HP Rating....F Body vs FWD Conversion Cars

[joe176]

Alot of conversation takes place about how the F body camaro / firebird platform should be separate on the hp rating because it's at a performance disadvantage vs the FWD Cobalts/Cavaliers. I have alot of data that proves this right but not to the extreme that most racers I hear talking about say it is.
My 1985 Camaro ran well and I had my heart and soul into that car....it was a top qualifier/ record setting car. It had the same efi engine combination in it from the start of the 2006 season until I decided to switch to a cavalier at the Dutch Classic 2009. I have now run the cavalier for one full season and pretty much can say it is sorted out. The reason I wanted to make the change was more technology than love of the car per say. The new car has all the latest innovations to make it easier to work on. Dash comes out...one piece headers.....coil over front springs/struts...equal length four link.....so on and so forth.

So if you took a complete drivetrain out of a camaro and installed everything and I mean everything in a FWD conversion car.....what would it be worth ??

I know because I did it......I took the engine (efi intake to charlie's oil pan), injectors, trans,converter, complete msd ignition including the coil, big stuff computer, complete ring/pinion/center section, same M/T radials, shifter w/air kit, duplicated the Aeromotive fuel system, and the same 16 volt batteries. Out of the box at a track rental first time out at maple grove/dutch classic 09 the car in GT/FA went 9.81@ 133 mph four times in a row at race weight. .....which will be my term for fast runs with radial.

This is some of the comparable data that I have come up with in 5 years of running this particular combination.

Camaro----------------Camaro---------------Cavalier-----------------Cavalier
GT/HA-------------------GT/HA-----------------GT/FA-------------------GT/FA
Cecil 8/08-------------Atco 10/08---------Lebanon 7/10----------Etown 9/10

1.361---------------------1.336------------------1.270---------------------1.274
4.055---------------------4.006------------------3.901---------------------3.904
6.373---------------------6.294------------------6.148---------------------6.151
105.49........................106.81.............. ......109.86........................108.84
8.384..........................8.286.............. .........8.104..........................8.106
10.091........................9.988............... ........9.769..........................9.773
131.81........................132.27.............. ......134.79........................134.00

77.6 degrees.............74.9.......................... 69.8.............................68.8
51.4 %........................29.0 %.....................52.2%....................... ...51.1 %
29.99..........................30.07.............. ..........29.50...........................29.79
1573'..........................1291'.............. ..........1534'............................1112'
wind 15 degrees......wind 291...................wind 90........................wind 90
6-8 mph......................0-3 mph....................3-6 mph.......................10-11 mph
race weight................race weight..............race weight...................race weight
.................................................. ................ ..-275 lbs lighter.............-275 lbs. lighter

-1.259 old index........-1.362 old index.......-1.331 old index..........-1.327 old index

these are just a small sample of what I have found....these runs with the cavalier are after adjusting the converter, fuel map, shift points, leave rpm and rear gear.This car weighs 275 lbs lighter than the camaro at race weight....I have been comparing data for the latter half of this season for my own curiosity and I feel that the advantage is only 3-5 hundreths at the most....not a tenth to two tenths which is what I've heard in the past.