Called about porting heads to intake

[Ttype83]

I called the other day to check on getting my heads ported. He's got to check on it first, but here's the kicker...He said that for about the same money I could convert to a 86/87 SFI system. I would gain about 150hp right of the bat.......This had really got me thinking. Convert and get more HP, more choices in scan tools and more than likely a mid 12 sec ET.....
I know I don't want to give up on my carb, but WHY did he have to tempt me like that.

 

[pat83t]

Don't do it man!!!! There are already enough raped 83 T's out there. I don't personally care if I am slower than the 86-87's, I would rather have a more rare car than convert. Of course I will probably get all kinds of flak for saying that from all kinds of people on here.

 

[Ttype83]

I'm not going to do the convert or port the heads to intake. I may look for a N/A Regal later for this project. Any SFI guy will think that I'm nuts for not converting. We would jump to 400 Hp at the rear wheels for the same cost as upgrading the 83's.
I plan on having the the timing chain, rear main seal replaced, have the headers welded. I may have the heads freshed up and drop a new cam in, but not sure of this yet.
I think it's time to start looking in the U-pull-it places for parts and save down time. The turn around time on the rebuilt trans is 2 1/2 weeks or more. I cann't let my car go for that long (Daily driver)
Jim

 

[Turbo-Rich]

Flak

Originally posted by Ttype83
I could convert to a 86/87 SFI system. I would gain about 150hp right of the bat.......This had really got me thinking.

'87's made 245 bhp @15 psi.
Isn't that more like 50-60 H.P.
Sure our cars only make 180-190 H.P. but that is at only 9 psi.
What do you think H.P. would be at 15 psi
What were they comparing anyway?
Possible sfi H.P. compared to STOCK carb.d turbo?
Also, why take a car that they only made a few thousand of & turn it into a car that was "mass produced" @ over 20,000?


MAn, I would be kinda ticked if I called about a "port & polish" & they pushed converting to sfi. How narrowminded! Narrowminded but typical
Nobody want a challenge anymore,
they all want the easy route.
Hell if you want a 150 extra H.P. the truly cheap-n-easy way
you might as well get NOS
J/k Jim but you know you can make these cars fast, it's just going to take lots of persistance. I was tempted by the sfi route at first also but Tonya was actually the persistant one about staying carb'd. Hey, the last thing I need is MORE wiring, lol.

O.K. enough FLAK now

 

[Ttype83]

Re: Flak

Originally posted by Turbo-Rich


'87's made 245 bhp @15 psi.
Isn't that more like 50-60 H.P.
Sure our cars only make 180-190 H.P. but that is at only 9 psi.
What do you think H.P. would be at 15 psi
What were they comparing anyway?
Possible sfi H.P. compared to STOCK carb.d turbo?
Also, why take a car that they only made a few thousand of & turn it into a car that was "mass produced" @ over 20,000?

They compared it to a tweaked SFI with all used parts. He didn't push it..just said with about the same money as port/polish heads to intake that it would be more cost affective to convert and to think about it...

MAn, I would be kinda ticked if I called about a "port & polish" & they pushed converting to sfi. How narrowminded! Narrowminded but typical
Nobody want a challenge anymore,
they all want the easy route.
Hell if you want a 150 extra H.P. the truly cheap-n-easy way
you might as well get NOS
J/k Jim but you know you can make these cars fast, it's just going to take lots of persistance. I was tempted by the sfi route at first also but Tonya was actually the persistant one about staying carb'd. Hey, the last thing I need is MORE wiring, lol.

O.K. enough FLAK now

LOL "NOS" I think of the movie avery time I see that now...
No NOS for me..NOW ALKY is a differnet story.I thought about it for 3 days before I even posted it here
Yes it was very tempting to get that more HP so quick, but than I would need a new rear (posi) 15" tires, box the rear...yada yada yada....I will save that convert some a NA Regal or ????

 

[b4black]

I think the advice is actually good. IF your looking to go FAST (read really FAST), the most efficient route is a SFI/IC/Turbo. That's been proven many, many times. Don't look at HP figures. Look at ET slips. A '83 TR is a high-16 second car stock. A 86/87 TR is low-14 seconds and it's so easy to go 11's.

