Turbo LT-1

[Frederic Breitwieser]

> It'll cost you a lot more now than what the difference was then...
> The Buick 3.8 in the GN was designed to handle up to 600HP reliably (this from
> the mouth of Bernard Santavy, then the head of Buick SVO).

I think a lot of it has to do with being "reasonable".  If Luke wants to
run 25lbs of boost, well, he has a lot of stage "X" parts to buy and a
lot of fancy machining.  However, if he wants to run 6-7 psi or
thereabouts with the turbo for some additional "kick" but nothing mind
blowing, well, it can be done with stock parts.

Another thing to consider, is a lot of the extremely fast V6 grand
nationals don't run the full 321 cubes... they lower their C/R a tad and
use stage II blocks bored much narrower, and make up the power in
boost.  Those cars typically hit the mid7s to mid 8's.  Of course, its
an application specific vehicle at that point.  I'd recommend checking
out the www.gnttype.org website, they have a lot of V6 recipies that the
same theories can be applied to the 350 chevy engine.  The key to
Buick's success in the almost 550 HP range (which I would guess take you
into the high 10's low 11's easily enough) is their fillet crank - its a
stock piece and very stroke.. however, using a 4340 billet crank, while
expensive, you can achieve the same thing on a Chevy.

And while not an RPM monster, I successfully built (with a lot of help!)
a 431 stroker mopar engine (from a 383 "B" engine) that cranked 800
ft/lbs of torque at the flywheel at a mere 4000 RPMs or thereabouts, so
irregardless of the engine, there is power to be made with a lot of math
:)

Lighten everything up and RPM the hell out of it, or use a longer
rod/stroke and keep the RPMs down.

> New crank, rods, pistons, heads, possibly the block, some fuel management
> better than stock, the turbo(s), plumbing, trans, frame/suspension mods, rear
> end (Buick GN had an 8.5" rear, monte has 7.5 or 7.75).

For 11's he should be able to get away with a 4-bolt main truck block, a
new steel crank, ross/KB pistons, and decent rods.  A friend of mine has
a N/A 350 from a dump truck I believe, and he crank's his 70 Nova (which
used to be mine) into the 10's with no real effort... traction was
ALWAYS a problem for the car, and his 4-link setup resolved it.

> You'd probably need about 6 grand EASY to do what you want to the Monte, and it
> would be no where near smog legal...

True. LOL.  How fast can you afford?

-- 

Frederic Breitwieser
Xephic Technology
769 Sylvan Ave #9
Bridgeport CT 06606

Tele: (203) 372-2707
 Fax: (603) 372-1147
Web: http://xephic.dynip.com/