Post your 11/12 second 455 combos!

Just to add missing data, the weight of my car with half a tank of gas and driver is 3880.

And thank you for making the spreadsheet. That is a great reference and could help those trying to get into the 11's or help those already there spend their money more wisely by seeing what is and isn't working for others.

 

Here is my 11 second combo.

462 cu\in
9.95 CR
Stage 2 SE Heads
TA 310 cam. .515\232 I / .515\232 E \ 110 LC
TA 1.60 ratio Roller Rockers
TA SP1 intake
Holley 1000 HP. Holley electric fuel pump
K&N open element air filter
TA Shorty Stage 2 Headers
Mallory 9000 comp Dist.


TH 400 column shifted auto. Shifted manually at 5800 rpm. Foot brake off the line no trans brake
no name brand 10" converter that I bought off some guy (stall around 3200?)

10 bolt 373 rear diff. Stock suspension front and rear with Energy suspension polygraphite bushings. Boxed rear control arms and right side air bag

aluminum Centerlines rims up front with skinnys on.
in the rear aluminum Center lines with 28" bias slicks

These components are in a 71' GS 455 car that weighs 3850 with me in it. I had this engine built for me by TA in 2004. When I first put it in it went in the 12 teens. At that time I was running an Edlbrock Q jet. I then took the car to Chris Skaling who ported the heads and changed to a better sp1 intake and went with the Holley carb.
At the track (Bremerton WA) it went a best of 11.54 @117 mph with a 1.59 60ft. I too am one of those guys who mixes in race gas to premium pump gas at the track and advances the timing up to 36 or 37 degrees. Works for me!
The car is driven on the street and I used to trailer it behind the motorhome all over the US and use it for our transportation for sight seeing with the stock rims and BFG's. Then we would end up at Norwalk and BG where I would race it. Those were the days!!! I have since given it to my son who uses it in the summer on the streets of Ft McMurray. The engine has about 200 passes on it and still runs very well

 

... since I am here in reference to Dave's car as I was there and seen the 10.80pass.It was very cool that day for Aug my guess 17 instead of the 30+ I've been at there before.When the rain hit talked with lots of racers that had personal best 60 fts there the track was sticking good. Dave's car has front and rear glass bumpbers,no inner fenders 90/10 front shocks and lightwieght seats and I believe lighter brakes and aluminum wheels.This is off the top of my head....I don't know much of Larry's car parts setup to compare the 2.......

 

Thanks - You can really see where to spend the $ effectively from there.

Cheryl

 

The data to me is interesting. There are so many more variables that would need to be added to the spreadsheet to make it truly accurate. But we will work with what we have at this time!

When looking at the data arranged by ET, it appears to me that our 455s may like larger camshafts. I understand that the lower ET cars tend to have more compression but when comparing similar compression ratios, camshafts and ET, the trends seems to be the larger cam is making more power. Do you guys see this or is it just me looking at the data wrong?

 

What other variables are you thinking of?

 

It certainly looks like a set of used ported iron ported heads would be very helpful and cost effective when combined with that big split pattern cam.

Cheryl

 

Thats static. I run VP C12

 

I love the lockup converter in for the 4L80E, it locks right up 100% with the flick of a switch for the highway. ONce you go lockup it is hard to go back to a non-locking converter.

 

Chris,

Tell me what you did at about 50 seconds in that video..

JW

 

I see.. I thought that might be the case.. car did not even budge, must have some old, hard, skinny tires on it.

Next time you take a converter video, just focus the camera on the tach, with the road in the background.. gives the viewer some idea of how much slippage is required to get it moving. That's the major complaint for most guys that drive there car a lot, they don't want to to feel "mushy" at light throttle.

_______

Larry, you need to drive your car over to Alan's house, so you have the feel fresh in your mind, and then drive his car, with my converter in it. That is the tightest 9.5" performance combination available. STR is 1.78 with that 3 pump and 082 stator.. most common street converter I do, stalls about 3000, most guys spin the tires long before you would ever see that. Tight internal clearance makes the difference, the chevy SB and LS boys want .160, but we run them much tighter than that for the Buicks.

Keeps them feeling positive under light throttle, and retains shift feel.

12 lbs reduction in rotating weight, along with the increase in STR, is the biggest difference from what you have now.

 

You will have to change the way you drive a bit to adjust, if you are think this way then you might want to stay with what you have. I am use to driving with a hi stall so I am good with it. Slippage will raise the rpm and be a heat maker, the Torque converter is what creates heat not the trans. Its kinda sorta like a clutch where you have to give a bit more rpm to get moving and then let up when it engages. Some people can't handle change and no matter what happens they can't figure it out. - Buickstage1


Interesting.. never really thought of it like that, most of the dozen or so I have installed and driven, drive pretty normal under light throttle. We worked that out when I first started doing them, I was leery of such a "small converter".

I guess there are probably about 30 or so guys on the board that have my converter, they could chime in with their opinion of how it feels. There are a few different combos out there, but we always strive for a positive feel for a car that is more street than strip.

I think that is a personal preference thing.. your describing a converter with looser internal clearance than I like, that's the reason for that feeling. Tends to stall a little higher with the same pump/stator combo, at the expense of a positive feel at light throttle.

I have done them like that in the past, for guys with too much camshaft, as the clearance helps absorb the cam pulses.



JW

 

I thought I would add Steve Schlater's build because it is a low compression build.

1972 Buick Skylark 2-Door Post (Clone to be a GS 455)
All steel body (3850# with driver)
Stock full interior with 6-point roll bar (SRE)

Motor:

464 cu.in. Buick
4.350 Bore X 3.900 Stroke
10.4:1 CR
Ported Cast Iron Heads
Ported SPX Intake
Bullet Flat Tappet Cam
Q-Jet
2" TA Headers with Torque Tech. 3" full exhaust system (X-pipe included)
Note: All motor work was done by Automotive Machine & Performance (Mike Phillips / Bobby Shrewsberry)

Drivetrain:

Rossler TH-350 (governor shifted)
GM 10 bolt w/ 4.10 gear
Alf Weibe Rear Suspension
Afco DA Shocks
Stock front upper and lower arms with Del-A-Lum Bushings
Moroso Front Springs
QA-1R shocks
30 X 9 Hoosier Radial Slick

Performance:

10.66 @ 124.5 (1700 Ft. DA)
1.43 60ft
Footbrake launch at 1500 RPM
Pump Gas 93 octane (Shell)

We have a few projects planned for this winter with the hopes of seeing some 10.50's next year.

 

Whoa dude.. back that bus up... who said anything about quality? ou:

I am sure it's a high quality piece, has good parts and assembled professionally.. it's just how it's assembled that is in question here. Not right or wrong ... just different for different applications.

No need to be defensive, your not being attacked here.

Tell me the pump/stator combo and end clearance, if you know it, and we can have a nice, polite, technical discussion about torque converters.. nothing mysterious going on here.

I have found 3 or so pleasant driving, positive feeling combo's that cover the vast majority of street GS's, both modified and stock. I am more than happy to share that info, I would imagine I am up there with any shop in the country in the last 3-5 years, in selling Buick GS specific converters.

JW

 

John do you have the cam specs for Steves combo