:cool:
Today I marked off a 1/4 mile on a country road and ran my 1970 malibu with a 2 barrel carb and automatic transmission. times were between 16.7 sec to 16.9 using my own stop watch as I was driving. How accurate would that be? opinions welcome. How much quicker would a swap to a 4 barrel carb and manifold be, any guesses? graemlins/beers.gif

Not very accurate,,,maybe .5-1 second quicker.

Ryan, I would agree with Robert that it's not very accurate, but you work with what you have, right? Be careful eying the clock and road, btw...

Anyway, my '70 was originally a 350cid/250hp, 2-barrel, 350TH car. Slug. That was with the factory 2.56 open rear end. Terrible combo for performance. However, it was pretty doggone reliable and I do long for those days. redface.gif

So, what would any long-term goals for the car be? Daily driver, weekend cruiser only, street/strip ride, etc.? Be honest with your intended usage and goals and there are plenty of people on here willing to help.

Not knowing what engine you have or any of the other particulars, you couldn't go wrong with a Holley 600-650cfm 4-barrel spreadbore vacuum secondary carb and a Edelbrock Performer intake. The 1st performance upgrades to my '70 were that intake manifold and a Holley spreadbore 650cfm. VERY noticeable seat-of-the-pants difference. I even got a smidge better mileage without any real tuning (I had no clue back then).

Of course if you want significantly better performance than that...you can be accomodated with the proper size checkbook ;) . Good luck!

Those times seem a bit slow to me... heck my 307 with stock manifolds and a Qjet on top did 16.2 in the 1/4, at the track.

Hello, sorry for the slow reply darn computer not working earlier.

well the car will not be Strip! I love to drive it for short quick errands (not leave it sitting at Walmart though). I don't like to drive it in the rain! I like driving it in the evening and weekends at times when the traffic isn't so nuts.
I hope the value of the car goes up .. I repainted it the original color and put in new interior (original color too). I want to make it faster but don't want to take away too much of the originality. I could concieveably change the carb, intake and then as I understand it the cam is right there to do at the same time. How much would changing these items reduce the value if any. I have a 1976 camaro that I changed the carb and intake and even the rear gear..It only does 16.0 at the Race Track. I would like to have the Chevelle 1 or 2 seconds faster than my camaro. I am not looking for a 13 second car. But one that is faster than 16 or 17 seconds.
thanks for your comments
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Ryan, Those numbers don't sound too far off to me. I ran my Wife's stone stock original (50K miles) 72 Monte with a 350 2bbl/350 auto. I got 2 runs in. It ran 16.6X both times. I imagine rear gears are in the 2.73 range.

Tom

Hi Tom,
How is MA? Snow yet?

Thanks for the note. So are you say that is as much as I should expect from her the way she sits right now?

How much would changing these items reduce the value if any. IMO, it shouldn't decrease the value at all... It might be nice to see something original and unmolested, but I think a base car will have less appeal in stock form compared to some minor performance upgrades... Its easy to keep the old 2-barrel and intake in the garage and give it to a new buyer... He only needs new gaskets and some time to bring it back to stock...

Yeah, do the upgrades, just keep the stock stuff too. Looking stock and being stock are 2 different things ;)

I would AT LEAST do:

cam, timing chain, fresh dual exhaust, intake, and carb.

I would also get some better plug wires and use HEI ignition, but keeping points for stock would be fine too. Fresh tune up and setting the timing can do wonders.

BTW you would be surpised how much respect these cars actually get from people who would gladly slam their doors into a new Cadillac Escalade. I don't have a problem leaving mine parked anymore, I just rigged a hidden kill switch. Most people just like to look and ask questions.

Tony, That is One Beautiful Car!

I think I will start saving for a cam, timing chain, fresh dual exhaust, intake, and carb.

I sure enjoy this Team Chevelle site. graemlins/hurray.gif

To get the cam,intake and carb to work well,it has to have headers too and that ought to put you somewhere in the 14 second range.

Hi Ryan, No snow yet. They're talking possibly a few inches this weekend. Yeah, I wouldn't think you are going to get too much more out of it in stock form. The right parts should get you into the 14's I would think pretty easily. If you are worried about the value decreasing, just make sure and save all the original parts. Intake, carb and exhaust are great places to start. Cam and possibly electronic ignition (if it still has points) wouldn't be bad either. A rear gear change would wake it up quite a bit as well, but it's always a compromise.