BBR's 83GT - turbo 302.... now with EFI!

[BBR]

Monkeyed with the carb a little last night and I think I am moving in the right direction. Drove it to get gas and it is still rich, but it is much more responsive.

[BBR]

I've been playing with this carburetor quite a bit to improve it's drivability I did a lot of searching and reading over it racingfuelsystems.org. I discovered that I was quite a ways off on how this carburetor needed to be set up as far as air bleeds go. I also determined that my cruise timing was set considerably lower than it really should be. I have made significant improvements in the part-throttle acceleration richness and in the lean stumble it had on light acceleration from a cruise.

[BBR]

The 83GT gets a little ink in our neighborhood magazine, "Life in the Colonies". They contacted me a while back and had me answer some questions and submit some photos. Turned out pretty neat. Haha.

[SuperBuickGuy]

hmmm, usually when someone asks for pictures, it's not to praise me..... nice to see there is a converse.

[Beagle]

hmmm, usually when someone asks for pictures, it's not to praise me..... nice to see there is a converse.

They usually aren't asking when you get those kind of pictures taken. :| The last picture I had taken from the neighborhood guys included a letter saying "Move this thing"... we won't talk about any other involuntary pictures. lol.

"Just because you are a character, doesn't mean you have character" - Winston Wolf

Meanwhile, nice!

[BBR]

We took it to the track Friday night. The thing was a turd. 14.40's at 108 mph. The converter is just so tight it won't launch to save it's life. It would roll out and the boost would not ramp in until the very top of first gear waaaaay down the track.... like 330 feet. Converter is stalling at 2000 rpm so you can't footbrake it to make any boost either. It is supposed to be a 2200-2800 converter. This motor at our elevation just does not make enough torque at 2000 to launch worth a whooptie. Gotta make some rpm to make boost and it can't make rpm with a converter this tight. The 5 speed allowed for some launch rpm flexibility that the automatic does not. We tried jetting changes & timing changes trying to get it to make some more low end power, but it was a wash. DA was 6500+ feet.

We are going to try a couple of things. 1. Different converter. No sense in trying to work around a converter this is just fighting us. I ordered a Roadrunner Converters 3200-3500 converter hoping it will stall at around 3000. haha. 2. Test it with a set of 26" ET Streets instead of the 28" slicks to help this little motor get the car out of the hole. 3. play with the 2 step. This is kinda last because the 2 step has never functioned quite like I expected as far as setting the rpm goes. Might be just me not knowing how the parameters in MS actually work. lol

Trying to get it working right well in advance of the Buick v. Ford shootout this year.

We are also going to replace the front seal because it has leaked since we put this trans in the car.

[Beagle]

that's a lot of MPH for a 14 or 13 anything though... at least it's making power.

[BBR]

Yeah it is putting about 350ish to the tire, which would be around a 150 hp improvement over n/a. Haha

[BBR]

While it was idling waiting for us to open the shop door the other night, it started puking water out the overflow. We pulled it in, shrugged our shoulders and went home. The water temp gauge was not working, but we have never had overheating trouble with this car so it was unusual.

I pulled it out of it's spot today, topped off the water and let it idle. Temp came up to 160, then I turned on the fan but it kept going up. I shut it off at 220 and looked under the hood. The first thing I noticed was that the upper radiator hose was not hot. I grabbed the laser thermometer and sure enough, the thermostat housing was 207, but the radiator tank was only 97. Barely above the ambient air temperature.

So I am about 100 percent sure we have a stuck thermostat.

[Monster]

[BBR]

Converter just showed up. That was fast. 3200-3500 rated stall. I have never used a Roadrunner brand converter but they seem to have a good reputation. I expect it to really to stall at 3000 with our engine and elevation. Looks like a really nice piece. The billet back cover is nice and it is supposed to have a thicker front cover to resist ballooning. Not that we make enough power to balloon it though. Haha.

[BBR]

I installed a new water temp gauge and popped the old thermostat out. I decided to just gut it and stick it back in. I added a small "stand pipe" to one of the ports on the intake manifold to help bleed air out. Worked great. I fired it up and let it run and it seems to be fine now. It took quite a whlle to warm up to 120° even with no fan running.

Then I turned my attention to swapping the converter. Everything went smoothly and I was doing good and not making a mess until..... Until the converter studs stuck in the flexplate and the converter pulled out of the trans.....

Glug glug glug.... Great. So much for not making a mess.

Pulled the converter out and man, I had forgotten just how huge it is. It is gigantic compared to the one I am putting back in! Tomorrow I'll try to get the front seal out and pop the new one in and maybe button it all back up.

Oh yeah, trans swap tip: a sparkplug is just the right size to jam into the rubber dipstick grommet to keep it from puking fluid everywhere.

[DanStokes]

Bummer about the spill. Anytime I do anything involving an auto trans I get an Exxon Valdezes sized spill so I can relate.

Dan

[BBR]

Converter swap is done! It went together so smoothly it felt like I was doing something wrong. Haha.

I was watching a transmission rebuild video for AODs a while back and the guy in the video drilled a hole in the bell housing so he could stick a screwdriver in there and push the converter forward when installing it. That is a genius modification because it made sliding the converter forward into the flexplate a piece of cake.

I also discovered that six out of the eight rear suspension bolts were loose, like really loose, like turn them with your fingers loose. Yikes!

I ran it on jack stands. No drive yet because it was pouring rain outside, but everything seems to work properly.

[DanStokes]

The hole in the bellhousing tip is a great one. If I have mine out (no reason to at this time) I'll do that. Like your air dyno!

Dan