Ken Adler's stock engine 12 second 1987 GLHS
Charger
Ken "charging" his way to the first 13 second pass!
On with the story!
Purchased 11/98 from the internet bought sight unseen from Cedar Rapids Iowa. The owner (Brian Downard) drove the car down and I put him on a plane and flew him back in January of '99. Tons wrong with the car... graphics wrong and airbrushed on (still are) multiple sensor problems. Sent it to my mechanic right away. Picked it up. 15 minutes later blew a head gasket... Patty thought it was on fire and pulled to a stop 300 feet behind me on the freeway.. I had to signal her madly to get her to come closer (lol) back to the mechanic. $650 later back on the road... Last time it's been to the shop... I do all the mechanical work now. In April of '99 I responded to a spotted post on the SDML by James Reeves. It was the beginning of a great friendship centered around Turbo Dodges. Car had a 3.05 f/d 525 when I got it, promptly blew it up racing a 12.5 second mustang shifting 4-5 at 122 mph... he couldn't catch me... it ran 14.9 @ 95 at the time. Converted to a 3.85 f/d A520. The trans was good enough to get me a 13.89 @ 99.98 mph run on the last pass of the 99 season. Full stock exhaust and stock motor at 18 psi boost. '00 season began with dropping the exhaust completely and a 13.27 pass at 106.8mph. still 100% stock motor but now with a 3" downpipe and a hogged out 2 1/2" swingvalve ( +20 injectors and adj. fpr) Couldn't better that. The 3.85 gears just sent the fronts up in smoke whenever I launched. I brought it to SDAC 10 and had that problem solved for me by a good friend :) I'm still thankful for the new trans... you can fill in the parking lot trans swap story hehehehe.
I broke the transmission damnit at SDAC-10.
Ken Adler was good enough to loan me his 87 GLHS since the k-car was sidelined- The car had run a best of 13.2 at 107 and I was hoping to present him with a 12.90 timeslip by the end of the day. The first pass the car cut a 2.00 short time (the best it's done all year, on a greasy track no less) but I wasn't quite used to the 520 shifter in an l-body and went from 2nd to 5th! On the next pass I uttered the words "Now I know what to do next" The lights came down and I dropped the hammer, there was a loud "SNAP" and that was that. The intermediate u-joint failed, levered the shaft against the block, broke the extension housing off then busted the diff housing clean off the case!!! OH MAN!! I was bumming!!! Ken took it all in stride- he was planning on replacing the trans with one with a lower gearset which he picked up at the swap meet for $150 and after a few hours of wrenching by himself and friends he was all back together (not in time to make a pass though) Let me tell you Ken is a saint! I would have freaked out I think if someone was driving my daily driver and that much carnage had happened on the starting line of a track- Ken was always looking on the bright side said he wanted to change the trans anyway and THANKED ME for doing it in such a way his wife couldn't complain about the cost!! Man I need to take some lessons from Ken about not getting bent out of shape when things go wrong!!
Ken & James Reeves at Edgewater Dragway
The trans mishap also took out the block on the car... so she sat until august 19 when another '87 GLHS 100% stock motor went in. (I had it sitting in reserve) It ran strong with the new motor. On Oct 20 I made 1 pass on street tires... best ever 13.94 @ 107mph... I parked it until James was done for the night. He let me borrow his 23" M&H slicks and the car banged a 12.85 @ 108.5 mph... backed it up with a 12.9 @ 108.6. smiling I went home... In November running 22" M/T slicks which I DO NOT recommend to anyone the car went through the traps in 13.01 @109.7 mph with a 2.18 60' time.... learned to shift 1st and 2nd before 5k rpm... big difference. set-up..100% stock GLHS motor (no port work of any kind), +20 injectors, A520 3.5 f/d with chrome molly bearing retainer plate, straight upper I/c hose, Audi S4 bov, Grand National Adj FPR, shimmed drivers sway bar, 255l/hr walbro pump, Magnacore wires, grainger valve running 20 psi ,1/4" shimmed wastegate and a CF DF clutch (I know I know....it will get blown out this year). For 2001 the car has an S60 cam installed and is getting 24.5 x 8.5 x 15" slicks on custom made 15 x 8" wheels with 4 1/2" backspacing. The goal for 2001 is a 12.5 at 112+ mph. The whole family is getting involved, My fiancé Patty will pilot her Grand Prix GTX (14.62 @ 94.65) down the strip for the first time in '01. She has to do this as it is a condition for my installing a smaller pulley on the supercharger!!! My Daughter (14 1/2) owns an '87 SC black and silver... and is dying to race it as well. My 11 yr. old son has laid claim to "RED"... my original '87 SC. The dodge community has been a great find. It has led to several terrific friendships and a world of fun.
James & Ken, men with a mission & yes we do have boost!