Turbo question

[Steve Wood]

Every one of the faster guys that has put sensors to measure pressure drop and temperatures across the IC have determined that the PTE does its job much better.  I have also read numerous times that the GN1 does not fit that well and hits things frequently.  It is not built as a copy of the PTE unit, if you look at the dimensions, rows and tubes, etc.  It is different.  It was built to be big, but the PTE unit was designed to work...that is my take on it.  I agree, the cost is a big deterrent but I would save my money, take Joe's $1400 or rob a candy store and buy PTE.  I think it is not only built with American materials, but it works better.

Honestly, for an eleven second car, it is probably immaterial LOL

A used PTE, or a Used GN1 should be fine if the core does not leak.  I have a CAS V4 in my T.  Grumpy's daughter went into the 9's on a V4 that was the r version with a few more rows.  Given the age, a newer unit might be a better investment.

The Art Carr unit has been the favorite of many for a long time.  It's a non lock up converter so it takes a modification to the pump to work.  I don't think the  mod is hard.  Ed may have done one in the past?  It will run a bit more rpm but it does not generate much heat going down the road at cruise.

A lock up converter should run close to 2000 rpm at cruise in fourth.  Unlocked, it will run about 250-400 rpm faster at cruise than when locked as I recall.

I personally still prefer PTC converters of either ilk.    I am not sure that your converter is performing badly without more evidence.  Your rpms don't look bad for the mph.  A PL log of a run or a street stomp plus one at cruise would be very helpful.

[Shimy87]

It will be quite some time before I can run the car again dead of winter here the last time at the track with 28in tires my time slip has 60-foot 1.879 330 feet 5.10 to 1/8 Mile 7.877 at 88.11 miles per hour 1000 feet 10.296 and the quarter mile 12. 358 and 108.63 miles per hour

Dont know if that tells you much, other than awful 60ft

[Steve Wood]

It fell off badly in the last half of the run.  It should have been closer to 112 based upon the first half.

Increased timing in first gear may have helped the sixty time.

We don't have to have enuf exact info to really say anything about the converter.  Yeah, it's the wrong time of the year for sure.  It's supposed to get down to five here for a few days which it has not done since some time in the '80's

[reality]

The mph in the 1/8th is low also for 7.8's.

[Shimy87]

Really cold snap here also, last 4 nights been 20 to 25 below zero with daytime highs of 1 or 2 below

[Steve Wood]

Really cold snap here also, last 4 nights been 20 to 25 below zero with daytime highs of 1 or 2 below

water line from my house to the hwy is about a 1/3 mile long and is mostly 50 year old cheap pcv that breaks every time a rock shifts at 25 degs and is less than a foot deep in places.  I am sure it will be a devastation zone.  The town is not much better off and I suspect few will have water after this passes and the thaw starts.  Much of the state will be the same.

We build for summer, not winter smh

[Shimy87]

Frozen pipes are there own sort of hell....good luck!

[daveismissing]

You have municipal water on the farm?

[Steve Wood]

Yes. My grandfather laid pipe back into the city limits a 100 years ago.later the city limits were extended and several of others plumbed into the line. I am the last connection and my property is about a quarter mile outside

[Shimy87]

Thinking about this last night. I have been working on this combo for several years and just can't seem to reach my 11's goal. I'm consider starting over, getting a 6262, a slic , new valve springs and a Art Carr converter and having Eric redo the chip Seems to be a proven combination that should easily reach my goal. I figure the parts to be about $3000. Just sold the wifes snowmobile cause she can't ride anymore so got the fun money to spend. What do you guys think of the idea, and the combination?

[Steve Wood]

I strongly hesitate to suggest someone spend $3000 on something when I have no idea if it will fix the problem or not.

1) is your current converter a lock up converter or a non lock up converter?

2)  Do you have any powerlogger logs of your runs or have you posted them on the board in the past?

[Shimy87]

Its a lock up and I dont have any logs saved to post, dont think I posted any before either.

Your right it is a lot of money. I have read over and over how these cars need a good combination to work well. Thru my own ignorance I didnt research enough as i worked on this one and kind of added parts as I went and didnt have a good plan for what I wanted. I think as a result I find myself tuning and tuning a shitty combo and just getting frustrated cause it just isnt working

I tried to step back and think, ok, if I just bought this car and ran and tuned it as is for the first year with current results , what would I do. I'm sure I would descide to build what I thought would get me into the 11's. I would check all the basic "engine health" stuff, and mine seems all good, good compression, good fuel system, no exhaust troubles, all good numbers on the scanmaster. So what parts would I buy to get it to where I want. The combo I posted to me seems like a good group of parts that I have read about alot that worked really well for others. But obviously I dont know what to put together or i wouldnt be in this situation

Also, I have a buddy with a 700 HP Mustang that can only run mid 11's and i would love to beat him

Maybe I'm just talking myself into it??

[Steve Wood]

I completely agree with and understand your desire to beat your buddy.  For 700 hp, he seems damn slow.  That makes it all the better, tho LOL

My biggest problem with your car is that it should be faster than it is.  I don't think it is the combination of parts as it sits.

IF you were running 108 with a 26" tire AND your rpm was 5400 rpm, I keep getting 11% converter slip which is not bad at all for a lock up converter that is not locked up.  I would be very curious to what the speed did with a converter that was locked about 80 mph.

Now that is what it was slipping at the finish line.  We don't know how badly it slipped in first and second without some data.  Ron pointed out that it was slow in the first 1/8th mile and I noticed that it was slow in speed gain in the last half.  Again, something is not right.  It may have lost control on the shift points???

Now, I mentioned valve springs.  Normally, they will not rev as high as yours did if they are weak.  On the other hand, it only takes one weak cylinder to slow the car down.  A weak spring that cannot control the intake valve and close it against the boost coming thru will hurt the power noticeably.   Me, I wonder about a bad lobe also and would surely look carefully at every lifter base and lobe peak if I were changing springs to make sure the lifter was still convex on the bottom and the lobe peak was not "scrubbed".

If I was buying a converter, I would buy one that was customized for my turbo and Buicks in particular even tho I greatly respect the one you mention that was designed 35 years ago.  It has worked well for it's age.  I have said this before LOL.  

I think I would do a compression test, or even better, a leakdown test if you have a compressor, to compare cylinders on a warm engine to make sure they all look good at this point.  Then, I would change the springs as a routine matter just to be sure the cam is not hurt and the springs are all good.

Then I might go for the intercooler next.

This car reminds me way to much of my GN.  It had great compression, etc but was slow.  I never figured it out.  I rebuilt it and it felt like it had twice the power.  It still runs good 20 years after that and it bugs the heck out of me that I never knew what changed to make it so.  It's not the only one that I have seen like that so go figure.

[nocooler]

The numbers I've ran don't make much sense to me either Steve. 
Say 3600lb race weight it takes about 350rwhp to go low 12s @ 108ish
This is a 600hp turbo so it should make an easy 450rwhp which would push the same 3600lbs to 11.5's@117 which is where I would expect it to be. 
So basically where is that hundred hp hiding?

[Steve Wood]

That is definitely the question.  I don't think it calls for a turbo at the moment.  We know it should not.

It's all speculation because we don't have an rpm log to see what the engine is doing compared to what the rear tires are showing.

He changed the cam.  I don't know what kind of timing gear he used or if it could be off a tooth and still have compression... .

The contrary part is that it apparently was up around 5400 rpm at the line so where did the speed go.  108 is about 4800 rpm, I think.  And I calculate 11 or so % slippage which I don't think is bad unlocked.