Does anybody run 11's with a Carb/Turbo? I know Fred C's real close to 12's. He's also put some money into the car. Reworked turbo, ported heads, 8.5" rear, rebuilt short block, alcohol injection. Not many Carb/Turbo owners are willing to the that. That's the major reason for owning a Carb/Turbo over a SFI/IC/Turbo- Money. If my 50K mile '83 TR was a 86/87, it would have cost twice as much.


But if you want to go FAST and you're gonna do it with a SFI/IC/Turbo, then buy a 86/87 TR. Like Jim just said, if your going to convert a car, then convert a NA Regal, not a Carb/Turbo. It will be cheaper and makes MUCH more sense. Better yet, convert something other than a Regal. A Monte SS, a Cutlass, a S10 pickup, a Skyhawk, a '78 Century fastback, or anything else you can think of.

I want my '83 TR to be a 14 second car. I'm willing to spend some money to get there, but if it cost thousands, I'm a fool for not getting a 86/87 TR. I'll settle for 15's first.

Now on one of my '82 GN's, it's needs a complete restoration and the drivetrain's a complete mess. It's going to be redone with going fast (fast for a Carb/Turbo) in mind. I'll be happy for 13's, but 12's is my goal

 

[Ttype83]

Originally posted by b4black

I want my '83 TR to be a 14 second car.

I'm shouting for high to mid 13's with alky setup.
But I wil be very happy with 14's...Heck for that matter I will be happy just to use full throttle again with out it breaking up.

 

[Turbo-Rich]

Originally posted by b4black
I think the advice is actually good. IF your looking to go FAST (read really FAST), the most efficient route is a SFI/IC/Turbo. That's been proven many, many times. Don't look at HP figures. Look at ET slips. A '83 TR is a high-16 second car stock. A 86/87 TR is low-14 seconds and it's so easy to go 11's.

Does anybody run 11's with a Carb/Turbo? I know Fred C's real close to 12's. He's also put some money into the car. Reworked turbo, ported heads, 8.5" rear, rebuilt short block, alcohol injection. Not many Carb/Turbo owners are willing to the that. That's the major reason for owning a Carb/Turbo over a SFI/IC/Turbo- Money. If my 50K mile '83 TR was a 86/87, it would have cost twice as much.

Ya see

Isn't that the problem
You have it in your mind that a carb/turbo car will NEVER go into the 11's & because of that you don't even want to try. I understand that what your trying to be is realistic. We apretiate that. But I sometimes feel you yourself would rather have an sfi/ic car. You even advise against converting n/a 231's into carb/turbo motors on you website. Sure you wont gain as much as converting to sfi/ic but you will have quite a gain & you could convert to carb/turbo for hundereds as opposed to thousands for sfi/ic. "Bang for the buck" wise I don't see where converting n/a to carb./turbo would be so wrong OR difficult
Maybe carb/turbos can't go 11's as "efficiently" as sfi/ic but like you mentioned, there is a HUGE price difference. Just because it hasn't been done, doesn't mean it can't be done. Our cars are just more challenging. If you want things easy & you believe "$$$ is HP, how fast ya wanna go?", then by all means, go out & get an '87 GN, throw a bunch of $$$ at it & build a "cookie cutter" like everyone elses. If I wanted an '87, that's what I woulda bought!
I don't see where Fred C has put large amount of money into his car to run what he's running? I mean, those ARE good times but It's not like he's gone "all out" on it. I don't see any fiberglass on the car & I don't believe he's running that much gear or stall.
My only point here is that there is still quite a bit of room for him to go faster & although fast I don't believe he has found "the wall" for our cars quickest e.t. We should all be aiming for what he is running & quicker. Not doing so would be like being in a drag race with the attitude of "maybe I'll win & maybe I wont".
Don't even bother racing cuz you've already beaten yourself!

 

[ATEURV8]

Well you could do like I did, when I finally got sick of the carbed setup I put 87 stuff on my 83T. but I didn't cut anything up and still have all of the original stuff in a big crate in the garage! I am not saying this is what you should do if you want to keep yours original but it is one way to keep the cars value if these 83's are ever worth something to a collector. personally I will never seel mine and will probally never convert it back to stock, but I do have that option. Hope this helps!