The Story
Had a 97' LT1 M6 Camaro, saved up 5k for upgrades, but before purchasing anything I spoke with several friends, TSP, etc. and everyone recommended selling the LT1 and going with an LS1. I chose to sell my LT1 and found a 00' T/A for 7k that already had several upgrades. The T/A came with a mail tune and the first thing I had done was get a full dyno tune done. After tuning the car all day on a heat soaked motor it put down 403/rwhp and 378/rwtq. I was happy and it was defiantly a huge upgrade from the stock LT1.... That was until I got to the track.
The Problem
The cars BEST run has was 13.07 @ 106. With the stock auto gears (2.73s) I felt the car would greatly improve on a gear swap. Had 3.73s installed and went back to the track last night @ Little River Drag way in Temple, TX - yes it was hot as hell and track conditions weren't ideal, but the car ran the exact same with little improvement ..... an embarrassing 13.03 @ 106. This is the first car I have actually taken to the track, and had a few people say it could be a driver mod....okay I will admit I am not the most experienced, but I have let 2 other friends drive the car and it remains the same, the car runs consistent low 13s.
The Mods
2000 Pontiac Trans Am A4

Power
LS6 Stage 1 Heads .20 lift
LS6 Intake
Scoggy Dickens cam 220/224 114 LSA
K&N CAI
Hooker Long tube Headers
Magnaflow High-flow Exhaust (Dumped at Y-pipe)
Stock TB
NGK plugs & MSD Wires
42lb Injectors

Drivetrain
Stock 4l60 with some 4l80 upgrades
Yank 3600 Stall
Stock 10-bolt
3.73 gears

Chassis/Suspension
All stock

Tuned by Ultimate Motorsports & Reckart Performance

All upgrades came with the car except the new 3.73 gears

Ideas
After talking with several other respected car owners most agree that getting out of the hole is the problem. The car doesn't have that "stick you to the seat feel" and my best 60ft is 2.0x. Some ideas is the Yank 3600 stall is eating up a lot of torque out of the hole OR the cam is to small for the LS6 Heads. I myself feel it is a combo of both, but it baffles me that a 400rwhp car runs 13s....no way. I know several Camaro & T/As with Heads/Cam swap breaking 12s no problem.

Any insight or opinions are more than welcome....

Goal
My goal is to have a low 11 second street/strip N/A car. I feel like I'm right there once this issue is fixed.

 

You should be cutting 60 fts around 1.60 or so and running high 11s minimum even in the heat. Your 60ft is not suppose to be 2.0. You have an issue somewhere, and it could simply be the converter needs to be gone through by Yank.

 

I agree with you 100%. Some have suggested either smaller converter or larger cam....what do you think??

 

I think the converter may have some fins laid over inside it or something. What does it flash to?

 

Also, your mph is way down too, so something is off.

 

I wouldnt say should be cutting 1.6 60s but could be, a 1.6 is a pretty stout short time with a 400 whp car depending on the tire & size used. Even with a 2.0 60 that car should easily be in the mid-low 12s though & trap around 115. With that small of a cam a 3200 stall might be better but I gotta believe a 3600 should work fine too but theres something internally wrong with it.

 

It will flash and hold footbrake up to 3200.

 

Street Tires are on 17 inch rims with BFG super sports & Drag Radials are on the stock 16 inch M/T ET Streets. I agree something is defiantly wrong, any guess where to look first?? I do think the car has to much stall for the mild cam, so I will be upgrading it very soon. Probably the MS3, not sure yet though. But before I throw anymore money into the car, I would like to find out whats up.

 

First of all, a 3600 converter is not too much for a stock cam let alone a 220+ aftermarket cam. An MS cam needs a minimum of 4k for a converter.

 

Everything I have read about converters says it should match your cam, which I am not sure if it does since I did not select either one. The cam is a 220/224 with the 3600 converter.

The MS3 cam according to TSP takes a minimum 3500 stall and recommends 3800 for autos. So I may just have to go with a different cam, thats fine, but I do feel the one I have is awful small for all the other mods.

