My car is running like its never ran before.... now on all 8 cyls!!! New clutch really makes ALOT of difference. I never thought I could chirp 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gear!!! ...Up next is a T-5 rebuild (second gear synchro is dead) and headers!

It's going to get hooked up to a scanner today to try to figure out why its tripping a SES every once in a while, and to figure out why it bogs so bad when the car is cold, and sometimes when its warm.


But man it was sooooo cool to bang it into 4th gear @ 85 mph and have the back tires say "REEEK!"

 

great to hear it runs better, but i think you are having traction problem if you can chirp 4th with an lo3

my car which dynoed 240+ TQ to the rear wheels, will barely chirp 2nd when i shift it pretty hard. and that is with a centerforce DF clutch. of course i have a few suspension mods but i am still running 235 street tires on the stock 15x7 wheels.

 

Something must be wrong if you can barely get 2nd. I'll admit my passenger side rear tire is slightly bald, but it still has some tread left, and I know its not like I have posi yet.

But man the car's running awesome, it's never been like this before. I can't wait to slap some headers on it, and I've decided to go 3.28 posi for the rear...That way I get a nice top end speed.

 

No, the LO3 is not a powerhouse of a motor. Chirping 3rd is semi beleivable. Chirping 4th has to be an exageration with just a catback and a clutch that puts the transmission back to stock form. And with second, it must take a while to get into it with a dead syncro. My 3rd gear is bad so it crunches when i slam it in. Not trying to be a jerk but a lot of new people start tossing around hp numbers and what their car can do like its nothing.

Why a 3.28 posi? How much top end do you want to go? I run 90 at 3k rpms, and 90s about the max i want to go. Especially at the track cause the LO3 has most of that midrange and low power.

 

nope, everything is RIGHT i have alot of work, and money into my suspension, it isn't a stand out in a straight line, because it is designed to handle, but from setting it up to handle i have enough thing upgraded so that it will hook well for straight line too.

 

See my avatar.

I'm also planning on getting a SBC 400 with TPI.

 

i sure hope you plan on alot more than an engine and a posi to hit 170.

 

All I'm saying is I want to make sure I have some nice top end power. 170 would be freakin scary.

 

with 3.42s you would be able to do 150+ ealisly (horse power dependent of course)

if you go to a t56 you can run 4.11s + and still have good top end.

just how fast to you plan to run the car? with 3.28s you car won't pull as hard at any spead as it will with 3.42s.

 

Well it just goes to show that everyone has a different opinion. I was told that 3.28's are just about the perfect all around gear, by a guy who has ran a few cars with SBC 400's. Thats the engine I want, he's got expierience with it, so I thought maybe he knows what he's talking about. Before he told me about 3.28's, I was sold on 3.42's.

So basically your saying go 3.42, and I'll be happy? Sounds right.

 

the engine really doesn't have much to do the engine. it has everything to do with the transmision gear ratios, and the powerband (cam/intake combo).

 

Dewey, something must be off in your car, when mine was stock (save for a 3.23 gear) I had 258 ft/lb peak torque to the rear wheels when I did my dyno. This is with a 700r4 too and a 2.5 inch dynomax cat + cat back flowmaster.

I'm looking for around 270-280 ft/lb of torque now that I have 1.6 rockers, a redesigned y-pipe ala slp design and some flowtech headers.

 

i had a clogged cat while on the dyno, the peak TQ was at about 1800rpm. it has alot more power than that dyno run shows.

i can tell you i gained ALOT of power when i replaced the clogged 2 1/4" cat with a highflow 3" and 3" catback i would guess i am easily in the 260+ range now.

my point was any lo3 breaking the tires loose in 4th has some sort of suspension/traction problem.

 

I just went to lunch, and on a nice straight, I turned down my stereo, rung the car out, powershifted into 4th and sure enough it chirped!

Possibly theres been some mods done to the car before I got it. The back tires have a decent amount of tread on them. The car just pulls really hard all the way up to 90, thats as fast as I've taken it so far.

