69 L88

MY Story and car that came home 13yrs later!!
Unfortunately I lost my Dad to a heart attack in 1989. I built/restored this car as a tribute to Dad’s original 69 L-88 he had when I was a kid. I had originally bought her in 1990. Life happened, and I sold this car in 2008, but fortunately I was able to buy it back in Nov 2021. Amazingly, He only put 20 miles on it and stored it in a climate controlled garage. It was too ferocious for his association, so he never drove it! I Can't thank him enough for allowing me the opportunity to own it again!! Originally a 427/390hp car that is built to exact L-88 specs with all L-88 parts. L88 Intake, 850 carb, 074 Aluminum heads, solid L88 cam, 4 bolt main, 12.5 compression, tufftrided/cross drilled crank, rods, pan, etc. The hp numbers were so underrated at 430. On the engine dyno she made 596.4 hp and was still climbing when we shut her down at 7000 rpm!! Other than the large tube Headers/side pipes, MSD ignition w/tach drive, electric fuel pump with 1/2” lines, and roller rockers, she is all L88. Has 4-Speed Autogear M-22 rock crusher, Hurst Super Shifter, 4.33 gear and many suspension upgrades. Kurt

Here it RUN!

You Tube

Rescue Rogers

That sounds awesome...I hope mine sounds as nice...what size rear tire is that?

69_Shark

SWEET!
CONGRATS ON THE RETURN!

Scott

acroy

Awesome story and that is a healthy engine. At 12.5:1 compression are you ok on premium or running something else?

69 L88

Thank you! The L88 has a very distinctive sound. That solid cam has a lot of duration. It has 275/60-15 on the rear and 245/60-15 on the front. I run Mickey Thompson Drag Radials. The video has regular radials on it because that was when I first got it back. Kurt

69 L88

I use Race Gas Ultra additive with 93.
Here is a link for it. Works really well!
https://www.jegs.com/i/Race+Gas/814/...RoCK9cQAvD_BwE

Jebbysan

Nice cackle.....
Has what we call the "Chalupa" cam.....
Chalupa
Chalupa
Chalupa
LOL.....

Beautiful car and nice stance.......If I were wealthy I would build this identical car.....


Jebby

Rescue Rogers

Hat works out to over $13 a gallon.....we have 110 octane at the pump for $10 seems like a deal. Im hoping to find a solution for my 427 at 11.5:1 static compression. Dynamic is going to be a lot lower. Im hoping the 93 octane helps a lot

69 L88

That's a good point. It's nice you guys have a pump you can get the good stuff at! I get away with using half a can(16oz) per tank. The long duration saves me. I believe it's .262/.273 duration at .050. My cranking compression is kept down to 210 lbs. It liked 40 degrees of timing on the dyno and no issues with detonation on the street. Kurt

Tranz Zam

Yeah, I get some Cam2 from the Haffners in Haverhill. I have a little octane calculator on my phone, so I can see how many gallons of 110 it'll take to get my tank of 93 where I want it. The GN gets a few gallons any time I feel like turning the boost controller up.

barefootski

Sweet ride! Nice work on that motor! Love it...

Rescue Rogers

What app is that? I just picked up some VP Madative 4 to 8 numbers depending on mix.

Tranz Zam

I misspoke, it's actually a calculator on this site I use a lot:

http://www.wallaceracing.com/octane-mix-calc.php

I dont know how to calculate using an additive though.

Rescue Rogers

I found an app for my phone....neeeds lots of 100 octane to raise 93 to 98...its pretty cool though.

the additive tells you the results for 93 and 10 gallons or 93 and 20 gallons per can...basically one can per 10 gallons to go from 93 to 101 octane

bobbarry

I wonder what it would have made if you spun it up to 7500rpm.

That sure is a nice flat torque-curve for that 2000rpm-range it shows.

And Chevy *is* right; that motor does make 430hp...

... at 4800rpm, I bet.

leigh1322

Awesome sound!
The high compression and the big duration really makes it "pop"
210 compression is really almost streetable.

Years ago I tuned my blue-printed / decked 11:1 LT-1 to run on pump gas.
IIRC mine was around 190 psi.
It would be "OK" with 93 octane as long as I pulled the timing back 6-8 degrees.
I would drive it 100 miles to solo races that way.
Then I would add 5 gallons on 113 Octane Cam 2 Race Gas to a 3/4 tank of 15 gal of 93 no lead.
Resulting Octane was 98.
Then I could twist the distrib back up 8 degrees initial, (38 degrees total) and she would gain roughly 30-35 HP and just roar up top.
I had the old-school 30-30 cam with 254/254 duration. It would pull to close to 7, maybe 6700 hard / peak HP.
You could try something similar.
I am a chemist, and I tried many variations, and this fuel combo ran better than anything else, according to the clocks.
I tried a half-dozen Octane boosters, 100 Octane no-lead, etc. The 5 gal of Cam2 was cheaper than a whole tank of 100, and it still ran better.
113 or 140 Octane straight ran no better, it just didn't need it. Once you experiment and find out how much octane yours needs/wants, more than that is just unecessary $.

You may find similar results if you try my "recipe" You have another 10 & 20 duration, and 1.5 CR. I'll bet they almost cancel each other out. That's why our cranking compression is so similar. But you get at least another 500-800 rpm!! Woo-hoo!

69 L88

Couldn't have said it better! You're exactly right on the 430hp rating at 4800. My Dad had a 435hp car ordered before a drag racer told him he needed the L88 since it was rated at a lower RPM instead of 435hp at 6500!

69 L88

That LT-1 was a heck of an engine! I ran one in a Camaro after my friend destroyed his Dad's 1970 LT-1 Vette. Thank you for the info on the fuel! That's great first hand information! Kurt

leigh1322

I have a buddy Lorenzo who has dyno'd a dozen 100% correct L71 /L72 /L78 engines and they all dyno'd at 460-470 HP. The 427s peaked at 6300 and the 396 peaked at 6700. Same heads, cam, intake etc. Even the tri-power, maybe 5-7 HP difference, just cooler looking. My 454 LS6 peaked at the same HP, 485 but at 5700 with the same top end parts. More cu. in. moves more air sooner. So same air flow at 400 rpm up, or down, depending on cu in.

So your L88 peaks at 7000, 700 rpm higher than a 427 - "435" and makes 130 HP more than their 470. Man does that L88 breathe!
Way cool!!

69 L88

Those are a bunch of great engines! My Mom had a street hemi in a Charger that she bought brand new in 1967. Dad’s new 69 L88 beat her bad from a stand still, then she tried to roll on him at the next light with no luck. When he came screaming by her, she said “That was a race car and not a street car!” Lol Dad’s was set up just like mine all stock with side pipes and barely any inserts. His had the 4.56 gear option with the M-22. The L88 wants to breath and sure loves open headers! Kurt