1st Trip to the Dragstrip...

[nico]

So finished the tan pickup and I made my first trip to the dragstrip... With the tailgate removed and normal street tire pressure in the Radial T/A's (nearly 600 ft of wheelspin) it ran 15.77 at a little over 92 mph... Heres the vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuh8V...x=0&playnext=1

With a better light and decent traction I'm thinking 13.5-14's are possible...

[Grande Rojo]

Good MPH
all you need is traction now

[bigblock73]

Pretty neat!

I would have left the 'gate on...the extra 40 pounds couldn't have hurt traction...if anything, it would have helped a little.

[82c10]

give me some info on motor, and i can probably guess your et with traction, i am not joking, i have guessed right on at quite a few at the drag strip

[nico]

The truck has

383, four bolt mains, Keith Black Pistons, Scat crank, PM Rods,
Cleaned up 487X Corvette heads,
Comp 280 cam and 1.6 rockers (.512 total lift, 230 duration),
Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and 1" spacer
modified Holley 750 (choke horn and casting flash removed),
TCI TH400 with a manual valvebody and 2900 stall,
8.5 10-bolt with 3.08 gears and a Detroit Locker.

Traction was by far the limiting factor... I spun through the first two gears easily, but had street pressure in the 275-60-15 Radial T/A's...

[82c10]

14.1 is the quickest it will go with traction, if that

[nico]

How do you come to that conclusion? Are you using a desktop dyno or just guessing? I figured it was in the neighborhood of 400 hp and was hoping to run high 13's with a gear change, and mid 12's with a NOS Top Shot system...

I'm just happy that even with the spinning, it is in the neighborhood, or slightly faster than, most of the newer trucks you run across on the street...

[Pyrotechnic]

3.08 gears blow for performance. I've run both 3.42's and 3.08's in my truck with the stock 350, and the 3.42's are WAY more fun. I can imagine that 3.73's would be a blast. I had to run the 3.08 rear end I had because I was going to be doing mostly highway driving. 3.42's were great for mixed city and highway driving. You can do an hour or two highway trip here and there and it wont be a big deal, your highway RPM's will still be reasonable. If that truck is just a fun toy, then you should consider 3.73's.

[82c10]

myself, 14.1 is probably quicker than you will go, i am giving you the benefit of the doubt,keith blacks are most likely hyper(don't like much nos) BTW probably not 400 hp with that combo, some stock 487's, and a little 280 cam, just give up, it is a heavy truck, without any good suspension underneath it, if you wanna go fast don't get a truck

[72BlckButy]

Good run! Keep us posted on any upgrades.

[nico]

I appreciate everyone's positive comments and would like to remind everyone else that I was just playing around with it... It's just a cruiser that I drove to the track to play around with other cruise participants... I appreciate the educated guesses, but without facts to back them up, place little value on them.

In addition, I have seen some very mild 350-powered trucks that weigh much more than mine run low 15's and high 14's with 3.42 gears and an open rear end; that's pretty close to my goal... And eventually I may go to 3.73 gears, but the 3.08's work very well with the TH400 for cruises and occasional trips to work.

Yes, the pistons are Keith Black HP's, but I've seen them take lots of abuse as compared to SRP's or similar others... The cam is well matched to the weight of the truck and works well with the carb and converter combination. Also, the 487X heads are an early 70's large chamber performance head, not the standard late 70's 350 variety 487's...

I don't really care if it makes over 400 hp or runs a 10-second quarter... It's fun to drive, gets some attention here and there, runs cool and has yet to let me down... Thanks again...

[454HO]

Originally Posted by nico

I don't really care if it makes over 400 hp or runs a 10-second quarter... It's fun to drive, gets some attention here and there, runs cool and has yet to let me down... Thanks again...

That's what it's all about!!

A pair of drag radials would help a bunch for traction. And if you do spin of the line, get out of the throttle a bit. No sense roasting the tires all the way down the track.

Post your complete timeslip if you've got it. At least the 60' time.

[killthewabbit]

A 92 MPH trap speed should mean your truck has the punkin to get into the 14s with some traction, IIRC. I think 10X MPH indicates high 13s with good traction and a 1.5 - 1.6 60 foot time. That's a pretty fast street truck, dude.

[nico]

Thanks...

My actual timeslip reads: Reaction - .2594, 60 ft. - 2.5051, 330 ft. - 6.9799, 1/8th mile - 10.4368/72.34 mph, 1/4 mile - 15.7718/92.16 mph.

Caltracs (or a custom variation of them) and better tires are next... Maybe I'll have slicks mounted on my spare 15x10 Cragar's before I go back...

