[cnc]

Originally Posted by ta man

It was a very heavy street car night.Little track prep...I made 5 passes which I spun pretty good on 4 of them..60's ranged from 1.91 to a 2.25.On the first two passes I was having shifter issues so my burnouts weren't great and hampered the 60 foot times...On the 2nd pass I spun pretty good and I saw this grey sedan go by near the stripe,his mph on that run was 125mph.Then I found it was a high end Mercedes AMG s 65 v-12 twin turbo rated at a little over 600 hp .....So my next run I was able to line up beside the Benz again..I was able to get a good burnout..launched pretty good..and never saw him..I knew I had a pretty good run...a new best of 11.3893 at 120.63 with a 1.6802 60ftThe next two runs were another spinfest as the track got pretty bad after the sun went down and they were lining us up out of the groove because of all the trucks and daily drivers..Every run was in the 119's other than the 120...The cowl air cleaner seems to work pretty good in the cold..it has never had that mph before,and I've ran in cooler weather.

That's awesome Ernie congrats on the time ....impressive......

[Skip Fix]

Sounds good. I have a similar one going into the 81 TA with 3.08s. Difference Edelbrock round ports and a Stump Puller.

[tpssonic]

Great info and car. Thanks, ta man!

[78w72]

congrats on the 11.4. car runs good. i had some good runs last weekend too but ran into some fuel supply/starvation issues. curious, what fuel system are you running?

[ta man]

Originally Posted by 78w72

congrats on the 11.4. car runs good. i had some good runs last weekend too but ran into some fuel supply/starvation issues. curious, what fuel system are you running?

RobbMc 1/2 inch pickup,Mallory 140 deadheaded,All 8an lines and fittings up to a 6AN fuel log..I may switch to a Magnafuel pup this winter it has a return on the pump.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by ta man

RobbMc 1/2 inch pickup,Mallory 140 deadheaded,All 8an lines and fittings up to a 6AN fuel log..I may switch to a Magnafuel pup this winter it has a return on the pump.

how do you like the mallory? running a regulator? is it loud or get hot on longer drives? im debating on switching to an elec or adding a pusher to my system. i have the robbmc pickup, 1/2" line to -8 braided from pump to carb. but with a q-jet my mech pump cant seem to keep it fed on hard launches. very happy with the times & dyno numbers so far but i know theres more in it if i can get the fuel pump up to par.

congrats again on the 11.4, im right behind ya & searching for lower 11's. also agree on the lower gears, i run a 3.23. with the high torque of the big pontiacs, a high gear isnt needed & will kill any streetability, which is what you & i built the car for, i drive the heck out of mine & didnt want a full on drag car that i cant drive & enjoy.

[Cliff R]

"The current setup just works so smooth...my quicker runs I actually shifted a little lower right about 5400 rpm must like the big fat torque curve."

EXACTLY what I was talking about. I'm sure you read where I just "de-tuned" my combo by going back to a factory intake, factory air cleaner/Shaker assembly, choke and primary metering rods in the carb and full length 2.5" mandrell bent tail pipes, and ran just as quick if not a tad quicker than before the changes. That combo has such a broad/flat torque curve, that it cares very little about where you shift at the track. The last one we dyno'd made over 600ft lbs torque (peak), and over 550ft lbs actross most of the loaded rpm range, so it's a very good engine for a street driven car without a lot of gearing or converter in it......Cliff

[67cruiser]

Ton of motor, not surprised. Congtrats. on the times.

[b-man]

Originally Posted by 67cruiser

Ton of motor, not surprised. Congtrats. on the times.

Yes, he has cubic inches on his side. Just a simple +.030 455 with cast rods and TRW forged slugs, nothing sophisticated. Probably just an old Grandvile station wagon engine that was at one time driven by someone's Mom to the grocery store.

But take note, the real power comes from a well-chosen cam and heads recommended by a proven Pontiac shop.

That and taking time to tune the entire combo to near perfection.

It takes more than just big cubes, it takes dedication to getting everything in line.

[ta man]

Originally Posted by b-man

Yes, he has cubic inches on his side. Just a simple +.030 455 with cast rods and TRW forged slugs, nothing sophisticated. Probably just an old Grandvile station wagon engine that was at one time driven by someone's Mom to the grocery store.

But take note, the real power comes from a well-chosen cam and heads recommended by a proven Pontiac shop.

That and taking time to tune the entire combo to near perfection.

It takes more than just big cubes, it takes dedication to getting everything in line.

Actually my shortblock before this one was out of a 72 Pontiac Hearse!Starting tuning this combo back in 2009 in a different car with 3.42 gears picked up a bit each year...takes track time and patience...nothing like making a change and driving 100 miles to the track to find the car go slower!

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by b-man

Yes, he has cubic inches on his side. Just a simple +.030 455 with cast rods and TRW forged slugs, nothing sophisticated. Probably just an old Grandvile station wagon engine that was at one time driven by someone's Mom to the grocery store.

But take note, the real power comes from a well-chosen cam and heads recommended by a proven Pontiac shop.

That and taking time to tune the entire combo to near perfection.

It takes more than just big cubes, it takes dedication to getting everything in line.

