just bought a 97 regal GS

[tpivette89]

after the birth of my son recently, I decided that rwd, 2 door cars just won't cut it anymore. So after searching for a more family oriented replacement, I purchased a 110k mile Buick Regal GS. It's fully loaded and in great shape

while the car will be mainly a daily driver, I do want to perform a few upgrades to it and occasionally take it to the dragstrip. I wanted to do some routine maintenance to it before I run it at the track. With that in mind, I had a few questions

1) I intend to drain the trans fluid and add an external cooler to it. Does this trans have a filter and gasket set like the fbodies I'm used to working on, or is it a drop the pan and drain and rtv seal it up?

2) what kind of oil is recommended for the blower?

3) any suggestions as far as plug wires?

4) I did some research and read that the 97s are difficult to tune. Why would that be the case and does software exist ti tune these cars?

thanks in advance

 

[RegalT-type85]

ZZ Performance

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SC oil should only be GM supercharger oil,(or ZZP oil) I would suggest green couplers(new better green ones) should cost much.


You could get a KIT ex would be something like this,3800SC Stage 1 Performance Package: 3800 Performance

Takes the guess work out IMO.
hope this helps.

 

[murphinator]

1) I intend to drain the trans fluid and add an external cooler to it. Does this trans have a filter and gasket set like the fbodies I'm used to working on, or is it a drop the pan and drain and rtv seal it up?

2) what kind of oil is recommended for the blower?

3) any suggestions as far as plug wires?

4) I did some research and read that the 97s are difficult to tune. Why would that be the case and does software exist ti tune these cars?

drop the trans pan and reuse the factory gasket it is way more durable than the cork replacements

gm sc oil

stock delco plug wires and coils are very powerful and last well - I plan on running th4em right through the 11's


plenty of tuned 97's out there - 97 regals are on hp tuners supported vehicles list: HPTuners.com >> Performance At Your Fingertips

avoid dropping pulleys until the stock manifolds & downpipe have been upgraded all you will do is stack boost and create heat and detonation if you are stuffing more air in than you are letting out , a lot of those performance packages pre date this knowledge and would have you pulley down without proper supporting mods

$500 or less in the right places can get these cars in the 13 sec club , get on some 3800 sc specific boards and buy used mods to get the best bang for the buck

 

[tpivette89]

thanks for the info guys. I'm not planning on doing any mods until I completely go through the car and replace/renew everything that needs it. Since the car has just over 100k miles, I was planning on doing maintenance to the blower: new gaskets, draining and refilling the oil, and snout/coupler replacement (ive read that they start going out around 100k)

looks like what I've read about tuning the 97s isn't true, and I've read elsewhere that headers should be done first before upping the boost. Thanks for the tip on the trans gasket, hopefully it'll come off in one piece and I can reuse it

I'll try and post some pictures up soon after I detail the hell out of this car, so far though I'm having too much fun driving it to find the time!

 

[murphinator]

thanks for the info guys. I'm not planning on doing any mods until I completely go through the car and replace/renew everything that needs it. Since the car has just over 100k miles, I was planning on doing maintenance to the blower: new gaskets, draining and refilling the oil, and snout/coupler replacement (ive read that they start going out around 100k)

looks like what I've read about tuning the 97s isn't true, and I've read elsewhere that headers should be done first before upping the boost. Thanks for the tip on the trans gasket, hopefully it'll come off in one piece and I can reuse it

I'll try and post some pictures up soon after I detail the hell out of this car, so far though I'm having too much fun driving it to find the time!

if the gasket doesnt hold just pm me and I will get another out to you for cost of shipping it , I part these cars out on the side and currently have 4 cars in various stages of dismantling as well as a bunch of engines ,trannys etc on top of the 4 roadworthy ones I am up to and then theres my GTP's..........

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Hey murph, can you throw a quick list of parts out, that you think would get one of these cars in the 13's? Because I'm trying to diagnose my car lol. I currently have every mod a gsx has, and in my opinion, it's a dog slow high 14's car. Haven't been to the track yet, but my butt dyno is actually very tuned lol. And I know my car's not running 13's. The dyno tuner said he couldn't find my knock, and had to pull a degree of timing, and throw fuel at it to drown it out. Though I doubt that's holding me back a full second.

 

[murphinator]

Hey murph, can you throw a quick list of parts out, that you think would get one of these cars in the 13's? Because I'm trying to diagnose my car lol. I currently have every mod a gsx has, and in my opinion, it's a dog slow high 14's car. Haven't been to the track yet, but my butt dyno is actually very tuned lol. And I know my car's not running 13's. The dyno tuner said he couldn't find my knock, and had to pull a degree of timing, and throw fuel at it to drown it out. Though I doubt that's holding me back a full second.

the quickest way to high 13's on used mods for $500 would be headers ($300-350) , modular pulley system with 3.5 ($75), FWI ( $70)

or Plog ( $100) 3" downpipe ($100) , Modular pulley system with 3.5 ($75) FWI ($70) pcm 1.0 ($100)

or possibly , 3" downpipe ($100) , plog ($100) fwi ($70) , modded 1.9 rockers ( $250)


now I race at new england dragway which is 100 feet above sea level and has plenty of cool weather to run in

typically I will go to the track when density altitudes are -500 to -1500 and I have a lot of seat time in w bodies on street tires and prep my cars including all the stuff I feel is basic maint like colder plugs & stat ,fresh wires and fuel filter ,clean maf element and air filter , no jack/spare/clutter in car 1/4 tank fuel ,proper cool downs ,bump the octane ,etc....

