Lime Green 71OLDS 442 convertible

[71OLDS]

Been doing lots of tweaking and testing and doing as much driving as possible. Rain, cold weather, and wind have made it challenging. One bit of bad news is the blower motor died on me. Figures - things were going so well. Hopefully I won't need heat, defrost, or AC for a few weeks. Want to keep the car on the road and enjoy it for at least a few weeks before I worry about getting a new blower motor installed.

As mentioned earlier I've been trying make some adjustments for all the tire spin. With all this new crispy throttle response the tire spin is out of control. My 305 45 18 drag radials easily break loose in the first 3 gears and even in 4th one time so far. Off the line in first is ridiculous of course. So I made a few adjustments:

1. lowered the PSI in my drag radials from 30 to 22
2. lowered the settings on my single adjustable QA1s from level 4 to level 1 (the softest setting)
3. lowered my 2 step on the MSD box from 3500 RPM to 3200 RPM for launching

The drive with adjustments 1 and 2 had some interesting results:

With the drag radials that low the ride is definitely more bouncy and at times I can feel kind of a wobble in the steering wheel but it's very slight. Good on the hwy too and after going over a few dips in the road it's not bottoming out or anything but it does bounce the car a few times more than normal on those dips - can live with all of this but it definitely is a more pleasurable ride with the tires at 30 psi. The question is - will it lessen the tire spin at the lower psi?

I was really surprised with the driving with the shocks on level 1. I had driven like this before with my previous front end set up and steering box (used to be b-body spindles, AGR steering box, and no chassis brace) and the car was dangerous in corners if I had any speed at all. With the new AFX spindles, chassis brace, and Lee 800 steering box not only is it safe to take corners, but it actually corners pretty well even at speed. I did get on it hard in 2nd while I was switch lanes to the left and the front end lifted pretty high and I had to come off it. But I'm thinking all those upgrades to help the car corner in autocross better may also help it be safer to drive when I have it set for front end lift/straight line performance. That's a pleasant surprise I was not expecting. I'm going to test different settings on this for hard cornering. Wondering if I can go with a level 2 and still get decent front end lift for launch but still be able to corner hard?? We'll see.

For the 3rd adjustment, the 3200 launch decreases the tire spin drastically. Unfortunately I've only been able to get out when the temp was in the low 40s and there's going to be more spin with the drag radials when it's that cold but I could tell it was much better than launching at that 3500 RPM even in the cold. Will keep testing that out.

Last I started playing with the Go EFI 8. Frank put my warm idle at 1000 RPM. That's the idle the system keeps the motor at once it hits 170 degrees. This RPM keeps everything running great with no fear of the car stalling in any condition, hot, cold, right after I get on it, with AC on, with fan 1 or fan 2 on etc etc. but....I can't hear the lope of my cam. I like the way the car idles at 850 RPM. Sounds like a muscle car should. Every RPM you go above 850 smooths that idle out and that amazing lope sound. So...I started trying to find the sweet spot for as low as I could go without the car stalling. Previously I would have to open the hood, remove the breather springs, take the breather off, take the aircleaner off, then adjust the idle screw on my carb, put everything back on, close my hood. Then of course with the carb what dialed it in perfectly in my driveway completely changed if the car was hot, cold, right after I get on it, with AC on, with fan 1 or fan 2 on etc etc. but now....all I do is press 4 buttons on the hand held device and drop it down in 10 RPM increments to whatever I want. The hood remains closed. That is just so amazing to me. Anyway - dropped it from 1000 to 950 - no issues. Starting to sound better. Then dropped it to 900. Went on a cruise and it's now go that lope I like. Went through McD's drive through - took about 10 min with the idle at 900 - was loving it. Got my food at the end pulled forward to put my drinks in the drink holder and it shut off. Started right back up but maybe 900 is a little too low. Bumped it up to 910 and will try that for a while.

[71OLDS]

Here's all it takes but bump the warm idle from 900 to 910:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_nwhiALYbk

Just drove for about an hour never stalled out on me and have a little of my lopey idle back. But...once the new blower motor is installed I will have to test running heat and AC then sitting at a stop light.

