94 Formula Has Been Sold - But not forgotten

2593 Views 77 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Injuneer, 4 d ago

Injuneer

Discussion Starter · Apr 3, 2022

2

On March 20 I closed a deal on selling my 1994 Firebird - purchased new 27.5 years ago. This heavily modified car had been sitting in my garage undriven, for several years. I've reached the age (80 years old) where I'm not capable of maintaining it and continuing to modify it. I had never reached my goal of making a 9-second pass, even though the car was fully capable of it.

I had several people interested, but they seemed to want to convert it back to a "street" car, and that was at odds with what I wanted for the car. I was looking for someone who fully understood the car and wanted to continue on my path to proving its capabilities.

I was fortunate to find someone "local"... someone who had admired the car for years, someone I had helped several times on the ltxtech.com site, and someone who was obviously "hands on" capable of continuing my work at my high standards. I will have every opportunity to watch the progress, and be present when it fulfills my goals,

Off it goes, into the sunset:

Tire Wheel Vehicle Plant Automotive parking light

Tire Vehicle registration plate Automotive parking light Wheel Vehicle

More progress info to follow.

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Injuneer

Discussion Starter · #2 · Apr 3, 2022

It only took two weeks to get the fuel system fully cleaned. Not easy, because it includes dual high pressure/high flow pumps, one in the tank and one outboard off a sump at the back of the tank. I never cut a "hatch" in the package shelf, so the tank had to be dropped.

All lines are braided SS, with a large billet fuel filter in the stock location. The fuel rails are modified to flow in parallel, rather than in series, in one rail and out the other. The injectors flow 74 #/HR at 58 PSI. There is a stand-alone fuel pressure regulator, rather then the stock unit bolted to the fuel rails There is an electronic pressure sensor mounted to a bung on one of the rails. And the tank had a blend of stale pump gas and VP Fuels C16 (116-octane) leaded racing fuel.

But he got it cleaned up, repaired some minor mouse damage to wiring for the aftermarket MoTeC M48 Pro engine management system, and started the engine for the first time Saturday morning (4/2). And then he took it for a brief spin on the road....

Let's see if these videos work:

Damn, he's having all the fun.....

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tommy vercetti

· #3 · Apr 4, 2022

loved tha burnout

1993TransAm

· #4 · Apr 5, 2022

A true "passing of the torch." Anyone who's been on this site for a long time knows Fred and of his 1994 Formula. It's kind of surreal to read this story.

Injuneer

Discussion Starter · #5 · 12 mo ago

2

New owner's been shaking it down, an easy pass at Island Dragway on straight motor. Seemed slow... and it was. Found one of the injectors was beyond repair. Suspension setup still seems OK.

Car Wheel Tire Vehicle Hood

Tire Car Wheel Land vehicle Vehicle

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Injuneer

Discussion Starter · #6 · 7 mo ago (Edited)

Seems like the new owner has spent his time wisely. He's been going through it with a fine tooth comb, replacing some of the 20-year old parts. A week ago I dropped off a set of Hooker Super Comp long tube headers that I bought maybe 10 years ago and never installed. The car had a set of AS&M single-cat mid-lengths that had been reconfigured to route the collectors straight back for a dual exhaust setup. He got the Hookers installed, had gone back to a stock LT1 PCM from the 25-year old MoTeC ECU I was running. Kept the 8-coil LSx ignition by running the Bailey LTCC setup.

He also reverted to wet nitrous, in place of my dry system. Sunday he took it to Island Dragway in Great Meadows, NJ to see how much fun he could have with the nitrous. This was his third and final pass of the day on a 150-shot. He’s in the far (right) lane.

Timeslip:

Azure Font Electric blue Rectangle Pattern

Music to my ears………

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ZumpTA

· #7 · 7 mo ago

Jealous! I would have loved to have bought that 'bird from you.

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GaryDoug

· #8 · 7 mo ago

I was thinking about making an offer. BUT....I was also wanting to drive it on the street ;-) Bad Karma huh ?

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TubbyFormy

· #9 · 6 mo ago

i do drive it on the street! lmao

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TubbyFormy

· #10 · 6 mo ago

It actually did the 10.84 on just an opti and a mallory box that may have been on the fritz. it was breaking up here and there on motor and juice.

track sadly closed before i could go for more. thinking it would have picked up another .1-.15 with the fine tuning on the 150shot.

i have not touched the suspension at all since buying the car, so the way @Injuneer set it up years ago is cutting those 60ft's

i just ordered a new much larger solid roller cam from lloyd elliott so the motor is coming out for that right now. I want to uncork the potential in this engine. That along with some weight reduction i would like to be low 11's on motor and then jet the nitrous from there, i want to knock on 9.99 in 2023

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Injuneer

Discussion Starter · #11 · 6 mo ago

Welcome to Firebird Nation ! ! !

