T-bird SC learns about Buick power

[OneLethal87GN]

Spun through first and second, but lifted the tires on the launch? Was this a SC or the Dodge Charger from "The Fast and the Furious"...lol....j/k. Well, it's been a while since I saw that record on the website so I figured it was outdated. It's good to see they are getting a good market for parts. I have to ask though... How much in mods does he have on his SC to turn 12s..just an estimate? I figure he has alot of money in that thing if he's losing that much horsepower and still running those times on street tires.

 

[SMOKINV6]

How big is this cruise in Niles? Ive never even heard of it and need to get out and see more of the Buick croud in the area I guess.

 

[squeeze87]

SmokinV6

I went last night, It is in the parking lot at K-mart every Wed. night. However no Buicks last night Darn! It sure was hot though!
Probably 40-50 cars there, all makes and models.

 

[Scott Long]

I didn't get a chance to make it down there. Maybe I'll show up next week.

Oh about the tbirds that run 12's. They are both Coy Miller stage 2 engines. Its a complete tear down and rebuild with new pistons, crank, cam, ported heads, valves, intake porting, S-model Supercharger, 3.73 gears, both are automatics, most of the real fast ones are. It's be tough to get a 5-speed to hook up with that much power. Chris dyno'd at 429 hp and 500+ lb. ft. And Coy's I'm sure dyno'd closer to 500hp and 600+ lb. ft.

www.coymiller.com

 

[Andy 94SC]

Scott, you forgot one big advantage the GN and most other cars have over the SC, weight! From my conversations with a GN owner here at work I tend to think SC's outweigh GN's by about 500 Lbs. He told me his was a heavy car because it has T-tops, it weighed in at 3600Lbs. Typical SC's weigh 4100 Lbs with driver. Another is time We have had a relatively short time to develop these cars. We have really only had the ability to tune the electronics for about a year.

Although impressive, I don't beleive Coy millers car is the SC record holder. It is the quickest one that is publicized and conforms to the silly SCCoA rules. Dennis swears up and down that a guy in N.Y. dumped a ton of cash building a SC that ran 11's about 6 years ago. I have also heard of a SC around Las Vegas that is using Ford 4.5L Bush Grand National engine. There are likely more out there who's owners don't use the internet, or don't care to advertise. I have big hopes for when Dr. Freds car hits the streets again too.

It is really too bad GM stopped GN production when they did. I have heard the original replacement for the Turbocoupe would have been aimed right at the GN. There are pictures somewhere on the 'net of the prototype. It was still to be Fox chassis based, with a twin turbocharged 3.8L. After GM killed off the GN Ford decided to try for the BMW audience, so they designed a new chassis for better handling and better aerodynamics for more top speed stability, rather than a straight line acceleration luxury coupe. They likely dropped the twin turbo's in favor of the SC for emmisions reasons, among other things.

We probably owe the existance of the SC to the GN, at least in part.

 

[BIGSIX]

All smiles

Hey it is all good.....

Well the SC,GN, TC, MCSS, are a dying breed.... the new front wheel drive GTP, and Regal GS are very nice, but not quite the same.

Having owned 87LX V-8 Tbird, 87 TC 5speed, 89 SC auto, 87 GN, 86 Ttype, 93 SHO auto , I have had a few american performance cars, besides the SHO you can see the rear wheel drive trend...

I have only modded my GN, so my experience is minimal....

In my opinion each cars + and -

87 LX TBIRD V-8 - well it is possible to mod, very similar to a fox mustang, weak tranny, low compression v-8, rides like a crown vic, no posi, 2.73 econ gear like 80mph @2000 rpms, ok to work on... but no TC technically better resale than TC

87 TC 5 speed - I really liked this car, my died in a car accident, plenty of mods available, some weakness ie. rods, stock auto tranny totally sucks, worse than the AOD, easy to work on, parts are plentiful, ford built a **** load back in the day, good on gas.
horriable resale

89 SC Auto - a friend convinced me to buy an auto, he said the manual doesn't shift the smoothest, true but it isnot milk truck like either, owell live and learn. a very pretty car, chicks like it. drives very nice, almost all of them are totally loaded. Heavy, totally hard to work on, expensive to fix, the aftermarket is starting to come around, it will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years. All the really cool stuff the GN has only come about in the last couple of years.

87GN - Wow, if all you want is power and a drag mobile, look no farther. I like the look of the regal, most chick do not, hey is that a montecarlo ss, grr no..... easy to work on, easy to mod, great resale value. an aftermarket that is still growing....

86 Ttype - read above!!!

93 SHO auto - I see myself coming and going, nice driving car, great engine, hard to work on, but slightly better than the SC, but like the SC, totally crap oem exhaust. not a drag mobile, horrible resale, good on gas, I'm scared to mod mine, because of the cost of the tranny rebuild $2500 ouch... some parts are in common with all the regular tauri...

Well just my opinion

BIGSIX

 

[white91sc]

Wow, you guys are really cool

And I mean that exactly as it is written. It's hard to get respect for a 4,200 lb car with a weak transmission. It's hard to even get people to understand its different than an lx and even harder to explain to an average person that a supercharger is worth giving up the 2 cylinders I could've had by getting a V8. I have raced a couple of V8 Thunderbirds at the track and have yet to see one as lightly modded as mine go even 14's.

Some sceptics probably think that the estimate of 50 hp off a full exhaust is BS but it's true. Many of our cars go 13's (which doesn't sound fast to you guys) on intake and exhaust mods only. Usually that's in a 5-speed or the auto has some tranny mods.

It looks like I got my biggest gain out of my exhaust work and my transmission mods but I'll see how the timeslips come out. Bottom line is I won't be seeing anything but GN tail lights if its got at least a couple hundred and mods and is running right. I am sure the GN is just as sensitive as the SC. You can race an SC and think that car's gotta be running high 15's, low 16's and youre right. Heat and/or plugs and wires are usually to blame. I am yet to see a good driver with a good running order SC not go 14s stock but I have seen some modded ones still in the 15's for whatever reason. Hey, it happens. I'm sure you have some guys with ever mod running 14's and don't know why.

As for the Coy Miller car. I have seen the coy miller car and I think he's just one of the few full tuners at this point, I'd have a tough time calling him the best hope for SC's. Steve Webb is the one I'm watching out for and any SC he works on. That man knows his way around the machine shop. Last I heard Steve has not been to the track but I know he dyno'd within a stone throw for hp and tq with a stock blower (although it was a '95 with an '89 pulley, same setup I run) on a '91 Engine (interestingly enough, my setup). I believe he had '95 (but still stock) injectors in that car and I know he had no crazy mod stuff like the tubular intake manifold of Coy Miller's car. Oh, and Steve Webbs hood actually closed. All that was on a block with one cylinder sleeved and a head that was welded in one spot. If anyones talent has a shot, it's his.

XR7 Dave is going pretty fast on a stock shortblock and I expect to see 12's out of him with no N20. Bottom line is it's just a matter of time but it's a long time before we figure out how to go 11's on $1000 bucks like you guys.



Adam Mullen
The SC Kid