I've been driving a 63 Buick Riviera (401) that sat in a relative's garage from 1976 to 2018.Everything was stock. This thing has lots of oddities. The trans is a Dynaflow 2 speed automatic with a switch pitch torque converter (stall increases with a lever connected to the throttle), which seems all about smooth shifts (and not performance). I was shocked to see it leaves 2 patches!
My question is are these engines not meant to rev? It seems real strong up to near 5000rpm but falls off after. The engine has 90,000 miles on it and sat for so long, so I'm guessing the valve springs may be toast. I've been reluctant to tear into it since it seems to be running great.
Here's a pic of how it looked coming out of the garage after 42 years and after a hose down. It looks way better in pictures than in person!
Weird manifold (with small looking ports).
Added EFI and came up with a way to use the stock air cleaner (which I restored but not looks way crappier). I tried to rebuild the old carter (twice), but there are a bunch of oddball parts that I may have screwed up, so I never could get the carb running right.
My question is are these engines not meant to rev? It seems real strong up to near 5000rpm but falls off after. The engine has 90,000 miles on it and sat for so long, so I'm guessing the valve springs may be toast. I've been reluctant to tear into it since it seems to be running great.
Here's a pic of how it looked coming out of the garage after 42 years and after a hose down. It looks way better in pictures than in person!
Weird manifold (with small looking ports).
Added EFI and came up with a way to use the stock air cleaner (which I restored but not looks way crappier). I tried to rebuild the old carter (twice), but there are a bunch of oddball parts that I may have screwed up, so I never could get the carb running right.
Might end up one of theirs!?
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