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Before things went down hill on a straight 8 subject last weekend some one out there I believe "clipper 47" or "packard53" said the STR-8 was Mystical. Well does that mean all STR-8's???? Here is another one I'm working on....but it is from brand X. This old gal was lying in a shop for 20 years and the old guy who owed it passed on and his son hired me to put it back together. The car was totally disassembled. I thought the smart thing to do was to reunite the motor and chassis and use huge chassis for engine stand and test bench. If motor was toast, that could of been detrimental to job as cost to repair was un-known. OK, so we put this 1000 lbs monster back in and bolted her down. I was looking at the up draft carb and how the chambers were broke and basically how crappy a design this really was. I called the owner and ask about "originality" and if a driver was more important with reliability. he said yes. Great I flipped the intake 180 degrees and and fabricated a spacer adapter and bolted on a brand new 350 CFM Holley. After a major tune-up of new all electrical including the factory dual points and hooking 12 volts to it the old 1932 buick engine came to life. After a warm up I rapped it up and the reponse from the new down draft carb was excellent. The motor lives. Now to slowly put back the whole thing together. The roar is cool from the 307 cid straight piped straight 8. Check out the water pump, distributor being run off the gen. The last pic is from a 31 straight 8 showing what original carb looks like. I'll paint the big mill buick green after I adjust rockers. That billet aircleaner is going green also to make it look more original...YEa right...

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EGAD, I too hope last weeks feldergarb doesn't start again but here goes round one.

I don't have my cars judged and am not out for trophies as appears neither is the owner of your subject car--at least not in the marque car club sense. While I do try to keep originality whenever possible, for my 2 bits, there is a finite point of cost & authenticity vs convenience, functionality & reliability.

I've not been around the pre war cars much so maybe I don't appreciate the mystique as do others but do remember friend Doug trying to start his car with the updraft after it had been sitting for awhile.

In this case, I think your setup and turning the manifold is kind of ingenious and something I would have never thought of -- so hats off.

I like the mod, I would have done something similar myself. Updraft carbs really aren't too efficient in moving air, so this idea is a dang good one.

I will say this, the more you keep tinkering with the straight eights, the more you will like them.

Pacprince: Nice convertion for the replacement of the updraft carb.

Mystical straight eight is right. Buick made a 307 CID V8 engine, but never a 307 straight eight.

Here is some information about 32 Buick straight eights that may help you, then again maybe not.

1932 Buick series 50 wheel base 114 inches engine straight 8 230.4 CID 82 horsepower

1932 Buick series 60 wheel base 118 inches engine straight 8
272.6 CID 95 horsepower.

1932 Buick series 80 & 90 wheel base 126 and 134 inches straight 8 344.8 CID 113 horsepower.

From the information I have posted which model Buick is this 1932 your working on.

John F. Shireman

I love this site! Where else can you expand your vocabulary and enjoy a discussion at the same time? Feldergarb is not listed in my Funk and Wagnall's, but as it is used in a sentence I have gained a grasp of its meaning and subtlety. Taint only the straight eight that's mystical - it's the way things mechanical can draw folks together in an interesting discussion. As they used to say on Hee-Haw - SALUTE!

And they say you don't learn anything from watching too much TV. Can't claim credit for the word feldergarb. Stole it right out of an episode of the original Battlestar Galactica and the usage & context was about the same.

There is mystique and mystic. In the straight eight case I think the proper term would be the former. Great job there Packprince!

The Holley looks great and should work fine. I fitted a Holley 350 to the 327 engine in my 38 - 1601 and it works fine, except that the induction roar on acceleration drove me crazy. I ended up fitting the original across the engine Packard silencer ( with a paper element) to the Holley. It is much quieter. Best regards Peter Toet

The word is Mystical, I am here for 11 hr a day and you will see some misspelled words. The old lady will rag if I stay to late so I try and hurry. Also John we are both wrong. The series 80 engine is 344 cubic in. I screwed the mathematical formula up. Ready

pi/4 X bore Squared X stroke X #cylinders

.7853975 X 3.312 squared X 5 x 8
I don't know how to make comuter do the squared sign so I wrote it. any way bore = 3.312 stroke = 5 and it sa straighta 8a

Call it musical mythical or mystical but don't call it a mistake LOL.