way to keep working the combo. You have to be thinking 10.9999999

 

Re: Seems a little slow. Am I expecting too much? (Update: Goal finaly achieved!!!)

Got to the car to the track yesterday for the final runs of the year. My goal with this car when I built it was to have a reliable daily driver that would run in the 10's. I told myself yesterday that if I got my 10 then I wasn't going to make any more passes and would simply drive the car home and continue to enjoy driving it. Greed got the better of me.

1st pass. Pump 92. ~60F air temp. 14.8psi
60' - 1.781 (Launched at 0 psi)
330' - 4.721
660' - [email protected]
1000' - 9.175
1320' - [email protected]

Normally I drive it with street tires so this was the first time I had felt 1st gear at this boost level. It surprised me a bit and I short shifted 1st at about 5000RPM. Seeing as how it did a 1.64 60' at 11psi I knew with a good launch and proper shift timing it would go 10.70's easy. This is where greed got the better of me. Rather than being happy and going home I decided to try one more pass. It held to the 60' but spun at the top of 1st. I had to pedal it a few times to regain traction and finished out the pass at an [email protected].

Everything seemed fine until I turned on the return road and got back into the throttle. There was a massive cloud of blue smoke billowing out the left tail pipe that continued all the way back to the pits. Quick inspection reveals that there's oil pumping out of the #1 cylinder. The car still ran and seemed normal otherwise but I trailered it home to be safe. My first suspect was that I may have butted or broken a ring but I checked after I got home and it looks like the coolant level in the radiator is down a few inches. Not quite sure what to think now. The engine has 6000 miles on it and probably close to 600 passes between the track and street. I figured it was probably getting close to time to tear it down and freshen it up and it looks like that's definitely in the cards now for this winter.

Steve

 

Damn that sucks....congrats on the 10 sec pass though. Motor making any noises while idling?

 

I'm not too disappointed. I've probably spent more time in boost than I've spent in vacuum in this car. Other than forged pistons and APR hardware it's just a stock shortblock that's never seen fuel better than 92 pump.

The car actually starts and idles okay. Not quite as smoth as normal but not bad. Looked under the car this morning and there is a small puddle of oil leaking out of an exhaust joint on one side and coolant leaking on the other. Compression test reveals that #3 is low at 95psi and suprisingly #5 (not #1 as I mentioned above) was actually up to 165psi. I've done 4 compression tests on this engine over it's life almost from day one and they were always consistant at 135-145psi (only 8:1 compression). I'm sure that fact that #5 is flooded with oil helps the seal but enough to pick up 20psi is an interesting result.

I could see a blown HG or something causing the issue on #3. The fact that #5 is pumping oil and definately not losing compression is a bit of an odd one. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to find in that cylinder when I tear it down.

Steve

 

Got the engine out and torn down today and fortunately the damage is minor. It was a headgasket on both cyl #3 an #5. The shortblock seems okay with the exception of the #5 piston which has some scoring on the top land. There are no marks on the other ring lands, the skirt, or on the bore so I'm not quite sure what caused these.

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For reference to other SBF owners trying to figure out their tune. Here's where I was at when the gaskets went.

A/F - 11.7
Fuel - 92 pump
Boost - 15psi
Timing - 21 degrees
Compression - 8:1 (~140psi cranking pressure)
IAT - 76F at start of pass and 108F by the end (~60F ambient temp outside)
Hardware - ARP studs, Felpro 9333 gaskets

I ran forever with 24 degrees and 11psi and had no issues.

Steve

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Steve,
Any aluminum transfer to cylinder walls in #5?

 

Re: Seems a little slow. Am I expecting too much? (Update: Got a 10 then broke it!)

There was one tiny spot of aluminum transfered to the bore on #3 which had the same marks on the piston but only about 1/10 of the severity of #5.

I tore the rest of the short block down today and the damage is worse than I thought. The thrust of the crank is toast with 0.088" of play. I did find a bit of coolant in the oil upon teardown. I didn't know this at the time but I did start the car to load it on the trailer and then to unload it and get it in the garage so I'm not suprised to see a bit of damage but the car basically idled for less than a minute during the loading/unloading. It doesn't seem like the damage could have happened that fast.

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Looks like it's time for a new crank.

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Yeah, that didn't happen in just a few minutes of running. Have you looked at your torque converter for ballooning?

 

I looked at it but I can't see anything obvious with the converter but I'm not sure how visible a balloned converter is. I can't see on the nose where it looks like it would have bottomed out in the pump or anything. It does have anti-ballon plates so hopefully it's fine. I'm going to send it in to have it checked.

