That block was super light. In auto tech school in 1973 I painted one bare block chevy orange and packed it through the halls on my shoulder with some bug eyed observers. Some were converted to V8 2 man chainsaws.
Iv got a 63 skylark convertible with the 215v8 4 barrel 2speed runs like a bat outa hell 75-80 mph all day long All original barn find with 80 k miles Thanks for your video!!!!
People may have forgotten, but I knew people who were around when the 215 V8 was the latest and greatest. They remember that the 215 V8 had some serious overheating issues.
I've always liked the front fenders and grill of that Buick special, and the wagon wears it equally well. On the second choice my "be different" gene picks the Olds but my "exciting" gene picks the Corvair. The Olds wins the fight, film at 11...
The Australian company Leyland produced a car in Australia around the 1970s called the Leyland P76 it had a big block version of the 215 , tall deck block different heads , it was 270 ci that was later to be increased to 368 ci but never got there . The Aussie F1 Champion Sir Jack Brabam along with REPCO Australia took the Oldsmobile version and cast/built double over head cam and 32 valve heads for it ! They won 1960s Formula 1 championship with it and in a car built in Australia by Sir Jack Bramam , the only person in F1 to be a owner/builder and driver to Win F1 in that capacity . Probably the only GM engine ever to win F1.
Lots of information here I was not aware of before, so thank you for your research. I chose the Pontiac Wagon because I had a high school friend with one. He gave my girl friend and I a ride in it. The girl friend was being annoying by playing with the controls on the dash, He pointed out not to touch one of those controls, so she waited until we were doing about 50 to push the transmission control into reverse. Not sure why that didn't destroy that car, but it survived. Never got an offer for a ride again. The guy across the street had one of the turbo cars. He was a self declared car expert, that managed to rig it up so if he ran out of boost fluid the car would still give him boost. It absolutely blew up at the end of his drive way coming home from work one day. That was the end of that car. A few years later the same neighbor had a VW 412 - just about the first electronic fuel injected car around. If you popped the hood there was a big sticker warning you not to jump start the car. So he did anyway. Another junked out car for his driveway. He wasn't very sharp, but his four daughters were really cute.
Good research. It was a good idea, but aluminum blocks and heads tend to have issues related to the casting process. Some Chevy Corvette aluminum engines were manufactured by Mercury Marine in Stillwater, Oklahoma because of their experience with aluminum. The 215 engine was also used in the Triumph TR8 and MGB-GT V8
The 215 CID aluminum V-8 was NOT available in the 1963 Model Year Pontiac Tempest/Lemans. For 1963, the optional V-8 for the Tempest/Lemans was a 326 CID cast iron V-8 (actually 336 CID for just one year).
Errata, Oldsmobile gave up on the Turbo, not Chevy. Buick heads work on Olds blocks, the Buick block did not have enough bolt holes tor the Olds heads.
Hi Jay! These engine episodes just keep getting better and better! Somehow, the fact that these engines were aluminum escaped me somehow! I had, of course heard of the Olds turbo version, as the induction system is pretty much similar to the Corvair one. The Corvair one doesn't have the water injection, though. GM was on an aluminum engine kick around 1959. The Corvair engine was supposed to have aluminum cylinders that were a special alloy that precluded having to have cylinder liners(!). Fortunately, they changed their minds and did cast iron cylinders, but it hurt the balance of the car, as the engine was much heavier than designed. Anyway, I also knew about the Buick/Rover V--8, but the fact that THAT engine was aluminum as well. By the way GM DID come out with the liner-less aluminum engine, on the VEGA!! It didn't work there, either!! WYR's are really hard this time! I like all the wagons, but am going to pick the Buick. #2 Is even more difficult! The Corvair was a little smaller car, but had only 160 h.p. in the earlier 145 Cu. In. version. The Olds had all that power but had that water injection system, which is a bit of a nuisance. We'll go Olds, I guess. Just put a 5 gallon water injection tank in the trunk!!
I've got one of these in it's final iteration, 2004 Land Rover Discovery 2. By then it was 4.6 liter, 217 HP and 300 ft-lb with Bosch Motronic injection. A very smooth engine but uses a lot of gas by modern standards.
Great vid. Just fyi, the 190-hp 215 ci V8 with 4-barrel carb in the ‘62 Buick Skylark had 11:1 compression ratio, not 10.25:1. It was one of the first compact luxury cars back in the day, but the lack of torque hampered its performance. I always felt the 215 would have been a great choice for the Opel GT. 😊
"Let's Go" by The Cars
That block was super light. In auto tech school in 1973 I painted one bare block chevy orange and packed it through the halls on my shoulder with some bug eyed observers. Some were converted to V8 2 man chainsaws.
