So yeah, my buddy just picked up a VERY nice '87 Sport model that, well, just so happens to have an LT1 swap. The LT1 is from a '97 Camaro Z8. It's only mods are the headers and cat-less exhaust. You can check my mods in my sig. Anyways, I had *previously* said that this particular V8-7 felt like it would run about mid-14's--based on my torque-retarded, butt-dyno judgement...

Well, I was forced to "eat my words" tonight after a series of races.

Anyways, we were talking about different race scenario's, trying to decide where to race--and what gear/speed to race from. Tyler (the owner of the V8-7) was worried about traction, so we ruled out a dead-stop run. I convinced him to run at our local "track", which is an insanely long freeway entrance--that allows for a 5mph, slightly downhill start. There is a curve after the "start point" which does allow for a slight benefit from the inside-lane. Because Tyler was sketched out about traction--I offered to take the outside lane and tote our third person (who was filming).

Anyways, we both stopped at the top of the incline--the onramp stretching off into the distance... We let off the brakes and slowly started rolling. We agreed to go on "three"--so the filmer counted down and we were off! I decided to roll into the throttle as opposed to launching at 4k RPM's, just to make it a little more fair against his auto tranny... Oops, kind of a mistake.

I got no jump whatsoever and we remained even through 1st gear. I ripped it back into 2nd to find that we were still even! What's up with this beast!?!? As we quickly rounded the bend, he gained about a car (partially due to the inside track thingy), and as I slammed it into 3rd gear--he just slowly started pulling away. By the time I let off at about 5k RPM's in 4th gear he was about 3 car-lengths ahead.

We decided to run again, this time swapping the lanes and camera-man--giving me the weight and track advantage. So with a car approaching, we begin our roll and we're off! It had started lightly misting outside, so when I dumped the clutch at 4k RPM's (which usually hooks up downhill), I almost instantly lost traction and hit redline in 1st--I slightly let-off and got back into it before ripping it into 2nd gear. At this point I was ahead by a nose--partially through the turn. As we rounded the turn, he was at my door. I slammed it into 3rd gear and moments later I hear a "RRR--RRR--RRR" as he hits rev-limiter in 2nd. As soon as he was able to shift into 3rd I was about a car and a half ahead and inching. He let off almost immediately after.

As we continued down the track and onto the freeway, we decided to do a 3rd gear pull from about 60mph. He got into the car-pool lane and I got next to him. Our camera-man made eye-contact with me and shouted out; "One! Two! THREEE!" My car instantly hit 13psi as I ripped through the sweet-spot of my power-band--from about 5k RPM's to redline. At the buzzer I slammed the car into 4th gear. At this point we're dead even--just hanging out DEAD EVEN right next to each-other as our speed increases. The auto tranny in the V8-7 allowed him to stay in 3rd gear the whole time as we approached 100mph. But, sadly his car hit rev-limiter again because he forgot to shift it into 4th. I instantly jumped, so Tyler let off.

So yeah, pretty cool races. I guess all the V8 guys were right in saying that the car would hit high-12's with traction. And I guess that I'm right in my long-time estimation that I could hit in the very low 13's with good driving.

Either way, we're both planning on running our cars in the quarter-mile in the near future, so the comparisons shall continue.

 

i dont see why they wouldnt run that fast in the heavier camaro bodies the lt1 runs 13.8-14.0's so if you put that in a much lighter rx7 and a few bolt ons why wouldnt it run low 13's possibly 12's it would only make sense if someone ran mid 14's with that set up its one of two things the motor is bad or the driver needs to be slapped and take his keys away

 

^ what he/she said. Maybe bad swap or bad driver

 

agreed!

i have seen full exhaust LT1's with slicks go mid low 13's in the Fbodys.. which are much much heavier than a FD or FC. mild bolt on LT1 should go bottom 13's to high 12s in a FD or FC

those motors arent bad. great intake design to allow it to breath all the way up to and over 6000 rpms. probly carries to 7K which is pretty good for a V8.

 

My Lt1 Trans am ran 13.5 with street tires, muffler with 3 1/2" tips and a shift chip, oh and cold air intake. The guy that bought it from me put a line lock and drag radials and said he is almost if not out of the 13's.

 

the camaro/firebird rear end allows better traction at launch, so even though those cars are heavier by a few hundred pounds, they gain something on the launch.

its hard to get a FC rear end to have a good launch off the line with a torquey V8 swap.

nice times ! wooot!

 

true... they do have better suspension design built for launching. but still tho, the stuff the FC might lose off the launch is made up for down the track. its power to weight will help bring it down the last 1/8 mile very quickly, so the initial disadvantage is made up for.

now once you do get the FC to hook up and launch hard, now your talkin some goood times!

 

My friend has a '93 Formula firebird with 188k miles on the original engine and stock auto tranny. Only mod is a K&N drop in filter, and he just ran 14.46@97MPH last night at the track. Not fast, but pretty impressive for the milage and gearing (2.73 rear end!). As a matter of fact he ran that exact ET 2 runs in a row. Autos are consistant

 

i have a 93 6spd trans am that i decided to part out so i can build a v8 rx7, picked up an 88 base model,im hoping for 12s, with out the bottle that is, seems those f body interiors r worth a nice amount of money, got a decent bit of cash for it, and a 150 wet NOS kit along with the cash, so im hoping for some sort of 11s with this thing

 

A friend of mine has a '93 auto lt1 camaro. With a full exhaust, 4.10 gears and slicks it goes 12.90's. So yeah, a fc with one should be capable of 12 sec passes.