help,, anybody ever....

[stracer859]

anbody ever switch to a new motor with 100 more horspower and only gain a lil over 2 tenths in the 1/8 mile ? i know i am bummed the hell out about this.
to be more specific, my old lil 355 chevy made right at 500 hp and with a th350 ran around a 7.14 in the 1/8. built a new motor lil 383 chevy, made 614, went to a glide, converter is a lil tight only going 4300 compared to 5200 with the old combo and now ran a 6.95 last night first time out. kinda thinkin im gettin the raw end of a deal somewhere and looking for any ideas as to where this power is going. i figured with that tight converter it should have run around a high 6.70 and was hoping to get into the 5s on 200 or 250 shot. any advice or ideas are gladly welcomed cause im sure im missing something and jumping ahead of the gun here

[sunsation540]

look at your 60ft you gave up that low gear. it's hard to get 3000.+ lbs moving did you change rear gear? what happend to your trap rpm?

[John_Heard]

Oh that ain't bad, I've known a number of guys that built brand new motors, sunk thousands of dollars into stuff. They bring the car back out and gain zero/zip... Yeah, it tends to bum you out, all it really means is you've thrown the combination off in some way and need to sit down and think about it some. Look at it this way, at least you've gained 2 tenths in the 1/8, I happen to know a few guys here on this site that would trade their left arm for that haha.. Those improvements get harder and harder to come by!

Much of what you've likely done (tighter converter/glide) will show more benefit when you start spraying it I imagine. Why don't you post your incrementals from last years best pass and this years?

[dadnova]

HP is only part of the equation. Its not how much HP you have but how you use it or how much of it is being put to the track properly.
Everything has to work together as one.
Once more HP added then other things have to be adjusted as well so things work in harmony again.

[ytnova]

Did it pick up any mph? I would think the converter being so tight and the loss of gear down low are most likely where the difference is. Wait till ya spray it and hold on.

[1320quick]

It's hard to say without seeing the time slip but if I had to guess, I would say that it's directly related to the transmission change. I would say your lucky to have picked up 2 tenths after changing the first gear ratio. How much does this car weigh? In my my opinion, any car that weights more than 3200lbs needs to 1200-1400hp to pickup ET going to a glide. In heavy door cars, a glide might be more consistent bracket racing but it certainly not the best choice for going faster. I still run a t400 3-speed in my 71 Nova with a 850hp 540ci and a 250+ shot of nitrous. Need that low gear to get the car moving. I actually went from a 2.48 first gear to a 2.10 first this year and the car slowed down a tenth running on the motor. Like others have said, the car should pick that up if you spray it hard enough to get it moving.....

[rustbucket]

I think you are in the ball park with your et. My motor is a 406 in a 72 nova with a powerglide (that by the way, picked my car up et and mph), 4.56 gears and a 3800 stall. The dyno software at a local college's auto mech department said my motor should have 698 horsepower and 499 ft pds of torque. And my car's best time has only been a 6.80 @101 mph. My 1st time out with this motor I ran a 6.94 and I was estatic with the results. To be honest Im not saying its impossible to run 6.70's with a 383 but I cant think of ever seeing a 3000-3200 nova doing it on motor only. Most of the guys I race with, with larger small blocks (406-434) are running around 6.80 to 6.90 something. We have a few with 468 to 496 cubes in novas that are only running 7.0's.
It is my opinion that 1st time out a 6.95 in a nova is pretty damn fast, The fact that you are doing it with a 383 makes it real damn fast! You still shouldnt have a problem seeing the 5's with nitrous.
As far as the glide, That was the single best improvement ive made to my car. I knew it would help me on the bottle and I was very suprized to see that it picked me up 4/100's and 2 -3 mph in the 1/8th mile. Dont regret going to the glide.

[sc racing]

Are you guys sure you have accurate dyno readings?Im only saying because I used to use a dyno guy who didnt build motors.He didnt care if you made 200hp or 800hp he just wanted to give you accurate and real #s.Heres some old time slips from my camaro 3150# 421 small block that dyno @561hp and I think around 525ft lbs

[sc racing]

I also thought it was around 33hp to go a tenth quicker so 100 hp gain should give you 3 tenths.I dont know where I heard or read the 33hp thing but if its true stracer589 your really close.

[stracer859]

well i wasnt after a bunch i just figured a high 6.70 with a 3200 lb turd and 614 hp. but im still gonna tinker with it on motor, plugs are a #8 i think ngk and had a lot of idle time on them, so im gonna change them, maybe to a #6 or 7, check timing to make sure nothing changed from the car to the dyno then do some plug reading maybe saturday at bowling green. still waiting to get my new rear shocks and my split monos. my cylinder head guy(mike stark) says it ought to haul ass on the spray. so ill wait till i get it all adjusted before i really start cryin to much

[stracer859]

i think the old motor was a 7.14 @ 94 or 95 mph, 1.52 60 ft. tuesday night it was a 6.92 @ 101, 1.58 60 ft. just a real slug out of the hole, close to the top of first it really started to pull. old motor on a 150 shot was 6.58 @ 105 and a 1.40 60 ft

[rustbucket]

im not at all sure on what this guy came up with on his computer. I 1st thought he was nuts! But after seeing a guy in our car club dynoed his factory 04 cobra mustang with a kenny bell super charger my hp didnt seem so crazy. He dynoed 680 hp at the rear wheels! His best et has been a 11.20 at 130 mph. He has slicks on his car with some high dollar racing clutches. His et reflects (he cant drive) but I can run in the 10's after coasting from the eighth.
I would have guessed my motor had 575 hp. Im not a hp junkie anyhow im concerned about point a to point b. I had him run my combo for kicks.

[jones_performance]

usually you need to change the rear gear when going to a glide.

[stracer859]

well im also gonna change from a 275/60 drag radial to a 26-8.5 so that will give me a hair more gear. after a lot of thought and seeing what other people run,, i think its pretty close actually to have that tight converter and a 4.10 gear. gonna put it on the scales tomorrow since bowling green is havin a mopar meet this weekend and see what it weighs now

[stracer859]

well i got the nitrous and the nitrous timer wired up this weekend, got my big shot plate jetted for a 150 hp, hope it will work that low. i got to send my odessy battery back to jegs, its been givin me a fit the past couple weeks. hoping to get my new battery and a new set of slicks by this weekend, hopefully i can go make a couple shots and see what this over priced junker will run now.