Also used my 0-60 feature on my GPS speedo for the first time - showed 4.59 on my first ever attempt with lots of tire spin. Not sure how accurate that is but need to try to get it under 4 seconds. Will be fun to try. With my 4.10 rear and 2.66 first gear and 1.78 second gear I hit 60 mph at about 5200 in 2nd. I notice most of the new American muscle super cars with manual transmissions are geared to hit 0-60 in first gear which supposedly drops a few tenths since you don't have to shift. Then most of those same cars cross the traps in 3rd for the quarter mile for one less shift there too. But that's a topic for another post and sadly I think manual transmissions are going bye bye because the new 8 or 10 speed automatics are simply faster then any manual trans can be no matter who is driving.

[71OLDS]

Got another 0-60 run in - still too much tire spin 4.53 this time. Going to try lowering the 2 step from 3200 to 3000:

[wfo guy]

Kool! Glad you're enjoying the process.

[71OLDS]

Kool! Glad you're enjoying the process.

Thanks - great to finally be driving the car and getting all this stuff dialed in. Been working on my launch a lot. Trying different settings and launch techniques. Getting a little better but still have a long way to go. I really want to stick with my Nitto drag radials since they are better in corners and safer in the rain then other options (MT, M&H, Hoosier etc) but man it's tough to get off the line clean. I'm looking to run one tire at all times for daily driving and when I go to the track. I know I will give up some 60 ft/ET vs going with some of other drag radials or even slicks but I'm going to try to stick with that plan. I think this 0-60 on my GPS is keeping me honest and will translate to my 60 ft times at the track. I know the track will be different but if I can improve on my 0-60 times on the street I bet that will make it easier to dial in my 60 ft times at the track. Best so far on the 0-60 was with the 2 step at 3000 RPM letting the clutch out medium to fast (no slipping) - then not giving any additional gas for about the first 10 feet until the car hooks, then rolling or easing into the gas from there just enough to not break the tires loose. My shift light on the tach comes on at 5500 so by the time I push the clutch in and shift it's probably 5700 - 5800. That seems to be about right for the feel and pull in the power band. I've gone to 6000 before but probably start to drop off in power after 5700 - 5800.



Got me a 4.47 but that's a LONG way from a 3.9. Will keep trying. May try dropping my rear down bars into the lower holes on my UMI relocation brackets just to see if that helps. I've read mixed results on that. My bars are parallel to the ground right now. Next hole down would have them pointing down slightly and the hole below that would have them pointing way down.



These are like the old south side machine lift bars. Supposedly it hits the tires harder. No idea if that would be a good thing or not with the manual trans and my Nitto DRs but might as well try it out. I also heard the lower you go or the more down angled the bars are the worse the cornering is. Will have to check that out too.

Also my rear UMI sway bar has 3 holes for adjustment too. It's in the middle hole right now which according to their website is for autocross.



May try the hole one back which they say is better for drag racing/launching. At least I still have lots of options to try and play with!!

[jetmech442]

Wow, just went through the entire thread, awseome project, great car! thanks for posting and all the cool pics. slow day at work so I have a question and some comments that may help. First, dropping a hole on the lower bars will increase your Anti-Squat which will increase traction(but only while the suspension is accelerating). Using the lower arms to do this will also generate "roll steer" where the rear end can either turn slightly the direction of the corner or away from it. When I was running my olds BB in the car, I had the edelbrock antisquat arms on the top of the axle. Paired with my 555R's it would grip and rip with minimal heat in the tires. The rear of the body would raise up about 2 inches during launch-it was great! then I got into protouring, suspension design, etc... and once I dropped the rear a little, antisquat awas through the roof. Just touching the pedal would kick the body up and on launch it would hit so hard the tires would seem to bounce.

Last year I designed and installed a 3 link that can adjust antisquat in ~30 degree incremements from 40% to 170% I'm currently at 100% (the body doesn't raise or lower on launch). Traction is great getting on throttle out of corners but launch is still not there(this is probably more the fault of my NT05's either being not hot enough or pressures too high).

Okay don't want this post to be too long, so my question: which nitto DR's are you running? I see you have 305/45's -and I don't hear you complaining about rubbing. I'm running 295/45/18's, I have them spaced about 3/8'' away from the frame and body but sidewall flex seems to let them contact on hard corners. Maybe the 71's have more room? I dunno. Anyway, great project man,good luck with all the tuning.

[71OLDS]

thanks for the info and your car looks great - Always like to see another Olds on here. I'm running the 555r nittos on 18x10s and have zero rubbing of any kind now even getting sideways into corners. But....had to roll the fender well lips and put some "flat spots" with a BF Hammer on the inner wheel wells and 3" tail pipes to make it all work. I have some pics of the flattening process in some of the earlier posts. I do believe the 70 -72 wheel wells are a little wider than the 68 - 69 so the 305s may be pushing it for you.

I'm going to try the lower holes on the rear suspension and see how it goes both for launching and hard corners. I put the front shocks back on level 4 setting today (back up from zero) and went back out and did some hard cornering and S curves. Don't think I want to compromise to give that up just for my launching. I can safely drive on level zero as I mentioned earlier but I can't get crazy with it like I just did on level 4 setting. There is a huge difference. I will probably just keep them at 3 or 4 for the street and accept that off the line I will be a little slower.

It really sucks to figure out what thing I want to compromise on. Corners, launching, daily driving comforts, getting caught in the rain?? I know I could throw the other Nitto drag radials on there or even better the MT 305 45 18 drag radials but I drive this car on long trips and rain is going to happen. The 555rs are better than non drag radials but can't compare to some of the other options for launching. But I can corner as hard as i want in them and have driven in horrific rain for hours on some of my long trips with no issues so will probably just stick with them.

[71OLDS]

Special thanks to Tommy Parry for the nice online write up on my car: https://www.hotrodhotline.com/71-old...e#.WqN0uPnwbIW

[71OLDS]

Got my new large size (2.25") shift ball from Speed Dawg today. I had the same one on my old 5 speed but with the different pattern obviously. This time I asked Speed Dawg to flush mount and red loctite the 3/8 24 thread adapter that fits my 67-69 442 shifter handle to prevent it from rattling at high RPMs. This one is made by HURST. Looks so much better in my opinion then the much smaller American Powertrain shift ball that came with my 6 speed:

[71OLDS]

[71OLDS]

Been working on my 0-60s and finally have a method that got it down to 4.28. This is with my front shocks on #4 setting (vs. the lowest setting on previous best results) so I can still corner hard on the streets and no change in the rear relocation brackets hole or rear sway bar yet. Started to use my line lock (hooked up to the stock cruise control button) to heat the Nitto drag radials up first. Have slowly increased my 2 step all the way up to 4500 RPM. I've been researching several manual tranny guys launching at this higher RPM with LESS tire spin than lower RPMs. You have to slip the clutch slightly and will still have a little tire spin (which is safer on the rear and the trans) but when you launch that high the car is moving forward faster and already in the power band. Still have to wait for the tires to hook before you can add any throttle and ease into it but there seems to be less tire spin and no bog at all once you roll into the gas pedal at this higher RPM.

I gotta be honest I was nervous as hell to try launching at 4000 first then worked my way up to 4500. No clutch smell or any issues with the car. Of course it probably helps that I have the McLeod twin disk and the magnum 6 speed that can survive in the Hellcat. I had the exact same results over and over again regardless of whether I launched at 3000 all the way up to 4000. Very consistent 4.5 0 to 60 times. As soon as I went to 4500 to start me in the power band for my motor it dropped to the 4.29 twice and this 4.28 I just did today is my best so far. Will keep trying to get down to 3.9. Maybe if I put the front shocks back to the lowest setting and or play with the other options for the rear location brackets and sway bar I can get a little closer. We'll see what happens.

[71OLDS]

Blast from the past - my Dad found these old pics he took in 2003 at the 75/80 Dragway in Monrovia, MD. Check out how amazing the car looks with all that lime green on it!





So at this time the car was about 4200 lbs (car alone) with the bone stock low compression 71 455 but it did have the headers I have now (Hooker SC 1/7/8) and 2.5" exhaust and my old Richmond 5 speed. I was rocking 15" all chrome SSIs and had 275/60/15 BFG drag radials on the back with painted on RWL. The motor was probably 300ish hp with 450 ish ft/lbs of tq but at that heavy weight and low hp the performance was not too great. Keeping it real here's one of the time slips from that day:



15.3 at 90 mph with a 2.2 60 ft - this was when I knew it was time to increase the power and put the car on a diet!! It was slow but looked good. Now it's much faster but looks like ass with all that unfinished, unpainted fiberglass. Oh well - need to get back to a track around me here in Virginia Beach this spring/summer then start that paint and body process to make it pretty again.

[71OLDS]

No updates for a while - just been enjoying the car. Lots of miles put on it. 2 trips to DC and back from Virginia Beach and one trip to Charlotte, NC and back. Almost 4,100 miles on the car since the 6 speed went in! Did a nice clean 0 to 60 mph pass today and got a new personal best:





So close to my goal of 3.9!!

[badolds]

Having fun while my sled is in the paint shop, I hope you feel okay about that LOL. I have been golfing like no other.

Dan

[71OLDS]

Hi Dan,

Sounds like fun to me. Will be driving my car back to Frank for a few more upgrades/fixes in a few weeks and will be spending lots more time golfing myself. Then trying to enjoy the car as much as possible for the rest of summer and fall. After that the plan is to send it off to paint jail for the winter so unless something changes I'll be in your same boat in a few months.

-Joe

[71OLDS]

Dropped the 442 back off at Frank's this weekend for what I hope to be the final round of upgrades and fixes for the year. Then hoping to get to the local 1/8th mile track and maybe one autocross event before the winter, then it's off to paint and body. I put 4500+ miles on the car since the new trans went in so lots of time and miles to figure out the issues I want fixed or upgraded. Here's a list:

1. Upgrading from my current QA1 hybrid single adjustable coilovers on the front to a true coil over viking double adjustable setup with 550 rated springs.
2. Rear coil over conversion is TBD. Not sure how it will fit with the huge 3" tail pipes. My current 2" drop springs are rated at 240 which is way too stiff for the rest of my setup. Hoping I can go to the rear coil overs and be able to easily adjust the ride height like the front, switch to a 150 rated spring and also upgrade to the double adjustable Vikings.
3. Assuming 1 & 2 go well I want to lower the car a little more. Currently if you measure from the top of the rim to the chrome trim ring the fronts are at about 2.5" and the rears are at about 2". Would like to dial it in at about 1.5" all the way around. Just don't think I can go any lower because of clearance issues.
4. Related to the clearance issue going to covert to a low profile exhaust clamp at the end of the header and maybe go to a oval X pipe setup. Hoping these 2 changes will buy me some extra clearance from exhaust pipe to frame and body as well as to the ground for going over speed bumps.
5. I think my Olds trumpets stick out too far so going to have them both adjusted in about an inch.
6. Upgrading from my current powermaster 150 amp alternator (90 at idle) to a powerbstrd 220 amp alternator (110 at idle) - with my electric fuel pump, electric fans, battery in the trunk, stereo with subs etc the volts still go a little low sometimes.
7. My new steering box needs some new stops put in to it stop it from hitting the sway bar on lock to lock turns.
8. Having AC issues - it's not holding freon and may need to be flushed out.
9. Several new trans clutch issues - it's hard to get the car in 1st and reverse when it's cold (throwout bearing?), the clutch pedal has slowly worked it's way closer to the floor board and definitely needs to be adjusted.
10. Add a thermostat to the oil cooler (185 degrees) so the car doesn't run too cool on the highway when the temps are cold or even cool.
Plus a few electrical and custom projects as always.

Will add pics and details as we progress along.

[ProTouring442]

Blast from the past - my Dad found these old pics he took in 2003 at the 75/80 Dragway in Monrovia, MD. Check out how amazing the car looks with all that lime green on it!





So at this time the car was about 4200 lbs (car alone) with the bone stock low compression 71 455 but it did have the headers I have now (Hooker SC 1/7/8) and 2.5" exhaust and my old Richmond 5 speed. I was rocking 15" all chrome SSIs and had 275/60/15 BFG drag radials on the back with painted on RWL. The motor was probably 300ish hp with 450 ish ft/lbs of tq but at that heavy weight and low hp the performance was not too great. Keeping it real here's one of the time slips from that day:



15.3 at 90 mph with a 2.2 60 ft - this was when I knew it was time to increase the power and put the car on a diet!! It was slow but looked good. Now it's much faster but looks like ass with all that unfinished, unpainted fiberglass. Oh well - need to get back to a track around me here in Virginia Beach this spring/summer then start that paint and body process to make it pretty again.

