Just bought another GN!! New mods

[xrunner123]

Wow things have changed since I had my first GN.
I had bought a new one in 1987 and had it till about 1994.

A buddy of mine put his away for years, bought parts to built it up, but now decided to sell it since he just bought a house, so I stepped up to the plate and got it.

Here is some of what was done to the car-

M&A alum. Heads
Eastern Perf. frt. mnt. intercooler
TE-63 Turbo w 3" down pipe
Remote wastegate
Hooker Super Comp. Headers
Hooker exhaust
Kenne-Bell intake
50lb. Injectors
Diff fuel pump in tank, but don't know which one.
Custon Chip from Red.



Now the only thing that I see somewhat wrong with the setup is the torq converter stall (stock) and I think the turbo is too big. Right now it won't get to full boost in 1st gear, so damn laggy.- it pulls like a bear once I get full boost though.

The turbo has under 2000 miles- what can I get for it? I'd like to sell it and buy a TE-45. Is that a good idea?

With what I have now what kind of times can I run? Low 11s?What else should I do with the setup that I have?

What should I get for monitoring the vitals?- TurboLink V3.0.2 or DirectScan? Are there others?

Thanks,

 

[ChrisCairns]

Talk to Bruce about one of his 9/11 converters. That turbo is a great turbo...especially with those heads....but you do need some stall. I have a T-Type with that turbo and a AC non lu converter and it runs like the raped ape but I just came back from a 500 mile trip in that car and the mileage sucked because of the non lu.

Also, I've never personally used the Hooker headers but those who have say they suck also.

Chris

 

[xrunner123]

Talk to Bruce about one of his 9/11 converters. That turbo is a great turbo...especially with those heads....but you do need some stall. I have a T-Type with that turbo and a AC non lu converter and it runs like the raped ape but I just came back from a 500 mile trip in that car and the mileage sucked because of the non lu.

Do you have a website for that converter? Is it http://www.2004rPerformanceCenter.com/?

I would like for this car to be street/strip, so should I go with a lock up version? What stall? 3200?

How is your lag with that turbo and what stall do you have?

 

[matt87]

dont waste your money on a new turbo. that 63 is fine. what you need to do is verify what fuel pump it has and if not sure drop in a new walbro 340 and have peace of mind. you need a good converter. a 3200 stall l\u vigilante is an awsome converter. i know the 9x11 is the "in fad" convertor but the vigilante works for me.

 

[ChrisCairns]

Originally posted by xrunner123
Do you have a website for that converter? Is it http://www.2004rPerformanceCenter.com/?

I would like for this car to be street/strip, so should I go with a lock up version? What stall? 3200?

How is your lag with that turbo and what stall do you have?

Yep, that's the place.

I'll give you my opinion on converters. Get LOTS of stall if you have the ability to lock it up. Stall gets you immediately into the power band of the engine and spools the turbo. Lock up then takes the slippage out of it for middle and top end plus street crusin'.

When talking stall I like to suggest rpm at a certain boost level. It ain't perfect but it sure beats saying "gimme a 3200 stall". 3200 rpm WHERE?

If you say you want 3000 at zero boost it should be loose enough to go to 3500 at 5 psi. That's fairly loose but as I said, if you can lock it up once you're moving you've got both ends covered.

The T-Type I mentioned has a converter that was an advertised 4000 (at what rpm??) but I had it lowered; now it's 3000 at zero but without the lu freeway driving really bugs me. It rpms waaaay too much. I at one time got 29 miles to the gallon with this car on the freeway before many mods....and with a lock-up converter. On this past trip I mentioned I got 20 one time and 19 the next fillup. It sucks....lol. But I ran a 10.90 with the same converter in this car when in full race trim. So it gets the race job done...just not the street job.

Your last question....I have zero lag.

Chris

 

[Tow Man]

A 10.90 car and only 20MPG? That's terrible LOL

 

[Drew L]

Fuel pressure regulator?????? Make sure your is adjustable


Good luck. Drew

 

[V6 Beast]

TE-45 is the same turbo as a TE-63.


Sully

 

[xrunner123]

I'm sorry. I meant the TE-44.
I think I'm going to get a good converter before I start blaming the turbo for the lag.

thanks

 

[rkreigh]

I had alot of problems with the hooker headers. they really increased the lag. try the conv. first, but you may want to consider different headers or even stock manifolds which work well. MSD 50s are about as small an inj as you should run with that turbo, I would consider 65s or 72s. I have a TE45 with an "old school" AC 9" NL 3200 conv and the 7s2 with the Extreme chip and the car spools very well.

good luck!!! keep us posted

 

[Racetronix]

Originally posted by xrunner123
Wow things have changed since I had my first GN.
I had bought a new one in 1987 and had it till about 1994.
A buddy of mine put his away for years, bought parts to built it up, but now decided to sell it since he just bought a house, so I stepped up to the plate and got it.
Here is some of what was done to the car-
Diff fuel pump in tank, but don't know which one.
Thanks,

Check that fuel pump and make sure it is hotwired.

Jack
Racetronix
www.racetronix.com

 

[xrunner123]

had alot of problems with the hooker headers. they really increased the lag. try the conv. first, but you may want to consider different headers or even stock manifolds which work well.

Why would the turbo lag more with these headers? Is it because of the increased volume of exhaust behind the turbo? I would think that overall horsepower will be increased because of they are less restrictive and can flow more exhaust.

This brings me back to my thought of a smaller turbo (TE-44) for better spool (won't try this until I get the higher stall converter).

 

[V6 Beast]

The right Converter-Turbo combo is everything when talking about turbo lag. I have a TE-45A which is a tad bigger than a 63. I drive it on the street everyday. If I am at a dead stop footbraking, brings revs up to about 2500 and stomp it I will get boost pretty much right away and it will go from 1psi to 10 psi in a blink of an eye. If you haven't let your foot off the gas when it hits 3-4 PSI on Nitto Drag radials then you have just done a nasty burnout. So I don't really have a Turbo lag problem with a TE-45A. I use a ART Carr 19930 3500 Stall 9" Non lockup converter.

Now with my 44 and stock converter it was harder to make boost. Would take more than a second of footbraking and would only make 5-6 PSI max. (May have been with stock turbo I don't remember.. was quite a while back)

Point is it's the combo that matters. With your 63 and a ~3000 stall converter your lag will be gone.

Sully

 

[xrunner123]

Thanks for all the input. We'll see how everything goes.

No one ever responded to the last question that I had in the original post- but I just realized that there is a separate section for that. So I guess I'll poke around there.

 

[UNGN]

Originally posted by xrunner123
Why would the turbo lag more with these headers? Is it because of the increased volume of exhaust behind the turbo? I would think that overall horsepower will be increased because of they are less restrictive and can flow more exhaust.

That was the "theory" at least. Reality is quite another thing, however. Hooker headers can make a car a laggy SOB, and won't show up on a timeslip until 10's. Stock headers would be a better choice with your combination.