thegooseman

I finally have my car running. Its a miniramed 355 with AFR 195 Eliminators, Comp Cams 280 XFI, SLP 1 5/8 shorties, duel cats, 58mm TB, Magnaflow 3 inch catback. I plan on upgrading to Dyno Dons shorties soon.

My build thread is located here...

http://socaltpi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20

Here are a couple videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Mjls4yLMo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hccacwFX_Tw

Burnout91

Looks great, sounds great; how does it feel? Stock converter, or higher stall?

Bill

thegooseman

At first it felt like a glorified 305 but my neighbor burned me a chip with an LT1 timing curve and it feels a lot better. So far I have driven it about 150 miles and I haven't brought it passed 4500 rpm. I can feel the powerband start around 3500, so I'm eager to see what happens when I go to 6 grand.

As for the stall I am using the baby 2000 stall I got when the transmission was built 2 years ago. I want to get Dons headers and the car dyno'd before I choose a stall.

Overall I am happy with it and cant wait until I can do a real WOT pull.

-Tony

ownor

iTrader: (5)

Gotta look at those links later on but sounds good what you have there. Do you have a wideband to verify the air/fuel ratios are good? I'd make darn sure they are before getting on it

ASE doc

I'll ditto what ownor said about fuel tuning, and add that, even on your 355, that cam is small for the Miniram. It wants to rev to 7,000 and will make good power well past 6,500. To do that it needs atleast 240 degrees of .050 duration and as much lift as your heads allow, which is about .600. Also, when you talk to Don think about 1.75 primaries and a 3.5" exhaust.

ownor

iTrader: (5)

i thought about that, too. this thread is getting interesting

TMFK

Yeah, let us know how it runs when you get it broke in. (et.'s or dyno #'s maybe?) I'm gonna be running the exact same combo. I've got the afr's already hoping to swap this fall. Still gotta get the cam, LS7 lifters, gaskets ect.

LB9GTA

iTrader: (1)

I had a combo very close to yours

A 383 sbc stroker, 195 AFR, 1 5/8 headers and open exhaust, 280XFi, LT1 intake(very close to a mini ram).
I had 3.73 gears and a 700r4 and 3200 stall.
I did 377rwhp N/A and a best of 12.09 in the 1/4 in a 3650lb GTA.

Mine would like to rev to 6500, and it would prolly rev higher if I had 1 3/4 headers

thegooseman

Wow! All of a sudden this thread picked up.

Woops. No I don't. Ok so I have gotten on it and did manage to bring it up to 6000 rpm, and it felt amazing. I talked to my engine builder about getting on it and he said it would be ok since the engine was already on the engine dyno. As for the air/fuel ratios I should get that checked out.

Of course I plan on taking it to Irwindale(1/8th mile) next week if I have it off. I want to see before and after results with my current shift points then later. Then with the 1 5/8th headers that I have now and the 1 3/4 when I get them.

Your rwhp number and E.T. is what I was shooting for with this engine. What worries me is that you had a 383 and mine is only a 355, but I have seen 350's on here with this cam supporting those numbers so hopefully I can reach my goal.

ownor

iTrader: (5)

So a 383 with basically the same setup.. That would also back up the guess that with a smaller 350 the powerband would be peakier and shift up by say, 500 rpms give or take. Power could be close though, but the 3.42 won't help to reach a faster 1/4, might be a tad slower..
Can your bottom end/valve train handle higher rpm, say in the range of about 7k? Cause that's where this setup would feel at home imho.

thegooseman

I think my bottom end can rev that high but I dont know how reliable it will be. The block is an L98 so it is a 2 bolt main. Its the stock crank, zz4 rods w/ARP bolts, hypereutectic pistons, and it has all been balanced.

As for the top end I have the AFR 195 Eliminators with the 8019 spring upgrade and 3/8 studs. I am using LS7 lifters. The heads are also bolted down with ARP bolts.

I also believe I need to upgrade my fuel pump. It was replaced back in 06 when I first got the car but I don't know what the mechanic used. I am assuming stock replacement.

