Looking at an 83 Regal, need some advice please.

Okay, I have some very Noob-ish questions here.
I'm going to convert the Regal to a bucket / floor shift car. It currently has a split bench in it. I'm also going to swap in a 200-4r trans for an OD gear.
My concerns are about the shifters & instrument clusters to do the swap. Are all of the shifters OD or what? need a little help here. And Doc, you have a pm. Gat out of the lab and check em bro, LOL.
 
Shifters can be either OD or not. Just depends on what car they came in. Anything from a turbo regal 1983 and on will be OD.

The shifter is connected to the lower half of the steering column. In other words, when you shift in gear, the column moves and this moves the needle in the dash.

The 1983 Turbo Regal with the early style dash and OD used an overlay on the dash board. You just need the overlay, not the entire cluster.
 
Okay, so that makes sense. I just went and took a look at the interior of the car to make sure I had my info straight. I was wrong, it's a solid bench, the arm rest was down and there is a huge crease that looks like a split bench. So I guess I'm going to need the mounts for a bucket seat conversion.

Rich, I have the old style 5 square guage cluster in my car. I was wondering about how I deal with the shift indicator after I swap the colum and mount a console. Is it a different cluster or does the bezel just hide where the indicator would be? Sorry for not being more clear. I also sent you a PM.
 
At the bottom of the fuel gauge is the PRNDLL indicator. You need to get an overlay from a 1983 Regal T Type that says PRNOdDLL. The '83 T Type is the only car I know with the old style dash and an OD transmission.

Or you can easily live without it, knowing that "D" is actually "OD".
 
.;) He got into the 11's without any problems. PM junkbrick (Reed) and he can give you some info on what he did and when.:D Just be prepared to be on the phone for a while if you call him.:rolleyes:
Thats for sure he will talk till your ears smoke but a great guy very helpful he built my turbo
 
Okay, so to get rid of the indicator, I need to replace the fuel gauge when I swap over to the floor shifter. So are these hard to find, and how much should I expect to pay? Or, can I just find an over lay that deletes the needle indicator?
 
No need to git rid of the current fuel gauge. The overlay is a strip is aluminum with the correct "PRNOdDLL" print on it. It slides in place over the current "PRNDLL" (between the fuel gauge face and indicator needle).

It might be hard to find seperately, so you made need to buy a cluster from a '83 T Type.
 
I'll have to keep my eyes open. I can deal with having it there for a while, but sooner or later it's gonna make me crazy seeing that needle there and it never moving. My OCD is so bad that my first wife bought an entertainment center on sale and I took it back because the TV was on the left side and all other electronics were on the right. I HAD to have one that the TV sat in the middle, makes me nuts sometimes. LMAO
 
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