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'78 Buick Regal Sport Coupe

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  • '78 Buick Regal Sport Coupe

    Did I share this here yet? I can't find it with the search function, thought I posted it up though.

    Oldest sons' first car, he bought it last winter. 1978 Buick Regal Sport Coupe with draw-thru turbo 3.8 V6


    Click image for larger version  Name:	gZGkZcP.jpg Views:	1 Size:	596.5 KB ID:	1214489
    Last edited by STINEY; September 5, 2018, 03:09 PM.
    Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

  • #2
    not hot-air, draw-through. it has a carb.
    Doing it all wrong since 1966

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    • #3
      G-Body! When is the LS swap? Don't forget the turbo good looking car, kidding about the turbo ls, stockish is probably better for a new driver.
      ​​​​
      http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...-consolidation
      1.54, 7.31 @ 94.14, 11.43 @ 118.95

      PB 60' 1.49
      ​​​​​​

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Russell View Post
        G-Body! When is the LS swap? Don't forget the turbo good looking car, kidding about the turbo ls, stockish is probably better for a new driver.
        ​​​​
        you, sir, can go away now. Buick in a Buick, none of this LS stuff, that's for Mustangs.
        Doing it all wrong since 1966

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        • #5
          Originally posted by SuperBuickGuy View Post

          you, sir, can go away now. Buick in a Buick, none of this LS stuff, that's for Mustangs.
          It's not a buick, it's a GM. If you want a Buick motor get a 5.3 out of a Rainier.

          If I ever make more power than the stock block can handle I will figure out which is cheaper LS swap or 5.8 swap. Have not done the math but betting it comes down to which transtransmission you want to run.
          http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...-consolidation
          1.54, 7.31 @ 94.14, 11.43 @ 118.95

          PB 60' 1.49
          ​​​​​​

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by SuperBuickGuy View Post
            not hot-air, draw-through. it has a carb.
            Okay, fixed it.

            But it’s not inter-cooled, and inter-cooling won’’’t really work on a draw-thru turbo carbed setup without ““”unmixing””” the air/fuel mixture. If that’s not hot-air, what is it?
            Last edited by STINEY; September 5, 2018, 03:16 PM.
            Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Russell View Post
              G-Body! When is the LS swap? Don't forget the turbo good looking car, kidding about the turbo ls, stockish is probably better for a new driver.
              ​​​​
              New driver indeed. LS swap potential just gives room to grow......unlike a Camry or some such nonsense.
              Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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              • #8
                The temp drops some going through the carb, switch it to e85. Guy told me a roots blower on gas went from too hot to touch to cool after e85
                Last edited by Russell; September 5, 2018, 04:02 PM.
                http://www.bangshift.com/forum/forum...-consolidation
                1.54, 7.31 @ 94.14, 11.43 @ 118.95

                PB 60' 1.49
                ​​​​​​

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by STINEY View Post

                  Okay, fixed it.

                  But it’s not inter-cooled, and inter-cooling won’’’t really work on a draw-thru turbo carbed setup without ““”unmixing””” the air/fuel mixture. If that’s not hot-air, what is it?
                  hot air doesn't have gasoline in the mixture before you send it through the turbo (which then pulls the gas out of the air via centrifugal effect)

                  hot air cars are GN motors - crank fired ignition, injector per cylinder, but no intercooler and dang difficult to put in place (thus my stated thought of using nitros). look again at my 64 Buick build page... that's hot air.

                  Your motor has a quadrajet that is hung above the passenger manifold....

                  that said, it still makes turbo noises and is very entertaining to drive.... but about 1/2 the hp....
                  Last edited by SuperBuickGuy; September 5, 2018, 05:42 PM.
                  Doing it all wrong since 1966

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Right, right. Although the question remains, what is it called?

                    If Hot Air is the vernacular for sequential injection with manifold mounted turbo, and Inter cooled is, well, Intercooled - what shall we use for vernacular for Will’s beast.

                    (and we prefer “over 50% more power than the naturally aspirated 231ci”. Not 1/2 the power of the Grand National. Please, give the kid a break here, he’s mowed for years to afford this, lol.)
                    Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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                    • #11
                      It's a draw through carb'd turbo system, unofficially know as B4B for Before Black since the Hot Air and the black Grand National both came out in '84, the '82 Grand National was not black. Like SBG points out a Hot Air Turbo6 is an EFI motor with no intercooler (major difference, there are others).

                      At least it's the 4bbl version vs. the 2bbl draw through. Being a '78 it could use some fairly simple upgrades off of '79+ cars but you'd need to swap the intake to match the heads. I did a fairly complete Turbo6 upgrade on SBG's thread. Big downside is an extremely limited turbo selection, both how it hooks up to the intake and carb pad, and that being a wet turbo you need specific seals to keep the fuel out of the bearings. They are also laggy compared to other systems, at this point Buick was trying to get V6 fuel economy with a bit more spunk vs. the later EFI motors which were quite a bit more performance oriented.

                      Putting the fuel through the turbo isn't a bad thing, it increases turbo efficiency by sealing the compressor to housing gap and the latent heat of vaporization will do a pretty good job pulling heat out of the intake tract. It also messes with the mass flow through the turbo allowing you to play with turbo mapping but that's quite a bit beyond what you're going to be messing with here.
                      Central TEXAS Sleeper
                      USAF Physicist

                      ROA# 9790

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by STINEY View Post
                        Right, right. Although the question remains, what is it called?
                        draw through, some call it junk but they're way too much fun to be relegated to that vernacular. I had that motor in a Skyhawk with a 5 speed and it was an amazing amount of fun.

                        and draw through.
                        Last edited by SuperBuickGuy; September 6, 2018, 02:28 AM.
                        Doing it all wrong since 1966

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                        • #13
                          My uncle put a BUICK 455 into one of these. It was a low compression dog but still ran damn good. So what is the plan with this one?

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                          • #14
                            you guys started it... Intercooling is a misnomer anyway unless you happen to have multiple boost producers and your intercooler in the middle... I suppose if you want to get really pedantic and call atmospheric "boost" it could be called an intercooler, but.. and I've gone cross eyed.

                            That's a clean car, tell him Congrats, and 350's fall in there just like they were designed... oh wait, they were kind of designed around the corporate v8. lol. I remember these, had an '80 MC with the carbed 3.8 turbo. Lag measured in city blocks. Nitrous should help that problem. You know, or he could just drive it and enjoy it. I also remember the cars as being fun to drive and comfortable. (you can tell I'm getting old, I just said "Comfortable" like it should matter.)
                            Flying south, with a flock of bird dogs.

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                            • #15
                              It really is clean.

                              On the critical list I made when we looked at it before buying......water pump very bad (noise was playing havoc with the knock sensor/timing retard system), radiator not building pressure, alignment visually toed out, tires need replaced, rear bumper fillers gone, hood hydraulic struts missing-home grown hood prop.

                              It drove nice and fired right up cold with no coaxing. Headliner needs reglued, and shift knob retaining clip missing.
                              Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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