Burnout Question

[skylark65310]

I have a 1965 Skylark with a 300 auto. How do you pull off a burnout without screwing up the engine.

[70 gsconvt]

1. Come to a complete stop
2. Put your car in second gear
3. Hold the brake pedal down firmly, but not to the floor (this is the hard part finding out exactly how much pressure is needed to hold the car while power braking)
4. Start giving it some gas and bring the rpm's up to 3000-4000 in second gear (the car should shift into it on it's own)
5. Start letting off the brake and you will eventually start moving forward
6. You can run through or pour a little bit of water on the rear tires to aid in getting things started.

Have fun

[skylark65310]

What is the second gear in an "automatic"? I have no tach and it has manual brakes. Would it help if it was in low gear(L)?

[doc]

The car has a 2 speed auto in it. Go to L, hold down on the brake, bring the engine up to "stall speed",release the brake suddenly,at the same time floor the accelerator. In the old days this was known as "pumping it up" It should break the rear tires loose and do a burn out for you. To help this, wire a toggle switch to the switch pitch terminal on the left side of the trans. with the switch on you will have high stall all the time. It is like having lower gears in the diff. :Brow:

[supercoupe]

I have the same car, essentially -- 66 Skylark, 300 ci Wildcat V8, automatic transmission (I installed a 3 speed), and for the life of me I haven't been able to spin the tires.

And owning a semi-muscle car (only minus the 400 ci engine and that GS logo) I think I should be able to :-)

So, from your description, put the car in 2nd gear, put your foot on the brake pedal, and then "bring the engine up to stall speed." I have no idea what this means. Presumably this means that you are stepping on the accelerator, but how much? Obviously not too much, or the brakes wouldn't hold it.

Thanks!

[msc66]

Good luck getting a little 300 V8 with an auto trans to do a burnout. That's what I had in my '66 and it was lucky to spin the tires in wet grass. Remember, these motors had less than 200 hp and you probably have around 2.73 rear gears. Mine would run pretty good after 40 mph or so but out of the hole...forget it.

Also remember that just because they share the same body as a muscle car doesn't make them one. The Skylark was the cruiser to the GS's bruiser but that doesn't mean they can't be improved on with a little work (and cash).

Try the water :TU:

[skylark65310]

I totally agree with you. Yea it has only 210 HP and the only time I am able to burn out is if I have dirt or water around. But I am thinking of buying a 445 from a 1964 Wildcat.

[mechacode]

Put the brakes about halfway down and floor it. One of two things will happen, either you'll start burning out or you won't. If you don't, let off the gas asap so you don't blow the engine. If you don't have the power to overcome the brakes, just chock the front wheels, no brakes to overcome then. A *tiny* amount of oil will make smoke and let the tire spin. If you use too much though you'll spin everytime you hit the gas, even when you just try to drive normally. Did this as a joke to a guy when I was in school, spun the tires every time he tried to move and barely made it home.

[msc66]

I totally agree with you. Yea it has only 210 HP and the only time I am able to burn out is if I have dirt or water around. But I am thinking of buying a 445 from a 1964 Wildcat.

In hind sight I found that my switch pitch wasn't hooked up so it was probably stuck in low stall and not allowing the revs to come up enough to get the car moving.

The switch pitch convertors I'm refering to here are torque convertors that have two stall speeds. A high stall allows the motor to rev higher before the convertor starts to lock up and move the car. Its like giving a stick shift car more gas before you let the clutch out. The low stall is for light throttle, low load cruising speeds.

A 3 spd auto (th-350) or overdrive (200 r4) would help a lot as they have a lower 1st gear ratio. Also a slightly steeper 3.23 rear gear would make a noticable difference in the seat of the pants.

The 300 V-8 can be modified for better performance (check the small block section of this board) or you could do the engine swap. If you decide to do an engine swap get everything you can think of off the donar car. It will save you a lot of hunting later. Of course there will still be things to work out like motor mounts, exhaust ect.

Whichever way you decide to go good luck and have fun :3gears:

[Spazmodium54]

I know that this might be a stupid question to add to this post, But....

Does burning out like this hurt your brakes?

It just seems like it would. When I hold my brakes down and rev the engine, my car jumps forward then jerks back. I just can't see how that would be good with my old drum brakes that don't work very well anyway.

[68 Skylark cust]

Does burning out like this hurt your brakes?


I try this with my 72 Impala Custom 2dr Ht (350 4bbl) when I was younger and I ended up with no smoke :af: and my breaks had to be redone :Dou:

I haven't take the same risk with my 350-2 :laugh: ... but when I turn a corner I give some pedal sometimes and the rear does spin a bit (posi) :3gears:

[r0ckstarr]

I had a friend who ran the hoses from his windshield squirters into the fender wells above the tires. He would hit the squirt button and creep the car forward to get them all wet, then do a burnout.

[SpinLark]

my friend in his 64 Ford galaxie 289-2br auto. Puts it in 1st gear stops and then cranks the wheel and hammers it and it burns out. You gotta be careful tho cause you could easily go in the ditch.

[1979SHX]

I had a friend who ran the hoses from his windshield squirters into the fender wells above the tires. He would hit the squirt button and creep the car forward to get them all wet, then do a burnout.


