My 76/77 Buick regals going to the darkside!

Discussion in 'V-8 Buick Powered Regals' started by Norman Martin, Aug 14, 2020.

  1. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    Just a correction. I checked my data log and this thing is cruising at 1487rpm at 62 mph and 1279rpm at 55mph. it is so calm and quiet at cruise.
     
    docgsx likes this.
  2. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    That’s great! I know my big 8500 pound truck hauls ass with the same combo. Headers and custom tune helped.
     
  3. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    Schwewwww!!!!! Hibernation is almost over for this project. It has been sooo fricking cold and miserable that I simply have not even wanted to work on the car much. The good news is that next week my big annual bonus pays out and it is time to start selecting and procuring parts again.


    Brakes, tires, steering, Posi with gear change and suspension modifications are coming next as well as body work and metal repair. I will also be selecting my cam and getting that on the way. I will be sprinkling in some upholstery stuff here and there too.


    I cannot wait for all this snow to melt so I can take little joyrides again!
     
    Max Damage likes this.
  4. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

  5. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

  6. Max Damage

    Max Damage I'm working on it!

    Do you put a plexiglass cover over your Trans tunnel yet?

    "The Visible driveshaft"
     
  7. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    I have the steel and plan to close up the hole with in the next few days. Lol!
     
  8. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    Holy crap that was scary!!


    Almost lost the Regal for good. Gas gauge is not working and I ran out of gas while testing my new LED headlights. I knew that this was a possibility but I needed to test the full capacity of the tank which I now know is 17.4 gallons. Well I had put a gas can in the trunk for this very occasion. So here I am in the dark on a busy 4 lane pouring gas into the tank and I see lights approaching very fast. I almost got rear ended by some D bag that was clearly not paying attention. He missed me by about 10 feet at approximately 45mph. I put gas in that thing and got the hell out of there as quickly and I could.


    On a positive note, I am attaching new pics of my new headlights.
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    FLGS400 likes this.
  9. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    Wideband installed, calibrated and works as it is supposed to. I still have to figure out where I want to mount it.
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  10. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    Wideband is in its semipermanent spot now. It is visible when seated and with the steering wheel straight. It will get a re-install some day when I make the dash fancier.
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    Max Damage likes this.
  11. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    Ok.... It begins. I finally decided to start making the template to cover the hole in the floor. After much thought, I decided that the cheapest and most effective way to make a pattern is to do 1/8th strips of hardboard (roughly $7 at box store) and hot glue (cheap as hell) to form a frame. I will then probably cover it with some cheap non stretch fabric to get the surface area. As long as the metal matches the surface area of the fabric, it will fit. I could cover my mold with tape to further enhance the fit but it may not be needed. There may be some work needed on my english wheel but not too much.

    Photos as usual
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  12. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    So my skeleton has now been transfered to poster board while it was still in the car. I then filled misc gaps with masking tape attached to the poster board and added tape to the sticky side to keep the taped areas rigid enough to transfer.

    I then transfered the poster shape to big box store floor protector cardboard. It works well since it already retains a curved shape. After transferring it and fitting it on top of the skeleton, I removed the skeleton and placed the two pieces for fine tuning.

    Once fine tuning is done, I am ready to final transfer to metal, one last fine tune and then cut the existing metal where needed followed by welding it in.

    You can see in the photos that already the shape is very close to where it needs to be with nothing but a couple magnets keeping it from moving. Its relaxed shape is very close though.

    Pics...
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  13. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    This is a better representation of the fit up. With a minor bit of weight applied it sits with a 1/16 gap almost all the way around. The few areas with a 1/8 gap will be fixed up with another round of double layer tape. Then the template is done.

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    docgsx likes this.
  14. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

  15. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    Im switching between house work, working on my chopper, playing call of duty with my son and just had enough time (30 min) to cut the front metal and then after about 5 min on the english wheel it is pretty good for welding.

    Im gonna take the first ride on my chopper of this year and work on the back part later. Were getting close though! 20210327_165838.jpg
     
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  16. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    Decided a few beads were in order since I took out some supports.
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    Max Damage likes this.
  17. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Great job, looks good! Got some Por-15 to paint the floors?
     
  18. Cutlass

    Cutlass Platinum Level Contributor

    Do the seats tilt to the inside when occupied? The support you took out right at the U-joint seems to have quite some bending moment of resistance.
     
    Max Damage likes this.
  19. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    I have chassis saver which is about the same.
     
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  20. Norman Martin

    Norman Martin Well-Known Member

    No significant tilting. I will be adding additional supportto that area just to be sure it is safe. Essentially building the supports higher plus adding beads.
     

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