11.81@121mph

[FBDragon]

Starting next summer I'm turning my 93 Trans Am into the "what if" T/A. In other words what if Pontiac was allowed to keep building it's V8's and not forced to put chevy engines in them. I personally don't like SB Chevy engines, I don't want to rev my engine to 8k plus to get horsepower.  I'm putting a 540 cid Butler performance Pontiac engine in it (I'll store the LT1 only because it numbers matching engine) but I'll keep the 6-speed tranny, the car is only 1 of 88 that had T-Tops and a 6-speed so it's ultra rare. The point is the Pontiac engine by design is like a Ford or Mopar engine, it's a torque monster and you builds all it's power and torque under 6500 rpm's!!!! Butler performance built a 4th gen T/A similar to what I'm doing and it ran 10.20's in the 1/4 consistantly!!! So for less than half the price of a new camero or gt500 I'l have a car thats a crapload quicker!!! Not trying to take away from either cause they are both awsome cars but I like to go a bit faster lol!!!!

[Golfer]

Cool project!  Good luck with it. I'm actually going to be looking for a salvage 00-02 Bird, Trans Am or Camaro with an LS1 and 4L60 to use as a donor car for my C3 Corvette race car.  The idea is build it to run 10s but only use it for the 11.50 index and bracket racing. My coworker just did that with a C5 Z06 and it's scary consistent. He had two time shot slips Friday that were dead on to the thousandth in both the 1/8 and 1000. .002 off in the 1/4.

[Gustav]

I wish my father would have kept his 69 Camaro. He said he could consistently pull about a 11.40 out of it with his fastest time being a 11.37 (While the engine lasted at least.)

I can't help but wonder what could be squeezed out of one nowadays.

[CAP1]

Starting next summer I'm turning my 93 Trans Am into the "what if" T/A. In other words what if Pontiac was allowed to keep building it's V8's and not forced to put chevy engines in them. I personally don't like SB Chevy engines, I don't want to rev my engine to 8k plus to get horsepower.  I'm putting a 540 cid Butler performance Pontiac engine in it (I'll store the LT1 only because it numbers matching engine) but I'll keep the 6-speed tranny, the car is only 1 of 88 that had T-Tops and a 6-speed so it's ultra rare. The point is the Pontiac engine by design is like a Ford or Mopar engine, it's a torque monster and you builds all it's power and torque under 6500 rpm's!!!! Butler performance built a 4th gen T/A similar to what I'm doing and it ran 10.20's in the 1/4 consistantly!!! So for less than half the price of a new camero or gt500 I'l have a car thats a crapload quicker!!! Not trying to take away from either cause they are both awsome cars but I like to go a bit faster lol!!!!

 that sounds fun as hell.....but i don't think i'd touch a "1 of 88" car. i'd leave that one alone, and go find another one not as rare to do this to.

[CAP1]

Cool project!  Good luck with it. I'm actually going to be looking for a salvage 00-02 Bird, Trans Am or Camaro with an LS1 and 4L60 to use as a donor car for my C3 Corvette race car.  The idea is build it to run 10s but only use it for the 11.50 index and bracket racing. My coworker just did that with a C5 Z06 and it's scary consistent. He had two time shot slips Friday that were dead on to the thousandth in both the 1/8 and 1000. .002 off in the 1/4.

 that's part of why we kept my camaro in the 10's. she'd easily drop into the 9's, but that was balls out. de-tuning, and going easy on her, she'd run the number i chose all night long.

[RTHolmes]

watching an excellent bbc Cobra Ferrari Wars doc at the moment, some great interviews in there with the whole cobra team, well worth looking for online.

(also some brilliant footage of the AC factory with cobras being built next to the rows of wheelchairs they manufactured to keep the company afloat )

[CAP1]

i don't think they became cobras till they had the ford drivetrain installed. they were still ac aces till that point.


that said...cool vid here......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzMr9WQc_LM&feature=related

[FBDragon]

that sounds fun as hell.....but i don't think i'd touch a "1 of 88" car. i'd leave that one alone, and go find another one not as rare to do this to.

