My 76/77 Buick regals going to the darkside!

Dang. The hose was delayed in shipping today. The only part needed for plumbing the hydroboost. That sucks.

 

Hydroboost installed... had to use my factory master cylinder until I can make a new bracket since I had to add washers to keep the reservoir from hitting the hood. The bleeding process takes a long time so I decided to finish tomorrow. I will also probably cut the link to the pedal and weld the one on from the old booster. The holes are not the same size. Its either that or make a sleeve to take up the extra space. That may be a better option. I could also weld up the hole and redrill it to the right size too.

Anyways there is a ton of extra room now with that big ass can booster gone now.

 

Well I guess I am cursed. A replacement radiator is on the way, apparently this aluminum radiator does not like having straps attaching it like I have done in the past. I guess the fins broke and are leaking. I will fab up different mounting brackets before the new one comes in.

 

OUCH. That sucks.

 

Summit already sent the new one. Not a huge issue. The brakes on the other hand are pissing me off!

 

I swear, Im going to lose it! I have absolutely had it with these f-ing brakes. I cannot get the portioning valve to reset. Not by pushing the button, not by slamming the brakes with the working side bleeder open and not by pushing the pin from the disassembled rear brake side.

I made a reverse pressure bleeder which worked perfectly on the front. I cannot bleed the rear because this G-D portioning valve is stuck therefore cutting off the path to the rear. To make matters worse, I found a torn seal inside the portioning valve and you can bet your sweet ass that there are no seal kits available.

So now, I have to buy a new portioning valve and install it. That seems simple right? Nah. The fricking rust is going to guarantee that I will be under the car for 2 days trying to get everything loose.

At this time I am about to say screw it and do the test drive with front brakes only then when I get the rest of the car together, drop the damn thing off at a shop to let them rebuild the brake system.

Brakes are turning out to be my nemesis like drywall. Everyone has that thing that they absolutely hate working on. The damn brakes lines and drywall are it for me.

 

With great ANGER I used an old amazon gift card and purchased a new proportioning/combination valve. My plan is to try to remove the factory lines while mounted on the car but it they won't budge, cut the lines and relocate the new valve in the engine bay since the factory location on the rail is just stupid any way.

 

Tonight I installed the new combination valve. I used my pressure bleeder to bleed the brakes which went okay. Something is still wrong though. I will have a 5 day weekend to figure it out though. I may just need to replace all the old brake components. Maybe it is time for a disk conversion after all.

No worries. I will figure it out eventually. Tomorrow I will replace the leaking radiator and send the defective one back. I might just bolt the wheels on and try to drive it. I have brakes just not as firm as I'd like. I bet it will turn out to be something super stupidly simple.

 

Found another one! Passenger side front brake line has a leak. I guess I wont get away with using any of the old lines at all. I am trying to resist the urge to drive it down the street to my local mechanic to get the rest of the brake lines replaced. I am so tired of working on them.

 

My dear friend Chris, who works on french cars (it's true) has the opinion, that you shouldn't bother troubleshooting that. Just replace EVERYTHING. I stubbornly troubleshoot, which often ends in the same place.

 

I will be picking up the two front rubber hoses in the morning and I already have the nicop hardline to replace the broken line. There will be only 3 original lines left after all is said and done.

 

Getting closer. I re-bled the brakes using a simple pressure plate that I made from a piece of 1/4 inch steel and some fittings. I was able to put a positive 20psi in the master cylinder making the bleeding way easier than any other method that I have tried. The reverse pressure bleed works but wow is pressure bleeding simple. Basically it replaces the second person (pedal pusher) with positive pressure. I think that in the future I want to bleed with reverse pressure and then follow up with pressure bleeding. Maybe vice versa, Idk.


Anyways, I now have no more sinking pedal feel but I have a seal kit on the way for a hydroboost rebuild just as good measure. Tomorrow I am going to attempt to get a ride around the block after cleaning up all the mess made during all this brake troubleshooting nonsense.

 

PHASE 1 COMPLETE!!!
She is a driver!

 

Well for those keeping score, I am going on to phase 2 which is Rust bust and paint. First is closing the tranny tunnel with new metal. I have been driving it with the drive shaft within arms reach and I must get that rectified now. I will then clean up all the floor panels and epoxy the exposed metal. Once epoxied, I will add deadener since the SPI epoxy I use does not need a topcoat. I figure I will get the interior rust proof and then do the interior upholstery. Once the weather gets warm, I can switch over to exterior work.


I discussed it with my family and the official name for this car is ....drumroll please......


"GRANNY PANTIES"

 

Great job and I like the name!

 

Thanks and Thanks! The name kind of tickles me every time I think of it which means that it is the right one.

 

Kind of curious about your experience on the road? How did it feel? Congrats!

 

The car feels scary at the moment due to a few major items.
First- the hole in the floor is still open so driving it with the spinning driveshaft U joint staring you in the face kind of keeps my mind on making sure that there is nothing that could potentially get caught and pull me into it. That would be very bad!
Second-the car needs tires. All the tires are very old and I am currently using the original spare tire since I had a dry rotted tire on there.
Third- Shocks....they need replaced in a bad way. The car is not planted like a new car at the moment.

