I own a 1979 Firebird Formula that has a 4.9L v8 engine and is automatic. The engine has well over 300000 km's on it, and it is running terribly - so I decided to replace the engine. I found a friend's 1985 Buick Regal Limited that has a 5.0L V8 and is automatic also - he is selling me the engine because it works fine, but the transmission is shot. We took the 5.0L out of the Regal, and took the transmission off (since we're using the transmission in my firebird.) However, we seem to be worried about the difference in electical components. I was told that the transmission would fit (between my car and the buick's engine) and the mounts would fit, and everything would be fine.. but then we noticed that there are a lot of wires leading into the car from the engine in the Buicks, and the Firebird's engine is less cluttered, it does not have nearly the amount of wiring. Before we attempt to finalize this project, we would like to know how vital all of the tiny wiring is on the Regal. Are these all fancy sensors unneccsary to performance, or are these vital to performance/operation? Would we have to do something like take the wiring harness out of the regal and somehow splice it into the Firebird? Thank you for your help, I can give you more specifics if the situation isn't clear enough Matthew Housser
Olds 307 Engine in Firebird You need to get a distributor and carburetor for an Oldsmobile engine from 1979 or earlier. The 1985 Regal had computer-controlled units that would be a hassle to use in the 1979 Firebird. This is assuming the 1985 Regal has the Olds engine. For wiring it would be easier to exchange your engine wiring harness with a harness from a 1976 to 1979 Firebird with the small block 403 Oldsmobile engine. It should plug into the back of the fuse box (in the firewall in the area under the master cylinder). You may need to unscrew a fastener and split apart the connection with half for the chassis wiring harness and half for the engine wiring harness. This harness will have all the leads of the proper length to connect to what ever is necessary on your engine with the older distributor and carburetor. You will note the wiring harness in the Regal has two sections. The engine wiring harness from the back of the fuse box, contains the items needed run the engine with the non-computer era HEI distributor and standard carburetor. The wiring harness from the passenger side connects to all the computer control sensors with outputs to the computer-controlled distributor and carburetor. Hope this information helps
the 1985 Buick Regal Limited has a 305 actually.. it even says so on the block. Does this change anything..