Cool! I used to play around at 75&80 back in the 80s!

[71OLDS]

Yeah 2003 was the last time I was there. I think it closed then reopened then closed again a few years back but not 100% on that. Hoping to get to one of the 1/8 mile tracks close to me here in Virginia Beach maybe in August. We'll see how that goes.

[71OLDS]

I spent about 2 hours on the phone yesterday with Mark Savitske at SC&C author of "How to make Your Muscle Car Handle".

http://scandc.com

The knowledge and experience he has working with 68-72 GM A Body's is pretty crazy. I got my AFX spindles and a few other suspension parts from him. I was really surprised by some of the things he told me. It definitely contradicts what I thought and sadly goes against the look that I love on my car (being nice and low on the stance). Most of the time I talk to Mark about 20% of what he says goes over my head so it's safer to get the real info directly from him but I'll try to generalize at a high level.

First he talked about the roll center on 68-72 GM A Bodies and how it is very high and as you lower the rear of a GM A-body, the rear roll center goes up. Then he brought up the part that concerned me the most. He said lowering the rear more than 1” could cause issues and suggested the perfect lowering amount for 68-72 GM A body is 2” front and 1” rear assuming you're using the stock frame. This will prevent the rear roll center from going up = worse handling. Meaning if you lower a stock frame GM A body more than 2” front and 1” rear the car will actually handle WORSE. I always thought the lower you could get the car to the ground the better it would handle. Apparently this could be true if you got an aftermarket frame with a different roll center but is not the case for those of us running stock frames.

I specifically asked about tire height and if a shorter or taller tire would change the roll center and he said no. He did say one thing that was consistent with my current setup (and probably the only thing that's consistent) related to the tire size. He said going with a taller tire setup like mine would help the tires tuck more (than a shorter tire) giving it at least the appearance that it was lower. I know on my car if I had shorter tires and only went with 2" drop in the front and 1" drop in the rear there would be a gap between the top of the tire and the wheel well - that would be my worst nightmare! Currently I'm at about a 2.5" drop in the front (.8 AFX Spindle and about 1.75 coilovers) and I'm running way too stiff 2" drop springs (CPP 240 rating) in the rear. Sadly I was hoping to go to 2.5" all the way around so the wheel well sat right at the top of my rim and was going to doing this by adding the rear coilovers to drop that last 1/2" in the rear. That's the look I love. Mark asks me - "do you care about look or performance/handling?" He said where my car is now is hurting me and if I go lower it will be worse. He said my roll center has been raised because I'm too low and my car is going to handle worse because of it. I said so you're telling me if I raise the front a 1/2" and the rear 1" my car should handle and corner better and he said absolutely. I'm going to give it a try. I probably won't have my car back on the road until Sept/Oct but will update my results/changes here good or bad as always.

Really going to miss the lowered look but if it handles better I'll take performance over looks any day. I'm also going with coil springs only (not coil overs) and double adjustable shocks. Long story for why on the coil springs but it's mostly because of my driving style and habits: 5000 street miles/year and pounding the car really hard on a regular basis (hard corners and WOT blasts even on the street) plus autocross events & 1/8th mile and 1/4 mile runs. Mark suggested something like 550/135 14" springs and then adjust with the dbl adjustable shocks for street/corners/track etc. He was very specific about choosing a shock that allows higher rebound settings. Apparently some dbl adjustable brands max out at 450 = OK for drag race but not good for street or autocross/cornering. He said since I have all the geometry issues resolved with my AFX spindles, and the other suspension parts (tubular uppers/lowers, Lee 800 box, front/rear sway bars, chassis brace etc) that if I work with the natural roll center of the car I can get amazing handling with the modest spring rates and high end shocks. If I lower the car too much and raise the roll center then I would have to "band aid" the issues I have created with stiff springs and/or really wide wheels tires etc. We'll see how the changes work out.

[badolds]

He is a plethora of information. I felt guilty taking up his time but he seems to genuinely enjoy what he does. I try to purchase anything I can from SC&C.