List of questions

[imwlw83]

Alright, i finally got my new plugs and wires on, very nice. I also removed the throttle body from the car and cleaned the dickens out of it, removed burrs and mold cast lines. Cleaned MAF sensor, left screen in. Both MAF and TB were VERY dirty. I have noticed a big difference in performance. Ok questions:
1. What should my idle be when engine is warm and in drive. Its about 625 right now, that seems low. I got the reading from the computer with Datamaster software. I think that explains the low oil pressure at idle, its only about 12 psi.
2. When the car is warm, if i am at a dead stop and hit the pedal to the floor, should the car break traction and smoke the tires, because it dont. It will put you back in the seat nicely but on a straight launch it will not break loose, now if you punch it in a turn it will give alittle bark.

The car has 174k on it but the engine is supposed to only have 30k since rebuild. Transmission is rebuilt about a year ago. On a whole the car runs great and the last time i had a trans am was a 79 with a pontiac 400, mid range cam, it would burn the tires off the rim just about from a dead stop, no power braking or the likes.

So i just want to know if the car is doing what its supposed to do, if it is then i will start upgrading, but if not, i need to put the money into makeing do what it is capable of. Thanks for your time.

[ExtinctBird]

I'm no expert, but I have a 95 Formula. So I can tell that:
1. Mine only idles around 600 when warm. I don't think there is anything wrong with that at all, so long it is not struggling or sputtering. I assume you have an automatic.
2. If the engine were runing well and you are on normal street tires, you should easily break them loose.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Alright, i finally got my new plugs and wires on, very nice. I also removed the throttle body from the car and cleaned the dickens out of it, removed burrs and mold cast lines. Cleaned MAF sensor, left screen in. Both MAF and TB were VERY dirty. I have noticed a big difference in performance. Ok questions:
1. What should my idle be when engine is warm and in drive. Its about 625 right now, that seems low. I got the reading from the computer with Datamaster software. I think that explains the low oil pressure at idle, its only about 12 psi.

Fred has a chart on his web site for idle speed. Go here and scroll down.
http://members.aol.com/InjuneerZZ/ScanMast.htm

2. When the car is warm, if i am at a dead stop and hit the pedal to the floor, should the car break traction and smoke the tires, because it dont. It will put you back in the seat nicely but on a straight launch it will not break loose, now if you punch it in a turn it will give alittle bark.

That depends on several things. If you have sticky tires and 2.73 it might not light them up. That's actually a good thing sort of.

[95TransAm]

A couple weekends ago, I had my friend who works at a dealership hook up his "tech 2" scanner to my car to check a couple things out. It showed my exact RPM's along with what it's supposed to be running at. At idle while warm, the idle according to his scanner, said it should be at 650 RPM's, so you sound good where you're at now.

As for braking the tires loose, that should be without question. Keep in mind though that your tires, the pavement surface, and the temperature have an affect in regards to hearing your tires chirp. You can spin your tires and not make any squealing noise at all (I've done it several times), your RPM's climb and you go no where. You also will leave a couple strips when doing this.

If you cannot break your tires loose at all though, then some other things need to be checked because you have some serious power loss IMO. I've broken 'em loose and kicked my arse end out a tad at 30 mph before on tires with a good amount of tread left. From a dead stop I can roast them all day, even when my car was stock.

As for your low oil pressure, 12 psi isn't necessarily low. As long as you aren't in the red, you're good. I remember reading in my haynes manual that the recommended oil pressure for an LT1 ranges something from like 8 psi to 60 or so....can't remember for sure. What I do remember though was the the low end was real low. Being that you have higher miles I would say maybe it should be a bit higher, but then again you said your motor was rebuilt. I use Royal Purple 10w30, and when my car is warming up, my oil pressure sticks around 40 psi or so. The more it warms up, the more it drops until it is actually fully warmed up; at that point it drops to around 12-15 psi or so....and I actually notice that this is when my car pulls the hardest.

[95TransAm]

That depends on several things. If you have sticky tires and 2.73 it might not light them up. That's actually a good thing sort of.

Yes, another good point. This would actually be better too being you don't have traction problems to deal with out of the whole. Then again though, I have 2.73's and pretty decent rubber, and I light 'em up all day.

[imwlw83]

I drove it to work today and will give it some more test when i get off. These are the times when you wish you knew some more people with f-bodies fairly close to you. Just to compair the 2. I think my coil and optispark are original but like i said , everything seems to be running fine. Not knowing what the car did when it was new is a serious disadvantage in the seat of the pants dyno.

[Joe 1320]

A quarter mile pass would be helpful. The MPH would help indicate the HP the car is making. I can vouch for the torque of the old 400s and it could literally burn the tire off the rim..... but it quickly ran out of steam once the revs climb. I find my g-tech pro is quite useful in compring modifications and such. It is pretty darned accurate in ET, mph is off. At least it's a good tuning tool for learning to drive the car for best ET and for comparing before and after mods.

[95TransAm]

I find my g-tech pro is quite useful in compring modifications and such. It is pretty darned accurate in ET, mph is off. At least it's a good tuning tool for learning to drive the car for best ET and for comparing before and after mods.

Sorry to hijack, but how do you like your g-tech? I was considering picking up one, but wanted to make sure it was worth the dough. What other features does it have?

Also, I agree with Joe. Seeing how your car performs on 1,320 feet of pavement also helps in determining how your ride is performing. Try and calculate a 0-60 if you can also. You should be anywhere from the mid 5 second to 6 second range.