Steve

 

I do know that things were about to get much worse as I look deeper into it. I can see where the flexplate had moved far enough forward that it was rubbing the inspection cover right around the OD of the crank flange and was worn about 1/4 of the way through. The small end of the rods were also starting to contact the pin boss on the piston. And if that wasn't enough the counterweights are on the verge of catching on the block. It was about to become much worse. I'm glad I found it when I did.

Steve

 

Wow I can't believe I haven't seen this thread until now, I'm running almost the same setup in a full weight ttop hatch with twin SVO 60/63s on a 351. Really sorry to hear about the recent destruction but glad you hit your goal! I finally ran a decent time this week myself with a 6.76@103 through my AOD. I'm only at 18 degrees with 13psi but now I don't think I'll go much higher before running e85. Best of luck getting that beast back out!

 

Your 60' sucks. Thats whats holding you back. Work on getting power down and being able to launch hard.

 

It’s been too long since I’ve provided an update and looking back at where it started the car has come a long way. The failed head gaskets were fixed and crank thrust was addressed by dropping in another stock cast crank. Though the longblock remains otherwise the same there have been quite a few other changes since the 10.92 that wounded the engine.

Intake, headers, E85 and a turbo upgrade changes were made. You can see those updates here.

https://www.theturboforums.com/threads/my-jy-90-351-notch-turbo-build.333556/page-2

With the intake, headers and E85 onboard but still with the little T3 turbos (Buick GN compressor on bone stock T3 turbine wheel and 0.63A/R housing) it ran the following.

E85, 21 degrees timing, ~60F air temp, 14psi, light pedal on 2-3 shift due to driver error
60’ – 1.622 (not bad for a 275/40/17 MT radial and a suspension that favors autocross more than drag racing)
330’ – 4.462
660’ – [email protected]
1000’ – 9.013
1320’ – [email protected]

Not bad. On a clean pass with no lift this would probably me more like a

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so I was pleased. I can’t believe the stock T3 turbines could push a 3600lb car this fast. However, it was clear that the turbos were a bottleneck. On went a pair of S200 56mm turbos. Now with the exhaust unchoked the engine pulled to 6000RPM so I dropped the 2.73 and went to 3.08s in the rear. Between the gear change and a switch to JD HyGuard the convertor slip went from 18% to 12.5% enabling mid-130 mph capability with the 3.08s.

With those changes I only made it to the track once this year and it was on a cold 40F day. Unfortunately, traction was non-existent (lots of condensation blowing out of everyone’s exhaust. Below is the best pass of the day.

E85, 24 degrees timing, ~40F air temp, 14.5psi, 275/40/17 MT
60’ – 2.062 (launched at 0psi and gently rolled into throttle)
330’ – 5.375
660’ – [email protected]
1000’ –9.826
1320’ – [email protected]

I launched soft but it still spun once boost built so I pedaled it. Again as I approached WOT it spun and bounced of the rev limiter. I clicked 2nd where it finally stuck and I ran the pass out (short shifting 2nd a little). A screenshot of the run is attached below.

Though the ET was less than inspiring the MPH has me excited. Plans for the winter is a set of 305/45/17 MTs and maybe some adjustable front shocks that I hope will allow me to launch under some boost. I know there’s a low 10 for sure and I’m hoping on a perfect pass that there’s a 9.99 in it.

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Here’s the current specs

Car
- 90 Notch, full interior, stero, cage, subrames, etc.
- Weight – 3600lbs with driver
- 8.8 with 31 spline TL and 3.08 gears
- 4” Aluminum driveshaft
- Rollerized C6 with 9.5” Hughes 3000 stall
- E85 with twin Walbro 255 pumps
- Stock GT springs and swaybars front (cut) and back. Stock replacement shocks/struts
- 17” bullets (245/45 Front, 275/40 MT DR Rear)

Engine
- 357W; Stock block/crank/rods. TRW 8:1 forged, main caps strapped/studded
- Cam: Summit Hyd flat – 218/228 at 0.050” and 0.506” lift (w/1.72 rockers)
- Victor EFI intake with custom plenum. Stock 4.6L 4V TB off of Lincoln
- Dart Pro-1 195cc heads
- MS2 MegaSquirt, EDIS ignition, and 95lb TFS injectors

Turbos system
- S200 w/ internal WG. 56mm compressor
- Large tube/fin style air/air IC (cut down truck core)
- Full length 3” exhaust with knock-off Magnaflow mufflers

 

That's a great progression. From reading the details from 4 years ago I was wondering why your mph was so low for the boost you were running but as timing and converter came into play it made more sense.

 

Gee willickers - put a set 275/60 15 Mickey's on there find the limit of those two 255's.

edit - forgot to mention, nice looking build on a budget.