12.1 @ 116.5, 2.0 60ft

[Paul69camaro]

I built this motor around 2 years ago and never took it to the track so I was itching to see how fast it would run. Being that I'm the worst drag racer in Texas I ran between a 13.7 down to a 12.1 at 25-26 psi. Obviously the slower times where due to my 18" nt05's (not the drag radials) spinning forever if I left with anything over 6 psi. I was locking the converter on the 4l80e and the car seemed to pull really well once out of the hole. What do you guys think this car could run if I was to mount some slicks on it? Reason I ask is I've got a buddy running an 11.8 on slicks talking a little trash and I may need to better that time.

Paul

 

[gusszgs]

I would think if you reduce your 60' down to 1.8 which is not asking for much with a slick, you should be right in around the 11.70 range........you have the mph to run a low 11. Nice with a 44!

 

[mgmshar]

A general rule of thumb, which I've found to be accurate, is that every 0.1 seconds of reduction in 60' time results in 0.2 seconds reduction in ET. Slicks should easily get you a 1.8 or 1.7 60' time, which should put you in the 11's.

Further, a 116.5 mph trap speed should translate to a mid to high 11 ET, at least it did on my car.

Be warned, once you go with slicks, you won't ever want to race without them.


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[Paul69camaro]

Guess I'll have to get some slicks... If I were to open up the exhaust dump, would I gain anything there? What would you guys recommend I upgrade next besides the suspension to get some more out of this, I'm guessing maybe turbo? Oh one last thing, what do I need to do to stop the oil from blowing out of my valve cover breathers? I'm running an RJC pcv valve and metro angled breathers but it still happens to drip out.

 

[mgmshar]

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see what exhaust system you are running. If you have a good, free-flowing dual exhaust, then opening the dump won't help you very much. I did back-to-back runs back when I had my car (TA49 turbo, which is the same as yours, THDP, and ATR dual 2.5" exhaust), and I saw negligible gain by opening the dump. If you still have the stock exhaust or something more restrictive, you will see a good gain by opening the dump. What exhaust system do you have? If the exhaust is restrictive, then doing back-to-back runs (dump closed, then open) with a nice, easy launch will show higher mph with the dump open. If the mph doesn't change at all, then you know your exhaust is not restrictive.

My car went 11.42 @ 119 mph with a TA49 turbo, stock engine/heads/cam, on 100-octane gas and no alky (dump closed, BTW). Others with TA49's/TE44's have gone over 120 mph. So, you have a little more room to go before your turbo is maxed-out. Your engine has better breathing capability than most with the 212/212 cam and GN1 heads. So, you should be shooting for 120 mph before you need to upgrade the turbo.

You say in your signature that your stall is 2200 RPM - that is pretty low for even a stock turbo, not to mention something bigger than a TE44. Are you sure about that? In the Turbo Buick world, we measure "stall speed" as the RPM achieved when brake-torquing the car and revving it until exactly zero psi is shown on the boost/vacuum gauge. If you just have a boost gauge, brake-torque it until the needle just starts to move off zero and note the RPM. If it really is 2200 RPM, you already have insufficient stall speed for a TE44, much less something bigger. For a TE44, you probably want closer to 2800 RPM. For something larger, you probably want 3000 RPM or more.

Does this help?

 

[Paul69camaro]

Mgmshar,

Thanks for all the help! The converter is too tight, it only gets to 2200 at 0 boost/vac. I've been wanting to pull it out to get it re-stalled but this just motivated me enough to do it soon. The exhaust is a single 3" through a magnaflow muffler. I don't think it's very restrictive. Ideally I'd like to get the car into the mid to upper 120's in the 1/4. I'm just not sure what the best way to get there without sacrificing the drive ability on a road track.

P.s. I failed to mention earlier that I had the car shifting at 5200 rpm.

 

[we4Mateo]

Mgmshar,

Thanks for all the help! The converter is too tight, it only gets to 2200 at 0 boost/vac. I've been wanting to pull it out to get it re-stalled but this just motivated me enough to do it soon. The exhaust is a single 3" through a magnaflow muffler. I don't think it's very restrictive. Ideally I'd like to get the car into the mid to upper 120's in the 1/4. I'm just not sure what the best way to get there without sacrificing the drive ability on a road track.

P.s. I failed to mention earlier that I had the car shifting at 5200 rpm.

You'll need more turbo to get mid to upper 120's but not much more. A better flowing engine is needed though too then to make it a bit easier and semi-reliable. Others have gone 125mph on a stock longblock; it just takes a lot of boost and enough octane to not blow up. I'd shoot for 120mph or a few more and then plan an engine build for a turbo to get you where you want to go. This is my path anyway and you and I have the same goals. It took me a small cam and mild intake port matching to bust off 120mph with my TE44. I was stuck at 116 or so before. I run a conservative 91/alky tune; it'll run 120 all day with decent air on crappy 91 and a single M15 nozzle.

 

[mgmshar]

I'm not sure if you saw his signature, but he's got GN1 heads, a port matched intake, and a 212/212 cam. He's got an engine that can breathe.

The TE44 will get you to about 120 or a little more with that engine. You'll need a little bigger to go high 120's. But first you'll need a looser converter.



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[Paul69camaro]

It's actually a ported gn1 intake and the heads are matched but I'm not sure that matters much. I'm going to take your advice and pull the converter to get re-stalled. I'm not sure how much to go though as I need to find a good balance for the street and road race track. Is a 6262 enough to get high 120's? If so will a 3000 true stall spool it fast?

 

[we4Mateo]

I'm not sure if you saw his signature, but he's got GN1 heads, a port matched intake, and a 212/212 cam. He's got an engine that can breathe.

The TE44 will get you to about 120 or a little more with that engine. You'll need a little bigger to go high 120's. But first you'll need a looser converter.



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My bad. Yeah, he should be approaching 120 pretty easy.

It's actually a ported gn1 intake and the heads are matched but I'm not sure that matters much. I'm going to take your advice and pull the converter to get re-stalled. I'm not sure how much to go though as I need to find a good balance for the street and road race track. Is a 6262 enough to get high 120's? If so will a 3000 true stall spool it fast?

Everyone says a 6262 will get you there, but I've only seen one guy running close to 130mph with one.

 

[mgmshar]

The best advice I could give you is to cruise around board and look at people's signatures. Many will put their combos along with their best 1/4 mile runs. This will give you an idea of what turbos are being paired with what converters, and what they are running. If you see somebody with a combo close to what you are thinking, PM them and ask them about it.

Good luck,


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[Paul69camaro]

I really appreciate all the help guys

 

[TT/Ameasap]

Your 1/8th mile MPH and ET look promising. The 1/8th to 1/4 MPH is about what unported/uncammed motor will run. That car should be running bottom 11's with slicks when all said and done tho.

 

[Paul69camaro]

Your 1/8th mile MPH and ET look promising. The 1/8th to 1/4 MPH is about what unported/uncammed motor will run. That car should be running bottom 11's with slicks when all said and done tho.

Would you mind expanding on that a little? Are you saying that I'm not picking up enough speed between the 1/8 and the 1/4? If so what could be causing this? Also, when you say that an unported/uncammed motor would run that, is that assuming same boost level on pump gas and alky? Thanks again for your input.

Paul

 

[TT/Ameasap]

yes and yes.
You should be trapping a few more mph with ported heads and cam. A lot could be causing it.... converter, timing, AFR, ect. Need a PL file to find out what were not seeing on the internet.

 

[Paul69camaro]

Thanks again, I do have a powerlogger but didn't get to log any runs that night because my POS laptop died. I'll try to get some runs in soon and log them so I can put them up. The tune is basically the default settings on a TT 5.7 alky chip. I've had the convertor locked between the 1/8 and 1/4 so I don't think that could be the issue. Eitherway it sounds like I need to log some runs and put up the files. Thanks again guys.

Paul

 

[Paul69camaro]

I fixed my 2 crossover pipe leaks lyesterday and I logged some runs this morning, nothing from a complete stop but it wouldnt matter anyways, since it just spins the tires. Test 3 has a couple of hits at higher speeds. First thing i noticed is that the car seems to shift a little early. What do you guys think? Alky was on 7 and 4l80e in normal mode (forgot to put it into performance mode, maybe thats why it shift a little early)