Not to bash any of you people's calculations but there is more to getting a car to run a good et besides horsepower to weight ratios. Efficiency of the coverter, if there is one, proper gear, right cam, the cars stream line coefficient, total rotational weight, elivation, the engine tuner, torque curve, and other factors come into account. A local here in my town has a 442 SBC powered 1950 lbs Camero that has run a best of 7.48 at 183. He only put 792 down on the rear wheel dyno. (Estimated 1000 on the motor) Put that in your calculations and see what you come up with. Granted he has had the same combo for 2 years but I feel that is still good. Blair
I just want to mension that the head work that can be done makes it possible to build allot of power. Some have already said this. It isn't cheep to build a Buick motor, but if we wanted the cheepest way to make power we would drive Chevies. Nuf said.
Weight=1950 MPH=183 Horsepower=1122 Seems like a pretty good car, and with a small block too, even if it is a Chevy.
Blair, that's why I will never put my car on a chassis dyno again. Back when I was running 9.50s with a 481" motor in my car (750 hp on the engine dyno), I had it figured that I was losing almost 100 hp in my driveline. I used the Moroso power/Speed calculator with the car's weight (3000 lbs), mph thru the quarter (141), etc. It said that those numbers would require 650 hp at the rear wheels. Even though 100 hp is a lot to be losing, I've heard of much worse, so I didn't sweat it too much. I just started fooling around with stuff to improve it. (Swapped out the T-400 for a 'Glide, better convertor, correct gearing, etc.) Eventually, I got it to where I'm losing about 45 hp thru the driveline now. Not bad. Anyway, sorry I got off the track. My original point regarding the chassis dyno is this.....When I let my buddy talk me into running it on his, it claimed I had 500 rear wheel hp! RIDICULOUS!! It couldn't have even been close to that low. I would reckon your buddy's car has way more hp than that chassis dyno said it did. My humble opinion is that the engine dyno numbers(minus driveline hp loss, of course) are much more accurate. Might be a different story with a clutch car, I guess. Take care, Doug.
Yah, keep in mind you are going to lose about 20-25% of power through the drivetrain. That is with converter cars, a clutch car can be much less, around 8-15% power loss. (I saw one really bad combo that lost 30% to the rear wheels) That guys car made 847 on the dyno with out the spray and they spray a 150 shot on it. Don't get the idea that there are a bunch of fast cars in my area, becuase there aren't. Most guys bracket race, since they can't tune their way out of a paper bag, but can maintain running a slow et. Blair
Rod did take the Hawk to a dyno. The max at the wheels was 1250. He got one ok pull off spinning the tires ended up with a 870+. His next pull he locked up the computer. They guy said he maxed it out and the computer freaked. Rod figures the motor should make around 1300-1500hp , 1000 ft lbs torque. Made a clean run last weekend with a 7.97 @ 174. With some more fine tunning and more boost she should fly! Hope the block will hold up, but we won't go there . :af:
Danie, Tell Rod I said CONGRATS on the 7 second pass!!!!!! That is just awesome. If I remember correctly Rod said the car weighs in at 2900 lbs?? I dont know for sure but it would seem to me that Rod's engine is the most powerful Buick engine ever built!! Doug, When Scotty went in the 7.60s was that naturally aspirated or on the juice? Take Care
John, that was on nothin' but motor. He didn't run nitrous on the car until he went pro-mod racing with a big Chevy motor and proceeded to run 6.96 at 206 mph! PS - I just talked to Scotty and he said if anyone doesn't think he could run that fast on Buick Motor alone, tell them he is seriously considering bringing some juice with him to Salem. He figures if he rips off a few 7.30s on nitous, non-believers would probably start believing he ran his 7.68 without it. PPS - He also heard about Rod making it into the Buick V-8 seven second club. He asked me to convey his congratulations to Rod and he's hoping to pat him on the back himself out in Salem.
Doug, The more I think about Scotty's 7.60 something pass that was naturally aspirated the more and more I am impressed. I have talked with Scotty a few times and he simply knows these engines. I have not been around the Buick scene as long as most of you guys so I have never seen Scotty make a pass. I guess what is even more impressive is the fact that he did this over 10 years ago. I am guessing the NHRA prostock boys were running in the 7.20 range ten years ago. So if Scotty was going that fast... DAMN. That making some power. I for one cant wait to meet Scotty and certainly cant wait to see his car make a pass. Have you been out at all lately? I am hoping to get out in the next few weeks. I am going through withdrawals. Take Care
Well, not quite 10 years ago. If memory serves, it was '96. I haven't been out in a month. Might go out once before Salem. I hate racing when it's hot out so I'll have to see how it goes. See ya there.
Scottie It has to be about 10 years ago at Bowling Green, the qualifying for the quick 16 was taking place. The two cars that came to the line together was Scottie in the left lane and Tweaked in the right. After careful staging, it was down to drivers. That run established the number 1 and 2 qualifiers, as no one was better. #1 Scottie #2 Tweaked. Can't remember the times or speeds now. There was not an open space anywhere along the track as everyone was watching. Sort of remind me of the lack of space, when Mike brought the wagon over to make a run. I will bet a lot of people have never seen a 5 foot wheel stand.
John- yes the car weighs 2980lbs. I run through the mufflers, car has complet charging system and is still street driven on weekends. Doug- Tell Scotty thanks. Looking forward to racing with him. I'm happy to be part of his club. He is still the man, that's for sure. Rod
Damn Rod, I need you to bring that little monster up here to laramie and show these WYOtech guys what buick horsepower is. Tim
Couple of questions about all this power. How long are these Buick blocks lasting at such high horsepower levels? What ever happened to the aftermarket block that was supposed to be at the PRI show last December? Craig
Well, Rod got 3 years out of the last block. When he took it apart this last winter he found that the main webs were spit from the bolts and up all the cylinder walls. He was running about 16-18lbs of boost on that block. He isn't sure if the block was just wore out after 3 years or if it was his last run of the year. He had 24lbs of boost and blew the burst panel on the blower. So it kind of back fired. This year he is running about 20-23lbs of boost so far. We might get up to 25-28lbs by the end of this summer. When he takes it a part this winter we'll see how well it held together.
