First time out with the turbo omni

[clarkwhoracing]

Took my newly purchased turbo omni out for a run at the track and was somewhat impressed.

89 body with 89 2.5 turbo in it and automatic with only no filter and free flowing 2.5 exhaust and street tires and almost no gas. Full interior and factory options also. Going to keep stock look but lighten car as much as I can and appear stock.

Best was:

R.T - 0.337
60 ' - 2.414
1/8 - 10.323
mph - 70.29
1/4 - 15.930
mph - 86.86

Not been racing since last year and only had 2 time trial before that due to rain and first time I had the car at the track.

Have an intermittenly working tach so launching it was by feeling and hearing.

Did not spin off the line or break loose so I thought that was pretty good and the car ran smooth and shifted great going down.

I know better tires will drop the 60' along with better reation times for the overall.

Near future plans are a intercooler, maybe drag radials, up the boost and maybe 5th injector and K&N filter.

Winter plans are somewhat major but for now little improvements and practice I know will make a difference.

Tell me what you think and if that sounds about right for the current set-up.

[93sundance]

was the boost at the stock 7 psi that run?

[clarkwhoracing]

Yeah - I have a gauge but I never watched it to see what it hits since I was focusing on the tree and running down the track.

I want to get the boost up to about 15 or more with the mods and turning and adjust the fuel flow.

I know it is a starting point but this thing runs quicker than my focus svt and will be much easier and definately cheaper to get going faster.

[Vigo]

im thinking the mph is low even for a stock motor in an omni, but 7 psi MAY explain that. IF you are running a manual boost controller i am surprised you didnt go up in smoke even at 7psi/street tires

[Keito]

I bet the timing is off.;)

[turbovanman²]

Thats impressive for a stock van.

Vigo, the MPH is off because, wait for it, wait, its a pig van with NO aerodynamics, :eyebrows:

[mcsvt]

^^ :lol: you got mini on the brain!

"First time out with the turbo omni"...

o and btw, wish I could have picked up snorl :( Glad your havin fun with it :thumb:

[Spraynlog]

Took my newly purchased turbo omni out for a run at the track and was somewhat impressed.

89 body with 89 2.5 turbo in it and automatic with only no filter and free flowing 2.5 exhaust and street tires and almost no gas. Full interior and factory options also. Going to keep stock look but lighten car as much as I can and appear stock.

Best was:

R.T - 0.337
60 ' - 2.414
1/8 - 10.323
mph - 70.29
1/4 - 15.930
mph - 86.86

Not been racing since last year and only had 2 time trial before that due to rain and first time I had the car at the track.

Have an intermittenly working tach so launching it was by feeling and hearing.

Did not spin off the line or break loose so I thought that was pretty good and the car ran smooth and shifted great going down.

I know better tires will drop the 60' along with better reation times for the overall.

Near future plans are a intercooler, maybe drag radials, up the boost and maybe 5th injector and K&N filter.

Winter plans are somewhat major but for now little improvements and practice I know will make a difference.

Tell me what you think and if that sounds about right for the current set-up.For stock boost, you did fine! Nice reaction time too!
When you launched from the tree, did you apply the brake and give it throttle to build boost? Or just punch it? Power braking will get you out of the hole quicker. A grainger valve to set the boost will be a good investment, as will a good air/fuel meter, so you can see if you have enough fuel to go with the boost. I'd limit it to 14 PSI with stock injectors to keep from melting pistons.:nod: (don't ask me how I know this) Since the '89 blow thru turbo motors are easy to intercool, I'd make an intercooler a top item to get. You will be amazed what 14lbs of intercooled boost will do in your car! Easy mid 14's are quite likely! Keep us posted.

[turbovanman²]

^^ :lol: you got mini on the brain!

"First time out with the turbo omni"...

o and btw, wish I could have picked up snorl :( Glad your havin fun with it :thumb:


Whoops, my bad. :thumb:

[clarkwhoracing]

My buddy looked at the car at lunch the other day and the distributor is ----ed some like my spirit was and he said the belt is off a tooth so I have to adjust that - sure that will help out. Still learning about these cars and motos.

