If necessity is the mother of conception , then theBuickV-6engineis surely one of her offspring as oppose to the V-8 Fireball . It has show to be both durable and adaptable , outlasting nearly all other engines of the same epoch . Once toss by General Motors as unnecessary , the Buick V-6 was resurrected for its fuel economy but afterwards earn recognition for its performance by deliver the goods the pole position for the Indianapolis 500 no less than three time , including the 1995 race .
The V-6 was originally consider because Buick needed a cheaper option to the expensive - to - produce 215 - cubic - column inch aluminium V-8 used in its Special , which had debut for 1961 concurrently with two other GM compacts , the Oldsmobile F-85 andPontiacTempest . Riding a longer 112 - column inch wheelbase and price upmarket compare to theChevyCorvair / FordFalcon / Plymouth Valiant compact , they could be take " senior compact . "
The Special and F-85 came only with the 215 - cid V-8 , called " Fireball " ( a name that Buick had used for many years on its previous straight - eights ) . The Tempest proffer buyers a option of a 195 - cid four - piston chamber engine , fundamentally Pontiac ’s 389 - Criminal Investigation Command V-8 with one piston chamber bank removed or the aluminium V-8 shared with Buick and Olds .
The Special was Buick ’s solvent to the low - priced compacts that had arrive in 1960 and grabbed an important marketplace parcel in a soggy economy . The least - expensive Special in 1961 was the $ 2,330 Standard Sport Coupe , which commanded a hefty $ 416 insurance premium over the Falcon and $ 375 more than the Valiant , both of which occur with half a dozen .
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This sizeable price disparity gnawed at Edward Rollert , Buick ’s general manager . The content came down to the engineering department that Rollert wanted to let down the Special ’s base cost to a more competitive point by adding a six - cylinder engine , even though Buick had used eight - piston chamber engines entirely since 1931 .
However , a unbent - six would n’t fit into the Special ’s compact railway locomotive bay , so Joseph Turlay , Buick ’s director of powertrain engineering science , designed a V-6 on report that was basically the 215 - cid V-8 minus the front two cylinders . There was one perplex factor : a 90 - degree V-6 with three crankshaft throw think of there could n’t be even 120 - degree firing intervals . An scratchy sack episode would sure as shooting result in vibration .
" We know we had a problem right off the bat , " recalls Cliff Studaker , who was the adjunct chief applied scientist assigned to the V-6 undertaking . " We evaluated a couple of different dismission intervals by taking an Al V-8 and exit the front cylinder empty . We put in a unlike nut case and a differentcamshaftand inspiration manifold . " The discharge interval that proved honest was every 150 and 90 degree for each crankshaft throw with a cylinder firing order of 1 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 , tack between the cylinder banks . " That was a little spot dissimilar than people were wonted to , and if you sat in thecarat idle you had a kind of little dance that you went through , so we said it had a personality of its own . "
GM direction was impressed enough to approve the V-6 for the 1962 model year despite the implicit in quiver . Though it had a different crankshaft , camshaft , and intake multiplex than the V-8 , it used the same fledgeling , alternator , fuel heart , oil filter , body of water - pump housing , front cover , transmitting housing , and valvetrain . It was the first GM railway locomotive to expend stamp tie in rods .
In addition , the V-6 employ a casting - branding iron block , give Buick a substantial cost savings over the V-8 . Despite having two fewer cylinders , the cast - atomic number 26 V-6 weighed 368 pounds , 50 more than the aluminum V-8 . However , it was still lighter ( and more compact ) than contemporary inline sixes – by about 50 lbf. compared to Chevy ’s newfangled 194 - Criminal Investigation Command six .
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Modifying the Buick V-8
Buickincreased the V-8 ’s bore from 3.50 inch to 3.625 and stretched the stroke from 2.80 inch to 3.20 to give the V-6 a 198 - cid deracination . With a two - barrel carburetor , horsepowerwas a respectable 135 , 20 less than the V-8 . That was enough to propel the Special to 60 mph in about 12.5 seconds ( two second gear slower with automatic according toRoad & Track ) – hardly muscle - car district but more than competitive with its six - cylinder rivals .
