I'm Back..let the wrenching begin !!

[Mr. Upholsterer]

Getting ready to assemble this intake and hot air blower on my 83 Buick Regal... Just some simple stupid questions... Had a few questions about my distirbutor, its is vac controlled fits and my HEI cap fits it perfectly..So I am assuming its off a buick ...why I am questioning this in the first place it had 79 221 V6 on the bottom of it that the junk yard wrote...some mechanic put this on for me...some idiot.. But if it walks and quacks like a duck its a duck.
Anyway, What temp theromstat do I install...I have a 192 degree in there now...I would think a 180 would be better for it....what does anybody else think?? I do live in PA and will probably want to drive it in the winter.
Also does anybody have a photo of the kind of bracket I will need to make to work this 4 barrel carb ?? Have the orginal one from the 83 but looks like I would have to jack that up a few inches to match up with the carb..but then there isn't the 3 mounting bolts to bolt this thing on... I really didn't set this thing up yet..and still have to rebuild the holley carb that I want to put on..:smile:

 

[charlief1]

Put a 160 in it Vince. This will keep it safe during the summer, and when it starts to get cold you can go with a higher temp.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

back to wrenching

Ok, I will try it... Is there some kind of a trick to putting in thermostat ?? I have the 83 and there is a little hose comming of the water pump that goes into the thermostat housing.. making it rough to get that stat out..then it keeps falling down... I have been putting RTV to hold it in place and that seemed to help while I bolted it on... Had to take the manifold off again because I found out one of the threaded holes for the stat housing was stripped..when I drilled into it...the one on the left side facing it...I found some kind of a steel rod in the aluminum that my drill would not go through...any idea of what a steel rod is doing in the casting ?? I will take it to a machine shop to put in a heli coil on friday the hole is only about 5/8 inch deep and had to go to a 3/8 thread . I have a lot of time in that manifold now, fine sand blasting and mild porting, cremanic paint, and that epoxy repair on the water jacket flange.

 

[charlief1]

Sounds like someone broke a bolt off in it before and left it in there to me. As far as replacing the stat, you can plug the small line off if you want and it won't cause you a problem. Put the stat in and glue the gasket to the housing, then you can put grease on the side going to the manifold so the gasket will seal but not stick when you take it off. You can re-use the gasket several times this way.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

wrenching it..

Thanks for the info.. now that I think about it your are probably right about the broken off bolt in there...good idea with the gasket too.. Will be taking the manifold to a machine shop on Friday morning and see if just 4 threads of a heli coil will work for me...hate to scrap this manifold with all the work I have put in it..

 

[charlief1]

Just get them to drill the broken bolt out Vince. They can do it on a mill to make sure it doesn't get screwed up.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

wrenching it..

I will be bringing it tormorrow to the machine shop...will let you know...I was just wondering if any of the Chevy BB tricks would work to this buick engine...like just boiling out the block, checking the mains and replacing the rings and honning the clyinders with a christmass tree and getting a cross hatch pattern on it...you know that big hone with all the steel balls stuck in the wires comming out of it...This seems to do marvelous things to a Chevy BB.. for a low buck freshen up. ??

 

[mat231v6]

hone will work.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

wrenching it..

Was just talking to my friend a machine shop manager, he told me that anything over 1/2 in depth as far as a heli coil is conserned means almost nothing in the terms of strength.....he said if I could get a good threaded heli coil in 1/2 inch in the aluminum it would be more than good to hold that water hose outlet on...He is going to give me a heli coil a half inch long...He would do the work for me for almost nothing but his boss watches him like a hawk. Hopefully tormorrow I will have this problem solved and I can get back to wrenching it.. Every fitting in this manifold is like locked in !!...The water jackets on the inside are caked with rust...I was lucky to get the temp sending unit and it was caked up also....will have to put the one from my stock manifold in.. Guess I will have to run some muratic acid through this thing. If anybody has a photo of how they setup their carb linkage on this kind of a setup please post it to give me some ideas... Was thinking of running a 4 inch SS pipe from the carb out to the front of the car with a big cone filter on it..would have to modify a old aftermarket chrome air filter housing and weld the pipe to the side or front of it.. Could only find Aluminum pipe on e-bay...cant weld that to my hat..

 

[mat231v6]

I don’t want you to get too far, but are you sure you have the right intake for your heads. Charlie told me about this that the ports where redesigned in 79. Don’t worry if you know you have the right intake. Here are some pic showing the difference. look at the top of the manifold near the top of the ports.

 

[charlief1]

I'll see if I can get a pic of mine for you Vince. It's suposed to rain bad tomorow so I may not be able to though.

Great pics Matt. Where'd you find them?

 

[mat231v6]

I'll see if I can get a pic of mine for you Vince. It's suposed to rain bad tomorow so I may not be able to though.

Great pics Matt. Where'd you find them? [/QUOTE
i took the pic myself i have both types of intakes.

 

[charlief1]

Mind showing some pics of the tops for me please?

 

[b4black]

BEFORE BLACK - Turbo V6 Intakes

 

[mat231v6]

sure, it hard to tell, but there is a difference in the hight in the two intakes. the dirty intake is the castiron one the other two are alum.

 

[charlief1]

Is the center one a high port intake Matt? That's the first high port isn't it?

 

[mat231v6]

match letter with letter.

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

wrenching it..

I inked up my heads and put some pattern paper on my manifold...everything lined up great...I hope this photo comes up..Just went to the machine shop and had the guy put in a heli coil fo me... He was only able to get in about 4 threads... because the hole is only about 5/8 of an inch deep...He said somebody tried to use an extractor on the broken bolt and that broke off on top of the bolt....yea...I know...so what it is it is..as long as I measure the bolt length to make sure it does not bottom out these threads should hold it.. no wonder it felt like I was hitting a brick wall when I was drilling ...Will try to run some muraic acid through the intake to get some of the rust out before I put it back on the engine....again..to stay this time I hope... :redface:

 

[Mr. Upholsterer]

wrenching it..

Guys thanks for posting all those photos...I never knew that there was so many manifolds for this thing.. the one I have is low and should allow for some extra hood clearance with my carb. Got to get this thing running again..Also picked up a 16oF thermo...$10 bucks....I use to get these things for 3 bucks each a half a dozen years ago.. Inflation is a bitch...or is it just greed....Went to the parts store for a set of rear monroe shocks for a chevy cobalt....they wanted 41 dollars each my price....can get them online for 27 dollars each with free shipping.. see what I mean..just rippin ...

 

[mat231v6]

do you have the right intake for your head? the port design is different so make sure or you will lose alot of power.