Big Leche

I have a 71 cutlass s that is just about out of paint. It has a stock 1968 350 with fresh rebuild. From what I was told It has RV cam but that's about it. Stock exhaust manifolds, dual exhaust. Trans has shift kit. Rear end has 342 with posi. Anyone have a guess as to what it would do in the 1/4 mile?

coppercutlass

I would assume somewhere in the 15's. I ran 13.9's to 14.0's and I had more mods. Mild but I had tq. Converter that stalled at 2200, headers, manual steering and a stripped out interior

455man

I'd guess mid 15's.

chadman

yep

Raydermiike

A stock 350... 15's Used to have a stock 68 Cutlass ran 15's. If you want better you are going to have to modify.

DENT

My 72 Olds has a mild cam , mild port work on the heads , exhaust manifolds with duel 2 1/4 pipes a shift kit , 2200 stall , 273 rear gear , best run was 15.63 at 92 mph. The car weigh's 3900.

Mr Nick

When I had my 70 convertible, it was a stock engine & trans, manifolds with factory dual exhaust and 3.42 posi. Ran a 15.3

It did have Performer intake and Pertronix ignition module, that's it.

Big Leche

I used to drive a 1996 impala.. it ran high 13 to low 14. I would like my cutlass to do the same. Looks like an intake, carb, stall convertor, headers, electric fans, are going to be next in order to get this car to move a bit. I would be happy with 14.5 LOL

oldsmobiledave

Where are you planning to run? You can be up to another half second slower at high elevation.

coppercutlass

I ran 13.8's with a very mild combination no exotic parts just the right combination of stock parts and go fast goods.

Big Leche

I live in phoenix...so that means i gain a second right LOL

Big Leche

What would you suggest i do to car to get into low 14 range?

coppercutlass

I ran 13.9's with a 3.42 gear. I ran a 2200 stall converter. I had headers and an x pipe with hooker aero chamber mufflers. The engine was just a 9 to 1 compression 350 with a mild comp cams 260h , edelbrock performer intake, 600 cfm carb, hei dist., I ran a stock 73 short block and stock 72 7A heads . I ran manual steering, I also ran electric fans, and I had an electric motor drive the water pump the moroso kit., all I ran was the alt from the engine. Nothing real fancy just your usual bolt on parts essentially. My trans was also a th400 it might be a tad bit faster with a th350. My car was also relatively light when it was still all steel. I had a gutter interior just racing buckets and a 4 pt. roll bar. I also ran a 26 in. tall tire to bump up the rear gear ratio up a bit to help it off the line. I did all kinds of little thing that took me from a 14.3 to a 13.86 eventually.

Mr Nick

What was done to the heads? You're already off to a good start with a 68 engine instead of a 71, but depending how it was rebuilt, your compression could suck. What's your ignition?

Minor porting, good compression and matching cam, headers, intake, mild converter and the whole combo tuned well should meet your goal on the driveline. Don't forget suspension affects 1/4 mile times as well.

Whenever I finally get to the track, I expect my ET to be lower than it "should" be based on trap speed, because my wheels/tires/suspension are set up for handling.

dc2x4drvr

Get your checkbook out

coppercutlass

No offense but for his goals he does not really need porting or fancy stuff. It's gonna come down to squeezing everything out of his motor like headers etc etc. That perticual combo I had heads and short block where stone stock exc. The freshening up of them. It was sweet simple and fun. I should have never gotten rid of that engine. It was dead reliable and ran on 87.

odddoylerules

check my similar post here too!

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...4-guesses.html

z11375ss

LMAO! EXACTLY what I was thinking. And that probably won't help much. No offense. These cars are not exactly drag strip terrors. Just drive the car and enjoy it for what it is. If you want a race car, build one.

railfan442

I have a 72 442 with a 455, stock dual exhaust, Pertronix Ignitor 1, K&N air filter and a shift kit. This particular night at a test and tune, I had Mickey Thompson ET Street drag radials on the rear and ran a 14.67 @93mph. The weather was in the 60's that night and she ran hard in the cooler air. Earl is out...

odddoylerules

a fuel pump and 75 hp of spray?

coppercutlass

Don't do nitrous unless you feel like picking up bits off the race track. I woujld not use nitrous on cast pistons at alll even a 75 shot. People have safely but on little thing goes wrong and boom you turned your pistons to dust. Specially if they are original cast units.

