More "Tales From the Crypt".....

In the last post I talked about testing and tuning and finding the right combination to get the maximum performance out of your car. People don't realize how important this is. Even on a bone-stock engine bad tuning or simple neglect can cost you as much as 50 hp. When was the last time you changed the plugs and wires on your musclecar? The points, condenser, rotor and distributor cap?  When's the last time you changed the fuel filter? Is your carb jetted rich or lean or "right on?" When's the last time you checked the timing? Is it advanced or retarded?  Is your vacuum advance hooked up and working properly? Does the throttle linkage open fully without sticking or hanging up? On automatic cars-is the kickdown hooked up and functioning? Is the vacuum modulator hooked up and working? When's the last time you changed the fluid?  All these things are cheap, easy fixes, but if their neglected can cost you a ton of performance. Once all that's working and your getting maximum performance from your stock combo-then you can think about modifications. You have to remember that an internal combustion engine is basically an air pump. The more air and fuel you can make it flow-the more power you'll have. Now that's a very simplistic view-and right now we don't need to go into port velocity, cam timing etc. For this discussion that sentence will fly. The largest improvement you can make on any car regardless of make or model is improving the intake and exhaust. These offer the most "bang for the buck". A friend of mine bought an '83 Camaro with the LG4 305 4bbl, a 5-speed stick and a 3.73:1 rear end. He was crushed when my '77 T/A blew his doors off. Adding insult to injury-my car was not a 400 / 4-speed W72 model, but a lowly L80 403 Olds / TH350 model!!  As I said in the last post-my car was not exactly stock and surprised many a 400 Pontiac powered T/A, as well as Corvettes, "5.0" Mustangs, IROC-Z's, and another pal with a 2WD short-bed 454 pickup. He asked for my help in hopping the Camaro up. We put some Hedman shorty headers on it that had AIR tubes and an O2 sensor port from the factory. We also installed an Edelbrock Performer intake with an EGR valve. We did put real dual exhausts on it with some shorty glasspacks. It sounded badass. I told my pal that since we had the 02 sensor hooked up, the ECM would compensate the fuel mixture on the electronically controlled Q-Jet carb, and we might not have to mess with re-jetting the carb at all. We didn't. We had another drag race, and it was too close to call. The Improvement in the car's performance was stunning. Before I could just run away from him. Now depending on who spun their tires less-it was hard for either of us to get even a 1/2 car lead. The intake and exhaust improved the perfromance  that much on an otherwise stock 305 Chevy. He decided to go "whole hog" and we installed the matching Edelbrock Performer cam. Now he could beat me by 2 or 3 car lengths depending on launch. Which he got better at. You don't think of a 305 Chevy as having a lot of torque. The cam made a stunning improvement in the mid-range and top-end, but it did lose some on the bottom-end. This actually made the car quicker-because he had less wheelspin. Before if he dropped the clutch at any rpm over 3 grand, he just roasted the tires. Now he could drop the clutch at 4,500 rpm, spin the tires for 30 feet and rocket off the line!!  Shifting at 5,500-5,700 rpm, he totally stunned many LB9 / L98 Z/28 and Corvette owners, and crushed every "5.0" Mustang that challenged him. The best race he had was with a Buick Grand National. Since they ran low 14's right off the showroom floor, that demonstrates the HUGE improvement we made from the stock LG4 that wheezed out 150 hp!!  My pal asked what could he do next to get even more oomph. I laughed and said he should be happy with what he had, that unless he wanted to invest in a nitrous system, he had about reached the limit of the 305's potential. More power than he had would require swapping in a 350. He kept the 305 until he sold the car a couple years later-because "It's so damn much fun to drive as it is, that I can't bring myself to pull the engine and start over". In the early '60's Chrysler found more performance not in the engine, but the transmission. With the introduction of the Torqueflite in 1962-they dominated stock and super stock drag classes. Manual trans cars require quite a bit of driver skill, and let's face it-the best of us give it too much throttle or miss a shift once in a while. The automatics would launch consistently at the same rpm every time,with much less wheelspin, and would shift at the same rpm every time. Any racer will tell you that consistency is the key to winning. GM lagged behind. The TH400 was introduced in 1965-in "big" cars like the Impala and Catalina. If you wanted an automatic in a Chevelle, or a GTO or even a Corvette you got the awful 2-speed Powerglide / ST300!!  