I decided to race my friends 87 firebird v6 700r4 stock cept for a flowmaster catback. I have an 85 camaro w/ a 5.7 tpi very stock w/ a 700r4. We went from a roll. We both hit it at the same time as I kicked down into 2nd as did he. I barely pulled away and got about a 2 lengths on him as I let off. I shifted at about 4900-5000 but had to let off the gas in order to do so. My question is, does this mean I have a 16 sec car? I'm sure I probably could of faired better from a stop being that's where the motor would of had a better standpoint, but still this seems too slow.

Any thoughts as to if this would of been expected? Or is my engine at a loss of power, or just built with too little power?
This really bums me out, I wish I had a decent car

 

Tune Up!

And yes you would have done better from a Dig if you could have hooked.

 

You went from a roll AND you let off just getting into 2nd. Maybe you should have opened up the 2 cars a little more and considered what had happened. I think it would be a little early right now to make any assumptions, but there's no way in h*ll that (what) 2.8 or 3.1 stocker should keep up with a healthy running 5.7 tpi stocker.

 

Well, I've pulled on several late model impalas, mid 90's prelude, 99 v6 mustang, so wouldn't my car have been able to pull harder? I know it kicked down to about 3k, so it wasn't really pulling hard at all till around 4k.

 

To give you a comparison, my buddy's L98 with headers beat my stock 305 by at least two cars running on ONLY six cylinders.

Something is wrong with your setup. You should have waxed that V6.

 

Ran it at the track, 16.4 @ 82. Either this rebuilt engine is rebuilt with little performance, or something is really holding it back. I guess I'll try and figure out what's wrong with it.

 

Agreed. Weak spark, and the timing is probably off. Not saying you should have raped him, but you should have easily pulled away from him.

 

Check your vin if the 8th digit is F you got a 305 unless you swapped that engine in yourself

 

the car came with an lg4, but the previous owner says he put in a rebuilt stock 350 tpi into it it's place. He could be lying, but even a 305 manages 15's easy.

 

Check the cast number on the back of the block. The previous owner of my car told me he had a 350 TPI put in, After checking the cast number its only a 305 TPI. It sounds like its a 305 TPI that is way out of tune. Get a MSD blaster Coil, Wires and Some fresh AC delco plugs, Filters, cap and rotor. Also u can make a cheap cold air intake if u havent already using PVC pipe and a cone filter which will help a little too. Or u can make a home made ram air by using dryer hose and running to the front bumper.

 

Dreaded! Ohhhhh......

 

hehe, i had it the other way, when i got my 87 iroc, the ghy said it was a 305, so i took it out for a spin, yeah ok, i told him it was a 350, no way man, 305 he said, vin tach and the block state it was a 350, hahahah, dumbass, 900 bux later i had a fully loaded 87 iroc z28

 

You shouldn't have told him anything and went with him and maybe gotten it for a couple hundred bucks cheaper!!

 

I recently bought an 86 irocz28 350 small block
The first thing I noticed was 260 hp engine
didnt move the car fast enuff so either the previous
owner wasnt telling the truth or it wasnt setup
right.
At the time my minivan with 200hp was seemed as fast
as the camaro.

I checked the timing and it was set at around 4-5
I advanced the timing to 8.
I noticed an increase in torqe at takeoff.
I also started removing some weight up front a/c smog
rear seatback.. spare tire and jack..
Now to get some weight off the rotating parts
(eventually )will help more, lighter pulleys,aluminum
driveshaft and rims.
The stock Iroc rims with rubber at the front
weighed in at 45lbs. not bad but I think I could get
it down to 25lbs per wheel. with american racing rims.

The car is running nice and its fast but not scary
its a nice cruiser.

I wouldnt race with this car in the street anyway but
sometimes I will put my foot down when I get space.

What I really like is that v8 rumble from the exhaust.

 

He speaks the truth. What MPH were you guys going from? I know at a certain speed, like 40ish the l98 really doesn't have much grunt but around 30 or over 45 it would have hauled some major @$$ and a V6 camaro wouldn't even be a thought in your rear view, much less be seen. For comparison, I had about 3 buslengths on a V6 camaro from a 30-60mph roll, a 5 speed that is.

 

Something is wrong with your transmission if you have to let out throttle to get it to shift at 4900-5000RPM. You say its a TPI 350 in a car that had an LG4 originally? Is it the 350 with a carb on it, or does it actually have the full TPI setup? If it has the full TPI setup, those shift points are too high. Get it to shift around 4500RPM and you'll fair a bit better.

Nevertheless, your transmission needs work, and your engine seems out of tune.

 

Have you ever thought that maybe your tach is off and your really just shifting at like 4000 rpm or something. The tachs in these cars are notorious for being off. Make sure that it is working properly or get an aftermarket one because shifting at this low of an RPM could defenetly cost you a couple of tenths.

 

He's better off shifting at 4000 than 5000. But yeah, I agree make sure your RPM reading is right, and then see what its shifting at. I think factory shift point is right around 4700RPM, which I think is still just a tad bit too high, but hey its the factory's choice.

 

I just wanted to add another thing. If it originally came with an LG4, and the 350 was just "dropped" in there, it probably won't have much better performance over the LG4 anyway. The exhaust is still a suffocating 2 1/4" piping and manifolds don't help either. I don't know what other parts the engine was rebuilt with, but if some of those old LG4 parts were put back into use, that couldn't be helping either.

I see that you have changed the info under your avatar to a LB9. Did you find out it was really a 305?