Every time I visit it’s up on blocks……

Automotive parking light Vehicle registration plate Car Vehicle Hood

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1993TransAm

· #12 · 6 mo ago

How cool is it that Fred's green Formula "is back???"

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TubbyFormy

· #13 · 6 mo ago

1993TransAm said:
How cool is it that Fred's green Formula "is back???"

Theres a few cars over the 10ish years i have been an LT1 idiot that i always admired. Fred's car, and "BADHAWK" Jeff Stark's black formula that runs mid 10's on motor.

when he posted it last year, i couldnt do it at the time. I pulled alot of strings and sold off 3 other projects including my 385 stroker 95 formula and a 89 firebird 350tpi hardtop car that had less than 80k original miles

BADHAWK is for sale too, i talked to Jeff about it, and if he still has it come spring when i get some cash i may have 2 og lt1 cars in my garage

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TubbyFormy

· #14 · 6 mo ago

Injuneer said:
Welcome to Firebird Nation ! ! !

Every time I visit it’s up on blocks……

View attachment 232130

well thats because we are slowly making changes lol 😆 like that day you dropped off the headers, i ended up deciding to throw them. on right away lol

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TubbyFormy

· #15 · 6 mo ago

2

cam is out!

Motor vehicle Wood Automotive exterior Gas Art

Musical instrument Art Wind instrument Reed instrument Wood

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GaryDoug

· #16 · 6 mo ago

TubbyFormy said:
i do drive it on the street! lmao

Holy cow. That went from 3k to 5k in about 1/10th of a second. Let me know if you get tired of it and want to sell ;-)
Is it just me or is that cam showing some "wear"?

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TubbyFormy

· #17 · 6 mo ago

GaryDoug said:
Holy cow. That went from 3k to 5k in about 1/10th of a second. Let me know if you get tired of it and want to sell ;-)
Is it just me or is that cam showing some "wear"?

reflection from the oil/flash. the areas the solid rollers were contacting are super shiny/polished, but there is not a groove that is able to be felt even with a razor blade. it was a cast cam core though. the new cam is going to be billet with duration in the 25x/26x range and lift in the .670 range on a 109lsa

Injuneer

Discussion Starter · #18 · 6 mo ago

GaryDoug said:
Holy cow. That went from 3k to 5k in about 1/10th of a second. Let me know if you get tired of it and want to sell ;-)
Is it just me or is that cam showing some "wear"?

The solid roller cam requires huge spring pressures compared to a hydraulic roller lifter. And the redline on the engine was 7,200 RPM. Nitrous cutoff was 7,000 RPM. On a missed shift with the T56 the data log showed it hit 8,000 RPM…. ouchhh !

The torque converter was spec’d to flash to 5,000 RPM when the nitrous hits, although that was with a 275-shot.

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TubbyFormy

· #19 · 6 mo ago

Injuneer said:
The solid roller cam requires huge spring pressures compared to a hydraulic roller lifter. And the redline on the engine was 7,200 RPM. Nitrous cutoff was 7,000 RPM. On a missed shift with the T56 the data log showed it hit 8,000 RPM…. ouchhh !

The torque converter was spec’d to flash to 5,000 RPM when the nitrous hits, although that was with a 275-shot.

i shifted it at 6500 for the 10.84 pass. the old dyno sheets showed power peaking at 6000rpm, so i didnt think i needed to spin it that high. new cam shift point will be at 6800rpm per Lloyd.

the converter doesnt have an anti-balloon plate on it, so i am surprised it isn't ballooned from those aggressive nitrous hits from back then.

also that street hit it spun initially, that was part of the jumping around of the tach, it flashed the converter, spun, then caught

Injuneer

Discussion Starter · #20 · 6 mo ago

Agreed…. no reason to take it even close to 7,000 RPM NA with that small cam. But on the spray, it was still making 730 HP approaching 7,000 RPM. Probably over 755 HP after bumping to the 300-shot.

I think Second St might have had an issue with addressing converter ballooning. On Baxter's 1,350 HP build (not an LT1, but a Dart Iron Eagle SBC block) the engine lost the thrust bearing twice in fairly short order. But they kept the details hush-hush.

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