I just got my 1st Impala SS, and I want to turn it into a 12 sec ride, or quicker than stock. I'm new to the LT-1 World, so I don't want to make any wrong turns or waste cash. I was told to stay away from the MSD stuff, and the hand held programer. Thanks for the help.

 

How deep are your pockets? There are many options open to you supercharged, turbocharged, nitrous or normally aspirated, all have been done. You can check this site for the username 96capricemgr his car runs 11's with ported heads, and intake, cam, tb, and headers/dual exhaust.

 

Here's a good database of how far each "class" of mods have pushed the B-bodies in 1/4 mile performance:
http://www.top-et.com/impalass/
Click on the class at the top and it will highlight the cars in that class.

And here's a link to a forum that has some "stickies" in the Performance section to get you started on the right track:
http://www.impalassforum.com/vBulletin/index.php

 

I want to go the no power adder route. I would be happy to get the car into the 12's without any power adder, without breaking the bank.

 

Get a custom baby cam matched to the best factory ported heads you can afford. (Advanced induction is right up the road ) Then get the best torque converter you can afford, and possibly some 3.73 gears, and of course all the supporting bolt ons, exhaust, yada yada yada....that should about do it no problem!

Playing devil's advocate...How many miles are on it? You may want to consider a stock rebuild if your taking it apart anyway if high mileage...if the project starts snowballing (as these things tend to do..he he), you could slip in a forged stroker crank if you want to step it up a couple notches!

 

My DCM SS got about 145,000 on the motor.

 

I'm thinkin' you're going to need more than a 3.73 gear for NA, more like 4.10 or higher depending on stall speed. That's a lot of weight to get moving.

 

There are lots of 3.73 geared Imp's running 12's or better on NA stock cubes. Torque converter selection is a much bigger factor.

 

Yeah that's getting on up there, you should strongly consider at least a stock rebuild IMO; rings, bearings, oil pump, cylinder hone maybe. The heads and intake are going to come off anyway, just sayin....it can be done for less than $1000. Throw in some good ARP rod bolts and get the stock rods resized at least while your down there if you don't do anything else...TRUST me on this; lest one of the stock rod bolts lets go at high RPM and sends a rod out the side of your block! If you have the means, I still think a 396 stoker kit with the "396" badges on a Impala would be a pretty freakin cool nod to the past!

 

Yeah, that's why I also threw in the stall speed in my post.

Tell me, are these guys running 12's on a lower gear number full weight cars? Now that I think of it I ran mid 11's with 3.73's @3700 pounds. I always feel the b-body is sooo much heavier than it really is.

 

With my old AI 190cc heads/cam setup 3400 stall Edge converter 3.73s, slicks and tools in the trunk on street tires I managed 12.7 immediately upon arriving at the track after a 2 hour drive. Not a cold engine glory run or anything. Later that day on the slicks was good for I think 12.0s best for that setup was 11.9 on another day.
Raceweight with the full trunk and all was certainly over 4400lbs probably more like .

I believe base curb on a Caprice sedan is 4060lbs. They are definitely heavier than an f-body but many b-body owners additionally exaggerate weight.

 

Affirmative. My car brand new unaltered scaled 4050 w/half tank.
For some reason, the myth has propagated that the Impalas were 4200-4250 curb weight. So you have 95% of the fatazzes out there claiming race weights of 4400+ lbs because they've NEVER weighed them! Of all the people I've been around that race AND WEIGH their cars, 4100 curb is the highest I know of.

Mystery Bird - Yes, the ones that know what they're doing have no problem running 12's with 3.73 gears at 4200-4300 lb race weights. Several stock cam/stock head cars have even done it.

 

Thanks for all the good info guys. Right now my engine runs good, doesn't burn any oil at all. I looked into the AI heads and cams since I read alot about them, but that's a route I want to go when I need to go into the engine.

 

That's awesome guys.

Hate to clutter up someone else's thread but 96capricemgr are you still using Edge converters? That's the only kind I've ever used.

 

I'd support that plan
I had a blast with mine running 12's NA and 11's on spray for many years with just bolt-on mods.
Do all of your drivetrain beef-up first. When you do gears, upgrade the posi to an Eaton clutch type or TrueTrac/Torsen gear type at the same. If your stock Auburn isn't already toast, it will be as soon as you start visiting the track. The TC I'd recommend that's good for the stock engine as well as mild-to-medium heads/cam and stroker setups is the Yank PAS3400. It's a version of their SS3600 that drives a little better in these heavier cars. Depending on what use/abuse your trans has gone through, installation of a Transgo HD2 or equivalent kit could buy you quite a bit of time before a rebuild. I installed the HD2 when mine was new and got probably 700-800 strip runs on it all the way to low 11's before the 3-4 clutches were toast.

 

I still have an Edge, just 3800stall these days. I am very happy with Edge, would certainly like to try a Yank as I value bowtienut's opinion and he has run fast with both.

On the tranny thing it is CRITICAL to pick the right builder, there are a lot of shops out there that just screw this tranny up. It does NOT need a lot of fancy parts, it needs careful assembly with proper tolerances. The shops that dump out the old parts and dump in a bunch of new endup claiming the tranny is too weak to handle any power when a year later their junk fails. There are a handful of f-bodies running 9s on this tranny for years and years with just seasonal refreshing. The guys with 11-12 second street cars and frequent failures are just using the wrong builders and or tuners.

 

Who are some good builders on the East Coast?

 

I've done it with a bottle that old nitrous works kit

 

I really couldn't say but the list of shops I would trust is
ProBuilt Automatics which is who built mine.
Mike Harris a fellow enthusiast who lives in OH.
Rossler who has a heavily modified 4L60E in a full weight Impala running over 150mph in the quarter
FLT near Chicago

 

What size TC did/do you have in your 200cc set-up? I'll find out for sure when I get my receipt book from the garage what I have in mine.