7/19/98

Today was take inventory and clean things up day.  Problem was, this car was so clean already I had to hunt for things to do, which were few and far between.  I ended up polishing up an already sanitary engine bay and giving the body a good washing.  I think the next step is to protect the exceptional paint job with a coat of wax to help make sure it stays that way.  I went out for the obligatory "after wash" cruise this afternoon and this car really got some looks.  Yes, it's an old Regal, but it looks great and performs even better.

7/24/98

Installed a TPS tech to the car to make sure that I am getting proper readings and settings out of the existing sensor.  I also went through the engine bay and polished up all of the chrome trim pieces and everything else I could get a rag on.  I think you could probably eat off of that engine now, but don't try it.  I would like to keep it clean!

9/19/98

I installed a mechanical fuel pressure gauge today so that I can see where my fuel pressure is at.  The unit was ordered from Postons and is a nice piece for what I paid.  I mounted the actual gauge to the side of the brake master cylinder so it would be easy to see.  I also have quick remove mounting brackets so I can disconnect it from the master cylinder and tape it to the windshield.  That way I can see what is going on under boost.  Today, I also retorqued the head bolts on the passenger side to see if that remedied my minor coolant leak.  It appears to have done the trick.

3/17/99

Today, I changed the oil using Mobil 1 synthetic and a Mobil 1 oil filter.  The car had not leaked any oil since the last oil change, which is always a good thing with these cars.  Also, I installed a Thrasher 92 street chip and bumped the fuel pressure up to 45psi as per the instructions.   I haven't driven the car yet and I am anxious to compare it to the chip I replaced (I won't mention the manufacturer in fairness).

5/14/99

An Accufab billet adjustable fuel pressure regulator went in to the car today to replace an aging unit, which I believe had a small leak in the diaphragm that caused fuel pressure to climb slower than boost.   I did have to run to NAPA to get a new rubber elbow to connect the vacuum line to the nipple on the regulator because the new unit's nipple was a tad smaller than the old unit.  If this doesn't cure my problem, I think I am going to install the new Walbro 307 pump and see what that does.  The car still seems to be running as good as it ever has and I continue to use the Thrasher 92 street chip for every day use.

9/12/99

Over the weekend I decided it was finally time to troubleshoot the detonation problem a little more.  I hot-wired the fuel pump to make sure that it was going to have maximum voltage under load, which I wasn't fully sure of.  It took me quite a while to get everything bought and installed, but I took my time and made sure everything was done right and, more importantly, safely.  I ran the wiring inside the car because I didn't want to worry about a bare wire underneath the car.  I mounted the 30 amp relay on the drivers side trunk hinge brace, which already had two nice holes for mounting and grounding.  I tapped into the trigger wire by soldering a new wire into the stock wire so I didn't have to cut it.  I did have to drill a new hole in the trunk to get the 10 gauge wire through to the fuel pump.  I left a quick connect under the car so I could return it to stock if the relay ever failed on me out of the road.  I also carry a spare relay with me should anything happen.  It's not that I don't trust myself, I just hate being stranded anywhere and I don't want to leave my car unattended.

If you want to see some excellent instructions from the Turbo Regal Website technical pages on hot-wiring the fuel pump, click here.

9/16/99

I turned down the boost a few psi to see if I could alleviate a little of the pinging.  On the interstate near my home, I made a test run from a 35mph roll while TurboLink™ was keeping tabs on the engine readouts from the ecm.  I noticed that I was getting a few knock counts and that I was getting 8 degrees of retard in a frame, which isn't good.  I was trying to watch the boost gauge and the laptop computer at the same time, which was difficult, but I think I was running about 15psi of boost.  Frustrated, I took the car home again and started poking around to see if I noticed anything else funny before trying to look at the injectors and fuel pump.  Upon closer inspection, I saw that the fuel line on the inlet side of the fuel filter was not round and looked kinked.  This could be part of the problem, but even if it isn't, it needs to be replaced anyway.  The same thing was true about the previous weekend's hot-wiring of the fuel pump ... it didn't solve the problem but it needed to be done anyway.

