BUILD THREAD JRP's '87 Regal Thread

[fleming442]

After all that, I'd invest in some Cometics to squeeze every bit of compression out of it.

 

[MrSony]

Thanks for following up Jared! The Buick motor isn't the cheapest route, but I don't think I would have ever been completely satisfied without one. Stay tuned and I'll keep the updates coming!



That's cool that they kept the same chamber volume so you don't have to totally recalculate your CR. I'm not sure what my final chamber volume will come down to once my heads are milled, obviously it'll depend on how much has to be taken off. I have a set of fel pro heads gaskets that I bought for this engine, but I may go with the the TA gaskets just depending on how all the math works out. IIRC, with the Autotec pistons the actual compression comes to somewhere around 9.23:1 assuming stock heads and a fel pro gasket.

That's a good ratio with the iron heads, I'd keep it at that.

 

[Texas82GP]

Joe, that's going to be a very cool car. From haggard with the V-6 to that stunning paint job with the Buick 350. Very cool transformation.

 

[MrSony]

Did some searching, as far as I can tell Cometic doesn't make a Buick 350 head gasket.

 

[fleming442]

Did some searching, as far as I can tell Cometic doesn't make a Buick 350 head gasket.

Sumbich! Maybe y'all could plead a case to get them done. Once they get the pattern, it's just stacking layers; I'm sure they have the rings.

Joe, where did you find your engine. 350 Buricks are virtually nonexistent here in the mid-Atlantic.

 

[MrSony]

Sumbich! Maybe y'all could plead a case to get them done. Once they get the pattern, it's just stacking layers; I'm sure they have the rings.

Joe, where did you find your engine. 350 Buricks are virtually nonexistent here in the mid-Atlantic.

Post #34 alludes to it being from Indiana, in a Jeep, P/O thinks it was from a '72 Skylark originally. Big body buicks are more common than one might think, but most of them were big block cars and have long since been pillaged.

 

[joesregalproject]

Joe, that's going to be a very cool car. From haggard with the V-6 to that stunning paint job with the Buick 350. Very cool transformation.

Thanks Jared! It's certainly taking me long enough!

Joe, where did you find your engine. 350 Buricks are virtually nonexistent here in the mid-Atlantic.

Yeah, I found that out as I started searching for one. I ended up finding it on Craigslist via Searchtempest just west of Fort Wayne, Indiana. I bought a hitch receiver for my Subaru and rented a U-Haul trailer to go get it. It was about 5.5 hour drive one-way.

 

[DRIVEN]

I'm being similarly tempted by a Toro 425 about 8 hours west of me.
This old stuff is getting tougher to find with each passing year. It's easier to justify a long roadtrip for the right items than it was even just a couple years ago.

 

[joesregalproject]

I'm being similarly tempted by a Toro 425 about 8 hours west of me.
This old stuff is getting tougher to find with each passing year. It's easier to justify a long roadtrip for the right items than it was even just a couple years ago.

I'm always looking for a reason to take a road trip anyways, and it only took a day. I love getting to drive, plus I got to stop by Summit Racing in Akron and it was during the height of the fall colors and I got to see a lot of really beautiful farmland in Ohio.

 

[joesregalproject]

Machine shop update: The crankshaft is finally back and ready to go. I don't know if I said this anywhere earlier but it was magged, cleaned, cut .010 on both the rod and main journals and polished. The rods are all balanced to each other and ready to go. Autotec has finished the pistons and they are in the mail. I got a set of lifters, I forget the brand, but they are not the Johnson or Delphi ones that TA sells. On the last Buick Bob just finished, he ordered the Johnson lifters from TA and said the chamfer on them was ugly so he sent them back, and he won't use the Delphis because they are made south of the border. I ordered a neoprene rear main seal from TA so hopefully that will never leak. I still have to order a camshaft. Its either going to be the Crower 3 or the TA284, I told Bob to look at both and pick whichever he though would be better matched to the car.

The cylinder heads have been milled, Bob said he only milled them enough to true them, it was just under .010". He then leveled all of the rocker shaft pedestals so they are all at the exact same height. Today his assistant Mike was preparing to level the spring seats and put the guides in.

So things are moving along!

Also I used the SEM interior paint I got yesterday to touch up the back of my rear seat cushion. It's not perfect but considering it was completely gray before I think it's pretty good.