Rather easy to do. Most involved part is getting the hoses mocked up, and routed safely away from any sharp edges. Took me about 3 hours total, including making the mounts and hoses.

 

Not bad. Once you figure out where you want to mount it. The stock location is just in front of the radiator. Works ok. You have hot air going thru the bottom of the radiator. The other option is to move it forward as far as you can (within reason). Build a sheet metal duct that dumps the air before the radiator. In theory the radiator will get a better charge of cold air thru it. If you do it this way the 84-85 cooler lines will not be long enough, and you will need to fabricate your own hoses.

There was an article 2-3 years ago in Circle Track. It talked about air flow thru a radiator box. The air speed increases with a radius. this is the closest link I could find. I did this type of box on a Camaro. We no longer needed to run the fans while on track. It works if you have the time and energy.

http://www.circletrack.com/techartic.../photo_08.html

 

Awesome, I will defintly do it for the obvious advantages and good learning potential. I want to say thanks to everyone here for help and support!!!! You guys are a great bunch, and I appreciate it huge!

 

Boswog - The reason I mentioned cleaning the rust & gunk out of the brake rotor cooling vanes is because I suspect his rotors have been used on the street for many years. His car is not a veteran road racer that has consumed many brake rotors like ours have.

I run the big 1-1/8" front sway bar and no rear sway bar - it lets me get back on the power quicker coming out of corners.

 

Weird, but I find that most beginners tend to run their motors and brakes pretty hard.

 

I will hopefully have a 5 lug TII 4 piston brake swap by then, but if not, I will get new rotors.

 

Watch out with the mods you do. If you think you might turn it into a full time race car, make sure you make mods that will be class legal. Why spend a bunch of money on a brake upgrade if it won't be legal in the class you want to race. I know you said you want to drag race the car. Why add the extra rotating mass to a car that needs to accelerate as fast as possible? Even if the weight is the same, the rotor has a larger diameter and will take more energy to spin. I have never had a problem with first gen brakes. The 12a stuff would probably be to small with an EP slick tire setup, but more than enough for street tires with proper ducting. Spend $ where it is logical to spend it. Oil cooler, guages, shocks and strut inserts, big front sway bar, coil overs, camber plates etc...

 

Speedturn - I used the big bar and no rear sway as well. Then I went and installed an ISC third link kit and a big sturdy panhard and I need to either rethink my spring rates or put on an adjustable rear bar so I can tune out some of the understeer. Most guys go to a smaller speedway adjustable front bar when they go to the third link becasue it radically transforms the handling of the car. I am now completely unable to get that loose rear "pitch it into the corner" feeling - it handles a lot more like you would expect an independant rear now with lots of compliance. I need to get the rear roll stiffness closer to the front to balance the car.

 

I am without a doubt getting rid of the damn drums lol. I have been dragging for a while on big brakes with no trouble, so I will be doing that just for saftey reasons.

 

Find a complete rear end out of a GSL. You will get the limited slip and the disc brakes in one shot. If you can find a 84-85 GSL rear end you can swap in the 4:10 out of a GSL-SE instead of the 3:90 in the GSL

 

boswoj, when i went to tri-link i went up 25lbs on rear spring rate to get rid of the understeer. it handled great after that.

 

Awesome, that is what I will most likely try and do. Do you have any idea of a ballpark price these would run? If not, its cool too, you have been really helpful.

 

matt. i run an SCCA class called SPEC7. if you don't end up swapping to a T2 its a good class to start out in if you actually want to do road racing along with time trials. 12a, strait through exhaust, shocks, springs, swaybars, bushings, discs all around gut the interior is all you can do pretty much. spec tire. i run the stock oil water exchanger and it never overheats on track or street. your car will be extremely fun and forgiving on the track. i have never experienced the "snap oversteer" and i run a suspension technique's rear swaybar on the neutral setting. supposedly the 84-85 suspension setup is the one to have? so you should be fine. i can't back that up... only heard it. have fun racing, keep track of the credit card bills....
-harry

 

I have no idea... Probably $200-300 if I had to guess. I have never purchased one. My cars always had them.

 

Thanks a ton, as it will be a while for my T2 swap, this may be a good path for me.
Thanks, I will be hitting up some places for them, I am going to be doing this. +1 for your help.