Hey all Well, as I've mentioned in previous threads, my V6 in my Regal developed a case of the hard knock, so I was trying to sell it off. It would't even bring $300.00 which surprised the hell outta me...... so anyways, I've decided on keeping it. Now I FINALLY need some help w/a serious engine swapout :laugh: This mornin my brother turned me on to an '85 model Buick LeSabre w/a 305 in it, the whole car runs,drives. I got it for CHEAP and the only reason I bought it was to put the 305 in my Regal. OK now where do I start? lol I'm pretty new at this stuff, I have pulled an engine or two, but any advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanx
I would start by selling the LeSabre and buying a Buick 350 motor. It's an easy swap and will give you more performance than that slug 305. That's just my opinion though. I had a lot of fun with my Regal when I put the 350 in it. I paid $50 for the motor and about another $300 in upgrades and ran it until I blew it up. What a blast!
Well I can't get jack for the LeSabre, hell, I only got a Bill$ in it. I'd like to go ahead and put the 305 in, that way it'll be ready for a 350 if/when I do get it. :bglasses: It looks like I might also be the proud new owner of a '67 GTO, so all my serious cash/work will have to go into that. I was just figuring since the engine was already blown in the Regal, I'll go ahead and spend JUST ALITTLE BIT of doh on it and put that LeS. engine in it. I was curious, I looked at the Tranny for the 305 and I don't know what kind it is. Anyway for me to find out? Thanx for your response Shark
Well if it runs and drives, drive it. Use it like a pick-up. I know for a fact that you can fit a Buick 350 or 455 in the trunk of a 85 LeSabre.
lol Well it has a junk title. Come on fellas I want to put this engine in the Regal, and you guys are tryin to discourage me from it. :Smarty: :TU:
Ok, ok, I'll be serious now... Can you see the pan on the tranny? How many bolts? Or better yet, can you see a metal tag with a two letter code like B Q, etc? I honestly don't know if that motor will sit on your current V6 frame mounts. I know the Buick 350 will so I'm a little ignorant in that area.
Ok the car is still on the trailor, I haven't had time to work w/it yet. I did however check the number of bolts on the Tranny pan. 16 or 17 o No: I have a 13 bolt THM350 in the Regal stock, and the one in the LeS looks totally different, it has the main pan, then some kinda of little "growth" looking pan in the rear under the tail piece. I couldn't see any metal ID tags at this time, will get back to ya on that. Thanx
Does it look sort of like this? It would also say "Metric a devision of GMC" on it. This is a 200-4r transmission pan.
yup that'd be it, except the one in the LeS has a hump on that flat part behind the pan. It has 16 bolts, and says "Metric a Div of GM" on it also. I looked on the Console and it says 1,2,D, and the OD gear, stated "automatic OD" on the console as well. ALSO says LeSabre Special Edition on the dash. Ok, so is this good or bad? lol
Then yep, you have an overdrive 2004r tranny. Mine has a hump there too but the one in the picture didn't. Oh, well. The good thing about these tranny's is the gas mileage you'll get while cruising on the freeway but...If you still have the stock rear end in the Regal, it's probably a 2.41 or 2.56:1 gear, then an overdrive tranny is kind of not needed. I believe you can use the same transmission crossmember as a THM350 so if you want to swap the whole engine/tranny over at the same time I think it should drop right in but again, I don't know about the 305 engine mounts lining up with the 231 frame pads. If you ever decide to swap up to a 350 or 455, then you would either want to pull that 2004r tranny out and trade it for a THM350 or pull it out and rebuild/strengthen it.
Well, this Regal is geared REALLY low I think, at 60mph it's probally taching bout 3grand? It got really lousy gas milage also, bout 13mpg. So I figure that swapping to that OD trans would be a big plus. I'd like to find out the gear ratio for the rear end on both the Regal AND the LeS, can ya help me out w/that there also? I'll be keepin that 350 tranny, but I think I'd like to swap it out for the 200r4/305 combo. I'll just put the THM in the garage for safe keeping being it's still an excellent trans. I'll be heading outta town for a week or so, looks like I'll be picking up that GTO while I'm out. I'll still have net access though, so I'm looking forward to our future discussions. Thanx alot man. Have a good one :TU:
I wish others would jump on here and chime in. I'm definitely not the expert. There's ways to jack up the rear and spin the tire and watch the drive shaft to see how many rotations=rear end gear ratio but I don't know the specifics. You can also look at the tag inside the drivers door and decifer the numbers to get the gear ratio. I bet you have a 3.73 or 3.90 with those rpms though. The 2004r will do you good with it's .67 overdrive gear. Congrats on the GTO!
