My 'New' 87 Regal Thread

[MrSony]

And boy, I know about those f*cking manifold bolts. I snapped off just about eryone of em. Machine shop went easy on me and only charged 100$ to have em drilled out and tapped. About 10 or so were broken and all but three flush. 400$ total for a 3 angle valve job including that 100$. Good thing is this already had (and yours does too, mine was a '76 as well from a lesabre turned stock car) and it doesn't need hardened seats if the originals are fine. Good luck! Oh, and if you decide to repaint it GM blue, let me know what brand you choose. I am on the fence because I am super picky about the shade. I want it to basically look 100% like the faded blue on your valve covers if a shade lighter because it's new.

 

[joesregalproject]

Here it is, 90% torn down. Been working on it a lot the past couple days. The car patiently waits under its cover.

It was a little sludged up inside but nowhere pclose to how bad my V6 was. Using a little ingenuity and a floor jack, I was able to unbolt the engine from the stand and shim it forward with washers enough that the end of the crank clears the engine stand and I can spin the crank. Then I had a hell of a scare. I couldn't get the crankshaft to spin a full 360. There was a stretch of about 120* that it would just stop solid and I couldn't spin it. I got really panicked thinking I bought a junk engine and I'm out my money, but after working it back and forth a few times and some persuasion from my giant cheater bar, it finally broke free and now spins 360* easily. My guess is there was some crud buildup from sitting that it was hitting somewhere and it was preventing a full 360 spin. I still have to take the exhaust manifolds off, then I'll be doing the head gaskets. Stay tuned.

 

[87BlazeLS]

Joe, Make sure you change out all the freeze plugs in the block. Get the marine grade ones If they make them.
For that motor.

 

[MrSony]

Here it is, 90% torn down. Been working on it a lot the past couple days. The car patiently waits under its cover.

View attachment 48928

It was a little sludged up inside but nowhere pclose to how bad my V6 was. Using a little ingenuity and a floor jack, I was able to unbolt the engine from the stand and shim it forward with washers enough that the end of the crank clears the engine stand and I can spin the crank. Then I had a hell of a scare. I couldn't get the crankshaft to spin a full 360. There was a stretch of about 120* that it would just stop solid and I couldn't spin it. I got really panicked thinking I bought a junk engine and I'm out my money, but after working it back and forth a few times and some persuasion from my giant cheater bar, it finally broke free and now spins 360* easily. My guess is there was some crud buildup from sitting that it was hitting somewhere and it was preventing a full 360 spin. I still have to take the exhaust manifolds off, then I'll be doing the head gaskets. Stay tuned.

My 350 was very VERY clean on the inside. And no sludge. Not even in the pan. 😛

 

[-83MONTESS-]

I got a 1970 Buick 455 that would be killer in this car for sale........

 

[joesregalproject]

Great! Always love when people choose a Buick 350. Very good motors. Might aswell stab a cam in there if you can fit it in the budget. Comp 268H with .469/.469 lift in the kit with timing set, cam, lifters and springs and valvestem seals (won't fit) is only about 350$ shipped from summit. 😀

Do you have a link to summits website for that kit?

 

[Garrett1982]

http://m.summitracing.com/parts/cca-k92-203-4

Do you have a link to summits website for that kit?

 

[MrSony]

Do you have a link to summits website for that kit?

Yep, Garrett beat me to it. That's the kit. Very good for the money. Fortunately my stock rockers/shafts and pushrods were in good enough shape to reuse. TA Performance makes new stamped steel rockers and shaft setups for about 150$.
http://www.taperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TA_1316
You'd have to download the PDF of their catalog (anything from the aluminum 215 from the 60s to aftermarket aluminum 455 and 231 blocks) or search on their/summit's site to find pushrods if yours are bad.

 

[MrSony]

Sorry if it's like I'm trying to make you go broke, but these parts are well worth the money. Just a stock type 4bbl intake/aluminum intake from TA (or if you can find an older poston which is a smidge better on the highside of 4500rpm), in that 350 with that cam, and a well tuned rebuilt qjet with a good th350/200r4 and at least a 3.42 gear will be an AWESOME car. I've ridden in a few setup like this and they are ~300hp ROCKETS. They are a far sight faster than a comparable gbody with a SBC of the same era with the same type upgrades. I bet it's the long stroke/small bore (350 buick bore stock is 3.8 and stock stroke is 3.85. Bore it 0.030 and you have an almost square engine 😀) and its about 150-160lbs lighter. You'll be very satisfied when it's done. Beautiful cruiser with more than enough giddyup.

 

[joesregalproject]

I really want to do the cam kit. I'm not gonna do cam bearings, but I do want to get a bigger cam in there. From what I've heard on the V8buick forum, most guys seem to agree the only real advantage to the aluminum intakes is the weight, and actually the Poston S Divider might actually be a bit of a downgrade besides weight from a factory cast unit. At least that's what I've heard. The other 'performance' mods I want to do are the high-volume oil pump rebuild, and I'd like to rebuild my 750 cfm Q-Jet to dump a little more fuel. Other than that, it's just gonna be gaskets (heads, intake, timing cover, water pump oil pan, valve covers), timing set, water pump and a general clean up and some maintenance stuff. Also gonna do an exhaust, probably going to use stock manifolds, since they look to be relatively unrestrictive and Flowmaster 10s seem to sound nice. I kind of want it to be loud, lol. Nothing like a screaming engine to make you feel like a little kid 😀. Plus all my other cars are quiet, so at least one of them has to make a little noise!