The most - herculean Falconenginefor 1962 was a 101 - horsepower , 170 - cid six , although the Valiant was available with an optional 225 - Criminal Investigation Command " Slant Six " blackleg at 145 horse cavalry . In any case , the new V-6 topped out at nearly 100 mph on Buick ’s tryout track : 97 mph withstick - shifting , 95 mph withautomatic .
The automotive closet heralded Buick ’s novel engine as a major accomplishment . Motor Trendmagazine named the 1962 extra " Car of the Year " and praised the V-6 , also called Fireball , for its " pure progression in design and originative engine room excellence . “Road & Track , also very cheerful , say that " The V-6 locomotive fathom and performs exactly like the aluminum V-8 in most respects , " though it pointed out that functioning was down about 10 pct . Buick engineers , meanwhile , modestly lay claim that economy was " at least 8 % better than the V-8.“R&Testimated 20 - 24 mpg .
Notably , this was the first mass - produce V-6 to be offered in an American passenger elevator car . The Italian auto manufacturer Lancia had sold a handful of V-6 Aurelia sedans in the U.S. during the former Fifties , while GMC motortruck had introduced a 305 - three-dimensional - inch V-6 in its 1960 pickups . However , both non - Buick locomotive have 60 - academic degree angles between piston chamber heads , which allowed even - firing intervals ; so Buick ’s railway locomotive was unique for its 90 - degree invention .
The Fireball V-6 had the desired impact in the mart . Despite a price increment on the V-8 model , the new railway locomotive enabled Buick to lower the groundwork Leontyne Price on the particular coupe to $ 2,304 and brag both performance and thriftiness . The advertizing catchword was " Six for Savings – V for Voom . " product of the Special and sporty Skylark variant soared from 86,868 in 1961 to 153,843 in 1962 , and more than 59,000 of the 1962 Specials were equipped with the raw V-6 . So why had n’t Buick or another American machine company establish a V-6 rather ?
" A V-6 is a little more expensive to build than a line six because you have two cylinder heads , " Studaker explains . " And car size back then did n’t involve it . Really , we were kind of drive into it because the Special would n’t take a line six . It was designed for the aluminum V-8 . " Since Buick was trying to save money , the division dismissed GMC ’s hand truck V-6 from serious condition . The Special was designed around a 90 - point V-8 ; the 60 - level truck V-6 was tall and would have required considerable re - engineering to check into Buick ’s thickset car , increase the cost . Because the hand truck engine was a whole dissimilar design , it did n’t share any section with the V-8 , so there was no price welfare from a manufacturing standpoint .
GM Engineering was tinkering with a 120 - stage V-6 design at that prison term , but Studaker describes it as almost as full as a " bland " or horizontally opposed engine , make east - west space problems in the Special ’s railway locomotive embayment . During this eraPontiacwas shoot a line its " Wide Track " design ; Studaker says a 120 - degree V-6 would have require " Wide wide of the mark Track " in the Special . The clincher in favor of Buick ’s V-6 was that it could be built at the be engine plant in Flint , which was joyride to give rise 90 - level engines .
Though the V-6 won vital plaudit and successfully fill up an economy niche in Buick ’s batting order , most emptor were contract their " voom " from V-8s instead of V-6s . In 1963 , 40 percent of the 148,770 Specials and Skylarks produced were powered by the V-6 . In 1964 , the Special / Skylark moved up to a larger and weighty intermediate - size 115 - in - wheelbase anatomy ( 120 inches for wagon ) . That same class , translation of the V-6 grow from the original 198 three-dimensional column inch to 225 .
Meanwhile , GM sold the right of the aluminium V-8 to Rover ( and that locomotive engine is still with us in update signifier in their luxury sport - public utility company ! ) , and Buick interchange to a 300 - Criminal Investigation Command cast - Fe locomotive engine for its small V-8 . The V-6 was bored to 3.75 inches and stroked to 3.40 to make it three - fourths the size of it of the 300 V-8 , thus allowing the two engines to share pistons , rods , and other fundamental component part . Horsepower jumped by 20 , to 155 – the same as the base rendering of the departed aluminum V-8 .
