Hi I recently purchased a 1987 Regal and I am planning to swap in a 3.8 turbo. Tha car was $500 and I have a friend willing to sell me a motor with computer, turbo, intercooler and wiring harness and it includes the tranny for $1800. The Regal currently has a carbed. V8. I was wondering what I need to perform the swap (fuel lines, fuel pump, etc.) and if the rearend is the same as the Grand National rearend. I have $1000. left after purchasing the car and motor... Can I afford the swap? If everything goes well I plan on alchohol injection. All comments are greatly appreciated.
There will be some work in putting it all together. The fuel tank is not set up for the in-tank EFI pump, and lacks proper baffling. The rear end is the wimpy 7.5" unit, not the 8.5" unti in the TRs. The tranny crossmember will be different if the Regal was not originally a 200-4R car. And it will also lack the proper mount point on the frame if that is the case. The V8/7.5" driveshaft won't work. You will not have the proper fuel lines for the EFI setup, and have no provision for the inline EFI fuel filter.
With $1000 you should be able to put things together with some junkyard parts, creative fabrication, and some work. Will definitely take some effort, though.
Bryan,
If you get lucky, you could probably complete it for the $1000(not included replacing the rear end, but you could do this later). You will need a Turbo Regal tank and tank unit. You will also need to replace the fuel lines. The only one that can stay is the one that goes to the vapor canister, that is if it is on the drivers side. I converted one, and it was originally a v6, so it was on the correct side. The fuel feed line was also, although I had to cut and patch the line to fit in the filter, and to put the fitting on the end for the fuel hose to the fuel rail. The v8s have the fuel feed line on the opposite side of the car, so you can't modify it. You also have to add a return line, none of the carbed ones have this. You will also have to add the wire from the fuse box to the rear for the fuel pump feed. It can all be done, but it is time consuming. It would be good to replace the dash and dash wiring harness too, so that you have all of the features. I have been told that you can just plug it into the existing dash harness, but I don't know for sure that this would work. It may, but then again, I don't know for sure.
Brian