Visited the Dragstrip tonight with stock TGP

Tooky · October 08, 2002, 11:33:09 PM

I finally made it to the drag strip (Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, WI) with my TGP. I wanted to run it in stock form with the leaky crossover because my premium Jeff M. one is coming this weekend. (Hoping to compare before & after).

Weather was cold (50*F) and dry, low humidity. I made 7 passes. The only mods I have are K&N cone filter, and I have fresh spark plugs, wires, PCV Valve, and fuel filter. 99,600 miles on the car. 215 size Blizzak snow tires on stock rims (WTF, right?).

I was hoping for at least a 15.5 or 15.4. The car felt about that fast, maybe a little faster with the weather. Well I was right on. My best run was a 15.33 @ 88.03 MPH. My best MPH was 89.73 on a 15.34 run. 60's were great, no wheelspin. ALL 60's were 2.2 and 2.1. Best 60' was 2.167. What do you guys usually do for 60's? I know my TGP feels like a sled out of the hole, what with the stock chip limiting boost to a paltry amount until RPMs get up there..

Oh yeah one other thing, my TGP tranny sucks right now because it doesnt shift until somewhere between 5700 - 6100. Wayyyyyy too high. I'm not sure how to fix this.

Here are the timeslips:

8:22 PM
R/T: .821
60': 2.219
1/8: 9.882 @ 71.26
1/4: 15.455 @ 87.33

8:30 PM
R/T: .799
60': 2.216
1/8: 9.842 @ 71.56
1/4: 15.396 @ 87.78

8:43 PM
R/T: .641
60': 2.274
1/8: 10.070 @ 69.98 (What the fuck? It didn?t feel that slow)
1/4: 15.732 @ 86.10

9:32 PM
R/T: .878
60': 2.183
1/8: 9.823 @ 71.36
1/4: 15.370 @ 87.99

9:40 PM
R/T: .652
60': 2.190
1/8: 9.795 @ 71.65
1/4: 15.334 @ 88.03

9:52 PM
R/T: 1.017
60': 2.208
1/8: 9.907 @ 70.76 (What happened ??)
1/4: 15.509 @ 86.97

9:58 PM
R/T: .903
60': 2.167
1/8: 9.774 @ 71.29
1/4: 15.341 @ 89.73

On the 8:43 and 9:52 runs, I didnt do anything differently, but for some reason the car went much slower than the others. I can't explain that? It was awfully consistent on the other runs.. I did hook up a scan tool and it was 0* Knock Retard until the very top of the track I saw 1 and 2* flash for a second, certainly nothing serious.

So I guess I am happy anyways that my TGP is performing spot-on with what it was rated at.. I do beleive one of the magazines said 15.3 @ 89 which is exactly what I got. I'm hoping with a Jeff M Top Gun 160 chip, a 160 thermostat (that stock 195 really sucks), and the new crossover, I'll see some decent 14s??

twinturbosedan · October 09, 2002, 12:42:23 AM

kick ass, excellent. i'll definately be looking forward to your new time slips. one thing tho....i can't believe you push the 3.1 all the way to...OMFG...over six grand?!?!! yikes! are you sure the tach is accurate? my n/a 3.1 has only seen 4600 RPM and the thing was *screaming* at that point. i know i don't have a turbo (yet) but it's still the same pushrod engine otherwise. usually i shift at around 4200, since power seems to drop off quickly around there anyway. wow. thanks man, very good info,
joshua

Tooky · October 09, 2002, 08:04:34 AM

Yeah, I dont know if the tach is accurate (it seems to be). I really HATE high RPMs too. I never want to own a car that makes more HP than Torque.. The 3.1 is really dying at those high RPMs but I haven't found a way to fix it yet. I'm going to try adjusting the TV cable. The only good thing I have going for me is the fact that boost helps high RPMs, and the TGP Chip gives you full boost only in the upper RPMs. I still think if I was shifting properly, the times would have improved to maybe a 15.1 or 15.0.

