I purchased my '84 Limited Regal in April of 95 with the idea of making a daily driver/tow car, The car was in decent shape and the engine and tranny would be replaced soon anyway, since the little V6 had trouble just going against a strong wind. Well, on a simple trip to the store one day, the motor began to vibrate viciously. The harmonic balancer had come loose. As I tried to tighten it I noticed the nut was stripped and I couldn't loosen or tighten it. So It seemed like a perfect time to begin the transplant.

A smooth running '74 455 and long-shaft tranny out of a wagon was mine. All I had to do was pay "Good Friend" and "Great Buick Owner" Dave Bryan and then go pick them up. "Thanks Dave!" A total engine rebuild would have been nice but I didn't want to be without a car for too long. A quick call to Poston Enterprises for the Regal Big Block Conversion Brackets and then out came the little V6 and tranny. Which by the way was an easy afternoon of work with the help of "Good Friend" and "Great Buick Owner" Lee Campbell's hoist. "Thanks Lee!"

I then spent about two weeks cleaning and painting the engine compartment, Big Block and Turbo 400. When the brackets arrived I mounted them to the motor and lowered the whole assembly in as a unit. With the motor sat back as far as I thought it should be and having centered the tailshaft and the engine to the car I marked the brackets on the frame, Then out came the motor / tranny assembly and in went a drill, After drilling the new holes In the frame to mount the brackets I then fought for hours to bolt the brackets on.

And finally it fit, and was straight. I realize that's all a bit redundant, but believe me it's easier to read than to do all that. All the hassle would have been eliminated with a little better measuring.

The next item needed was a transmission cross member. I could have used the stock one but I wanted to run dual exhaust. I just happened to find a dual exhaust cross member laying In a parking lot of grocery store. All it needed was about 2 inches added to the drivers side In order to drop it under the floor pan which does not accommodate a raised cross member on the driver's side. I guess a little good luck In finding that compensated for the bad luck I had earlier. I also reshaped the shifter linkage a little just to get it to work. The stock exhaust off my 70 GS was run from manifolds to the axle. To have a driveshaft made I measured the distance between the center of the U-Joints from the axle to the yoke stuck in the transmission. I took the original driveshaft, the 400 yoke, and the measurements of 481/2 inches to Inland Truck Parts. The now shaft, balanced, painted, with new U-joints, was $69. Which I thought was very reasonable.

The stock V6 brackets were used to mount the stock alternator, stock power steering, and air conditioner. A small 3 core radiator from a junk yard for $30 worked great, as I thought the even smaller 2 core radiator wouldn't cool the Big Block. The V6 fan shroud was used, but had to be shortened about 8 inches. I cut it into 5 sections and fiber- glassed it all together to make it fit.

Then I put the hood on and thought I was done. OOPS, not yet. The last hangup was the alternator, It sat too high to get the hood to close. In order to lower it I used the V8 swivel bracket and mounted it to one of the water pump bolts. I made one of the pivot brackets out of a piece of metal which was mounted to one of the air conditioner mounting bolts. The other out of an old air conditioner bracket off of a Vega I had. Mounting it to the stock alternator mounting shaft seems to work just fine. Now everything in place, painted and pretty I fired it up and away I went, Wheee! a 455 Regal with air and a tow hitch.

The lovely 2.41 posi will be good for long trips and a little more gas mileage, but I can't expect much In the time slip department right now. With little oil pressure and weak compression, an engine rebuild will be coming soon. At least I have the pleasure of listening to a Big Block idle and the power to pass anything In front of me... excluding other Buicks of course, It's as easy as 1, 2, 3... (well for me it was more like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, go back to 3, then 4, go back to 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.) but it was still well worth it. And for a total of about $1380 (including the cost of the car!) I have a very fun driver / tow car.

Torque Is Cool! don't ya Think?