time to guess what my car will do in the 1/4

In about a month i will be taking my bucket to the track for the 1st time
500 caddy stock, 400 tranny 355 rear gears std29 inch street tires not any wide things or slicks for the 1st time posi rear, weight about 3000 lbs with me and a full tank of fuel. i am seriously traction limited

what is your educated guess re 1/4 mile on something like this
i will be posting my results after june 24th, this is a fresh track,never been raced on,were going to put down traction compound .
this will be the swift current drag race association's 1st race this year sot it should be fun and interesting.

post your thoughts and i will let you know how close you are.:) :) :) :)

500 caddy stock to what year? the 1970 model had about 400 hp stock the 71 and later hp droped way off to 300 or less.

22 seconds @ 65 mph?

hey thunder you wont win a prize that way :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

i honestly dont have a clue how fast it will be but i am not like other guys here who ask how fast it will go . i asked and am going to tell you the answer once all the tire smoke clears :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

chevy i thinks its a 71 but were not shure :HMMM: :HMMM:

If its a 70 model i'd say 12 seconds at 110mph. If it's 71 model i'd say 13 seconds at 106mph. If you can get it to hook up, doesn't the caddy motor have somthing like 500 ft/lbs of torque? good luck hooking up.............

I'd guess the high 14's to mid 15's at 90+ mph.

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Originally Posted by canadianal

hey thunder you wont win a prize that way :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

i honestly dont have a clue how fast it will be but i am not like other guys here who ask how fast it will go . i asked and am going to tell you the answer once all the tire smoke clears :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

chevy i thinks its a 71 but were not shure :HMMM: :HMMM:

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well thats good, i was just kidding by the way, im waiting to find out what it really does.

......actually I think the Torque on the '70 is even more than 500, somewhere in the neiborhood of 550 I believe....

And are you sure your bucket weights 3000 Lb's??? Is it a T-Bucket??? zzz

i built it way too heavy,with me in it and a full tank of fuel it clicked out at 3000 lbs at the weigh scales.

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Originally Posted by canadianal

i built it way too heavy,with me in it and a full tank of fuel it clicked out at 3000 lbs at the weigh scales.

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you must have filled the bucket with cement. 15 sec. :LOL:

I'm thinking mid to high twelves, even if you ease it off the line once you get it rolling it should fly. Slightly off topic, but most of the folks I have talked with about the big Caddies say they like a higher gear. You might look at moving up to a 3.00 or even something in the 2.80 range. That might help the traction situation. In stock form all the torque is in around 2500 I think and they are pretty much done by 4800-5000. With just 3000 pounds and a highway gear you might even get decent fuel mileage. I'll bet you could even find someone to trade you since most of the folks with lesser torque would find your 3.55s desirable.

Good luck at the track, hope you can pass the safety inspection ;) :LOL:

Pat

A buddy of mine put a 472 caddy motor into a 71Nova .
It was basically stock as obviously not much speed equip to choose from.
I think he was running 3.31 gears w/dual exhast ,shift kit & it ran high 13's.
That car was a serious tire burner as well.


Bob
67 Caliente

I looked at the picture of the bucket in your gallery, and think with the weight an wheelbase you will be in the low 15 sec area. With the Caddy's torque, you might dip into the 14's, but traction is going to play a big role.

What do we win if we guess correctly???:D :D :D :D :D


Don

my friends dad has a '89 Dodge Daytona that has been pro streeted, has a 8pt cage, balkhaved, runs a blown ( Little M 6/71 ) small block through a TH350 with a shift kit, has a locker in the rear, wheelie bar, all the good stuff, but it has never gone through chassie cert or even been on the track, not even a test and tune. is street legal tho. dosn't make sense to have that much car, built for drag racing, then baby it down the street. oh yeah, given your car is 3,000 pounds, providing your tires don't go up in smoke, probably 13-14 seconds.

