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1983 Riviera Indy 500 Pace Car engine

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kjhansen

Member
Joined
May 26, 2001
Messages
393
Howdy! I met a gentleman last night at cruise night who says he bought a 1983 Riviera Indy 500 pace car engine from a museum. He says it's a twin turbo 4.1 liter, rated at 1100 hp, that is, it's actually one of the engines from one of the 5 pace cars, not from a production "pace car." He wants to put it in his 1984 Grand National, but he needs an ECM and some other stuff. Anybody know of this engine and what it needs to run?
Keith
 
I am no expert on these engines but know they do exist and was used in a Riviera convertible to pace the Indy 500 in 1983. Information for Rivieras with the turbo V6 is very hard to come by, I have this little bit of information from a magazine article from Muscle Cars magazine of spring 1985, how accurate this info is, do'nt know anyway as printed: " There was one other Buick V6 engine shown for the first time in 1983 that was to set the stage for some outstanding performance programs that were just around the corner. It was the now legendary twin-turbocharged Indy Pace Car engine. Specifically built for the Riviera convertible Pace Car, it was the forerunner of the stock block V6 which ran in the Indy 500 in 1984 and the 1984 Lemans race. The engine that is now known as the Buick McLaren Championship V6. Built essentially from over the counter at Buick dealers, the 252 cubic inch 4.1 litre V6 put out 410 hp at 5700 rpm and featured the Stage II 4-bolt main block, 8.0 to 1 pistons, Stage II 6 bolt heads, forged rods, crank and pistons and a distributorless ignition system. Most of the above mentioned parts carry Buick part numbers and can be purchased from any Buick dealer. The exotica which is not available from Buick includes twin turbochargers with computer controlled wastegates (similar system on production Turbo Regal) Electronic water/methanol injection, and Delco overlapping sequential fuel injection controlled by 80 mm AC double mass flow sensors (similar to system used on production Turbo Regal) averaged by a computer. " Like I said do'nt know the accuracy of these specs but Muscle Cars mag seemed to be a no hype or B.S. about performance ratings publication. The article also has a black/white photo of engine in Riv. wish I could post it, anyway it may only fit in anouther Riviera if installed as-is, the Riv has a different engine bay than Regal ,but it may fit. I have a T-Riv and T-Riv parts car and the turbo equiptment as-is will not fit the Regal without changing, turbo hangs over back of engine, headers and pipes fit the Riv engine bay different. The turbos and throttle bodys on the Indy Pace motor are mounted on either side of the engine, next to valve covers,above headers, and the left side is real close to the brake booster, and Rivs have a lot of room there. He can always try though, just hope he does'nt have to mod this special set up too much. As for the electronics needed to run, maybe someone else has info. It would probably be best to put the engine in some kind of Riviera though, a clean T- type or convertible. If he is going to put in a Regal, just wondering if this motor came with th325 trans and differential, and are they special performance or just standard, and if special would he be interested in selling trans and diff? I will try to post the picture if I can at a later time.
 
ttt

Do you have a copy of the original article? Can't find anything on the web!
Keith
 
Unfortunately there is no more information on the Indy Pace car engine in this article than what I wrote, just the picture, the article was about new vs. old Buick performance cars. There are some sites that have some info on Riviera stuff I do'nt have any addresses to give but if you search with titles such as : T-type riviera, turbo Riviera, Indy pace cars, 1979-1985 Riviera, and what ever close type of titles you will find something. I did several months ago but I did'nt record address (real organized), there were a few brief articles about the Buick Indy pace car motors, if I remeber where to find I'll let you Know. My best success in finding was on Google.
 
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