Rebuilding motor, what do I have?

[kolb02]

Hey guys I'm pretty new to this car, I bought an 86 regal T Type. Car has some mods. Ported heads and intake, Rev X 210/215 roller cam, TA64 turbo which I dont know if thats a good turbo to be using, Razors alky injection, and a bunch of other misc bolt ons. Car ran 11.37@123 and then the previous owner tore it down a year later cause he said it smoked out the breather. Well I got the car with the motor tore apart and I am going to have it gone through. Any tips or mods or parts that will make this engine more reliable and last a long time that I should share with the engine builder? I don't really care to go much faster than the time it already ran. I just want it to live.

 

[TurboDave]

JUST MAKE DAMN SURE YOUR ENGINE BUILDER KNOWS THESE ENGINES!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't even think about letting a small block chevy engine builder anywhere near your engine!!!!!!!!!!!!

You don't have your location in your profile so we can't make any specific recommendations for a builder.

 

[SHADOWII]

WELCOME PILGRIM!!! Glad to have you aboard the best buick site on the web.
The best advice we can offer you is to read, read and read some more. It's actually knowledge that keeps these cars together. Tuning for no-knock.
Now to answer your question about building for reliability, we will need more info on the parts you have. The minimum recommendation w/the parts you previously mentioned would be to have a well known buick engine builder to do the work, as it usually ends up being cheaper than building the engine twice. The oiling is tied to the bearing clearances which are very tight. In the ten-thousandths range, i.e., .0018". Many of us came out of the chevy /ford/ mopar scene, where tolerances are much greater, measured in thousandths. Depending on where you live, there may be someone close by. The turbo, TA-64 is a stock appearing turbo is ok, but there are better turbo's out there today. Your cam is a 10 sec. capable cam, which is why many will recommend at least two steel center caps for support of the crank.(need to know if the crank is stock or forged?)
If you can post the parts you have, there will many offering advice, but we really need to know what you are starting with.
Again Welcome!

 

[Reggie West]

Where you are can help us point you in the right direction.

And welcome to the Buick world.

 

[kolb02]

Im located in Billings, MT. Not a lot of stuff for these cars around here. I gave the engine builder specs from a build I found from Chevy Hi tech performance mag. the article gave all the specs and he said he could build it to that. The article had a Jack Merkel doing the work. Don't know if that is good info or not. Here are the links
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/0205gmhtp-buick-turbo-v6-engine-build-overview/
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/02...e=cxrecs&cx_navSource=related-bottom#cxrecs_s

 

[kolb02]

And it's a stock block, stock rods, and bored .40 over I guess from what my buddy said who owned the car. Pistons are aftermarket but he said they were hypers not forged. Thanks for the replies and keep them coming.

 

[Reggie West]

Whether or not you can use the stock block again is going to depend on that bore size.If the cylinder bores are really out to .040 already I dont know that you can bore that block much more before hitting water jackets. You can find stock blocks on the board that have never been bored, I would look at that. It's around $400 for a good used one.

You can get away with using the stock crank and rods as long as you are not going for broke on that turbo. Once you start pushing over 600 hp on those you are asking for problems. Just FYI.
You will need a new set of pistons. Forged pistons are a necessity.

Your heads and turbo can be re-used. Have the heads checked for pressure leaks and have them look at the valve seats and guides. That is preventive maintenance.

You can have Bison on the board check out your turbo to be on the safe side as well. New bearing can't hurt when its all apart anyways.

You can use a different cam or go with something in the 212/212 range and it will be very streetable.

As has been said before here, go to a shop that KNOWS Buicks not small block chevys. The tolerances are everything with these motors. Once it is right you will have a motor that will last you a long time.

 

[kolb02]

Whether or not you can use the stock block again is going to depend on that bore size.If the cylinder bores are really out to .040 already I dont know that you can bore that block much more before hitting water jackets. You can find stock blocks on the board that have never been bored, I would look at that. It's around $400 for a good used one.

You can get away with using the stock crank and rods as long as you are not going for broke on that turbo. Once you start pushing over 600 hp on those you are asking for problems. Just FYI.
You will need a new set of pistons. Forged pistons are a necessity.

Your heads and turbo can be re-used. Have the heads checked for pressure leaks and have them look at the valve seats and guides. That is preventive maintenance.

You can have Bison on the board check out your turbo to be on the safe side as well. New bearing can't hurt when its all apart anyways.

You can use a different cam or go with something in the 212/212 range and it will be very streetable.

As has been said before here, go to a shop that KNOWS Buicks not small block chevys. The tolerances are everything with these motors. Once it is right you will have a motor that will last you a long time.

There is no one in my state that knows these motors. But I have a builder that is very good at what he does and I gave him the specs in the magazine article I posted above. Do you think if I have him build it to those specs I will be fine? Do the specs in the article look good? It was written sometime ago.

 

[Reggie West]

Yes the article looks good.

The parts listed in the article may not exist with those vendors and I am sure the prices have gone up since that article.

 

[kolb02]

Ok. Where does one get an oil pump plate?

 

[Lil Truck]

TA Performance . com in Arizona has the cast iron wear plate kit.

 

[kolb02]

Cool, thanks guys. Is there any kind of book or other write ups on making the buick v6 last a long time and see the occasional track outing?

 

[L8TRH8R]

I'm from Montana. Tim Fontaine built my motor at the AutoWorks in Bozeman MT. The is also Jerry's Custom Engines in Missoula, or, Jim Keck At Advanced engines in Helena.