need some advice,.....430 engine, ..please??

[Mr Buick]

Hello there,.....I have never owned a Buick 430 engine. I have the chance to buy a 69 Riv GS with 28,000 act miles on it. I have heard some bad things about the 430 engine, specifically the oiling system. Are these engine dependable, or will it go haywire for me? I would like to know before I buy it and wish I wouldn't have. Any help would be most greatful!

Thanks, John

[56Roadmaster]

Fitting screen name for a Buick post,

Well Harley,

take this for what is worth. I have a'69 430 I installed in my '83 Buick, i run every day 100 miles round trip at around 2400-2800RPM and usaully acelerate pretty hard.

I have rebuilt the engine once because i hammered on it too hard with low oil going into a corner, It had 110,000 on it then. I now have just about 40,000 on rebuild. It is very reliable.

from my experience the oiling system is a little on the weak side and it tends to loose its prime when sitting over night. So a good warm up is in order. I think if you really start pushing it hard you will have troubles.

For reasonably normal driving with some hard accelerations you should be ok.

Good new is I rebuilt mine in 2001 and I was able to buy all the parts including Pistons, cam, lifters, and gaskets from NAPA.( I can send you all the part numbers if you want) Also Melling makes a high volume pump kit, recommended that you do that at least. One problem is that the timing cover is also the oil pump housing so if the pump annular clearance is too big, the cover has to replaced... may be hard to find.

One more thing in stock form these 430's are ABSOLUTELY SMOOTH AND QUIET. A NOISY VALVE TRAIN SHOULD (EVEN AT IDLE) BE A RED FLAG TO WEAK OIL PRESSURE, WHICH CAN BE A BAD PUMP BUT MORE LIKELY BAD CAM BEARINGS OR BAD ROD&MAINS.

I have noticed normal idle pressure at about 5-15psi and 30-40psi stock and with hv pump the idle is about the same but 50-60psi on high end 75 when cold. On sudden stops oil pressure often drops off to nothing attribute to no oil pan baffels.

over all 430 is pretty good, but if you remeber nothing else, a good stock 430 is like I said enviably SMOOTH AND QUIET, like you could pur wine glass on it.

there is my thoughts and experience.

GOOD LUCK

[Philippe Racicot]

I think Scott said it all about the 430. I had one in my 68 Wildcat 4 door hardtop that I did not take care of. I did change the oil at each 2000 miles but I was hard on the accelerator... even when it was -20 degrees F and the "COLD" light was still on (bad thing to do) There was a bearing noise for two years before I saved enough money for the rebuild! The guy who has rebuilt the engine remembered having seen me accelerating and driving quite fast in Montreal (45 miles from where I live) and told me that I should not do that with an engine in this condition! I had a tach from a 64 Wildcat in my car and the engine turned 5000 rpm for relatively long periods of time on the highway at over 120 mph (the car had a 3.42 rear). After the rebuild, I was even harder with it for about 15K and had an accident that was fatal for my car! I sold the engine and tranny to a guy who installed it in his 65 Skylark to replace the Chevy engine that was in it and it still runs!

Two years later I had to replace another 430 in my 67 Riviera GS again due to my negligence... I knew the oil pressure was very low but it did not prevent me from abusing it! Now I have another 67 430 installed in it and even if it had only 51K I had it rebuilt and the valve seats hardened to prevent the valve recession that occured in my former 77k 430. On both engines the timing cover were still very good. One thing to care about with the 430 when rebuilding is the valve lifters that are different from those for 455 engines. They cost 3 times more and some guys in the local autoparts will not know about them. It is also important to buy good bearings with these engines.

If you plan not to be too hard with your engine, and with the mileage it has, you shouldn't have problems! And since the 69 Rivs do not have an oil pressure gage like the 67 has, it might be a good idea to check it just in case! I have done that with my 75 Electra before I bought it and was able to negotiate a lower price after that (and still haven't rebuilt this one 15 000 miles later) I just add two thick oil additives to keep the oil light off with 5w30 oil.

[JohnD1956]

I love the 430 motor. My sister gave me her 69 Electra and my son drove the original engine to 199K. Then it started knocking. Before I put a used motor in, a local old time mechanic advised me to use an additive to clean out the carbon buildup from the cylinders. He claimed the Buicks high compression engines always built up carbon and he found many which sounded like bad bearings, would clear up if you could disolve the carbon deposits. I didn't listen, and after changing the motor, we pulled the heads just to look and they were indeed full of carbon deposits. I had read about a process for dribbling kerosene down the carb while slightly racing the engine. Maybe the equivalent of half a soda can( 6 oz). I never tired it, but I should have. It would probably be running today.

John DeFiore # 3757