BUILD THREAD JRP's '87 Regal Thread

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MrSony

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Nov 15, 2014
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I've kinda been sleeping on the Regal since I got the engine home a few weeks ago, but I did get something done today. I took 4 of my Delco alternators to the generator rebuild shop I usually use and told them to rebuild the best one. So they did, and I traded the other 3 as cores. Still costs way less than one from the parts store and it's a better alternator plus they are good people and a local business. So now I've got an alternator and a power steering pump.

View attachment 117584 View attachment 117583
Almost a shame it's gonna be under the hood.
 
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Nov 4, 2012
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Interesting, how many amps? You didn't have a 12 SI core?

I think it's 65 amps. I have a 5 gallon bucket that I keep alternators in, and from what I could tell all my GM ones were identical except for the pulleys on them. I kept 1 as a spare. Plus I have a few 3G Ford alternators for my truck.

Almost a shame it's gonna be under the hood.

They do really nice work. They did the alternator on the Toyota, on my truck, on my E36, and on my old K1500. You can bring in the crustiest, junk alternator and they will give it back looking and working like new. They get it done same day, and they won't sell you a rebuild if you don't need it.
 
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So I talked to Bob today, asked for his suggestions on water pump, fuel pump, fan clutch and thermostat.

For the water pump Bob said to go with a Flowkooler. It's basically a GMB pump with an upgraded billet impeller. For the thermostat Bob said use a Robertshaw 180°. For fuel pump, he said any off the shelf parts store pump is fine.

I asked about the fan clutch and Bob said I should stick with a solid fan. He said there's nothing wrong with a clutch fan, but it's too hard to find a good quality clutch. He said he personally would stick with the solid fan or otherwise go with electric fans.

So I've got the fuel pump ordered from Amazon, I went with a three line Airtex. Should have it tomorrow. I'm thinking about taking a ride up to Summit to buy the water pump and thermostat, since I get charged tax either way now. I'm looking for excuses to get out of the house, we've got my uncle and his 9 year old grandson staying with us for the next week.
 
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fleming442

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Dec 26, 2013
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I'm a bit of an electron junkie, so I vote electric fans. You can get'em cheap from the p-n-p; we paid $10 for a pair of fans with shroud off a v6 90s Grand Am which are on the 67 and doing a great job with the 500hp 468. I have 4th gen F-body fans on the Pig, and they work well, too. My only complaint is the Painful Products thermostatic switch has failed on the 67, so I wired in an "oh, sh*t!!" bypass switch to trip the relays in case it fails again.
 
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MrSony

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You will need a fan spacer to get the fan in the shroud since the sbb is shorter front to back than the 307 or 305.
 
Nov 4, 2012
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I'm a bit of an electron junkie, so I vote electric fans. You can get'em cheap from the p-n-p; we paid $10 for a pair of fans with shroud off a v6 90s Grand Am which are on the 67 and doing a great job with the 500hp 468. I have 4th gen F-body fans on the Pig, and they work well, too. My only complaint is the Painful Products thermostatic switch has failed on the 67, so I wired in an "oh, sh*t!!" bypass switch to trip the relays in case it fails again.

I think you have the right idea. I would want to upgrade to electric fans eventually anyways, so I may as well just do them now. I have to research a little but I know a lot of people use the intrepid fans or f body fans. Wiring I can handle, I mainly want a fan/radiator setup that fits in with minimal or no cutting and drilling.

What fan was on the 3.8?

It had a seized clutch fan. I have it somewhere.
 
Oct 14, 2008
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Melville,Saskatchewan
The GM 4 blade fan, even without a shroud cools the 350 in my 70, no problem. Foxtrot on here bought the replacement for that fan. He had a nice drop on his 403 over the 5 blade clutch fan in his G body.
 

fleming442

Captain Tenneal
Dec 26, 2013
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My point was more to the fact that almost any dual fan setup will work. I don't know how much "bolt-in" there will be (that damn PA water, again) because I had to fab brackets for both applications.
 
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