I was power braking it like I normally do on an automatic for drag racing it is just that the tach was not functioning so I could not consitantly keep the same launch rpm. With the turbo I did not think stomping on it would help any with the lag but powering it up to creep up into the boost was the way to go. I had no tires spin which suprised me but it hooked and took off.

I did no think I did that bad for street tires and for only running it 3 times. No manual boost control yet - that should be here soon with a K&N filter and me getting time to put my intercooler in that I have.

Tore into the car last night and found some things that are cobbled together and other stuff that was loose and probably leeking power out. I am not one for having stuff slapped together and praying it holds and keeps running - rather have it done right and have some securitiy.

Will be looking into buying or borrowing a buddy's set of drag radials will most likely help out a ton also.

I run at:

http://www.norwalkraceway.com/

On wednesday nights - some out if your in the area and have some fun. You can get a good laugh like I do watching the younger crowd and the fart can gawdy body kit cars run 17 seconds and think that is the stuff.

The best I ever ran on the strip was a 12.85 with a highly modified non street legal 89 mustang gt and I plan to go that fast or quicker with a street legal omni in the near future. I might piece the turbo spirit I have that has the same motor and tranny set-up and rebuild the drivetrain and transplant it this winter. Do some porting and polishing and other upgrades.

Thanks for the comments and support guys!! Will a little $$$ and elbow grease I should and willl have a little monster.

[Anonymous_User]

12.85 with a highly modified non street legal 89 mustang gt

Did something break? highly modified non street legal should at least run deep 11's or you're just embarassing yourself.

On a serious note, I'll be watching your progress. Hopefully I'll get out to look at the GLH I saw sitting behind a barn a couple weeks ago. Then I'll follow you down the path to street legal, oh and fuel efficient, 12's.

[clarkwhoracing]

No the car only had a mild built 302 in it but was built to have a 429 in it and run 9's - bought it off a Ford worker that dumped a lot of money into building it right and had 2 429's to put in it but passed to redo a falcon prostreet and opted to put the 302 in it. Plus I only got to run it a handful of times before Ii had to sell it off to pay bills due to the ex - wonderful person.

Do not think I really embarrising myself - just that is what I ran. I can at least say that I ran 12's in a car.

Progress will be slow on achieving my goal because I want to avoid going nuts with stuff and trashing a good set-up that I have. Want to at least hit 14's with some mods then do motor work and intake work over the winter.

Just amazed at the little things that can be done to make these things fly.

:nod:

[overlordsshadow]

Meet you in the 13's or lower next year then?

[clarkwhoracing]

If all goes well - yeah.

My buddy is in the 12's with his here at work and I am learning from him and everyone on the boards.

Great group of guys and forum board. :D

[overlordsshadow]

AND girls, not sure how many though.

[clarkwhoracing]

Oops... I should have said that.

Sorry ladies out there...

[contraption22]

Did it feel like it was falling flat at all in the middle of 1st gear?

[turbovanman²]

You'll hit 12's then want more, lol!

Just keep playing and taking it easy, you'll have a blast and the best part, racers and spectators will be in awe and you tromp the latest rice and muscle, :partywoot:

[93sundance]

well, that just goes to show how much much of a difference a blow through intake and 2.5" exhaust makes. I raced my friends 85 charger and the best I could get was a 17.0 @ 80 w/ 2.28 60 ft

[Keito]

Did it feel like it was falling flat at all in the middle of 1st gear?

I know his timing is off.
When he showed me the car, he opened the hood
and the first thing I saw was the flat on the distributor
is pointing to the 1-2 o'clock position
I thinked he jumped a tooth, I haven't ridden in it yet.
(hint, hint)

[clarkwhoracing]

Keith is right - the timing is off but the thing still runs good in my eyes - gonna try to fix it by this weekend along with changing tranny and oil filter and fluid.

