New 523 comes together!

[Steve Reynolds]

I thought that I'd post the most current progress on my 70 GSX tribute drag car.

I picked up the engine from AM&P while at the BG Nat's. Man..... was I satisfied!! Saturday was my birthday and AM&P couldn't have given me a better birthday gift!

The engine is a 523 CI with Stage 2 SE heads, solid cam, an "old" Wildcat intake (that mike ported the heck out of), and an "old" 2 circuit 1050 Dominator worked over by Bigs Performance. Of course it has my SRE/Peterson oil/vacuum pump, SRE Oil Pan, Valve Covers, Pump mount, Motor plate, etc, etc. It also has a few "special tricks" that Mike tried for the first time. My original expectations were for 750-775 HP, but we exceeded that by a long shot! We made quite a few pulls at lower RPM while concentrating on the Vacuum and Oil Pressure. Once we got that figured out we started to go after some HP and Tq numbers. We ended up with 819 HP at 6500 and 711 lbft Tq at 5400. This is all tried at 32 deg's of timing! All we did to get better numbers is mess with the carb as we didn't have time to try timing, valve lash or anything else! It was getting late and we needed to wrap it up so I could load it up on Saturday and bring it home. Mike, myself and a few other feel that there was a good amount of power left in there yet, (maybe as much as 850) but I was ecstatic with those numbers and decided to stop there. I was never after the "highest HP Buick", just a good strong and dependable bracket engine.

I can't thank Mike and the crew at AM&P enough! They did one heck of a job on this engine!

Here are a few pictures and one of the dyno sheets for referance. Also pics of the car it will be going into when finished, (next season ).

[Rick]

Looks real nice Steve! No doubt a solid low 9 second car. When will you be ready to run her?

[philip roitman]

Sweet. Steve it was great to see ya at BG. Sorry we did not do the birthday thing. Wow, what a motor

[Steve Reynolds]

Thanks guys.
I wish I could say that it will be ready this year, but with work being as slow as is and income being WAY down, it won't be on the track until next year...... and that's if the economy comes back by then. I'm short some major components like torque converter, lexan, slicks, driveshaft and batteries. Oh ya, I can't forget the bodywork and paint!

I'm also thinking low 9's and with the right tune up and conditions maybe some high 8's. The car is your basic back half car with mild steel cage, fiberglass bumpers, hood, decklid, and doors. I'm guessing just under 3000lbs, but I'm not sure, as it may be a little less than that. I didn't "go crazy" with lightweight stuff, but I was quite conscious about keeping the weight down where possible.

Wish I could get it done this season, but at least I can still keep working on it with all this time off!

[Rick]

No doubt you will run those low to very low 9's.

Last year my '70 GS weighed in, with me at 3180, with 5 gallons of fuel & I was about 200 lbs plus figure another 20 pounds for helmet and racing suit. Net weight minus me puts it about 2960 pounds. I ran a best on a new engine 9.31 and on the dyno the max HP was 780 at 6900. Figured with proper tunning should have gone in the 20's maybe even better. I did find out my trans was just plane worn out so that may have hurt the times a bit.

Since last fall I lost close to 35 pounds and took another 15 off the car and had the Coan converter tightened a bit along with a fresh rebuild on the TH400 by Mark DeConti. I'm not greedy I'll settle for the 9.20's and 30's, just as long as the engine lasts.

Oh you can always take off those wheelie bars for weight saving and then you can make a run for the Wheelie King Title.

Again good luck with her.

[ROCK N ROLL GSX]

Very nice combo !!! Hope it serves you well. It looks to be making good power and well built.Talking about engines and 1/4 mile ETS, we were just discussing that the other day at the Nationals.The 490 that was first put together in Frank Urbinati's white Pro Street car was making 775 before the car went to a 523 making 825 HP. Our experince was when you start going faster and making horse power, it takes a lot more HP to pick the car up in ET and MPH.Performance gains are not as significant in ET & MPH IE: Going from 400 to 500 HP.You would think that the difference in HP from 775 & 825 would add up to a lot more in performance.Especailly when comparing the dyno sheets. But after testing and dialing in and trying different gears and torque converters etc.. etc... the car gained .3 tenths and 3 MPH at best.
And the big comparison in expense in the billet crank ,block prep,the Jessel rocker system, oiling system, and for the evac pump etc.With engines build since, the 490 sure seems to be best bang for the buck.Probably was half the cost.Lately we have been running and test and tuning a stock stroke 464 with cast Iron Stage 1 heads making 725 HP.I think there is still more in the combo.However we had the 7 yr old trans go away and will have to rebuild and freshen the torque converter first before continuing with it.
Good luck with the combo.Yes it will be interesting to see what it runs !!
Keep us posted.

[10sec 455]

Looks great Steve! Love the motorplate setup.

[Kick71]

freakin nice!
drool

[Steve Reynolds]

Thanks guys!!

I can't wait until it all comes together myself!!! I also can't wait to run it locally a few times to show my "so called Chevy buddies" what a stock block Buick can do! Dan Zepnick is a friend of mine and a local racer with a very nice 70 that runs low 10's, and I occasionally run my blue car in the mid 11's, but I don't think many locals have seen a low 9 second v8 Buick before, so this should be a "shock" to them! LOL

Wish I had the $$$$$ to finish it NOW!

Anyone care to be a "Sponsor"?

[Steve Schlater]

Awesome Job Steve !!!! We were wondering how things went and when our friends from New York came back to tell us about the dyno session, I knew you had to be happy with it. Way to go SRE and AM&P

P.S. I really like the looks of the car....I can't wait to see it when its done. Great Job Again !!!!

[71stage1conv]

BBBBBAD BBBBAD BBBBAD Bad to the Bone...

[Steve Reynolds]

Thanks guys!!

Steve, I really regret not getting back to the hotel until late! I can't remember a year in the past when we weren't gathered in front of the hotel "downing a few" and telling stories until we couldn't stay awake! Damn I miss that!! Oh well, I know that there will be next year, or maybe BPG this August!

Thanks again for the comments on my car. I've been working on the electrical and what a PITA!!! I'm NOT a whiz when it comes to doing the electrical stuff, so I for sure take longer than someone who knows what their doing! It becomes very frustrating!

I can't wait to get it finished. I really don't want to do anything except work on my race car! Guess I'm "over motivated"!

Hey congrat's on the magazine coverage in "Popular Hot Rodding". Yourself, Mike and Tom did a great job! Too bad they misspelled Tom's name!! (Tom "Ray" instead of Tom "Rix")

See you at the BPG Nat's?

Steve

[Steve Reynolds]

A little progress on the car. Electrical is about 80%, (I'll say it again, what a PITA!!!!). Engine is rough fit in place with many things to change or modify. I'm kind of glad that I don't have the money to finish it now, because I'd have all the parts ready to go and the car still wouldn't get done in time for this season! That would be very frustrating!! At least now I'm able to take my time and do it right!

Steve

[Rick]

Thats it, thats it! I'm getting a woodie Looks fantastic Steve!!

[ss4825]

Steve, That work you did on the front clip is just awesome. I wish I had the $$$ for you to do me just a front clip. AWESOME BABY!!!

Alan