[IROCZman15]

Hi guys. I recently became aware of this whole board via some friends of mine on thirdgen.org. This looks like a good forum for me to be on and I am hopeful to learn as much as I can by reading some of the forums. I will make sure to search for the info I have questions on, and I will always keep things tech related.

I've had my 1987 IROC for 21 years now and it was my high school car. Years later after I made it look real nice, I got bit by the quest for more performance. The car is indeed a true real-deal street car that I use for autocross, short course road racing, drag racing, car shows, and general street duty. I do not own a trailer and street drive it wherever I go. My parts selection is based on those factors, so I have quite the balancing act to do when it comes to picking parts.

I have competed in the Optima Batteries Search for the Ultimate Street Car series in 2016 and also in 2017 (both at New Jersey Motorsports park)
I have also competed in the UMI Performance Autocross challenge in 2019 and 2020.
I also have done a handful of other autocross events in NJ and PA as well.


I enjoy the heck out of the car, but I know it will never be competitive in any specific CAM-T class or competition. For me, it is all about building/driving the car to find its potential, and then learning what I can do to take it a step further.


As mentioned, its an 1987 IROC-Z. It has a 406 small block chevy with a dart block, dart heads, callies rotating assembly, full roller valvetrain, and I use the holley sniper efi. I know the automatic trans is not optimal, but it is what is staying in the car. it consists of a ProBuilt Automatics 700R4 built with their tiop level package, and a 9.5" Edge Racing 3,400 converter. A 3" driveshaft from Dennys, and a Moser 12 bolt rear axle with 33 spline axles nad a tru Track. It currently has 3.55 gears, but In February it will get a gear change from 3.55 to 3.91 gears. Also, the engine was built with nitrous in mind and it will indeed be getting a 150-200 wet shot soon.

Front:
I have the C4 HD 13" brake package up with Hawks HPS pads. UMI A-arms up front with Koni Yellow struts and UMI upper strut mounts. OEM sway bar with poly mounts. Replacement Moog springs and a 2" drop-spindle setup. Replaced everything to the steering system with new components and had the original IROC-Z steering box re-built this past winter so it is very on-point. Wheels are 18x8" with a Nitto 555 255/40/18 tire that I would love to replace.

Rear:
UMI adjustable lower control arms, UMI panhard bar, Founders performance upper panhard bar. OEM swaybar with poly mounts. Koni yellow rear shocks. Moog springs with 3/4 coil cut off. C4 rear brake conversion so 12" rotor with powerstop pads. 18x10" wheel with a 285/40/18 nitto 55 tire. Also looking to replace these in the spring.


Here are some photos:

(IMG:https://live.staticflickr.com/4354/37099178212_179dd3ccc4_c.jpg)

(IMG:https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49900080406_c0efef3152_c.jpg)

(IMG:https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49899561173_f239747cee_c.jpg)

(IMG:https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50269531676_c369c0fe6d_c.jpg)


(IMG:https://live.staticflickr.com/7113/27355806591_71c8967ff4_c.jpg)

(IMG:https://live.staticflickr.com/4445/37713056722_a617e759f7_c.jpg)

(IMG:https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50055682841_ddbb67f597_c.jpg)




here is a link to some of my photo albums of events and my car's build over recent years:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/iroczman15/albums



I also have a youtube channel, and while I do not do any editing or creative video work, I do have some videos of my autocross runs over recent years. if you search through the "My videos" section. My username is the same as it is here IROCZman15

I am also on www.thirdgen.org using this username and I have a couple of long "build" threads and some racing info there along with photos, datalogs, videos, and tech info.

Glad to be a member here and looking forward to what I can learn after I spend some time reading.

[IROCZman15]

Wow, cool, glad to see so many replies. Thanks for the compliments too.
-sorry for the wall of text that follows, I just wanted to answer some questions and give some more details.


Hey, slowTA. Was it at the Meadowlands event or Warminster that we met? Also, I'm not sure if it is a typo.... but do you actually live in Kenvil, NJ?? as in Roxbury Township?? If so, thats crazy!! That's the town I currently live in and have lived in for 8 years now. How wild is it that the first person who responds to my member-intro post actually lives in my hometown? What do you drive? I am sure we have seen eachother locally.

RacerDad: It is actually the Holley Sniper EFI system, which is built to look like a carburetor, but is a throttle body style fuel injection. The car used to be a tuned port TPI setup on the 305 engine. I also used to spray a 100 and 150 nitrous shot at it and it all held together after close to 30 bottle of nitrous in 5 years time. My personality just loves the old-school look of a simple engine bay and a gen1 small block chevy was all I was interested in putting in the car. I know people have amazing success with the LS1, LS3, LSX platform, but I wanted to open the hood and just see a high-horsepower small block chevy without the coil packs, or tons of wiring. I did want fuel injection and the ability to tune, and to datalog, so I went with the Holley Sniper EFI and the hyperspark ignition to match it. it all works great. I'm a novice at tuning and reading datalogs, but its only been 1 year now and I hope to keep learning. The engine made 531 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 513 ft/lbs of torque at 4,800 on an engine dyno in February 2020.


As for the converter and the trans temps, I had this decision to make back in 2016 when on the way home from competing at the Optima batteries USCA event down in south jersey, I guess the trans was super hot and I was loaded down with several hundred pounds of tools during the 3.5 hour drive home.. after racing several sessions of the road-course segment that day....I melted the stock transmission and converter down. It made it home, but the trans was hurt bad! I debated the t56 swap, but knew I kinda wanted to keep this car an auto. I had extensive talks with Dana who owns ProBuilt Automatics and we agreed that building the trans with his top level kit would be the way to go, because even back in 2016 I knew I would be soon installing a 500+hp engine and spraying it with a 200 shot of nitrous. He redesigned his website recently and also his prices are now higher. I think I paid about $2,700 for it a few years ago. https://probuiltautomatics.com/shop/ols/pro...elite-1988-1993
- the converter was selected to be a blend of all motorsports worlds that I am in...launching at a drag race or a ripper on the street, plus not having to rev it to the moon in an autocross event. Drag race guys tell me I should use at least a 4,000 converter; yet it would be better to use a lower rpm converter for autocross. When the trans melted down I put in the trans temp gauge, so that I would never overhead a trans again. The trans temp sensor is in-line on the return line which most people say is the best location for it (not in the pan or trans case or outlet line) My temps are always surprisingly super cold/low! Even during the MSNE autocross event I did mid summer 2020 when we did 7 back to back passes, the trans temp only peaked at 180-185. Normal driving, usual drag racing,and usual autocross the temp is usually 140 or so. I have the fluid exit the transmission, pass through the bottom of the aluminum radiator (champion 2 row rad with puller fans) and then the fluid goes to a medium sized B&M style cooler mounted behind the front nose and exposed to air passing over it. I do not have a fan on this B&M cooler. I also run an in-line magnetic filter for the trans fluid which I check every year.
- one BIG piece of advice that Dana gave me is to add in 3-4 quarts of CAT (caterpillar) Automatic Transmission fluid. Its properties are super helpful for the internals of the auto-transmissions especially in road race cars and whatnot. He highly recommends this, so I use 4 quarts of CAT fluid. he also says that for road racing cars or drag racing to overfill the trans fluid by 1/2 to 3/4 of a quart of fluid because of the G-forces and the extra fluid will help keep the pump from sucking up air.

Yes, the car was originally a TPI car, but with a 305. I used to remember some of the important RPO codes....but I do know that the front sway bar is a 32 or 34mm and the rear is 23mm. It has the IROC bars, thats for sure. I run the polyurethane greasable mounts and polyurethane swaybar end-links which I shortened the spacer up front to get the bar to sit level (after the 2" drop springs went in) I do take the front sway bar out for drag racing, but keep it in for street driving and autocross. I've contemplated going bigger, but I am not entirely sure I need to spend the money on bigger bars.

I am switching out my 3.55 rear gears for a 3.91 gearset in a few weeks time...but I think the biggest improvement I want to make to the car related to autocross for 2021 is to find some money to get a better set of tires. My 300 treadwear Nitto 555 tires are 6+ years old and not great in the corners compared to these guys on BFG rivals and whatnot. Tires want to slide around a lot, its a delicate dance at times. With my wheel sizes, I don't have too many tire options, but I do see that Falken has made a new tire ( RT660) and I am waiting to see how people like it. The tire also has to look right on the wheel and fit the wheel well of the car right too since these wheels and tires are my show car and street car wheels. I use drag radials and skinnies at the dragstrip.

glad to join up to the site!