Damn, all this talk about race tracks, has me chompin' at the bit for April 15!! Gary, definitely run your LeSabre down the quarter, it IS an eye opener:Brow: With the help and advice of the people here, I went from a blistering wheel spinning (on BFG TA's) 15.05 to my best so far 13.65. It IS funny when people comment how fast their car is on the street when they have NEVER been to a track:grin:
speaking of factory ratings. What were the factory claimed street ETs for the 70 GS and the like with the big block stage and all that and the skinny nylon tires? Just curious.
I agree with you Mark, if they haven't been to the track it's a 20 second car for talking purposes. Timeslips are needed otherwise. It is fun though no matter what the car does run!
I've seen several road tests that ranged from a low of 13.38 to a high of low/mid 14's. This book is right up your alley Gary, you'll love it! http://www.trishield.com/cartech-books-buick-muscle.shtml
About that traction control and launching... No one uses it at the track with the modern day muscle cars like camaros or mustangs. It will slow you way down. My 13 SS had launch control and it was horrible. On those car specific forums they'll all tell you the same. Mine was a stick shift and the procedure was to floor the gas and it would stay at 4k rpms. Dump the clutch. The car had to have the traction control set to competetive mode for this to work. It wouldnt 60' for crap. I tried it at a track and the best it did was 2.28sec I turned all the nanny systems off and got 2.08 One other note, the computer pulls alot of timing for different things such as torque management and traction control. It takes a LONG time for it to put the timing back in. Thats part of the reason custom tunes do so much good on the new stuff. All my late model cars ran better with the nanny gadgets turned off. You just had to know how to drive them.
I agree, all these computer controlled fuctions are programmed by a human. Take for example auto headlights, how many times have we seen a late model car on the road, its daytime, snowing, or foggy, their lights ARE OFF, because its bright enough out its not activating the sensor for lights! Too many people rely on a setting programmed by a human, the driver forgets to use common sense:shock:
X2. My Z is the same. Computer detects wheel slippage when you break traction, then the brakes get activated to keep you straight so to speak. Slows you down big time. I shut that crap off. Competition mode is the only way to have fun.:grin:
Good remarks here, and as many said, the new cars are fast and that is with AC and lots of neat options. I'm an old time drag racer that still runs. But I know the capabilities of the new cars. My wife's 2.0L Mini Cooper 6 speed will crack 13s if you abuse it. We love our old cars and that's fine, but our memories fool use on how fast they really were. Lots of people thought these old cars were faster than they really were. Only et slips tell the truth. I like my old cars but have lots of respect for the new ones and what can be done to make them really fast. We can't keep our heads in the sand, wake up America and love the new speed! Jim N.
Maybe Jim is right. Time to face the truth. What we have is style and memories and thats something they cant take away. Fast enough is fast enough if its fun to drive.
No, we all have style and nostalgia with our cars. Your Buick was never meant to go fast. The GS's were purpose built to be musclecars, to go fast in a straight line. In their time, they were plenty fast. You can make the GS's plenty fast if you start with a 455. That applies to your car as well. The old adage applies, there is no replacement for displacement, the exception being forced induction. Today's cars use technology to go faster. An engine is an air pump, the more air you can run through it, the more power it will make. We use technology to make our cars faster as well. All the power potential is in the heads. Aluminum heads right out of the box, can out flow the best ported iron heads. That will soon apply to the SBB as well. You will have to rev the smaller engine higher to make the same HP of the bigger engine, but the heads will make that much easier. Then the question becomes, how much are you willing to tolerate to go faster. Using a bigger cam means a rougher idle and less low end off idle torque. The smaller the engine, the more that applies. Any cam will act smaller in a bigger engine. The faster you spin an engine, the more HP it can make PROVIDING IT CAN BREATHE AT THAT HIGHER RPM. Cams and heads make that possible. But that also means changing gearing and converter to match. More to give up, so the engine gets into it's power range faster. Less gas mileage and street ability, but it will go like hell when you nail it. How much are you willing to give up? Turbocharging and supercharging can give you that power on demand. The new super cars use that technology and forced induction to go really fast. Nothing really new there except micro processor control of fuel, ignition, and valve timing to make maximum power. Then there is traction, stability, and suspension control, again, computer controlled. You can apply modern technology to your old Buick motor if you have the money, and will. The truth is, you will have to spend some serious money to make your land barge really competitive on the street, but it is entirely possible. How much money do you have, and how much are you willing to give up? Time to face the truth? There it is.
A nice addition to that would be a stamped tunnel that would fit right in after a cut out to accommodate the larger trans body and package the whole thing with a computer control for trans, trans cross member etc. Would be nice to keep your Buick engine and put in a later trans with a packaged product. I know there are some 4l60 adapters and such but the new tranny's with a removable bell and just crying to be transplanted into older Buicks!!!
