2004 Turbo Regal intro - Dave

[dezldave961]

P.S. - Additional upgrade segments will be:
- transmission pull... pan swap, possibly reduce shift kit harshness, -6AN cooler install, differential inspection, possibly upgrade output shaft
- suspension parts... boxed trailing arms, front/rear strut braces, poly bushings, possibly Police Impala rear struts/springs (BC coilovers might be next year)
- appearance/airflow tweaks... minor paint touch-up, junkyard run for trim pieces, rear diffuser/pan build for trunk area
- engine install... may actually prep my MP112 supercharged "back-up" engine to rip for a bit, until the turbo engine is ready (exhaust manifolds repaired, AUS intake fully adapted, vac/coolant re-routing, SFI balancer swap)
- race prep... winter overhaul: install turbo engine, S&W 8pt rollbar, tubular front control arms (when they're in-stock), etc.
(all pending any issues encountered along the way, but I'll try to stick to this plan)

 

[dezldave961]

Well, the video is slowly getting worked on, and should be uploaded this weekend... until then, a few pics of the recent progress since I took some time off work to "relax" by shouting at things in the garage.

Mounted the Air-Water I/C reservoir in the trunk (GM was even nice enough to provide holes for in/out lines). Decided to use both inlet/outlets, just because... if it seems to be an issue, I'll cap one of each. I also plan on being able to remove it quickly, for events that don't allow street cars to have tanks behind the firewall.

View attachment



Hand-made an intake plenum spacer to raise TB above my fuel rails, since it'd cost ~$150 to buy a spacer from AUS, which is about what the entire Holden intake/plenum cost me. This was ~1/3rd the price for phenolic and hardware. (Dremel w/ router bit, hole saw, drill, files, sanding)... also made a spacer on TB flange with the extra phenolic, so the 75mm TB adapter would clear, too.

View attachment
View attachment
View attachment



Also mounted my trans cooler in the open cavity behind the fog light, and may add 12" fan I have, if there's not enough airflow. Going to add a small peace-of-mind bracket to the bottom, but it's already pretty stable. Easy 36" run for -6AN lines to the fittings under the transmission.

View attachment



Inspected the GM Racing Torsen differential (no wear), then added the cooler fittings, aluminum finned pan, fresh filter, and cleaned for new paint (gloss grey to brighten up the place and show any fluid leaks better under the hood). ...new travel tool set in the background, $99 on sale.

View attachment
View attachment

Again, these, and a bunch of short video clips, should be stitched together in a "Part 2" that I'll upload by tomorrow, hopefully, if my leaf mulching doesn't take all day.

- Dave

 

[fast86gn]

Nice work Dave, can't wait to hear this thing scream down the 1/4 mile

 

[dezldave961]

It rained, so I got this done instead of the yard work. Nothing too in-depth, but trying to get the hang of making short & sweet clips.

 

[dezldave961]

Finally got all the -6AN fittings in to mock-up the ZZP Gen1 fuel rails the way I want them. Summit order should arrive Tuesday with hard-line adapters and more -6AN line to minimize fuel connections near turbo pipes that pass next to right (rear) valve cover.

Original design fed rear log and had a crossover to front, with regulator on front log. I've been running a 4.0 bar OEM-style Bosch FPR (from early 2000's VW/Audi's) since 2009, to give a little more injector head-room over factory 3.5 bar FPR.

Used the old 1/4" NPT supply hole on the front log for a Schrader valve for now, but could be a gauge or wet supply port later.

View attachment



Also got some good time-lapse footage of running the 3/4" NPT tap for the heater core connection, upgrading the press-in design all variations of the 3800's got (the Holden/F-body version for the lower intake is very sketchy-looking, which prompted this). Should be a good watch for Part 3 video in a week-ish, when a little more is done.

View attachment

 

[Jon Early]

I tried running a 3/4" NPT tap in a timing cover once, and the bore seemed to be just a hair too large to cut any significant threads. I thought I was going to have to alumiweld it to prevent leaks.

