I havent posted here in awhile, been busy with Iraq the Army and since my Z28 ate another tranny it has been on pasture guard duty till I find the interest in it again. But I picked up another fun project...

Decided to take my 89 dodge caravan to the track for the first time ever. Havent ran anything it the track since my Z blew the tranny in 03.

First run of the night:

Boost set at 15PSI. Lined up against a 5.0 fox bodied stang. Heard the lope to it and I knew I was in trouble, then I thought oh well, I am in a van who is he going to brag to when he wins. The track announcer starts talking smack saying "he's going to wal-mart to get groceries/ sombody pimp his ride" ect. I do a little burn out to clean the tires off and stage. I barely bring the revs off of idle and on the green I roll it out and stuff it, to my suprise I hook right up and put half a van on the stang but it wasnt to last long, he hooked up and ran away from me with me running a 2.46 60' 14.72@91.30 MPH to his 2.54 60' and 13.53 @107 mph. After the race he comes up and asks me what the hell do I have in the van. He said he wasnt expecting that. Then soon I had a small crowd around the van wanting to know what was up. Turns out he had trick flow heads, powerdyne @ 7psi, E cam and various other bolt ons.

Run 2:

Boost set at 19 PSI. This time I get lined up with some gutted, loud 80's RX7 with a cage and some slicks. Usually those types of cars are either really fast or really slow. Again the announcer starts talking about the van, this time he is talking smack for me saying "he only has 4 cyl/ who wants a piece of the nitrous van" ect. Again I do a small burn out to clean the tires off and pull up to the line and stage. Mr.gutted RX7 does a big smoke show. This time I bring the revs up a bit more on the launch, light goes green I roll into it and stuff it about 20' out and we are off. RX7 kind of stayed even with me out of the hole till the ol 2.5 instantly spools the super 60 to 19PSI then I see him fade fast out of my peripherial. I ran a 2.36 60' and 14.57 @ 91.76 mph to his 17.75 @ 73 MPH.

Run 3:

Boost at 19PSI. By now I have tons of people around the van between runs checking it out, along with some drunk guy trying to tell me how to port heads and the benefits of running a air filter As I am waiting in the staging lanes the announcer is saying "who wants to run the van for pinks?/ the mini is calling out you guys in the hemi truck club/ what V8 muscle car wants a piece of the mini van?/" Well I get to the staging lanes and there is no one next to me, I guess they are scared. I have two bolt-on LT1 Trans ams behind me that want to race each other. I pull into the burnout box and wait for instructions. The announcer starts talking so much smack to the WS6 T/A behind me, and I guess he couldnt take it anymore so he pulled up next to me. I again do my little burn out I can hear the announcer say "Who thinks the mini van is gonna smoke that pontiac?/ hey Mr. Trans Am, take it easy on the van, it only has 4 cyl" On the line I bring the revs up just a bit more and on the green we are off. I hook dead nuts and instantly jump ahead of the T/A, I just kept it in "D" as in all previous runs and held it to the boards and wait for Mr.T/A to catch me and walk by.... 1/8 mi and he is still back there, holy $hit, I might have this one... and as we cross the line it seems he is about 2-3 cars back. I ran a 2.28 60' and 14.39 @ 92.33 to his 2.63 60' and 14.63 @ 98.25. I think he panic'd when I hole-shotted him and he lost traction. I wanted to see what all he had done to it but I never seen him, I guess he left right after.

My friends who were in the stands told me the crowd exploded. They told me everyone thought the T/A was going to win (hell I did too) but they were rooting for me. Even the little kids were cheering for me.

Once again in the staging lanes I have a crowd gathered. My buddy tells me " Man, you got a 89' mini van and I got a 03' cobra and you would get more pu$$y here than me." I had a good laugh at that one. Even some MILF came up to me and said "Thanks for bringing some respect to us soccer moms."

