231 to Buick 350 swap

Discussion in 'V-8 Buick Powered Regals' started by KGB, Oct 21, 2017.

  1. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    More progress today, not quite finished though. Fixed the fans, turned out to be a bad ground. I've been having trouble getting the proper fluid since changing the trans. pan. Adding more never seems to show on the dipstick, and then it shoots out anyway. I've got the original tube from the Metric 200 in the transmission, and the dipstick from a Trans-Dapt TH350 tube and stick. So today it hit me like a ton of bricks. I took the new stick out, and the old stick out of the trunk. Sure enough, the TD stick is way too short. But the old one is too long. I'm not sure how I missed that when I dropped the pan to change it. So I drained the pan, and got a lot of fluid. Put some of it back in, and took a little test drive. When first shifting from park to reverse, or any other gear, it stays in park. From whatever gear I stop on, back to park, and to reverse again, it goes into gear. Then it goes into all the gears. I got the transmission up to about 150*F, then shut it down. After I ate, I took a quick trip to the gas station. On the way there it stayed right around 200*F, and on the way back it slowly crept past 210 and stopped at around 220. When I got back, I kept the car running but shut the fans off. That's when the trans. temp reached 250 and I shut it down. It shifted okay, but I was more focused on gauges than the shifting. So tomorrow I'll put a bit more fluid in and see what that does.
     
  2. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    Well so much for that last post. Today I started it up, tried to shift into gear and got nothing. Park, tried again. Nothing. Tried again, nothing. I put it in first I think, and after a couple seconds it lurched forward. Tried the other gears, but got nothing. I put it in reverse and revved it to about 1500 and flew backward a few feet. Got out and put the old dipstick in to get a reading, and it was at the add line. Not hot. Went to hit the fans and blew the fuses again. Shut the car down to rethink things, and the fluid starts coming back out the dipstick again. If my measurements were right, I was 2.5 quarts back into the transmission after I drained it. I had planned on getting it down to the transmission shop tonight, but no gears put the brakes on that. And my fans have me completely stumped. They both work fine if the car is off, but as soon as it's running it blows fuses.
     
  3. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    Okay, made some headway today. I've been talking to the folks at Derale on my fans blowing fuses. To start, they told me to switch the ground and switch wires. I tried that yesterday, and managed to get the fans to come on with the car on. But after turning them on and off a few times, I blew the fuses. Replaced the fuses and got one to blow and one to stay on. Replaced the burnt one and it stayed on, and burnt the other one. Next, they told me the problem could be the fuse holder itself. They recommended circuit breakers, so I bought circuit breakers. Put them in today and solved the problem. Turned on and off many times and no problems. Just need to mount them. Tomorrow I've got somebody coming by to give me a hand with the transmission, so I can get it back to the transmission shop.
     

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  4. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    So I picked the car up from the transmission shop last Wednesday. My cooler lines were ****, my vent tube was plugged, and my temp sensor is faulty. The sensor was in the pan, and after letting the car warm up and a short drive, it pegs the gauge at 250. They put the sensor in the transmission itself, but the same thing happens. Other than that the transmission is good. From there I drove over to where I used to work to fix the hole in my airbox. I took the heater blower off at the firewall, and used some cardboard in a bag to close and shape the hole. Next I took some "green glue" and smeared that inside on the bagged cardboard, followed by a chunk of fiberglass to cap it. I came back the next day to find clearance, Clarence. Since Saturday I've been driving the car to and from work with hardly any problems. I do have an exhaust leak now, in the center of the passenger manifold. Pretty much done, just need to iron out a few things.
     

    Attached Files:

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  5. partsrparts

    partsrparts Silver Level contributor

    What motor mounts are you using, the V6 ones? when I put a 350 in my 76 Skylark I had to use poly mounts because the V6 mounts are to soft and let the motor lean quite a bit towards the passenger side. The frame pads for a V6 in my Xbody will not let you use V8 mounts
     
  6. 1987Regal

    1987Regal Well-Known Member

  7. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    Yeah just the V6 ones. About a month before I started all this, the original mount tore itself in half. I bought new ones but like you say, they let that 350 lean over pretty good. The car has been fairly sluggish right off the line, but picks up after the first 20 mph or so. I'm not sure if the engine is twisting too much or my brakes are dragging. So this weekend I'll strap the engine down and see if that solves it, if not I'll start on the brakes.
     