when my 02 gs first cracked 13's it was on a 3" dp ,pcm 1.0 ,plog , 3.5 pulley ,fwi and it went 13.8 @102 , added a ported rear , 3" catback , and pulleyed down to a 3.4 on 104 octane and ran 13.5 @ 104 ( link to pass in sig)

my wifes 98 gs I took to the track not planning to go to the track (she called to tell me she had plans for the night as I was driving home about 10 min from the track:biggrin

it had 3/4 tank of 91 octane and only an fwi for mods ( other than colder plugs & stat) and it ran 14.4 @96 for me all night , when I tuned it later it felt much stronger but havent brought it back since - I am thinking with full prep , a u bend delete and a 3.6 pulley I could sneak it in the 13.9's on about $200 in mods- you couldnt do that at a track at 1500 elevation and 80* temps , it would probably be stuck in the mid 14's

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

I have 1.9 rockers, ported & jet hot coated manifolds, throttle body heat shield, 2 heat range colder plugs, cobalt ss fuel pump, 3.5 pulley, ubend delete, 3" downpipe, 160 t-stat, & a jmb fwi.
While he was dyno tuning it, he said that he couldnt find the source of the knock. I said that I wanted ZERO kr throughout the entire range. So he did what he needed to do, to make it disappear. He pulled a degree of timing, and added fuel. This car is peppy, but it feels no different than before I had the parts installed and tuned.

(also, how do you prevent the water from going thru the tb, and heating the intake air up?)

 

[machinegun]

Just one more thing for FYI.

Exhaust mods will make a huge differnce when looking to do a pulley change.

I can atest that they will hrelp reduce knock and make your pulley change much more efficient.

Others here have all made great comments with excellent ideas.

I would only add that a cold air kit will help the cause.

I actually used the APC universal kit from Advance to make cold air kist and they work excellent.

My car has 278,000 miles on it ( Not a typo )

will run a 14.1 all day long and will even crack the 13 mark on a nice calm really cool day.

You really got an excellent car

 

[Buickturbo85]

So we can run a 3.5 with no PCM change? I just inherited my wife's 02 GS. So far I've picked up a used Plog, jmb fwi, and a 3.2 pulley. I was holding off on the pulley until I had all the other supporting mods, then was going to get a pcm tune. But if I can go ahead and do a 3.5 now w/o a tune, then I'll look for one.

I'm actually thinking about getting the ebay headers instead of the plog, as they are CHEAP and supposedly fit well...

 

[murphinator]

So we can run a 3.5 with no PCM change? I just inherited my wife's 02 GS. So far I've picked up a used Plog, jmb fwi, and a 3.2 pulley. I was holding off on the pulley until I had all the other supporting mods, then was going to get a pcm tune. But if I can go ahead and do a 3.5 now w/o a tune, then I'll look for one.

I'm actually thinking about getting the ebay headers instead of the plog, as they are CHEAP and supposedly fit well...

3.2 pulley will need headers, a cam or both for supporting mods

rockers & headers may get you to a 3.3 with a good tune

e85 with its own supporting mods should let you run a 3.2 also

I wouldnt do the 3.5 on only a plog for exhaust mods - headers you shouldbe able to but at least a means to scan to see if you have knock and always premium fuel

some of the ebay headers are supposed to be decent knock offs of slp's so the only drawbacks are the same as slp's - the flex section ticks if you dont upgrade it and they hang too low for lowered vehicles , used TOGS are still the cadillacs

 

[turbojkt]

So we can run a 3.5 with no PCM change? I just inherited my wife's 02 GS. So far I've picked up a used Plog, jmb fwi, and a 3.2 pulley. I was holding off on the pulley until I had all the other supporting mods, then was going to get a pcm tune. But if I can go ahead and do a 3.5 now w/o a tune, then I'll look for one.

I'm actually thinking about getting the ebay headers instead of the plog, as they are CHEAP and supposedly fit well...

I'm running a 3.5 pulley on a stock tune with 180*, Plog, 3 inch DP and exhaust, cold air intake. I only get KR at the top of 1st and 2nd when the outside temp gets above about 80*on 91 octane. I'm at 4500 feet elevation. Adding 3 gallons of 100 to a full tank makes it pretty much go away unless it gets into the 90's. I've run a 3.4 with the same combo, and it requires about 95 octane in the tank to make KR go away.

 

[murphinator]

I'm running a 3.5 pulley on a stock tune with 180*, Plog, 3 inch DP and exhaust, cold air intake. I only get KR at the top of 1st and 2nd when the outside temp gets above about 80*on 91 octane. I'm at 4500 feet elevation. Adding 3 gallons of 100 to a full tank makes it pretty much go away unless it gets into the 90's. I've run a 3.4 with the same combo, and it requires about 95 octane in the tank to make KR go away.

extreme elevation like that will allow much smaller pulleys.

I have not had any luck running KR free on a 3.5 pulley without full exhaust upgrades - stock manifolds ,downpipe , and catback all replaced with higher flowing items , I am close to sea level

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

Gotta bring it back for some more questions. With my mods I listed, where do you think my fuel and timing should be? And if I ran with an open dump, right after my rear exhaust manifold (pretty much zero backpressure) how much timing could I get away with? (on 93)