Over the weekend I swapped out the plugs, wires and cap and rotor - all looked like they had a good amount of running on them. Luckly my spirit I picked up had new stuff on it that someone bought before they sold it.

Also went through and check the vacuums and tightned lines up that were loose. Seems to fire a little quicker and through the powerband have some pickup.

As for falling flat - I could not tell you right now - not to many passes down the strip. It does pull good and does not hesitate any during acceleration. I can tell I have more to go at the top end and going to borrow some drag radials for Wednesday to see if the size difference and traction make a difference.

Looking at a megasquirt system someone has for sale also to maybe upgrade to this winter - is it worth the time and money?? A little salty but I am looking at the aspect of tunability and future upgrades and $$$ involved with recals.

Keith - all you have to do is ask and I would throw the keys to you - knowing if something happened the SRT4 would be mine for a day or two....

I am waiting for the oohhss and aahhhsss from the car going down the track - in due time.

I still have to get used to the turbo lag and time things to were I am in the powerband for boost.

I will post what I run on Wednesday with the sticky's - hopefully I can help our team out at Norwalk

[GLHSKEN]

86mph at 7psi boost is dead on for a stock car. The distr cound be clocked wrong due to the int shaft installed out of phase with the oil pump. If that is the case, All the marks could line up perfectly yet the distr would be clocked at a different spot than normal.

[clarkwhoracing]

Never thought of that but going to take a good look at it hopefully the end of this week.

I might dig in the car and find more mods that was done to it that I did not know about but as far as I know it is stock besides the exhaust and some vacuums changed.

The boost thing is something I have too look into - right now the gauge will peak at times around 15lbs on my gauge but the previous owner said it might be off - anyway to test or verify the gauge is reading right?

Thanks for all the help and encouragement guys....

[Orangetona]

First mod, new boost gauge. :)

The stock boost gauges are horribly inaccurate.

[clarkwhoracing]

It is an aftermarket one - no stock gauge. Looks like the line is t'ed into a place where some variance can happen - I have to find a new home for the connection.

[Orangetona]

Ah crap, you caught me not paying attention again... its an omni lol.

[SpoolinGLH]

86mph at 7psi boost is dead on for a stock car. The distr cound be clocked wrong due to the int shaft installed out of phase with the oil pump. If that is the case, All the marks could line up perfectly yet the distr would be clocked at a different spot than normal.

being that it is clocked wrong with the oil pump doesnt hurt anything ,right? You just have to compensate for the timing by turning the dist alittle more....

[Orangetona]

The distributor can be turned to the extreme either way but if the timing is on its all good, it just looks funny.

[SpoolinGLH]

The distributor can be turned to the extreme either way but if the timing is on its all good, it just looks funny.

Yeh mine looks funny:evil:

[GLHSKEN]

being that it is clocked wrong with the oil pump doesnt hurt anything ,right? You just have to compensate for the timing by turning the dist alittle more....

EXACTLY...

[clarkwhoracing]

Well I learned that these things do not like getting the intake hot and that the timing is definitely off. I have some things I am going to do next week and over time make a custom intake cooler to work in hand with my intercooler set-up I will be putting in.

Best I ran was

R.T - 0.182
60 ' - 2.375
1/8 - 10.095
mph - 72.42
1/4 - 15.549
mph - 88.73

Buddy looked the car over and the intake was roasting and told me that they tend to get that hot when the timing is off.

Drag radials help a good amount but the boost took a crap when the car got hot - did not overheat just the engine was warm.

Plan on doing my tranny flush and filter change along with oil change this weekend, balance shafts removal, new oil pan gasket, timing adjust, diode addition, 180 thermostat update with bleed off mod, and maybe mess with getting my intercooler set-up.

A few more people came up and talked to me about the car and said they had not seen one like it. A few people have some sitting at home collecting dust and I told them to get them in shape to get to the track.

