A Big Decision. Which Regal To Keep.

[yarbeau]

Ok not sure if this belongs here, feel free to move her wherever

I have a 1980 Buick Regal right now. It was my Uncles car bought brand new in 1980. he gave it to his son who hacked it up good racing and whatnot. it sat for years. ive always had a g-body hardon and paid him 500 bucks for it. Originally had a buick 305 motor, long gone as my cousin pumped a piston through the block with spray.

Anyways now its got a fairly mild 74 chev 350 out of a 1/2 ton. four bolt main stock heads not bored out at all. the cam was replaced thats about it internally for performance. edelbrock intake/carb. has dual exhaust and headers so im pretty much well on my way.

I basically want to know your viewpoints on my situation. i want to make it alot quicker. a weiand supercharger kit whole new bottom end and heads cam obviously. if i keep this car and do the work i think ill be happy.

interior is fairly clean. id like to change out the dash and seats/everything though. im not digging the navy blue/cheesy wood grain anymore. also the vinyl top isnt torn or ripped but faded. the car is silver with sort of a grey-ish vinyl. id like to either remove the vinyl (ALOT of work) or change it out and put a black one on top. how hard is it to find parts for this years interior and change out the vinyls in your experiences?

since being here ive gotten jealous of your turbo v6's. they look like alot of fun and the body styles of the t-types/GN's are beautiful.

even though with a blower and this work done the v6's wouldnt be in competition, but im still wondering if id be better off hunting down a t-type or something of the sort.

any input or comments are welcome as thats basically what im asking for here.

thanks alot,
Derek

 

[gs462]

put a turbo 6 in the 80 car it'll make more power than a SBC with a blower, unless you spend ALOT of money on the sbc

 

[yarbeau]

yeah im not planning on putting a ton of dough into it. i want to fix the interior up first. thats the problem. buying a t-type with better color scheme or redoing this one.

are parts out of say 83-87 regals/t's/GNS interchangeable for the most part interior wise?

 

["Turbo-T"]

First, Buick never made a 305....it was most likely a Chevy 305....they look just like a Chevy 350 and were available in Regals until '82 or '83.

I did respond to your post in the f/s on your car. That '74 Chevy engine you have made like 175 hp....if that. No wonder you're disappointed in the power dept. The cam might help a little but I'll bet your engine has those 882 casting heads...which really are no good for making power.

What you need are some good flowing heads like Vortecs....or better....Darts, World Sportsmans, etc. That would help wake up that 350. Then later you could rebuild the bottom end with flat top pistons and bump the power up a little more...just stroke it to a 383. Then get you a cam with a good lift on it and a short duration. You'll have to make sure your heads can handle the lift.

Also might want to see what rear end gear you have. I'll bet it's a 2.41 to a 2.73....if you don't mind your mpg going down, look into a 3.42-3.73 gear swap with a new posi unit. Rear end gears are one of the biggest bang for the buck swaps to make a n/a car like yours have better acceleration.

Then on your TH350 trans, add a Trans Go shift kit (notice I said "Trans Go"...DON'T use the B&M kit unless you want early trans damage) and that will firm up the shifts...maybe add a 2500 stall converter in.

The blower is also a nice idea....you didn't say if you're going with a roots or a centrifugal style....roots makes power way down low (re: torque) and requires you (usually) to whack a hole in the hood....UNLESS you get a mini blower and a BIG cowl induction hood....then you might be ok. The centrifugal s/c is sort of like a turbo but driven by a belt...it makes most of it's power up at the top.

But yeah if you go the blower route you'll definitely want to beef up your bottom end. 1974 was not a year of "performance" so to speak....so a lot of the blocks/cranks/rods/pistons were cheaply made to perform at 8.5:1 or less compression ratio.

Another option you could do is remove the Chevy 350 you have and the TH350 and replace them both with a 455/TH400....try to get one out of a 1970 Le Sabre if you can...I believe they were close, if not the same as the 70 GSX....370 hp and 510 lb of torque....that's no kidding there. I almost went this route with an old n/a Regal I had...found a 70 Le Sabre f/s $600 with a running 455. Ending up selling my car to buy my TR.