[ocbaud]

the heads are what is holding you back powerwise. even a set of stock vortecs will flow better and give you a nice boost in power.

next would be your gears and tires. 3.73's or 4.10's would be good with that combo and a set of drag radials.

if you practice your launches and get the gears and tires you'll be into the 14's. for low 14's i'm pretty sure you'll need a better set of heads. all that really matters is your having fun.

[nico]

Thanks for all the encouragement, it makes me want to go back and try it again...

I agree on the heads, but they are a vast improvement over the 882 and 434 castings that were on it before... The 487X's are very similar to World Product Torquers... Maybe one day I'll splurge and go with something like an RHS or similar...

[454HO]

I seriously doubt you can get 1.5-1.6 second 60' times with 2.48 first gear and 3.08 rear end. But if you can get 2.0-2.1 then you should be in the upper 14's.

[killthewabbit]

I completely missed the part with the rear gears. He's totally right, though.

[ocbaud]

Originally Posted by 454HO

I seriously doubt you can get 1.5-1.6 second 60' times with 2.48 first gear and 3.08 rear end. But if you can get 2.0-2.1 then you should be in the upper 14's.

no way he'll get a sub 1.9 60' without slicks, very short gears, and a transbrake in a heavy truck like this

[Pyrotechnic]

Originally Posted by nico

I appreciate everyone's positive comments and would like to remind everyone else that I was just playing around with it... It's just a cruiser that I drove to the track to play around with other cruise participants... I appreciate the educated guesses, but without facts to back them up, place little value on them.

In addition, I have seen some very mild 350-powered trucks that weigh much more than mine run low 15's and high 14's with 3.42 gears and an open rear end; that's pretty close to my goal... And eventually I may go to 3.73 gears, but the 3.08's work very well with the TH400 for cruises and occasional trips to work.

Yes, the pistons are Keith Black HP's, but I've seen them take lots of abuse as compared to SRP's or similar others... The cam is well matched to the weight of the truck and works well with the carb and converter combination. Also, the 487X heads are an early 70's large chamber performance head, not the standard late 70's 350 variety 487's...

I don't really care if it makes over 400 hp or runs a 10-second quarter... It's fun to drive, gets some attention here and there, runs cool and has yet to let me down... Thanks again...

A 2900 stall converter and 3.08 gear don't seem like a good combination for the highway though. You would have to be going about 75-80 MPH before you got to the stall point. I run a 2500 stall converter with 3.08's and it does just fine. 3.42's would work great for you because highway speed will be a touch over 3000 RPM. Either way, make sure you have a LARGE transmission cooler with a high stall converter like that, especially with pushing those highway gears.

[82c10]

Originally Posted by ocbaud

the heads are what is holding you back powerwise. even a set of stock vortecs will flow better and give you a nice boost in power.

next would be your gears and tires. 3.73's or 4.10's would be good with that combo and a set of drag radials.

if you practice your launches and get the gears and tires you'll be into the 14's. for low 14's i'm pretty sure you'll need a better set of heads. all that really matters is your having fun.

thanks for backing up my guesstimate Eric, and you know what it takes to run sub 14's in a truck like this,

[nico]

I agree that the truck will need more power to run better times, (13-14's), but as it stands it's a pretty clean and quick street truck that is lots of fun.

I also agree, that the converter is a bit much, but the truck runs 3150 rpm at 70 mph... The converter will only foot-brake/flash to about 2000 rpm and is livable on the streets. With the manual valvebody it's pretty easy to keep track of the rpms.

I did however add dual transmission coolers, a deep finned aluminum pan and run synthetic ATF... Much better temps and drivability now...

[Pyrotechnic]

Running the same tire size as you, 3000 RPM for me is 75-80 MPH. Sounds like your converter isn't stalled out at that speed. Of course there's always speedometer error as well.

[MylilBowTie]

Ive ran 16.2 @ 86 in my 84. Not getting any traction and falling asleep at the light. It was pretty fun but my first time running at the tack.

[68GMCCustom]

Originally Posted by 454HO

I seriously doubt you can get 1.5-1.6 second 60' times with 2.48 first gear and 3.08 rear end. But if you can get 2.0-2.1 then you should be in the upper 14's.

I love bench racing!

My TBSS weighs well over 4600lbs and only lays down a 2.1x 60'....but will run a 8.9x's 1/8 @ 80.x mph and the 1/4 in 13.8x @ 99.7x... in the Texas heat. Thats a lot better then "upper 14's".

On a side note...my '01 C3 (5200lbs?) with the 325hp 6.0, duals with an x-pipe and a nice tune would run a 2.2x 60' and a 9.7x @ 73.69 1/8th with a 15.0x @ 92.3x 1/4. Tried and tried and never could get that heavy ass AWD truck to bust a 14.99.

all that said....my '68 GMC will be quicker then the TBSS before long!