Running at the track

[khan0165]

Khan what does your car run?

the car has run a best of 12.9 on slicks

I have not had the car run a good time this past year. Best of 13.5...
I was experiencing some valve trouble, which I hope to have sorted out. I'll also run at a good track this year (not the shity, pot-holed crap track I do usually), and hope to hit a 13flat again. My 60ft at the 13.5 was 1.97 with 8.57 in the 1/8th. Because the valves weren't opening, she fell in the top end, pulling through the traps at an all time low of 98mph. She normally runs a 104+

 

[crash]

I definitely have thought about doing the cam at the same time, but the problem is that I want to know what cam is in it right now. I know it definitely is not stock with the way it rumbles, but I doubt it is that big with the stock heads... hard to say.

I bought the car to be my daily driver and I don't want it down for more then a weekend to do all the work, so I can't really tear it down, pull the cam, order and receive a new cam, and have it all back together in a weekend. Pretty much a big pain :lol:

As far as launching at 3k RPM, I guess it could be a little lower, I was more busy looking at the staging lights then at the tach, I know it was right at the max I could go without overpowering my brakes. 😳

 

[khan0165]

14.42 is no slowtch for a daily driver...

 

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14.42 is no slowtch for a daily driver...

Must have looked at my sig? That is my wife's car, ran it last October, pulled a 1.9 60' with it that day with 235 summer performance tires at normal pressure and no weight reduction. I would like to have that into the 13's as well, which is extremely easy to do with a supercharged 3800

I want my Cutlass to be a mid 12 second summertime daily driver by next summer, of course I don't expect that time with the 17" rims. It would be possible, but would require MUCH more money into the engine to make more power to make up for the loss of traction off the line :lol:

 

[dogsht]

Back in the day when I first turned up the boost & fuel in my GN I ran some 13.4s. I still didn't know much about drag raceing. I really didn't even know anything about how to read a time slip. All I knew was 13.4s was a lot quicker than the 13.9s it ran stock. I thought I was launching pretty well with decent traction when a guy with another GN came up and looked at my slip. He said you are leaving a lot on the line & your mph is good so there is a lot more et in it. I have a set of soft compound recaps on GN wheels as I have the slicks on my car do you want to borrow them? I said sure bolted them on and ran a 12.7 at 107mph with no other changes. I had no ideal I was losing that much at the line. The 275/40/17 drag radials I talked about along with an air bag & a posi could get you enough traction to get into the 12s if with a cam & heads swap you had the power to do it.

Almost regardless of what cam you have now I would say get a cam to take advantage of your next heads. You have a 350 sbc you can't get more generic than that. What I mean is any speed parts place should have cams on the shelf. Have someone good ie that builds performance engines frequently do you heads. When he removes your heads he can measure how far your pistons are down the hole and hopefully determine what pistons or cc they are. (to determine actual static compression & quench & to make sure your cam & valve combo won't hit your pistons)((BTW piston valve interference is unlikely if your pistons are down the hole which they most likely are)) With that info & the info from your heads, gaskets, & your 3.73s you can pick an appropriate cam. Then just drive to Jegs or Summit or about any speed shop & they should have something that will work pretty well on the shelf. So it is possible to get it done between Friday & Monday. And so what if you do have to borrow another car or rent one for a day or so its cheaper than doing it over. It would also be very helpfull maybe even neccessary depending on how much cam you got to find out what converter you have. Get back with the guy you bought the car from and see if he can get you info from the guy who put this thing together he likely knows if it has stock or what stall converter. If you don't have an aftermarket converter you will want one to take advantage or your head & cam swap. BTW with a 200-4R you can have a high stall (3,000 stall) but still have it lock up at part throttle so you don't have the slipping, high heat, a terrible gas mileage problems of high stall converters of the old 3 speed transmission days.

On your mid 12 second summertime daily driver car comment. Look at my signatures & in my pics. Both those cars fit that description full exhaust radial tires pump gas drive it out of state with the kids & luggage. The GN ran a 12.4 at 109 mph & the 442 a 12.5 at 110 mph. I don't consider myself a tuner or a drag racer and neither got dialed in so they both had/have a lot more in them but its what I have done so far. My point is your goal is do able even with a lil 350 and without turning it into a drag only kind of car that needs pizza cutters & slicks, race fuel, fuel cell, a dominator, and a three speed that gets 7 mpg & overheats in traffic.