I know hwat you mean, thats why everything I'm gonna do is done without cutting it up. Everything will be bolton. The engine mount is a front mounted 1 piece 6061 aluminum plate ( I was a certified welder/ fabricator specializing in aluminum, GTAW and GMAW), I'm not  cutting  any part of that car!!!!!

[Gustav]

that's part of why we kept my camaro in the 10's. she'd easily drop into the 9's, but that was balls out. de-tuning, and going easy on her, she'd run the number i chose all night long.

What year was your Camaro, and what engine did you use?

I am curious cause my father did manage to get his to do 11.40's using a smallblock 307 back in the 70's

 

[morfiend]

What year was your Camaro, and what engine did you use?

I am curious cause my father did manage to get his to do 11.40's using a smallblock 307 back in the 70's

 

 That's impressive for a 307,what did he do to it to make it so quick? IIRC the 307 was a Mom's motors.


   

 

[Gustav]

I actually just talked to him about that, Sadly only being 20 myself I am still learning all this stuff, so I may not perfectly quote what he told me.

His Camaro actually came with the 307 (and he agreed that it was definitely a Mom's motor with no compression and small lifters and such)

He actually joked with me that it may be a shorter list to tell what he didn't do to that engine. but he rebuilt the engine using parts from an 1970 LT-1 engine while also doing things like port and polish. He said the motor ran its butt off but sadly didn't last too long before it blew. (After that he put a 327 into his Camaro, but for some reason couldn't the quarter mile times he could get with the 307)

[morfiend]

 Nice!

  Ya the 307 wasnt much but it had potenial,all you had to do was strip it down to the block and then put it together with out using anything you took off!

  I knew a couple guys who put 327 cranks into them but by the time they were all said and done,they would have been better off just using a 327 to begin with. Tell Pops I'm impressed! that LT1 was a stout unit itself!


   

[CAP1]

I know hwat you mean, thats why everything I'm gonna do is done without cutting it up. Everything will be bolton. The engine mount is a front mounted 1 piece 6061 aluminum plate ( I was a certified welder/ fabricator specializing in aluminum, GTAW and GMAW), I'm not  cutting  any part of that car!!!!!

 awesomen. if you've been taking pics of the progress, post a thread up here. stuff like that is fun as hell to see.....like vonmessa with his jeep.

[CAP1]

What year was your Camaro, and what engine did you use?

I am curious cause my father did manage to get his to do 11.40's using a smallblock 307 back in the 70's

 

 sh'e s a 69, but she's a drag car only. mostly fiberglass, weighing 2600 and change with me and a full fuel cell. the quickest run i have on a timeslip, was a 9.96@131mph on a hot muggy night. in good air, we figured she'd drop into the 9.8's or 9.7's.........

 it wasn't anything fancy. 454 bored to 461, with truck heads, ported and polished by yours truly, and an 800cfm holley. if i can find my notebook, i cuold tell ya what jets squirters, and power valve we were running in the carb.
  was running a msd 6al with a 2 step. msd dist, full mechanical advance, fully in by 2500rpm. we had total set to only 35 degrees.

[CAP1]

Nice!

  Ya the 307 wasnt much but it had potenial,all you had to do was strip it down to the block and then put it together with out using anything you took off!

  I knew a couple guys who put 327 cranks into them but by the time they were all said and done,they would have been better off just using a 327 to begin with. Tell Pops I'm impressed! that LT1 was a stout unit itself!


   

 307's could be made to run, but usually at the expense of severely shortening their lifespans.

 i was on frpp website the other day....you can buy a coyote crate engine, all forged internals(technically that makes it a road runner), and rated at 412+(which tells me it's more than the boss302) for less than $8k. annnd it's a direct swap into any s197 mustang.