Last year I took my 1980 out to the drag strip, to get some runs in on the old motor. Then it was a 93,000 mile L-48, 350C automatic with 3.08 rear gears and a bad QJet.

Tonight I am going back out. Now it is a ZZ4, 700R4 auto, 3.73 rear gears, 17 x 9.5 Z rated rears and the QJet is fixed.

I had this on the dyno back in Feb, and only pulled 220 HP at the rear wheels. Remember this car is in full emissions compliance tune and still has the 2-1-2 exhaust with the cat. converter still installed. I am playing with the idea of dropping the cat tonight to see what it will run, but probably won't due to it being a PITA to do out on a rocky dirt surface.

Anyway -- last year it ran 15.5's all night long.

What will it run this year? Any bets ?

I am betting on the 14.0 - 14.5 bracket, but it may be really tough to get it under 14.49. Don't know, I haven't run it with this set up yet, and will be happy for anything better than last year.

 

Just goes to show you how crappy the stock exhaust is you should be well over the 250 RWHP mark with a ZZ4, all you can hope for is low 14's :D

 

Yeah -- I know. I have a quote from one shop to do the exhaust. From the manifolds back to the end, duals, with dual converters --- $500.

I wanted to get a run in before I had this done, so I could have a before and after. I may get this done as soon as next week :D

 

oops! see below. :blush:


[Modified by clutchdust, 4:06 PM 10/4/2002]

 

bryan, is it the original 2 into 1 system and original cat? :eek: man, that will choke it down. if so, i'll really be interested in the before and after of this change! :yesnod:

 

:yesnod: :yesnod: :yesnod: :U

 

How do they do the inspections if it is visual you can try the ol' dual holllow cat trick :lol:

 

All I can say is:
:U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U :U

And a few :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry

Tonight was between 85 and 80 degrees, where last year was at least 20 degrees cooler.
Here was last years runs:
Here are the numbers for the stock motor.
-------------------Run 1:---------Run 2:----------Run 3:---------Run 4:
60 foot--------- 2.208----------2.218-----------2.193----------2.206
330 foot--------6.455----------6.548-----------6.451----------6.469
1/8th mile------9.959----------9.933-----------9.908----------9.930
1/4 mile--------15.611---------15.618---------15.625---------15.533
mph-------------84.79----------83.44-----------82.90-----------85.37

This year:
Here are the numbers for the ZZ4 motor.
-------------------Run 1:---------Run 2:----------Run 3:---------Run 4:
60 foot--------- 2.110----------2.119-----------2.150----------2.088
330 foot--------6.316----------6.375-----------6.399----------6.247
1/8th mile------9.833----------10.023---------9.993-----------9.740
1/4 mile--------15.290---------15.585---------15.516---------15.163
mph-------------90.63----------93.71-----------89.81-----------91.19

Couple of note: I never got any decent traction in 1st gear. When shifting to second, the motor was laying down, especially on the 2nd run.
I am running at about 5500 RPM through the traps. Now this part bothers me. If I get everything fixed and drop that 1 second off my 1/4 times, I won't have enough gear. I have the 700R4 transmission and am close to topping out third gear as it is. From what I understand, that transmission won't go to 4th if the car is held at full throttle.

Is that correct? I know they will down shift if you get more than 2/3rd throttle when in 4th gear, but will it up shift from 3rd to 4th if I am holding it to the floor ?

Maybe those 3.08's are going to have to go back in place of the 3.73 gears?

So, now I know that the stock exhaust system JUST HAS TO GO !! And once that is done, something with the fuel mixture, gearing and traction have to be fixed as well.

Had I stayed the night I would have made it into the 14.9's easily. You can see the ET's drop just in the 5 degree temp drop we had. It will be mid 60's by the time the track closes, but I have to get up early tomorrow.