HOWEVER---
I can tell that the car is a beast. It pulls very hard and definitely will have traction problems. Obviously it is a completely different car since it started with around 140hp and is now probably around 400hp. Once I programed the ecu with the correct gear ratio, I was able to see the actual speed and realized that 60mph comes up very quickly. Fortunately the car wiggles alot which is a great warning that it is time to slow down. The 6 speed is a world of difference from the old tired 3 speed! My logic for the current power level is this. The 2010 L96 was estimated at 360 hp. I added a big ole cold air intake, deleted cats, mechanical fan and am running a much more free flowing exhaust and optimized tuning so I feel like I can safely expect that I am over 400hp now. Most folks with the old cathedral port 6.0's were running about 420hp with the same mods. (At the motor of course)

Once I get the hole in the floor closed and replace the shocks and tires I will have a better ability to get it loose but I already know that it will be wild! Keep in mind that the weight of this car is within about 200lb of a Camaro SS so you can get the idea. I have already removed about 50lb from the front of the car by moving the battery to the trunk (35lb) and by cutting 11lbs so far from the front bumper bracket. I will most likely remove the entire steel support structure from the bumper to replace it with a much lighter steel support with bumper foam for lighter weight impact resistance.
1977 Buick Regal 5.7 V8 -3845lbs
2010 Chevy Camaro SS -3860 lbs
2021 Chevy Camaro SS -3685lbs

 

FINALLY!!


So I am putting this information out there to help someone in the same situation in the future. I noticed in HP tuners that the MAF was not registering. I used this MAF https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010GDGFY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

-GM Genuine Parts 213-4222 Mass Airflow Sensor with Intake Air Temperature Sensor


and this 4 inch tube adapter- https://www.amazon.com/Spectre-Perf...Z06Q6E8RX9E&psc=1&refRID=EPRN04BS5Z06Q6E8RX9E

-Spectre Performance 9705 4" Aluminum Mass Air Flow Sensor Adapter Kit


So, the issue is that the MAF calibration is not the same as the factory L96 MAF tables and needs to be changed in order for the car to run okay. Without the change in the tables, it will start with the maf plugged in but will quickly run like poop and die. The solution is as follows. Remember, if you have a different motor, the solution will be similar but different.


First thing first, the MAF wiring is not the same on the van motor as it is on the LS3/LS7 MAF so you have to re-pin the connector which turned out to be amazingly simple. I did it with a small pocket knife. The correct wires should be yellow, black, pink, then two tan wires. Yellow is A (MAF signal) , black is B (Ground) , pink is C (12v) and D and E are IAT sensor wires and do not need to be changed. This step will allow the MAF to read in the car and tuning software. With it wired incorrectly, the car will run but it will actually be running off the speed density tune. Once the wires are corrected, the MAF tables will kick in and of course the car will run like **** since the MAF is not calibrated.


Second- fix the MAF tables. This turns out to be incredible simple too but very frustrating to figure out. It is as simple as downloading the stock tune from a 2013 Camaro ZL1 and with HP tuners reprogramming the MAF and IAT tables with the correct column axis labels and pasting them into your tune file. After writing to the car, restart the car with the scanner open while monitoring the MAF and IAT scales as well as the commanded AFR.


This will make the car run silky smooth and will allow for you to then proceed with normal MAF tuning. It took me 4 days of frustration to figure this out an therefore I am hoping this will help someone out there.

EDIT>>>

To further simplify the MAF and IAT table issue I thought of a very simple way to get ANY most gen 4 GM MAF tune tables to work. Whatever MAF you have, look it up and find out a couple cars that come with the same one. Pick a high performance model and maybe a run of the mill car with the same MAF. Use the HPtuners compare feature to verify that the tables are the same. They should be. Then you can use the compare feature to see the differences between your motor stock MAF and IAT tables and that will kind of highlight what changes need to be made.


Essentially you are programming your ECM to recognize the same parameters that the MAF is putting out.

 

Okay, here is an update to your question....
How does it feel....OMG, this thing is amazing. I have become more comfortable driving it with the tunnel still not replaced. I drove it for the last two days a little bit further and a little bit further. Today I drove it twice. First drive to the city next to mine to pick up a new mouse at bestbuy that was out of stock at my best buy. When I got home, I was so excited that I just had to drive it to my show my parents. I did a burnout for them. Then I headed to my uncle's house and did yet another longer and much more wicked burnout.

The car drives just like a 1976 Buick regal as far as suspension but with a major secret. When you give this thing even the slightest throttle, the wild Camaro demon side comes out. With 2.73 gears in the rear end, this thing brakes the tires loose like nothing. I literally do not have to even touch the brakes to do a burn out. It is quite weird sitting in an old bones car yet hearing the sounds of a modern muscle car trying to rip the pavement off the face of the earth. Again, I am not even really tuned yet and this thing is killer.

Then, when you drive it like a normal human being, it just purs along at like 1500 rpm while going like 55mph and is so quiet and refined. Definitely like Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde.

At this point in time, I absolutely no regrets doing this! None at all!