Sorry, but been at Nats last week. I checked and did not find an e-mail, could you re-send? Thanks, John
Hmm... I didn't realize it, but the e-mail I replied to was from someone named Ed. I don't think I ever got an e-mail from you John. I'm not sure exactly what you wanted to know, but I sent a copy of what I told the other guy to you... let me know if you have any more questions. Joe
Sorry to those who asked, but it's not available without the engine and transmission for now. The car is at my mother's house (500 miles from me) and I'm not able to get off work long enough to drive down and pull the engine. If I don't sell it within the next 6-8 months I'll probably end up keeping it but if I don't I could sell it as a roller.
A few questions I am interested in the car. I am overseas right now but hope to be back in Houston in July. Could you elaborate on the transmission problem a little. Also, about how far is the car located from the Houston area? Thanks Steven Ide
There aren't really any problems with it, I'm pretty sure it could use a rebuild though. I have driven it a little (very little) on the road and it seems to shift fine, but I don't know how long it could handle the power from the 455. It's a 200-4R that came with the turbo V6 engine. The computer is no longer hooked up so the torque converter doesn't lock up any more. There is a way to fix that, I read up on it long ago when I first started the swap. I just never got that far. I don't think it's very difficult or very expensive. Not sure of what area in Houston you'll be in but the car is about 1 to 1.5 hours from Humble.
I live in Southwest Houston, but it is still not too far away. Do you know if the car has the 8.5 posi rear? I understand that it the weak point in the 455 swap. o No: Also, you mentioned at one time you might be interested in a trade. I have a 1988 Mazda RX-7 Turbo II with 115,000 miles. Unfortunately, I am overseas now and won t be available until July, but if the car is still available, I am interested. Steve
As far as I know it's the 7.5" posi with 3.42's. From what I've read every turbo buick came with the same rear end. I've heard of people who have done 455 swaps putting this rear end in their n/a regal and it's supposed to be able to handle a mostly stock 455. I really needed the money to pay off a couple bills, but lately I've been throwing around the idea of an LS1/RX7 project so I might be interested in that car. Do you have any pics? Is it running? Any mods or is it stock? Manual or auto? The car is in zip code 75901 if you want to Mapquest it.
Ok, I wasn't planning on having a new project car for another year or two but I've done a little more research into the LS1/RX7 thing and I'm definitely interested now. Give me some more info on the car when you get a chance (with pics if possible). Thanks... Joe
The RX-7 is completely stock and running. It even has the original exhaust on it. It is a Turbo II model with a 5 speed manual and a blue cloth interior. I believe the seats are the Recaro seat option from the factory. It also has the 5 lug 16inch factory mag rims. I wanted to keep the car but we have recently had twins, so a two seater sports car isn't very practical. The car is inspected and running, but has been sitting for some time. As far as I know, it is in decent shape, but could probably use a paint job as it has been stored outside. It has a few dings but has never been in anaccident and is a Texas car. The car is in southwest Houston at my mother's house. I will try to post some pictures as soon as possible but they will only be scanned photos as I don't have any digital pics of the car. You can send me a PM at steven_ide@hotmail.com with any other questions. About the Regal, what has been done to the 455? What carb is on it now? How is the oil pressure and leaks? Do you have the air conditioning parts from the Regal? Would you send any more pics to my e-mail. Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
I got the engine from a friend's dad. He had it sitting in his shop with plans to put it in something but never got around to it. He said he bought it from a "buick guy" who had built tons of 455's. He said it only had about 1500 miles on it, the guy had it in an electra. When I got it I took the oil pan off, everything looked brand new inside so I believe what he said about it only having ~1500 miles. For some strange reason, the original owner painted the block and heads in some weird red, white and blue pattern and it was disgusting so I cleaned it up and painted it cast iron gray. The water pump, distributor, head gaskets, intake gaskets and more stuff that I can't remember right now were all replaced by me before the engine went in the car. After I got it in the o-ring on the oil pump kept popping off and pouring oil out everywhere, the extremely helpful people on this site told me what the cause was. You can search all my previous posts to read about it and other stuff. I got a kit and rebuilt the oil pump, so it's in "like new" condition. The engine has stage 1 heads and "maybe" a stage 1 cam, that's what the guy I bought it from said but I have no idea if it does or not. Everything else is completely stock, iron intake, Q-jet carb (850 cfm I think). I have a set of gauges I bought for it, one is an oil pressure gauge. I had it hooked up when I first installed the engine and oil pressure was great. I ran it for a while in my garage and drove it down the street with absolutely no problems. I unhooked it because I was trying to clean up the engine bay and I was going to route the line a different way but never got around to hooking it back up. After the oil filter thing, there was only a small leak around the rear of the left side valve cover, looked like it just needed to be taken off and re-installed but once again, I never got around to it. The original radiator didn't do a very good job of cooling the new engine so I bought an aluminum one with a shroud and electric fan built into it. There was a post on here about that too, I think it had a link to the radiator I bought. I drove it about 15-20 miles or so to my mother's house with no overheating at all (that's without using the fan because of the alternator) so I'm pretty sure the new radiator will keep it cool. Overall, the engine seemed to be in excellent condition. I didn't get to drive it anywhere near as much as I wanted to due to the torque converter not locking up and the alternator not being strong enough to run the fans. All the A/C parts are still there as far as I know. The compressor was off the car (in the trunk) when I got it with the turbo V6 and I still have it. I had planned on hooking it up eventually but never had the compressor checked to see if it was still good or not. I used the original V6 accessory brackets so the A/C compressor should fit on there with little or no problems. That's everything I can think of now and I have to get ready for work... let me know if you have any more questions. I will send some more pics to your e-mail address too.
PM sent to your e-mail. Do you know if the cruise control is working? Also, does the car have the Powermaster brake booster. It wasn't clear from the photo. Thanks.
Yes, it does have the powermaster. Some people like it when running a big block, if you go with something radical you don't have to worry about vacuum, but I was planning on converting to a regular brake system. The cruise control is not working. In fact, I honestly can't remember if it had it from the factory or not (sorry, it's been a while since I've worked on it). I'll be going home for the weekend next Friday, I plan on spending a few hours with the Buick. I'm going to look it over for any signs of rust, start it and let it run for a little while, fix any little problems I might find. I'll also check for the cruise control stuff. I got your e-mail, gotta get ready for work though so I'll try to get back to you later today.
