10 replies to this topic

[Tony Main]

I recently ran across an interesting little motor and now own it but it was bought for a hot rod project. But with being a racer I heard that the 215 Buick all aluminum motor may have been legal and ran in a few midget groups in the mid 60’s to early 70’s. Any information or photos would be really neat to see. I know Mickey Thompson built a rear engine car that used this motor in 63’ (was the first stock block back at indy since the late fourties!)

[zerohunger]

I recently ran across an interesting little motor and now own it but it was bought for a hot rod project. But with being a racer I heard that the 215 Buick all aluminum motor may have been legal and ran in a few midget groups in the mid 60's to early 70's. Any information or photos would be really neat to see. I know Mickey Thompson built a rear engine car that used this motor in 63' (was the first stock block back at indy since the late fourties!)

The aluminum Buick & Oldsmobile motors came into midget racing around the same time as the Chevy II. Several guys had sucess with them but it was costly to reduce them to the displacement limit allowed. Plus they are bigger physically than the Chevy II. The Falcon, orginally 144 cubic inches, was longer but lighter.

Elsewhere on MM there is a thread on the restoration of Frank Kater's Hillegrass-Buick. Jugger Sirois won a 100 mile event in it at the Milwaukee Mile back in 1968 [I think]. Neat motors but the simpler, lighter solution proved more cost effective.

[DocF]

The long gone C.O.R.A and M.A.R.I. midget groups were run what ya' brung and the 215 aluminum V8 engines were tough in those clubs. The USAC legal ones were either full of sleeve or had a serious destroked crank.

A professor from the University of Michigan decided he wanted to go midget racing and bought a car from somewhere that had a sleeved Buick in it. When he ran, he was slow and safe. He hired a driver (Jack Calabrase, I think) and the car was then a good mid-packer.

Bob Zomerhuis and Ward Bush built a destroked Buick to put in Ward's old clone of the Jimmy Davies little car. After they cured the heating problems and figured out that it would only turn 11K RPM, it ran like snot. With John Tenney at the wheel, Bush's car was the first and only one ever to turn the Onekama, MI 1/2 mile at under 24 seconds.

Jimmy Hines ran a Buick for Virgil Welch for several years. With that big an engine and that good a driver, they were hard to beat.

Doc

[Tony Main]

Found a neat site for info on the 215 that Mickey Thompson entered at Indy in ‘62. Was looking to find some parts or the complete injection system for my street rod project. The two attached photos make me wonder how many different style injections they tried on the motor to make them work.
The 6202 photo shows the more conventional style, but doesn’t the cross over style look so cool! By the look of the butterflies on it really looks like it's close to a two inch and that will be way too large for the street.

http://www.thompson-...com/indy62.html

Already called and talked to guys at Hilborn and of course they don’t have any 49 year old parts laying around ###### them!lol

What where some of the midget guys running for injection?

Attached Files

•  indy6202.jpg   54.53K   7 downloads
•  indy6203.jpg   86.27K   0 downloads

[DocF]

I know that Virgil Welch had Algon injectors on his. The car that Harry Mark owned had Hilborns. Harold Lane made his own throttle-body injector, which seemed to work as well as the factory ones. Ward Bush ran downdraft Weber carbs on his.

I would talk to Sid Waterman about injectors. He probably has some idea of where they might be found.

Doc

[Tony Main]

I have new information that 100-120 of the Hillborn injections for the 215's where sold in the 70's.
The model number of the injector casting is 215-0-8 or 215-0-8A. So I may be searching for a needle in a haystack now but..

[Ron Clemens Sr.]

Badger had one 60's 70's ran by lars lien (not sure about the spellings here)Kater Buick, Who did cartwheels at the finish line when his car won. Kater wore a white jump suit and a white small bakers hat. Belive me it ran and ran well always a threat no matter when or where it ran, think even won championships with the Buick V-8.

Ron Clemens
Sheridan Ill
baddron@yahoo.com

[Stafford23]

 Old Midget.jpg   1.21MB   2 downloads

Carl Peavy, of Jackson, MI., campaigned a sleeved-down 215 Buick for years, including with USAC. I raced with the old Toledo-based AMRA with both Buick and Olds aluminum engines. The strongest was a 215-inch Buick I acquired from midget legend Henry Dumonceaux, better known as Hank Dumon. This is my car (89) during an AMRA show at Michigan's Galesburg Speedway.

[Stafford23]

Carl Peavy, of Jackson, MI., campaigned a sleeved-down 215 Buick for years, including with USAC. I raced with the old Toledo-based AMRA with both Buick and Olds aluminum engines. The strongest was a 215-inch Buick I acquired from midget legend Henry Dumonceaux, better known as Hank Dumon. This is my car (89) during an AMRA show at Michigan's Galesburg Speedway.

[DocF]

Carl Peavy, of Jackson, MI., campaigned a sleeved-down 215 Buick for years, including with USAC. I raced with the old Toledo-based AMRA with both Buick and Olds aluminum engines. The strongest was a 215-inch Buick I acquired from midget legend Henry Dumonceaux, better known as Hank Dumon. This is my car (89) during an AMRA show at Michigan's Galesburg Speedway.

If you ran with that bunch, I'm fairly sure I must know you. Hung out with Hank, Bob Zomerhuis, Denny (Crash) Stephen, Lee Elkins and all those guys.

Doc

[DocF]

The Buick that Carl Peavy ran was the former Harry Mark car. Carl got all out of it that it had.

Doc