Now if you really want a turbo car.....you could convert yours over....it's a lot of work, and you'd want to find a wrecked or rusted donor car that you could snatch all the parts needed off of. Plus the time and frustration of having to tear down what you have and building it back up.

But really if you want a turbo car, you'd be better off selling what you have and buying one. Of course don't forget you'd have to add in some cash....the turbo cars always command more than non turbo Regals....and the newest ones almost always command higher prices than the older ones...i.e. an 87 turbo Regal usually brings more than an 80 turbo regal.

 

[Junior Samples]

Yeah in todays day and age you can buy a crate motor ZZ4 for less then you would dumping buckets of dough into machine work, labor so forth and so on.

Sell it as a roller and start looking for an LC2 Buhog

 

[yarbeau]

awesome insight thank you very much.
i agree any work i do id have to start with the tranny shift kit and stall converter.

as for blower it'd be a centrifugal style. i dont want to have it sticking through the hood. i have a cowl already that i would have no problem throwing on top of the hood. its not overly huge and should give me the added clearance i need.

i plan on doing everything all at once. pulling the motor and redoing the bottom end as well.

even though the turbo idea is awesome its just not worth turning something that isnt a turbo into a wannabe. this wasnt a turbo for a reason and i accept that.

the 455 idea has crossed my mind a dozen times. at the start of this project i had a 454 big block chev i was considering dropping instead of the 350. i decided against it. fuel reasons and weight i knew i could get just as much power outta the 350 for a fraction of the cost as parts are more readily avaliable. if i ever decide to do so.

funny story i gave the 454 to a good friend of mine who was wanting to redo his chevelle. it had a 350 in it bored out to 383 i believe, car ran low 9's already and he wasnt happy with having ONLY a little sbc.

he worked on the thing for a year trying endless parts and different setups and could not get the same performance out of the big block. he scraped the idea and continued on with his now beloved sbc.

ill have to talk to my buddy with the chevelle and see what he says i should do to it. but just to compare what setup heads, cam, pistons, weiand blower, etcc.. would you suggest to do. if you dont mind me asking. and what would the approx HP and torque be? i know id need a different rear end as well so do you think the 3.32-3.73 will work?

 

["Turbo-T"]

Don't know how much hp to expect...it all depends on the combo.

I know on heads Dart, World, Brodix and Canfield all make good heads.

As mentioned a 3.42 to 3.73 gear would wake the car up.

Here's the big question....what do you want out of the car?

Do you want to be a 1/4 mile car? Street car?

How will the car be used on a regular basis?

You can make it into a wild animal but be untame to drive on the streets.

 

[yarbeau]

i dont want a strip car or anything like that. itll be a summer street driver. something to drive in the summer time and turn heads.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Then you'll want torque. You'll also want an overdrive trans with those 3.42 gears. The 455 I mentioned will give you the torque. A 350 can do it too, just the 455 does it easier.

Not sure why your friend couldn't get the 454 to outperform his sbc. The 454 is also a torque monster if built right. Perhaps you could get it back and build it?

 

[O SO LO]

Build a blown small block and cut a hole in the hood for the blower
There was a '83 Regal for sale a couple of years ago, painted black like a GN, with a blown big block it was pretty awesome.

 

[need boost]

[[even though with a blower and this work done the v6's wouldnt be in competition]] You obviously haven't ridden in the right one lol !!!!

Like the guys said , it all depends on what you want to do with the car. A big blower motor, low gears, etc is great at the track but on the street it SUCKS really fast . 7 mpg and running 3500 rpm just to run down the road at 60 is not my idea of fun. If you have the cash to blow a sbc with a good procharger on it will make a lot of power, put that with a GOOD built overdrive and throw in some 3.42s or so in the back and you have a set up for a lot of speed while still getting decent milage and being able to drive it wherever you want to go. Just depends on what all you want to do and how fast you want it to be. My T runs 11.77 1/4 mile time 7.45 1/18 on pump gas, just like I drive it everyday except for putting on the slicks and I still get 22-25 mpg cruising at 2 grand or so running 60 mph. A turbo car will set you back for sure though as prices keep going up everyear on them but right now with the country in the crapper you may be able to pick up one cheaper. Either way it can be a lot of fun. Good luck man :biggrin: