Jump to content
HybridZ

when is it FAST ENOUGH!


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 61
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Fast enough or not.... Low 12's and 120 mph on street tires seems to be the magic number, since the stock rear end setup starts to break things in the 11's.

 

Comfort level in the car (AC, exhaust noise, idle, ect) can vary greatly when it comes to 11 and 12 second z's. As I got older, I slowly figured out the trick is to keep the car comfortable and make it fast.

 

But, thinking back. I had the most fun in my 240 when it was only a high 12 second car. I ruined it for the street when it became a 10 second car. And that power made it dangerous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want that r32 :]

 

Jeez you guys are running 300+hp in your z's?!?!?!

I'm only shooting for around 300hp!

 

Ive always said before i die i want to go 300+mph, which that's more than obtainable nowadays :D

 

That's easy, just get in a plane! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fast enough or not.... Low 12's and 120 mph on street tires seems to be the magic number, since the stock rear end setup starts to break things in the 11's.

 

Comfort level in the car (AC, exhaust noise, idle, ect) can vary greatly when it comes to 11 and 12 second z's. As I got older, I slowly figured out the trick is to keep the car comfortable and make it fast.

 

But, thinking back. I had the most fun in my 240 when it was only a high 12 second car. I ruined it for the street when it became a 10 second car. And that power made it dangerous.

It's the driver that makes it dangerous. I have driven several "street" cars that were over 600 HP safely. Of course, I wouldn't trust anyone else behind the wheel with me riding along.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.......

 

But, thinking back. I had the most fun in my 240 when it was only a high 12 second car. I ruined it for the street when it became a 10 second car. And that power made it dangerous.

 

yeah! my very low 10s second corvette was impressive especially back in the 1970s but its was a P.I.T.A. to drive with a full roll cage, a 4 link dana 60, tubed rear, and 700 plus hp, the crower injectors sticking thru the hood seemed like they screamed, ("DROP CRAP IN HERE" to MORONS) and the cops tended to follow me almost everyplace

 

I had far more fun with a `1965 tempest/GTO clone with a BBC engine in it, even thou it was not nearly as fast!

 

my first real fast car, was a 1965 GTO that I purchased dirt cheap in 1970 with a blown engine, but a good 4 speed for $900 ,and a decent rear (I THOUGHT) I had a plan and friends, it soon had a 1969 corvette 427 tri power engine from a wrecked vette, that engine didn,t last long, (bad bearings) I replaced it with what at the time was a custom deal, a 4.25" stroker crank and 6.385 rods and .60 over 13.7:1 cpr pistons, a ZL1 cam with solid lifters and chevelle headers added, remember this is 1970 and SUNOCO 260 gas cost about 40-50 cents a gallon, the rear differential went out, and I got a dana 60 from a wrecked hemi challanger to which I had 4.88:1 rear gears added, and had the correct suspension brackets and drive shaft fabricated, the car destroyed street tires and ran high 11s which was screaming fast for the time (especially for a guy who barely knew how to tune it at the time.)

I had almost every dime I made, or could borrow or do odd jobs for parts for, go into the car and I was getting sweet discounts at the time because I did work at a repair shop, at the time part time at nights while I was also working at southern bell, tel.

I painted the engine PONTIAC BLUE and had the pontiac tripower decals on the chrome valve covers and corvette air cleaner assembly,and 421 decals on the fenders...I was amazed at the number of people who believed it was a 421 poncho!

I got STUIPID and sold the car (without the engine that I kept)when I got a sweet deal on a 1968 corvette, with a blown up engine, the goats engine was evenually installed in the vette......after a few others ,it was faster but it was a source of constant problems and a bottomless money pit

3079365_5_full.jpg this car looks vaugely similar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

my current 383 pulls about 470 flywheel hp, or more, certainly much more when I use the nitrous (Ive changed the combo slightly about a dozen times)and its got over 80k on the short block and about 45k on the orriginal distrib gear, its got minimal wear, and 35k on the current distrib gear, (Ive had over a dozen cams in the combo)but I make sure the gears well cooled and lubed

keep in mind the combo was not built for max N/A hp, but decent street manors and responsive tq, and to take full use of nitrous

 

look at this picture:

 

p106762_image_small.jpg

 

The grouve is cut under the bottom (O)ring in the band just above the gear (look at the picture above, (BTW the pic shows a significantly smaller grouve than ideal)) and in line with the gears so that oil sprays on the gear contact points at all times, this is a mod most old time racers know about and use, but Im getting the idea the new guys have not picked up on it! (those two bands form the side of an oil passage in the block and the distributor shaft seals that passage, cutting the grouve sends a spray of high pressure oil onto the contact point at all times, if you dont cut the grouve your relieing on returning zero pressure oil flowing down the rear lifter gallery drain holes to lube the gears

BTW the other way to do this is to grouve the block in the distributors lower band area as this keeps the location of the oil jet constant as the distributor is turned, for a full contact spray on the gears so I generally do BOTH

my383vette.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have THE definitive answer in my case:

 

"It is fast enough to go 0.001mph faster than it's previous run every meet for an entire year, and that the first time out it goes 0.001mph faster than the previous record."

 

Simple enough...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

As always, well put Grumpy. I'm going on 8 years with the same Isky solid roller, Scat, AFR, CC steel roller rocker 383 V8. Always starts, runs on pump gas, mid 20s mpg, corners flat, stops well, and kicks butt on just about anything that is driven on the streets. Yeah, plenty of stories about "street cars" that can better me by X seconds in the 1/4, but they are NEVER seen being driven, let alone drivng to and from, 300 mile round trips to a track. Never breaks, overheats, leak down still in the 2%, revs to 7000+, reliable as the sunrise.

 

You have $$ to throw at your car on a daily baisis, then have fun and push it tell it blows. If not, build one accordingly, but strong and sound from the bottom up and enjoy it for years to come.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Thing Is A Semi Sleeper Mid 12 Runner Using The L28 Block With A Turbo To Maintain An All Nissan Combo That Can Surprise Stock Wrxs Mustangs Camaros Vettes And Porshes When Duty Calls. Basically A Fast Well Engineered And Personal Custom Taylored Car.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Best thread here, by far.

 

But, this is why I'm here...guys that know better than to simply drop a 700+hp motor in a street car. Experience speaks volumes!

 

That''s why I've only been building my GTO conversion on paper for the last couple months. I want to be confident everything is going to gel correctly before the first bolt is even turned.

 

Of course, in doing a GTO conversion, not getting attention is gonna be pretty tough. But, I DO intend to drive it a good bit. Almost as a DD.

 

But, I also do want to be able to give all the Z06 drivers around here the one finger salute as they're staring at my tail lights.

Again though, I have to keep in mind that I'll only be running an 8" tire with wire rims, so I don't want so much power that it's gonna start popping spokes if I mash on the go pedal too hard.

 

The frame, body, and suspension is the "easy" part. Matching just enough power to the weight so that I'm still grinning, not spinning the tires constantly, and still able to thumb a nose to the Mustang/Vette guys is he hard part.

 

And after talking to Kevin at Extrudabody about a custom "retro" induction setup, I really want to build the motor around his injection system. That Extrudabody setup is the only thing that I KNOW will be going under my hood.

But, every time I ask someone about a particular combo, I keep getting "Those heads wouldn't work well on that block", or "You might want to consider *A* pistons over *B* pistons for *X* reason."

So, even after a couple months of bench racing, I'm still at square 1 with the motor for my project. And I don't know enough about it to simply go into the Jegs or Summit catalogue and know what REALLY works well together. This will be my first solo motor project with no big name builders at my disposal.

 

I thought I wanted to put a Northstar in it, simply becuase I have one sitting at home collecting dust. But really, those things are a real pain to work on and I want something that can be worked on with simple hand tools...I've learned that lesson already since I don't have a full shop setup available. (lift, cherry pickers, etc..)

 

I'm just a schmoe with a bunch of hand tools, a compressor and air tools, a 110-volt MIG machine....and a dream.:icon14:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

I found the point where I was happy two months ago. I had finished the LT1 swap into my 81 zx turbo and was driving it the same day my friend went out and bought a brand new mustang gt. I met him downtown to check it out, and of course we had to race. I destroyed him out of the hole pulled away from there.

 

He just had his butt handed to him buy a car that was $25,000.00 (give or take a few grand) CHEAPER than the one he will be paying off for the next 5-6 years. Once I saw the stupid look on his face I knew I was happy with what I had built.

 

Later! :burnout:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...