Okay so i am building a car and i have no experiance on aything but fords if you can even say that... So i want max horsepower and i would like to get it to run in the low 7 just so i can show some guys that women are good at this stuff to and also they will quit hitting on me becasue they will be so intimidated so lets start off with the engine what should i build to get max horsepower. I know that there are pontiacs in here that can handle that. I do not have a car yet because right now i am looking into what i should buy and trying to get all of this information together so i dont miss out on a good deal and do not buy somrthing that was not worth it thanks.

Okay so i am building a car and i have no experiance on aything but fords if you can even say that... So i want max horsepower and i would like to get it to run in the low 7 just so i can show some guys that women are good at this stuff to and also they will quit hitting on me becasue they will be so intimidated so lets start off with the engine what should i build to get max horsepower. I know that there are pontiacs in here that can handle that. I do not have a car yet because right now i am looking into what i should buy and trying to get all of this information together so i dont miss out on a good deal and do not buy somrthing that was not worth it thanks.

I hope your talking about 7 in the 1/8th and not the 1/4. To go 7's in the 1/4 your going to need an all out race car. There are people in this forum that go 7's but very few.

if your interested in Pontiacs, just listen to the people in the forum,keep asking questions and learn all you can. It is great to get a young person interested in this hobby and probably the newest Pontiac motor is still older than you.

To go 7's you probably need several suitcases full of cash and a lot of time. The car would have to be light and the engine and drive train need to be high HP and torque (+ 1000 HP)and run on alcohal and have a power adder, squeezed or blown to get there.

Start out with a driver Trans am with a400 in it and start modding and tweaking and going to the track and getting experience and practice.

At the track I race at ,there are several women (young and mature) who also race and some are fast and others not so fast,but are competative and and good racers.

My first Pontiac ran 15's at the track and the people there helped me learn about the sport and wrenching ,tuning etc and now I run 11's (will be 10;s this year)

Going fast in a Pontiac is hard compared to a Chev or a Ford because of parts cost and availability, but I tell you it makes it fun when someone notices your actually running a Pontiac under the hood.

Yes i definatly meant in the eigth.

Hi Jennifer,
It's a very good idea to decide on a budget. There's an old saying,"how fast do you wanna go = How much money can you spend"

My thoughts are, it's easy to make lots of power (cheap) by starting off with a nice 455.
The next easiest way to cut time off of your time would be to install a set of Edelbrock heads and intake, a cam and carb to fit your combination and a set of headers. Then you have the torque converter, rear end gears and tires. So there's lot's to think about.
So My suggestion is go for the cubic inches.

The 455 engines are getting hard to find and are expensive. Another option would be to use an easy to find and less expensive 400 engine and put a stroker crank in it. Then you got a 455 plus engine without having to hunt down a 455 engine. Not sure what 7's in the 1/8 compute to 1/4 mile times. I never ran an 1/8 mile track. maybe I should look at one of my time slips and see what I run in the 1/8th.

Tim C

1/8th mile, 7 sec ET = 11.2 sec 1/4 mile ET.

Well the only track that i have been out to here is only a eigth i know there are more but at this opint i only go to watch

When it comes down to it...it really depends on how much $$ you can dump into it. I'm finding that out with each passing day, and each dollar that flies out of my pocket!

I must agree with SuperGasDil, There's no substitute for cubic inches. THEN SUPERCHARGE IT !!!

To go 7s in a 1/4 mile you'll have to part w/ a minimum of 20K. Not including the initial car/platform.
Now in the 1/8 mile, 10-14k is to be expected.
Obviously shortcuts abound in this arena, but they usually lead to problems.
Realistically what is your budget?

Hi Jen, a few years back my 65 GTO was running 11.20-40. It was all steel except for a fiberglass hood it weighd in at around 3600#.

The engine was a 455 30 over trw pistons, eagle rods, stock crank 10 to 1 elderbrock heads with a slight clean up and a Jim Butler hydralic cam, I think the lift was around 530/ 551.

The car was quite and driven on the street, my suggestion is dont bother with cast iron heads, because more then likely you'll get bite by the go fast bug and want to go faster, and there is only so much you can do with a cast iron head. E-heads are nice or even the kauffman d-port is an excellant choice. hope this helps

I am running 7's in the 1/8 on a cash outlaw of $4500.00 ($3000.00 of it was the purchase price of my 69 GTO). No NOS - I had to build the motor, using the stock T-400 Trans and a 12 bolt chevy Rear with 3.73 gears.

This combo has over 100 drag strip passes on it and still runs like a sewing machine http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...on_biggrin.gif

I like hearing that 69Goat1. It is cool that some one in here knows what they run on the 1/8 if you wouldnt mind could i talk to you about your engine set up e-mail me [email protected]

mine ran 7.50-7.40's in the 1/8th on the RA3 cam out at Kennadale on motor, now that I have the Ultradyne cam in the car I bet I'm looking closer to 7.0's on motor. but I can't tell you that till I get the tranny fixed. and I had around 5k including the car. now with the 2 trannys it isn't getting cheap.

http://www.offline.org/~burch/video/thirdgen455-NT.mpg

http://www.offline.org/~burch/video/thirdgen455-1.mpg

vids from Kennadale from back in may

email is

[email protected]

Fire away with the questions http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...on_biggrin.gif

Hey Jennifer! A friend of mine who used to frequent these boards quite frequently (Triggerman) took a jab at me when I was contemplating going to Jim Butler's drag race in TN. It is an 1/8 mile track. I told Matt that I had never raced 1/8 mile before. He shot me a very weird look and said, "Oh yes you have! About ever damn time you have run the 1/4 mile". Made me laugh to read your comments on no one knowing their 1/8 mile times.

Well I did not know mine either. Just to give you some perspective My '66 GTO with a 389 and tripower th350 mild hyd cam home ported 093 heads ran pretty consistent 12.90s in the 1/4. My 1/8 mile times were 8.190 @ 82.94 mph. I did not have a lot of $$ in that motor. Stock rods, trw pistons, I did the assembly etc. Maybe $3000 (but that was a few years ago too).

My current combination has gone a best of 10.99 @ 123. 1/8 mile time of 7.011 @ 98.71 mph. This motor is alum rod, 400 block with 455 crank, alum intake, alum heads that flow pretty good, 1 7/8 headers, TH400, Solid roller cam, 12 bolt with 35 spline axels etc etc. bottom line is when you start to go faster it costs a lot of money. This motor makes 618 hp and over 600 ft lbs of torque. Cost me a lot more than 3gs!

So dipping into the 7s would be pretty easy with a mildly warmed over 455. I agree with the 400 block and stroker crank option. It is just easier to do with a 455. Not that you could not do it with a 400....

You definately came to the right place for information. There are some very smart and helpful people here. You are in some very good company! http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...icon_smile.gif

Good luck with the project!

Kev

Kev, it's great to see you around again. http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...on_biggrin.gif

Oh, Trigger who? http://forums.performanceyears.com/g.../icon_wink.gif

Our good friend Triggerman isn't racing cars anymore... last time I talked with Matt he was racing sailboats with a all female crew. He's Mr. Triggerman now http://forums.performanceyears.com/g...icon_smile.gif

Well amazingly enough i am looking into getting a car into the low 7's problemm is doing that. Money is no problem i have been looking for somthing that is actually worth somthing to spend my money on instead of stupid girl crap if you know what i mean. Right now i am looking at buying these two TA's one is a 78 the other is a 79 one with a 400 and one with a 403 is it possible to get these down in to the low 7's some way some how?