First track pass. 7.34 @ 93 1.64 .... looking for my next upgrades

ttribejr

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
car is in my sig. completely original suspension from 1987. even the shocks. The only thing i did was bag both sides. My car was very inconsistent. I had to leave @ 0 boost. any boost would fry the tires. Also, track conditions worsened as the night got later. 275-60-15 mickeys @ 18psi with about a 10 second burnout in 2nd gear.

Looking at HR bar, control arms (adjustable or no?). Maybe some new shocks on all 4 corners and delete the front sway bar? Car is street / strip. Far from a daily. I have a new, nasty 109 being built but I was trying to get a 6.99 / 10.90 pass on this stock longblock just to say i did it. Ultimate goal with the new engine is mid 9 sec street car. So my upgrades need to reflect my end goal. Car will get a trans brake one day.

My car may already be able to hit my desired numbers, but my boost control was letting me down. my 7.35 pass was floating between 22-25psi. I will be back at 30+ next trip. Using XFI to control the boost, but i am installing an external gate in the manifold soon.

Lets see what upgrades everybody suggests. Local tracks are often no-prep at all, so that is a concern.
 
forget to mention... I have no idea what my car weighs but its not light. even has stock wheels. spare tire, AC, my tool box was in the back, etc. full tank of gas.

Anybody know what a stock GN full of gas weighs in at ?
 
Turn the boost up. Lower the tire pressure down to 13lbs .
we trap 99mph in the 1/8- 124mph in the 1/4 that's my buddy's car and that's all stock suspension with the same 60ft he runs 30-36lbs of boost . Stock engine with only valve springs
 
OK, wasn't sure if these tires would like those pressures. 35psi was the goal, but using XFI to control boost... was giving me fits that night.
 
OK, wasn't sure if these tires would like those pressures. 35psi was the goal, but using XFI to control boost... was giving me fits that night.
Yea we run 13lbs psi on the street. We do a lot of street racing to hooks real nice .. and try a e-brake launch to
 
Track conditions worsened or you started making more power with cooler air? ;) Control arms - Adjustables can get you into a little trouble if you dont know what you are doing, but if you want to maximize your suspension for different track conditions go for it. I know guys that have adjustables but are scared to make an adjustment. I am old school using Southside Machine non adjustable upper and lower. Race car has HR Insane series. Both have control arm mount bracing in all locations. Shocks - 90/10 fronts 70/30 rears Competition Engineering. Front sway bar - gone , alluminum bumper support and export braces in the front bumper. Aluminum radiator core support. Lighten that beast up and seat time. Oh yeah, the list can go on and on and on...
 
Track conditions worsened or you started making more power with cooler air? ;) Control arms - Adjustables can get you into a little trouble if you dont know what you are doing, but if you want to maximize your suspension for different track conditions go for it. I know guys that have adjustables but are scared to make an adjustment. I am old school using Southside Machine non adjustable upper and lower. Race car has HR Insane series. Both have control arm mount bracing in all locations. Shocks - 90/10 fronts 70/30 rears Competition Engineering. Front sway bar - gone , alluminum bumper support and export braces in the front bumper. Aluminum radiator core support. Lighten that beast up and seat time. Oh yeah, the list can go on and on and on...

i was trying to launch with more power and it just wasnt happening. tried 12lbs, 10lbs, 5lbs... spun on all of them. 1.60s launching at 0-1psi boost and quickly (but not instantly) going to WOT.

I don't think i was making more power because my MPH was not increasing throughout the night. I just couldn't get my boost up. I even set my Duty Cycle at 99.9% across the board. Car would peg the 3bar map sensor, then fall off to about 22psi in 2 secconds. I have all boost cut safety features disabled in XFI. I think my WG hole is a little big. However, I had the car dialed in at 28# boost the day before the track and planned on adding boost throughout the night.

I tried manual shifting the car at 5500RPM and MPH dropped to 91. Car was faster in "D" shifting at around 5200. Stock longblock doesn't like to rev.

I am thinking about 90/10s up front ..... can you tell me about the 70/30 in the back vs the more common 50/50 setting? What are your 60 times and what tires and launch technique do you use?

My skills are in engine tuning. I have zero experience with adjustable control arms and pinion angles, etc. So yea, I am intimidated by adjustable control arms. but I thought about at least getting adjustable uppers and setting them at stock length just to have for the future? IDK....
 
forget to mention... I have no idea what my car weighs but its not light. even has stock wheels. spare tire, AC, my tool box was in the back, etc. full tank of gas.

Anybody know what a stock GN full of gas weighs in at ?


Our loaded GN with a full tank of gas is 3740 or 3760.. Forget what one .
 
forget to mention... I have no idea what my car weighs but its not light. even has stock wheels. spare tire, AC, my tool box was in the back, etc. full tank of gas.

