[Guest]

Hi again,
Im over from the swb forum with a question about the buick 231. I dont know if anyone remembers me, but I had a cj6 with a 225. Well I sold it and now have a 70 cj5 with a 231. It has HEI and a four barrel as well as the everpresent ferderwell headers (wich I dislike). I just wanted to know your opinion of this motor. Does anyone know about what horsepower/torque #s this motor produces? Is it worth doing a mild build over a v8 swap? It seems to run ok but needs a tune up and possibly a new carb. Thanks for the advice.
Later
Cole

 

[clffhnger]

I ran a 231 with a Weiand intake and Holley carb in my first Jeepster, and nothing bad to say about it. Well, except for the Holley that would dump fuel into the manifold when I went over a jump.... blew my flowmasters apart.
From my understanding, the 225 had better low end than the 231. I have a 225 in my current rig and can't tell much difference. For sure you could buy off the shelf stuff for the 231 though. I think the weight/hp compared to the v8 would be a plus.

 

[Tim]

Good motor. What year is it? There are a few different versions of 231's that were made over the years. I too don't care for headers for a few different reasons. If you can give me the vintage of your 231, I can give you hp & torque ratings for it in stock form. There are pros and cons on whether to build it or replace it with a V-8. Depends on what your willing to do, how much downtime you can live with and how deep your pockets are.

 

[Guest]

How can I figure out what year the motor is? The cj5 already had it swapped in when I got it. I had heard something about freeze plugs on the front/back of the heads.?.

 

[Tim]

I would start by asking the previous owner. If that doesn't work, then perhaps serial number and research at one of the Buick sites might help. What intake does it have? Since there were odd-fire's, even-fires, low-ports and tall-ports, all had different intakes to convert to 4 bbl. Also is the HEI an even-fire or odd-fire? Check my post "HEI's exposed" for pics to tell the differences.

 

[Guest]

>How can I figure out what year the motor is? The cj5 already had it swapped in when I got it. I had heard something about freeze plugs on the front/back of the heads.?. <

Under the Valve covers is casting numbers for the heads.
On the rear of the block, ( pretty tough to get at) are block casting numbers.
Information on these numbers can be found on the Buickgod.com web site.

I dropped a late '70's 231 long block in my '70 commando. Reused the original intake, carb and front housing. A couple of the gaskets leak but it runs very well.