[78w72]

hey, good to hear its running ok. well so much for 301g, it vanished! Reading back through this im surprised i didnt ask where you got the new ESC box, usually rebuilds require the PROM chip to be swapped as it has info specific to each car. or was it a original or rebuilt from a 1980 turbo 301? Some of the testing you asked about is in the GM service manual, do you have one? Makes working on these turbo cars much easier.

These cars did get a bad rep back in the day, and yes they are not "fast" compared to earlier bigger cube engines, they were never intended to be in 80-81. but they were the best performance for the price you could get in an american car at the time. When set to the designed 9psi boost on premium fuel these were almost as fast as the 78-79 400s, many werent at that psi when new or got messed with by guys that didnt know turbos or computer control on the 81's.

Stock times are in the low to mid 16's, compared to mid to high 15's for the 78 400 ta, my 81 is 99% stock original 28k mile engine, with the cat removed & no mufflers it runs mid to upper 14's, has a little detonation at WOT also so was only about 3/4-7/8 throttle past about half track, and being its a lower mile pace car, i was taking it easy compared to all out max effort. With very minor changes these cars can run into the mid 14's pretty easy... from a 30mph roll or on the highway, the 81 tta is about as fast as a mild cam w72 ta.

Check the box/PROM is correct for your car, then do some basic checks like timing, check boost psi, be sure carb is working right with choke pulling off, distributor/coil, etc etc. Kill the cat, get some straight through mufflers or remove them to run straight pipe, the turbo/wastegate muffles the sound very well... then you really hear the turbo whine. If its all original, keep as much of the exhaust as you want but the cat is a major restriction. It should do some weak power breaking or spin the tires off the line some when running right, mine with full dynomax turbo type mufflers will still power break easily & chirp 2nd gear pretty good with brand new 255/60 BFG tires.