The guess from here is 16.20

1. Stage
2. Light turns green
3. Tires light up
4. Off gas, get traction
5. Pedal the gas
6. Worry about windshield blowing back in face
7. Cross finish line

Hope it's better! I have found that a "first" run for any car is
usually much less than you anticipate. It's a starting point from
which you continually improve. Not many drag cars run the record
on the first day out....same applies to a street car.

It will take you several sessions to figure out the small stuff.....
tire pressure, etc.

mike in tucson

Somewhere between 14 and 15 sec. No 12's with a 3000# car and skinny tires. Not baggin your car, Al . . . just been there a few times.

Didnt some car magazine (a few years back) take a Caddy and start stripping it down to see what it would do in the quarter mile? It seems as if they got the thing under 3000 lbs by cutting the body away (literally), leaving only the floor pan and firewall. The thing ran something like 13s..... but then, I may have dreamed this also.

mike in tucson

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Originally Posted by robot

Didnt some car magazine (a few years back) take a Caddy and start stripping it down to see what it would do in the quarter mile? It seems as if they got the thing under 3000 lbs by cutting the body away (literally), leaving only the floor pan and firewall. The thing ran something like 13s..... but then, I may have dreamed this also.

mike in tucson

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yep I remember reading it, I think it was Hotrod Magazine, not shure.

hmmmm. skinny tires and highway gears??? 15.4 @ 82 mph.

Mike: Nope you weren't dreaming. The article was called "Caddy Hack" and they started with a bone stock 1970 Caddy Sedan DeVille, and after getting some baseline runs, they started to remove stuff. First seats, then doors, etc. Finally, they got out the sawsall and utimately got it down to a bare frame and a lightweight drag seat.

I don't remember the exact times, but I think 12's or very low 13's, and these runs were traction plagued even with dragster slicks. I think the final car weighed under 2000 lbs. All of this goes back 20-30 years ago, so the exact details are a little foggy, but this is the essence of it.

It was a very clean Caddy, too. We had the exact clone of this car (not the stripped down version), that we bought when we lived in California. My Sons were about 12, and I used to entertain them by lighting up the tires, even with my utility trailer attached. They were easily amused, and probably is the reason they are motorheads today.:D :D :D :D :D :D


Don

What about that Caddy that "Jesse James":eek: did?Wasn't it a blown Caddy?Did they put it on the track?

"They were easily amused, and probably is the reason they are motorheads today."

beautiful. :)

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Originally Posted by BigTruckDriver

What about that Caddy that "Jesse James":eek: did?Wasn't it a blown Caddy?Did they put it on the track?

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Yeah, it was. But the funniest part of that show was when they took it to the dragstrip they got beaten BADLY by some guy in a very stock looking Caddy. But that car was a real screamer. The guy never said what was in it, but it was far from stock.

Jesse was a little embarrassed, and said something to the effect of "what are the odds of showing up at the dragstrip and having TWO similar Cadillacs show up?" The other Cad had to have some serious power adders because he didn't just beat Jesse, he beat him BADLY.:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

Nice to see Jesse humbled a little.:D :D :D

Don

Actually I think the Caddy Jesse did had a big block Chevy in it, which was a major disappointment for me. The other one probably had a Caddy motor and that's why it walked all over him! :LOL:

Pat

You are probably right, Pat. Summit and the other guys give them free motors (zilch, na-da, freeby, and all that stuff) so it probably was Chevy.

Bet those shops were real pleased to see their crate engine beaten by the Cad.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Don

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Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

You are probably right, Pat. Summit and the other guys give them free motors (zilch, na-da, freeby, and all that stuff) so it probably was Chevy.

Bet those shops were real pleased to see their crate engine beaten by the Cad.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Don

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Yeah, I get freebies, too. Summit sent me a hat and Atlantic Speed sent me a T-Shirt!!!!!!:LOL: :LOL::

OK, I say 14.35 @110 mph

Go get 'em.

My guess, 13.5 seconds.