X2
Many folks build engines... I'd say that maybe 10% were properly built w/ all the precision machine work and "Perfect Storm" of parts, AND properly tuned. The rest ran good, not great. Until you've experienced the "Great" deal, you have nothing to compare your motoring experience with.

When you put a short seat cam in a 10:1 455, and/or a chevy generic 600 cfm holley on the same engine and wonder why the fart piper crowd is out running you from stop lights, AND your engine sounds like pop corn popping...the situation CAN be remedied! Many people here, work on this stuff every day, that know their stuff!!!

I've ridden countless cars that ran "pretty good". Years ago I met up w/ a friend that was/is a professional racer/engine builder...crap what a difference. Everything he worked on or built got the most possible out of it's particular combination, whether it was a street car or racer.

Folks continually ask questions here, about how to band-aid their poor choice of parts selection, or other crazy things...they want to stretch that gap between good (or a lot of times less than good...) and great, AND IT'S NOT POSSIBLE.They get the proper advice, but it's NOT what they want to hear.

[71 T/A]

Cliff, is that with the Old Faithful cam and KRE heads?

[67ramair4]

First off this isn't bashing the thread originator; but more of a question? 117 MPH is freakin impressive!!
But, why do you run 3.08 gears in a drag car? What ever happened to 3.90's or a 4.33 gear?
What kind of horsepower does it take to go 117 MPH and doesn't the (high) gear kill your launches and abuse your drivetrain immensely???

If I missed it in the thread apologies are in order!!

[ta man]

Originally Posted by 67ramair4

First off this isn't bashing the thread originator; but more of a question? 117 MPH is freakin impressive!!
But, why do you run 3.08 gears in a drag car? What ever happened to 3.90's or a 4.33 gear?
What kind of horsepower does it take to go 117 MPH and doesn't the (high) gear kill your launches and abuse your drivetrain immensely???

If I missed it in the thread apologies are in order!!

Its a street car that gets driven 100 miles to the track,can easily cruise 60 to 80 mph,drives like a stock 301 around town,idles at 850 rpm.The story behind the 3.08's is my old car had 3.08's once I switched to 3.42's didn't really pick up much..little harder to hook up,when I bought this car I left the 3.08's in for highway cruising..and to see what it could do...
As far as the high gear killing the launch..yes initially it did about a half a tenth..now this car is a tad quicker in the 60ft with a bit of tuning,the convertor actually flashes slightly higher with the 3.08 gear out of the hole just using 3 way adjustable shocks
As far as abuse..my nearly stock drivetrain holds up well,now imagine a 3.73 gear 4200 stall,The engine would destroy everything behind the convertor..plus I would need a rollbar more traction aids
This car and the previous car have always been street cars first..while tuning for both clean comfortable driving and gradually dropping et
Two guys have been big influences on me..Jim Hand as far as his thinking on tuning a combination to the max...and Darby Otto's(Grandville 455) track tuning with his big old car through the years...I still have much to learn..but I'm going to see how far I can take this engine convertor and rearend combo.

[ta man]

Originally Posted by 67ramair4

First off this isn't bashing the thread originator; but more of a question? 117 MPH is freakin impressive!!
But, why do you run 3.08 gears in a drag car? What ever happened to 3.90's or a 4.33 gear?
What kind of horsepower does it take to go 117 MPH and doesn't the (high) gear kill your launches and abuse your drivetrain immensely???

If I missed it in the thread apologies are in order!!

Actually closer to 119mph!

[ponjohn]

Originally Posted by 67ramair4

First off this isn't bashing the thread originator; but more of a question? 117 MPH is freakin impressive!!
But, why do you run 3.08 gears in a drag car? What ever happened to 3.90's or a 4.33 gear?
What kind of horsepower does it take to go 117 MPH and doesn't the (high) gear kill your launches and abuse your drivetrain immensely???

If I missed it in the thread apologies are in order!!

It is not needed.

[Cliff R]

Yes, 455cid, 10.99 to 1 compression, 290cfm KRE's from Dave at SD and his "Old Faithful" camshaft. I also run 1.65 rockers on it, with the ICL at 109.5 degrees.....Cliff

[grivera]

Impressive! Stock type u-joints?

[ta man]

Originally Posted by grivera

Impressive! Stock type u-joints?

They are the heavy duty stock style...one of the parts that will get changed this winter will actually be this driveshaft..its one of my "junkyard" parts on the car...my old car used to have a vibration ..pulled this driveshaft off a rusty parts car put new u joints on it..no more vibration...my other junkyard part is my distributor...

[mchell]

Originally Posted by ta man

They are the heavy duty stock style...one of the parts that will get changed this winter will actually be this driveshaft..its one of my "junkyard" parts on the car...my old car used to have a vibration ..pulled this driveshaft off a rusty parts car put new u joints on it..no more vibration...my other junkyard part is my distributor...

I'm not making a ton of power, but I just changed out my old stock tapered driveshaft(3"X2.5") with 3R ujoints......still intact after many, many runs

went to a 3.5" driveshaft with 1350's....first thing I noticed was the weight difference!....the 1350 yoke's and ujoints add some weight!.......massive pieces of hardware.........beats putting it into the wall at 120mph....piece of mind

what weight are you at?

good runs!....