Put a few hours and a couple bloody knuckles in today. RIP clean garage floor🤣
BUILD THREAD JRP's '87 Regal Thread
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*Long Explanatory Post Warning*
Okay, so here is the details on exactly what my plans are, because I really haven't explained anything very thoroughly. The long and short of it is, I'm stripping it to a bare frame and firewall and building it back up from there. If you care for more details continue reading.
So my reasoning for taking the front clip back off is that I feel like I've neglected the firewall and engine compartment portion of the car. Hindsight is 20/20, but if I was doing this again, I would've probably done this long before I did any of the paint work. However at the time I was less skilled, less experienced, had fewer tools and was just plain dumber. And in addition to that my standards for what I considered acceptable were also lower. I did rattle can the engine bay a couple times over but honestly it needs more attention than that.
So basically here is what I'm planning. First I have to finish removing everything from the front of the car. Not much left to remove at this point, some fuel and brake lines, the e brake cable, and maybe a couple other little things.
The frame (forward of the firewall) and firewall themselves are going to get cleaned, wire wheeled, sanded, scuffed painted, etc. I'll also remove any cracked or dried out seam sealer and caulk the seams with new sealer. I'm not sure what paint I'm going to use yet. Por15 gets a lot of good reviews but I have had issues making it stick to clean metal. It sticks great to rust. I did my gas tank on my truck with it a couple years ago and still looks great. I do know that I want a low gloss black on the frame and firewall parts.
Everything that is removable that will be reused like the windshield wiper linkage, various brackets, braces, etc. are going to get sent to the powder coating shop.
For the A/C box, mine has a hole in the bottom, and also I don't really want A/C. I can repair mine, however I'd prefer a heat only box, but I need to educate myself a little more on the swap before I decide exactly what I'm doing.
I'm a bit conflicted about what to do with the suspension parts. I have a good set of stock arms that could be rebuilt with new bushings and ball joints. Still, old bushings have to be pressed out, arms have to be cleaned, painted or powdered and reassembled with new bushings and ball joints.
I absolutely love UMIs stuff, but it is just so damn expensive. They'll probably have a black Friday sale, usually they take 10% off and do free shipping. Even with a sale, it'd still be over $1000 in a arms.
For spindles, I can either reuse the stock ones for now, but for $200, the Belltech 2" drop spindles seem like a good deal. For coil springs I'll stick with the stock size springs. My 350 Buick shouldn't weigh very much, so standard V6 springs should be fine. I think Brian (307 Regal) used the Belltech spindles and Hotchkiss 2" drop springs on his Regal and I love the way that car sits. For shocks, I'm going to go with Bilsteins. I've never bought them before, but I want good shocks this time.
For the steering linkage, I think the Proforged kit with new centerlink, idler arm, and tie rods is the way to go. Their stuff seems to have a pretty good reputation and I like that it doesn't need to be painted. I'm going to turn my steering box in as a core on an F41 box at one of the parts stores, and I have an Astro steering shaft that has been clocked, welded and repainted.
Brake components are staying stock for now. Stock rotors, calipers, pads. My brake booster was bad, so I'm going to replace it and I'll also replace the master cylinder as well with parts store or RockAuto replacements.
I need to find a new core support because mine was rusted out. It shouldn't be difficult to find a good used one. I may have it powder coated depending on the cost.
Anyways if you've read this far without falling asleep, I appreciate it, and for now, I think that's just about it. If there is anything I left out, mention it, but the purpose of this post is just to explain where I'm going with things, that I'm not just mindlessly tearing things apart in a manic episode.
Okay, so here is the details on exactly what my plans are, because I really haven't explained anything very thoroughly. The long and short of it is, I'm stripping it to a bare frame and firewall and building it back up from there. If you care for more details continue reading.
So my reasoning for taking the front clip back off is that I feel like I've neglected the firewall and engine compartment portion of the car. Hindsight is 20/20, but if I was doing this again, I would've probably done this long before I did any of the paint work. However at the time I was less skilled, less experienced, had fewer tools and was just plain dumber. And in addition to that my standards for what I considered acceptable were also lower. I did rattle can the engine bay a couple times over but honestly it needs more attention than that.
So basically here is what I'm planning. First I have to finish removing everything from the front of the car. Not much left to remove at this point, some fuel and brake lines, the e brake cable, and maybe a couple other little things.
The frame (forward of the firewall) and firewall themselves are going to get cleaned, wire wheeled, sanded, scuffed painted, etc. I'll also remove any cracked or dried out seam sealer and caulk the seams with new sealer. I'm not sure what paint I'm going to use yet. Por15 gets a lot of good reviews but I have had issues making it stick to clean metal. It sticks great to rust. I did my gas tank on my truck with it a couple years ago and still looks great. I do know that I want a low gloss black on the frame and firewall parts.
Everything that is removable that will be reused like the windshield wiper linkage, various brackets, braces, etc. are going to get sent to the powder coating shop.
For the A/C box, mine has a hole in the bottom, and also I don't really want A/C. I can repair mine, however I'd prefer a heat only box, but I need to educate myself a little more on the swap before I decide exactly what I'm doing.
I'm a bit conflicted about what to do with the suspension parts. I have a good set of stock arms that could be rebuilt with new bushings and ball joints. Still, old bushings have to be pressed out, arms have to be cleaned, painted or powdered and reassembled with new bushings and ball joints.