The itch to go faster is there but I am appreciating the little steps toward getting there with no set backs.

:thumb:

[Vigo]

now THAT looks correct for 130whp in a 2400lb car.

[clarkwhoracing]

Cool.

I am in the process of pulling the balance shafts out of the motor - what a choir and damn does that oil stink!

Did the tranny flush and filter gasket replacement while I am at it also.

Sunday I should button up the bottom and hopefully do my 180 thermo and manual fan switch and plugs.

Timing adjustment on Monday and back to the track Wednesday.

Update after Wednesday - hopefully faster in et and mph.

:thumb:

[overlordsshadow]

Ya I'm interested to see what those balance shafts give you, took mine out for this reassembly.

[clarkwhoracing]

Got it buttoned up finally and running. A little more vibration but nothing out of the ordinary.

The oil pan gasket was a bit#h. I bought a replacement that was silicon but that will be put on later when I can access everything in a rebuild - did the blue rtv gasket and worked out fine.

A little more rpm punch and does that more oil!

I hope to see some change on the track wednesday. Put mobile one synthetic in and filter and also changed the 180" thermo out. The guy had a moded one but it was a 195' thermo.

Not sure what other minor things I can do for now but I am sure looking at Donavans site I will find something.

[clarkwhoracing]

Took the car back out last night for a true drive since all the work and I can feel better rpm ramp up and punch off the line.

Power braking it now I can easily break the tires loose and smokem. Getting on it at 50 and up I just jump up to 85.

I think the little I have done has made a good difference. Going ot verify the timing but not adjusting until after I run at the strip.

Should be an interesting Wednesday if I can keep the car cool since it will be into the 80's.

I have a intercooler - aftermarket coming along with a talon moded bov and ac delete bracket - going to try to get them on before next Wednesday and see what happens.

[clarkwhoracing]

Wow - been a while since I posted anything.

Done some work along with changing the fuel pump out and not made much of a difference.

Tranny is starting to slip pretty good now and the new fuel pump is starting to act up also. Probably accounts for why I have been slowing at the track slightly.

On a plus side I have been tearing down the 90 omni parts car I bought and learning a good bit on how the car is put together so when I tear into my 89 it should be a little easier to figre things out. I am not sure how someone was driving this thing daily to work but I am getting a lot of good parts off it that I can use and will end up selling. They were going to put it inot a demo derby and I somewhat saved it or at least a majority of the parts.

Might get it up and running again before winter hits but going to save the major mods and changes until then plus I will have the $$$ to do so then. Really do not want to hurt it anymore than I might already have.

I guess I am happy with 15.5 this year for only running a few weeks at the track. Might get daring and slap the zex kit on it and see what it will do on a few passes. Hell this thing is running quicker than my Focus SVT and a heck of a lot cheaper to upgrade!

Post some ideas for upgrades or mods. The following is what I was planning on getting done.

Good intake and exhaust porting

Large intercooler front install

Larger or port throttle body

Have socketed computer - get custom tune to finaly set-up - jump the boost up

Gut and lighten as much as I can the interior and exterior plastic and sheetmetal and put interior back in - freshen up - stock stealth look - remove and fill front and rear bumpers - radio system delete - sound deading delete

Upgrade to a TII turbo over the TI

Remove performance convertor and put in a capable dump pipe on exhaust

Power steering delete?

Possibly make electric water pump set-up

Remove gas tank and place in fuel cell where "spare tire" would have been

Pull and clean / refresh engine

Pull and upgrade tranny along with better tranny fluid cooler

Upgrade coil and plug wires

Find nice set of 15" rims for drag radials and skinnies

Maybe get lexan windows made up for doors

Mod extra hood I have and put a cowl hood scoop or similiar ro get air over the intake and exhaust and lighten up as much as possible

Put Zex kit on it

Create custom intake chiller to help cool in between runs

Do the fan switch mod

Custom in dash gauges - delete the 2 pod pillar mount

Go through undercarriage and clean freshen up any areas

Tear the car down as far as I can and freshen things up without loosing hope and patience

Not much to these cars but like to eliminate as much as I can so the "gremlins" are easier to find!

