Ol' Fart's Firebird Fantasy

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Now can I make a suggestion?...Put a basic short block together that won't self destruct and go to the track. A basic trans and converter... and see what it does...Maybe you won't like driving a 4000-5000 LB car. If it doesn't work, get rid of the car or combo and, not a lot invested. And you can still be having fun and learning.

OK, thanks for the advice Mr. Billy. That gives me some ideas and also brings up some questions.

I've already got a 455 with 6x heads in a '68 Bird bracket car. Motor running but car not completed. It has a TH400 with 34 element sprag. No tricks--just basic bracket trans. Has a 9" converter--unknown stall.

My engine guy said the car might get into the high 10's. He's built quite a few Pontiac engines and has a 9 sec GTO now. But I think high 10's are a little optimistic. So, I'm figuring mid 11's.

Haven't weighed the car, but I figure just over 3000lb. So, right now I'm doing all calculations based on this 3000 lb car running 11.50.

(1) I've read that every 100lbs of extra weight will slow you down aprox a tenth. Is this what you have found to be the case ? Or ?

(2) Now, for the part about the 4000lb car. All the bracket cars I drove ran mid 12's. When I made a few passes in my 455 Ventura 2, it was a lot quicker. More G-forces and the shift points came quicker than I was expecting. 7.34 sec(1/8 mile) don't give an old dude much time to shift twice and check the other lane. So, a heavy car that would slow things down a bit would probably be a good idea at this point.

Now, I have a Safari wagon I bought for a future bracket car. Haven't started on it yet. It's not old enuff to run a Pontiac engine in Stock--mid 80's. But, since I already have it, and as you say, I may not like driving the heavy car, I just thought that it might be a good idea to go ahead and put the 455 into the wagon and just see what I can get out of it. If I can't get it to go quick enuff at the aprox weight it would need to be for a '76 wagon, then at least I'd have a Pontiac powered bracket battle wagon. It would be using the stuff I already have, to do the testing with.

So what do you think about that idea ?

(3) Another option I considered is running the 10.90 class with the Bird. I think they run that class at all the division races. If it runs as quick as my engine guy thinks it might, that is a possibility, which might take the least amount of time, work and $. But, it's a heads up class, and you must be able to run 10.90 on race day. I think there are also some safety rules that will be required when going quicker than 11.50.

Any thoughts about that deal ?

That's all my questions for right now. But I thought I'd mention that I was reading about the 10.90 class last night. They were talking about the latest electronic, computerized gizmos they have now that will automatically make the necessary tuning adjustments going down the track, that will produce almost exactly the same ET every pass. They mentioned one guy that dialed the exact same ET all season long, in his bracket car. It seems that if you don't have one of these systems, it is getting harder to win a big money race. They're afraid this could damage the sport and reduce the car count, and even cause some of the smaller tracks to close. But they say there is really no way to solve this problem given the level of tech for bracket cars, at most tracks.

Drag racing has come a long way from how it use to be. Now they got tranny brakes, delay boxes, and God only knows what else. This new technology has taken a lot of the fun out of it, and has made it even more expensive to compete. A little Test & Tune is about all most can afford nowadays.

By the way, the name of my wagon is "Woody". And the name of my '68 is "Early Bird". And here's a couple of more racin plates TJ did.