***Official Car and Gearhead Thread***

[BigRedChief]

Seems like we need one on here to talk cars, mods and the coolness of your or their car.

Interested? Chime in

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I've spec'd my car out to try to get a simulated 1/4 time and it seems like it's an 11 second car. But I've never put it on the track.

I really want to. I think it has 11 seconds in it.

Your car making 500-550HP? You need aa minimum 400HP to the tires to get into the 11's in a 3500lb car.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

Your car making 500-550HP? You need aa minimum 400HP to the tires to get into the 11's in a 3500lb car.

425-450 is what I've been able to find again based on just putting the build into various sources. But admittedly I've never Dyno'd it. I've had a couple different mechanics give me their thoughts on it as well and they were thinking in that same range.

The motor was rebuilt with the Eagle Competition forged crank/piston setup so even as far as 383s go, it's a pretty damn stout one. I've seen some folks with that setup claim they have it at 500HP but I don't buy it - I think there's some pretty heavy grade inflation going on there. I saw a guy years ago who put a dyno sheet up that said 480 from his Eagle 383 but there wasn't enough detail in there for me to know how he got there.

I can't really claim anything with any confidence.

[DJ's left nut]

Fuel Gauge question.

So I'm pinned past the F as soon as I power the car on. I've disconnected and replaced the gauge, same thing with the new gauge.

I put the multimeter on the sending wire and ground - it looks like I'm getting an open circuit from the sending unit. I traced the wire back to the fuel tank and have found where it enters the tank and then comes back up the left frame rail to a wiring harness.

My thought is that if I cut the wire to the sending unit way back where it enters the fuel tank, that should tell me if it's shorted, right? because if its pinched or something between where I cut it and the harness, the gauge would stay at F even after I cut the wire.

If it drops, that tells me I have a faulty sending unit...I think.

If it's the former, I could just splice into that line at the cut, run the new wire up the frame and take it straight through the firewall into the gauge while bypassing the wiring harness altogether, right? Then just crimp the end of the old wire and leave it for dead (if it's the latter, it's someone else's problem - I ain't dealing with dropping that fuel tank).

Or am I just going to end up setting my car on fire somehow? This is where I get to my "just knowledgeable enough to be extremely dangerous" stage.

Because the alternative is just to keep putting gas in the thing every time I hit 100 miles on the tripmeter. Which has worked thus far.

[loochy]

So my local dealer is hosting an event at a motorsport race track. I'm going to take my M8 and finally put it through some real laps. Also, the Porsche racing team will be there and I'll get the opportunity to do some hot laps with them, which should be an experience. I'm excited.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Fuel Gauge question.

So I'm pinned past the F as soon as I power the car on. I've disconnected and replaced the gauge, same thing with the new gauge.

I put the multimeter on the sending wire and ground - it looks like I'm getting an open circuit from the sending unit. I traced the wire back to the fuel tank and have found where it enters the tank and then comes back up the left frame rail to a wiring harness.

My thought is that if I cut the wire to the sending unit way back where it enters the fuel tank, that should tell me if it's shorted, right? because if its pinched or something between where I cut it and the harness, the gauge would stay at F even after I cut the wire.

If it drops, that tells me I have a faulty sending unit...I think.

If it's the former, I could just splice into that line at the cut, run the new wire up the frame and take it straight through the firewall into the gauge while bypassing the wiring harness altogether, right? Then just crimp the end of the old wire and leave it for dead (if it's the latter, it's someone else's problem - I ain't dealing with dropping that fuel tank).

Or am I just going to end up setting my car on fire somehow? This is where I get to my "just knowledgeable enough to be extremely dangerous" stage.

Because the alternative is just to keep putting gas in the thing every time I hit 100 miles on the tripmeter. Which has worked thus far.

I'm no expert, so don't follow my advice. If the wire was damaged it would short to ground and then wouldn't move the needle off E.

I'd bet real money it's your sending unit. I wouldn't **** with the wires to try and find out.

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

425-450 is what I've been able to find again based on just putting the build into various sources. But admittedly I've never Dyno'd it. I've had a couple different mechanics give me their thoughts on it as well and they were thinking in that same range.

The motor was rebuilt with the Eagle Competition forged crank/piston setup so even as far as 383s go, it's a pretty damn stout one. I've seen some folks with that setup claim they have it at 500HP but I don't buy it - I think there's some pretty heavy grade inflation going on there. I saw a guy years ago who put a dyno sheet up that said 480 from his Eagle 383 but there wasn't enough detail in there for me to know how he got there.

I can't really claim anything with any confidence.

I had a really nice 383 in my Chevy II when I bought it. It came with a Dyno sheet that said it was 505. Steel crank, steel 5.7 rods hypueretic pistons Edelbrock heads and a decent cam with a single plane intake and a 750 Holley. Not many of them actually break the 500 number though.