86 Buick Regal Build Plan-Progress from Indy.

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ronbz455

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Aug 10, 2013
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I first got this Regal because it was cheap and rust free. You know the story, always garaged, grandma's car' few scrapes and dents. I won't lie. When he said 1200 bucks I said I have to see it. After work I checked it out. I got there and the windows were down and he said he started at 4500 and everyone wanted to trade him for Cadilacs and everything else. I told him my intensions was street car and next race car and he said good. He said he didn't want to see it all jacked up like some of these cars. I said maybe in the back ha! It has a 307 olds and it looked like nothing was done to it even oil changes but it ran and smelled like oil and I drove it and it all worked. I tried to talk him down and he said he won't go down any more. I didn't see any solid rust but just some starting aroung moldings. so I said ok. Here is some pics when I got it.
 

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Sorry so long for another post but the 91 Buick Lesabre that I drive to work suffered a trans breakage on the way home Thanksgiving eve. It has 350,000 miles on it and it has a stall convertor like that is in a V8 front wheel drive Impala SS. I had to accelerate about 1/2 throttle leaving the gas station and Bang!!! Then 1st and 2nd would slip on light throttle but when I hit 3rd it was fine. I had another T440 trans in the basement that had been sitting in dirt for 10 or more years. Got it up to the garage and changed the outer seals and gaskets and put it in this week. Started it last night and trans fluid went everywhere. Fixed the rusted line after cleaning it off with Brake Cleaner and it caught on fire when I started it again. Put it out with an extingsioner and drove it in the snow storm to check it. Speedo didn't work and check engine light came on. Stopped at Speedway and connected the front trans harnes and speedo harness. Drove it to work today and it was perfect.

In the time of getting the trans in the 91 I was driving the 86 Regal. I told them at work if the 91 isn't done I won't be at work because the GBody has no traction even in the wet pavement.

Ok back to the next thing I did for the Regal. I did get it for 1200 and he wouldn't come down from that.It was leaking alot of oil from the 307 so I started working on the top have of the 307. Here's some pics.
 

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Looks like it missed a few oil changes, but as long as it's not making any weird noises and has oil pressure I wouldn't be too concerned. I would run some 5w30 through it for a few hundred miles and watch the oil level. You can try scraping sludge out but you have to be really careful you don't leave anything loose that could clog something. I'm not a big fan of flushes. Also, when you removed the intake manifold you probably noticed that tray/gasket thing. Very prone to leaks on the olds 307 and could also cause a short of sludge build up, mine had it from that. The olds 307 isn't a powerhouse but it's indestructible.
 
The next thing I did was buy Flowtech headers and that was a mistake. I had to cut and weld them to seal to the 7A heads because of round ports verses square port headers and then they were to close to the starter and tried to bend it over and on the right side had to notch the frame. Now the left one leaks, with 2 stock gaskets since they fit better than the header gaskets, probably since I bent it over. I would advise anyone doing this to try another header company or switch the heads to the older style that had square ports and weld the center port divider up level with the surface of the mounting area.
 

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Here is the pics with the stock gaskets and after I welded and grinded the mounting surface of the headers to fit the head.
I ground the divider down to a point on the header so the air would flow around it. I figured that would help it flow better than being flat and blocking the flow.
 

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ronbz455 said:
Here is the pics with the stock gaskets and after I welded and grinded the mounting surface of the headers to fit the head.
I ground the divider down to a point on the header so the air would flow around it. I figured that would help it flow better than being flat and blocking the flow.

Sorry for the delay but no free time. Next the headers hit the starter so I had to bend them over and they hit the frame on the right side so I had to cut it to clear 1 pipe. The left header now leaks. I'm really done with making an OLDS motor work in a Buick. I have a 403 block that was magged and a crank that was polished so that is for sale for 300 what I got in it. I have a .060 over Buick 350 that with new bearings they are close to .002 clearance and Hirsche rods so I want to build that for the Regal.
 
I might take the 72 8.5 out of my Skylark and get a coil over conversion kit and weld some frame rails on the inside of the original to get more tire clearance.
I would like to get a 200 R4 and beef it up and use a 2500 stall at first and see how that works.
I got to get the 350 Buick engine built first.
I got new carpet for 150 and T Type seats and steering wheel for 400. Now the interior looks better but still need a headliner.
 

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