The fuel line had been discontinued by GM parts back in April of 1994, so I turned to Classic Tube for a new piece.  I ended up buying a stainless tubing set for my TR from the filter back for now.  These people have a great service department so I recommend them to anyone seeking fuel line for any car out there.  The guy I talked to had two Turbo Regals himself, so he knew exactly what I needed.  I think I will just replace from the filter inlet to the rubber hose above the axle until I change out the fuel pump itself next year.  

9/23/99

Today, I installed my new Weld Pro Star wheels.  For the rear I purchased 15X8 with 3.5" backspacing so I could fit BF Goodrich 275/50 under the wheel wells.  The fronts are 15X7 with 235/60 BF Goodrich Comp TA tires.  I wanted to go a little skinnier on the front, perhaps a 215/65 like stock, but the wheels and tires were sold as a package.  I am going to store my stock T wheels and newer BFG tires in the basement to preserve them.  I have to say that these Weld wheels really make the car and give it a meaner look. 

10/4/99

Today, I replaced the fuel pump with a Walbro 307.  I have written up complete instructions in my personal Tech Section if you are curious as to what is involved and how to do it.  It wasn't really a bad project, but it was pretty hard disconnecting the rubber join lines above the real axles.  After the fuel pump installation, my pinging problem went away and I got much better pressure while under boost.  The pressure kept right up with the boost levels, which was definitely the desired result.  This was not the easiest project in the world, but it is pretty straight forward.  The hard part was getting the tank nestled back into place and balancing it while the straps were reattached.  I was also happy that my tank was nice and rust free.

3/13/00

Spring is here and  I am now taking care of some maintenance items that I have discovered as I did my once over.   I replaced the front brakes, installed new rear axle seals, and replaced a broken front sway bar link.  I ended up having to get a right front caliper since the old one was having problems.  My next plans are for a 2.5" dual muffler exhaust system to replace the old stock exhaust.  That should really wake the car up as that is my bottleneck right now.  I haven't replaced it because the stock exhaust is in great shape and it is very quiet.

5/8/00

Over the weekend, I changed the oil with my brand of choice, that being Mobil 1 synthetic.  For this car, the oil is changed by time and not miles since it is a garage queen for the most part.  I also tried a new wax on the car called Zymol.  It worked really well and gave the car a really deep shine.  The car looked great until the neighbor mowed her lawn and got the car dusty.  Oh well.  I am really pushing to get the car all finished for an annual car show here in town.  Mine will be entered in Street Machine, 1983 - present since there isn't a category for Buick.  Go figure.

7/10/00

I power flushed the cooling system today since it had not been done in two years.  I had planned on using the flush and fill kit from the store, but I wasn't all that keen on cutting the heater inlet hose to install the kit.  I just unhooked the lower radiator hose and shoved the garden hose into this inlet and sealed it with a wet rag.  It was kind of a pain to do it this way since I had to flush and then wait until the thermostat opened again.  After a few cycles, I was convinced that it was nice and clean, so I refilled the system with a 50/50 mix of good old Prestone and distilled water.  If you do this at home, make sure you have means to catch the old antifreeze.  It is a pain to flush and catch it by yourself, but I managed.

3/25/01

I haven't done much to the car for quite some time, as you can see.  I basically just drove it from July to November and then I put it away for the winter.  I just actually took the cover off this weekend and I went through the car and freshened the fluids and cleaned it up.  I changed the spark plugs with AC Delco R43TS gapped at .035" and I changed the oil with the usual dose of Mobil 1 synthetic and a Mobil 1 filter.  I also yanked the intercooler and cleaned it out really good with O2 sensor safe carb cleaner.  The transmission also received new fluid and a filter.  After a long afternoon, it was roadworthy.

4/21/01

Today, I installed a couple of things that I have been wanting to get to for a while.  One was a Casper's Electronics knock gauge, which helps me keep tabs on what the engine is experiencing under load.  I am really glad I got it because I was afraid to really get into it unless I really could see what was happening.  I do have TurboLink to see knock and retard, but I don't drive around with a laptop in the passenger seat too much. :)

I also installed a new stereo in the car since the old tape deck had a burned out faceplate.  That made it awfully hard to know what station you were on or what time it was!  I ended up just getting an entry level CD player made by Kenwood.  I didn't get very extravagant since the car is not a daily driver.

