching intake monifold, either factory cast iron, or perhaps an aftermarket aluminum, can save some weight. make sure to get a dual plane manifold, again, single plane often hurts torque.<P>#3. better exhaust. duals with a cross-over pipe, and perhaps headers. headers can be a pain if they have a flexible sealing surface, so i stick with original cast manifolds.<BR>i like sandersen cast block-hugger headers, i dont think they have them for buick 350...<P>#4. rv style cam, designed to build torque.<P>#5. different rear-end gears. higher number (like 4.11) gives better drag-race performance, while hurting top speed and gas mileage. lower, like 2.93 is great for top speed and highway driving.<P>#6. higher stall torque converter. similar to higher number rear end gears for your gas mileage, etc. allows for better jump off the line.<P>#7. reduce weight of car. remove power windows, a/c, heater, radio, back seat, spare tire, power steering and brakes, etc.<P>that is a relatively heavy car, so all of these are prob. a good idea. <P>allan

[Guest]

Well at least all of your friends know that a v-8 is faster then a honda. hotrodding a buick is the same as all other v-8s. bigger carb intake cam headers. its a package yes you can do one at a time. Just remember bigger is not always better. <A HREF="http://www.taperformance.com" TARGET=_blank>www.taperformance.com</A> should help see some of the parts out there and how much they cost.

[Guest]

The Q-jet flows appx 730-750 cfm.I think his 350 will like the 750 more than 700.You should be giving him the advice not to go BELOW 700 cfm.