I weighed my 73 LeSabre today and 300hp should be enough to get into the 13s

Discussion in 'A boatload of fun' started by garybuick, Dec 21, 2016.

  1. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    wow. thristy engine!

    Did you ever time the 1/4 with the street tires on? I wonder how much difference there was.
     
  2. Smartin

    Smartin antiqueautomotiveservice.com Staff Member

    I raced with the FAST guys once at Gateway with my regular white walls. It ran 14.20's. It was hot then, too.
     
  3. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    Manual transmissions are no fun to rebuild , you need like 4 pair if hands at times seems like
     
  4. 70Cat

    70Cat Well-Known Member

    A proper high stall converter set up for your specific cam, gearing and vehicle weight will have an advantage over a manual through consistency; just mash the gas and it'll hit the same every time. If you need to adjust for track conditions, you can tune your traction through tire pressure.

    There's a lot more to drag racing than just adding more horsepower to go faster. It has to be looked at as a combination and if one thing is off it could hold your et back by a second or more.
     
  5. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member


    Gary, you really need to get your car down the track to get some perspective. It is not an advantage. Each tenth of a second in the 1st 60' = 2 tenths in total E.T. at the other end of the track. It is very difficult to get a manual transmission car to launch well, and consistently. You CANNOT launch at any RPM you want.



    There will be a huge difference in E.T. Trying to launch a healthy Buick with street radials is an exercise in FUTILITY. That is why I want you to go to the track in your car, just the way it is. Make a pass, it will open your eyes. Your 60' time with street radials will be well above 2 seconds. Probably 2.2 or 2.3 seconds or more. With Drag Radials, that may drop to 2.00 seconds if you are lucky. That's a difference of 6 tenths or more in E.T.
     
  6. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    I will go there after the holidays and make a run. I wonder what they charge for that. Still Smarting did run low 14s with whitewalls probably 225s. 275s would make a difference no?
     
  7. Smartin

    Smartin antiqueautomotiveservice.com Staff Member

    They were 225's but any highway radial will fry with any amount of power. You need drag radials to hook up.
     
  8. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    Can your car turn the tires now on the street? If not, you will probably be able to hook at the track. You will get a timeslip, and then you will see what I am talking about. You'll need a sub 2 second 60' and a high 90's trap speed to run 13's. Don't think you will even be close, but it will give you great information on where you are, and you will have lots of fun.
     
  9. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    Cannot break them loose
     
  10. hugger

    hugger Well-Known Member

    If it can't break traction on the street you will probably be in 17's, IE a Long way to go, but like Larry said it wouldn't hurt to know
     
  11. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    it will be interesting to find out. It hustles pretty good once it gets moving.
     
  12. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    Are you sure the secondaries are opening up? Maybe the secondary air flap are too tight? Is the primary choke pulloff not "unloading" fast enough? I took mine off and drilled out the restrictor a little bigger. Big difference. What the timing set to? Seems odd. That car should be able to bake the tires into oblivion. Something isn't adjusted right
     
  13. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    ya it was terrible when I got the car. Then I set the timing according to Larrys system and used the crane spring kit and adjustable vaccuum advance. No more detonation and pulls pretty good once I get going.. Im not sure about the secondaries. The car was originally 2 bbl. I got a manifold and quadrajet from Ted.I think he said it was from a Riv or gS 1970 codes I looked it up. I rebuilt the carb but never got around to adjusting the secondaries.. Would they even come into play on launch? I think there is even a mechanism to keep them from opening unti the car gets moving.

    Havent checked the pulloff. It is a new one from Cliff. When the engine is warmed up that choke is straight up and down and not moving anywhere.

    Im glad to hear that its not normal for the stock 350 to no be able to break the tires loose. Runs great. Great vaccuum. Great oil pressure. No smoke to speak of at start up or otherwise. 60k documented miles. Custom dual exhaust with resonators. No balance tube. Exhaust manifiolds stock. pretty sure its 3.08 open. TH375B stock. no a/c. 235/70/15 on stock steelies. cooper cobra. Ill do a compression test but I dont see why iit wouldnt be healthy.

    I found a track here
    http://www.bradentonmotorsports.com/thursday test & tune/web page_thursday test & tune.htm

    It says $15 gate fee and $5 dollars run all night. Is that 15 for the vehicle or for each passenger?
     
  14. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    did you ever have your car tested on a dyno? or just the engine on a stand? Id be interested to know whats left at the rear wheels from 447hp.
     
  15. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    I get an error on that link.
     
  16. flynbuick

    flynbuick Guest

  17. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    do you think its my dual exhaust system? The engine was originally a 2bbl with factory low rpm cam and heads with single exhaust and stock TH375B and stock converter. All I changed was the carb to a quadrajet from a 1970 riv or gs not sure. Maybe I lost my low end torque due to having the wrong exhaust system for the engine. I have read threads on here that talked about low rpm torque requires backpressure and not pipes that are too big and flowy. What do you think?
     
  18. 66electrafied

    66electrafied Just tossing in my nickel's worth

    How old is your transmission? One thing I found out is any Buick that has over 130,000 miles or is 40+ years old will have a shot or a weak torque converter. I once had a similar issue with a Sport wagon I built; - 400 built up to as close to Stage 1 as I could get at the time, factory carb all rebuilt, dual exhaust, 3:42 axle and the thing didn't have enough power to get out of it's own way and it chewed gas like there was no tomorrow. Yet, the pressures in the tranny were all good, fluid was fresh, but, it had this habit of slowing down when in passing gear, and it had a vibration that just was undetermined. Figured out that it was all in the transmission, once that was properly overhauled, the car had plenty of power and would shred the tires.

    If you have set the engine all up properly and have eliminated all ignition and timing or fuel concerns, then it has to be transmission. Go through the motor once more; a simple thing like the vacuum advance being hooked up on the wrong port can change so many things.
     
  19. garybuick

    garybuick Time Traveler

    its not slipping in drive because the rpm and mph agree with the 3.08 rear end at 60mph in final drive. It is possibe that it is slipping in first though. Not really grabbing. I hadnt thought of that. I wil do a test next time and see how high the rpms go in first and second and what the speed should be vs what it is.
     
  20. 66electrafied

    66electrafied Just tossing in my nickel's worth

    Yeah, it's been my experience that the torque from a Buick will sort of "strip" (for lack of a better word) the torque converter at the bottom end or under severe load. Loping along at highway speeds or under moderate throttle they worked fine.
     

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