1979 Lesabre Sport, for NHRA Stock Eliminator?

[charlief1]

I have a set of duuttweiler hot air headers that are ceramic coated I might be selling cant make up my mind

When you do please PM me first Mke. I know how I want to build mine but a different example for hands on would bet great.

 

[mikemcvaney]

By the way good job saving a carb turbo a lesabre is arare find

 

[iraceitall]

Yep, has to be stock parts, no porting. They do check the turbo too. I can run race gas, in fact I have to. I can give up daily driver status to go quicker, and use an electric fuel pump and regulator, plus headers or ported exhaust manifolds. Cam has to have stock lift (.340/.401), but any duration and lobe separation. I have seen where Regals and Rivs have made it, so hopefully this will work. My race weight will only be 100 lbs more than a Regal.

 

[usetaboost]

You can also try to find aluminum bumper supports for it also. Do they have to be stock parts from the car, or can you mix and match stock oe parts from other years?

 

[iraceitall]

I have to keep it stock appearing (can't gut it), but there are alot of weight saving things I can do, like removing all the sound deadener and undercoating, as well as radio, heater, etc., as long as the car ends up weighing 3540 lbs less driver at the end of the run.

I will be using an electric fan and water pump, manual steering and brakes, Nippondenso alternator from a Suzuki Samurai, aluminum wheels, 5gal fuel cell, Holley blue pump and regulator, and a small battery in stock position.

So how much boost can I eek out of the stock turbo?

 

[usetaboost]

Only my opinion, but if it was mine this is what I'd do. Throw in those 3.73 gears and 3k stall, put on some 82/83 stock headers, .63 exhaust housing and elbow, put on a factory aluminum intake, put a plug in the hose going to the plenum, empty the shit out of the trunk, disassemble the bumper supports and cut a good chunk of weight out of them, install a testpipe with dump in place of the catalytic converter, run a GN cam straight up, put new valve springs in, and see if you can convert the carb to e85. nn I wouldn't mess with pulling out sound deadener, There isn't really that much in them to begin with to amount to shit. I bet on e85 it you could crank it up to 18 psi at least.

 

[iraceitall]

Good food for thought. Thanks!

 

[iraceitall]

Will the 86-87 GN headers work?

And, what is the difference between Riviera turbos and the Regal/Lesabre? Will they work?

 

[usetaboost]

No. But now thinking about it, unless you have the manifolds and crossover with the smaller diameter piping, it may not make a difference.

 

[iraceitall]

Ok, I'll stick with the OE pieces for now.

Has anyone ever used a "grainger valve" like the turbo Mopar guys on these cars?

 

[mikemcvaney]

I wonder if you can find modern set of impellars for the turbo that are the stock size just a better pitch

 

[usetaboost]

^this would be something to talk to brian about. He's ran anything from stock setups to race.

 

[bison]

I wonder if you can find modern set of impellars for the turbo that are the stock size just a better pitch

It's possible to do anything with modern technology but be sure it's legal in the class you are racing. Some rules are vague. Like the cam shaft rule. Is that actual lift at the valve or theoretical? What do they use to measure it. Can you run a roller cam if you don't alter the block in any way? What about rocker arms? Any ratio as long as you don't go over the lift limit? Can you run a solid cam? You have to look at everything you have to work with and try things others won't necessarily think of. You should be racing at 5lb over the cut off. When you make your pass you go directly to the scale and should weigh no more than 5 lbs over. There is power in the pistons/rings and valvetrain. You need to figure out how to make 25hp more than the next guy using the same rules. It can be done. It's not a one shot deal. R&D is ongoing.

 

[iraceitall]

Cam is measured at the valve and must stay hydraulic flat-tappet, rockers must be stock ratio but can be full roller. I won't have a weight issue, they add 170lbs for driver to the minimun, and I'm slimmed down to 230

 

[usetaboost]

^agreed. When they say stock, how specific is it? I mean shit, if the rules don't specify stock to THAT vehicle and you are able to run any factory parts, you could build a stroked 4.1 with 9.0 compression, all the good stuff. Could even go roller cam if the rules don't specify that you can't. Lots of ways to get that tank going. Make aluminum bumper brackets, remove the front sway bar, remove the a/c and smog pump, cut up the bumper braces, etc. Hell I'd have a blast doing one of these cars since I'm a cheap ass I'd do every damn thing possible I could without spending money before diving into the engine; as long as it didn't compromise the value of the car.

 

[iraceitall]

Casting numbers, head cc's, cam lift, carb size, all regulated for year/engine of car. www.nhraracer.com has the car weight, class, factored horsepower, and engine specs, as well as allowed pistons and rods, no more than .070 overbore, absolutely no porting or grinding, not even cating flash, on heads, intakes, carbs, etc. Turbo housing and impeller measurements are even there. It's a pretty tight window to work in, which is why I love the class.

Front sway bar is gone, all heater system, all sound deadener and undercoating will go, I'm running manual steering and brakes, I covered more in one of my above posts. I want to go as fast as I can within the rules, no funny stuff. I just want to see what I can do to wring the maximum out of what I have.

 

[usetaboost]

Well it's a good thing you ended up with an all original car, sounds like by the rules you can't do a damn thing.

 

[iraceitall]

It's more about optimizing every single part there, getting the motor into the powerband, and keeping it there. The car will do most of it's work in the first 1/8 mile, and carry it from there. But the challenge is why I love Stock Eliminator so much. I am mainly just wanting to find the known limitations and little things about the car, to save me a little R and D and hopefully avoid using up my first bullet too soon...

 

[b4black]

Will the 86-87 GN headers work?

And, what is the difference between Riviera turbos and the Regal/Lesabre? Will they work?

The passenger side 86/87 header is configured differently. The rest is basically the same as 83/85 headers. I actaully prefer the 79/80 cast manifolds (won't crack and retain the heat better). This should help some: http://www.beforeblack.net/exhaust.htm

The Riveira is front wheel drive and laid out different pipeing-wise. The Regal, Centruy and LeSabre all us the same RWD parts.


I think setting up some sort of knock gauage is important. On my 1983, it is very easy to install a knock gauage that hooks up to the stock spark control module. The 1979 has a different sensor and control module, so figuring out something will be tricky. I have heard of poeple strapping a microphone to the block and listening with headphones while they are driving.

 

[iraceitall]

Hmmm, never thought about that. Great idea.