thinking of going all out

[Die Ford V8]

my mom just traded me my gun for her little rampage(truck/car) and I just had my tranny serviced. the guy showed me this thick black stuff that i thought looked like chocolate frosting...it was metal.

so my car has 152,000+ miles on it and the tranny is slippin alittle bit. after the tranny blows i was thinking of going crazy on making my car a drag car. I dont know how much i should put into a tranny and converter. it wont be street legal and will be completely gutted. i want to eventually send my car in to the camaro magazine and have them do a little special on a very fast NA v6 camaro.

i want to put in a transbrake, narrowed 9" and big slicks. not because i will need psycho traction or that i will be running millions or hp but because of the look, and the reliability of performance parts against a v6. the engine will be the last thing to be replaced. with 4.56 or lower gears, high stall converter, transbrake and weight reduction i want to see if i can get to low 14s or better. then completely redo another engine, P&P all, cam etc.

i know i said i was going to before, but this is my daily driver. once the tranny goes, which could be next week or 6 months from now, i want to start.

but until then i want tips on what converter, tranny, gearing combo i should shoot for. i plan on building the next engine to hit 8000 rpm or at least 7000.

oh yeah, when i say gutted i mean gutted. no carpet, not dash/door panels, no nothin

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

if you have "no nothing" then wouldn't you have everything

i don't know about that the fastest NA v6 is in the 11's lol

[njspder]

big slicks and a narrowed rear are a big waste of time/money if you are looking for any 2 digit number.
go for sensible suspension mods and work on teh weight of the car as best you can. remember when you are dropping weight that a magazine is many times more likely to do an article on a "street/strip" car than a gutten strip only V6.
good luck with your goals.

later
tim

[FbodTrek]

7000 rpm is feasible..but I don't think 8 grand is gonna be cheap. Your heads will have to flow that high, your valvesprings will have to be stiff enough to close the valves, the cam will have a crazy duration....there's all sorts of details. WHat is your budget for this project?

[WickEdSix9838]

7000RPM is definately feasable but 8000 with hydraulic roller is out of range. The crank will probably be the weak point in the bottom end. Also like NJSpder said, you wont need a big slick, a 7-8" wide slick would probably be more than enough.

[Die Ford V8]

with a big stall converter and low low gears an 8" wide slick would still grip???


also, i was wondering how low of gearing you can go without going so low the efficiency is lost. i was thinking 4.56 gears, but I have never been in a car with 4.56 gears. i have been in a car with 4.11s but it was a 66 mustang so i dont know if the gear ratios in the transmissions are different.

BTW he beat me to 85mph by half a car length. he had a 302 and a shift kit. his car hit third before i hit second. fun race

more pointers an an all out drag v6 car are welcome. NA pointers though. thanks

[Die Ford V8]

oh and the budget is going to be a college kid that will be out of college in two years. like i said. im going to start with the tranny and gears, then if the engine is still running i will start on the suspension. after that its all engine. it wont be a priority just a hobby, so it might take a little while.

i would like to go on a budget, like getting good used parts and hunting for the best prices.

[Arctc Wolf]

KDS performance has some great tranny rebuild kits for the 4L60-E. they'll hold over 1200 hp on some of them. As far as torque converters go, I'd say talk to Andre at Edge Racing Converters. He'll be able to build you a custom one for about 500 that can hold the power you're talking about. He'll match it to the motor, gearing, weight, ect. so you get what you expect. I was extremely happy when I got my converter from him. it was as good and better than I hoped for.

Also, when talking about rear gears, remember, if you put taller slicks on gthe rear, it'll make it seem like you have smaller gears in the back. 4.11's on some stock height tires(26") will get through the gears quick compared to 4.11's with 28 or 30" slicks. in my bird, with 3.42's, i go 1-2 at 42, 2-3 at about 75, and 3-4 at about 113.

[WickEdSix9838]

with a big stall converter and low low gears an 8" wide slick would still grip???

yup, especially a 28" tall tire...you wont ever make very much torque from a 3.8. How has Magnus ran a 11.02 w/his LS1 on a 9" wide slick? Im pretty sure his has more torque than any v6 ever will ever have. On the pass i ran 102.4, I would need a 4.88 to cross the finish line at 6420 RPMs in 4th gear w/a 26" tall tire. If i had a 28" tire i would need a 5.14 to cross at 6320 RPM's. In your case you would need to cross in the top of 3rd with an auto so depending on what MPH you're running would change what gear you need.

[ October 28, 2004, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: WickEdSix9838 ]

[njspder]

to figure out an approximate gear + tire height to mph i usually use www.f-body.org/gears
for 1/4 time and speed predictions i suggest www.prestage.com
i still say taht if you go with a full slick or anything bias ply you will be killing the car a bit. look into a 275/60-15 drag radial. bfg, nitto, and m/t all make that size i believe.

later
tim

[Wicked 3800 V6]

You'll need a lot of racing experience, etc. Think about the guy who has his firebird in the 11's NA (harry doolittle, I think).

If you want to race, maybe sell the car and buy a racecar? Otherwise you're dumping a lot of time and effort into a not fast car.

But I haven't modded the hell out of mine or anything, so I wouldn't really no. /sarcasm.

[njspder]

i think doolittle's car is not as simple as many people are thinking.
when a car is prepared for stock they go to sick lengths to get power out of them. although the heads and cam have "stock" specs, they have been optimized to match each other. spending a few hundred hours on dyno adn tuning runs is not unusual for those guys either.
if you wanted to go ahead and do a stocker type chassis set up and put a more built motor in taht would be the way to the 9's.

later
tim

[WickEdSix9838]

i think doolittle's car is not as simple as many people are thinking.
when a car is prepared for stock they go to sick lengths to get power out of them. although the heads and cam have "stock" specs, they have been optimized to match each other. spending a few hundred hours on dyno adn tuning runs is not unusual for those guys either.
if you wanted to go ahead and do a stocker type chassis set up and put a more built motor in taht would be the way to the 9's.

later
tim

yep...but in stock i think you can run more duration that stock but the lift has to meet stock specs

[njspder]

yes, "stock" means lift adn lobe center. the duration is changed a bit. prolly not a lot since it is such a low lift cam from teh factory, you can only change that one aspect so much before it starts causing problems.

later
tim

[12secondv6]

Do you realize what you are aiming for?

Spend some time around here to learn about the engine/ power etc.

Free power = WEIGHT REDUCTION!

I started at 3450 and have seen 2900.