I absolutely love UMIs stuff, but it is just so damn expensive. They'll probably have a black Friday sale, usually they take 10% off and do free shipping. Even with a sale, it'd still be over $1000 in a arms.
For spindles, I can either reuse the stock ones for now, but for $200, the Belltech 2" drop spindles seem like a good deal. For coil springs I'll stick with the stock size springs. My 350 Buick shouldn't weigh very much, so standard V6 springs should be fine. I think Brian (307 Regal) used the Belltech spindles and Hotchkiss 2" drop springs on his Regal and I love the way that car sits. For shocks, I'm going to go with Bilsteins. I've never bought them before, but I want good shocks this time.
For the steering linkage, I think the Proforged kit with new centerlink, idler arm, and tie rods is the way to go. Their stuff seems to have a pretty good reputation and I like that it doesn't need to be painted. I'm going to turn my steering box in as a core on an F41 box at one of the parts stores, and I have an Astro steering shaft that has been clocked, welded and repainted.
Brake components are staying stock for now. Stock rotors, calipers, pads. My brake booster was bad, so I'm going to replace it and I'll also replace the master cylinder as well with parts store or RockAuto replacements.
I need to find a new core support because mine was rusted out. It shouldn't be difficult to find a good used one. I may have it powder coated depending on the cost.
Anyways if you've read this far without falling asleep, I appreciate it, and for now, I think that's just about it. If there is anything I left out, mention it, but the purpose of this post is just to explain where I'm going with things, that I'm not just mindlessly tearing things apart in a manic episode.
Joe, it's worth it to do what you're doing now. Obviously going back stock with alot of parts will save some loot. I actually have the stock lower A arms with new bushings and ball joints, but upgraded the upper to BMR tubular arms because they look better and weigh less.
The best, and only way to get POR15 to stick to clean metal is using their metal prep on it. It's a messy process, but it makes the difference! However, since your car is painted I'd be hesitant to metal prep it in risk of accidentally getting it on that nice paint. Instead I'd recommend what Jared did to his GP. Use the rusty metal primer, then just semi gloss black and be done.
Good to see you getting motivated to tackle the front clip area, just keep at er man. If it helps, here is what mine looked like during initial teardown in Jan. 2012....
The best, and only way to get POR15 to stick to clean metal is using their metal prep on it. It's a messy process, but it makes the difference! However, since your car is painted I'd be hesitant to metal prep it in risk of accidentally getting it on that nice paint. Instead I'd recommend what Jared did to his GP. Use the rusty metal primer, then just semi gloss black and be done.
Good to see you getting motivated to tackle the front clip area, just keep at er man. If it helps, here is what mine looked like during initial teardown in Jan. 2012....
Thanks Scott! I'm just plugging away at it a little bit at a time, trying to put a couple hours in it every day or so.
Those pictures are frighteningly familiar to what I've been looking at with my engine bay. I'm tempted to cheap out by sticking with factory stuff, but I also don't want to be tearing the front end back apart later because I'm not happy with the stock parts. How do you like the BMR arms? They look pretty nice and they are a little cheaper than the UMI stuff.
I've never used the metal prep with POR15 so I guess that's why I have had trouble. I assume that the metal prep would etch the paint if it got onto it? I won't lie, I have been pretty paranoid working around the paint.
I think a rusty metal primer and a coat of semi gloss black would be just fine. This car won't really be exposed to the elements anyway unless I get caught in a rainstorm or something, but I still want to use a good paint to prevent any further corrosion.
Those pictures are frighteningly familiar to what I've been looking at with my engine bay. I'm tempted to cheap out by sticking with factory stuff, but I also don't want to be tearing the front end back apart later because I'm not happy with the stock parts. How do you like the BMR arms? They look pretty nice and they are a little cheaper than the UMI stuff.
I've never used the metal prep with POR15 so I guess that's why I have had trouble. I assume that the metal prep would etch the paint if it got onto it? I won't lie, I have been pretty paranoid working around the paint.
I think a rusty metal primer and a coat of semi gloss black would be just fine. This car won't really be exposed to the elements anyway unless I get caught in a rainstorm or something, but I still want to use a good paint to prevent any further corrosion.
I wish I would have pulled my engine and done that when I did the engine revamp. Now my engine looks pretty good and the frame and fiewall look like crap. Once you get this car all together you really will something to be proud of!
Yeah Joe, the metal prep etches the surface. This is the only pic I could find...the core support after metal prep was applied. It comes in a spray bottle, you spray it on and keep the surface wet for like 15 minutes, then spray it off with water. Basically the water activates the etching process and the surface gets almost a dusty feel to it.
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I mean... Just new stock stuff made my car handle a lot better. Plus the factory bracing. I'm always a fan of just redoing suspensions with stock stuff just to get back to a good starting point. Drive the car for a few months, decide weather or not to go to stiffer springs, coilovers, etc.
Also, if you got a buddy with a big enough scale, weigh that 350. Do the world a favor and settle the argument: does a Buick 350 weigh 450lbs? Add 50lbs to the result for the iron intake.
Also, if you got a buddy with a big enough scale, weigh that 350. Do the world a favor and settle the argument: does a Buick 350 weigh 450lbs? Add 50lbs to the result for the iron intake.
Considering the Buick 350 is a strong, skirted block I am also surprised it weighs so little. It must be its compact size. Of course the Olds 350 weighs the same or less than the sbc 350 and Olds is much bigger in every way.
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