kingcars' 250rwhp/13 second Tbird project (new project brewing 2/6)

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Don't forget no music and perfect audio! Video quality can be whatever, just want to hear it. :D
 
Haha I only have 1 camera at my disposal....so it'll be the same as my other vids.
 
Took the Tbird to its first car show of the season...got quite a few compliments on it, had a few ask me stuff about it also. Turned out to be really fun. Grabbed a couple of mediocre pics while I was there:

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Also been getting better at 0-60...vid may be coming soon
 
Seriously love your car man. Can't wait to see it finished! I haven't been this excited about someone else's project in a long time. :D
 
Well guys, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I've been working on the driver mod...have the 0-60 whittled down to pretty consistant low 6s, MAAAAYBE high 5s with a good launch. Vid (sorry for the music...had my Aerosmith CD in):



Top of 2nd = 60mph.

Also got a decent flyby clip for you all (well, JCE especially haha):



The bad news is that Monday night, something went wrong with the flywheel/clutch/pressure plate assembly so now there's a slight vibration above 3000rpm. The tranny and assembly will have to come out on Sunday so we can figure it out and fix it. Assuming that pans out, I may have a nice surprise in store for you all some time next week. I was planning to do the surprise this week, but won't be happening due to the current issue. It's nothing catastrophic though; I'm still able to drive the car around and she shifts great like always, I just can't romp on it :( .
 
That flyby sounds freaking NICE! Awsome, thanks. :D
 
That was just a "mini" flyby to hold you over for now ;) :)
 
Looked like you almost ran into the grass there in the second vid. Sounds great though.
 
And you wonder why people are always revving at you. That exhaust is just screaming "Try me. Just try me. See what happens"
 
We're still not sure what's causing the vibration...gonna try to get a professional's opinion on it. It's possible that the transmission will need a rebuild; if that's the case, I'll be buying a kit from gforce transmissions that will give me nicer gear ratios and bump the power rating of the tranny from 265ftlbs to...well.....~600ftlbs :D . That way it'll be ready for years of use and track runs and I won't have to worry about it.
 
Despite the lingering vibration issue, I took it to the dyno because honestly, I really needed to see the proof that all this PITA work is gonna be worth it. Started out with a couple of horrible runs consisting of 192rwhp and 199rwhp respectively, and 280rwtq both times. I was pretty let down, but that was only on stock 10 degree timing, so we bumped it up to 13 degrees. And wow...I couldnt believe the next two runs of 235rwhp and 240rwhp with 295rwtq each. THAT much difference just from 3 degrees of timing, unbelievable. We did one more timing bump to 15 degrees and got 300rwtq out of it before she got hot. The torque curve is absolutely awesome too; the whole time it's above 250rwtq, and peak power is right around 4500-4750. So now I have the little extra motivation needed to power through the lingering issues and take it to the track! I'll have scans of the best hp and tq runs soon.

Looks like a lot of our pre-dyno estimates were right on spec too :) .

I got the scans up:

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300rwtq.jpg


Excuse the misspelled "Thunderbrid" haha
 
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Well I almost right on for the torque #'s! Now get that thing to the track!! A little vibration is no excuse! ;)
 
A little vibration caused by low oil pressure is quite an excuse...an issue that now means the engine has to come out and come back apart :( . Yep, right at the moment of triumph comes a bombshell of fail. Car stopped making oil pressure. Gotta swap the old engine back in then figure out the problem. But, all of it isn't such a bad thing...it's a good opportunity to get the heads and intake ported and make a run at 250+ rwhp :D .
 
If anything you can be all like "holy CRAP the old engine was slow!" :P I dont know just a thought.
 
There's a gremlin. I was wondering when you were get one. Sucks it's something that major!
 
Trust me, there have been many gremlins long before this issue...it's been far from a smooth process, and isn't getting any easier. But that's part of the hobby, nothin you can do.
 
Time to get a better cam, and maybe ported heads, and get that big ol V8 outta the 200's whp range!! Also, I dont know much about those engines, but isnt a 65mm throttle body pretty small for an engine that size? Does suck that it happened though.
 
65mm is the norm for a setup like mine. She won't be seeing 300whp+ for quite a while...that'll have to wait for the day I get the Vortech S/C kit that I want.
 
I got pretty close with my guess didn't I? :D
 
Yeah, our guesses were pretty much all within the right vicinity. The engine ran what it should; 240whp/300wtq translates to around 290hp/360tq at the flywheel (accounting for 20% drivetrain loss). Not too shabby.
 
Thats a pretty good result 👍
 
Well the 306 is now out of the car once again...plan to start the autopsy this week and see what happened. We're betting on a spun bearing.
 
Jeez you can't catch a break. Are you just beating on this thing or what? :p
 
What are you talkin about? We're taking the engine out to find what caused the low oil pressure.
 
kingcars
Yeah, our guesses were pretty much all within the right vicinity. The engine ran what it should; 240whp/300wtq translates to around 290hp/360tq at the flywheel (accounting for 20% drivetrain loss). Not too shabby.
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20% on this car? (RWD right?). I know the STI only has about a 15% loss. I thought AWD cars would lose more power?
 
kingcars
What are you talkin about? We're taking the engine out to find what caused the low oil pressure.
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Ohh. See I saw the post about a month ago concerning the low oil pressure, and thought you had yanked the engine then, and were doing it again now. My bad :dunce:
 
TVC
20% on this car? (RWD right?). I know the STI only has about a 15% loss. I thought AWD cars would lose more power?
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You're right about AWD drive cars having more drivetrain loss. Unless I do an engine dyno, can't really tell what exactly the loss is on my car.

Anyways, the 306 is completely taken apart now. The rod and main bearings are completely FUBAR. Something was either wrong with the crank and/or the block. Gonna have to go back to the machine shop to get it straightened out. :grumpy: Though, if she put down those dyno numbers with wiped out bearings, there may be another 5-10whp left in it.
 
Everything is back at the machine shop as of Thursday. Even brought the balancer, flywheel, and pressure plate so the whole assembly can be balanced to perfection. I thought I was anal the first time around...it'll look sloppy compared to all the precautions I'm taking this time around.

In other news, I'm working on some deals on a 130amp alternator and an electric fan. Maybe see if I can grab some underdrive pulleys as well. Should help get me to the 250whp mark.
 
Underdrive pulleys are a huge WIN on SBF's. Can't wait to see the 5.0 back in the 'bird. :D

*edit*
And make some use of the 5.0L emblems on your fenders. :D 👍
 
I've thought about 5.0 emblems for the front fenders for a long time now...may do it some day, but there's a different exterior mod I've been workin on.
 
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