BUILD THREAD 1986 Regal Project by 565bbchevy

[565bbchevy]

I have had my Monte for many years now and although it is a brutally fast fun street car it lacks two things that I want which is AC and Overdrive.
I had a Regal before I bought my Monte and decided last year I wanted to build a nice cruiser that would eventually be nice enough to go to the local car shows the difference being I want to do this on a budget so it will not compare to the Monte in that aspect.
I originally bought a 85' blue Regal in March 2015 with a half vinyl and manual sunroof that had a rod knocking v6 and I still have that car but I ended up buying the 86' Regal in July 2015 that had a decent running 307 Olds and a perfect shifting 200r4 plus it was already a hardtop car and I wasn't really all that fond of the manual sunroof anyways.
So my plans are to make the 86' into something of a T-Type look-a-like and I will black out all the chrome except for the bumpers and the "T" in the grill.
The 307 Olds will stay for a while and I have almost everything for a SBC install other than a finished shortblock but if I run across a 350 Olds at some point I will definitely consider building that instead.
My main goals right now are to get the body done and ready for paint.
So far I have rebuilt the entire brake system and completely rebuilt the front end with all new replacement parts.
The rearend I changed the fluid and installed an aluminum rear cover, UMI sway bars and rear lower control arms.I will replace the upper control arms after I cut out the stock single exhaust system to give me room to work.
I switched the header panel, rear bumper and decklid with the blue car because they were cleaner and the header panel fit better.

 

[565bbchevy]

The seats in the burgundy interior were pretty faded (1st picture) so I changed the seats to brand new "comfy" seats that are both power along with new matching GM carpet.
I still have to do a lot more in the interior like headliner and making front and rear upper door panels and matching the plastic and vinyl parts to the color of the seats.

I also installed a Grant steering wheel I bought used off Ebay and added the Buick horn emblem.

 

[565bbchevy]

The aluminum ARE wheels are 15 X 8 all around and I bought them used for $150 for the set.and then installed Cooper 275/60 and 235/60 tires on them.

I put the fender on I bought from lilbowtie and will be doing mock ups for the hood scoop from Lauren Engineering and also the aftermarket GN rear spoiler.

The front bumper fillers are from Goodmark and fit perfectly

 

[565bbchevy]

I also made some brackets to relocate my driver's seat a few inches farther back since I am relatively tall and the new seats have so much padding on them it was not a comfortable driving position even with the seats all the way back. I made these using 1/4" plate with 3/8" grade 8 bolts welded in.

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Looking good! Will be watching the progress on this one!

 

[85442/86buick]

Really like the seat relocation bracket idea.....being 6'3" myself i can feel your need .

your plans for this car , are very close to mine with my 86 Regal.... a T-Type Clone but i thinking a Buick 350 to replace the 3.8 V-6.

thank you for the inspiration to get off the couch

 

[565bbchevy]

Here is a shot of the front suspension and brakes completely rebuilt with all new parts, the front sway bar is a solid 1.25" bar I bought locally for $50.
The biggest issue was finding new splash shields for the front disc brakes and I ended up using some later model ones that were identical other than they had ABS sensors on them, so I ground them down and made gaskets for the backside.
The shields are Dorman 970-098 and 970-097 if anyone wants to go this route, both to my door was $50.
I also installed the jounce bars from my Monte since I made new thicker ones awhile back for that car and I will also be making a GP bar for the Regal.

After grinding them down.

 

[CWPottenger]

The biggest issue was finding new splash shields for the front disc brakes. The shields are Dorman 970-098 and 970-097 if anyone wants to go this route

That is the one part I could not find either. I was forced to just clean and paint mine. Wish there was a source for new Gbody brake splash shields

 

[565bbchevy]

Mine were not usable and I did find one guy that was selling them but for $120 plus shipping but that was way beyond what I was willing to spend.

 

[Kwik_Cutty88]

If you ever decide to go a different route with those wheels, please consider me.