she sucks lots of gas on the highway if your doing 70. other than that i have lots of traction issues. to many ponies on a stock suspension and only 275 60 15's in the rear. I have traction bars, adjustable control arms and shocks on the way. so we will see what happens.
Just a 20 year old with an '86 442!! G-body till I die
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I ran both 3.42 & 3.73 on 275/60/15s behind the 509. Its a long stroke motor that makes its power in generally the same rpm range as the Olds 455. (Unless the Olds is cammed bigger than what you would normally run on the street and has worked heads.) Assuming you can leave about the same on both, the 3.73 was quicker and took more advantage of the motor without being past its power range at the big end.
Wallace calculator says its takes 425 honest HP to take 3,800 lbs (car & driver full tank) to push our cars to 112 mph in the quarter. (high 11 basement 12 with traction) The calculators also say that tire & gear would be turning 5,000 rpms crossing the stripe without figuring any converter slip. Unless you have worked heads and a big cam you can turn more rpms and still make power but you are typically not going to turn quicker times by spinning the big Olds harder than 5,000.
But for the practical useful side I ran these gears behind a 200-4R. If you are stuck with an old three speed, especially the 3.73 would suck behind the big Olds. Not only would it suck fuel hard but the big bearing motor would not like the continuous rpm and rebuilds are not cheap. Most don't realize for a hot cammed street car that the high stall lock up converter is almost as nice as the overdrive. Its worth the money if you have the ability to do it.
Dennyboy, what kind of mph are you turning in the quarter?
Wallace calculator says its takes 425 honest HP to take 3,800 lbs (car & driver full tank) to push our cars to 112 mph in the quarter. (high 11 basement 12 with traction) The calculators also say that tire & gear would be turning 5,000 rpms crossing the stripe without figuring any converter slip. Unless you have worked heads and a big cam you can turn more rpms and still make power but you are typically not going to turn quicker times by spinning the big Olds harder than 5,000.
But for the practical useful side I ran these gears behind a 200-4R. If you are stuck with an old three speed, especially the 3.73 would suck behind the big Olds. Not only would it suck fuel hard but the big bearing motor would not like the continuous rpm and rebuilds are not cheap. Most don't realize for a hot cammed street car that the high stall lock up converter is almost as nice as the overdrive. Its worth the money if you have the ability to do it.
Dennyboy, what kind of mph are you turning in the quarter?
I have never ran her in the quarter actually. I really want to but the closest strip is four hours away and i don't have anything to tow the car there. I love the gears on the street with my 2400 stall converter. some guys have told me a taller tire would help me a little on the highway. to be honest she's just a street car. last year i pushed the motor to 5500 and stretched a rod bolt on a stock bottom end. it's all been beefed quite abit and did some oil mods so i don't mind the highway as much.
When you say street car you must mean stop light to stop light. Otherwise you wouldn't tow her to the dragstrip. You say you don't mind the highway as much but you don't want to drive her that far. I think you can't see the forest for all the trees in the way. Maybe the people that should have helped you just keep doing the same old thing they been doing for 30+ years despite technology because they are not looking for better solutions in different places to problems they have not even recognized yet.
If you think I am dissing you I am not. I drove my big bearing long stroke big block to the track and three states away and I bet its faster than yours. I am no superman I just had the right tool for the job. An uncalled for rebuild sucks doesn't it? Oil mods are good as are better rods & bolts but she still has the same two problems big bearings and high rpm gearing. 2,400 is a good compromise stall as in for best acceleration it probably leaves a lot on the table. Why didn't you go bigger? compromise. I use a 3,000 stall converter because its fits the combination and with a lock up converter she drives normal at part throttle and doesn't heat or tax the transmission & cooling system on the highway as well as providing less stress/wear and better mileage.
If you are thinking great but I could never afford one well sometimes on a budget build you got to do what you got to do but maybe somewhere down the road you get to a place where you can upgrade. fwiw I had extremeautomatics do two of them for me. $1,395 shipped to your door without a core includes a real warranty. There is others cheaper than can also provide a quality trans just providing an example.
If you think I am dissing you I am not. I drove my big bearing long stroke big block to the track and three states away and I bet its faster than yours. I am no superman I just had the right tool for the job. An uncalled for rebuild sucks doesn't it? Oil mods are good as are better rods & bolts but she still has the same two problems big bearings and high rpm gearing. 2,400 is a good compromise stall as in for best acceleration it probably leaves a lot on the table. Why didn't you go bigger? compromise. I use a 3,000 stall converter because its fits the combination and with a lock up converter she drives normal at part throttle and doesn't heat or tax the transmission & cooling system on the highway as well as providing less stress/wear and better mileage.
If you are thinking great but I could never afford one well sometimes on a budget build you got to do what you got to do but maybe somewhere down the road you get to a place where you can upgrade. fwiw I had extremeautomatics do two of them for me. $1,395 shipped to your door without a core includes a real warranty. There is others cheaper than can also provide a quality trans just providing an example.
yah ive heard it before and it's just the way I can do it for now. I prefer to do all my own work except where machining is needed. I don't care if it's faster and I don't mind rebuilding a motor or transmission. The car gets beaten hard and if it breaks it wasn't good enough anyway. I don't race it because that's not what I meant for it to be. I would like to run it just to see what it can do but she'll all ways be a project and i have no desire to ever "finish" her. I plan to build a drag car out of something else someday when i'm done with school and have my own place. I just finished rebuilding my transmission about a week ago actually. I lost my forward clutch and my pump was all mashed up after last summer. that was after a semi decent build that I put together thinking it would hold great. I build the car better as it breaks with the money that I have and learn along the way. of course there are certain things that have to be done to keep her reliable and safe. I have an oversized four core aluminum radiator, extra frame bracing so it can handle the power and the beating, ETC. just some things that need to be done.
I guess the whole point to the car is just to learn and have fun. i don't wanna compete or show it off i build if for me.
I guess the whole point to the car is just to learn and have fun. i don't wanna compete or show it off i build if for me.
dogshit said:
Hey Dogshit where you by any chance at Kil-Kare the opening day of test and tune on March 24th? There was a bad *ss Turbo'd regal there that laid down I believe a mid to low 12's run
Nope but I wish I was. Hey check out the current on the shelves April issue of GM High-Tech magazine. It covers the GS Nationals and shows two great wheels up pics of Beavercreeks Bob B Buick Slussers grey T-type. He and or some of his turbo Buick crew are usually at Killkare. Friendly and helpful as are most of the Buick guys. I picked mine up at Krogers.
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