 

[dezldave961]

I can understand that, and not sure if this port slightly changed between years and chassis's.

I first put a 3/4" NPT fitting I had on-hand up to it, and saw it would taper-seal fine, not going in more than 1-2 threads originally. When the drill/tap set arrived, the drill bit was slightly undersized for the existing port, but just barely, and the tap started grabbing right at the start, and took plenty to get it done.

I have some good images and video that'll be in the next video (my other fitting, 1/2" NPT, is on the slow boat from China, and should get here next week... didn't pay attention to the location on the sale, since they usually get shipped over and stocked state-side).

 

[dezldave961]

Made a basic How-To video for injected poly mounts, since the market is sparse lately.

Feel free to try it if you vehicle needs this, or comment on your own plans/results. There's a variety of options for how to make these engines hold better. I just wanted to keep this beast contained when it gets going in a week or so.

 

[Jon Early]

That was a great exploitation. I don't even have a W-body, and I still watched the whole thing. lol

 

[dezldave961]

Thanks. I know it's been popular for many FWD folks to fill their circular mounts to reinforce. RWD setups usually have more options in the aftermarket, but hopefully gives people confidence to think about options.

 

[Jon Early]

Thanks. I know it's been popular for many FWD folks to fill their circular mounts to reinforce. RWD setups usually have more options in the aftermarket, but hopefully gives people confidence to think about options.

Oops. I got auto-corrected, but exploitation sorta works too lol I meant explanation

I have some Energy poly mounts for mine. I'll probably wait to put them in until I swap the engine and K-member though. I'm glad to see more people posting good 3800 content on YT. I really want to contribute, but I have a hard time working the camera. lol

 

[dezldave961]

It's definitely not simple, which is why I only wind up doing a video every month or so. Between the hassle of spending an afternoon editing to make it halfway entertaining, and the short stints of work with picking/ordering/waiting for little parts, it's not as simple for a regular person to accomplish without a fleet of vehicles and free parts on-demand.

 

[dezldave961]

Got around to dropping the engine in, finally. Merry Christmas to me!

View attachment

I'll plumb it up this week, and should have everything ready to get going soon.

 

[TireFryer]

Subscribed...

 

[dezldave961]

Subscribed...

Thanks, bud. My exhaust manifolds should be back from getting re-welded after holiday shipping rush ends, and it'll be ready to fire up. I was going to add that to the upcoming YouTube video, but I think I've got "too much footage" from the past couple months, so I'll put a Part 3 out. Part 4 will be start/initial re-tune using my new GoPro 8 instead of the trusty, shaky phone that's served me decent for 3-4 videos this year.

 

[dezldave961]

https://youtu.be/ML4ML4pejc2U7E

Short and sweet update, to get it out of the way for the First Start footage coming up!

 

[dezldave961]

Just about ready. Plumbing the Air-Water trunk reservoir with some bulkhead fittings I made with NPT barbs, and I'm going to wire the pump relay to fill and test it tonight, hopefully.

View attachment
View attachment



Did some exhaust manifold wrapping as I installed it, and other mounting work for housekeeping in the front of the car.

View attachment
View attachment

I have some good GoPro wrapping/install footage to put together as a video and catalog the last bits (still missed recording 80-90% of the work, but the broad strokes are there). I'll get more frequent with footage uploads as I actually get out to drive/tune/race it in the near future.

- Dave

 

[TireFryer]

Did you Custom build the hot side? That’s killer...

 

[dezldave961]

Did you Custom build the hot side? That’s killer...

Thanks, it's actually ZZP's larger (Stattama) stainless kit for W-body cars... T4 w/ 3" v-band downpipe, with their log manifolds. I wrapped and hi-temp coated the crossover/downpipe (couple pics in one of the videos), and just wrapped new manifolds to replace the cracked ones.

 

[dezldave961]

It's alive! Now to install coilovers and start the tuning headache.

View attachment