Another 455 V8 Regal Build.......

Discussion in 'V-8 Buick Powered Regals' started by Slowboi, Mar 31, 2014.

  1. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    So here we go.
    I figured I should throw up a build thread for my V8 Regal that I am building.

    This is how the story goes.... Back in 2010, a friend of mine got in a jam and offered up his car on ebay without me knowing. Its a 1986 Buick Grand National. Canadian car, with 60,000 miles on it. The condition was decent except for some rust. Pretty much stock, as well it carried a rebuilt title. What this means in Canada is that it was written off by an insurance company at some point, and then bought at auction, fixed, and sent through a safety process for a re-branded title.

    So Im surfing the net back in 2010 and see this car for sale. The ad was poorly written, and showed an 86 GN with a reserve of $6000.00. I had no idea that he had this car for sale, however I could tell it was local on ebay, so I started to watch it. Finally on the last day of the auction no one had bid on the car so I figured Id take a chance. I won it on the opening bid.

    I then was contacted via email and to my surprise it was this friend of mine selling. I knew the car was worth more than what I offered so I gave him the opportunity to back out and re-list it. He explained to me that he needed the money so he'd like the car gone. So I went to pick it up and it sat in storage until the beginning of 2012. Since then I have owned another GN and a Turbo T that were not stock. So since this one was stock I found I barely drove it.

    This is how the car sat in mid 2011 when I pulled it out of storage to wash it.....

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  2. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    So at this point I had caught the Turbo Buick bug and for a few years I drove, raced and modified the Turbo V6. Although it was a good engine and would make a ton of power I figured I wanted to go back to a Normally Aspirated big block. Friends of mine tried in vain to convince me to do an LS based swap..... yes they are cheaper...... but I decided to go for a built 470 through Tri-Sheild performance instead.

    But first I needed to take care of some rust and update the chassis on my 86 GN. So I decided it would need a restoration. The rebuilt title kind of bothered me (due to the thought of some hidden damage or repairs) so I decided I would do a frame off resto to make sure that everything was right. What did I find when I pulled the body off the frame and measured the frame? Nothing! There is no evidence of a hard hit..... so its a mystery why the title is the way it is..... maybe a theft.....

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  3. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    Now at this point I decided I needed to address the suspension, tire size (frame notch), Brakes, and the condition of the frame. I decided to go with "Rust Bullet" to seal up the frame. Pull the stock turbo 6 and stock 200-4r and build a good rear end.

    I contacted Gbody parts and ordered a frame notch kit. This kit has been used repeatedly all the way up to 1000hp in the GN world and has held up well. Its very heavy 3/8 plate steel. I cut the frame back, welded in the notch kit, and painted the entire frame.

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  4. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    Next I had to address the suspension. As I said earlier... it is poor. So I ordered up a Baer Track4 brake kit and a complete coilover suspension kit from Ridetech. For the rear end I decided to beef up the GN 10 bolt. So I built the diff with an Eaton tru-track, 30 spline axles, girdled TA cover and new 373 gears.

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  5. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    Next on the agenda was running new brake lines, running braided fuel lines (-6 and -8), installing a new g-force double hump cross member, and mounting some 315 series rubber on the back end.

    Now since I cut the frame in, I needed to start in on doing a mini tub on the body to accommodate the rubber on the body side..... this meant rust repair :(

    After having owned three Regals I realized that I would not be able to get clean sheet metal in Canada. So I decided to head to Arizona and pick up some quarters, doors, fenders, and rockers from a wrecking yard called "Speedway Auto". I then hauled all of that steel back up to Canada.... nothing like a long drive to clear one's head......

    Ill show some pictures of the body repair next.....
     
    Rocko likes this.
  6. kiwidave

    kiwidave Well-Known Member

    Fantastic work. And an engrossing thread taking shape.....thank you.
     
  7. ronbz455

    ronbz455 Big Butz Racing

    What are you going to do with the engine and trans? I have thought about putting a v-6 in my Regal if I drive it alot on the street. I would have to have wiring and computer if I used the DIS and injection.
     
  8. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    The stock engine and trans are gone. I sold them to help pay for my 470 from Trishield.
     
  9. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    thanks! Stay tuned for the rust repair.....
     
  10. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    So after putting a substantial amount of time and money into the chassis I decided I needed to look at the rust that had been forming in my wheel arches and rocker panels. I am no stranger to auto body, I have been doing it on and off for the past 20 years and project cars and friends vehicles. When I looked at this car before buying it I could tell various panels had been fixed and filled and I always expect the worst.

    Due to the incredibly poor fit and finish of aftermarket panels I try and stay away from them completely. I would rather go to a junk yard and cut a quarter panel off a rust free, original paint vehicle, then drill out all the spot welds and swap it over to my car than fight with a bull**** aftermarket job. That's my own bias, and that's why I went to Arizona and scored some true rust free desert parts. (1722 miles one way from my home)

    This is what I started with:

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  11. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    The rust when I took the quarter off was what I thought it would be. The inner was completely gone and the outer was bubbling from all the filler that was used:

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  12. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    Time to fab some wheel arches up!

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    The rust had gone into the trunk floor so I decided to cut back past the seam and make my own steel mini tub:

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  13. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    I ground all the welds flat and used seam sealer on both sides before going over top of it all with Rust Bullet:

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  14. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    The rest of the quarter striped back with the wheel arch sealed up:

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    The entire bottom of the body was sand blasted, all rust repaired and sealed up:

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  15. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    I ended up repairing both inner wheelhouses, both inner rockers, one body mount, part of the floor, cut out the spare tire well, replaced both quarters and both rockers..... Heres a pic of the driver side quarter going on. mmmmmm fresh metal.

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  16. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    At this point I needed to put the body back on the frame with some fresh body bushings and all new hardware.

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  17. Slowboi

    Slowboi Well-Known Member

    And here is a pic of my Tri-shield short block eagerly awaiting its stage 2 TA heads.....

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  18. v8regalowner

    v8regalowner Silver level contributor

    Wow, that a hell of alot of work. looks amazing though. thats going to be a hell of a nice car when your done. dan
     
  19. qdub24

    qdub24 Well-Known Member

    Definitely looks like you've got an outstanding build going on. Looking forward to more updates
     
  20. bd1320

    bd1320 Member

    Who makes those wheels?
     

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