BUILD THREAD JRP's '87 Regal Thread

[MrSony]

Awesome. The dried coolant could've been a leaky bypass (S shaped hose) in the past. Keep that steel line and fitting for the power brakes, you can use it on the 4 barrel intake. Kinda hard to find. The rocker buttons can be bought (ordered, sigh) at most autoparts stores, if they "don't have any" for say, a 72 skylark, go with a more "popular" car, like a '70 GS 455 or a Grand National. Always seems to show up for them. You can, if you want, swap to the mid-late 70s stamped steel rocker arms off your '76 instead of the aluminum ones you have on there. Nothing wrong with the aluminum ones, they're just.. well aluminum. People will pay money for your bracketry, not a lot, but enough to warrant not throwing them away. Also, your dipstick is gone. You can use the one from your '76. Ut's two peice, lower bolts to block behind the driver's manifold, upper bolts to the head shield. Be sure to crack the timing cover open, even though it looks good. If the timing set isn't nylon, it's been replaced. If it doesn't have a lot of slack, feel free to leave it. check the condition of the fuel pump eccentric and see if the oil slinger is still in there. If the eccentric is is deeply grooved, it means either the engine has/had oil pressure problems, the oil slinger is/was missing, or the engine has a lot of miles on it. Also check the distributor and cam gear. If there is a lot of wear on either, replacement time. Again, you can scrounge those parts off your '76 if they're usable. You have some (all 4?) valve cover spark plug retainer studs, that's good. Those are always missing or broken. TA sells the little retainers that slip over the studs for 8mm wires, if you can't find any local or your ones from the '76 are missing. I see a fram filter on there... use a good filter like a Bosch 3423, or the AC Delco PF52, etc. Something with an anti drainback valve. The heads from 72/73 are the same, other than casting numbers, so no worries there. Plugs look good, engine looks like it was running great. Looking forward to how this all turns out.

 

[joesregalproject]

Awesome. The dried coolant could've been a leaky bypass (S shaped hose) in the past. Keep that steel line and fitting for the power brakes, you can use it on the 4 barrel intake. Kinda hard to find. The rocker buttons can be bought (ordered, sigh) at most autoparts stores, if they "don't have any" for say, a 72 skylark, go with a more "popular" car, like a '70 GS 455 or a Grand National. Always seems to show up for them. You can, if you want, swap to the mid-late 70s stamped steel rocker arms off your '76 instead of the aluminum ones you have on there. Nothing wrong with the aluminum ones, they're just.. well aluminum. People will pay money for your bracketry, not a lot, but enough to warrant not throwing them away. Also, your dipstick is gone. You can use the one from your '76. Ut's two peice, lower bolts to block behind the driver's manifold, upper bolts to the head shield. Be sure to crack the timing cover open, even though it looks good. If the timing set isn't nylon, it's been replaced. If it doesn't have a lot of slack, feel free to leave it. check the condition of the fuel pump eccentric and see if the oil slinger is still in there. If the eccentric is is deeply grooved, it means either the engine has/had oil pressure problems, the oil slinger is/was missing, or the engine has a lot of miles on it. Also check the distributor and cam gear. If there is a lot of wear on either, replacement time. Again, you can scrounge those parts off your '76 if they're usable. You have some (all 4?) valve cover spark plug retainer studs, that's good. Those are always missing or broken. TA sells the little retainers that slip over the studs for 8mm wires, if you can't find any local or your ones from the '76 are missing. I see a fram filter on there... use a good filter like a Bosch 3423, or the AC Delco PF52, etc. Something with an anti drainback valve. The heads from 72/73 are the same, other than casting numbers, so no worries there. Plugs look good, engine looks like it was running great. Looking forward to how this all turns out.

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to keep that brake vacuum line. Is there any real advantage to the steel rocker arms over the aluminum ones? I have both and both are in good shape. I will get the buttons for them regardless of which set I use. I have the bracketry and accessories for all 3 engines (the V6 and both V8s), so I'll be able to pick and choose the best of what I have and sell the rest cheap. I knew the dipstick and tube were gone, the seller was upfront about it, and I already found the one off the 76 so all good there. I will open up the timing cover and inspect and replace as needed. And yes, it has all four of those spark plug wires studs, plus I have some from the other motor as well. I'm not a fan of the orange can Frams either, I usually use wix or Napa Gold. The heads don't really bother me, but it is kinda odd. I'll have to see if I can find the date codes and see if pagrunt is right.

Thanks for the info and following along, I'll keep the updates coming.

 

[MrSony]

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to keep that brake vacuum line. Is there any real advantage to the steel rocker arms over the aluminum ones? I have both and both are in good shape. I will get the buttons for them regardless of which set I use. I have the bracketry and accessories for all 3 engines (the V6 and both V8s), so I'll be able to pick and choose the best of what I have and sell the rest cheap. I knew the dipstick and tube were gone, the seller was upfront about it, and I already found the one off the 76 so all good there. I will open up the timing cover and inspect and replace as needed. And yes, it has all four of those spark plug wires studs, plus I have some from the other motor as well. I'm not a fan of the orange can Frams either, I usually use wix or Napa Gold. The heads don't really bother me, but it is kinda odd. I'll have to see if I can find the date codes and see if pagrunt is right.

Thanks for the info and following along, I'll keep the updates coming.