:thumb:

[clarkwhoracing]

Started to get some parts for the beast.

Nicely ported and large valve head

Got a nice AFPR to put on the car since the fuel pump I swapped out is pushing 100 lbs or so at the shradder valve on the fuel rail

Getting ported intake and exhaust from moparrulez? on the boards

The socketed computer I have has a different plug so I have to figure it out

Some nice bf drag radials on steelies coming

Started to look at the intercooler and how to squeeze it in - kinda big

Pulling the motor soon to get the tranny worked on and will freshen gaskets up and properly fixed the balance shaft removal I did and check everything out

Along with all this I am pulling the motor out of my lebaron to fix the rod knock with a donor motor and putting it back together and picking up a 87 Shadow ES of someone that is capable of high 12's and fixing the motor.

Looks like I will be very busy the next few months and spring!

[roachjuice]

Started to get some parts for the beast.

Nicely ported and large valve head

Got a nice AFPR to put on the car since the fuel pump I swapped out is pushing 100 lbs or so at the shradder valve on the fuel rail

Getting ported intake and exhaust from moparrulez? on the boards

The socketed computer I have has a different plug so I have to figure it out

Some nice bf drag radials on steelies coming

Started to look at the intercooler and how to squeeze it in - kinda big

Pulling the motor soon to get the tranny worked on and will freshen gaskets up and properly fixed the balance shaft removal I did and check everything out

Along with all this I am pulling the motor out of my lebaron to fix the rod knock with a donor motor and putting it back together and picking up a 87 Shadow ES of someone that is capable of high 12's and fixing the motor.

Looks like I will be very busy the next few months and spring!sweet! :evil:

[clarkwhoracing]

I hope it turns out nice. I am putting a good amount of time and money into it.

Just have to get my lebaron motor worked out and on the road so I can focus on tearing into the omni.

I am tinkering with the idea of a manual swap if I can find a complete swap over donor or parts stash.

[cordes]

What do you mean by "The socketed computer I have has a different plug so I have to figure it out". If you have any questions about it you can feel free to PM me and I will try and answer them.

[clarkwhoracing]

Found out that supposedly what I bought is for a non tbi motor and will not work with my set-up.

I am going to sell the one I have off and get mine chipped and tuned for what I need.

New project idea is to convert the car to stick since the tranny needs addressed and I am missing a stick car!

Getting a sweet deal on a A555 set-up to switch it over that I can not pass up.

Should be a lot more fun with a stick in it. :evil:

[Birddog]

Getting a sweet deal on a A555 set-up to switch it over that I can not pass up.
Should be a lot more fun with a stick in it. :evil:

You'll love that combo! Especially with 15-20 lbs blowing at it. Invest in a good clutch though... :thumb:

[clarkwhoracing]

As normal things change....

Got a 88 Daytona with 2.2 TII and 5 speed to play with - passed the conversion over due to the price went way up on what he wanted to sell me in the end.

Picked a low mileage tranny for the omni to put in it and need to put the motor back into my lebaron and get it running.

Went out last night and ran another milestone with the omni but......

The damn dreaded over-boost cut-out happened to me going form 2-3 and popped twice which kicked me off my dial in but the car ran much better this time at least consistent.

Best time was

rt 0.117
60' 2.223
1/8 9.754
mph 72.98
1/4 15.18
mph 89.91

I was hoping to make it past the first round and run more since the temp dropped below 60 and it was perfect for racing and maybe get into the 14's.

Could not get the drag radials I have to hook up off the line so that slowed me a little. Changed the pressures a couple times and the launches but same result. 22, 18, 17, 16 lbs results in the same outcome and warmed the tires up some each time.

We will see in a couple weeks what I can run. Putting a diode in to prevent the overboost and a couple of other things to see if I can get into the 14's this year.