I have a N/A 3.1 93 Cavalier Z24 and it shifts around 5100-5200 RPM which I feel is the proper point for that engine, but I've never really been able to shift at a lesser RPM at WOT (automatic 3 speed) so I guess I cant say if it would be faster shifting lower, or not. If you really get the best power shifting at 4200 that is surprising, I thought my Syclone's 4.3 Turbo V6 truck motor shifting at 4400 was the lowest RPM "Hi Po" motor produced, but 4200 is even lower...

twinturbosedan · October 09, 2002, 02:33:19 PM

yeah, my tach might be off too. the redline on the cluster is 6 grand, but then again, i swapped the cluster in (base for gauges) and it may have come from a DOHC car i'm not sure. my engine has almost 180,000 on it. it sounds great but i'm sure the cam isn't what it once was.
joshua

Black Pheonix · October 09, 2002, 08:14:54 PM

My tranny doesnt shift either, it went up to six grand and it didn't shift (first time it happpend) after that i have to let off the gas for a sec before it will shift, it kinda sucks.

idbeast · October 09, 2002, 09:57:40 PM

Take your car to a tranny shop and have the TV Cable adjusted to 5100rmps +or - 50rpms. this will fix the high rpms and will put the tranny at the optumium shift point :)

BoostedGP · October 15, 2002, 04:25:55 PM

I thought these cars were supposed to shift at 5500. That seems about right. Mine shifts consistently at 5800, I thought I had read before that many of these cars shift up there between 5500 and 6k. The procedure for adjusting the TV cable is to push the adjuster all the way in, then with the engine off push the throttle to the floor, thats it.

Does any one know if these cars have a rev limiter? I know it limits in neutral doesn't it just raise the limiter once in gear?

I have an old lesabre for a daily driver that gets stuck in 1st when using WOT once its hot, there's no tach but I'm sure its spun that poor old 3.8 well over 6000 if I'm not paying attention. ooops. Be careful these 440t4/4t60 transmissions weren't really designed for performance.

turby · October 15, 2002, 07:07:43 PM

They do have a rev limiter in park and nuetral. As for in gear, if it does have a limiter I haven,t hit it yet.

The other day I was revving on some kid at work in nuetral and it went over the rev limiter. WTF would cause this? I revved it again and the limiter stopped it at 3500 rpm's.

BoostedGP · October 15, 2002, 08:57:49 PM

I don't know what would let it rev over 3500??? maybe if you really stomp it there's enough of a fuel dump to let it freespin past the limiter???

Hey, Malibuolds the DOHC cars have 7000 rpm redline tachs. Those cars like to go right up to it if they're running right.

Here's some trans info/history if anyone is interested:

http://www.pontiacserver.com/ratios.html

Black Pheonix · October 15, 2002, 09:48:39 PM

i have a tgp supplement manual (it has the Turbo Grand Prix Logo on it and everything) and it says 205hp at 5800 rpm, i wish it would shift there, i'll have to check the cable out, it also says 7.5psi max boost press. Everybody here says 9.5, do you mean coming from the turbo or at the throttle body?

skalor · October 15, 2002, 10:32:27 PM

Quote from: redturbo90
The other day I was revving on some kid at work in nuetral and it went over the rev limiter. WTF would cause this? I revved it again and the limiter stopped it at 3500 rpm's.

I noticed that if you stomp on it so that the rpms climb really fast that it will shoot past the rev limiter.

My car shifted at what was about 5700 by what the tach said. Then again, My car doesn't have a TGP tranny and it also blewup :(

skalor · October 15, 2002, 10:40:25 PM

Quote from: BoostedGP
I have an old lesabre for a daily driver that gets stuck in 1st when using WOT once its hot, there's no tach but I'm sure its spun that poor old 3.8 well over 6000 if I'm not paying attention. ooops. Be careful these 440t4/4t60 transmissions weren't really designed for performance.

My Olds Cutlass Ciera with a 3300/4t60 used to do the same thing. When it warmed up the tranny wouldn't shift out of 1st at WOT. I bounced it off the rev limiter a couple of times. I forget what the limiter was set at in that car though. I don't have that tranny anymore as it died about a year ago...it had about 173,000 miles on, which is pretty damn good :)