I have had a contact offer me a Buick straight eight with a designation of "FB320". Does anyone know if this is the same as the Fireball 320 ?? Please advise.
http://www.teambuick.com/reference/buick_8_engine_specs.html http://www.carnut.com/specs/specs.html
The Buick Straight-8 engine (Fireball 8) was produced from 1931 to 1953 and sold in Buick automobiles. Like many American automobile makers, Buick adopted the straight-8 engine in 1931 as a more powerful alternative to the previous inline-6 engines. However, unlike most other car makers at the time, Buick had been using a valve-in-head OHV overhead valve design or I-head since its inception and continued this practice in their inline-8 designs. The engine was sold in different displacements depending on the model of car and the year and was constructed upon two distinct ( possibly more ) block castings. The smaller displacement versions internally resembled the inline Chevrolet straight six, with additional cylinders. The large block version (used in large chassis models such as the Roadmaster) was considerably heavier and this weight adversely affected vehicle performance and handling. As with other General Motors products the engines used cast-in-place bearings that were then machined, which made engine rebuilding an expensive procedure. The last year for Buick's straight-8 was 1953, a year in which the 263ci coexisted with its successor, the new V8 322ci Nailhead in the same basic chassis. info from Wikipedia
so what you are telling me is the FB is a larger engine than it's automobile counterpart? I thought the Fireball 320 was big!!!wow. I think that rules out the use of the FB 320.
Thanks for the warning...lol
I hope the photo's may help you. First, in the late 1930's Buick introduced a performance version of an OHV straight eight that was 263 cubic inches with dual two barrel Rochester carburetors. They car it came in was called the "Century." The engine was painted a medium blue. The later in the mod 1040's Buick introduced a 320 cubic inch performance version again with dual carburetors and higher compression. The engine was painted red (as pictured) and it did have different valves, pistons and even a different ratio (1.62) Intake rocker arm. This engine was rated by the factory at 138 HP which for the time was a big number. I helped a friend rebuilt his and it is no slouch for torque or power. If you have either version my suggestion is to give some serious consideration to working it over. Parts can be difficult to find but if you do decide to go ahead if you P/M me I'll sure give you some good leads.
Normbc9
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