What are you running and why did you choose a V6?

[Anonymous]

Most racing oils still contain the proper amount of ZDPP in their blend. As long as you don't have a leaky POS, you can run that and be fine with a flat tappet.
A leaky POS would get expensive to run royal purple or valvoline racing oil in/through.
However, if you like to run plain old oil or Rotella, which is what I run in my sixer, you'll need to add in an additive or convert to rollers.


I've been really curious as to what I could get out of my 3.8 without a turbo and all that. But, the thing that kills me is the mileage. I could get better mileage with a V8 and power. So, I"m on the fence.
Today at the pullapart junkyard I found a 4.1 and a Cad 500. I'm torn.

 

[John N]

87 Turbo T so turbo 6 is just the way it is. Just got it back from the shop with FAST and some other goodies. I'm going to shoot for high tens on race gas this week. I hope I don't break anything too expensive :lol:

 

[mhamilton]

Most racing oils still contain the proper amount of ZDPP in their blend. As long as you don't have a leaky POS, you can run that and be fine with a flat tappet.
A leaky POS would get expensive to run royal purple or valvoline racing oil in/through.
However, if you like to run plain old oil or Rotella, which is what I run in my sixer, you'll need to add in an additive or convert to rollers.

I've been really curious as to what I could get out of my 3.8 without a turbo and all that. But, the thing that kills me is the mileage. I could get better mileage with a V8 and power. So, I"m on the fence.
Today at the pullapart junkyard I found a 4.1 and a Cad 500. I'm torn.

I've heard that some of the racing oils are non detergent, so that wouldn't be too good for a driver. I'll just keep using my plain oil with the EOS for now. Would it be difficult to have a custom roller made for the 229? I know that someone makes a mild flat tappet for the semi-odd fire, so they must have the specs on that. Would just have to use the same retrofit parts of the V8 roller conversions.

I have found the economy lacking with these old 6s as well. Sure, they're better than the carbed V8s of the time, but my LT1 Impala can get 24 mpg highway with careful driving. Even though I've thought about swapping it out, I can't bring myself to putting a computer controlled engine in the Malibu.

 

[Darwinskeeper]

I have been struggling with the mpg issue too. My only major roadtrip so far netted me as much as 23mpg, but my week to week driving puts me in the 15-18mpg range.

I suspect my biggest problem is vacuum. At 3470lb, my little red wagon is a bit heavier than I had suspected, and that's a lot for even the 4.3 to pull with 2.73 gears causing low vacuum and less than steller economy. In my case, the Comp 252H cam (206/206 [email protected]; .425/.425 lift) and relatively large carb (a Holley 465cfm 4160) didn't help matters. Also, the 3 speed Saginaw doesn't have a decent gear for driving at 25-40mph.

I'm hoping that switching to a milder cam & replacing the carb will improve the vacuum situation. The eventual 5 speed & ignition work should also help matters.

 

[Mean87SS]

87 Turbo T so turbo 6 is just the way it is. Just got it back from the shop with FAST and some other goodies. I'm going to shoot for high tens on race gas this week. I hope I don't break anything too expensive :lol:

I run low 11's on pumpgas with a stock motor car...

 

[John N]

Nice, you've had a little more time to mess with your car. I haven't even been able to get mine streetable yet which sucks. maybe 8 passes and one short trip around the block is about as much as mine has been driven.

When I went to Atco it was filled with 93 pump gas. My IC pipe came off a little on the first run and the track was too cold to get traction. Ended up with a 12.0 at 119 first run. Second run the IC pipe came all the way off before the 330'. Didn't make a third run even though I finally got the IC pipe tight. Everybody was getting squirrelly and some were crashing. I didn't want to do the same. With good traction and some tuning I think I might be able to get real low 11s, maybe touch 10s on pump gas. Then I just need to get plates on it and maybe hook up the alky injection!

 

[Anonymous]

Boosted 3.8's are nice. 8) I run a Series II 3800 in my GP, with a Eaton M90 supercharger. I've ran a best of 12.6 but I've seen people with the same mods as me get down into the 11's. There's quiet a few FWD 3800s with turbochargers running 9's @130...stock bottom end. I'd love to be able to get a 3800 into my wagon.