I just bought me a 1984 Buick Regal a couple of days ago. I want to drop a 350 Chevy Engine into it but I dont know a thing about American Cars. I come from a 1991 Honda Accord but I am mechanically inclined. I swapped honda engines and was told the Chevy 350 would be way easier. I come to this forum to have fun and restore my 84 Regal, I have been trying to find a Specific swap guide on putting the 350 chevy engine it the 84 regal but no luck. My questions are the following: What all will i need to swap the Chevy 350 into my Buick Regal? Which Chevy 350 from which Chevy Car would work, and is close to 300hp, Or which chevy 350 is the best to go with and what car to get it out of? What will I need to change, and anything else you guys can give me... thanks:3gears:
Just about no one hear will like you installing a chevy in your buick hope you have thick skin. Jamie
Yea i just noticed,ou: but hopefully someone show maturity and helps me with my situation, I just want to know which car would be best and details on completing the swap. I hope not to get bashed to bad, I understand the cost is more and degrading the value I just want to swap in the chevy 350 ,,,
PM me and I will tell you the best way to do what you want to do. I'm getting ready to do the same thing.
PM board member Ritter. He did this same swap a while back, and should be able to give you a pretty comprehensive list. Top of my head here, I'd say you need: -Frame pads and motor mounts from a same generation Monte Carlo -Trans adapter plate to mate the Chevy engine to a BOP transmission (unless you have a dual pattern trans) -I think the starters are possibly on the other side? So you'd need to do some wiring. As far as the actual motor goes, I'd look for a later model 350, something like a 96+ Vortec headed truck motor. The Vortecs flow better than the older heads, and these motors have roller cams, so you can upgrade without the worries of wiping a flat tappet cam lobe. In stock form, you'd have to limit the cam to around .470 lift. With some simple machine work, you can get up over .500 lift. You could probably find one complete with all the fuel injection stuff, or buy a vortec compatible intake and run a carb.
I am intrested in the Vortec upgrade you mentioned, can you give me more detail like what exactly do i need to do this upgrade? And did you say that the fuel injection would be better? Wouldnt i have to wire the cpu to run that?
You can do the Vortec heads on any first gen SBC. They are a pretty big "bang for the buck" bolt on improvement for a street motor. You of course need the heads, then you'll need an intake, as the "regular" ones won't work. You will also need either self aligning rockers or pushrod guide plates. On the motor I'm about to build for my C10, I plan to use a roller cam short block, Vortec heads, self aligning roller rockers, and a carb. Just because I think the carb would be easier for me to deal with than learning fuel injection.
Oh ok sounds like a pretty cool mod. But I plan to maintain good gas mileage and drive it daily, i noticed you mentioned street car. I just want to use it as a casual car:TU:
The reason I say street motor go back to the fact that the stock valve train isn't setup to use really large cams. The springs bind over about .470-.480 lift. As long as you're not looking for huge cams, they are a great head to use for a cruiser. My truck motor is going to be built for lower rpm torque and reliability. I don't really care if I run out of steam at 5000 rpm, I doubt the motor will see that many RPM for more than a few seconds at a time anyway.
What motor is in it right now??? If it's the 3.8L Buick V6, just get a 350 Buick. It will literally fall in with no problems. Won't really have to change a thing...
That would be too easy .............he wants to change wiring, fuel delivery , frame mounts, brackets :blast: etc etc and besides why would buick people want to help put a chevy in a buick?
Because, like it or not, the "General" decided to nix "our" 350 and put the anemic 305 in the Buick Regals that didn't have the benefit of being produced with 6 cylinders. It's still a Buick. It's not his fault it came from the factory with a Monte Carlo motor. At least the Oldsmobile guys got their own 307....
