what are the best and cheapest engine swaps for 83"through 86" regals. does it matter if the old engine was a v6.
Well you can get a set of Olds engine mounts and a 350 or 455 Olds will bolt in there really easy. I couldn't tell you about Buick motors though. Plus anything is better than a Chevy or that sad little V-6. It would be a different story if it was a turbo.
Buick 350's are a drop in... same mounts, placement, accessories... Shouldn't be a problem at all. and I even think the TH350 trans for the 350engine has the same mount as the TH200 (not the 200r4) so that is a drop in as well. Just have to re-wire it for the 350 Ignition.... Maybe some other Little things that allways seem to pop up when your doing something like that:af: Good luck.... 350 regals are fun. If you don't mind the olds route, for the same amount of work (maybe even less) you could put in a Buick 455.... Very fun.:TU:
If it had a buick V6 in it, a buick 350 is a bolt in. You will need to hit the junk yard and find a fan shroud out of an oldsmobile powered (307 cid) G-body. Also would not hurt to pick up the radiator and front suspension springs out of the same car. (a little more heavy duty for up-grading to the V-8) If you can luck into a 68-70 "high compression" buick 350, the car will be an honest to goodness muscle car!!!!! Even if all you can find is a low compression, or a smogger motor, the performance is still be very good.
I changed my radiator to a 2 row (4 would have been better). Then I used the fan shroud that was in there but cut it back about 3 inches. Works fine. Make sure you take the motor mounts off the V6 and put them on the V8. You will also have to modify your A/C hoses because they will be too long to connect. MARK
Been there, done that:Brow: The first car we did was a GN clone. Total low buck job. We cut the fan shroud on that one, and used a smogger [1977] motor straight out of the junk yard... Just re-built the factory 4V, and replaced the plugs, that's it. $175 for the engine, $300 for the "black out" paint job, and $225 for the dual exhaust, $150 for some used wheels and tires,,, and my buddy had the coolest ride in town This was all done back in the early 90's, but I do recall the front-end sagged a little from the added weight, and the engine ran 10-15 degreese hotter than it should have.... And it did over-heat on the hottest summer days. Performance was quite good. Not quite as good as a real GN, or 5.0, or Z-28,,, But it would pass just about any "normal" car on the road without any problems. The second car we did was a 84 regal 4 door. This was a "total sleeper", and to look under the hood, you would have sworn it was factory installed. We used the radiator, shroud, and springs from a Monte-Carlo. The fan shroud was really close, but the fan hit the bottom, so we had to cut a little bit out of it. The motor was "all business"... I wont bore you with the details, but it had to be close to 400 HP, plus a 150 nitrous shot. We kept the factory cast iron intake and exhaust manifolds for the stealth look, and used a BIG air cleaner off a Cadillac, or big Olds or something. The body looked kinda ratty, so the healthy sounding rumble was commonly mistaken for an exhaust leak:Brow: On motor alone, it would eat any factory muscle car for lunch. On the bottle, it was just down-right scarry:eek2: The friend of mine who owned it made a LOT of money street-racing with it before it was totaled on a wet road .... Posi rear's and too much power sure dont make good "foul weather" vehicles... Oh well. I think I learned the oldsmobile shroud tip from you, as I read it here on the board some time back. How do you like the manual tranny in your car? I'd love to do one of those, but clutch pedals for a G-body are really hard to come by.
:grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: I like the low-buck Regals youve done. Counting every nut, bolt, registration, first engine ETC, I'm hoovering around $1700 total. Mine did actually run really well with the first 350. It was a 73 4V engine with a gazillion miles on it. That puppy would leave a cloud! It was still an auto with a 2.41 rear, but that kick-down trom second to first at about 25mph was really something. I guess the grins cover how I feel about the four speed. My tranny is kinda a lunker as far as shifting fast is concerned. No wonder, its designed for a truck. (NP A-833 OD). I have to pull it for new syncros this winter and it may not go back in. I got a line on some Muncies that might be heading my way. As far as finding pedals, I intercepted a crashed ElCamino one day away from the shreader for $100! Lucky? Heck ya. But to all of youns reading this I say that yours is out there too.
Hmm, let's see. $700 for the Regal $50 for the 68 350-2 $350 in upgrade parts Free= Dan's and others on this board advice (at least I haven't gotten a bill yet:Brow: ) Spending a couple of months working with my dad and listening to his car stories=priceless MARK
83-86 Regal Many of the v-8 regals had a bullit-proof OLDS 307 in them. I believe that the 307 block was the same size as a Olds 403, which was debored and stroked. Put an Olds 403 and you would really get some grunt out of that Regal. The 403 was an option in many late model 70's (76 and 77 for sure) 98's and Wagons and was the replacement engine for the 455. A 403 out of one of those grandad olds maybe a good alternative
