'78 Buick Regal Sport Coupe

[SuperBuickGuy]

If I didn't want such a rare wagon, I'd have crushed the 64 because of the extensive rust.....

[STINEY]

And today we learned about the differences in truck engine mount brackets vs car mounting brackets. And the height variations of the clamshell mounts.

[SuperBuickGuy]

outside of the special mounts for Camaros and Corvettes (since they move the motor off center).. the G-body has at least a billion different hole combinations for the lower mount - that's messed me up a lot.... going from Buick to Chevy is not a straight swap

[STINEY]

Right. This issue isn’t with the location of the lower mount on the crossmember. It’s either the lower mount having a different pin height from the crossmember, or the upper bracket being too long from the block to the bolt hole.

Chevy mounts on a g body go in the upper most row of holes and all the way to the front, with the lower front hole on the clamshell hanging out in space. My Chevy powered Pontiac Grand Prix illustrates this.

This is car is the Other Regal. It came with a replacement frame already setup for Chevy mounts. And we trial fit the ‘86 truck engine/trans just for kicks, and to illustrate what happens with truck mounts. One side or the other slides right in, but not both.

[Deaf Bob]

One or both may be upside down...

[STINEY]

One or both may be upside down...

Perhaps. My measurements show they are fairly symetrical, but the rubber does have some wiggle room, so who knows.

Time was cut short this past weekend, had wedding to attend. More measurements will be forthcoming.

[STINEY]

Progress pictures.

Clean (rearrange junk) stall one in shop barn. Shove truck in, extract engine/trans.



Lasso truck with chain, drag out with skidsteer.



Roll Regal chassis out of stall two, roll into stall one. Drop engine/trans into chassis.



Passenger side '86 truck stainless tubular factory exhaust manifold crashes directly into lower right rear control arm mount - remove manifold and set engine into place.

Scrape large chunks of crud off trans.



And this is where we left off. Long mount bolts slide right in - on one side. The opposite side is pretty far outta whack. Switch sides, same deal.

Gonna have to find a pair of the car version of the block side motor mount bracket. Or cut and weld the truck ones to be like the car version.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Right. This issue isn’t with the location of the lower mount on the crossmember. It’s either the lower mount having a different pin height from the crossmember, or the upper bracket being too long from the block to the bolt hole.

Chevy mounts on a g body go in the upper most row of holes and all the way to the front, with the lower front hole on the clamshell hanging out in space. My Chevy powered Pontiac Grand Prix illustrates this.

This is car is the Other Regal. It came with a replacement frame already setup for Chevy mounts. And we trial fit the ‘86 truck engine/trans just for kicks, and to illustrate what happens with truck mounts. One side or the other slides right in, but not both.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. In the way-back machine, there was me installed a BBB in the hole which had a SBC.... the internet is a bunch of lying jerks was my take on all of it.

you can always drill a new hole in the mount - but odds are even greater that GM moved holes around as the spirit moved them - so on one car it's the 3rd hole from the left but since it was a Tuesday car, that isn't true..... my advice, take the clamshells off, run the motor mount bolt through, set the motor in place using the transmission holes as the go/no go spot. level the engine, then mark and drill such holes as are necessary to have a full compliment.

[STINEY]

... my advice, take the clamshells off, run the motor mount bolt through, set the motor in place using the transmission holes as the go/no go spot. level the engine, then mark and drill such holes as are necessary to have a full compliment.

Which is great advice - but. The but in this case is there is what appears to be an early version of the drivers side frame extension adapting kit, which may also be somewhat poorly installed. I rectified the poorly part, which takes it back to kit form.

The transmission is a TH400 with a bolt-on yoke. (hoping converting it to slip-yoke will be painless) In any case, these cars never got a TH400, so Jegs came through with a nice crossmember just for a TH400.

My plan was to bolt the crossmember to the trans and use the motor mounts to dictate where the 2 slip brackets for the frame extension need to be welded together to complete the kit.

Too many loose ends at one time.




On the drilling new clamshell-to-crossmember holes - the clamshells need to move upwards and outwards to utilize the long bolt hole in the bracket. Problem there is that there does not appear to be any more real estate on the crossmember frame area to go upwards any further with new holes.

I agree with the GM moving holes around theory. Old Volkswagen Beetles these cars definitely ain't when it comes to consistency in manufacture. The guys that set everything in and just weld the clamshells down are the smart ones, lol.

All part of the fun of assembling a car from multiple donor vehicles across several years, models, and divisions. Creativity is sometimes required.

[STINEY]

I'll get a better picture of the clamshell frame mount area. This is how things are as of this morning.



And the passenger side truck manifold that does not fit (dumps into the rear lower control arm). Maybe cutting a wedge out of the dump and welding it up can make it clear. Or cheapo Jegs Headers.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Which is great advice - but. The but in this case is there is what appears to be an early version of the drivers side frame extension adapting kit, which may also be somewhat poorly installed. I rectified the poorly part, which takes it back to kit form.

The transmission is a TH400 with a bolt-on yoke. (hoping converting it to slip-yoke will be painless) In any case, these cars never got a TH400, so Jegs came through with a nice crossmember just for a TH400.

My plan was to bolt the crossmember to the trans and use the motor mounts to dictate where the 2 slip brackets for the frame extension need to be welded together to complete the kit.



On the drilling new clamshell-to-crossmember holes - the clamshells need to move upwards and outwards to utilize the long bolt hole in the bracket. Problem there is that there does not appear to be any more real estate on the crossmember frame area to go upwards any further with new holes.

I agree with the GM moving holes around theory. Old Volkswagen Beetles these cars definitely ain't when it comes to consistency in manufacture. The guys that set everything in and just weld the clamshells down are the smart ones, lol.

All part of the fun of assembling a car from multiple donor vehicles across several years, models, and divisions. Creativity is sometimes required.

to recap, you have GM x Bubba x Kit x somethingneverinstalled = there is a GM part to save you.

Hmmm.... to me that sounds like the beginnings of insanity, but who knows that could be Tuesday in Ohio....

if there is a helpful tip it is this - GM usually only modified the driver's side mount.... usually, unless they didn't....

at least one part is easy. Take the bolt out of the bolt in yoke and it's now a slip yoke. do plug the center of the yoke otherwise it will leak

[Deaf Bob]

We set the tranny on whatever crossmember we use, lay the mounts on the frame for the motor still connected ... Level it where we want it and tack the clams in place.. Lift the motor up and run a couple beads top n bottom.. Hose nearby to put out burning rubber

[SuperBuickGuy]

Oh Stiney (and Tardis)

[DanStokes]

Oh Stiney (and Tardis)

Return to fender........

Dan

[silver_bullet]

Not sure, but, 2wd S10 V8 swap headers may fit....