 

i'm not calling you a lair . . .

but an l03, t5, 4th gear, and tires chirping just doesn't add up in my head. like i said either you are having serious traction issues, your engine isnt' a stock lo3, or it is snowing out.

 

I know that I have never added any major mods, but thats not to say that nobody else did before I got the car. The suspension seems fine, nothing worn out... And the rear tires have plenty of tread on them.

I guess I'll run it down the 1/4 and see what pans out.

I'm seriously not making this up, it really is chirping 4th. It just doesn't seem like it's something my car should be capable of.

 

that is what i have been saying...

what kind/size tires do you have? is the suspension completly stock? how many miles on it?

 

I believe the tires are 235's, but I'd have to walk outside to check, and I'm pretty lazy (actually im just at work). The suspension is stock exept for the struts. The car has 127k on the odometer.

 

Maybe it's just the fresh clutch not letting anything slip.

 

like i said, something just doesn't add up, with the worlds best clutch, a stock lo3 should not be able to bust the tires loose in 4th gear.

 

he doesnt have posi, and that makes a world of difference in traction. run it in the quarter.

my buddy has a 1999 ranger v6 5 speed that he chirps third (its a peg leg).

 

Posi will be nice... I'm kinda tired of the one tire frier setup...

 

It's really not all that unbelivable, the T-5's that were put into lo3 TBI 305's had the absolute best ratio's of any of the transmissions, mix that with someone who knows how to shift and a lot can happen.

 

...And I know how to shift.

 

you gotta have some kinda of suspension problems or something, if your chirping 4th. i am also not calling you a liar, but it is just hard to believe that you can chirp 4th with an LO3. I used to be able to chirp 3rd easily before i got the new suspension, now i can only chirp 2nd. so i am thinking you need suspension upgrades.

 

I'd also go along with the general consensus on this, in my car a '91 LO3 w/ 5 speed and the 3.08 open rear the best I could do was chirp the tires very slightly going into 3rd gear and I have the 16x8 tires decent tread (at the time) and Z28 suspension from the factory all with about 60k miles. So, I could see a tired old suspension and the 15x7 wheels chirping a little into 4th maybe.

 

i have the lo3 and i barely chirp 3rd... i can only get 4th in the rain.

 

Without posi, I think he can do it...

I busted my stock 2.73 gears with an auto and a stock LO3...

 

I believe him. Peg leg, good clutch, stock suspension, crappy tires, why not? A friend of mine has a FWD w/ torqueless 4 banger and a 4 puck racing clutch, guess what he chirps all 5 gears effortlessly.

My car with 3.73s and weak posi and stock suspension, would chirp 3rd all day long with 15 x 7" and cheap tires. I used to let people in highschool drive my car just so they could feel what it was like to chirp 3rd. I've even caught a "few", small chirps out of 4th, but not something I could do on command. Even with 16 x 8" and goodyear GS-C tires I've gotten a squeek at the track from 4th.

My GTA also a 5 speed, but has a lot of aftermarket suspension mods has probably never chirped 3rd and can barely chirp 2nd, yet it probably has more power than the LO3. I've ran both cars with the same wheel/tire combo.

Suspension and tires are very important to traction and chirping gears. The funny thing is that my LO3 has much better 60' times 2.10 vs the GTA's 2.19. On the street the GTA has WAY more traction.

 

I think you could go at least 3.42 or 3.55 with the rear. What's in there now? If it's stock, being a T5 it's gonna be 3.08s or 3.23s. I don't really think a lower gear than 3.23 is gonna limit your top speed enough for you to notice unless you move to South Dakota or one of those states that doesn't have a speed limit and long straight stretches of highway. Plus you will enjoy the extra "UMMMPH" that a lower gear and posi will provide.

 

A thought on top end gearing. I have 3.73s now and at 80 mph my car runs at ~2700 rpm in 5th gear. That means I have gearing to theoretically go ~160 mph at ~5400 rpm, of course you would need a lot more HP to push that much wind. I bet the car will have a higher top end with 3.73s vs 3.42 or 3.23 with anything less than 350 hp.

 

that is a very good point, that you are going to run out of power, before you run out of gear.