Finally got into the 14's

After being away from the drag strip for 3 years and coming close before the Riviera finally made it into the 14's. I honestly would have been happy with 14.80's and thought maybe if the Buick Gods were on my side it could do 14.70's so needless to say I was blown away when it went 14.545 @ 94.93. Man I love these boats.

 

Well done!:TU:

 

It takes mucho power to get the boats running.

Great job!

 

Thanks, it did that running a 750 double pumper and I'm thinking of getting something in the 800-850 range. What do you guys think?

 

I got the car when it was already messed with. The best time it ran before was 15.21 @ 89.88 and that was with TA shorty headers and 2.5" exhaust (I put on) and a 600 cfm Edelbrock carb that came on the car. This past winter I pulled the heads to do some work on them and found one bank had the Stage 1 sized valves and one had stock sized valves so I had everything converted to new stainless Stage 1 valves and did some minor port work. Put a Holley 750 double pumper on it and let it fly. As far as I know its otherwise stock. It still has the 3.42 posi rearend and I ran it in road trim on street tires through the mufflers. I'm contemplating a bigger carb but recall seeing Buick motors built far heavier than mine running 750-830 Holley's but also know that there is a firm platform on the board saying something in the 800 CFM range would be fine for a basically stock 455. Kind of at a crossroads I guess. Any pointers?

 

Congrats on your pass any big plans for the future?

I think that if you put an 800 cfm quadrajet you would be happy with its performance.

 

NICE! What did it weigh?

 

I think that if you put an 800 cfm quadrajet you would be happy with its performance.[/QUOTE]

I second this put a 850 holley or a 800 cfm Qjet thats been worked and you'll pick up even more.

 

No big plans for the near future except a bigger carb and maybe an aluminum intake if funds allow.

It weighed whatever they normally weigh, 4500 pounds or so I'm not really sure since different sources claim different curb weights. I'm 130 pounds so tack that on to whatever you feel they weigh. Race prep for the thing was to take the spare out of the trunk. Ran it with a quarter tank of gas and with my fingers crossed that nothing would grenade....seemed to work out.

So an 850 double pumper might be my best option, I'm not really a carb guru and I somewhat know my way around a Holley more than a Q-Jet, so that would be the only reason why I'd go with the Holley.

 

Not bad, does your track have a scale? I'd like to find out the exact weight because curb weights and title weights are all different.

Sounds like you got a pretty killer boat

 

Cool. That's really moving for a relatively mildly built motor.

Nick

 

The track I go to does not have a scale, that I know of at least but there is a scrap dump not far from where the car is so maybe I'll take it out there and see how hefty she really is.

 

Congrats on your 14's!!.. Not that far off now from achieving 13's!.. I would find yourself a nice 800 cfm q-jet too!.. there isnt much to tuning them!.. get cliff ruggles book and enjoy the feel of fuel injection with a carb!. Not to mention the gas mileage is so much better than a holley.....

 

Any idea what the title of the book is? I know a lot of people prefer the Q-Jet and have nothing but good things to say about it so I'm beginning to lean towards that direction. The crappy thing is on the trip back from the drag strip I started to hear some non-happy noises from the motor...it turns out the end of the fuel pump arm broke off. I'm in the process of pulling the thing apart to find the piece and check to see if anything else got messed up in the process. It made the 4 hour drive without grenading so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. On the plus side this gives me an excuse to throw a cam in....any suggestions.

 

Yes here it is...

How to Build and Modify Rochester Quadrajet Carburetors - by Cliff Ruggles
what track did u go to? Union grove? cedar falls?

 

I can rebuild a Q-jet and make sure it is all working right if you find one.

 

Thanks for the title. I ran the car at Union Grove the 25th of Oct.

I have had some experience rebuilding Q-jets before but not much on the tuning side of things, especially for a more performance oriented set up. I may take you up on that offer though.

 

I went 8.16 @ 89mph 1/8th mile on a Q-jet that me and my dad built and tuned.

 

Let us know if you get a new carb and go back. I'm curious on how much you'll pick up with a nicely tuned Qjet.