Hot And Spicy Turbo Regal Recipe
Ken Mosher - kenmosher@turbo-link.com
Disclaimer
"This information represents what worked for the author(s) with their combinations. It may not work for you. Be aware that anytime you increase the performance of your car you run the risk of damage. Be smart about modifications: take them one at a time and keep a close eye on vital tuning indicators such as knock counts, O2 volts and RPM. This Recipe assumes you are using adequate octane RACING fuel for best performance. -editor"
Introduction
Here's "the Recipe" again for the new members to the list ... I've published this several times over the years, including in my local GSCA chapter newsletter. This may answer some of the FAQs (see the FAQ file also). If you apply the recipe and use an OTC or TurboLink™ to tune with, you should get a high 10 to low/mid 11 car.
Purpose of the Recipe
This recipe is intended for 1986 and 1987 Turbo Regals. A similar recipe for 1984 and 1985 Turbo Regals can be found in the Archives.

The Recipe is intended to make a reliable, comfortable, and fast street car. You will notice throughout that streetability and comfort were not significantly compromised. There may be some performance to be had with things such as skinny front runner tires, ladder bars, fenderwell dump pipes, and other such items, but they are not part of the Recipe. Again, the intention is to have a stock appearing, comfortable street car that will drive to the track (with the cruise, A/C and stereo on), bolt on the slicks, pour in the good gas, crank off some 11s and then drive home again. All this while getting 22+ mpg and not beating your kidneys into submission. My car is stock appearing in the engine compartment (except for the shiny chrome stuff) and uses the same GNX style Enkei wheels for the slicks as I do on the street, thus maintaining the appearance that the car has on the street.

My friend Chuck routinely runs 11.ohs @122 (best of 10.95 @ 123+) with a basically identically prepared grey Regal. His car is about 200 pounds lighter than mine (mine is a T-Top GN with every option and weighs in at about 3650 pounds). My car has seemed to be a consistent 11.30 car with a best of 11.21 @ 121.409. I think it may have another tenth or two in it with a better launch. These times are all at 1400 feet altitude.

The point of all this? It is important to tune out things on these cars ... combination is everything. These cars are very sensitive to combinations ... identical cars can varying several tenths just in the way they are tuned. All the below recommendations assume that the car has the basic meticulous tune up... i.e., new plugs, wires, O2 sensor, IAC is clean, everything is clean and tight. Check out the Spring Cleaning Guide for how to get started with the "Basics".

Getting Started
The following "recipe" makes one low/mid eleven second (high 10) Turbo Regal. Serve hot and smoking to Mustangs, Chevelles, and Camaros. Sprinkle lightly with assorted trailered race cars for added enjoyment. Makes one very streetable Hot Turbo Regal.

Start with one Turbo Regal (color optional). If you pick a base car with very few options and less weight, it will take less time to "cook" down the track. To prepare for this spicy recipe, a Posi-traction rear end carrier is a must.

The VERY FIRST thing to do is to make sure the car is performing at it's peak in STOCK form! That means a thorough maintenance job should be performed before any modifications are made. This includes changing the oil with a good synthetic 10W-30, 5W-30, 5W-50 and a GOOD filter with the anti-drainback valve. Also, replace the plugs with AC R43TS plugs gapped at 0.035" for 13 to 14 second cars and AC R42TS plugs gapped for 0.035" for 12 second and faster cars. For specific hints and part numbers, refer to the Spring Cleaning discussion.

Baseline your stock combination at the track if possible. A strong running turbo Regal will run 14.30-14.60 1/4 mile times. Several factors, such as gas quality, weather, traction, and car weight can affect this, but as long as the car is in this range or better, it should be ready for the following Recipe:

First, add a Boost guage. A MUST ... the stock gauge is useless after 15 lbs
Install 160F Thermostat and block off the throttle body coolant lines. These lines run to the bottom of the throttle body and provide warm coolant to the throttle body for cold start purposes. Blocking them off does not affect cold start and will prevent warming of the intake charge.
Make an Adjustable Wastegate with $2 worth of hardware and 1/4"-20 NC die. In conjunction with this upgrade, add stronger intercooler hoses. This prevents them from blowing off under increased boost levels.
Install Oil breather block off kit for passenger's side valve cover. This kit consists of a small K&N filter for the valve cover and plugs the hole in the Turbo inlet bell. This prevents the turbo from ingesting oil from the valve cover under boost and keeps the intercooler/intake tract clean and free of power robbing oil deposits. Oil in the intercooler can adversely affect its heat exchange capacity and oil in the intake charge can lower the effective octane of fuel.
Install transmission cooler for reliability. Reductions of tranny fluid temperature, both on the street and on the track, will significantly extend the life of your transmission.
Install Cold Air Induction kit from ATR or K-B or K&N cone filter.
For extra street "spice", add Free flowing 2 1/2" dual exhaust with low restriction mufflers (e.g. Walker Super Dynomax Turbos). Newly available for extremely fast cars are the Thrush CVX mufflers, the Walker Ultra Flow Turbo mufflers, and the stainless steel 2 3/4" systems from Bowling Green Customs and ATR. Not needed for track only mixture, since you can open up the test pipe (See Next Step)
Install converter Test Tube with cutout for track use.
Install "237" Regulator for 36-38 psi idle, 56-58 psi at 17 psi of boost with stock pump. 60-65 psi at 20 lbs boost. An Adjustable regulator is highly recommended and is preferred, since it allows you to compensate for air conditions.
Install an engine tie down strap (i.e. Turbo Tie or Stealth Engine Anchor). This helps prevent the engine from tearing up motor mounts.
Install Fuel Enhancer or high flow in-tank pump to enhance fuel pressure and volume. There are several high flow in-tank pumps (such as the XP from Red Armstrong) that will also work well into the 11s.
Install 26"x10"x15" Micky Thompson slicks on Enkei 15"x8" wheels (rear). Makes a more "sticky" consistency. Optionally, use 26"x8.5"x15" M/T slicks on 7" wheels ... they work very well, are cheap and are good for well into the mid 12s (easy)).
Add in Pinion Snubber and drive shaft loop (required for NHRA/IHRA safety).
Mix in rear air bags for adjustablity. Run 6 psi left and 9-11 psi right bag. This allows the car to squat and lift the front, but plants the rear tires equally. You may have to experiment for your car, the weight of the driver, etc to get nice even launches.
Add in Strip Chip - high boost, temperature control, advance, converter lockup. Add ingredient to owner's taste. Red Armstrong's 108 chip was used to add "flavor".
Install larger rear brake cylinders. Use cylinders designated for a mid 80s S-10 pickup trucks with manual brakes.
Install Hurst rebuildable line-lock. This saves alot of wear and tear on components during the burnout... highly recommended !.

NOTE: At this point the car should be a solid 12.50-60 car. On a "good air" day my car turned a best of 12.32 @ 109.5 with a 1.67 sixty foot time. Chuck's GN turned a 12.28 @ 109.7 on the same day. You can probably get another tenth by running on a track at a lower altitude (ours is at 1400 feet).

For added spice, add the Ruggles stock appearing modified Turbo with bigger turbine/compressor wheels (TA49). Very sneaky, but worth about 2 mph. Optionally, use the John Craig or ATR/Lee's Performance modified stock appearing Turbo. These are variously known as TA49, Stage IIIA, etc. Some people prefer to got to the TE44, which slightly bigger and nonstock appearing.
To ensure adequate fuel delivery, install 40# injectors in conjunction with the larger turbo. Use Red's modified 108 chip for injectors to ensure nice even fuel mixture. If you plan on just going high/mid 11s, you can use the "blue top" injectors. These injectors are from the '94 Ford Supercoupe.
Add ATR 3" Stainless Steel Downpipe and external wastegate. This is the only deviation from totally stock appearing so far. It should be worth 0.1 to 0.2 seconds in conjuction with the ATR Ultra Flow exhaust system. Several other 3" downpipes are available now that will give similar results.

NOTE: At this point, the car should be able to run some very low 12s and might dip into the high 11s on a good air day.

Disassemble motor to "stuff" with a Lunatti ground cam from GSCA Performance (200/200). Optionally, use the ATR RP308 or RP313 cam. For a little additional lift, use T&D roller rockers... if you do, you must use valve cover spacers or valve covers that allow for the extra clearance needed with the rollers.
While the heads are off, perform a thorough port and polish job to the heads and port match the intake manifold to the heads. (This enlarged the intake runner volume approximately 28%.) The Power Source manual gives very nice templates that will give you general guidelines. Also, port match the exhaust headers to the heads and install a small sleeve in the header bolt holes to ensure perfect alignment when installed.
Reassemble newly "stuffed" motor, using stock head gaskets and intake gasket. Optionally, use the FelPro 1000 gaskets for about 0.15 bump in base compression. For extra clamping force, install the FelPro 1007 wire lock gaskets. These require some machine work to cut a receiver groove in the heads (usually costs $80-100 for this type of work).
Add ATR stainless steel headers ... good for the top end charge and they don't hurt the bottom end on cars flowing this much air. Slower cars should NOT put headers on, since it tends to introduce turbo lag.
Add modified stock intercooler (also known as the "intercooler and a half") which is still stock appearing from above. This includes the "Duttweiler neck" enlargement. Seems to be worth about 0.1-0.15 and 2 mph... and helps with consistency on hot days.
Mix in a modified stock lockup torque converter. I tried the club "Red Stripe" converter, which led to some great launches, but slipped too much at the top end. The "Blue Stripe" seems to be the best compromise (2600-2800 RPM stall). New units from TCI seem to be beefier, but are pricey. Mike Kurtz makes a nice 2800 stall unit with lockup. Both Chuck and I have returned to using the GM STOCK converter,, which induces a bit of lag on the street, but seems to hold up better at the track. We both are thinking about the Vigalantte converter.

NOTE: At this point, Chuck's car ran 11.09 @ 122.5 thru the full exhaust. Mine ran 11.50s @ 117 with only 19 psi of boost.

Replace the TA49 with a TA61 turbo. This should be good for 25 HP over the TA49 ... both Chuck and I have installed the TA61 on our cars. Chuck's car has busted off a 10.95@123 and mine has gone 11.21@121.5. Mine should be good for 11.ohs or 11 teens with better traction.
Install a roll bar (if you haven't already). I had a very nice and subtle bar installed with removable side bars. It isn't even visible out side the car. Unfortunately, it will add about 80lbs of weight to the car.
Upgraded the fuel system to incorporate Red's staged Double Pumper system. This consists of two XP pumps on your stock hanger staged with a Hobbs switch. The pump flow fuel like a GARDEN HOSE! This required me to turn the fuel pressure down considerably, indicating my previous puller pump/intank system was not able to supply the volume like this setup.
Use M/T 10.5"x28" slicks to help get the 60 ft. times down into the 1.4s. You may have to notch the outer frame rails to get clearance to run these tires (depending on your wheel offset). A good alternative is the M/T 9"x28" slick.
Fill tank with CAM2 Supreme, set fuel pressure at 45-50 psi (no vacuum) and serve!


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