1984 regal

[TrndAssassin2]

Ok, heres the challenge, I dont know much about turbos, or buicks. Im use to working on old chevy cars. Im looking to take my 84 buick regal , and basicly do a grand national conversion on it. Now this may sound silly, but I dont really have the money , or the know how to convert it over to fuel injected. So I was wondering just how hard it would be, to turn the 3.8L v6 2barrel into a turbo car, keeping it a 2 or 4 barrel like the 82 and 83 GN's.

 

[b4black]

It can be done if you have reasonable expections. You won't get a 87 GN just by putting a carb/turbo on. But you can definately add 50-100% more horsepower with a carb/turbo set up. An SFI conversion usually means working over the entire drivetrain. A carb/turbo can be done all in the engine compartment and leaving the long block alone.

If you can find a used 1979-83 carb/turbo motor, you would be in good shape. Just move all the bolt-ons over. You could try peicing it togther, but there's lots of little parts. A complete motor is the way to go. If you can find one, they should be too expensive.

Try this:
http://home.flash.net/~rjgeorge/conversion.htm

 

[my85grandnation]

b4black is your 82 GN an original turbo car? Didnt they only make 215 of them and only 25 of those were turbocharged?

 

[b4black]

Yes, it's a turbo car. So far I've counted 35 turbo cars of the 215 '82 GN's total.

http://home.flash.net/~rjgeorge/registry.htm

 

[my85grandnation]

Ive always heard only 25 were turbocharged? Of coarse when I first heard about them and most people that have heard about them say that none were turbocharged. I think its just one of those msteries that GM never knew how many were and werent for sure.

 

[TrndAssassin2]

stock hp

Do you know what the motor hp was on the stock 82 turbo regals was?....im looking for right around 400 hp.....nothing to extreme....Im looking to keep it my daily driver...and doing it with a 6 cyl is cheaper in the long run then dropping the 383 thats in the garage into the buick....would be nice if I could find a 84-87 gn drive line in one of the junk yards around here but I bet that will be almost impossible

 

[b4black]

400 HP would be a lot for a carb/turbo. It would take a fair amount of mods to an 87 intercooled motor to reach 400 HP - about a mid 12 second car. On an 82, your looking at some serious work.


Stock the '82 turbo V6 had 180 HP at the motor (the 2-barrel non-turbo was about 110 HP). I'm proably making about 275 at the engine on my car.

 

[TrndAssassin2]

so 350 or 383 would be the way

Well I h.ate to do it.....but im guessing on my tight of a income a old 350....or the 383 in the garage would be the way...dunno just kinda wanted to keep that buick tradition alive...but I cant really afford to I dont think.

 

[b4black]

Well I h.ate to do it.....but im guessing on my tight of a income a old 350....or the 383 in the garage would be the way...dunno just kinda wanted to keep that buick tradition alive...but I cant really afford to I dont think.

I don't know anything about your 383, but 400 HP is a lot to expect out of any motor. I'd take any turbo V6 over an "old 350".


Cheap Buick power would be a 455. These fit well in a Regal and there's plenty of info on the internet about this swap.

 

[buddiiee]

a lot of expect?

400 hp from a gn is a lot to expect? not really. its not hard.

 

[alec296]

the 455 isnt an easy or cheap swap and with headers or intake/carb change
other than stock or any carb spacers it will have little clearance with stock
hood for aircleaners but can be done as i did. but if you want cheap
try a buick 350,direct swap from 3.8 and most of the v6 parts fit including
motor mounts,drawback is 400 hp is not easy to reach there either(unless
the rumor of aluminum heads being in the works is true)
if you have a 383 ready to go in the garage that would be cheapest route
if your on a tight budget. i dont support the chevy thing but if you have the parts seems like the way to go,unless you trade off your parts for something
else.
as for the v6 carbed turbo i have seen these run low 14s at the midwest buick challange and it seemed like it could have more left but it would cost
a few more than you might want to spend. but some aftermarket parts
with some modifications could fit the carbed setup.

figure out what you want and will be happy with and go in that direction
i did the 383 chevy after my friends saying chevy is the way to go
and spent all kinds of money ,but it really wasnt what I wanted so
all i did was set myself years and $$$.
andy

 

[TrndAssassin2]

my decision

Well the regal was my daily driver till about a week ago, had just took a girl home and was on my way back to the house and was jammin to the stereo not really paying attention to the dash board. Well I heard a weird sound comming outa the motor and about crapped myself because I immediatly knew what it was, the motor was knocking. I look down to see the oil choke light on and I instantly pull the car over. Well now that the car is sitting in the turn around and ive assessed the damage. The radiator is shot, the chokes stuck , the oil pump is bad, and I cracked a rod. So now you ask whats going to happen with the car? Well its going to sit till this summer, when I get money im first going to yank the motor tranny and rear end and replace it all with a drive line out of a 87 gn I hope, then im going to restore the body and start driving it again. From there on im going to save up the money to upgrade the 87 motor and tranny till its perferably a 10 sec street machine.

 

[tony moore]

400 hp from a gn is a lot to expect? not really. its not hard.