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

Looks good and sounds good. You will also need to upgrade that air inlet/lid. You need to get rid of that choke point. You will also need to come to our next dyno sessions for some WOT tuning.

thegooseman

I am so eager to get this car on the dyno.

ownor

iTrader: (5)

Ok.. maybe someone else can chime in here on what the bottom end (rods, crank) can take rpm-wise? I'm sure the rest of your combo would respond well to higher redline..

TMFK

zz-4 rods are powder metal and stronger than pink rods and the arp rod bolts help a lot. The cast crank and 2 bolt are the weak point tho. It'll be ok if he keeps it under 6500ish IMO.

ASE doc

The top end power limit of your combination will be cut by the 280 cam. That cam is on the small side for the Miniram. You would be better off with the ZZX(240/240@.050 .560/.560) those lift numbers are with 1.5 rockers and become .600 with 1.6 rockers. With that cam, the Miniram will rev strong to 7,000.

Whether your cast crank will take the revs depends alot on your balance point. The rotating assembly is balanced two ways. First,the weight of the rods and pistons is static balanced, then the assembly is spun on a lathe and dynamic balanced at a given speed which you can decide. I like 6,000rpm for a high test small block. So, at 6,000rpm it is at zero balance. Therefore, 7,000 isn't far from its zero balance point. The rest of the rev range is handled by the fluid damper. The damper you use is second only to balance in crank survival.

thegooseman

I had the transmission adjusted to shift at 6000 rpm at WOT. So I went to Irwindale last night (1/8 mile) and got five runs in. I still have a lot of work to do. My best run was my first one. (go figure) These runs were done on street tire.
1st
60' 1.975
1/8 8.765
mph 80.88

2nd trany kicked back down into second
60' 2.005
1/8 9.060
mph 75.54

3rd spun a little off the line, took off the air lid
60' 2.029
1/8 8.884
mph 79.72

4th meh... Put air lid back on but left the filters out
60' 1.958
1/8 8.876
mph 78.01

5th Trany shifted way to early into second about 4500 air lid on
60' 2.013
1/8 9.155
mph 75.15

I was expecting to run 8.5's There was a TA there that was running a hair faster than I was and he was a bolt on 350 TPI. So I said wtf.

Granted I still need
1.CAI
2.Upgrade from 1 5/8 headers to 1 3/4
3. Stall
4.Dyno Tune
5. Tire

Then perhaps adjusting the shift points higher if I need to.

VincentZ28

iTrader: (2)

First of all it is not tune. Second, you need to shift around or close to 6500.

ASE doc

As far as your air lid goes, look at what Ibad91Z is doing with the stock unit. I did this mod to mine this winter and the difference is huge. Also, the Iroc was made for ram air and it really does work wonders.

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

Address all the 5 issues you have listed and then lets go from there.

thegooseman

I got the car on the dyno today. 397 rwhp and 353 rwtq. I still need to upgrade from 1 5/8 headers to 1 3/4 and get a proper cold air intake.

Graphs and videos to come...

thegooseman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGa6P0d9ej0

VincentZ28

iTrader: (2)

Here's a better shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckpjPu4McjM

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

Nice numbers but that combo needs 4000 stall to get the most out of it. Shift atleast at 6500. My friend is running 3600 in his with old school AFR 190's with stealth ram and 3.90 gear but 28" tire, its been 7.7's at 87 I believe it was and its suffering horrible valve float. Even with 3600 you can hear the car come into power well after the intial launch, so its needs more converter

1989GTATransAm

iTrader: (3)

Those are very good numbers considering that this is with an unlocked torque converter. He was having problems with the transmission but he would easily had 400+rwhp. With his future mods he has a ways to go horsepower wise.

Those 1 5/8" headers are covering up the exhaust ports on his AFR heads. Not good. With a new larger cold air intake the numbers will also rise some more. What this boils down to is air flow. Gentlemen open up your intake runners.