anyone ever towed a car trailer with car on it with a turbo 6 motor

[REDS HOT AIR]

I just bought my buddys elcamino and plan to pt my other turbo 3.8 motor in it and think it would look sweet if I towed my ttype to the track with it

it wont be till after I move and I'll be about an hour drive from the track then

a good oil cooler and big ol tranny cooler it should work right

 

[Chevota]

RIGHT....Why wouldn't it?? Unless the brakes fail

-scott wile

 

[turbofrank]

I knew someone that towed his race car with a GN.

 

[1ARUNEM]

I realize your question was about the ability of the motor.. But I'll add that the El Camino is certainly not a very viable choice as a tow vehicle.. The rear suspension (coil springs) is not designed for towing.. Without air bags or air shocks, I'd bet you set the back bumper on the ground with a loaded car trailer on the rear.
DOH!!..

Not to mention the brakes are subpar at best...

Goodluck!!

 

[gn85]

I towed a boat one time with my GN. It had plenty of good pulling power and seemed very comfortable. I couldn't comment on long term effects. I would imagine a good state of tune would just be even more important with getting into the boost easier.

I even had an incident where I needed to pull over on the side of 95 (some of the cushions in the boat were flappin' around). Getting back onto the highway was actually pretty effortless despite a 23' bow-rider trying to hold me back.

Good luck.

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

hey new gm trucks are coil spring rears

heavy cargo coils will fix the squat and my trailer has brakes

I have towed with my old 86 442 plenty of times and long as I didnt tongue weight it too much it towed good and the elcamino is longer wheel base than the 442 was

stopping wont be a problem I tow the car and trailer now with my 4.3 s-10 and it has the same brakes

the trailer brakes will send you in the dash if they are set too high

guess I'll get it together and tow it and see how it works out ..I'd just hate to be in boost for an hour strait but guess long as its low boost it wont hurt nothing

 

[MIB]

So youre not going to drive it to the track? Please tell me you are going to have a trailer queen Man I'll call you later.

 

[tta583]

I see similar discussion all the time over on the SuperDuty board I read, never expected to see it here.

Don't take this wrong but I see this as a "do you think it can do it" instead of "do you think I should becasue it is safe to do it" question. Yes, it may be able to pull the weight, and yes it may be able to sort of stop (you said trailer brakes, 1 or 2 axle?) but is it safe in an emergency situation? I would have to agree with the others, I would not think it is. Be careful about justification based on what you have done or are doing. Just beacuse you are working now does not mean you are not past some limits and have just not gotten bit. Think of it as this way, eventually you will blow out your stock 150K bottom end running 25 PSI with all the bolt on toys you can afford!!!

I would be willing to bet the turbo 6 can get it rolling but I would guess you would have to be in the boost to get started and to accelerate. Hard on the turbo, but heat up the oil real good (extended loaded use). I would think you would be rather hard on the trans. I know they can be built to hold up behind a hopped up 6 but think of making it hold up under extended load with the weigth of 2 cars plus the trailer.

As to suspension. New GM trucks are coil, did not know that? All I have to say to that is all springs are not created equal.

Not a bash, please don't take it that way. Just be safe, I don't want to see anyone hurt. As a note from my experience. I pulled my TTA to the TA Nats last year on an open trailer behind my late model V8 Dakota. Truck, 2 people, all our gear, trailer, car. 3 hour drive, I fought it every step ot the way from minute 1 to the end. The trailer OWNED the truck. I would be willing to bet the Dakota is heavier, has more power, and much larger brakes than your ElCamino. That was the last time I pulled a car with the Dakota.

Brent

 

[Nick Micale]

Let's try this in the lounge.

 

[Men in Black]

I had a friend who had one of the old turbo T-Birds and he was pulling a snowmobile trailer with 2 smowmobiles on it. It holed a piston trying to do this. It couldn't take the extended boost needed for pulling.

 

[SuperSix]

I towed my 21' center console a few times with my old 86 TR, was fine. I stayed out of the boost, (1-2psi TOPS) and it worked great. You don't need much boost (If any at all) to tow, but I'm not an aggressive tower anyway, and take my time.

Pretty simple - stay out of the boost for extended periods of time, good tranny cooler, rebuild the brakes, you'll be fine.

 

[2quiktocare]

Sounds like BBC time to me. That work would seem to put a big drag on a turbo engine. You need brute hauling strength to handle it I would think. That would give Besides, then you could run your elkie also. lol ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Mark

 

[88 CuttyClassic]

My advise is: if you wanna tow a buick you should use a buick but not a turbo 6, i'd use a tourque monster 455.

 

[SuperSix]

Yeah.. don't want to strain the turbo.. Ask the millions of over-the-road truckers.

These cars have enough base torque that you don't need to get hard into the boost (if at all) to get up and go, and go well.

If he had a trailer permanently attached to it, (and had a spare V8 laying around) I would agree, but simply taking it to anf from the track will cause no harm, if a liberal dose of comon sense and proper preparation are done.

 

[ijames]

I've towed U-Haul single axle trailers a few times with my 86. Stock, in 1990, I ran 0-2 psi boost for 3700 miles from Southern California to Maryland. Yes, it can be done. No, these cars don't really have the cooling capacity (radiator, trans, oil, piston area, and block surface area) to do it all the time. Make sure you get a chip with a very conservative spark advance restore after knock table (I make one using the stock table when I'm going to be towing), and keep an eye on your temperatures. Using DirectScan I could clearly see the aerodynamic wall with the last trailer I pulled, at about 75 mph (it was barely loaded). The injector pw went from about 3 msec at 55 mph (about 5" of vacuum) to 4 at 60 to over 5 at 65-70 (3-5 psi boost), and the engine temps went right up with pw. Your trailer and car will outweigh the ElCamino so even though the trailer has brakes, it's still going to be a handful in winds or when a semi blows past. Spend some time moving the car back and forth on the trailer to get the tongue weight right, and that won't be an issue (off the top of my head I'd shoot for 250-350 lbs?).

So, for 30 minute trips to the dragstrip once a week you will be fine if you are careful, but personally I think you'd go broke replacing engines if you tried towing 24/7 for a year .

 

[turbosam6]

A guy I know smoked his turbo towing a camaro with his t type. It was a low mile car, but he beat it hard alot. I guess it could work, but as much headaches as these cars are, I would buy a truck with a sbc just to have one less thing to worry about.

 

[SinistrV6]

I used to pull my Yamaha WaveVenture with my '86 GN but never anything larger. Pulled the WR all over the place (even on my honeymoon in FL). I once had to haul a$$ back home from Dauphin Island, AL because I was on call and had to get to work. Pulled it at over 100 mph for several miles, that got some strange looks! I was more worried about the rpm's those little 12" tires on the trailer were turning than the GN.

 

[GNX Guy]

Plain and simple---NOT SAFE AT ALL

 

[GNVAIR]

When I do tow, I use my 90 GMC K1500 4x4 (350/700r4/3.42rear) and I have a 17 foot double axle steel trailer. My truck weighs approx 4400lbs empty. It is set up for towing and when I do have my GN or Malibu on the back, it requires every bit of braking power (the fronts are 12 inchers) and power from the engine (300 horse Vortec 350) to get it going. I would consider this truck the bare minimum for safe towing. I would have to agree with the others about the El Camino. The cooling systems on the turbo V6 are not adequate and the frame and brakes are extremely light duty. I know the rear frame rails on the GN are very flimsy. The El Caminos cant be much different. The coil springs arent a detriment IMHO as you can solve the sag with air bags NOT air shocks.
I would invest in a load stabilizing trailer hitch as that can make a difference in durability.
But towing with a turbo V6 might not be wise as it will most likely be into boost anytime it is load (which will be quite often).
These engines are not tractor trailer engines and were not designed for the abuse that an 80,000lb truck was designed for.
Just think about it before you do it. Towing with the Elky is ok.
The V6 I would say no. I would consider a nice 400 small block OR some sort of big block.

 

[JDSfastGN]

gn85, I was heading down I10 one time just outside of Houston and there was a beautiful GN towing a huge boat, that wasn't you was it? lol . RED I say if you make the proper additions to the suspension, and add the tranny and oil coolers, I don't see a problem. It may toast something in the long run, but it is only an hour and saftey wise I can not see it being worse than most of the other towing vehicles I see around, especially since the trailor has Brakes and all. If done right it can safley be done.