7/8/01

The Hooker 2.5" aluminized dual exhaust went on today, replacing the factory system, which was a "two into one" setup.  The new system is a cat back system with a Y pipe feeding two Super Comp mufflers.  It is much like the Monte Carlo SS setup, but this is 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust.  It exits in the stock Buick location, which I like much better than the Monte Carlo orientation, which is straight out the back under the bumper.  The car has gained some power and I can tell it is breathing more efficiently.  That TE-44 is really working well.  I really do think that this is the last piece of the puzzle for making this car what I call "street lethal."  The only other thing I might do is get a CAS V4 stock location intercooler.  That would definitely complete the package.

I had a local shop, Exhaust Pros, do the work.  They do a great job at a reasonable price.  I could have done it myself, but I just didn't feel like laying on my back in a hot garage.  This is one of the very few times that the car has ever been worked on outside of my garage.

12/17/01

I had to remove the TE-44 today before covering the car for winter storage.  It had been smoking the last half of the summer since it was dumping oil into the down-pipe.  I sent it to Precision Turbo and Engine to be looked over and most likely freshened up.  I had contemplated just going big and getting a PT-51, but I am not anxious to change the injectors or torque converter at this time.  I like the street manners it has and the car is about the way I like it right now.

12/27/01

As I suspected, the turbo was really trashed.  Joe, at Precision, was really cool and he explained everything he found out.  He was surprised the car ran as good as it did.  This is scary because the car was seriously fast and powerful with a turbo that bad.  I'd sure like to have it dynoed again.  Anyway, they had to replace the impeller, the seals, and the bearing.  They also said the puck wasn't sealing in the exhaust housing, so they replaced the housing free of charge.  Evidently, the hole was enlarged by someone in the past and the puck was no longer covering it.

I ordered a new feed line and a gasket, so this should be a pretty straight forward reinstall.  It took less than an hour to get it out and I documented it for your benefit.  I am hoping I won't have to re-clock the housing to get things to line up, but if that is the most terrible thing that happens, I won't be too upset. 

Next job?  Replace the leaking oil pan gasket.  That will wait for warmer spring weather, though.

1/2/02

For some reason, I have a bug to work on the car this winter, so I went out and bought a Remington garage heater from Menards.  It puts out 60,000 BTU and can easily heat 1000 sq feet.  I tried it out while doing some engine bay cleaning and it really did get the garage nice and toasty when it was only 15 degrees outside.  The turbo should be delivered via UPS today, so I am going to further document that process that I started back on 12/27/01.  I will also take a look at that oil pan gasket and decide if it is really something I want to tackle this winter.

1/7/02

I completed the turbo installation over the weekend.  Getting it out is a lot easier then putting it back in, but everything worked out.  You just have to do it in the right order.  I made some changes to my tech article page to reflect the best order to do this in to allow for easy access to all bolts since some are tricky.  I always hate it when you drop a bolt, hear it clang around, and then not make it to the garage floor.  What a great use for a fiber optic camera, if I had one, that is.

Since the weather was so nice, I decided to take the car out for its first January appearance ever.  After warming the car up and cruising around for several miles to let things loosen up, I gave the turbo a try.  Precision did a good job as usual.  No smoke at all and the car felt strong as ever at only 12psi of boost.  Much to the chagrin of the rear tires, I tuned in the boost and the car showed no knock on the gauge.  It's going to be a fun spring ... when it comes.

1/24/02

The stock MAF sensor finally went south on me.  GM has discontinued this part, so I ran around town trying to find one.  NAPA could order them, but they were rebuilt units or aftermarket new ones.  Since I had heard and read so much about non AC Delco sensors performing poorly, I decided to go another route.  I ended up buying the MAF Translator from Ramchargers along with an LT1 MAF sensor.  It came to $300 for both, but in the long run I figured it was the best way to go for the increased flow and tuning ability.  I will have to wait a few months to see how it pans out, but I have heard only good things from others.

It finally snowed, so the car is sleeping until spring.