Eric Fischer

Many of you that know as from e-town know that we converted my Dad's LT4 corvette to an A4 using stock components from a 1996 LT1.

We have been testing the car over the past few weeks at Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ and the results have been remarkable despite the hot weather. We are running et's consistently in 12.6's to 12.7's and in the cooler weather last wednesday went a 12.48.

Other mods include a GM hot cam, 4:10 gears, BFG 315 DR's and a heavy duty radiator with a 160 thermo. Most everything else on the car is stock including the stock exhaust manifolds (it does have Borla mufflers though).

We converted the car primarily because we use it as a drag car, and unfortunately my Dad had a helluva a time driving the 6M consistently (he's not the only one). Plus I got tired of changing worn out clutches every three months ;) .

So if consistentcy was the goal, then the car has far exceeded our expectations. Check out the data below. My Dad took 2nd place in the GM Hi Tech performance race in the AM session on July 14th. He handed the keys to me for the PM session of the Cartek Corvette Challenge, were I lost to REDGAR in the semi's. As John Mackey says, converting to an A4 was "the best thing you could ever do!"

The most amazing thing has been the improvement in the 60' time. With the 6M, an average day would yeild 60' that were anywhere from 1.85 to 2.00. We considered a 1.80 to be VERY good. The A4 rarely has a 60' greater than 1.80.

We will be looking for very low 12's once the weather turns cool. And who knows, maybe next we'll port the heads!



Note: bold entries in the table above are new personal records.

J Z06

:cool: :D

BOWTYE8

Hello,
I am not sure if you posted the before and after results of the swap. I am interested in these.
I have a 85 with a ZF. I have about 250+ passes and my first centerforce clutch.
I am thinking of just trying a 700r4 for now to see if I like the auto. If all goes well and I smoke the 700r4 then I would swap back to the ZF or a 4l80e.

Thanks
Dennis

Eric Fischer

Dennis,

The strong point of the A4 is it's consistency at launch. The overall ET I think is the same with a slight advantage to the A4. I say this because although launches harder, the ZF6 charges harder at the top end (the A4 is less effiecient than the ZF6). The ZF6 seems to trap out about 1-2 MPH higher in comparable weather conditions.

Take a look at the data below and check how inconsistent the ZF6 is.

Here's some data from last year. The car was in the same configuration except with the 6M and with a single mass flywheel. I picked a day that had similar weather conditions to this past Saturday.

ralph

Eric, nice job on the conversion and great racing saturady.

Beach Bum

Excellent comparison Eric... this is one of the better info threads we've had.

It looks like the A4 maybe quite a bit quicker considering you've also run 12.6x with the auto, but I assume your runs were in a lot more heat than the manuals 12.6's run on May 4th.... but dunno.

btw, what torque converter are you running ?

cheers,
Beach Bum

Eric Fischer

Beach,

You might be right. Last Wednesday night in the cooler weather (72 F) I ran a 12.48 and a 12.49. Those runs are in the top 6 best ever for the car out of the 228 that have been logged on the car.

The converter is a PI Vigilante, 3000 stall.


Ralph, thanks for the compliments...

Eric

rbartick

You beat me in round 2. I had a 1.066 R/T and a 2.3 60' time. It is safe to say that I need practice. :D

Eric Fischer

Oops, pressed one too many buttons.


[Modified by Eric Fischer, 2:07 PM 7/16/2002]

rbartick

Our battle...

Eric Fischer

Cool pic! :cool:

I remember that race. I thought you were going to deep stage, and then I saw you back up :eek: Don't worry, it just takes a little practice.

Mikie C

Eric,
Fantastic job on the conversion :cool: Like JP said, best thing you could have done, especially for the consistency. Looks like it's working good for Dad too. Congrats Bill on the great racing on Saturday....well to both of you. :cheers:

Mike :)