Oh, and I never lost a race all night. They were all won by reaction time and better traction. I raced a 1969 Vette in the first run (he ran 15.293), a 2000 ish GTP Grand Prix w/ supercharger in the 2nd run (15.534), a non-descript ricer that pulled a 16.478 in the 3rd run and a 1969 Camaro (15.033) in the last run.

 

Sorry to say that but those numbers sucks. You should do low 14 or high 13 with a stock ZZ4. Do you still have you cats? If so they are probably clogged. Something is not right for sure.

I run those number with my L48. No cats and no emission with a recurve dist. The rest is stock.

Stephan

 

The exhaust and carburetor are 100% bone stock. The cat is not plugged as it only shows .3 PSI more back pressure before than after.

It's just not enough exhaust space for that much motor.

 

How Fast Will It Go ?

Your lucky it just made it home :lol: :lol: :lol:

The 700R4 will not shift into 4th anywhere past half throttle.

There is a part that will allow it to shift at 3/4 throttle. That is about as good as it gets.
I have it in my catalogs, but right now I cant find a link to it....

I thought you were going to take those gears back out???

 

Bseery,

They make 3 inch cats... and with some work... 3 inch pipes will fit. You CAN be legal, and FLOW!

Just an idea... probably will cost about the same... :cheers:

 

I know it doesn't help much but those were some decent 60 ft times for street tires and your car looks cool. :cool:

 

Not bad considering I couldn't find traction out there with 2 hands, a flashlight and a mirror. Or was that my azz I couldn't find. Anyway, no traction at all, was launching at only 1700 RPM and was still buzzing them hard. Everyone from the Ricers to the rail-jobs were spinning -- a real problem that Firebird raceway has.

At least now I can get the wife to let me spend some money.

I am thinking free flowing exhaust and a 900 CFM TBI fuel injection unit ????

 

If you want that exhaust to really flow, you have to get headers, those stock manifolds just won't do. An exhaust system can only flow as well as it's most choked up part, which in that case would be the manifolds. The system has to get good flow from every part for it to work to it's potential. A balnce pipe, like an X or H pipe, will also increase your flow over staright pipes and reduce some resonance also. You can get either one from Jeg's, the X pipe junction (what I used, see my sig) is $90 and the H junction is $37. And if you have to have cats, make sure you get the free-flow ones. Jeg's also carries these, the Dynomax's (26% more flow than OE convertors) go for $53 each and the Magnaflow's go for $100 each. Good Luck with whatever you choose. By the way I bought all of my parts from Jeg's for a total of $500, and it cost another $395 for the piping and installation.

 

While your ETs stayed the same, your MPH went up as much as 10. This seems to indicate your problem lies with traction and gearing. You can probably get more out of your motor w/ the right setup.

 

BSeery,

I am still kicking around the idea of selling my true duals that are on my 80. E-mail me if your interested and we can work out the details. I want quite and am not really concerned about power.

Joe


xracer@rochester.rr.com

 

Not all TH700R4 are the same so it Depends on what car donated your 700 r4 - the Corvette 700r4 would upshift to 4th @ WOT in my bone stock 84, however the camaro z-28 I had would downshift exactly as you describe and would never go to 4th at WOT - B&M makes an adapter that will allow the tranny to remain in 4th @ 3/4 throttle. I would only use Corvette 700R4's as a donor tranny.


[Modified by fauxrs, 12:24 PM 10/5/2002]

 

this is correct. your mph indicates much more power then before. I wouldnt worry about the gearing. I have 4.11s and only hit 6000 in the traps. This is with the stock 60 series tire height. the zz4 is good for that kind of RPM. your car should run in mid to high 13s with 93 mph :yesnod: i wouldnt sweat it. what your lacking is a good torque converter and a better exhaust.

 

One of the guys with Dragstrip 2000 software told me that the program claimed that my setup would perform better in the 1/4 mile using 3.55's than the 3.73's. Our setups are similar.
Could someone here with that software run the numbers to verify this?

There's no doubt that upgrading the exhaust and torque converter would be money well spent.