1967 Buick V-6 Fireball
By 1967 , as thehorsepowerwar was really heating up , only about 10 percent of the 193,333 special / Skylarks came off the line with the V-6 Fireball . Most buyers were opt one of the three V-8s put up inBuick’smidsizers by then . A 300 - cid V-8 was optional in the Special and upscale Skylark , and a 340 - Criminal Investigation Command unit was available in the Skylark . In addition , the high - performance gramme 400 variant of the Skylark debut for 1967 with a monster 340 - bhp 400 V-8 .
Oldsmobile had made the V-6 touchstone in its F-85 compact for 1964 , and output of Olds manikin with thisenginereached 66,100 , the high-pitched - water scratch at that time . Olds , however , switch to the 250 - cid Chevrolet straight six for 1966 . With the Buick Special and Skylark as GM ’s only customers for the V-6 , production fall to less than 20,000 units in the 1967 model year – hardly enough to warrant sustain the locomotive in production .
The V-6 thus became an undesirable stepchild at GM , so the rights to that motor were sell to Kaiser - Jeep for an unrevealed sum . The tooling was ship to Toledo , Ohio , where the railway locomotive was produced as the " Dauntless V-6 " until 1971 . For 1968 , the Special and Skylark were redesigned ( gaining about 100 pounds ) , along with the similarChevroletChevelle , Olds F-85 / Cutlass , andPontiacTempest / Le Mans . At this point , Buick had piffling pick but to follow Oldsmobile ’s lead and switch to the Chevy inline six as the base engine for its intermediate .
GM was temporarily out of the V-6 business – until war in the Middle East completely change the political and economical landscape painting . In October 1973 , OPEC , the Arab - go fossil oil trust , shocked the world with an embargo . short , V-8s were out and fuel economy was in . nudge by necessity , GM desperately desire to bring its orphaned V-6 back into the family .
" We were move along fat , dumb , and happy with the economic system , make enceinte engines with V-8s all the sentence , " Studaker remembers . " We had a 350 lowly occupation , we had a 430 for our upper serial publication , we decease to a 455 , and we were working on engines in the 500- to 520 - three-dimensional - in range when , all of a sudden , all hell break free . The oil embargo was instituted and , of row , 500- or 525 - three-dimensional - inch locomotive were no longer in trend . gratuitous to say , the political program stop immediately . "
With fuel thriftiness the new Number One anteriority and no prison term to plan a wholly novel locomotive engine , Buick look in the parts bin . The only rider - car six - piston chamber railway locomotive in production at GM in 1973 was Chevrolet ’s old inline unit . The Chevy six , however , was too long to fit into Buick ’s raw Skyhawk , a gaudy spinoff of the Chevy Monza that was set to debut for 1975 . But there was way for a V-6 …
Buick engineer locate one of their old V-6s in a junkyard on Dort Highway in Flint , Michigan ( less than two Swedish mile from the manufactory where it had been produced ) , rebuilt it to mill eyeglasses , and installed it in an Apollo , the only 1974 Buick offered with a six - cylinder ( the Chevy 250 ) . The compendious Apollo , a Chevy Nova clone , had get in the twelvemonth before as part of a GM badge - engineering binge . Oldsmobile ’s version was called Omega , Pontiac ’s the Ventura . String the first initial of the four cars together and they spell out " NOVA . " The V-6 fit easily into the Apollo ’s engine bay , which had been originally designed to hold either a straight six or a small - blockage V-8 .
The AMC V-6
BuickChief Engineer Phillip Bowser sent word of the Apollo V-6 to GM President Edward N. Cole , who herald that he wanted to drive it . On December 17 , 1973 , Studaker drove the icteric Apollo paradigm from Flint to the GM headquarters in business district Detroit , followed by a chasecar"just in case . " He expect Cole would give it the common perfunctory executive test campaign .
