Turbos and Switch Pitch

Discussion in 'High Tech for Old Iron' started by alan, Oct 27, 2009.

  1. SportWagonGS

    SportWagonGS Moderator

    you should see the rust issues I have....it's already lightened...my car is kind of a pile but I love it!
    and being a Limited I would have to keep the A/C...I have the automatic A/C and it even works!
    I really would love to see your setup someday though...how far from Fayetteville are you?
     
  2. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    The map shows 92 miles to State Road 2212 (Doc Bennett Rd). Some of the Carolina Chapter guys were talking about going to the track one of these weekends.
     
  3. SportWagonGS

    SportWagonGS Moderator

    I'd be up for this as long as it's a Sunday...I work Saturdays, where in NC are you, I'm actually in Harnett county north of Spring Lake
     
  4. Nick A.

    Nick A. Well-Known Member

    Wow those exhaust housings are pretty big for twins. How is the spool up? much lag?
     
  5. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    It probably will be a Sunday. I have a feeling I'll be working some Saturdays, too.

    I live in the Wilson / Elm city area.


    It would be nice if there were a big turnout.
     
  6. SportWagonGS

    SportWagonGS Moderator

    I'll make it on a sunday, might bring Gigantor or the WH1....whatever I bring I'll be running at the track....really need to get duals on Gigantor
     
  7. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    The first few passes were without the switch pitch hooked up. The first pass especially, it was noticeable. With the switch pitch it leaves much better, but I need to look at the gauges and see what it's doing. I fried my Altronics datalogger at the Nats a couple of years ago and haven't fixed it yet, but I should be able to datalog with the laptop hooked up to the FAST controller.
     
  8. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    Coolness! Big ol' dinosaurs, eating up the track! :laugh:
     
  9. Turbo455

    Turbo455 James

    My first setup was t3/t4 hybrids .63's. The Hybrids spooled super fast but would not stop building boost after the wast gates opened. with my 4psi springs the hybrids would hit 4psi almost instantly but would creep up to 9psi by the end of the 1/8th and 12 psi at about 3/4 the way threw the 1/4 mile and it would pop spit and sputter.

    Marks kit, which is what I am running now are 1.05's or 1.10's. The new t4b 1.10's with 6psi gate springs take about 150 feet to hit 4psi. 4psi is where the gate starts opening then takes it until about 2/3 track(1/8th mile) to hit 6psi then holds at about 6psi for the rest of the run. I have no track time yet on 9psi put on the street the 9 psi spring hit 7psi at about 150 feet and then moves up to 9psi just like the 6psi springs did from 4 to 6. another thing that I noticed was that the better the AFR is, the faster these big turbo's spool. I'm hoping that with the 3000rpm foot brake switch pitch I can get into boost within the 60 foot mark. With the old transmission I had to launch at 1200 RPM or the stupid thing would push me through the starting line. I have the timer that PAE sales that activates low stall with a dial timer after the brake is released. I will set it at 1.5 seconds. The goal is to take my 60' from 2.05 down to 1.60's but I will be happy with 1.80's.
     
  10. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur


    Just quessing I'd say without the switchpitch it's building boost in about a car length. With the switch pitch it builds it sooner, but I don't know how soon. I have a hobbs switch I've never used, I may wire that up to a light. Then I'll know when it hits 5 psi!

    These turbos came with .69 housings and would build boost as soon as you thought about it! I figured the .96 housings would let the exhaust breathe better and get some heat out from under the hood.

    I had a problem with overboosting after changing to a tigher converter. Changing to larger wastegates and modifying the headers fixed that, but the .96 housings may have been all I needed to do! :error:

    I was going to use an adjustable pressure switch to turn the switch pitch off, but using an rpm switch or a timer may work better to get lower 60' times.

    The big, fat wagon has managed a 1.90 60', I'm sure if you get you boost up sooner you'll blow right past that!
     
  11. SportWagonGS

    SportWagonGS Moderator

    I'll probably take Gigantor to get some base times for it....prepare to be underwhelmed, stock 455, single exhaust, 2.73 rear, it has posi though.....like it needs it
     
  12. Turbo455

    Turbo455 James

    are you going to be using street tires? If you are using street tires I would bet that you will loose traction.
     
  13. SportWagonGS

    SportWagonGS Moderator

    it'll be on street tires, I'd love for it to spin the tires. I loved my SportWagon for it's traction and the Electra should do ok too. That being said...only one way to find out! The single exhaust is really choking this engine up though, if I had the cash I'd get a 2 1/2" dual system bent up for it...that would go a long way to helping my performance...as much as you can on a 5000+pound car
     
  14. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    The '73 has BFG drag radials on it and once it's on the track surface, it does not want to spin. I don't even do a burn out!
     
  15. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Alan, we need pics of this beast!!!!!!! Especailly underhood shots and or mockup shots.... You are running a FAST EFI setup, more details on that.... Thanks!
     
  16. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    Here's a few pictures, but I need to take some more. I don't think you want to see the pictures of the rust! It needs quite a bit more body work before it gets paint.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Apr 26, 2012
  17. alan

    alan High-tech Dinosaur

    I can't add much here, I still have a lot to learn. Lawrence Conley did a tune up on it at the GS nats one year, and that's what it's still running on.

    I do know you can data log with it, then tune it from the data. Repeat as needed.
     
  18. TheEquineFencer

    TheEquineFencer Well-Known Member

    If I knew how to post videos, I'd try to post one of Alan's car, I took some with my digital camera at the Moresville track when he ran it there. It left the line like your grandma's car then it was like someone sprayed it, roared to life and off it went!
     
  19. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Try to e-mail it to me at sean-gaskin@hotmail.com and I can post it....
     
  20. SportWagonGS

    SportWagonGS Moderator

    I hope we can have this get together at Fayetteville! I'm looking at modifying a set of A body 455 headers to fit in the Electra
     

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