Car is a T-top, roll up windows, no A/C. My build took a detour, i was shooting for lq4 with t56. I now have a 1996 LT1 ported and polished heads and roller rockers, air foil and k&n cold air intake. I will convert it to Ls style coil packs. As for the rest of the car. Tubular k-member, adjustable tubular front lower control arms with coil over conversion 32mm sway bar, 14" rotors and 2010 Camaro calipers. At the rear 4th gen disc brake rear end 4.10 gears with auburn lsd, lower control arm relocation brackets adjustable torque arm, adjustable pan hard bar, 24mm sway bar. Koni yellows all four corners. 285/35-18 nitro 555R all four corners. Left to do is paint and body after all parts completed for test fitting, roll cage, computer management for fuel injection and buy a t56 trans. So the reason I post is to ask what should I expect. I am shooting for sub 14 second quarter mile and a car I could put on a road course or auto-x on weekends and be competitive. My friends drive and all say I should expect to walk on a 2012 GT mustang or 2014 SS Camaro. Being that I haven't driven one of these cars in 2 decades I am left thinking they have had too many beer. Assuming driving skills are equal how close will I be?

 

Mustang GT and Camaro SS both put out 400+ hp, the lt1 from 96 didn't put out quite 300 HP. You're friends are smoking crack lol. Not that it wouldn't be a blast to drive! Just, I don't think you'd stomp a newer 400+ hp car with it.

 

That is what I thought, I am hoping for a fun car and think it will be. They are claiming that my car is significantly lighter and makes up for lack of power. I figure that with the swap the lt1 should be about 320ish flywheel horsepower no catalytic converters in a free flowing exhaust. I thought it might be closer after I do a cam. 1/4 mile I don't think I will be competitive. Auto-x or track maybe.

 

It might be a bit lighter, but stock these things are around 3200lbs. Only a few hundred less than the mustang or camaro. The hp number I gave you was for the stock 96 5.7L lt1. I don't know how much power you gain from the mods you've done.

 

Yes I agree impossible to guess hp numbers hence the "ish" on my number. Anyway sounds like I am in the neighborhood and my beer drinking friends are out to lunch. Thanks for the input. Still a lot of work to do so should find out sometime next year how much fun it is to drive!

 

General rule of thumb when talking about an average 11 to 14 second car is that ten horsepower will net you a tenth in your 1/4 mile ET, and 100-lbs will also net you about a tenth in your 1/4 mile ET. So now knowing this, consider how much more power his engine is making than your engine, and then start considering how much both vehicles weigh...

 

With the 4.10 gear I think you'll do okay around town in the 0-50 mph range but you'll get walked in the 1/4 mile.

 

Why walked on in the 1/4? Is it simply not enough power? The 2014 SS Camaro which has the same gear spacing in the transmission that I will have runs a 3.90 rear differential. I do concede that the Camaro tire is 1" larger diameter.

 

It is because of your lesser rate of acceleration, due to less power. More horsepower simply overcomes the load, so two identical, or close to, vehicles gearing wise, but the one that has one hundred more horsepower, will walk the other. RPM and final gear ratio (including tire size) equals your speed. When the tires bite, load immediately hits, more power will increase RPM more rapidly, whereas less power will take longer for the RPM to overcome. This is your rate of acceleration. More horsepower means he is getting to that speed before you, because more power overcomes the load, thus he will walk you. Gearing plays a part, but overall it comes down to horsepower, RPM and weight...

 

Acceleration is caused by torque being applied to the ground by the tires. Once you hit 2nd gear the engine is spending all its time at high RPM going back and forth between shift points. That is where I think the Coyote and LS3 cars will walk away from you. If you want to be quicker in that scenario then you need to have more torque in the RPM range where the engine spends its time.

 

Thanks! I really don't mind not being the fastest as there is always someone out there with more money. I think my car will be a blast to drive and you have re-assured me that what I thought was correct. Maybe in the future with a lt4 hot cam kit or something along those lines I will pick up some speed!

 

Yep, have fun with it. Going to be a huge upgrade over stock!

 

No engine so ride height a little high! Haven't done bodywork either.

 

try shedding some extra weight also if you can.Spare tire..back seats etc of things you dont need if your going to focus more on the track aspect of things.having the tubular setup helped you alot for weight already on the front end I bet. Do as many bolt on mods for power.Longtube headers..lighter pulleys..i think you can surprise them with a gutted car and full boltons and suspension with that gearing. Key thing will be nailing your launch at the drag strip and hold them off as long as you can and go down fighting.

 

Yes, I already have removed rear seats and belts. Also the spare tire and tool kit. Gained a little weight with the 4th gen front seats but I like them sooo much better! I plan on long tube headers to x pipe and running dual exhaust all the way back. The engine already has underdrive pulleys, the airfoil,k&n cold air intake, roller rockers on ported heads. Stock bottom end. When I install it i will delete MAF and tune it.