New to the Site, '85 Regal LS Swap

[MechE]

New member, doing an LQ4/4L80E swap in my '85 Regal. Figured I should introduce myself and post some pictures of the car.

This forum has been helpful in my build so far and hopefully I can give back as I get further along in the process. The car is not running yet, but all of the major components have been fitted.

Would anyone be interested in a build thread? I have some pictures of the process and could also share the parts that I have used so far.

Let me know, and thanks y'all.

 

[superbon54]

Welcome, the regal looks super clean!

Build threads are always fun!

 

[doood]

Can I see how you installed the electric pedal? I see the electronic throttle body.

Nice and clean - how many miles on the engine?

 

[L92 OLDS]

Engine bay looks very clean. Welcome to the forum. Does it run yet?

 

[corvettez06]

Welcome to the club !

 

[Ron_NC]

Great looking car! Build thread

 

[awdblazer]

have a picture of the coils by the heater box? what engine moutns did you use?

 

[MechE]

scaryjello I am actually working on designing a pedal mount right now. Here is what I have mocked up using the pedal from the donor vehicle (2005 Express Van):

This is using the factory plastic spacer/pivot and some scrap wood:

I previously took measurements of the regal pedal mount and the van pedal and then used this mockup to design a bracket:

I haven't started cutting/bending metal yet but hopefully this will work. The rounded thing on the left side of the image is the van pedal without the arm shown.

The LQ4 has 53k miles on it and the 3.8 has either 14k or 114k, I'm not sure which, although when I removed the right rear wheel the factory sticker was still present.

Anubis it does not run yet, still have the pedal, power steering lines, fuel lines, and lots of wiring to do.

Thanks for all the likes and encouragement, I'll post a build thread soon.

 

[MechE]

Just a general question, do people like full images or the thumbnails better?


awdblazer I used Holley for the engine mounts, transmission mount/crossmember, oil pan, and full exhaust. Everything fits extremely well. My only difficulty was in fitting the headers around the 4L80E and the left side pinch weld on the firewall. I ended up cutting both ears off of the transmission and the inspection cover after the engine and transmission were installed, and the pinch weld had to be bent over. If I had to do it over again I would have cut the ears off before installing the engine and transmission.

Here is a list of the parts I used from Holley:

Engine mounts: 12643HKR
Engine mount cage: 71221004HKR
Engine mount insert: 71221014HKR
Transmission crossmember: 12644HKR
Transmission Bracket: 12656HKR
Transmission mount: 71223029HKR
Oil pan: 302-3
Headers: 70101506-3HKR
Exhaust adapters: 70701318-RHKR
Exhaust: 70501363-RHKR

The price for theses parts is a little high in my opinion for what you are getting, but you are also paying for the engineering effort that went into designing all the parts. The entire system works very well together and has saved me a lot of time along the way. Clearance was tight around the heater box and I did end up removing the last boss from the right side valve cover as well as cutting the coil bracket. It is tight (.1"), although in the picture it looks closer than it is.

This next photo shows how I cut the factory coil bracket and boss on the valve cover. The assembly is still stiff enough to support the coils. That is the best angle I could get through the heater hoses.

Here is the factory bracket and the material in the red square was removed.

 

[64nailhead]

I used a different motor mount, mine allowed for the engine to be moved fore and aft. I slid mine ahead so that I would have easy access to get valve covers and heads off in the car.

Do your mounts not allow to slide the engine and trans forward?