BUILD THREAD JRP's '87 Regal Thread

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Nov 4, 2012
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Brief Timeline of this Car-

March 31, 2012-
Purchased car as a project for $1000.

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2012-2014- did some hack repairs on the body work, replaced the seats and steering wheel, made minor cosmetic changes and repairs and various mechanical repairs. Acquired lots of parts for later on.

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December 2014-Sept 2015- with a lot of help from a couple mentors, repaired the body work correctly. Cut out old "repairs", cut out rust, made patch panels, welded patch panels in. Replaced hood with GN hood and doors with rust free doors. Replaced body bushings with energy suspension polyurethane bushings. Fully repainted the entire car. Fabricated and installed new fuel and brake lines, installed new fuel tank. Replaced carpet and installed trunk carpet kit.

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January 2016- 3.8L V6 pulled and scrapped. TH200 given away.

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March 2016- 1st Buick 350 purchased. Disassembled to bare block, then lost interest in the project.

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April 2016-July 2018- car sat engineless under a cover, virtually untouched. I was uninterested in it and distracted with other projects.

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July 2018 is where this thread picks up.

It's approaching three years since I've done much of anything to my Regal and I'm just now preparing to get back into it. My interest in working on it kinda waned after I got all the body work done so I set it aside, moved on and completed a few other projects. But now I've pretty much got all of those projects to a point I can consider them complete and I can return my focus to the Regal and have it as my sole project.

I spent the last few days just cleaning the garage around it, lots of sh*t seemed to have accumulated during the last 3 years. Monday was garbage night so I put a ton of stuff out for the trash and organized and cleaned the garage so I'll have a neat workspace.

Now I've gone back and forth about a million times over what to do with this car's drivetrain, from Buick 350s, to Buick 430s, to SBCs, to LS swaps to crate motors. But for right now, I want to get this car running and driving on a tighter budget, without half-assing too much. Even if it's not my dream powertrain, even if it doesn't make a ton of power. Just something that will look nice, sound decent, not be a total dog like the V6 was. That will keep me happy for the foreseeable future.

So weighing my options, I think the best choice is to buy a good running 87-95 TBI motor, putting an intake and a carb on it, clean it up and paint it, and run it. Yeah the heads on the TBIs suck, but they are plentiful and can be had for a lot less than a Vortec. As for a transmission, I plan on finding a used, working TH350 and running it as-is. I'll have it on top of a dual hump crossmember. For now I'm not too worried about the 7.5 open rear as it is mechanically fine and has brand new brakes on it, it's just very poorly geared (2.41, I think?) and not limited slip. I think 7.5 should be strong enough to hold up to this very mild setup.

I'm starting with small stuff, I found a set of frame mounts for $10 on Craigslist and I found an Edelbrock 1405 with electronic choke that's barely used for $160. Im going to reuse my driveshaft so I'm going to put new u-joints in it and maybe replace the slip yoke.

As for intakes I think I'm going to go with the Summit branded Weiand 226016 or if I can find a good price on a used Edelbrock 2104 I'll use it. With the crossmember I'm tempted to go with the super cheap Jegs unit but the exhaust fitment has me a little nervous. Still it's much cheaper than the G-Force x-member. Im also probably going to use a set of shorty headers. The ones I've found are Hedman 68600. Can anyone confirm or deny that those headers will work with a column shift? Also any word on the quality of them?

Anyways this is the unofficial thread for getting the Regal back together, so for now anything about the car will go here. I'm going to try and move this project as fast as I can, but it's still probably gonna be slow progress. Certainly won't be done in a month or anything.
 
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pagrunt

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Sep 14, 2014
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Those Hedmans will work with the column linkage. https://www.hedman.com/product-detail/68600
Shame you're not looking for a TPI (I know not cheap.) At a yard off 22 in Blairsville (Danser's Auto Repair & Salvage, 259 Horsmans Rd Blairsville, Pa 15717, 724-459-6448) there is a '88/'89 Formula FireBird still holding onto a complete TPI motor/serpitine set up/computer harness/TH700R4. Not sure if it's a 305 or 350 (missing emissions tag, forgot to get VIN), if is/was running or if the trans was good.
 
Nov 4, 2012
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I went and had the 4 tires I had laying around for the regal mounted up today. They are about 1/2 tread and a bit small, but they were free so I won't complain. Then I pushed it outside for the first time in over a year, maybe more. I swept underneath where it was sitting, then I pulled the cover off and walked around to assess any damage that may have happened in storage. I found one small scratch on the hood, probably from people setting sh*t on it, but I think it's only into the clear, so it may polish out some. But of course leave it to clumsy me, I went to put the old ecm back in the car for now, and bumped it against the quarter and put a tiny chip in it. Doh! Anyways, other than one scratch and my own stupid goof up, it's really just dusty and covered in spider webs. Here's some pictures as it sits.

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1evilregal

Comic Book Super Hero
Apr 23, 2009
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good to see you getting back to it! I remember how it looked when you started, and love how it turned out! still digging the color!
 
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good to see you getting back to it! I remember how it looked when you started, and love how it turned out! still digging the color!

Thanks Darin! Yeah it was pretty ugly for a while. I'm still very much in love with the color myself. It really does get a lot darker in the shade, you can kinda see it between the first and second pictures.
 
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So I spent some time today looking at my wiring harness and I need a little help IDing some wires.

Not sure on this one-
IMG_20180727_214029089-2004x2672.jpg


I know these are alternator-
IMG_20180727_214110849-2672x2004.jpg


Pretty sure this one is the oil PSI sender-
IMG_20180727_214139344-2672x2004.jpg


No idea what this one is-
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Don't remember this one either-
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Temp sensor I think-
IMG_20180727_214122445-2672x2004.jpg


Could've sworn this was for the A/C compressor-
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