captjim

I disagree. The best bang-for-the-buck on a daily driven street car is nitrous. Are you saying that if you do other mods which increase HP and TQ 75 that the pistons won't survive? Nonsense. It is all about cylinder pressure. All nitrous does is chemically acheive this vs mechanically. There is just more air and fuel in the combustion chamber. And, the lower the compression ratio, the better it works. A 50 shot and drag radials should easily put him in the low 14s and a shot that small will be safe. I ran a <100 shot on my cast pistonned 355 (13.9 n/a) and went 12.7 and a 1.73 60' with a 3.42 gear shifting at 4600. The massive low rpm (3,000-4500)torque is ridiculous. There are safetly considerations, but no biggie.

coppercutlass

Here is where I am at on this . Nitrous is not bad but you have to run it right other wise bang. Im assuming he still has cast o.e. pistons I feel 40 yr. old cast units might have some wear to them and possible hidden stress cracks which is why I said what I did. I ran cast flat tops on one of my previous engines. When I took it apart I had 4 cracked piston skirts and a crack forming around the pin bore . Of course this is the same with any mods stuff can go wrong. Considering the fact the op. still has manifolds . I think his money is best spent else where. I feel that by the time you invest money to properly run the nitrous that money could have been spent better else where. I think with what he already has he can easily get in to the high 13 low 14 sec range with some mods and tuning. I feel that if the op. still needs a little tuning experience than tweaking this current engine to go as fast as possible will serve as good experience then down the road that tuning lesson can be put to work tuning nitrous. One reason I chose not to run nitrous is I don't trust my self and wouldn't want to risk it. Even now I run my timing on the conservative side and im n/a and im safe on pump gas.

captjim

You are entitled to your opinion, I just do not agree with it. It will take a fait amount of work and $ to get that car into the high 13s. Headers alone cost more than nitrous. For $500 and an afternoon, N2O will do it. IMHO. In either case, a gear change will help a LOT, at least in the "fun" category, if it has not already been done, and would be my first upgrade.

captjim

You may find the opposite to be true. Cars set up with tight, handling suspensions don't usually fare as well as those set up for weight transfer. That said, some stickie drag radials will compensate for most flaws in any suspension.

odddoylerules

speaking of weight transfer, anyone have numbers on the improvement of 60 ft and et when you unbolt a front swaybar?

odddoylerules

and agreed, the nitrous system on the camaro was less than $500, but by the time it first sprayed I had rigged a hobbes switch to cut the system if fuel pressure dropped, had a WOT switch sent out, installed a 220lph in tank pump, bought an rpm activated window switch. By the time we got it all together, it was more like $950 and almost a month of work.

Then I had to deal with running stock timing in the chip, and needed a work around to modify the ecu to switch between my N/A tune and a stock timing "nitrous" tune. All for a 50-75 hp shot on a 225hp cast piston chevy 350. The torque was nice with the stock 2.7x gears though, gotta say.

then a lady in a minivan t-boned me about a week later. bummer. RIP ol girl

captjim

I did a lot of that, too, but in reality for a 50-75 shot, it really wasn't neccessary. Even a timing drop (couple degrees??) isn't really required. WOT switch, definitely. Nitrous should only be used at WOT. And this guy does not have any computer controls.

odddoylerules

anyone ever used a dry shot? Can old cars even USE a dry shot?

captjim

No, you must mechanically add fuel along with the N2O. Not positive, but I believe the "Dry" systems add extra fuel via the ECM and injectors.

odddoylerules

they just sprayed nitrous at the carb in a freiburger video short where they stripped a corvette

coppercutlass

yeah that was on an engine that was not meant to live longer than their point to prove I think. I also belive they just fogged the top of the throttle body.


Edit: I had posted about a chart and a feature car I was thinking of the top shot system that still runs fuel. I thought car craft did a dry shot test for some reason. I edited that out. I digged through my old copies and proved my self wrong lol.

captjim

That makes no sense to me. You could only run it with the nitrous, without it the engine would be very rich.

EDIT: here is an easy read,
http://www.go-fast.org/z28/new_to_nitrous.html
Like I thought, it is done through the injectors, not practical on a carbureted engine. Good article for someone new to it.

coppercutlass

I edited that jim. I was thinking of a feature nitrous test car on car craft. I thought for some reason the did a dry shot. It was just a top shot system. The charts they had where for starting refrences.


Edit : if im thinking of the correct vette from hot rod magazine. All they did was run nitrous hoses over the top of the throttle body and let it eat.