Hello all! My name is Ryan Samson and I just purchased a 1987 Buick regal. I'm currently stationed in England in the US Air Force so this is going to be a bit of a long distance relationship for a few years. My mother picked the car up for me this weekend and everything seems to be as advertised. The body is as straight as an arrow but the motor needs some serious work. I have some serious plans for the car but I also have a lot of questions. I hope you guys can help me with a lot of them.
I know what I want to do with the exterior of the car...that’s the easy part. It's going to be painted solid silver with 17in torque thrust 2 weeks with limo tint. I'm also going to install a GN hood before it's painted. I’m going to have this done first because it’s easy to explain to the shop.
I know what engine I'm going to get. It's through a speed shop in phoenix that has a great reputation. It's going to be about 330np/350tq out of a chevy 350. It’s going to run about $3k plus installation. I assume this will mount right up? The question I have is about the transmission and rear end. How will they hold up to that amount of power? I'm going to install posi but I'd like to save some money and run the stock transmission if that’s possible. As far as the rear end goes what do you suggest? I always ran a 12 bolt in my f-body cars but they cost a fortune and I was running a LOT more power. 330 at the crank really isn’t that extreme so I don’t think I’ll need to go overboard. This is going to be the 2nd step of my build and it’s not going to happen for about a year so I have some time to think about it.
The interior where things get tricky. Right now it has bench seats but I HATE how it looks. No offence to y'all that prefer the bench seat. In order to change to bucket seats and a floor shifter what needs to happen? Do the seats mount right up? Where can I purchase the transmission linkage and console parts? Are these all things that I'm going to have to search for on ebay and such or is there a good website that I can buy them from?
My brother is going to take some pictures of the car this afternoon and I’ll be sure to post them up. I picked it up for $1800 with a straight body, very nice grey interior (that will be changed eventually) and a very tired dog of a 307. It start and runs okay but it is definitely on its last leg. That was not a big deal to me though because I have plans to change the engine. I know there are going to be hidden costs in this project…if you guys could help bring some of them to light for me so I don’t get blindsided it would be much appreciated!
I look forward to talk with y’all!
Ryan
I know what I want to do with the exterior of the car...that’s the easy part. It's going to be painted solid silver with 17in torque thrust 2 weeks with limo tint. I'm also going to install a GN hood before it's painted. I’m going to have this done first because it’s easy to explain to the shop.
I know what engine I'm going to get. It's through a speed shop in phoenix that has a great reputation. It's going to be about 330np/350tq out of a chevy 350. It’s going to run about $3k plus installation. I assume this will mount right up? The question I have is about the transmission and rear end. How will they hold up to that amount of power? I'm going to install posi but I'd like to save some money and run the stock transmission if that’s possible. As far as the rear end goes what do you suggest? I always ran a 12 bolt in my f-body cars but they cost a fortune and I was running a LOT more power. 330 at the crank really isn’t that extreme so I don’t think I’ll need to go overboard. This is going to be the 2nd step of my build and it’s not going to happen for about a year so I have some time to think about it.
The interior where things get tricky. Right now it has bench seats but I HATE how it looks. No offence to y'all that prefer the bench seat. In order to change to bucket seats and a floor shifter what needs to happen? Do the seats mount right up? Where can I purchase the transmission linkage and console parts? Are these all things that I'm going to have to search for on ebay and such or is there a good website that I can buy them from?
My brother is going to take some pictures of the car this afternoon and I’ll be sure to post them up. I picked it up for $1800 with a straight body, very nice grey interior (that will be changed eventually) and a very tired dog of a 307. It start and runs okay but it is definitely on its last leg. That was not a big deal to me though because I have plans to change the engine. I know there are going to be hidden costs in this project…if you guys could help bring some of them to light for me so I don’t get blindsided it would be much appreciated!
I look forward to talk with y’all!
Ryan