Iv got a 63 skylark convertible with the 215v8 4 barrel 2speed runs like a bat outa hell 75-80 mph all day long All original barn find with 80 k miles Thanks for your video!!!!
Passed on one at a junkyard, Brooklyn, in the late 70's. My dream, a 34 coupe kit car for it. 200hp I figured enough for a 2000lb car. Alas
The photo at
People may have forgotten, but I knew people who were around when the 215 V8 was the latest and greatest. They remember that the 215 V8 had some serious overheating issues.
I've always liked the front fenders and grill of that Buick special, and the wagon wears it equally well. On the second choice my "be different" gene picks the Olds but my "exciting" gene picks the Corvair. The Olds wins the fight, film at 11...
WYR:
The Australian company Leyland produced a car in Australia around the 1970s called the Leyland P76 it had a big block version of the 215 , tall deck block different heads , it was 270 ci that was later to be increased to 368 ci but never got there . The Aussie F1 Champion Sir Jack Brabam along with REPCO Australia took the Oldsmobile version and cast/built double over head cam and 32 valve heads for it ! They won 1960s Formula 1 championship with it and in a car built in Australia by Sir Jack Bramam , the only person in F1 to be a owner/builder and driver to Win F1 in that capacity . Probably the only GM engine ever to win F1.
Lots of information here I was not aware of before, so thank you for your research. I chose the Pontiac Wagon because I had a high school friend with one. He gave my girl friend and I a ride in it. The girl friend was being annoying by playing with the controls on the dash, He pointed out not to touch one of those controls, so she waited until we were doing about 50 to push the transmission control into reverse. Not sure why that didn't destroy that car, but it survived. Never got an offer for a ride again. The guy across the street had one of the turbo cars. He was a self declared car expert, that managed to rig it up so if he ran out of boost fluid the car would still give him boost. It absolutely blew up at the end of his drive way coming home from work one day. That was the end of that car. A few years later the same neighbor had a VW 412 - just about the first electronic fuel injected car around. If you popped the hood there was a big sticker warning you not to jump start the car. So he did anyway. Another junked out car for his driveway. He wasn't very sharp, but his four daughters were really cute.
Good research. It was a good idea, but aluminum blocks and heads tend to have issues related to the casting process. Some Chevy Corvette aluminum engines were manufactured by Mercury Marine in Stillwater, Oklahoma because of their experience with aluminum. The 215 engine was also used in the Triumph TR8 and MGB-GT V8
The 215 CID aluminum V-8 was NOT available in the 1963 Model Year Pontiac Tempest/Lemans. For 1963, the optional V-8 for the Tempest/Lemans was a 326 CID cast iron V-8 (actually 336 CID for just one year).
61’ tempest wagon all day , super unique grille , so clean looking
Errata, Oldsmobile gave up on the Turbo, not Chevy. Buick heads work on Olds blocks, the Buick block did not have enough bolt holes tor the Olds heads.
Another great engine video, Jay. And I'll take the Tempest wagon and the Jetfire.
Good episode, Jay … This engine was important in so many ways.
Hi Jay! These engine episodes just keep getting better and better! Somehow, the fact that these engines were aluminum escaped me somehow! I had, of course heard of the Olds turbo version, as the induction system is pretty much similar to the Corvair one. The Corvair one doesn't have the water injection, though. GM was on an aluminum engine kick around 1959. The Corvair engine was supposed to have aluminum cylinders that were a special alloy that precluded having to have cylinder liners(!). Fortunately, they changed their minds and did cast iron cylinders, but it hurt the balance of the car, as the engine was much heavier than designed. Anyway, I also knew about the Buick/Rover V--8, but the fact that THAT engine was aluminum as well. By the way GM DID come out with the liner-less aluminum engine, on the VEGA!! It didn't work there, either!! WYR's are really hard this time! I like all the wagons, but am going to pick the Buick. #2 Is even more difficult! The Corvair was a little smaller car, but had only 160 h.p. in the earlier 145 Cu. In. version. The Olds had all that power but had that water injection system, which is a bit of a nuisance. We'll go Olds, I guess. Just put a 5 gallon water injection tank in the trunk!!
I've got one of these in it's final iteration, 2004 Land Rover Discovery 2. By then it was 4.6 liter, 217 HP and 300 ft-lb with Bosch Motronic injection. A very smooth engine but uses a lot of gas by modern standards.
F85 and the Jet fire. Amazing they did not work out the casting problems with aluminum block. Rover 5 litre shows the potential.Thx Jay
Great vid. Just fyi, the 190-hp 215 ci V8 with 4-barrel carb in the ‘62 Buick Skylark had 11:1 compression ratio, not 10.25:1. It was one of the first compact luxury cars back in the day, but the lack of torque hampered its performance. I always felt the 215 would have been a great choice for the Opel GT. 😊