The Silver Buick's 1969 Firebird OHC six project.

[SuperBuickGuy]

you'd dip into the 17s with a bit better RT ;)

[Beagle]

Drove the car 90 miles to Eureka, ran down the track 8 times, and drove home without any hiccup and calling that a win. The car was quite slow, but got some good data running down the track.
...

Hell yeah that's a win!

[Beagle]

you'd dip into the 17s with a bit better RT ;)

clocks don't start until you break the beams. The 60' is not too bad. It'll be interesting to see how it does with moar powr!

[Russell]

Sounds like a great day to me. What gear is in it now? Can you tell a difference in how it drives now that you adjusted the tune? What's your mpg?

[Scott Liggett]

I doubt my car would be faster at that altitude. When I drove out here, passing through Ely, I dropped four jet sizes and it still felt like I was dragging an anchor.

[TheSilverBuick]

The air is pretty brutal. I was surprised by the 1.9-2.0x 60ft's though. My slowest 60ft was 3.0x and that was leaving from idle speed and trying to flash the converter up to a higher rpm.

It has 3.42 gears, shifting at 5,200rpm it'd just barely get to 3rd gear right before the finish line. When shifting at ~5,400-5,600rpm it'd be in second crossing the line. It barks the tires going into 2nd and 3rd, so no real wasted time in the shifts. Not much change driving to work, but it did sound and feel a bit smoother climbing one of the hills on the way this morning.

I'm glad to have a baseline though to work with now.

[Beagle]

... I was surprised by the 1.9-2.0x 60ft's though. ...

(/BEAGLE) yeah, me too. That's really not bad at all. (/BEAGLE)

I'm glad to have a baseline though to work with now.

(/BEAGLE) You know what would fix a lot of elevation issues? Say it with me... Turbo ... Turbo... Turbo...(/BEAGLE)

[TheSilverBuick]

If someone would buy my motorcycle, it'd be bank rolling the turbo, intercooler, and bigger radiator with bolt on big electric water pump.

The TEMP light came one once going home while climbing a long hill in 3rd, but I was just about to the summit of the hill, and it shut off shortly after cresting the hill. I have the light programmed to come on around 210ºF iirc. Though might be 215ºF or 220ºF....

[Beagle]

210 might bother me if it was pure water like you would run at the strip, at elevation like you are, but that's what a 14 pound cap is for? Could always roadkill that thing and just put the hood in the A/V van. haha.

Good luck on the bike sale. I miss it sometimes but the fools around here keep me in a cage.

[squirrel]

240 would interest me....

sounds like it's doing pretty well, overall.

[TheSilverBuick]

I had a relay connection to the electric water pump come loose one day last year and I'm not sure how hot the system got, but it bent up the top of the radiator some before the 16lbs cap started blowing steam, so I get a little nervous when the temp light comes on because I don't want the radiator to go before I get a new one =P I have the light set to come on about 10ºF after the radiator fan is set to come on. That way if the fan isn't solving the cooling issue I get an early heads up. Of course when cruising at 60-70mph, the fan isn't much of a factor.

The 17gpm pump works pretty good, but once the outside temps are around 90ºF it runs continuously to maintain 185º-195ºF at highway speeds. If I slow down, the temp drops, but if I'm climbing a hill, particularly in a lower gear and still try and pull off 70mph, the temperature climbs. I think the water pump is just maxed out. I want a nice two row aluminum radiator, like the one that's in the Skylark, with a nice 55gpm pump attached That should solve all cooling issues, but for now its a manageable problem.

[Deaf Bob]

A trick to not get too hot is to remove the rubber in the cap... Supposedly.. Supposedly it allows the cap to let water into the overflow earlier..
THAT IS BULLSHIT! The kid's 455 Buick in his detby car built up so much pressure, it almost blew the side tanks off!
If you are worried about temp.. Use WATER WETTER!

My knowledge on making motors last in derby is gonna be severely tested on the 4th of July in Ogden Utah.. Might be 110 when we are there!

[DanStokes]

Dang - That's quite a tow for you guys! Who all is going?

And best of luck.

Dan

[Deaf Bob]

Dang - That's quite a tow for you guys! Who all is going?
And best of luck.
Dan

Thanks.. Excited and nervous both...

[TheSilverBuick]

This morning I picked up a '92 4L60e from a 3/4 ton chevy truck from the local classifieds. The data sticker from a rebuild company shows it was rebuilt in 2006 and the guy was also selling the blown up Chevy 350 it was attached too, but I had no interest in that. I'm hoping its good to go, but I'll eventually open it up and take a cursory look as well as put a mild shift kit in it. This will be step one in getting the drivetrain set up to handle the turbo setup.

A microsquirt for $339 from DIYautotune.com can be configured to control it and tie into the existing MS3 on the car. I think there might even be a plug and play harness out on the market as well. Its going to be a while before I get to this, but it'll be nice to have when I get to it. As part of the conversion, I'll have to make a decision on the electric speedo. May bite the bullet and pick up a digital to mechanical converter box, or simply go full digital. In either case, that is a ways off.