Valkyn71

He must run 12s?

'94 Bad A Z28

400rwhp is good for mid 11's if you can hookup. I ran a 12.1 @ 116 with only 364rwhp and only a 1.87 60'.


The car would deffinately be good for 9 second passes on a 300shot if the motor can hold it as well as everything else on the car.... and if you can get it to hook.

tireburnin

I'll agree with what amny of the people in this thread have said.

A 300 shot is no joke and takes lots of planning and for thought. If anyone could just put a kit on and spray it like a 100shot...everyone would be doing it.

Do you have any idea what is required fuel wise for that much nitrous? How about the costs associated with the nitrous system to run that much spray? Looked into the cost of plumbing a direct port kit? How about ignition? Spark plugs and gapping for shots above 200? Electronics and accesories to manage the system?

There are lots of things that go into nitrous setups that get overlooked. And the prices associated with them can get crazy because they will nickel and dime you to death.

rskrause

A lot of the difficulty in building the nine second car everyone wet-dreams over is related to how street friendly you want it to be. Everyone has a different opinion. Keep in mind, that to be legal at a sanctioned track, a 9-sec car needs a full cage. That is a disqualifier for streetness in many people's opinion right there. Lots of other safety stuff is needed, but the rest doesn't detract from the fun of dirving it on the sreet, just adds cost and complexity to the project.

The next big area to cover is weight. Weight is the enemy of performance, every pound you can take off represents that much less you have to put into the motor and drivetrain to go fast. Problem is that removing weight means you are taking something off the car, and most likely that is osmething that contributes to the street enjoyability factor. I have no desire to drive around in a car with a stripped interior, A/C delete, etc. You may not care though. The other appraoch, sometimes called adding lightness, can work but is very expensive and not that applicable to a 4th gen. There are cetain parts you can substitute with lighter (and more expensive) alternatives. Stuff like tubular K-members and so on. Then there is emissions. different philosophies here, but whatever your philosophy, there are some areas of the country where getting a 9-sec. car past the smog police is a major issue. For sure, nitrous is a boon here as you can have a relatively mild motor and make up for it with the laughing gas.

Then, you gotta think about a tranny. The cheapest option is a TH400, but short gears and no OD are not really fun on the street. You can add weight and spend another $2K for a GV OD or try the 4L80 route. Even with an OD, the 4,000+ stall you need is something most people don't take well to on the street. The many tranny options get very pricey, though they make the car a whole lot more streetable. I have posted on the options for super hi-po street/strip manny trannies in the past. Suffice it to say that there are good options, which start at around $7,500 for the whole package.

Most of the 9-second "street" cars I know are not fun on the street except for a few minutes at a time. They can't compete with real race cars and they are crappy street cars. So, unless you are prepared to spend a lot of $$$ and time, if you try to build a 9-second street/strip car you will end up with something that isn't much good at either. If you want a car for bragging rights because you can show up with it for a Friday night cruise and show off your time slip, it's one thing. If you want to take the same car on a weekend jaunt to a neighboring state or drive it 20 miles to work and enjoy it, be prepared to spend $$$$$$$$ especially if you don't want to have to run it at far less than full potential on the street for reliability fears, need for race gas when using nitorus or boost, etc.

I know about this subject!

Rich

Mindgame

Yeah, well there are a number of us who do.

First off, I don't think many of you have a clue what it takes to build a 9-second street car. Let's just forget what you think is "correct" basaed on your definition of "street car". It's an ambiguous term and to be honest, no one cares and everyone is different in their tastes. If you're over 20 years of age and haven't come to understand this yet then you are destined to a miserable existence.

I think many of you with low-12 to low-13 second cars would poo-poo your britches after a quick trip in a high-10 to low-11 second car, which I feel is MUCH more feasible with a "street" car than aiming for the 9's.

Some things to think about and questions to ask yourself.....

1. There's always someone "faster"

2. Are you building the car for your own personal satisfaction or are you a poser?

3. How much are you prepared to spend? Hardly anyone is ever honest with this one...

4. Do you really know what it takes to reach your goal? Research, research, research...

5. Are you asking people who've "been there, done that"?

6. Have you ever ridden in a 9-second car?

A few random thoughts...

