The L03 engine makes 170 horsepower and 255 ft/lbs torqe in stock trim. This is good for about a 16.6@87mph quarter miles. I'm going with magazine reports on this one since I never G-Teched the car when it was stock. GM left room for a great deal of improvement with this car. The heads stink, the camshaft stinks, the rear-end gear ratio stinks, the air cleaner stinks, etc., etc.
I call this Phase #1 even though it really covers alot of modifications. I did it this way because these are all the modifications that I made before I ever G-Teched the car. I started off my modifications with a Dynomax 2.5" cat-back exhaust system and replaced the catalytic convertor with a straight piece of pipe. Dynomax Street-Series headers and y-pipe followed soon after (AIR tubes removed). The distributor cap, rotor, plug wires, and coil were all replaced with Accel units. The stock single-snorkel air cleaner was also swapped out for a Moroso 14"x3" open-element air cleaner with a K&N 14"x3" element. I also added a Hypertech Thermo-Master chip, underdrive pulleys, low-temp fan switch, and 160° thermostat. The open-element air clener and the headers were the only mods listed here that provided for seat of the pants differences. That doesn't mean that the others didn't help, but without before and after times I really can't say for sure.
Phase #2 was only rear-end work. My dad and I swapped the stock rear-end internals for a Richmond 3.73 ring and pinion set and an Auburn posi-traction differential. This made for quite a seat of the pants difference. The Grey Car was no longer a one wheel wonder. It was really hard to get a good launch without either bogging it off the line or lighting the passenger side tire up in a huge cloud of white tire smoke. The steeper gear set really helped to get it off the line much quicker than the sorry 2.73s. My interstate cruise RPM jumped by about 1000 and I'm sure that my gas mileage suffered as well (even though I don't really keep up with it). This was well worth the extra acceleration though.
Phase #3 was supposed to be the phase that really got respectable times out of The Grey Car. Yeah, mid-15s aren't bad for a mild 305 but they aren't really respectable in the world of modified vehicles. New Camaros and Firebirds run right around flat-13's, stock. I was just hoping for mid-14s with this round. With that in mind I called up SDPC and ordered a set of thier ported aluminum L98 heads. I went down to the local speed shop and ordered an Edelbrock Torker II intake, Holley 670cfm throttle body, and the adapter plate. I had a set of Crane's gold race 1.6 ratio roller rocker arms sitting around that I had ordered but never had gotten around to installing. I put the car in the garage and once again, my dad and I tore into it. The install really wasn't that bad. A few days later when we tried to start it is when the problems started. When we turned the key the engine would turn but the engine wouldn't start. Turns out that the wiring diagram that came with the Holley throttle body was incorrect and the injectors were not wired correctly and weren't firing. That was easy to fix. The real problem came when I tried to rev the engine...It bogged and backfired through the intake. The computer was no longer controlling fuel delivery as it should. This was especially apparrent when the throttle was opened quickly. I messed around with programming my own PROM chips for a while and never got the car into driveable condition. Finally I gave up and got Ed Wright at Fast Chip to program a chip for me. This got the car much closer to being right than I ever got it. Alas, the car was still not properly tuned and was not as fast as it should have been (hence the slower times). It was also running rich and eventually fouled out the spark plugs. That's when I pulled it off the road and put it in the garage to be fixed when I had the time and money.
Holley throttle body
SDPC Ported L98 cylinder heads
All Phase #3 parts
Well, I finally got the time and money. I ordered a Holley 650cfm Double Pumper carbeurator, an Accel vacuum advance distributor, and a Mallory 3-port racing fuel pressure regulator. With all this stuff I can get rid of the electronic fuel injection and ignition. With any luck I will be able to turn the G-Tech times that I think this car is capable of running. The install starts as soon as this semester is over. Look for pictures of parts, pictures of the install, and with any luck, new much faster G-Tech times coming soon.
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