Anybody know what a stock GN full of gas weighs in at ?
Sweet man!!
 
forget to mention... I have no idea what my car weighs but its not light. even has stock wheels. spare tire, AC, my tool box was in the back, etc. full tank of gas.

Anybody know what a stock GN full of gas weighs in at ?
Weigh it bet you will be surprised
 
car is in my sig. completely original suspension from 1987. even the shocks. The only thing i did was bag both sides. My car was very inconsistent. I had to leave @ 0 boost. any boost would fry the tires. Also, track conditions worsened as the night got later. 275-60-15 mickeys @ 18psi with about a 10 second burnout in 2nd gear.

Looking at HR bar, control arms (adjustable or no?). Maybe some new shocks on all 4 corners and delete the front sway bar? Car is street / strip. Far from a daily. I have a new, nasty 109 being built but I was trying to get a 6.99 / 10.90 pass on this stock longblock just to say i did it. Ultimate goal with the new engine is mid 9 sec street car. So my upgrades need to reflect my end goal. Car will get a trans brake one day.

My car may already be able to hit my desired numbers, but my boost control was letting me down. my 7.35 pass was floating between 22-25psi. I will be back at 30+ next trip. Using XFI to control the boost, but i am installing an external gate in the manifold soon.

Lets see what upgrades everybody suggests. Local tracks are often no-prep at all, so that is a concern.
Get the boost up and run the car out.car will need to be real hot down low to nail the 60ft and 330 to run 10s on the stock motor
 
car is in my sig. completely original suspension from 1987. even the shocks. The only thing i did was bag both sides. My car was very inconsistent. I had to leave @ 0 boost. any boost would fry the tires. Also, track conditions worsened as the night got later. 275-60-15 mickeys @ 18psi with about a 10 second burnout in 2nd gear.

Looking at HR bar, control arms (adjustable or no?). Maybe some new shocks on all 4 corners and delete the front sway bar? Car is street / strip. Far from a daily. I have a new, nasty 109 being built but I was trying to get a 6.99 / 10.90 pass on this stock longblock just to say i did it. Ultimate goal with the new engine is mid 9 sec street car. So my upgrades need to reflect my end goal. Car will get a trans brake one day.

My car may already be able to hit my desired numbers, but my boost control was letting me down. my 7.35 pass was floating between 22-25psi. I will be back at 30+ next trip. Using XFI to control the boost, but i am installing an external gate in the manifold soon.

Lets see what upgrades everybody suggests. Local tracks are often no-prep at all, so that is a concern.
Get the boost up and run the car out.car will need to be real hot down low to nail the 60ft and 330 to run 10s on the stock motor

Sorry for my dumb question but what does "real hot down low" mean?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Truthfully a set of slicks are one of the biggest improvements I’ve ever felt .set them at 13-15psi and build as much boost as I can at the line get a chip aswell as a scanmaster or powerlogger so you know what’s actually happening with your car . Some kinda data logger is definitely one of the first upgrades any turbo Buick owner should do it will not add HP but will give you important data that will come in handy down the road.with airbags you should be able to run a 28x10.5
 
Truthfully a set of slicks are one of the biggest improvements I’ve ever felt .set them at 13-15psi and build as much boost as I can at the line get a chip aswell as a scanmaster or powerlogger so you know what’s actually happening with your car . Some kinda data logger is definitely one of the first upgrades any turbo Buick owner should do it will not add HP but will give you important data that will come in handy down the road.with airbags you should be able to run a 28x10.5

What kind of slicks? Like a full bias? I have Mickey drag radial 275-60-15

I have xfi too, I tune it and log etc. I’m actually pretty shocked at my time for how low my boost was.

Focusing on tires, suspension / chassis. HR bar and good shocks? Anybody try those QA “R” shocks ?

I want consistent 60 ft times more than anything right now. I want this thing to leave HARD.

I’m considering 15x3.5 and 15x9 aluminum wheels and bias tires. But thing that sucks is I have to drive my car to the track which is a 3 hour commute. Not sure how fast I will wear the tires down ?
 
What you do is get another set of rims and get a set of Mickey or Hoosier full slick . Then throw a small jack in the trunk with the tires and swap them before you go through tech .
 
What track is that at? When u going back? I run that same tire at 13 psi all the time and it usually hooks good but I have all the HR stuff in the back. It still hooked good back when I just had the Southside Machine lowers and the stock rear bar however. I just have the KYB shocks. I also do not run the front sway bar. I don't run air bags. You can experiment with the tire pressure and air bag pressure and probably make improvements. I think people used to just run the passenger side air bag with stock suspension with good results. The HR uppers, lowers, and sway bar are awesome but expensive as well. With the HR rear bar my car corners real good with no front bar. Removing the front bar is easy and free. Slicks definitely hook. Just have to decide what direction you want to go. I would try with the free stuff first. Also a 10 sec burnout sounds a little long?
 
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