I will be watching this build . If your on a budget go with 400 otherwise an overdrive would be the way to go. Good luck
Our 79 Monte Carlo- Pro Touring Project
- Thread starter UMI Performance
- Start date
After a filter and fluid change the transmission is shifting good and working well. This is good because we want to get some test runs in before we take it apart. The car is heading to the skid pad and slalom on the 11th of October. We want to run it as is in stock suspension form first to collect data. We hope the transmission will last until then.
UMI Performance said:
I went gently around our factory area twice. It shifted nicely each time when driving normally. Up on the top road it shifted under power and also kicked down properly.
Then I ever so carefully pulled it into the back bay in good working order. That way if it breaks, it's Ryan's fault. Ha!
--Ramey
On Thursday October 11th we took the UMI fleet to Penn State's test track for a day of data gathering and tire burning.
One of the combatants was our new (to us) Green Monster as detailed in the above threads.
As a quick summary, the Green Ghost has old school SBC power and can ignite the 235/60-15's at will. The 3.73's and mini-spool powers both rear tires but traction is still quite non-existent. The TH350 has a TCI Breakaway converter with 2200 rpm flash and works nicely for part throttle driving. Yay.
First stop was the skid pad. We wheel-measured a 200ft diameter flat skid pad as used by leading publications such as Motor Trend and Road & Track. The asphalt condition was worn but in relatively good condition. A few sections had minor cracking and ripples which put our shocks high speed damping to the test (mainly for the other cars - the Green Goblin had stock Monroe's on it). The temperature was 55 deg F with sun and brisk wind. Tire pressure was set to a factory recommended 32 psi. With factory suspension front and rear and Firestone Firehawk SS20 235/60-15's it felt like we were driving on ice. Between the 500 treadwear rating of the FireSTONE's and the healthy horsepower, we could hang the back end anytime we wanted. When driving sensibly the Green Weenie circulated around the skidpad at 14.2 seconds for an average of 0.608g and a tendency to push [understeer, plow, howl the fronts, etc.]. After Ryan, Jerry and I completed that session we installed our new 3044-275 Pro Tour rear sway bar and chose the middle hole of the three hole adjustable arm. The middle hole is considered an auto-x or handling setting. The long hole is for street use and the short hole functions as a drag anti-roll bar. Of course tuning and testing will yield the best results. Jerry was first out with the new bar and it was immediately evident that the increased rear roll resistance made the car extremely loose, as in dangerously loose, as in Jerry laughing the whole time with the back end hanging out.
In some cases it had LR tire off the ground.
Talk about fun. The three of us averaged a best of 14-flat when driving sensibly. The 3044-275 improved our balance enough to achieve 0.626g although the tendency was to break the back loose immediately upon throttle-on. This may seem bad but we expect our 1.250" front bar to balance the rear roll resistance and make the car awesome. We expected this result when using such low roll resistance up front. With the massive oversteer we decided not to try the front hole on the 3044 as it would have just oversteered a lot instead of really a lot...
Next step was the 600 ft cone slalom (another MT and R&T test). It consisted of seven cones spaced equally at 100ft. With the Green Tomato entering the first cone at the industry standard 45 mph all kinds of hilarious stuff happened. Jerry was the unofficial "loose condition" test driver and attacked the cones like a man possessed. Possessed with laughter. At one point Jerry had the car so out of shape it was close to bicycling on two wheels.
When the smoke cleared (literally!) we knew we had some work to do over the winter, as if we didn't know that already. The good news is, our test event went well and showed that the Pro Tour bar fit nicely, worked nicely and functioned as intended.
We also tried a few drag style launches with the Green Giant. With the factory bar out back, the car would raise the left front all out of shape before finally settling into an out of shape mess. With the 3044 bar set to 2 of 3, it would launch straight and true.
When we got more traction via tires and UMI suspension, we anticipate need to move the bar to the shortest hole for more of an anti-roll drag bar effect. If that proves to be too light, stay tuned for our 1.250" solid anti-roll bar debuting in a few weeks. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter at the top of umiperformance.com for the latest product announcements.
In summary, a stock suspension Monte Carlo on Firestones and worn out suspension doesn't work very well. It does however bring a smile to your face. The Pro Tour bar was a step in the right direction and we were thrilled to have it work so well on its maiden "hardcore" test. The best part of test day was how much we learned and the data we gathered. Look for the Green Monster to be awesome when we head to the track in April 2013. It will be lower, meaner, and faster but rest assured, it won't be greener.
ramey
One of the combatants was our new (to us) Green Monster as detailed in the above threads.
As a quick summary, the Green Ghost has old school SBC power and can ignite the 235/60-15's at will. The 3.73's and mini-spool powers both rear tires but traction is still quite non-existent. The TH350 has a TCI Breakaway converter with 2200 rpm flash and works nicely for part throttle driving. Yay.
First stop was the skid pad. We wheel-measured a 200ft diameter flat skid pad as used by leading publications such as Motor Trend and Road & Track. The asphalt condition was worn but in relatively good condition. A few sections had minor cracking and ripples which put our shocks high speed damping to the test (mainly for the other cars - the Green Goblin had stock Monroe's on it). The temperature was 55 deg F with sun and brisk wind. Tire pressure was set to a factory recommended 32 psi. With factory suspension front and rear and Firestone Firehawk SS20 235/60-15's it felt like we were driving on ice. Between the 500 treadwear rating of the FireSTONE's and the healthy horsepower, we could hang the back end anytime we wanted. When driving sensibly the Green Weenie circulated around the skidpad at 14.2 seconds for an average of 0.608g and a tendency to push [understeer, plow, howl the fronts, etc.]. After Ryan, Jerry and I completed that session we installed our new 3044-275 Pro Tour rear sway bar and chose the middle hole of the three hole adjustable arm. The middle hole is considered an auto-x or handling setting. The long hole is for street use and the short hole functions as a drag anti-roll bar. Of course tuning and testing will yield the best results. Jerry was first out with the new bar and it was immediately evident that the increased rear roll resistance made the car extremely loose, as in dangerously loose, as in Jerry laughing the whole time with the back end hanging out.
In some cases it had LR tire off the ground.
Talk about fun. The three of us averaged a best of 14-flat when driving sensibly. The 3044-275 improved our balance enough to achieve 0.626g although the tendency was to break the back loose immediately upon throttle-on. This may seem bad but we expect our 1.250" front bar to balance the rear roll resistance and make the car awesome. We expected this result when using such low roll resistance up front. With the massive oversteer we decided not to try the front hole on the 3044 as it would have just oversteered a lot instead of really a lot...
Next step was the 600 ft cone slalom (another MT and R&T test). It consisted of seven cones spaced equally at 100ft. With the Green Tomato entering the first cone at the industry standard 45 mph all kinds of hilarious stuff happened. Jerry was the unofficial "loose condition" test driver and attacked the cones like a man possessed. Possessed with laughter. At one point Jerry had the car so out of shape it was close to bicycling on two wheels.
When the smoke cleared (literally!) we knew we had some work to do over the winter, as if we didn't know that already. The good news is, our test event went well and showed that the Pro Tour bar fit nicely, worked nicely and functioned as intended.
We also tried a few drag style launches with the Green Giant. With the factory bar out back, the car would raise the left front all out of shape before finally settling into an out of shape mess. With the 3044 bar set to 2 of 3, it would launch straight and true.
When we got more traction via tires and UMI suspension, we anticipate need to move the bar to the shortest hole for more of an anti-roll drag bar effect. If that proves to be too light, stay tuned for our 1.250" solid anti-roll bar debuting in a few weeks. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter at the top of umiperformance.com for the latest product announcements.
In summary, a stock suspension Monte Carlo on Firestones and worn out suspension doesn't work very well. It does however bring a smile to your face. The Pro Tour bar was a step in the right direction and we were thrilled to have it work so well on its maiden "hardcore" test. The best part of test day was how much we learned and the data we gathered. Look for the Green Monster to be awesome when we head to the track in April 2013. It will be lower, meaner, and faster but rest assured, it won't be greener.
ramey
I really like the documentation and testing you guys are conducting. To keep a project like this on a nominal budget is a task in itself. Yes you may be using worn out shocks and tires that don't grip too well, but to me with some of your parts that you installed, Im quite impressed with seeing a g-body 3 wheelin' considering everyone has said the g-body flex a lot. I want to see more posts regarding testing of your products like this. I am highly considering installing umi parts on my 86 cutty and bringing it up to a semi or pro- touring status. keep up the good work guys!
UMI Sales said:
That is a great looking car and the color is awsome. But you know as well as I do with a mini spool how do you expect it to go thru corners with no rear stager. I know you're not wondering where the oversteer came from....
the slalom course must have been a blast with that car..
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