Looking for Replica Auburn Speedster owners with straight 8 engines eg Buick

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Pat. Thanks for your reply. I’d love to see a photo(s) of your car.
Can I also ask that you give me the dimensions of your 1950 Buick engine, from the crankshaft pulley to the other side...where it mates to the transmission. Hope that’s not too much trouble. Your car project sounds fantastic.
Kind regards Jerome

Hi Jerome,
I'm currently building a speedster with a Buick Straight 8, actually building a Duesy speedster and have plenty of room under the hood. I'm using the 263 cu in from 1950. I'm sure the Buick would fit in the auburn engine bay. I was also able to adapt a late model T5 manual overdrive trans to the motor. Anything is possible.
Pat

There are a range of reasons why I would not at this stage consider any Lycoming engine.
1) The acquisition costs are high compared to alternatives
2) availability of Lycoming engines are scarce compared to the alternatives
3) The rebuild costs for an original Lycoming engine are very high. I'm also not sure about parts availability
4) As discussed on this forum I have read that there are only a few people in the country that are properly skilled in rebuilding these engines.
5) If I buy a Lycoming engine I would most probably have to mate it to an auburn manual gearbox....more cost and availability is unknown. If I mated it to a more common tremec manual gearbox then adapter plates need to be made and that leads to more cost. I would also have to install a clutch pedal and rearrange the position of the pedals......more cost.
6) There are no options for the lycoming engine to mate to an automatic gearboxes. Some other straight 8 engines have adapter plates on the shelf which connect to standard common chevy auto transmissions that are already fitted to many existing speedsters. This makes installation more cost competitive
7) The financial metrics of investments into replica cars necessitate a more careful approach to any financial outlay. Obviously, when an original speedster needs engine work, an investment of $30k to rebuild an engine makes sense when the car is worth $600k to $850K. It does not make sense with a replica, when the difference in price between a replica with a modern engine versus a replica with an old style engine largely doesn't exist.

Why don't you install an original Auburn engine ?

Looking to get in touch with any replica owners that have installed a straight 8 engine into their Speedster replica. I'm trying to learn which straight 8 motors have been successfully transplanted into the engine bay. I'd love to know what modifications were required to make the engine fit. Obviously the dimensions of some straight 8 motors are too big to fit in the engine bay without major firewall modification. I think an early 1950s Packard straight 8 might be a case in point......its possible but its difficult. I'm looking for easier options, so dimensions of the motor are important, along with mating it to a suitable transmission. For those that ask why do it......the reason being considered is to have an engine that looks more period correct and is closer in look to the original straight 8 Lycoming engine.

Many thanks Jerome