400 hp is alot of mods! he just said he was on a budget, no reason to let him think its any easier than it is!!

 

[buddiiee]

still, gettin to 400hp if youre properly equipped (mentally) isnt hard at all. though, if hes got a small block chevy sittin in the garage, theyre sooooo much easier to work on, and have TONS of places that sells parts JUST FOR that engine. theyre not as cool, or as fast as a properly tuned turbo 3.8, but they work, and theyre cheap. wait till he sees how much money hes talkin, when it comes to that '87 drivetrain switch.
even though im madly in love with the LC2 powerplant, and will NEVER EVER go back to NA vehicles, i do sorely miss the days of no ecm, one simple minded carb, one plain old intake manifold, two heads, one block with pistons, one throttle cable, and a gas pedal. I could tune my entire car with one crescent wrench if i so desired. there was like i think, 18 moving parts on my old regal, and that was it. Oh well, nothing looks quite as hot as a grand national. or accelerates like one either.

 

[b4black]

400 hp from a gn is a lot to expect? not really. its not hard.

Yep, 400 HP from an 87 GN is not that hard with the right mods. If you read the post above the quoted one, you would see I agree.

 

[madhat]

Just take your time and shop around for a few weeks or even months until you find a good driveline that you really want...the key to doing something on a budget is planning and not rushing into things. Another thing to think about is that your rearend is probably a 7.5" - you'll have to upgrade that too with 400hp(and not to mention the suspension to get that power to the ground effeciently)!
Currently Im working on my Rx7...if you want to talk about no moving parts!!! A rotary has the eccentric shaft(basically cam/crank) and the two rotors for a grand total of three internal moving parts! On the outside there is just the carb...stockers are a bit crazy looking, but you can always swap a more simple one on Im on a very tight budget with this car and have spent several months making sure what needs to be done to it and pulling each piece apart to see how bad the thing actually is. Now Im slowly reconstructing it and hope to have it running by the summer...money permitting.

 

[TrndAssassin2]

the heap

Im contemplating selling the heap and saving up my money and buying a 69 camaro instead, I just dunno, I love the car but its so far gone. The rear air shocks are shot. The rockers are nothing but rot along with the doors. Both front fenders are toast along with the bumper fillers, headlight bezels and turnsignal lenses. The rear quarter panels have a nasty rot spot right behind the wheel well. The Oil pump is toast and the motor has a cracked rod, and theres about a quarter size hole in the radiator. Both the front and rear bumpers are rusted through. The brakes are beyond gone. The front windshield is so loose it vibrates like crazy every time you hit a pot hole. The head liner has to be replaced on the car. All of the weather stripping needs to be replaced. Plus on top of that the frames pretty rusted. Oh, the cars running on straight headers, theres no exaughst left on it. About a year ago the wiring harness caught fire and had to be replaced and when I had it replaced the people who did it, did a half assed job on it, so only about half of the electrical works right. That just about everything that has to be fixed to restore it back to a decent condition, then ive to find the money to build the drivetrain I want or have it built by someone here in indiana, I just dunno I Love the car but its turned into a nightmare. So on this note whats everyones advice? Junk it and save for a grand national in decent condition? Save if from the scrap heap and spend the next 5 years of my life and every penny I earn trying to make it into a show car / race car, Or Junk it and buy a 1969 z28 , my other dream car. Oh the history of the car, I have the origional sales sticker from 1984 and im only 17 hehe. The car was bought from some old lady by my grandpa, it had sat in her garage for years. He drove it until 96 then my mom got it. Just this year the car was given to me yeah it was rusted and rough but it wasnt this bad. Now the car has 500,000 miles on it and has tangled with 2 differnt deer one on the front left one on the front right, the sad thing is the car ran, up to two weeks ago and ran like a top, then all heck broke loose. One week it was the fuel pump , then it was the choke, then the thermostat, now the oil pump and most likely a cracked rod, oh and the radiator. All this went bad in 2 weeks, talking about bad luck for me. So what does the Buick loving population say I do?

 

[madhat]

Honestly, its just a money pit that you will never get anything near what you put into it if you try to sell in years down the road. I say go for the turbo buick because I'm sick of 69 Camaros and I prefer the 72 anyway
Dont just narrow yourself down to a Grand National...the T-types are just as fast and cool but cheaper! When we go hunting for a TB for my wife, we will probably just find a nice t-type since she is going to paint it anyway.

 

[TrndAssassin2]

If I

If I keep the regal what im going to do is a grand national conversion on a 1984 buick regal limited. I really think I should do this I love the car, plus heck it has a family history thats hard to part with hehe. It just means a lot of hard work and a lot of long hours. Plus learning about new stuff since ive never tinkered on a fuel injection setup before, along with never dealing with turbos before. Hmm looks like its time to do some reading and look at some schematics on how a turbos rigged up and what all parts are needed.

 

[Freddie's Buick]

Break out with the rosary beads......she's too far gone. :frown:

Let other surviving Buicks on the road share a piece of her long and noble lasting 500,000 mile dynasty. :biggrin: