First pass in 2 years

[afresh]

Well the local buick guys with the help of Jason Cramer were able to get together tonight at Rocky Mountain Raceways.

I was only able to make one pass. I'll explain later.

Here are the results. Comments are welcome.

R/T...........................1.502 (I know this sucks)
60'...........................1.922 (6 # launch)
330'.........................5.327
1/8 Mile....................8.181
MPH.........................84.19
1000'.......................10.833
1/4...........................13.254
MPH..........................91.00

OK. Somewhere between the 1/8th and the 1000' mark the car didn't seem to be running right. I let off, then got back on it. Same thing. Coasted through the lights. According to one of those 1/8th mile to 1/4 mile, this should have been a 12.83.

Not quite sure what went wrong. I got back to the pits and there was coolant everywhere. It appears that the cap on put on the coolant line that goes over the thermostat (the u shaped pipe) blew the bottom out of it. This was the coolant leak. My buddy brought me a new cap. Got the new cap on, started the car and had some white smoke out of the exhaust. 3 different people said it didn't smell like coolant. Possibly a little oil. Didn't seem that bad. Meanwhile track officials come over and tell me to turn the car off not to work on it, the Rescue team down on the return road thought there was a fire? BullSH**. Why they couldn't just radio and say hey is there a fire is beyond me. Can't work on the car, time to put it back on the trailer, I didn't want to risk breaking anything not being able to work on it.

I'll get the kinks worked out and see if I can't get to another track by the end of the season. I will not go back to Sucky...er Rocky Mountain Raceways again. The staff is terrible. I told another staff member what they did, he just rolled his eyes.

Any thoughts?

Here's the combo:

Lunati 226/220 Cam
30# Green stripe injectors
9.5" Level 10 Performance Lockup Convertor
RJC 14 Bolt Deep Sump Oil Pan (This is a beautiful Piece, Jason's workmanship and attention to detail on it are awesome)
AFPR
EGT (only read 904 degrees after this pass)
Custom Turbo (Purchased from John and Marka Gallina, 60 Series Compressor in the stock housing)
4.56 Gears
30x9 Slicks
Spool (Took care of the previous Open Rearend)


Andrew

 

[Jerryl]

Are you sure the smoke is coming from the exhaust and not a result of burning the residue off the pipes and engine?

Did you notice any knock during, or high temps after the the run?

If the car overheated during the run due to the "lack of coolant", it could have resulted in some damage. The HG may have given out or could have had knock. Did you do a compression test yet?

Keep in mind that a compression test may not tell you if there is in fact something wrong. The car could be sucking coolant and compression may be close enough on the gauge. Oil may indicate something more serious. How are your plugs?

 

[buickpower]

sorry to hear about that, although it sounds like you were well on your way to a great run.

Do you get any bubbles in the coolant overflow tank?

 

[afresh]

I'll run through in the next couple of weeks and run the various tests to figure out what has happened.

Thanks for the advice.

Hopefully I'll get it back together and get that 12 second pass out of it.


Andrew

 

[1QUICK85]

What kind of boost levels were you running? What was causing the car to not run right? Are your 30# injectors enough injector to handle that 60 series turbo? You weren't leaning out on the top end? Any scan tool readings/knock on the run?- Nick.

 

[cool 84]

Is your cam big enough??

 

[boostmaster]

30lb injectors, biggg cam, and biggg Turbo, make for many trips to the parts store for new head gaskets. Do yourself a favor, when you get it torn apart don't put it back together until you have least some 42lb injectors minimum. With those tall rear gears you have the rpms come way up quick and stay there. Therefore, your engine has a heavy load on it and it needs fuel to feed that load.

 

[afresh]

1Quick85,

Boost Level, as usual, I always forget to pay attention to my boost gauge. As Scott North (Turbo Riviera) put it curse of the turbo buick. Not sure why it wasn't running right. It seems that it was really rich according to a couple of guys that saw my pass. The EGT only read a max of 904 degrees. OTC did show knock, unfortunately I hadn't used the OTC in a couple of years and forgot how to get it in Road Mode so I could see the amount of Knock Retard. The 15 total frames just didn't give much info. I'd really like to get direct scan and use that in the future.

Cool 84,

I don't know is there a bigger cam available for our hotair cars? I actually love the way the cam makes the car sound and it really runs pretty well with the large cam.

Boostmaster.

