Back To The Regal
- Thread starter joesregalproject
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I've really been putting some thought into what I want to do with this car, and I think I've pretty much narrowed in on one option. What I've wanted for this car from the very beginning is a fast street car, not quite a dedicated race car, still street friendly, mostly a cruiser, but still able put out a respectable ET.
The other thing that I really want is ease of installation. I don't want to have to coordinate machine shops, myself, parts suppliers, parts compatibility, shipping, transportation, etc. So I'm willing to pay a little extra for convenience.
Lastly, I want a warranty. I only want to do this once. I don't want to pay to have a motor rebuilt only to have it develop a rod knock or head gasket leak, or eat the camshaft. I've seen it happen too many times, and sure a lot of that was probably user error and not the engine or builder, but I'd like to avoid it altogether.
I think I'd rather pay more initially to get what I want the first time around. This project has been going on 6 years, and while it is the next project in line, I'm not gonna rush to finish it all of a sudden.
Here's what I've decided on-
http://www.jegs.com/i/Blueprint-Engines/138/BP3830CTC1K2/10002/-1
Blueprint 383, 405 HP, 440 lb ft of torque, fully dressed, ready to run. Comes with a Jegs TH400, torque converter, flexplate, and all the bolts to put it together. The engine comes with a 30 month, 50,000 mile warranty, and I've heard nothing but good things about the Jegs transmissions. The engine comes already broken in, with the timing set and and a Dyno sheet. Costs an extra $210 to be delivered to my door, I don't even have to leave the house.
I provide the front accessories, headers & exhaust, wiring, fuel line, crossmember, driveshaft and rear end, everything else is included.
Probably will take me 6 or 8 months to save up for it, but I think the convenience and the end result will be worth it.
The other thing that I really want is ease of installation. I don't want to have to coordinate machine shops, myself, parts suppliers, parts compatibility, shipping, transportation, etc. So I'm willing to pay a little extra for convenience.
Lastly, I want a warranty. I only want to do this once. I don't want to pay to have a motor rebuilt only to have it develop a rod knock or head gasket leak, or eat the camshaft. I've seen it happen too many times, and sure a lot of that was probably user error and not the engine or builder, but I'd like to avoid it altogether.
I think I'd rather pay more initially to get what I want the first time around. This project has been going on 6 years, and while it is the next project in line, I'm not gonna rush to finish it all of a sudden.
Here's what I've decided on-
http://www.jegs.com/i/Blueprint-Engines/138/BP3830CTC1K2/10002/-1
Blueprint 383, 405 HP, 440 lb ft of torque, fully dressed, ready to run. Comes with a Jegs TH400, torque converter, flexplate, and all the bolts to put it together. The engine comes with a 30 month, 50,000 mile warranty, and I've heard nothing but good things about the Jegs transmissions. The engine comes already broken in, with the timing set and and a Dyno sheet. Costs an extra $210 to be delivered to my door, I don't even have to leave the house.
I provide the front accessories, headers & exhaust, wiring, fuel line, crossmember, driveshaft and rear end, everything else is included.
Probably will take me 6 or 8 months to save up for it, but I think the convenience and the end result will be worth it.
I have started to answer your post three different times and don't know how to do it with out sounding negative. I don't even want money to enter the equation. I have no objections to your to your decision and your considerations make sense. Since you only want to do this once and will pay more initially to get what you want the first time around you might want to consider going a little further. 50,000 mi guarantee sounds fantastic but in reality your getting a 30 month warranty from when you receive it. The engine comes with cast crank(I hope cast steel) and cast pistons which are good @ that HP(I also hope it has p-series bearings). The transmission is a stock re-build with a shift kit in it. My point being it's a great time to think about forged internals and better heads with an upgraded trans that will hold power which won't hinder future engine upgrades.
If you think you will be happy with your choice by all means ignore my flapping jaws.
If you think you will be happy with your choice by all means ignore my flapping jaws.
Hey, I appreciate any input. I can certainly use all the help and suggestions I can get.
Let's ignore the money factor. Building cars isn't cheap, we all know it. Obviously I'm not looking to dump my life savings into the car, but parts are expensive, it's just a fact. If I wanted a cheap hobby, I'd build jigsaw puzzles and not cars.
I read through the specs pretty thoroughly, and the cast internals were something I did notice. The ZZ6 Chevy Performance motor makes the same horsepower but only 406 lb ft of torque. A turn key version with front accessories runs $7300. The ZZ6 has a forged crank and forged powder metal rods and 62cc fast burn aluminum heads. The Blueprint 383 runs $4655, makes more torque, but no forged internals. The Blueprint engine comes with Vortec cast iron heads.
If the car is making 400+ HP and torque, I'm not likely (at all) to continue to upgrade. It's still a street car. I want to be able to make an occasional pass and not be embarrassed, and I think this motor and transmission is more than able to get that done. Once it is up and driving, I just want to drive and enjoy it for a while, not wrench. Still maybe the ZZ6 would be a better choice? After all, plans do change.
The warranty is what it is, nobody is going to warrant an engine for life, but 2 1/2 years is nothing to shake a stick at. It's much better than the 90 day warranty I'm going to get with a high mileage junkyard LS.
As for the bearings, I can certainly give Blueprint a call and find out what bearings they use.
I appreciate your thoughts, I know you have quite a bit of racing experience and I've seen some of your projects, impressive is an understatement.
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Come up to ol’ Canada and I’ll hook you up with a 5.3 with harness and ecm for $650 Canadian (which is like 2 cups of coffee and a case of beer for you guys) Buy yourself an EFI live tuner and I’ll do the initial tune for free. Truck motors are pretty common up here, but unfortunately I’m probably on the other side of the continent as you. ☹️
Those Buick 350s neither look nor weigh a whole lot more than the V6. I can see why you like that motor so much.
Yep. People think because of the deep skirts and the wide intake that it's a heavy SOB, no so. I can hulk grab a 350 buick bare block and walk around with it. A 350 chevy is definitely heavier. Buick (and olds, pontiac and caddy from what I understand) used more nickle in their blocks (basically making the whole thing, and the heads) hardened by default and therefore stronger, so they can use less metal to retain the same strength and durability as its GM brethren. A BBB 455 is only 25lbs heavier than a 350 chevy, both being all iron. Plus the SBB350's 3.8 bore and 3.85 stroke makes for a HELL of a lot of torque down low. My '70 GS 350 motor was rated at 410ftlbs at under 3krpm, forget the number exactly. HP was 315 at 4500.
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