1971 Firebird Build ("The Other Woman", a.k.a. Project "T.O.W.")

[carbuff]

Tu,

Good to meet you as well. You need to plan to come up for the Fall GG autocross also. Lots of fun at those events also, although we don't get the cool garage spaces to relax in.

Glad you made it home safely!

[gerno]

Originally Posted by carbuff

It's lucky for Steve also, or I would have had a great shot of him sitting in turn 1 starring at us coming at him since he went off.

I wish someone had some video of me flying off so I can confirm what I think happened was reality. Unfortunately my camera quit too. I know the TV crew has some since I was wired up by them for that session but I doubt I'll be able to get it. I guess I have to see if I made the TV cut.

[carbuff]

Somehow I have a feeling that we will both be on the highlight reel...

I haven't downloaded from my GoPro's yet, so I might have caught my session 1 spin with those. The Garmin videos took a long time to process!

[rickpaw]

Originally Posted by carbuff

Tu,

Good to meet you as well. You need to plan to come up for the Fall GG autocross also. Lots of fun at those events also, although we don't get the cool garage spaces to relax in.

Glad you made it home safely!

I have to pass the fall GG one. I have signed up for Power Tour and Cruisin the Coast this year, so I maxed out my allowance for car related trips.

It's one of the down side of being married, and the wife is not into cars.

Tu

[68LS1]

Originally Posted by carbuff

Thanx guys! I am really happy with the numbers and the feel of the car. That flat torque curve feels really good during acceleration!

One of the things I thought about this weekend during the USCA event is that I may consider a rear gear change. As crazy as this sounds, I end up going through 1st and 2nd gears so quickly during acceleration that I don't feel I get to use the full power. By that I mean, if I go full throttle, I have to shift quickly and it can be hard to keep traction. Not a bad problem to have, but I'm also thinking it might help me on some of the autocross courses to have a little more speed on the top of 1st gear. Something to consider...

Bryan are you running a close ratio box? What is your current diff ratio?

[carbuff]

Roger,

Yes I am running the close ratio box. And the diff ratio is 3.89:1. I'm contemplating something around 3.5:1 if I make a change now.

[71RS/SS396]

Originally Posted by carbuff

Thanx guys! I am really happy with the numbers and the feel of the car. That flat torque curve feels really good during acceleration!

One of the things I thought about this weekend during the USCA event is that I may consider a rear gear change. As crazy as this sounds, I end up going through 1st and 2nd gears so quickly during acceleration that I don't feel I get to use the full power. By that I mean, if I go full throttle, I have to shift quickly and it can be hard to keep traction. Not a bad problem to have, but I'm also thinking it might help me on some of the autocross courses to have a little more speed on the top of 1st gear. Something to consider...

You could always change the trans ratios, there is a 2.29 first gear ratio available. I can get to 65 mph @ 7,500 rpm with a 3.89 rear gear in 1st, almost 70 if I wring her out to 8,000.

[68LS1]

Originally Posted by carbuff

Roger,

Yes I am running the close ratio box. And the diff ratio is 3.89:1. I'm contemplating something around 3.5:1 if I make a change now.

Thanks, I've also got close ratio with 3.7 going into 2nd gen, hp should be slightly under what you have. I'll be interested to see what you end up doing

The 68 has normal ratio with 4.11, 1st is near useless and 6th is not real nice till 70 mph (which is above any speed limit in my state )

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by 68LS1

Thanks, I've also got close ratio with 3.7 going into 2nd gen, hp should be slightly under what you have. I'll be interested to see what you end up doing

The 68 has normal ratio with 4.11, 1st is near useless and 6th is not real nice till 70 mph (which is above any speed limit in my state )

In my last car I had a standard ratio T56 (with the 0.50:1 6th gear) and I ran a 4.56:1 rear gear. Of course that engine was a solid roller 377 built to spin 8k rpm.

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by 71RS/SS396

You could always change the trans ratios, there is a 2.29 first gear ratio available. I can get to 65 mph @ 7,500 rpm with a 3.89 rear gear in 1st, almost 70 if I wring her out to 8,000.

That would solve the auto-cross problem, but I'm running 2700 or so RPM down the highway on road trips right now. I think I'd like to drop that down a bit too, which is why I was thinking of changing the diff. I'm not in a big hurry to change anything after my latest thrash though.