I ran a 500 caddy with 472 heads, an Ultradyne racing cam, Ford 351 valve springs, custom made billet rocker pedestals and bbc headers. The intake was an Edelbrock and it had a predator carb. It was in a 71 Sedan DeVille that had no mods but a roll bar installed. We raced it on dirt in an endurance race and started on the pole next to a less than legal early 70's Camaro. On the first straightaway I pulled the field by 3 car lengths. On lap 70, the track had dried out some and I had lapped the field once when the right rear tire rolled off of the rim. I went into the pits, got a new tire and went back out a lap down. Just as I lapped the field to get back on the lead lap, I rolled the tire off again. Went back into the pits, got another tire and finished 7th in a 40 car field. That car would really fly and handled incredibly well for a land yacht.

The 76 and up 500 has flat top pistons and big chamber heads, while the earlier engines had dished pistons and small chamber heads. If you put the small chamber heads on the flat top motor, it gives you over 12 to 1 compression. You can put a 1/4" shim under the oil pump bypass spring to boost the pressure to around 65 pounds. The bottom end of those engines is nearly bulletproof, but very very heavy in terms of rotating/reciprocating mass. Because of that, they are slow revving. The torque is incredible, I estimate that mine had over 600#. I ballooned several good stall converters before I finally spent $$$$ and got one with an anti-balloon plate.

5500 rpm is absolutely the max, even with heavy valve springs and mods to beef up the rocker assemblies, which are the weakest link in the engine. 4800 is realistic with a stocker. Because of that, you will probably have to go with a taller gear than the ones you have.

Hooking that monster up in your light bucket is going to be tough. My brother put a stock 500 in an 86 regal, and it would absolutely shred the tires no matter what he did. He finally gave up and pulled the motor out. That car ran mid 13's on street tires.

Anyway, good luck with the Caddy.. It is a fun motor if you are satisfied with a low revving beast that has gobs of torque.

Gonna spin like crazy off the line, prolly a 2.3 60' or so. Then, when it gets gathered up, gonna fly like crazy. I'd say a 14.8-15.2 at some ridiculous mph. Like 105-110.

well guys the day is done i am sun burnt, tired and put in 8 recorded passes at the 1st swift current drag races in over 30 years.
WHAT A BLAST:whacked: :whacked: :whacked: :whacked: :whacked:
never raced on a track before went a couple of times to lay down rubber as the airstrip had never had horsepower on it. 1st actual race i got sideways and was looking at the other guy for a second, then decided to bail and got staight again. i had 150 to 200 ft of marks out from the line. still got 15.8 at 91 mph!!!
aired down the tires ( by the way i swapped out my big tires and went to a 215 75 r 15 all season on steel rim in the back real hard crappy and little ) i thought as though can only go max 13.5 before i am caged i might as well have fun.
the tires are now completly shot , the last run of the day was a 14.176 no mph as the left lane mph was playing jeckle and hyde all day . best time was i think a 9 second pass from vega , lots of every kind of car out there close to 60, had fun racing a stock caddy engine with ugly little tires against lots of hotter sounding modified cars and truck and either beat them or was right in there.
the car ran best in drive with the the lazy 4000 rpm shift pont and let it grunt it out.
i have a really good half track pull and was keeping up to other faster cars that had line trouble and if i could match them out of the hole i was with the to the end .
had a huge crowd for a small city the track tightended up as we just poured on the vht watched a guy on a bike do a 1/4 on 1 wheel from the 60 ft line out, and my neighbor was running a mid 70s stroked kick start harley in the mid 12s . we are good guys here,he would pump on that thing for 20 minutes and finally it would fire up.
we would let him pull in front and let him go :) :) :)
going to do it again you bet, go faster not yet, i told some guys there is nothing more fun than a torquey motor in a light car with little tires. it makes the whole experience just that much more fun:whacked: :whacked:

Al...sounds like a blast, sorry I missed it. This makin' a living crap gets in the way of what you really want to do, don't it? When is the next time coming up?

next race day is july 29th , hope its just as good as the 1st one, we estimated the crowd was over 3000.