To top it off, on the way home on the freeway I get into a few 45 MPH rolls with a nice Benz. I pull him pretty hard all 3 times. This was a nice Benz also, had rims, lowered and couldnt be more than a year or two old and wasnt the cheap model, I couldnt see what class it was but it was pretty decent size 2 door. Stop at a light and it turns out he seen me at the track and his wife said " I spilled my drink on myself messin' with you".


All in all I was pleased with the van, had alot of fun and made a good name for turbo dodges. I wish I could have gotten to run a few more times, as my times kept coming down more and more with each run. I also want to work on getting the MPH up. I have a monster FMIC I am going to put on soon, that should help big time. That should get me solidly in the 13's and get that MPH up.

Mods are...

2.5 w/ forged wisecos, Super 60 turbo with .63 turbine/ stock head/ ported exh. mani/ TU 3" SV/ 3" TU DP/ Full 3" exhaust with dynomax ultra flow/ 89 toyota supra intercooler/ home made CAI/ TU 3 bar calibration with 52lbs inj./ built tranny with stock rebuilt convertor, and thats about it.

Jeff

 

Huh.. neat stories Keep working on it, but more importantly keep working on your Z

 

that's just plain awesome...

what ever posessed you to rebuild your van like that?

 

I love those turbo dodges. You should empty the whole catalog from Forward Motion into that thing. And adding a 5-speed from a Daytona wouldn't hurt.

 

Well they are cheap to build, parts can be had for cheap at the junk yard, and they are plentiful. I got a spare head here I am going to port myself, after I get the front mount on. I am going to have Loyd Elliot port one for me later in the spring. Working on the MPH now, "but its kinda hard to get the equivalent of a upright 4'x8' piece of plywood to MPH"

I built it like it is to embarass ricers mostly, plus its a great daily driver, get high 20's MPG (depending on how much I have my foot in it), the captains chairs are way comfortable, I can haul stuff with it, sleep in the back, and its the most fun vehicle I have ever owned or rode in. I seen one on the internet go 12.6 and that was kinda my inspiration.

I was debating the 5 spd conversion, but decided to go built auto. I like to loaf around town without worring about shifting, and its easier to launch.

Next week if I get the front mount on, I will try to get some video.

BTW for you locals to central Texas, this was at Temple/Academy dragstrip.

Jeff

 

Good times, i wish there were some vehicles like that here.

Im suprised they let that rx7 run because with those times he should have a 'chute on the back. 73mph is smokin, I wonder if he knows his car isnt street legal?

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I was LOL almost the whole time I was reading this... Don't know if we should encourage you in this insanity, or not...

Of course, you do know what minivan stands for, right?


Hmmm. Has the local news had any stories of unexpected suicides since then??

(Just razzin' ya, great story, keep 'em coming!)

 

Does it have the simulated wood trim side pannels?

 

I dont know hwat was up with that RX7, it sounded all obnoxious, had the slicks, cage and all.


No its not a woodie, but its beat up though, fadded paint and all.

Jeff

 

That is absolutely awesome. Nice kills.

Zach

 

Man that's got to be fun racing something like that. I thought my old Mirage was a sleeper but it was nothing compared to a fullsize, two-decades-old minivan.

Just thought I'd throw a link to Gus's minivan - the one that started it all.

http://home.earthlink.net/~turbogus2/mini.html

For those that don't know, Gus was killed in 2002 while riding his motorcycle. His minivan, and his Slugmobile live forever thanks to the web.

 

Here is my van. Its at the top of this page in this post. Its a bit out dated as I added a EGT gauge on the pillar, new tranny, but you get the idea.

http://www.turbododge.com/forums/sho...669#post871669

Jeff

 

There is a kid around here that is always looking to race his turbo mini van. I would think that yanking all the glass out of it and replacing with plexiglass would help with the weight.

 

Btw, 14.63 @ 98.25 isn't too far off for a stock (?) LT1. But he probably did panic and spin through 1st and 2nd...

Hehe, he probably HAD to go home or it would of been a public display of sobbing.

 

19psi on a 4cyl minivan ... Dude you are my hero!
All you need now is a bumper sticker that says "Don't laugh, your daughter may be in here" and a loud-speaker that burps when you win