I did that years ago....but I filled the reservoir with bleach. Makes a REALLY GOOD smokey burnout. :TU:

[r0ckstarr]

I did that years ago....but I filled the reservoir with bleach. Makes a REALLY GOOD smokey burnout. :TU:


Doesnt bleach soften up the rubber on the tires, creating more friction, which makes the burnout more smokey? Just making sure I got it right.

Also, wasn't the use of bleach outlawed at the drag strips due to a fire hazard? Or am I wrong about that one?

[mechacode]

I'm sure bleach burnouts are pretty toxic. Wouldn't want all that toxic smoke going into the bleachers.

[SpinLark]

Does putting oil on the tires really work that well? I gotta try that with some friends cars. They'd have a ball tho spinning the tires easily.

[68 Skylark cust]

I only try one time doing a burnout with oil :3gears: with my 86 Trans Am back in 88 , that does help of course but what a mess after :mad:

That was just at the end of a "bike show" where "race" bike doing burnout , they're was a lot of rubber on the ground too and those little parts of rubber stick on the wheelwell and the quarter ... gotta clean up those "evidence" fast after it :Brow:

I was told that milk (!) give the same result but in a more cleaner way !

[viczz]

Pour a half a gallon of bleach on the pavement by the spin tire, hold the breaks half way down, kinda firm and then hit the gas and let her go while you let of of the break!

VIC

[lob87WE4]

My favorite way is to put it in neutral, rev the engine to 3000-3500 rpm's and then put it in to gear. Just like having a clutch!!! Great burnouts :Brow: :3gears: Go practice on your friends car first before you use your own.
One word of caution, dont do it too many times, unless you like keeping the local tranny shop with a good cash flow :Smarty:

[DAmo70electra]

One word of caution, dont do it too many times, unless you like keeping the local tranny shop with a good cash flow

So I'm guessing that putting the car in reverse, then shifting and punching the gas isn't good for the transmission either..... I do this with my mom's Grand Am sometimes, painful for the car yet effective.

[DualQuad55]

Yeah, dropping the trans from reverse to any forward gear and hammering on it is about the worst/dumbest thing you can do for it.

Personally, I just 1) start the car, 2) put in a forward gear, 3) apply throttle past 1/4 in quick fashion.
But for a really good burnout, I hold low gear, apply lineloc, get rpm up to 3400 and 'swap pedals'.

[DAmo70electra]

worst/dumbest thing

Well thanks for the constructive critocism! LOL :pp

[DualQuad55]

No offense, but...
If you are trying to blow up your moms trans, this will do it.
If you think it looks cool to burn rubber doing this, just think how cool you will look to your friends when you need to call a flatbed to drag the beast home. And I am sure your mom will think it was a cool idea at the time too. You can tell her it happend when starting off from a light, just pulling into a parking spot at McD's or whatever, but the guy who has to rebuild the poor mess will probably tell her the truth.
I am not saying not to hammer on your car, just make sure it is YOUR car.
But who am I to say? I am sure mom has a couple of thousand $$$ just sitting there for the rebuild, you know... just in case.

[Stampy]

Okay, so we've established that its bad to burn out by dropping from reverse to a forward gear... but what about from nuetral to a forward gear? I do this sometimes. If you're too timid about it, it just makes a loud, alarming thud in the rear end, but if you go all out you can get a good 5-6 seconds of spin, which isn't bad for a stock small block. Its hella fun... but am I going to be sweeping pieces of my trans off the driveway soon?

~Mike
'66 Skylark 340-4

[70gsrick]

When I was a kid I learned that "Nuetral Drops" were just as bad, it's a shock to a driveline that wasn't designed to handle that type of abuse. It breaks things!! :Dou:

[wildcat4]

Neutral drops, Reverse to Drive...seems kinda obvious its torture on your drive train.
My dad reminds me from time to time of how stupid he was in high school with his '57 Buick Century. He said he would paint a star in the school parking lot by holding the gas to the floor and shifting from reverse to drive over and over again. Said he went through three transmissions in one year.

It'd be fun to watch, but I'd never want to do it.

His transmission repair man said, you're doing the same exact thing to your car as I would be doing to your teeth if I hit you in the mouth with a sledge hammer.

[mhgs]

Gee....All I have to do is throttle it .......as much smoke as I want..but then again the idea is to put the power to the pavement right ?? While all the others are smokin the hides...I'm smokin them to the finish ... :laugh:

Mark

[SpinLark]

The star thing sounds pretty awesome. what they used to do by us is called j hooks. Get the tires spinning in reverse and slam it into drive rite away and you'll have two j's. Looks pretty cool, but once again the tranny man will be rich.

[mechacode]

Friend did the neutral drop thing a little over 20 times before the tranny blew up. Luckily, it was in a $50 chevy celebrity.

[CameoInvicta]

Quick question about the switch pitch terminal. I have a '62 Invicta with a
Dynaflow, will I have that and will it be in the same location? I think I might
need to go buy a toggle switch!

[kravin]

almost any car can do it you just need to learn the best way to burn out in that car i got a bug that can smoke em .practice makes perfect i learned by buying cheap junkers every one knows some one that has an old clucker eyesore that needs to go out in a blaze of glory i find a buddy that has a field or some thing and do all the the burnouts i want donuts all that stuff its so kool to blow an engine like that i also got a chevette i striped it down and just give it hell on the weekends my two kids love to drive them also think about it later
:3gears: