Ive had the dumb idea for about 2 years now to drop a Trishield Performance Level 1a pump gas motor in the 76 Electra. We are talking 476.6hp, and 517.2tq. Big numbers in my books, and enough to keep me happy :TU: And enough to put the ricers in their place. http://www.trishieldperf.com/level_1a_engine.htm (level1 AM) Has anyone here done this, or something similar? I would need my g'box rebuilt and a 2k stall converter. My diff is a peg leg with 2.43:1 ratios or something, so that would need to go as well. Would the diff, left as is, last long with this kind of power? I really dont drive the car much. What problems could I encouter with this motor in my car? Buicks barely exist in Australia, so getting mine rebuilt would be touch and go, and to have my motor rebuilt would cost an absolute fortune here, so Id rather start with something pro built, and ready to go. Lazy, bu efficent :TU:
A mid 12 second skyhawk.......... very cool A mid 12 second skylark.............awesome A mid 12 second duece??????????PRICELESS I have always loved FAST big cars. Hell, anyone can make a Vega go fast.
Hi Leo, Adam is on the right track, but actually, the TSP engine went into my '75 Electra Limited 4dr, which I am now using as my daily driver! Jim Weise built the engine earlier this year, and it has about 3000 miles on it now. Dyno numbers were about 420 HP and 520 ft lbs; the engine is basically Jim's level 1A: TA stage 1 SE alum heads w/ bowl and chamber upgrade, forged pictons, and all the rest of the usual stuff., except we opted to use an original SF 455 cam out of a low-mileage 1970 Riviera, for purposes of streetability: smoothness, vacuum for power breaks, etc. Clearly the numbers would be higher with a racier cam, but I like it this way. It was set at about 9.4:1 and about 32 degrees of advance, and currently runs (mostly) ping-free on 92 octane, at just over 190 degrees water temp. Needed to replace the radiator at the biginning because running hot, undoubtedly the old radiator's fault; put in a decent aluminum rad, which solved it. Gets about 12 MPG in town, over 16 on the road. Thirsty, granted, but the cheap initial price of the car and the fun quotient more than balance that out. The car has it's original 2.73 posi 9 3/8" rear, and now has a new dual exhaust system, 2.5" back to the mufflers and 2" after. Oh, and it also has TA shorty headers. Performance is shockingly good for a 5200 pound car, although clearly, if it weighed less and had a numerically higher rear, it would be better, but that's ok too; don't want to spit too many quarters out the tailpipe; everthing in life's a compromise, right? The only symptom it has, after much effort from Jim, is a slight subtle hesitation undermoderate load, right before it decides to downshift; Jim attributes this to the '75 carb and the engine's requirements for air at that load, beyond which explaination Jim would have to jump in and help me. It's manageable. As a daily driver, it's just a blast. Of course, now I'm replacing the suspension and rolling stock piece by piece, and thinking about a carb spacer....... Best regards, Steve. PS: Adam, BTW, the LeCenturion still has it's 350.....keeping the options open right now. Working on a recaltitrant rear window leak on that one...
Steve, for some reason I thought you had made the decision to put the TSP engine into the LeCenturion. My Mistake :grin: Rear window leak - either the seal has gone bad around the lower corners, or you have rustou:
Yep, rust...not a lot, but just enough. Body shop has R&R'd rear window several times, still puddles, I think they're trying to avoid doing any metal work/think they can get it with the sealing modalities. However, butyl fails more thatn once, then a heavy-handed, visible urethaning didn't work. They have it currently, haven't seen it for about 1.5 wk, don't know the score at the moment.
Thanks for the reply Steve. Im glad to hear I wont have to replace my new 2 1/2 inch dual exhaust! Good to hear your running the stock diff too. I might have the same ratios as you. Im not sure. Not 2.43 like I stated. I want to keep power brakes, so I will have to state that when ordering the donk. Dont know what implicaions that will have with the build, but can you imagine youself trying to pull up your 225 with NO power brakes ray: Question. How much wheel spin do you get off the line from a standing start? My car is a peg leg (non posi) so I will be in a smokey state I imagine. Would look cool from the lights seeing this big old American car absolutly smoking it away from the lights. Although, this activity here will see you with about $1000+AUD in fines (about $1400USD), my car confiscated for 3 months, and me loosing my lisence for 3 months or more. 2nd time caught gets your car sold, and you could do some gaol time. Some serious s**t right there!
states somewhere on Trishields's site about some motors not having a vacuum for power brakes, and some do ??? Or am I overlooking something so bleeding obvious, Im gonna give myself an uppercut?
"Forget the power brakes.. unless you have a vacuum pump. " found that. It was on the level3 motor though.
The amount of vacuum available to run vacuum-dependent things like power brakes is determined by the cam selection; we selected the factory original 1970 SF 455 cam for not only this reason, but also for smoothness (the car is a daily driver) and gas mileage. It is a whimpy cam by the standards of most builds discussed on this board. The engine still had excellent dyno numbers, although they would have been significantly higher if we had used a racier cam. For my purposes, this is just fine. Regarding wheelspin, I really don't know! I would guess that it doesn't spin much from a stop, with a 2.73 rear and 5200 lbs. I know it will leave to satisfyingly black stripes when launched with the help of brakes (Jim did this after the engine was done to make sure the posi worked). With gas prices the way they are, not to mention other things, I try not to abuse the poor thing too much. I do, however, launch authoritatively down acceleratiion lanes; gotta have some fun sometimes!
What are the horsepower limits on a 4 door hardtop before you need to consider the structure weakness and stock suspension? 12mpg isn't bad with that much power. A brand new 1975 or 1976 won't get more than 12mpg.
It was available on all '76 models except the skyhawk I believe. B,C,E for sure. I'm pretty sure the A and X too as it was just an indicator lamp on those cars. It's vacuum operated. See it on the far right of the cluster? This is actually a 1975 Electra Park Avenue that doesn't have automatic air conditioning (ATC). Phil Racicot has a breakdown of all 1975 options and what percentage of the Electras built during the 1975 model year were equipped with those options. I don't think the usage gauge came on too many Electras.
