Powerglide vs. turbo 400

[Rat Patrol]

OK, My plans for next year are to put a NOS kit on my car and try to step up my game. I run a 1972 Nova with a BBC 468 powerglide, 3500tci, 4:56 gears the car wieghts around 3400 give or take 50lbs. w/driver it is all steel ex./hood street car. It;s best times are 6.74@102 w/1.47 60ft. what I was wondering is would a turbo 400 pick the car up? Would going to a 5500 stall in the turbo help? and would this combo like the spray or is the glide with the 3500 stall better? I was looking to spray 200 at the most would like to see the car run in the low 6.00's So I guess my questions to everyone is would the swap help or should I stay with what I have? thanks

[teagersnova]

I run a glide in my nova with a 4500 stall. I had a 400 turbo in at was slower with the same stall. I run 6.17 with a 468 injected on achohol 2sp trans brake. 4.56 in a 2860 74 nova. The turbo 400 is also heaver!!! I would stay with the 2 sp glide I would ask around about the stall using nitrous. I am going to put the spray on mine for this next year. I am going to send the converter in the tighten it up. How much i don't know. Good luck check out my web site.

[John_Heard]

This is one of those classic questions that you'll be hard pressed to find everyone in agreement on LOL. Personally I like 400's and am of the opinion that you put a glide in to kill power/calm down a car at launch but it would be real easy to prove me wrong in different situations I'm sure.

With 4.56 gears (what diameter tires?) you might be running out of gear when you start spraying it when running 1/4 mile. My recommendation would be to leave what you have alone and try the spray, see how the car likes it and make your adjustments from there. You might end up needing a different converter, it's pretty common for a nitrous big block to overpower a standard converter and slip a lot with the increase power.

[8secondz]

my car had a 400 in it and a 5000 stall,..it wouldnt stick on a juice launch no matter what i tried ! i put a glide with a 180 gear in it and i have 4.10 rear gears , with the 400 it shorted 1.40 to 1.50 depending on track ! with the glide it shorts 1.26 so far and i can spray out of the hole ! my car is a 3550 lb true 10.5 85 camaro with a 540 and 275 shot ! oh i also used the same converter !

[stracer859]

im still pondering that theory of a turbo vs a glide and im up in the air. i know ive had buddies with mustangs that picked up when goin to a glide over a c4 c6, only thing i could see that would pick u up is if u had excessive wheel spin that it would calm down the launch. guess one of these days imma try it and see what happens

[jones_performance]

we went from a t350 to glide in our stocker 68 camaro. we saw a slight drop in et just from the trans swap, but saw a greater drop when we went form the 4.88 gears we had to 5.13's. this was a small block car with a 327 and a 30x9 radial slick.

[sverbus]

Typically Glides respond better when behind a large cube motor that is shoving alot of torque out the back. I had a 350turbo behind my 434 sbc and when the pump went and cooked the tranny, I decided to try a glide. It allowed me to come out of the hole much more serious that before. I have a 10.5" '70 Nova weighting around 3100lbs.

Only thing I say to 100% do before putting in the glide, put in a turbo billet shaft and get the pump reworked or buy a new one to flow more fluid. Put a deep aluminum pan on it because of their body being smaller, they have require alot of fluid on launch. And the hardened shaft is always a good thing. Dont' chatter the tires a whole lot if you don't change and put in strong planetaries, and I think anyone with a high torque motor will be pleasantly surprised by a glide.

...just my two cents though :)

Scott