83 Regal.......G Body Shuffle!

Shawn1112

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Might as well start a build thread for the Regal. I plan on keeping this car but if you know me then you know I'm full of shit. First really good offer and it will be gone no matter what stage its in, lol. As it sits now its very clean, no rust anywhere. Guy I bought it from bought it 6yrs ago from Arizona and he never drove it in the winter. He passed it around between him and his friends like a $10 whore until his friend blew the 350. So then he had a shop drop in a 383 crate motor, 373 gear, 8.5 rear end out of a GN and a 400 trans last August. Still waiting on details of the motor, he cant find the paperwork. But from what I see, it has aluminum heads, Victor Jr intake, small cam, headers, electric fan, MSD ignition box, aftermarket radiator and havent looked at the carb yet.

Ultimate goal is a very clean, respectable street cruiser with a turbo LS.
Has a blue vinyl 1/4 top which is also pretty new and that was going to force me to paint something that blends with the blue top (white, blue or silver). Well decided today, fuck that I'm going to paint it the color I want which is metallic charcoal grey, and will just have the top redone in a dark grey. Not going to let that vinyl top dictate the color I paint the car, lol. Picked up a 87 header panel in Detroit today as the 87 front end looks better. Plan on doing 87 taillights as well. Paint job is not going to be a "show quality" job, not looking to spend that kind of money. Guy I know that paints for a living will be doing it out of his garage.

I'm a fan of bigger wheels on certain cars and the G Body happens to be one of them. So I'm going with a 24x9 up front and a 24x11 or 24x12 in the rear. Cost will dictate how wide in the rear. Rims will have a chrome lip with a brushed face. Going to require lifting the front, notching the rear and doing a mini tub on the rear. I'm going with the "squat" look not the "donk" look.

Interior has the power pillow seats right now in excellent shape. But they arent for me, I want buckets and could care less if they are power. Once I find buckets, then I will throw in a floor shifter and build a console that goes from front to rear. Plan is either build it to fit a double din with 2 cup holders or gauges vs the double din and push button start on that console.

Probably do 3) 12's in the trunk, 4) 6x9's in rear deck and undecided what to do up front. Will build some nice false walls to house the amps in trunk.
 

Shawn1112

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Shawn1112

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I want to come by, check it out soon.
Real cool Man!

:likes:

The next 6-8 weeks it wont be in my garage much. Going to painter in approx 2 weeks, he has 2 cars a head of me to paint. Hoping to order the rims early next week. Once painter is done and I have the rims its going straight to the suspension shop. They cant touch the car until I have the rims as their measurements come of the actual rim/tire. It might sit there for a month, they say a week or 2. But everyone I have talked to said its about a month
 

Shawn1112

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Put the 87 header panel and new body fillers on today. Surprisingly everything aligned pretty well. Not perfect but pretty damn good. Ordered the rims last week. Did a 24x9 up front and 24x10.5 in the rear. To go any wider in the rear was going to have me out of pocket another $3k between wheels and suspension. Not worth the money imo. Also hung 7 new LED fixtures in garage today. Need 1 more, but bright as shit now. Still have to route the plugs so their neat, but that’s another day, lol.
 

Shawn1112

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Regal is at the painter, should have it back in a couple of weeks. He has a 80 Malibu to finish up before mine gets started. Before it went to painter I bought new rear bumper fillers as the fillers that were on there were the shitty fiberglass ones. Also went a little lighter than paint sample I posted above.

Today I picked up a 2wd Astro Van steering shaft for $80 shipped. Its pretty much a direct swap (5 mins of modification with dremmel or file). From everything I read its one of the best bangs for the buck. Takes all the slop out. Also will work with the LS swap when I do that.

Forgot to mention, my rims arrived at the shop. Will go pick those up next week, dont think the matching steering wheel made it yet.
 

Shawn1112

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Can’t wait to see this. I don’t have the balls to build something like this.

Its probably 2yrs away from being complete if I dont sell it, lol.
Just want paint, suspension, wheels and misc shit done for this season.
Will then go beat the fuck out of the 383.
Next winter LS swap for sure and if the finances (toy fund) is good then turbo at same time. Our fiscal year ends Sunday and I just got a pretty nice bonus. I could probably do a LS swap now, but wont. I'm probably going to source the 6.0 very soon and just tear it down in my garage and figure out how to put it back together with a cam and supporting mods.
 

HILROD

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G body's will take a bunch of power as long as the frame and body mounts aren't bad. They street race them with HUGE power without that much drama. If you are gonna ever do decent power they have frame stiffener kits you can weld in. That and body mounts. Last if you wanted cage. Hellwig , UMI, and a few others. I'd do that before twisting the car up.
 

Shawn1112

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Picked up my rims today. Car is STILL at the painter. He supposedly started on it Wednesday. Heard from a couple different people that if someone offers this guy $500 more than asking. He will take that person's car in and do it before the others he has sitting at his place. Car was supposed to be done today, now he says next Friday. I'm supposedly the first person in Illinois with these rims per Asanti as they just came out.

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