" I ’d been on these ride before with corporate direction and knew what that normally entailed , " Studaker tell . " They get in the car , ride around the block a couple of times with you , get out of the cable car and say , ' Well , that was a very good job new man . We ’ll be in touch . ' But this time it did n’t happen that style . Ed have into the car and headed for Interstate 75 and turned south . I could n’t fancy out where we were choke . When I asked , he said , ' We ’re going down toKaiser . We ’re snuff it to talk with those hoi polloi down there . ' "
company Cole was his chief technical helper , an engineer by the name of Robert C. Stempel , who later became GM ’s chairman of the board . This was a jolly raging drive down the interstate highway , consort to Studaker . Cole was a man with a mission : " He had his foot in the firewall the whole way , passing nearly every gondola on the route . He says , ' Man , we catch ta have theseengines . This is what we really need with this oil embargo . If we could get 50,000 to 100,000 of these , that would really assist us . ' "
Kaiser - Jeep Corporation was now owned by American Motors , and AMC representatives met Cole at the Toledo locomotive engine plant , where the V-6 tooling had been mothballed for more than two years . AMC ’s engineers privilege their own consecutive - sixes over the V-6 , in right part to accomplish " economy of graduated table " in their own manufacture operation . Besides , as one AMC executive pointed out , the V-6 was " rough as a hazelnut . " The honest-to-god GM V-6 was thus overleap in Jeep mathematical product after 1971 .
" So we went out into the factory , and we ’re walking down along the equipment , and Ed Cole was waving his branch and he says , ' How long do you opine it would take you to get this line back in output ? How many do you recall you could build us in a year – 25,000 ? possibly 50,000 ? Even more than that ? How much do you think they ’d be ? ' " Cole had a much greater sense of urgency than the AMC people , who figured they could tool up to construct 20 engine an hour within a year . Cole state he needed 75 an 60 minutes by August . Studaker identify the stunned AMC executives as " standing there with their mouth open . " They recount Cole , " We ’ll get back to you . "
Meanwhile , it was obvious there was much work to be done to update the V-6 to satisfy the exacting discharge regulations of the mid - Seventies while preserving fuel economy . That undertaking was assigned to Buick Engineering . " We worked all through the Christmas holidays , " according to Studaker . " They ran prototypes day and nighttime at the Milford Proving Grounds , " test durability , emissions , and fuel economy . EPA credential required 50,000 Admiralty mile on the odometer , so as soon as one driver ’s shift was over , another alternate behind the wheel .
Buick’s V-6 Returns
In January 1974 , AMC did get back to GM about theBuickV-6 . They were uncoerced to sell V-6s , but at a price GM was n’t willing to pay . " We could have put 455 V-8s in everycarand still saved money , " Studaker says with some hyperbole . It looked like the two automobile companies could n’t agree on Leontyne Price , so work on the V-6 was temporarily stopped at Buick . But when GM offered to buy back the tooling , AMC was more tractable , and the deal was completed in February – scantily seven month before the 1975 model twelvemonth .
The tooling was hauled back to Flint , and jackhammer were used to ping out the concrete that had been rain cats and dogs in the footings at manufactory 36 . With the tooling reinstalled into its original anchors , Buick ’s applied scientist were put on a 150 - mean solar day crash program to get the V-6 ready for the 1975 model year .
In plus to its more thickset size of it , Buick engineers discovered the V-6 had other advantages over a straightforward - six , namely clean exhaust and full fuel economy . Studaker recalls what Chief Engineer Bowser used to say about the fuel thriftiness , " You do n’t have it off where it do from , but you sure enough like it . I just call it serendipity , a buss in the darkness . " Buick ’s tests indicated that the V-6 was about two mpg well than GM ’s inline six in city driving , three mpg better on the highway .
Before reentering product , the V-6 ’s displacement was increase somewhat from the previous 225 cubic inches to 231 ( 3800 - cc ) , this so the V-6 could share more part with the 350 - cid V-8 Buick was then producing . The bore grew to 3.80 inches , while the chance event remained at 3.40 .
Luckily , the vamp V-6 was also able to use most of the same emissions equipment as the V-8 . This not only save money , but also helped Buick meet the deadline for 1975 production because the smog controls had already been developed and tested . In August 1974 , Buick announce that it was ready to build up the V-6 , just 137 days after the task had been given the unripe sparkle . Normally , enginedevelopment took at least 18 month .
