my brother's got a 1987 camaro that l'm looking into buying, its a berlinetta, its been completely rebuilt and painted, it has a ZZ4 350 crate motor, a rebuilt 700R4 trans, and a 3.73 ring and pinion. the guy my brother bought it off of said it runs a 13.3 all day long. is it possible that this car has that pesky problem that the car won't shift into OD at WOT? l would think with an R4 trans running a 13.3 and sometimes better, would mean you would have to have the last gear, with 3.73's in order to finish the race. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks a lot guys.

 

http://www.3gc.net/articles/drivetrain/3-4upshift.shtml

https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/001161.html

 

Not neccesarily. If you have a good high winding small block you probably won't get into 4th gear in a 1/4 mile, even with 3.73's. If you are concerned about it though, that is the way to go.

 

Back in 1985 we ran a 700 in a 1962 Nova with 5.38 gears and we hit OD about 150-200 feet from the traps.

We shifted the motor at 6800 rpm as I recall. It had a wild 1-2 shift.

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"If it ain't broke.... get out the tool box"

[This message has been edited by Crosley4 (edited September 21, 2001).]

 

l was thinkin the same thing leo, but the thing is, is my 90 IROC which l run a 13.2 on nitrous, of course, won't shift into OD at WOT, and its almost as if it has a rev limiter, the very split seconed after l cross the line, the motor kind of winds down a little bit, it seems like a rev limiter to me, but the car is completely free of aftermarket rev limiters and I've held 1st and 2nd to 5300 RPMs a few times. it seems like if l go any faster with my IROC I'd need 4th gear just because l can't wind my motor up any further.

 

I think most TPI units stop breathing @5000 RPM W/O mods to the induction, not to mention the cam, as they were 'tuned' to provide good throttle response in the normal street RPM ranges. I wonder if when you let off at the lights if it then is going into 4th and that is what you feel. As you can see in another post from a satisfied user, the GM valve kit is a winner and a better idea than the famous Throttle Plunger update as A) it works on all vehicles where the othere depends on what you had if you will see a difference and B) you don't lose throttle control in 4th gear at higher speeds as you do with the other kit.

 

The torque converter is locking up from your description (the motor kind of winds down a little bit). I have seen this before, and there is nothing wrong with this, unless you do this all of the time you drag race (it will destoy the torque converter clutch in the long run). If that is true, then I would install an electronic switch to override the TCC solenoid, so that power would not come on so as to bring on the torque converter clutch at WOT.

 

yeah that sounds about right probuilt, its not shifting into OD for sure, it's not a rev limiter, it feels more like something mechanically is holding it back, so lm sure it is the TC. youre right leo, lve heard a lot about the throttle plunger and it seems to me like its bad news. anyway, thanks a lot guys for responding. l appreciate it.

 

Chevrolet NEVER made an 1987 Berlinetta -

John in RI

 

oh l was not aware of that. in any case its the most baseline of camaro models. l thought it was a berlinetta...