 

3600 is definitley not too much stall for that cam people run a 3600 or 4k on a stock car all th time and take .7 off the quarter. I'd have that car re-dynoed a 400whp car is not going 106mph thats more along the lines of a 300whp fbody. My bet is somethings up with the motor itself

 

I agree with you guys, and am new to the track scene. I have seen cars with just a head/cam install run 12s all day, and with the 3.73s I believe the car should be in the low 12s all day. I do think I may have something internally wrong, but the car is always smooth; doesn't spit, sputter, rattle, nothing...acts fine. The only VERY MINOR issue when I bought it is at startup the car loped very low, but never died and after warming up was just fine. Since the tune however it has not done this.

I have had the car re-dynoed twice, first on a Dynocom it dynoed at 403whp/378wtq, and on a Dynojet it dynoed at 390whp/356wtq.

 

How many miles on the car? I see the trans has been gone through does it slip? Something is terribly wrong, youre running stock LS1 times with nicer cam, intake, headers, no cats?(I am assuming so) I would say maybe the cam was not degreed properly but not with 390 whp thats about right on. With that said I cant see it being an engine problem.

 

The 3600 is fine for that cam.

106mph is what stock A4's run. Stalled/geared/stock internal A4's can go 110-114mph. Something is way off.

My thoughts:

-Remove the 42lb injectors. Thanks to the mass amounts of misinformation spread around on the internet, everyone thinks that 42lbs is the magical number. This couldn't be any further from incorrect. 42lb injectors are a TON of fuel, and are not needed until you're near the 550+rwhp level. Remove the 42lb injectors, sell them, pick up a set of stock GM 28lb injectors for $50-75, and have your IFR table returned to a stock 28lb table from a 2001-2002 F-body. This is probably half your problem. Too much fuel, and the injectors probably aren't scaled correctly.
-Regarding fuel again. Have someone verify your Air/Fuel at WOT using a wide band sensor in the exhaust. Do a WOT pull on the street to simulate a real driving condition, and see where your A/F is.
-Do a compression check to cover all your bases and make sure the motor isn't hurt and/or getting worn out. This is a simple easy check that can eliminate a lot of variables/guessing.

Again, I will stress that the 42lb injectors are not needed. That is a waste of fuel, and far too much for a baby cam/stg 1 car. And if the IFR table isn't scaled properly for your injectors, it will slow the car down.

Good luck.

 

95121 miles, tranny was done less than 3k miles ago. And shifts damn good, barks out of 2nd every time. I agree something is way wrong. Yeah no cats, just Header and Y-pipe.

Well the injectors were upgraded after the first few pulls on the dyno showed the duty cycle maxed out, and I chose the 42s because I am planning bigger mods in the very near future. I am going Friday back to the tuner and will have him check all the A/F and WOT settings again. We did make a WOT pull during the tuning session. (3 months ago) A compression check is a good idea. I will check that out asap.

 

Your injectors maxed because 99-00's have smaller injectors than the other years and usually max out around 400HP.

You're about 10 MPH down from where the car should be running. That is a **** load. Something is way off somewhere. Good luck.

 

After a visit to the tuner Friday I will post up any updates. Thanks.

 

A cammed/stalled full weight car should run mid/high 11s all. A H/C/Stalled car I expect to run low 11s.

 

Damn Matt u beat me to the thread I was thinking of doing the same after last night I have to think of some thing I doubt it its the convertor since were at the same times and im running a 3200 stall. Maybe it is the injectors dice that's the only thing that we both have to big?

 

May not be much of a contribution, but i think the point on the 42# injectors is something to think about as far as tuning goes on your current set up.

As far as your bad 60ft,... well lately Little River has sucked as far as track prep. I can barely leave on a 2.0 ft there; with that sad, i think we can all agree an auto should still have an easier time. get rid of the stock control arms lol

The good thing is that with DA correction you're at least mid 12s, but i agree you should be seeing consistent 11s.