The TH400 wasn't available in a GTO or Chevelle until 1967, and the Corvette until 1968. Now most of your musclecars-will have Torqueflites if their Chrysler, TH350 or 400s if their GM or C4 / C6's if their Fords. All of these are excellent trannys and with the proper shift kit and torque converter can really rock. Part of the reason my T/A was so deadly in a "Stoplight Gran Prix" was the TransGo shift kit. It would kick down to 1st gear below 20 mph. This was a huge advantage. Think-If me and say a 400 Pontiac-powered automatic T/A-or even a 383 Road Runner or 396 Chevelle with an auto are coming up to a red light-we start slowing down to stop. We get down to 10-15 mph, but still moving. The light turns green and we punch it. My TH350 kicks down to low gear. The T/A / Chevelle / Road Runner's tranny kicks down to 2nd. We've both just floored it, we've both got 400 cubes in roughly a 3,700 lb car. Except I'm in 1st gear and the other guy is in 2nd. Who's going to accelerate harder? And once I get that car length or two lead-it's going to be awful hard for the other guy to make it up. Unless he's got a SERIOUS motor-he's not going to. A friend of mine had a 340 Dart with a Torqueflite and this shift kit that stunned many a big-block car. He had 3.55:1 gears which is a great compromise between jack rabbit starts and reasonable freeway cruising rpm, and like I said-if the cars were moving at all he'd be in low and the other guy'd be in 2nd. That's how we beat many a "faster" car. In fact we'd tell people that to avoid wheelspin being a factor we'd prefer to run from a 10-20 mph roll!! And they'd fall for it, thinking they'd really smoke us now. Surprise!!!  The reason is most automatic trannys are programmed to downshift to low gear only from a complete stop. If the car is moving at all-even 10 mph-they'll kick down to 2nd, but not low. TransGo and B&M make shift kits and governor weight kits to solve this. Even on later cars with AOD trannys like a 700R4-these kits will give you automatic kickdown to low gear and a full-throttle upshift to 4th.  My pal with the 454 pickup grenaded the Rat one day. Another friend gave him a 400 small-block out of his wife's wrecked station wagon. He rebuilt the 400 installing the old standby-the "350 hp" 327 Corvette cam, a set of headers and a 3310 Holley on an Edelbrock Performer intake. The 400 actually had more torque than the 454!  With the 454 it would smoke the tires if you wanted to, but it actually came off the line really good. The 400 just fried the tires. He had to work on walking it off the line and hitting it maybe 20 feet out to avoid excessive wheelspin. Once he got the launch down, the truck was really quick. He gave my buddy in the pumped-up '83 Camaro a run for the money neither of us will forget. Scoff if you want-but a 4,300 lb pickup that runs low 14s, and has 15 inches of vacuum at idle is pretty cool. Anyone who drove or rode in that truck couldn't believe a small-block could have that much power. It was a simple but effective combination. The old L79 350 hp cam was a little lumpy in a 327, which is why it was only available with a 4-speed in a Corvette, Chevelle or Nova. It's better in a 350, but really sweet in a 400. And the intake and exhaust allowed it to breathe as it should, and the pickup's 3.73:1 posi rear certainly helped put that power to the ground. Sometimes less is more. Never under-estimate a simple, perfectly tuned combination with an experienced driver. A buddy of mine restored a '72 440 Road Runner. He used the stock 440 Magnum cam. It didn't even have headers on it-he used the stock exhaust manifolds, with a good Dynomax system behind them. He used an Edelbrock Performer intake and matching 750 cfm carb. He did install the TransGo shift kit, and swapped the 3.23:1 gears for some 4.10:1s. Funny-the 4.10s didn't seem to help one ounce in low gear. However-they made a HUGE difference in 2nd and 3rd!!  This car smote many a "badass" hot rod in biblical fashion. He showed his tailights to everybody, including my 455 / TH400 '73 Hurst / Olds. In my defense-at that time my car still had the stock 3.08:1 gears. If I had 4.10s ( which I later installed ) or if his car had the stock 3.23s-it might have been a different story. But that's "bench racing".  His car was really quick. He ran it at Reno-Fernley Raceway one time and it ran 13.54. Not bad on street tires with a mild combo. We all know how strong a 440 Magnum is, even basically stock. Anyhow-it takes a little trial and error, but it's worth it in the logn run to maximize your performance.  Mastermind