I do plan on getting a set of bigger injectors. I'd also like to get alcohol injection for the car. As for not running it until then. I'll turn down the boost and see what happens after I get it back together.

Thanks for the thoughts! I'm looking forward to finding out what might be wrong and getting the car back together.

 

[Turbo Riviera]

I'll add a few things to this... Since I know his combo well and was at the track to see the after effects.

900ish degrees EGT = plenty of fuel.
30" tall slicks + 4.56 gear = mild mannered low RPM traction machine.
Smoke was definitely oil in nature. Not coolant.
You can never have too big a cam in a hot air (ask Lee). That cam is bad ass! I run the same one in the Riviera. (times in sig are with stock cam)
After reviewing the data on the OTC 4000, there was some knock on the shifts and in high gear. Likely an octane issue (I think you were running 112 sunoco?) Probably too low of octane for that kind of ET in a hot air.

My diagnosis was oil from the turbo. Bum seals.

Send the turbo to John Craig, slap it back on, put C16 in it and let 'er rip.

Oh, never mind that you ran this at over 4000 feet elevation! Do the altitude correction on that people! That's 12-teens according to my math. And the heads & intake aren't even ported!

Certainly to run the big numbers, an injector change is in order... But for high 12's, he should be OK with the 30 pounders.

Way to go Andy!

 

[boostmaster]

Lunati cam

Hey what's the part no. for that lunati cam went to the holley web site and don't see the spec's for it. I wanna compare the spec's to the 204-214 speedpro.

 

[afresh]

Thanks, Scott!


Boostmaster,

I'll have to see if I can dig up the part number. I ordered it over 4 years ago. I called Summit and spoke to a salesman Scott had been working with, I told him I wanted an NHRA Stock Cam for my Buick. If I remember right, the guy at summit was able to get me the part number, but could not order the cam. I had to call and order it from Holley.



Andrew

 

[afresh]

Boostmaster,

I can't find the cam card nor the part number. You may call Holley Directly, the cam is designed for the NHRA stock eliminator class.

Scott may be able to find his cam card.

I do remember these specs:

226/220 at .500
.411 lift

 

[Turbo Riviera]

I'll look to see if I can find mine...

Andy's right 226/220 @ .050 and .411 lift.

The stock eliminator grinds must maintain factory issued lift specs but may have any duration or lobe center/separation that you want.

Cool sounding idle, and pulls like crazy.

 

[tony1917]

Lazer Cam
2838 Sanderwood Dr
Memphis Tn.
901/795-6000 Bill Serial # 18307



Bill ground a cam for me for NHRA Stock Eliminator and it has gone through 3 trips to the barn .He will give you the math on the phone.

1983 T-Type Riviera
231 carbbed Turbo
NHRA Record Holder 2000-2002 DF/SA
E-Town Div 1 low qualifier 2004 BF/S
13.60 @ 101 mph

 

[Turbo Riviera]

So that's what's been wrong all this time Tony... You're racing in a barn?



I've never been to the barn... honest... Thank god Jerry Valentine retired (div 6 tech dir.) He hated my car! Thought it was (and I quote) "Too ugly to hold a national record, and I'll be damned if it sees the pages of National Dragster." Then we tore it apart and he had to pass it. Stock as the day GM put it together! LOL

 

[tony1917]

Scott,
Tried to get in the show this weekend at E-Town.Needed 6 grade points to get in and I only have 3.Too bad for me. Went 1.45 under last week at ATCO test and tune
tony

 

[Turbo Riviera]

e-town is a 6 point race? Are you kidding me?

They'd have to count the last 5 years to give me 6 grade points...

Nice job on the 1.45 under on the new index... What is the new index for Af and Bf?

I haven't even tried to keep up lately. Too many things going on...

 

[tony1917]

Divison 1. It's not uncommon to have 150 to 200 stockers show up at a divison or open race.The E-Town show meet its quota for stockers 2 hours after it opened 2 months ago.No one got in with less than 6 grade points

AF/S 13.00-15.99 x h.p. + 170 driver Index 14.15
BF/S 16.00-17.49x h.p. + 170 driver Index 14.95

 

[Turbo Riviera]

So did you go the 1.45 under in BF?

 

[tony1917]

yes 13.50 after I removed 200lb and the wick turned up.Car is still 150lb heavy.Jason's headgaskets are holding up and still have a few psi of boost to go.NHRA was not there so I will not get hit with h.p. I got hit last year at E-Town with the 13.60 and now 212hp nhra
tony