1st time at the track with the 97 SSEI

Joined
Jul 26, 2005
I gotta admit, with all the work Ive had done to the SSEI, I was kinda expecting a better run or two...

Best E/T was a 15.7 @ 90MPH with a 2.32 60ft time. Slowest pass (Im assuming it was getting slower and slower due to heat soak on a 99* day) was a 16.05@87MPH with a 2.44 60ft time. Mods to the car are:
ZZPerformance VS cam
105# Valve springs
LS7 Lifters
1.7 Yella Terra Aluminum Roller Rockers
3.4 Pulley
Hi volume oil pump
4IN Cold Air Intake
Power Log
ZZPerformance 1.0 PCM with HPTuners
MSD Coils
Taylor 8mm wires
NGK TR8 plugs
ZZPerformance Downpipe to a custom 2.5in Dynomax Super Turbo muffler with twin LT1 tips
All new sensors, connectors, fuel pump, etc.

I was hoping with a couple gallons of 100oct Id have been able to at least be somewhere in the 14s, but I guess the out of the box ZZP tune is either A. not up to par with the demand on it or B. My build is just not to par. Does anyone on here know where to go to get these cars tuned?
 
I gotta admit, with all the work Ive had done to the SSEI, I was kinda expecting a better run or two...

Best E/T was a 15.7 @ 90MPH with a 2.32 60ft time. Slowest pass (Im assuming it was getting slower and slower due to heat soak on a 99* day) was a 16.05@87MPH with a 2.44 60ft time. Mods to the car are:
ZZPerformance VS cam
105# Valve springs
LS7 Lifters
1.7 Yella Terra Aluminum Roller Rockers
3.4 Pulley
Hi volume oil pump
4IN Cold Air Intake
Power Log
ZZPerformance 1.0 PCM with HPTuners
MSD Coils
Taylor 8mm wires
NGK TR8 plugs
ZZPerformance Downpipe to a custom 2.5in Dynomax Super Turbo muffler with twin LT1 tips
All new sensors, connectors, fuel pump, etc.

I was hoping with a couple gallons of 100oct Id have been able to at least be somewhere in the 14s, but I guess the out of the box ZZP tune is either A. not up to par with the demand on it or B. My build is just not to par. Does anyone on here know where to go to get these cars tuned?

Congrats on getting it out for the first time now you have a baseline to work from - it can only get better...

First off you have a couple real common problems that cause bad et's going on and you were aware of them to some extent or you wouldn't have mentioned them in your post , one is the 99* temps that is terrible in general but even worse on a non intercooled SC car due to the heat soak of the blower , if you didn't cool it down between passes , open hood and shut off car whenever it isn't moving that will really heat it up.

The other biggie is poor 60 foot times , seeing you hit 90 mph on a 99* day tells me it should have run high 14's even in hot temps with a good 60 foot , I am more familiar with w bodies but if the bonnie has struts in the rear learn how to do the "cable mod" at the track and get better tires , preferable MT or Hoosier DR's you will still likely fight for traction a bit but sub 2.0's shouldn't be hard and that alone would have knocked off 6-7 tenths by the time you hit the traps - good 60 foots give you a slingshot effect that carries momentum throughout the pass.

Being an SSEI I am assuming that it still has hd trans with stock 293 gearing if it does you should be holding 2nd gear through the traps at the type of speeds your going , shifting into 3rd for the last couple hundred feet will drop right out of the powerband , I took my daughters stock GS (was wifes car at the time) with original tires and only a K&N cone filter slapped on the TB , stock tune ,copper core 104 plugs ,drilled 180 stat in better weather than you had but far from great for around here and was able to hold 2nd with it just tickling the limiter a few times with 96 mph traps (14.4 pass) ,dr's , cable mod , and good air and it would have been very close to cracking 13's .

Some other combos I had and results for background info :

My bolt on stock internals regal gs I had at the time I raced regularly and on a zzp tune with raised limits it got me to the point where I was running 14.0's @98 and tickling the limiter as it went through the traps so as I modded it further I had to shift into 3rd ( in hindsight I should have gone to a taller tire to be able to still hold 2nd). At that point it was a 3.4 pullied powerlog/ported rear/3"catless dp /3" Hogan catback , stage 1 TB , homemade 4" FWI car on hoosier dr's , hp tuned by me that ran 13.5 @104 full weight besides spare , jack floor mats etc , no options removed nothing cut etc... it was my my daily commuter car stock internally including cam and rockers with around 200k at the time, sprayed it lightly and went 13.1 @109 for me. car also made one pass with these mods but pullied up to stock 3.8 size pulley and went 13.91 @102 without changing the tune , and on my worst 60 foot of the night shows how well a modded car can go without touching the pulley lol

I also had a 4 dr gtp that was headers , rockers , dynotech built trans with 329's , homemade fwi , hpt tuned by my friend I bought it from that went 13.3 @104 then sprayed it hard to 12.2 @117 full weight .

Had another gtp with only headers , 1.9 mod rockers , thrasher intake , tune that went 13.3 @103 , 2 door on the light factory torque star wheels all these times on dr's with cable mod and generally in well negative density altitude conditions except the times I sprayed the gtp , I brought my own cold dense air in the bottle lol

Looking at your mod list...You will hear people say to ditch the plog and get headers , they are better but they aren't your problem ,the MSD coils on the other hand may be a contributor , they are notorious for weakness and even new they are rated the same as stock normally aspirated coils - yes stock sc coils are an upgrade in voltage from new msd's , I have also always used stock gm plug wires but Taylor is generally decent quality. not sure on the tr8 plugs , with your mods I would be running Autolite 103's at .060 gap without spray .035 on spray , I don't know what ngk crosses over but think its a tr 5 or 6.

Expecting a canned tune to be optimal for a cammed/well modded setup isn't ideal - way better than no tune but you should pursue your thought for a in person recommendation , where are you located ?.... both for finding a tuner near you and for knowledge of what type of altitude and weather conditions you are up against.
 
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pictures of cable mod per request:



this pic is mocked up on a car I was parting out at the time. Procedure is to jack up car so struts fully extend then using stainless cable you lock the struts in the fully extended position by running the cable through the hole in the strut mount then through the gap where the body mount rubber is on a regal and then clamp it back to itself with cable loop as tight as possible , on a grand prix there is no rubber isolator between the rear K member and the body so you can go around the sway bar mount instead , some drill a hole but it works fine looped around the mount. I always cut them around 18" so there is plenty of cable to be able to choose optional locations on different vehicles , wrap the ends in tape so they don't unravel , and double clamp. This will dump all the weight onto the front tires - THIS IS NOT A MOD FOR THE STREET you will feel every pebble you pass over in a drastic manner it will ride horribly as there is zero suspension travel , this would also be against most tracks tech so devise your own scheme to get away with this and take responsibility for your choice to do this.
 
Check out dyno tune motorsports for a tune. Brian is a good guy to work with. Also couldn't you go lower than a 3.4 with a cam?
 
Similar/less mods but smaller pulley back in the hey days, i was running mid 12s @ 109 in my grand prix.. lighter but not that much more
to make that much of a difference here.

1) Scan for AFR / and KR ? Can tunes are nice but once you toss in the cam and other things they get way off base.
KR can make a good setup run horribly bad.

2) MSD coils for us hold a stigma for the past decade as being junk. Run stockers. They work perfectly fine.

3) 60 foots stink horribly bad.. leaving 6-7 tenths easily on the table with just the launch.

4) TR8 plugs may be to cold of a plug. TR6 or Autolite 104. Me personally, only run Autolite
104s in 13 second and slower 3800s.. and 103s in 12 second and faster. Plugs need more
frequent changing I guess.. but they are dirt cheap and easy to swap out. The TR8's seem to
be used by guys making some serious power.
 
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First off, ZZP couldn't tune an 89 cavalier, so stay away from them. Go to Ryan Carter or Intense. Secondly, the plog doesn't make that much of a difference. Ditch it and see if you can find some true headers. Make sure if you have the u-bend to get rid of it. Get a scanner and check out KR and coolant temps. See what's what. You HAVE to run a 160 t stat. If you don't you're wasting time. No, it's not too cool. It may be too cool for an N/A car but not for a FI car. No way in hell. With a 3.4 pulley you're plenty warm, trust me. I ran one in the winters here in Mi. and my heat never suffered either. And with a 3.4 pulley, you should be ok with 95 octane. Don't go over that as too much octane can leave a little hp on the table when all is said and done. And I bet you you're getting some KR with that plog. I had full headers/exhaust and still couldn't tune the knock out of a 3.4 pulley. Canned tunes aren't really all they're cracked up to be. Listen to Murph on the ignition stuff as he is spot on with it. Go factory in that area except for the plugs. Make sure your injectors are doing what they're supposed to be doing as well.
Try some slicks or z rated tires too. They do help a little. As well as spring blockers in the rear. Try this out in the fall as it will be a lot cooler. Your times aren't right. You should be mid 14's at this point.
 
Funny, I tried telling people on grandprixforum that the plog barely did much compared to a home ported front manifold and they threw rocks at me lol! I do think a downpipe would be worth something even over a stocker with U bend delete. Someday I'd like to get one for the gp and do a press on 3.6 with a tune. It's a light option car for a gtp so it should make a noticeable difference.
 
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