Unless that engine was swapped in I believe the stock engine would be a 307 (Olds). Had one in my '85 Riv, decent engine but a definite dog. If its a Limited 4dr, I love those :grin: Good luck with the swap.
you will need to unbolt the frame mounts frome frame and use the ones that go with the car the engine came from.you will need a different trans crossmember if you use the 200 4r and if your regal is 83 or earlier you will need a crossmember adapter which you can now get from summit racing or crossmember.com. driveshaft is same length. you will need a good set of swivel sockets i think 15mm and a long extension to go up thru the coil spring pocket to unbolt the frame pads for the engines.you will also have to get a noncomputer distibuter and carb or try to get it to crossover to your car. you could extend some sensor wire and switch computers and see hope it works.if it dont you will get some lousy milage again.edelbrock makes some nice 305 chevy monte headers that would fit nice with a gn catalytic and gn cat back exhuast . be sure its a chevy and not an olds 307 for headers. chevy should have starter on passanger side and olds i believe is on driverside. what year regal is it ? thanks andy :TU:
When I look at the current exaust manifold on the LeS engine, it looks like the chevy bigblock pattern, without the two center ports close together, more evenly spaced. The Regal is an '83, it has some electrical parts on the carb, but I believe that is all that is electrical. Well, as far as the GTO goes, I just got home (dead tired) from spending 8 hours on the road, only to be decieved. Don't ya just love the internet? (sic)
Sorry about the GTO. I believe you still have a computer in that car. If you remove the passenger side kick panel you should see a silver box, that be the 'puter. Happy Birthday, by the way! :TU:
1980 was the last year for non computer vehicles from GM. I believe all 1981 and newer should have a computer. Make sure to get the computer engine and trans from that doner car as the lock up torque convertor in the LeSabre will need the computer to control it. Olds and Pontiac not only both have the starter on the driver's side, but they use the same starter. Since the starter is on the other side they also have a counter clockwise turning distributer. That electronic stuff on the carb is almost like the missing link between carbs and fuel injection as it has electronically/computer controlled metering rods. This definitely does not mean that carb is better than older models since when a new part comes out, it usually has some drawbacks and just as they started to make these carbs work, F.I. came along. (They also cost 3x as much as a reg. carb if you have to replace it.) Your TH200 4R has a universal bolt pattern bell housing if it is bolted to a 305 so that is something good, as you can use it with any GM engine. Run it for now but don't put too much money into it. Drive it for a while and if you spent your spare money on building up the Chevy 305 I guarantee you will come across a 1980 or earlier Buick 350 that will be just out of range by a few dollars and if you sell the 305 to get the Buick motor it will be gone by the time you get back to pick up the Buick 350. That's just the way life seems to work.
whoa whoa whoa lol ok, I'm confused here now... The engine in the LeS SHOULD be stock, however, if I recall correctly, the starter is on the drivers side. I don't have a Chevy engine, at all. lol The stock 3.8 is still in the Regal and it has a THM350 tranny in it. And, the Buick engine looks bigger than the Chevy 350's. So am I correct in assuming that Chevy parts will NOT work on the Buick engine? Such as headers, and what not? I don't know really where the Regal is headed, I do know that it needs to get back on the road, and I can't really see/desire putting another 231 NA V6 like it has in it already, BACK into it, when the same money/effort can get a V8 in it... Shark , thanx bro :TU: EDIT: where would the distributer be located on this Buick Engine? Because this one is in the rear behind the carb, just like a Chevy... I'll be able to give ya more details on the engine next week when I start the pull, on Monday Also, thank you again to everyone that has contributed, already, you all have been an enormous help. :beer
Your lesabre has the 307 olds motor ( the emissions tag says "5.0 l" correct? Chevy had a 5.0l 305 and olds had a 5.0l 307 - lots of people confuse the two, but they are completely different animals. chevy stuff ( headers, intakes, etc) will not fit the 307. Easy way to spot the olds motor? Look for the Oil filler pipe - on an olds motor it sticks up in the front center of the engine. Chebbys fill through the valve cover, like the old 3.8. The 307 olds is in the same "family" as the 260 and 350 olds - things like headers and intakes can be interchanged. ( same as the chevy 305/350/400 "family") But olds performance parts are not cheap, and the 307 isn't worth building up The regal was offered with a 307 from the factory - so it *will* fit. BUT - it's a dog - with full emissions/computer/exhaust and perfectly tuned your looking at 140 hp - probably alot less if everything isn't perfect on the donor car, or isn't properly set up in the new car - it'll get you to work but it probably won't spin the tires unless you grease the road first... the 307 should sit on the stock 3.8 body mounts, but the air cleaner stud may ding your hood, and I'm pretty sure youll need a different crossmember if you want to use the trans from the lesabre- one from a regal or cutlass with the o/d trans will have a longer "ear" on it. and the "TV" cable *must* be hooked up and properly adjusted if you don't want to cook the lesabre trans. and you'll loose the "lockup" torque convertor function if you don't hook up the pcm Easiest way to do the swap would be to snag a non computer distributor and carb from a 1970's 350 olds, then just tape back all the sensor connectors on the regal harness, and use the trans in your regal now. good luck with swappin' :Comp:
