Omni VS WRX

[GLHS 160]

I have been adding some mods to my 86 GLHS with the help of Todd Nelson and his "spare parts"..
I am 55 but refuse to grow up my wife says.. So why do I want a fast 4 banger.. I raced my first GLHS Omni 110, that I bought new in 86 for 15 years.... The little car makes me feel like an out control teenager every time I drive it..

Well latest greatest Omni news is that today I was able to make a 4th and 5th gear pull… It hit 18 psi in 4th and leveled at 16.. It hit 19psi in 5th and held it up to 125mph, when I let up… Wide band was at 11.4….. It felt great !!!
On the way home, I stopped at my friends shop who likes to build AWD turbo muscle 4 bangers… He just recently built his son a big valve big turbo WRX.. He was telling me how he has not put in the race tune yet but still pulls hard at 15 pounds of boost and 6.5K rev limit .. I told him I had put a new set of 36 lb. injectors, exhaust, and fuel pump and turned the boost up to 16psi.. He said his son likes to jump on cars going down the road.. I told him I would like to run a fast car to get a baseline of where my car stands… My wife says at my age I should not be doing this.. I am not useless, I can be used as a bad example !!!http://www.turbododge.com/forums/images/smilies/tsktsk-tisk.gif

About 10 minutes later his son rolls up in his car… He began to tell his dad about how good its running pulling 18 pounds of boost shifting a 7.5K… Think dad was trying to play me.. Oh well, I did forget to mention the S60 turbo on my car.. lol.. Well, I introduced myself to his son.. He thought my Omni was very clean for an old car and cute.. I told him what I told his dad about my mods and I was looking to try it against someone see where it stands against late model turbos… He said come on lets go.. His friend was listening and said he wanted to watch, so they hopped in his car… We drove off and he said on the 3rd beep of his horn we would go.. We are rolling side by side at about 20 mph.. Little too slow for second, but knew I would go up in smoke in first.. I opted for second since my boost lag is minimal..

On the third beep he jumped me about a fender as he launched with the beep.. No biggie.. I kinda double clutched it to get the rpm up and off we go.. I blew by him very hard and hit third and kept putting lengths on him.. After the run he said lets try a 40 mph roll.. Now that is Omni territory in third gear.. My favorite gear !! He jumped again as he controlled the horn, but the outcome was worse than the first run. I pulled away hard and when I hit 4th it pulled like a train..

We went back to his dads shop, and his dad had a big smile and said how bad was it son.. He said, dad, "I have never been beat that bad ever" !!! The look on his dads face was priceless. He never thought an old school Dodge 8 valve would even be in the same league, especially an ugly Omni… Dad began to tell the reasons why he got beat.. The son said "dad, it was an embarrassing race". "You were not there, my car ran perfect, but that little thing pulls freaking hard" !!! I was so proud of the little grocery getter … http://www.turbododge.com/forums/images/smilies/biggthumpup.gif

Allen…. Never gonna grow up boost junkie !!

[2.216VTurbo]

Great story great write up:thumb: And as you know, 110 still gets beat on and it's well taken care of. Did you see this pic? It was in another thread but not sure if you were in that one:)

[168glhs1986]

Allen, please post more often. I read this story in about a minute. Very entertaining. And at age 55 you are what i aspire to be at 55 (in 13 years). Still ripping it up in my GLHS.

So you own car #160?

[GLHS 160]

Great story great write up:thumb: And as you know, 110 still gets beat on and it's well taken care of. Did you see this pic? It was in another thread but not sure if you were in that one:)

Hi Allan… I do enjoy reading the stories about 110 and what your doing with it.. It is nice to know the the car is still going even stronger now than it ever was… By the way, I still have the "original" hood from your car hanging in the garage as a remembrance of a "nitrous gone bad day".. lol… I was in the Air Force stationed at Eglin AFB in Florida… I was heading to work one day down a highway 85 which has some long straightaways with no side roads.. I decided to play with the car as I did every time I drove it.. I had the boost set at 18psi and also had 3 stages of Nitrous.. 50, 100, 150 shot.. It was two complete kits I installed. 2 foggers and 4 solenoids. One kit jetted for 50 hp the other at 100hp.. I had two buttons on my shifter, one for each.. If you hit both buttons it was torque steer from hell.. I look like a drunk driver trying to control the car in my lane weaving..lol.. I also had mounted a 5th injector in the place where the EGR valve went and hooked to a hobbs switch set it 15psi to just spray fuel down the manifold.. There war no to many parts available back in those days to be bought.. We just made it up as it went.. If it hurt the car, I would remove it all and have it taken back to the dealer for warranty, which I bought the extended 5 year plan.. I would have it brought in an tell them my wife was coming home from work and the car started acting up or made noises… Which ever got broke at that time. They began to think my wife was a horrible driver after a while and suggested I buy her a non turbo automatic car.. ..

Anyway, I decided to make a full pull in third gear and when I hit both buttons it started pulling so hard, but then there was a loud explosion and both side of my hood blew in the upward direction as flames shot out.. Of course the car died and i began coasting to the side of the road.. The center of the hood where the latch held was kinked up pretty bad… I opened the hood to see the top of my intercooler had blown almost completely off.. The big freeze plug at the end of the intake was laying on the the motor mount.. I was able to pound the freeze plug back into the manifold and the car did restart.. It did have some surging as some of the plastic vacuum lines were destroyed, but I was able to drive it.. It was so slow but hobbled to the base… Got it home and pulled all the Nitrous off again, and had it towed to the dealer for more repairs.. My warranty had a $25 deductible.. I felt like I had a sponsored race car for 5 years.. Drag it in, pay my deductible and drive home to reinstall the nitrous and off to the next race...

