How far do you drive your highly modified 455?

Craig:

Funny thing.....my wife doesn't like that picture either....because that's her! She said those were her "Wild Days". So you're the guy she used to date who had a "Little Buick"?

Rick


Sorry....the door was wide open for that one...couldn't pass up the opportunity. :bla:

 

Rick
Can we get a picture of your real wife in a bikini on the trunk of a red "little" Buick? :Brow: :eek2: :shock: :grin:

 

All I have is the big Buick. I don't think she would go for it. Apparently her "Wild Days" are over. Just my luck.....a day late and a bunch of dollars short.

I sure appreciate Craig sharing though.

 

Andy
I take my pressure off the front. It runs about seventy psi at max rpm (I think, don't have a lot of time to look at oil pressure then :spank I think one of the reasons I have good stable oil pressure is I never run over 190, even then only until the fan kicks in.

I learned some things about plug color last week. Weekender let me use his O2 sensor so I know that I was running about 13 to 1 AFR or a little richer. Pulled the plugs to look at them and they looked lean. The look is a clean plug, but no blistering or electrode problems. The Holly 830HP I am using now is jetted 80 in the front and 84 on the secondaries. I run power valves front and rear. This carb has been ported by Bakers and flows over 900 CFM.

I think that opinion that Buicks like to run lean may be from the plugs tend to look lean but are really on the rich side. What it really seems is Buicks like lots of gas to make power. When I go to the track I will run bigger jets on the front side.

Enjoy your trip. Got to love that overdrive tranny on the highway.

 

Thanks for the info. I've read that you will read lower pressure at the rear and it makes sense since there are a bunch of holes on the passenger side gallery draining pressure away. The driver side is the lifters only. I should connect another gauge to the front temporarily just to see what the difference is. I might even have it set too high. o No:

I need to get an O2 sensor and see exactly what my A/F ratio is and tune accordingly. Who knows, if I could safely run the 80's up front I might get better mileage. I agree with you on the OD trans. That and the 3.73's were a package deal for me. It's one of the few times you get to have your cake and eat it too.

 

Hi Guys:
Let me just make a couple of suggestions. The AED 1000HO is different than the Holley. We just buy unmachined castings from Holley not complete carburetors. That way we can make them the way we want with the components we want to use. We do the metering differently & make different boosters. Our baseline tune-up with the 80's in the primary should be pretty close in most applications. 84 sounds really excessive especially this time of year & with closed exhaust. We try to keep the idle & transition circuits as lean as possible to keep the plugs looking good & fuel out of the oil pan. Plug reading with unleaded fuel is really hard to do. It's a fine art even with leaded fuel. To read the fuel "mixture ring" on the spark plug you need to look down in the center porcelin. The best way to explain this is think of the center porcelin as a road cone (has that shape). At the very bottom of the porcelin where it starts to transition above the bottom radius there should be a brownish ring all the way around the porcelin. Think of this as dropping a dougnut over the percelin. This ring should be around .050" thick. If the ring is smaller or has no ring it's usually too lean; if the ring is thicker than .075" or so it's usually too rich. Now the only way you can really see this well (unless you're using a very cold short porcelin plug) is with a magnifying glass & good light. We use a earth-nose & throat doctors loop. You know the ones they look into your ears with. Also you need to make a few hard passes & shut the engine off clean to get good usable results. Old plugs won't tell you anything here either. This will let you know that you're in the ballpark. The best possible test is the racetrack & just watch the MPH. Adjust the jetting (front & rear) 2 numbers at a time for best MPH. Also try to run the same lane everytime & keep your conditions the same (water & oil temp etc). Tune jetting for best MPH. Also on AED carbs keep the same jetting spread that your carburetor came with (same difference between primary & secondary). Check out our website under tuning tips @ aedperformance.com. We all appreciate you guys support & don't hesitate to write or call if we can be of any help.

All My Best
John Dickey
AED Performance

 

Thank you John for the plug reading tips! Learning is good. :TU: I didn't realize the the color should only come up .050". I'm going to buy an otoscope. I was planning to buy one anyway so I can check my kids ears. The porcelin was bone white on my plugs with the 80's but I wasn't looking at the bottom .050".

 

You had me for a second :shock: I had to go back and look at your location. I was thinking, last I heard she was still in NY :laugh:

 

Hey All, I wouldnt concider my 455 highly modified but with 3800 stall and 373's crusing at 2800-3200 was average for me but i still drove all over LI and a few trips to Hampton Dragway when it was still open...

 

Anything that needs a 3800 stall converter and is in the 11's is highly modified :TU:

 

Well thankyou Doug, My 455 only has 10.1 and not Even a .500 lift cam Thats the only reason why i didnt think it was "highly modified" Engine :TU:

 

....drove about 100 miles each way to E-town and broke into the 11's for the first time today

 

HOLY COW :eek2: !!!!!!!!! ALAN Details we need Details !!

 

... :Brow: gears and a converter - Jim Weise's 9.5" 3000 stall and a switch from 308's to 331's. It left like an animal not just lifting the front left but actually carrying it out a ways :shock: on the street it's now plain scary ... anytime any gear it just leaps into the powerband.

 

Video ?? or :kodak:??

 

:TU: :3gears: That is one badass Buick you have there! What tires and rear suspension did you run?

 

I'm on vacation right now, about 200 miles from home. I drove my Buick, no problems. I drove it slowly (60-65MPH) because I want to see how my gas mileage will be- with a previous cam (TA C118) I have gotten over 19 MPG, but on this cam (a custom cam from TA to maximize my nitrous torque) I have only seen about 14 MPG. I've done some more tweaking and I'm hoping for 16-17 MPG- I'm at about 150 miles on this tank and the gauge still reads 1/2. We'll see.

Anyhow, I guess I also fit the "highly modified" category, but ALL of my modifications have been done for BOTH efficiency (MPG) and HP. Free-flowing exhaust, MSD, Fuel Injection, etc., all help in both areas. Making more HP does not *have* to cost you MPG.

If I don't get over 15 MPG on this trip, I'll probably go back to the C118 cam.

My best ET on the C118 cam was 11.65@118 with 150Hp of nitrous- then I drove home and got 17 MPG driving 80 MPH (and passing a bunch of trailer queens who ran slower). Not bad for a 4300 pound car...

I have driven the car go Bowling Green several times.

What good is a fast car if you can't drive it?

-Bob C.

 

Bob,
I will make you a deal (that usually means cover your wallet!) You show me how to run that fast with that gas millage and I will work over your rear suspension so it rides like a Buick and corners like a Corvette (well like a 4300 pound Corvette .)

 

Thanks Andy .. tires are MT ET Drag Radials 275/50/15 on 8" widened buick mags and the rear suspension only has Metco upper and lower control arms

 

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=136760

Devon