The resurrected V-6 , fit with a two - gun barrel carburetor and rated at 110 nethorsepower , was offered by Buick for 1975 in the midsize Century and Regal , the compact Skylark ( the coupe version of the Apollo sedan chair , which continued using the Chevy inline six ) , and the Skyhawk , a 2 + 2 hatchback cloned from the Vega - based Chevy Monza . Oldsmobile also used the V-6 in its Starfire ( a.k.a . Monza / Skyhawk ) .
A platter 133,000 V-6s were produced by Buick that year . For 1976 , Buick extend the V-6 to the full - sizing LeSabre , and Pontiac made it optional for its new Sunbird ( another clon of the Monza / Skyhawk / Starfire ) , and yield jump to 238,300 units . By 1978 , every GM sectionalisation except Cadillac offer the V-6 in cars ranging from subcompact coupe to full - sizing sedan , and production increase to 342,059 .
1976-1996 Buick V-6
economic system may have been the intake for theBuickV-6 and its return to GM , but in 1976 a unlike spark ignited interest in thisengine– performance . A Buick Century T - Top coupe with a turbocharged 231 - Criminal Investigation Command V-6 was chosen as the Official PaceCarfor the Indianapolis 500 , augur a output turbo engine that did in fact debut two geezerhood after . Two other V-6 Official Pace automobile were to stick to : a 1981 Regal coupe with a of course draw out 4.1 - liter V-6 and the 1983 Rivieraconvertible4.1 V-6 with twin turbos .
The pace cars gave the Brickyard its first hint of the racing voltage of the V-6 , which earned the pole for the 1985 Indy 500 . Pancho Carter led the field that year with a full - race adaptation of the V-6 that was clocked at a platter - set 212.583 mph . Seven twelvemonth later , Roberto Guerrero drove a Buick V-6 at 232.482 miles per hour to pull in the Indy pole post with a qualifying record that stand today – an impressive accomplishment for a energy - rod railway locomotive with such humble descent . With a V-6 based on Buick ’s production locomotive , Scott Brayton pull ahead the 1995 Indy pole with a speed of 231.604 mph .
Buick build output turbocharged V-6s from 1978 through 1987 , with the one in the circumscribed - product 1987 Regal GNX ( 547 built ) being the most famous . Officially , the GNX ’s 231 - cid V-6 had 276horsepower . Realistically , it was believed to be closer to 300 base on 0 - 60 times of under five seconds ( 4.7 according to one score ) , ready than the Chevrolet Corvettes of the day . Between 1978 and 1993 , GM also built V-6s with displacements of 173 , 181 , 196 , 204 , and 252 cubic inches ( 2.8 , 3.0 , 3.2 , 3.3 , and 4.1 liters ) ; all were derived from the design used for the original Buick V-6 .
The V-6 ’s report as a " mover and shaker " led Buick to begin a series of improvements that started in 1977 , when Buick developed an even - dismiss chronological succession that made the engine much smoother . " We split up the crank pin by 30 level at each stroke and actually made it a six - stroke crank with 120 - point spacing – even - provoke intervals . That was credibly the most significant development during my incumbency as far as keeping the locomotive engine a executable one for long - term usage , " said Studaker , who hit the hay in 1980 after 34 years with GM , the last 30 with Buick .
In 1988 , Buick reworked the 3.8 - l V-6 so extensively that it rename it the " 3800 V-6 , " this for its metric displacement . It featured sequential - port fuel injection , a train - driven balance pecker ( to reduce vibration ) , roller lifters , and on - center crank pin . The result was 23 percent less reciprocating mass , less vibration , and reduced plunger clash . Horsepower impress up ten pct , to 165 at 4,800 rpm , while torsion jump to 210 lb - ft at 2,000 rev . The 3,800 impel the fresh limited - version Reatta two - seater from 0 - 60 in just under ten indorsement , furnish better mid - range acceleration , and yielded 19 mpg metropolis , 29 highway , according to the EPA .