The stamped steel rockers are stronger than aluminum. That's about it. On a bone stock street engine that will probably never purposefully see over 5500rpm, the aluminum rockers will be fine. If you have the alternator from the V6, it will more closely match up to the V6 bracket, notice how on your '72 the alternator plug is facing up, on the V6 it will face downwards, slightly tilted to the passenger side.

 

[joesregalproject]

Got a chance to play with the engine a little more today, again found some interesting stuff. I flipped it over on the stand and pulled the oil pan off, and proceeded to make a mess all over the garage floor, but that's par for the course.

The oil pan doesn't appear to have ever been off, all the hardware appeared original and was matching, and it still had a cork gasket and everything else has been rubber, and it was really stuck on there. Had to use a small pry bar to get it off and bent the lip a little, but no big deal to bend it back. I didn't gack the mating surface of the block at all.



The inside of the crankcase and pan was really clean, but there were some metal shavings on the pickup screen, which was a little disheartening. They actually kinda looked like drill bit shavings though, and one looked like a bristle from a wire wheel so I'm not sure what to make of them. Maybe left overs from a previous job?

The pickup screen itself has a small hole in it so it will be getting replaced.

Other than that everything seemed to look away, I though the cylinder walls looked good, areas around the bearings looked good, nothing looked like it had gotten hot, zero sludge, compression felt good when the crank was turned. Let me know what you think.

 

[DRIVEN]

I wonder why the rod nuts are mismatched? Looks really clean inside for something of that vintage. I think you might have a good one there.

 

[joesregalproject]

I wonder why the rod nuts are mismatched? Looks really clean inside for something of that vintage. I think you might have a good one there.

My blind eyes didn't even notice until you just pointed it out. I guess the metal on the sump screen caught me a little off guard. What do you make of those shavings, cause for concern?

 

[MrSony]

No one makes rubber pan gaskets, cork is all we SBB folk get. No one even makes pans. That metal on the screen is concerning, I'm betting it's from the front cam bearing. They get chewed up on even brand new engines. That connecting rod 100% looks like it's been replaced, or at the very least reconditioned at some point. Hell, wouldn't it be a gas if the engine was .030 with nice pistons? The engine has definately been completely apart once before, so you may have a better chance of it being fine, but an equal chance of it being not fine. Won't know until you dig further.

 

[joesregalproject]

No one makes rubber pan gaskets, cork is all we SBB folk get. No one even makes pans. That metal on the screen is concerning, I'm betting it's from the front cam bearing. They get chewed up on even brand new engines. That connecting rod 100% looks like it's been replaced, or at the very least reconditioned at some point. Hell, wouldn't it be a gas if the engine was .030 with nice pistons? The engine has definately been completely apart once before, so you may have a better chance of it being fine, but an equal chance of it being not fine. Won't know until you dig further.

I'm not sure what that metal is from, but the one piece was definitely a bristle from a wire brush, which makes me think it may be shavings from a previous job, especially now realizing that at least one if the rods was out of it before. I'll give that front cam bearing a quick look when I'm changing the timing set. Other than that I'm gonna continue as before, keeping in mind this engine is supposed to run as is.

 

[joesregalproject]

So I've got the engine disassembled pretty much as far as it needs to go, except I'm gonna pull the starter and exhaust manifolds to paint, but other than that, I'm not taking anything else off of it.

I think I'm real lucky that the water pump and the timing cover came off without breaking any bolts. And it appears someone changed the timing set because the cam gear is metal. Still gonna replace the set though. The distributor gears look okay to me as does the fuel pump drive eccentric.

The timing cover looks good, but there is one gouge where the water pump sits. It doesn't look like it'll affect anything, but I did notice it.

I pulled the intake off and everything looks as clean as the rest of the engine. I spun the engine over a few times by hand and watched l the lifters go up and down to make sure there aren't any rounded cam lobes or anything. The casting at the bottom of the lifters valley is a lot cleaner on this block than my 76 block, maybe someone cleaned it up at some point? They still are pretty messy, so I don't know.

Here's a few more pictures, let me know what you think.

 

[MrSony]

If you pull the cam out (should, to check the front bearing, MARK WHERE THE LIFTERS ARE/WERE if you don't want to swap in a new cam, re-lube with assembly lube upon installation anyway), use a pair of pliers to break off any pointy bits of flashing. Shove paper towels or rags up in between the cam bearing journals from underneath. Note which timing cover bolts go into the water passages, those need thread sealant (I use pipe dope) as well as antiseize on those and all other water pump-timing cover related bolts. Wire wheel the rust off them as well. Yep, that chain looks floppy, best replace it. Everything looks pretty clean, the engine was at least well taken care of, or rebuilt/refreshed recently. Federal Mogul Stock Replacement cam is CS647, if you feel like replacing the cam while it's out. Or just run a Comp 268 cam kit like I did. It builds nice cylinder pressure, will sound nice with some halfway decent exhaust. Either that or a TA_212, the V8 buick forum guys seem to like that one in a stockish street motor. Bit more lift and duration than the 268, but a bit more pricey, being that it's TA. The stock cam looks like it's wearing just fine though. Use a good oil with ZINC, or the additive, and you'll be good. DO. NOT. RUN. THICK. *ss. OIL. It's not a Chevy, you can't do that to a buick. That gouge in the water pump recess seems like it was from a bad pump. Just smooth it over with some sand paper to eliminate any sharp edges.