The one biggest mistake I see people making is in spending money in the wrong places. I think it's getting better among the f-body crowd but you still see alot of it going on.

I would always concentrate on building a car that can cut great 60' times. Decide on a level of suspension mods you are willing to live with and tune it as best you can.

Accept the fact that "reliability" and "big hp" cannot coexist although "big money" can create a little more monogomy there. One example of that is a gen 1 small block (420+ cid) making 600-650hp at the flywheel. Not exactly cheap to put together, especially with EFI, but very drivable and reasonably reliable with good ($) quality parts. Yes, you get what you pay for.

-Mindgame

CANTONRACER

A good place to gain insight IMO on what some goals are happens to be in For Sale section.

Take a look at some of the pretty wild parts floating around and ask yourself...why are these guys getting out of it/away from it.

Personally...I spent a pretty good chunk of change on parts...I spent in the neighborhood of $20K over the last few years in an attempt(car still has not even fired yet...everything starts to become custom...slows down the progress)...all to run very low 10's on motor...low 9's on n2o...on pump gas on DOT tires.

Car might start knocking 5 minutes after I fire it...car might be a big pig...and as for a street car...I am stretching it pretty far...yeah, lumpty lumpty radical solid roller setup...emissions...sure...no a/c...I imagine poor brakes...but I wanted to try something different.

If you just want to have an all out bad car....4th gen f-body is IMO the wrong choice...go old school, big cubes & spray or pro-charge it.

96ta(nick)

I already have the heads and most of the motor taken care of. That budget is mainly for driveline and suspension and i already have the 12 bolt.(that may need a spool after i shatter my posi.)

And i say that is what i am building towards but in all reality it will probably never see anything past mid 10s and a 200 shot.. lol Hell it may not even see nitrous for awhile due to the fact i really need to work on the suspension aspect.

aintno6

How is your car doing? Have you made any runs this season?

BTW, thanks for the very usefull you put up on your website about the centerline telstars. It really saved me alot of time, and frustration. I just trough a set of telstars on my formy last month.

Mike

brain

I agree with MG and Rich on this one. However, it is getting a "bit" easier to get close to the 9 second street car term with some manners. I think a mid-high 10 second car is ridiculous on the street to me. My friends LS1 FD runs 10.8s @ 130 on a small shot, and thats on radials. When the Fast 90/90 and AFRs are on it, it should do that on motor. Add the gas and OMG. The fun thing is, you can drive the car daily, no cam surge, its comfy, rides nice (as well as an RX7 will), and handles like its on rails. I think light weight is the key to happiness on a street car. Granted thats the best way on a drag car too, but its much harder on the street car aspect, especially with an F-body. I'm suprised more people haven't gone to extremes to bring the weight of these cars down, or gone with light weight parts. The fox-body crowd has known for years how fast a 2800lb car can go, even with less than 400 rwhp. Heck, I'd be happy if I could get my car to 3000lbs, that would be dropping almost 400lbs, and my car seems light compared to a lot of people here. Oh well, mid 12s on motor and high 11s on gas are good enough for my car.

marshall93z

Exactly!! A high-10 to low-11 second car has a nice "pull" to it, but a 9 second car is totally different!

If you ever get a chance to ride in one, do it! You'll prolly change your damn mind about wanting one as a street car!

96speed

Listen to Dr MG .

Ryan

96capricemgr

Most of the comments sofar are good but to me one was just missing. Just becauise you make 400rwhp now and add a 300shot does not mean you could see 700rwhp not even looking at the drivetrain loses yet. People too often forget that nitrous displaces NA air so your heads have to be VERY capable and the cam well matched. I have watched guys reliably spraying 150-175hp with ported heads and great exhaust setups swap in the 200hp jets and gain exactly zero ET, the heads were already pretty well maxed out on the 175 shot.
You may have very good heads now but for this you will need very serious heads.