Guess my ADHD kicked in… The original hood is my reminder to not put nitrous back on my car.. i am never satisfied with just a little.. I always want more...

[GLHS 160]

Allen, please post more often. I read this story in about a minute. Very entertaining. And at age 55 you are what i aspire to be at 55 (in 13 years). Still ripping it up in my GLHS.

So you own car #160?

I do have 160 now.. I also owned 86 GLHS 355, but but have never found that car again.. I wanted an unmolested original car and found this one.. It had 16K original miles, original paint and interior that still looked new.. All the belts, hoses, tires even the plug wires dated 1986 were still on it... Problem was I am a boost junkie.. MazdaSpeed 3, Turbo Suzuki Hayabusa.. It did take me over a year to finally pull the trigger to play some with it, and a little encouragement from Todd.. Without him, and his many hours on the phone of schooling I probably would not have done it.. I did keep everything I pulled off so it could be put back if needed.. I got the full exhaust off in 2 pieces, with only a small split in the pipe so I could pull it apart by the rear axle.. I really wanted to keep it factory, but honestly it was not as much fun to drive.. Back in the 80s when everything high horsepower was 225 or so, the Omni was one of the rulers of the street.. Today its a beater car… So I wanted to still show todays youth that they is no comparison to age and treachery.. And to stop calling my car a "rabbit".. lol

Something else I remembered from yesterday was when we went back, the kid was telling his dad that I beat him like 4 car lengths.. It looked much worse to me, but I was not gonna add insult to injury.. Well his "friend" said, "no, it was more like 6 cars real quick, and about another 6 cars a few seconds later".. Which is what i was thinking, but being quiet.. This only made his dad feel bad that all this high dollar work, and high tech car got whipped by some old school beater.. The kid asked for a rematch later and I said sure.. I am sure his dad will go to work hard to beat me, but as bad as it was, it will take the 32 pounds of boost he said he is gonna program it for to do it.. Really all I had hoped for originally was to stay close to his car, and not get beat by 10 cars..

Allen….. hmmm, methanol injection maybe ??

[Gcalv]

"some mods to my 86 GLHS with the help of Todd Nelson" check
"I am 55 but refuse to grow up" check
"The little car makes me feel like an out control teenager every time I drive it.." check
"My wife says at my age I should not be doing this.." check
"I am not useless, I can be used as a bad example" check


If you were 53 I would wonder if we were separated at birth :)

George

p.s. thanks for sharing the story!!!

[168glhs1986]

I really wanted to keep it factory, but honestly it was not as much fun to drive.. Back in the 80s when everything high horsepower was 225 or so, the Omni was one of the rulers of the street.. Today its a beater car… So I wanted to still show todays youth that they is no comparison to age and treachery.. And to stop calling my car a "rabbit".. lol

Same here. I bought a 86 glhs all originl from originsl owner with 43k miles on it. Said i was going to keep it stock....

At a Summit Point track day event i was passed by a Mazda Speed 3. I couldnt let that happen again. So long story short...3 years later stock parts are LONG gone and its now an 11 sec terror.

Bye bye Mazdaspeed 3 and hello z06 :)

You should just throw the stock parts away :). They are useless :)

Turbo Busa? You are a boost junkie!

[168glhs1986]

"some mods to my 86 GLHS with the help of Todd Nelson" check
"I am 55 but refuse to grow up" check
"The little car makes me feel like an out control teenager every time I drive it.." check
"My wife says at my age I should not be doing this.." check
"I am not useless, I can be used as a bad example" check


If you were 53 I would wonder if we were separated at birth :)

George

p.s. thanks for sharing the story!!!

George you probably have a similar setup. Once spring comes time to get yours on the track! Don't worry about the rock chips either. Once you get your first you'll be over the drama. A little dr color chip and good to go.

[4 l-bodies]

No way can a quazy rabbit outrun a WRX. I call BS. :needpics1:video or it didn't happen.
Pancake motors rule:hail:

[johnl]

Great read, except the last post by that Todd guy.

[2.216VTurbo]

Great read, except the last post by that Todd guy.

Meh, he's snowed in and laid up, he gots nothing better to do:p

[4 l-bodies]

Meh, he's snowed in and laid up, he gots nothing better to do:p
The all seeing and knowing "Carnac the magnificent" is correct. Typed of course slooowly with my left hand. :o

[GLHS 160]

No way can a quazy rabbit outrun a WRX. I call BS. :needpics1:video or it didn't happen.
Pancake motors rule:hail:


Funny thing is when were lining up on the road to start, there were some people across the road in an open field watching a mini bike ride around.. I did not pay them any attention as I was getting ready… The next day I stopped by my friends shop who also has a few Omni turbos, and he said we filmed you yesterday.. I asked him where?? He said we were across the road with their son on the mini bike filming him.. His wife was filming and when he heard the beeps, he said "Oh hell its on now"… His wife swung around with the camera and began to film us.. He said it was funny when they watched it, as she stayed on the Omni as it pulled away, and when I was past all the trees she swung back to get the WRX again..

Todd, everyone knows Omnis eat pancakes motors for breakfast !!!:p