First time G-body swap

[86Regal500]

Ok its my first time doing a swap of this nature I kinda figured if I can small block a s10 I can put a caddy in a 86 Regal. My main questions are which frame mounts do I need to really get so I can make this as easy as possible and without headaches of dropping the motor in and out a dozen and a half times. Also what should I for cooling and what troubles could i encounter?
Thanks
Nate

[burnrubber]

There is a member here called 87Olds442. He has a very nice car with a very good engine installation and he should be able to help you. He also has some pics posted in the member's rides section.

[Vern]

There has also been a lot written about G-body swaps on the other board. I used Al's g-body kit ie motor mounts and header flange and was satisfied as it saved time and made figuring it out easier. Still have to torch or drill a whole through the piece Al sends you.

[PRAUK]

Below is my summary of the swap.. I copy and paste it, so it has more info than you are looking for, but it should help.

I did this swap many times. I won't waste any of your money. Take the motor, change the valve springs. Install an Edelbrock intake, and reuse the quadrajet after a rebuild. If you are not going to put a cowl hood on, forget the Edelbrock intake. You need the rear sump eldo pan. Use Deville manifolds, forget headers, don't even attempt it. Pull the AC box if you have one. I used motor mounts from a 77 deville. they work the best. I also used the trans from the 77. It is a short tail 400. take the motor mounts and bolt them to the engine. cut the some 3/16 plate and bolt it to the bottom of the mounts. the outsides of your cut plate should be the exact size as the bottom of the lower mount (this is a chevy style mount) Lower the whole assembly into the car. You'll need a crossmember for the trans from Al @ MTS. With careful placement, the plates on the mounts should just touch the front of the front suspension crossmember. the oilpan should be about and inch above the member. weld the plates in place. gusset them to the front of the suspension crossmember. Weld a piece of angle to the bottom of the member to protect the oil pan from getting hit (it should hang about an inch below the suspension crossmember). With this careful placement, the original driveshaft will work w/ just changing the front yoke for the 400. Sweet. You'll have to drill holes for Al's crossmember, but it is worth it. Put a floor shifter in it. Dual exhaust makes for a tough column shift For ease of the exhaust, notch the driverside frame for the bottom of the manifold. THis is not hard and worth it. I cut a T slice in the crossmember w/ a torch (towards the rear of the suspension crossmember). Beat the pieces down in with a big hammer. Reweld them into the crossmember, you haven't removed anything, and it is still as strong as it was.

[Vern]

FWIW I was able to close a flat stock hood over Edelbrock & a Q-jet but I had to cut out some of the hood braceing. Also if you used a drop base filter and or a 2 1/8" filter instead of a 3" filter that would buy some room. My swap went to a 2004R which may have helped set the motor back and down just a bit vs the th400 not sure though.

I kept the AC box and hooked it up with the stock g-body compressor. But I did notch the box and glass it back in so that I could take the valve cover on & off without jacking the side of the motor up to do it. It was quick easy and cheap useing a little kit from the auto parts store.

I also have headers but they were a pain in the butt. There is other vendors that now sell g-body headers but they are not cheap. I do like the idea of ported and coated exhaust manifolds though especially if you don't need more than say 450HP.

My car was a floor shift so no problems there also I kept the stock crossmember but did heat and shape it with an 8lb sledge while the car was on a lift. Took about 15 minutes. Some people are concerned that heating it will eventually make the crossmember weak and crack. Mine has been on almost 9,000 miles and has not cracked.