I heard changing the secondary rods and hanger on my 83 CC Q-jet on my LG4 would dramatically increase performance. I heard to use a "G" hanger with "DR" rods. How much performance are we talking? I work at a Chevy dealer so I can get discounts on stuff. Please let me know as I want to do it before Friday night drags this week. Thanks in advance.

------------------
1983 T-top Trans Am. All stock (for now) LG4/auto/3.73 posi. 70,000 original miles. SLOWLY going through a Knight Rider conversion. (it will be done one of these years)
Bset of 15.79@86mph 2.16 60ft

1963 Dodge Dart drag car. 360/904/4.88
Best of 10.94@120.44mph

 

"Dramatic" is probably an overstatement. "Noticeable" is more like it.

LG4's typically suffer from the restrictive air cleaner housing, and less-than-full opening AV. Fix those first. See the tech articles for q-jet mods if you don't know about the AV.

Then, exhaust is the next restriction. Get that opened up, the cam can't take advantage of the other improvements. After the cam is taken care of, the heads are a bottleneck.

I say all this because the rods & hanger alone won't make a "dramatic" difference, but together with these other items, they will.

FWIW, your best time is right around my altitude-corrected best time when stock with an open element air cleaner and rod & hanger tuning. You have better gears, but I have better compression. With the mods in the sig, I'm using DR rods on a B hanger (no track time yet).

------------------
82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R4, 2300 stall TC. Ported World 305 heads, Crane PowerMax 2050 cam. ZZ4 intake, oil pump, pan & baffle. Accel HEI SuperCoil & module. Hooker 2055 headers, 3" Catco cat & 3" catback w/dual-opposite Flowmaster 80. 2.93 limited slip. Spohn SFCs waiting to be installed. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily year-round driver. Best ET, speed TBD...
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. '66 396, 9.7:1 forged TRWs, Weiand Action+, Holley 750VS w/4150 conversion, GK 270 cam, Magnum rockers, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" Hedders & 3" Warlocks, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & Trans-Scat shift kit, MegaShifter, 3.08 8.2" 10-bolt w/Powertrax, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Idles smooth @ 700 RPM in D. Best 15.02/95.06 @ 5800' Bandimere (corrected 13.93/102.4 @ sea level).

 

I just bought an almost identical car to yours.
83 TA LG4.. T-tops.
I jsut swapped out the Stock N hanger, and ch rods, today and replaced them with DR rods, and an F hanger.I don't think that lil motor necesitates the D hanger that i've got.
That being said, changing the metering rods, the hanger, and taking the AV setting to a 1/4 turn over Zero, and adjusting the TV cable properly gave it a Noticeable differenc in Punch.. it's no hot smallblock but it's more livable now.
Afer you've done that, bump the timing up to about 8-10 degrees, and see if you can feel the difference. If it pings under WOT knock it back a degree or two.
The combination of those two will give you a noticeable differnce.

Those 3.73 gears are a help, mines got 3.23's from what the speedo tells me, so that's Ok for now. Mines also got the aircleaner with the "hole" in the top for the funcitonal bulge so that too helps the airflow a smidge.

Doing that stuff should get you a couple ponies here and there.

 

Yeah, right now I have an "N" hanger with "CH" rods. With my timing at 8*, and the 3.73's, I ran the time in my sig. Im going to a carb shop tomorrow so Ill grab a few comobs and experiment with them. Thanks for the advice though.

------------------
1983 T-top Trans Am. All stock (for now) LG4/auto/3.73 posi. 70,000 original miles. SLOWLY going through a Knight Rider conversion. (it will be done one of these years)
Bset of 15.79@86mph 2.16 60ft

1963 Dodge Dart drag car. 360/904/4.88
Best of 10.94@120.44mph

 

How do you tell when the rod & hanger combination goes too far?(too rich?). I would also like to open up the air cleaner to an open element but whenever I flip the
lid ,exposing a 1/4" air gap to the filter,
I get terrible bog that never goes away.

------------------
Matt R

 

MD- you nearly CAN'T go too far with the secondary rods. You'll just have to trust me on that. I've been at it with QJets for a long time.

If you flip the lid and get a constant bog it could be that the air cleaner lid is somehow interfereing with the opening of the secondaries since it's shaped a litte different upside down as it is right side up.

To confirm this just remove the air cleaner lit (temporarily!) an take a spin. I bet the bog is gone.