I need help beating my brother

[Big Kahuna]

Bless me father for I have sinned -- I am a Mopar man at heart and administer www.mopastyle.com and race a stable of Mopar racecars www.moparstyleracing.com.

However, my brother has always been into GNs and I've learn to appreciate them after he whipped my butt in an AAR Cuda that I thought was fast back in the 80s.

Anyway, I took him to Conroe to pick up a low mileage (25K) 87 from EJ Howe in Conroe, Texas (anyone heard of him?). While there I saw about 20 GNs and decided to buy a low mileage (34K) T-Top 86. http://www.thecybermuseum.com/86grandnational.htm

It was a one-legger so I had Puddin (anyone hear of Power by Puddin?) put in an Eaton Posi, and do a bunch of stuff like a K&N cold air, Smooth intake, chip, 160 thermostat, bigger fuel pump, adjustable regulator, and 3" exhaust with Dynaflows and a "Test Pipe".

Last night I put a set of Weld wheels and MT Street ETs and drove it to the track -- where I made 19 runs. I was real disappointed as the best was 13.54 and the worst was 14.02.

I had a half a tank of 93 and added 4 gallons of 110 octane. Puddin claims these cars like 118 octane -- but 110 was the best I could add last night. I figured the mixture must have been around 100.

I had 11 pounds of air in the 26" street ETs, the car weighed 3730 with me in it. I tried leaving at between 2000 and 3000 -- but could never get a consistent 60' or ET. Best 60' was 1.93 and the worst was 2.02. The water temp never got over 200. I tried various technics of burn out from little to hard -- water or no water. I let the car shift for me. I have stock gears (3.43? -- I'm not really a GM man -- but trying to learn).

OK -- so I'm asking the experts:

What should the burnout proceedure with those tires be. Water? 1st gear burnout or second (I have no line lock so it has to be quick).

At what RPM should I leave at with what I believe to be a stock torque convertor?

What kind of times should I have with that car?

What do I need to do differently?

Will one of those "Intercooler and a half" help a lot? How much?

I want to keep this car stock appearing and streetable. No tubs, no tach on the dash, no NOS :lol: and no steep gears.

Any advice will help. My brother has "Puddin" working on his car now -- and this will be a regular Wednesday Trophy night at HRP. We're 13 months apart in age and very competative. I must win

 

[Slow91z]

Ok first off you don't launch these cars on RPM, you launch on boost.

Get some sort of scantool/knock detection like scanmaster .Scanmaster
This way when you turn the boost up ou know if it's knocking.

Get yourself a nice boost gauge...Then launch it on as much boost as you can hold without blowing the tires away...Basically push on the brake as hard as you can without breaking the steering wheel and give it as much gas as you can without the tires breaking free.

also you don't need high octane fuel unless you are running higher then stock boost...Have Puddin (no I haven't heard of him) install an adjustable wastegate, then put some good fuel in it (110 is ok because your not going to run a ton of boost with a stock turbo), and set the boost at 20 p.s.i...It will seem like a totally different car.

The stock turbo doesn't do much except heat the air after 21-22 PSI so don't bother going past that point.

Also you should read as much as possible here and at http://gnttype.org/ ...TONS of info here...learn all you can, ask all you want.

 

[Big Kahuna]

I appreciate the help.

The scanmaster link isn't working. I'll need to check it out as I don't have a clue as to what it is.

Who carries a nice boost gauge that can be pillar mounted?

Is there a point where damage can occur to the transmission and/or tourqe convertor shooting for that kind of boost? It appeared that at the line and 2500 rpm -- I had bumpkus for boost. At the end of the run I was off the little stock gauge for boost.

What about a burnout on Street ETs? What would you suggest?

 

[Slow91z]

Sorry, just go to fullthrottlespeed.com.

on the front page you will see scantools, click on them and look for the one for turbo buicks...it will explain what it does.

Everyone here launches their cars pretty much like that and no complaints so far.

Only burn em as much as you need to, if it breaks em loose do a bigger burnout next run.

I ran 13.07 on crappy radials, you can beat that with ET streets if you crank the boost up and have a good race chip.

Just remember to get a scan tool and ALWAYS watch for knock, it will kill your headgaskets so quick you won't know what happened.

In order get yourself a scantool (scanmaster is a favorite for beginners and street cars), a boost gauge, I recommend you get 2 chips (1 street, 1 race), add good fuel put race chip in, turn up boost (watch for knock, if it knocks turn the boost down some, or if it's lean add fuel pressure, that's something else a scanmaster will help you with), have fun and look at your new 12 sec. time slip.

 

[Slow91z]

Oh yeah, use the search feature up top...you will get MANY more answers then you will get out of me, these topics have been asked MANY times before...then after reading everything on both sites, ask any Q's on what confuses you.

 

[Big Kahuna]

thanx again

 

[JDSfastGN]

hey man i was at the track on wednesday. I was the younger kid that came and asked how much boost you were running You said you were runnin around 14 psi when i talked to ya, which 13.5 isn't bad for what is done to it. I watched you launch and actually have a vid of you running the newer blue GT (my good friend) You really needed to get the boost at the line, your ETs can definatly hold 5-10 psi at the launch. Your burnout was lacking a bit, back into the water box, and spin them a tiny bit. Pull out of the water box and brake boost standing still and light them up until you see a little bit of smoke(6 seconds of spinning or so. (somebody will correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the ETs need a huge burn out like my Nittos do) You had a lot to gain just on the 60 fts. Make sure you keep it in drive and don't let it shift to overdrive during the run, that can kill you mph. I think I remember your mph being around 99 or so. With that gas mixture as stated before you should be able to run 20 psi on the stock turbo depending on chip timing. I will be out there on a lot of wednesdays and most fridays or sundays when i get my car back. If ya want any help at all just let me know.

 

[JDSfastGN]

BTW, the car was gorgeous, i've also seen it at EJs recently i believe and got to look at it close, if its the one im thinking about. Really nice and straight car man. Also these cars like octane but 110 works great, its what i always run at HRP. On your set up i really see no point in anything much higher unless you get a very agressive high timing race chip but even still the stock turbo is out of breath at 22 psi, so pure 110 should still work. You may want to invest in a newdenso O2 sensor that is lead proof, one of the best things ive done to my car since I've started racing it. It gets expensive buying a new o2 sensor each week

 

[Big Kahuna]

JDSfastGN -- I do remember talking to you in the staging lanes. Small World huh? Didn't you say your father also has a GN?

We try to get to HRP on Wednesdays -- as my 16-year-old races that white Demon in American Muscle, and that is his practice night. I race a 65 Coronet 540 with a Jerico 4-speed in A/NSS. I bought the GN as a car to drive up (only room for one car in this trailer -- but a stacker is on the way) and play with while he's having his fun.

Look for the black 2004 Ram 3500 dually with a white 32' racecar trailer. I've been parking close to y'alls Mustangs towards the track entrance. I'd be interested in your tips.

Thanx
Big Kahuna

 

[Captain Mark]

There's lots of fast boys down in Houston. Just start hanging out with them and you will be running just as fast before long! Lots of wisdom down there.