83 Regal into Turbo

[justin84]

If I can get an 87 engine for a decent price I will get it...but I want to get my car on the road as soon as I can , Spring is comming... and I just hate sitting around waiting if you know what I mean.. Are you sure that I just can't run my buick on that E-85 ?? My Chevy truck can run on it..it is one of those alt fuel trucks..
I am waiting for an answer to find out how much that guy wants for the used 87 engine ....You would think he would of told me how much he wanted for it in the e-mail instead of just saying...yea I have one..
Anyway I really don't want to drag race this car... But I want something fast that is dependable to cruise on the weekends and go to shows with.. Use to have a lot of friends that use to race, Every week they were out buying new parts / rebuilding the motor / Replacing everything a few times.. really don't want to do that.. :smile:

Your truck is Flex-Fuel, that is a completely different thing. I'm sure these guys could tell you how to get it to where you could run E85 but if you are 30 miles away from a station that sells it, it's not worth it IMO

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

Smoking the Buick

Stuck inside today doing a small upholstery job...dieing to work on th 83 Regal... But here is my new question.. Now lets say I pickup a 87 GN engine complete with the motor wiring and computer... Will these wires hook up to my 83?? Man, there has to be a lot of different things here... I have no boost guages, anti knock light or any of that stuff.. I ripped out most of the wires and computer on this car because that computer controlled carb was worthless and couldn't get any parts for it...and I am not a computer geek either... took me 1 year to learn how to cut and paste on a computer..I think there is probably a few computer tec people out there who quit their job after working with me on the phone...Me and computers seem just to not get along...ex. Got back a "Repaired" Computer from the Engineering dept of IBM...This is suppose to be the highest level there is at IBM to get any work done... get ready... pulled out of the box...pluged it in and it blew up...IBM refunded my money and they got out of the consumer computer business....:redface:

 

[justin84]

Stuck inside today doing a small upholstery job...dieing to work on th 83 Regal... But here is my new question.. Now lets say I pickup a 87 GN engine complete with the motor wiring and computer... Will these wires hook up to my 83?? Man, there has to be a lot of different things here... I have no boost guages, anti knock light or any of that stuff.. I ripped out most of the wires and computer on this car because that computer controlled carb was worthless and couldn't get any parts for it...and I am not a computer geek either... took me 1 year to learn how to cut and paste on a computer..I think there is probably a few computer tec people out there who quit their job after working with me on the phone...Me and computers seem just to not get along...ex. Got back a "Repaired" Computer from the Engineering dept of IBM...This is suppose to be the highest level there is at IBM to get any work done... get ready... pulled out of the box...pluged it in and it blew up...IBM refunded my money and they got out of the consumer computer business....:redface:

Your regal will take the 87 very well. It will be some work but the wiring isn't that bad. The gauges are not expensive. The only other thing I am missing here is what rearend do you have? You really need to get 3:42 gears for the 87 motor. How much are you wanting to spend is my question to you?

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

Smoking the Buick

It is a very stock rear..I'm sure it should be changed..I would try it with the stock rear for a while and see how it runs...If I didn't like it I would keep my eye open for a higher ratio, don't forget I'm not going to race it.. Even with the stock engine there was no pickup at all.. But with the the 750 CFM holley on it, it wasn't half bad...but I know I was drowning it in gas though..If I put my foot too much in it she would really bog..So with double the HP she should really kick..Then I would keep an eye out for another trans too..

 

[justin84]

Same question, how much do you want to spend?

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

Smoking the Buick

Tell me what you have and what you want for it.. Looking for a 87 motor complete with computer and wiring.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

Smoking the Buick

I have decided to use the Holley Dominator Manifold that I have and just but a Block off plate on where the carb bolts up with a hole for the turbo to bolt up... so three bolt holes and one bigger hole in the center for the turbo opening. The Plate will be 3/8" thick..I just dropped off my plans to the machine shop and told them to use whatever metal they had laying around but did specify T6062 Aluminum...Which is much stronger than most aluminum... or steel or Stainless steel... And on the Aluminum they would have to put steel inserts for the bolts so I could really crank down the bolts without worrying about ripping out the threads...if they have a piece of T6 laying around. There is some new aluminum around that is maganiseam/ aluminum alloy.. ( but I am sure they would not have that laying around) If you are wondering why I am doing it this way...heres why...I had a chance today to get a 87 GN Motor at a decent price....But...Hey....I would be just like all those rich kids / guys now... They just plunk down their money and put in a finished big money motor.. Thats not what hot rodding is about to me.. Its about working with what you have and using your mind and hands to build something that can blow away most anything on the street. Its about expanding your knowledge base and learning along the way.. Thats what hott rodding is all about.. Anybody with money can go buy the latest Gale Banks Turbo Engine and go as fast as hell and look fine doing it too.. But anybody with a load of money can do that...what does that prove...maybe that you are a fat cat with more money than brains.. Excuse me a while I get off my Soap Box... Heres a photo of the manifold I am working with... this thing is sweet on the inside...looks like a big buck blower manifold on the inside...:biggrin:

 

[WkillGS]

If you are wondering why I am doing it this way...heres why...I had a chance today to get a 87 GN Motor at a decent price....But...Hey....I would be just like all those rich kids / guys now... They just plunk down their money and put in a finished big money motor.. Thats not what hot rodding is about to me.. Its about working with what you have and using your mind and hands to build something that can blow away most anything on the street. Its about expanding your knowledge base and learning along the way.. Thats what hott rodding is all about.. Anybody with money can go buy the latest Gale Banks Turbo Engine and go as fast as hell and look fine doing it too.. But anybody with a load of money can do that...what does that prove...maybe that you are a fat cat with more money than brains.. ..:biggrin:

Amen!!
My thoughts exactly. I like a challenge.

 

[charlief1]

You may want to reconsider the Holley street dominator. I have one and it's for the low port heads. Here's a pic for you to compare the high port intake gasket against the Holley intake. A big difference.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

Smoking the Buick

Wow..!! If mine looks like that I will definitly toss it...Thanks for the info..I will check it out tormorrow morning..I am guessing that its the dominator.. It has Holly on it I saw that today... I will pull the manifold ..get back to you...

 

[charlief1]

I don't know if one was made for the highport heads but check before you decide to use it.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

Smoking the buick

Adam, I bow to experiance...You were 100% right about that manifold.. the ports were much shorter than the ports on the heads....I would probably of lost at least 20 % of my HP if I used that manifold....Thanks again for the heads up on that.. My car has been sitting over a year...and my undercarrage is starting to rust...its outside.. Thats why I am a little impatient at times... Have to build a oversize shed to keep it in.. Zoning here says I am too close to my property line to build a big garage.. Keep smackin me up side the head when I screw up...I like it..

 

[WarWagon]

That is for you Charlie! lol

 

[charlief1]

Charlie, I bow to experiance...You were 100% right about that manifold.. the ports were much shorter than the ports on the heads....I would probably of lost at least 20 % of my HP if I used that manifold....Thanks again for the heads up on that.. My car has been sitting over a year...and my undercarrage is starting to rust...its outside.. Thats why I am a little impatient at times... Have to build a oversize shed to keep it in.. Zoning here says I am too close to my property line to build a big garage.. Keep smackin me up side the head when I screw up...I like it..

LOL Do you need a program to tell who the players are? I've got some pics I took so I could post the differences between the low and high port heads. There's a huge difference between them. You didn't screw up, you just didn't know is all. I'd love to mod the Holley for the high ports but it just isn't feaseable.

 

[WarWagon]

How well does that low port intake manifold fit on high port heads?

 

[charlief1]

You can use the 4.1 intake on the low port heads if the heads have been severly ported and the EGR main port on the intake is welded up but you can't go backwards. I did it on my 76 Skyhawk. It made a great improvement on performance before I went with the even fire engine with high ports.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

Smoking the buick

How about that 80 /81 Turbo GN manifold...That should line right up right?? Also The small hose that goes on the side of the base of the turbo...Where does that get attached to?? Any idea when Dr. Frankenstien is getting back online ?? I have been reading more about turbos.. It says that the bigger the turbo the more HP it can make and the less it drags on the motor by restricting exhaust flow... However the more lag time there is... Would you agree with that ??

 

[charlief1]

Any of the intakes built by Buick since 79 will be high port design so that shouldn't be an issue. As far as a bigger turbo there are issues with this since there isn't one for the draw though design. Hence the reason for my second link in my sig.

I'll see about giving you a pic or two so you get a better idea, but if you've noticed the three B4Black Buickteers haven't been on much lately. We'll do what we can and we really are trying to get our cars ready for this season since all of us are running completely new set ups and have a bunch of testing and tuning to do.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

smokin the Buick

I don't blame you guys for working on your cars... thats what I should be doing too..Will have to fire up my old turbin, Carbon dixode heat blower and leave the garage door open for fresh air.. I found out where that hose goes to..it goes to the waste gate.. heres a photo if anybody is interested.

 

[WkillGS]

I once read some aftermarket intakes had 'intermediate' sized ports so they could be used on both styles of heads. I'll have to take a closer look at the upcoming swap meets...