  8. partsrparts

    partsrparts Silver Level contributor

    Before I went with the poly mounts the pass side header was sitting on the upper control arm adjusting bolt and the driver side header was on the motor mount. This was with brand new V6 mounts. The motor bounced around quite a bit, at a lower idle it would actually rock back and forth
     
  9. 1987Regal

    1987Regal Well-Known Member

    I had the same issue I used SPC upper control arms and modified the headers for fitment I used new v6 mounts and used a ratchet strap on the driver side
     
  10. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    I'd thought about getting headers, but I figured it'd be a tight enough fit as it was. At least one poly mount is in my future. I got the ratchet strap tight, but that didn't solve all my problems. Today I messed with that strap, put a new fuel pump in, and played with the vacuum modulator a bit. When I left the shop, the strap was holding. And so were the brakes. When coming to a stop, sometimes it feels like it locks up the passenger side front. When pulling away, if I take my foot off the brake quick, it almost stays stopped. The brakes were doing their lockup thing before the swap, but it wouldn't happen very often. Maybe once a month. I did the brakes before I went on a trip last year, and basically ended up burning them off on the trip. So I'm just waiting on hoses and I'll try again with the brakes, this time with new calipers and better pads.
     
  11. 1987Regal

    1987Regal Well-Known Member

    Headers are tight I got them used for $175 long time ago and they are 1 3/4 tubes. A day of time for me along with cut and tweaking them and reweld. Passenger side was the worst. But again I used 1 3/4 vs 1 5/8
     
  12. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    Your fuel pump eccentric is on backwards:eek:
     
  13. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    Not sure what you mean Mark, I fixed that awhile ago. I had the distributor gear and eccentric swapped. Fuel pump wouldn't even go on until I fixed it. I changed the pump on Sunday because I thought it was leaking around the outlet on the pump itself. Turned out it was just the old hardline fitting that was leaking.
     
  14. 1987Regal

    1987Regal Well-Known Member

    You know the other thing is with your sluggish take off .I'm sure the brakes aren't helping. but being you put that new street demon on have you had a chance to change mess with jets, float, choke. From what little read on them some say they are set really rich and someone said something about the choke sticking. I'm not much of help on the Street Demon, I got an old 3310 Holley on my car now but just throwing ideas out.
     
  15. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    Yeah, its been a comedy of errors with this right now. Its a combination of the brakes and carb. The brakes are steadily getting worse, so that's my main concern right now. After getting the engine strapped down, I've been a little less cautious about hitting the gas. I haven't made any changes to jets, or the float, but the choke works like it should. But before Sunday, I was leaking fuel out of the pump. So as of right now, I've leaned it out, and that's about it. If I coast to as slow a speed as possible, and then give it some gas, it hesitates a little and gets going. If I'm going about 45 mph and punch it full throttle, it'll bog, and then it steadies out. I think I need to delay the accel. discharge rate, as well as the secondary air door. Along with getting leaner jets and rods. Having said that, its hard to tune when the brakes are hanging up like they are. It'll damn near put me through the windshield sometimes.
     
  16. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    Spent some time tonight messing with the carb. In order to make the accel. pump rate slower, I needed to bend the connecting rod. So before that, I tried making it faster. That almost fixed the sluggish start, not completely, but I left it there for now. I also delayed the air door, but its still running too rich so that didn't really do anything. So rich, that I'm getting gas in the oil. Or I've got a bigger leak somewhere. I can't find any leaks when its off, or any unusual leaks while its running. Maybe should have spent that brake money on a calibration kit, but brakes are important too, right? Tomorrow I'll change oil and get the brakes done, then see if I can get any kind of jets or rods to lean this thing out.
     
  17. KGB

    KGB Well-Known Member

    Alright, kind of got the brakes done today. I pulled the tires off, and did the passenger side first. The pads and rotors looked fine, so I left them alone. I did replace the calipers, hoses, and fluid. That fixed the grabbing when coming to a stop, and helped a bit with the sluggish take-off. Not surprisingly, it didn't fix it. I didn't get a chance today to see if I could get a calibration kit, so no major carb changes yet.
     
  18. 1987Regal

    1987Regal Well-Known Member

    If you have fuel in the oil are sure the fuel float height is right? If it's too high it will over fuel the engine, causing some of your issues because the engine is being flooded
     
  19. 300sbb_overkill

    300sbb_overkill WWG1WGA. MAGA

    Plus if that much gas is running in the engine that it is getting in the oil, it will wash the rings out, meaning the extra fuel is washing the oil off of the rings causing excessive engine wear! Expect an eventual loss of compression if the situation isn't corrected ASAP.

    Without oil on the rings, the rings AND cylinder bore are rapidly wearing out which means that to fix the situation isn't just simply ball honing and replacing the rings, it will need to be bored and honed for new pistons and rings to restore the proper piston to wall clearance.

    The gas on the rings is acting more like a cutting fluid than an anti-wear lubricant that the oil is.
     
  20. 1987Regal

    1987Regal Well-Known Member

    X2..dad had the fuel diaphragm burst in his 71 Camaro causing fuel to go into oil pan ruined the mains.
     

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