A Beretta?!?! honestly...

[offroadking208]

Ok so heres the story. I am rolling down 146th street on my way home from a party. Its this nice new 4 lane road with a grass divider between both sides. So its me, my friend roy, and my friend kelsey in my CVPI. The trunk is filled with about 300lbs worth of drinks and party supplies plus 3 computers, clothes, and a spare tire. The A/C is blasting because it's about 85 degrees outside. We come to this stop light and as we're all talking, my friend roy looks over, laughs, and says, "Haha, i wonder if that guy wants to race." i turn and see a mid 90's Chevy Beretta with, "The official Brickyard 400 Pace Car" on the side. I look over at it, laugh then say, "Im sure he does". As we sit there, i catch the driver looking at me out of the corner of my eye. I chalk it up to him trying to figure out if im a cop or not, yada yada, so i kinda dismiss it, but as the light changes, he stomps the gas and squeaks the tires pulling out. As i am not one to let a challenge go, i too stomp the gas. He pulls ahead of me all the way up to about 50 mph before my car catches up, and blows past it like its sitting still :banana2:. So i killed a beretta... woo hoo, right, haha. but the part that annoys me is that it had me til i hit the powerband in 2nd gear. I'd just like to be able to take it off the line and STAY ahead. Any 2v guys on here have any mods i should get? :confused: i already have the PI Intake, 04 PI Zip Tube, 70MM Throttle Body, CAI, and thats it as of now. Any thoughts? ive been told that headers will wake it up in combination with some hi-flo cats :)

P.S. while i am not one to brag about killing a beretta, i still go with the theory that a kill is a kill :D

[offroadking208]

Btw, i didn't know you could get a beretta with a manual tranny...

[CRUZTAKER]

My 1.4 L Fiat could out run a Beretta. :lol:

[offroadking208]

haha, and that, my friend, is the problem :)

[Marauder386]

... my work Beretta runs at 3200 feet per second ... no Marauder can top that ! My Glock is a little faster though ... :D


:cool:

[LVMarauder]

A high stall converter gets you out of the hole

[Blackened300a]

Btw, i didn't know you could get a beretta with a manual tranny...

For some reason in the mid 90's the Beretta was a popular car around my neighborhood. I had a friend who owned 3 of them and 2 were stick. Off the line they were pretty quick with the 3.1L, but that was it.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

The GM V6s w/ the tuned runner intakes are very torquey, and his car weighs 50% of what yours does. I wouldn't worry about blazing out of the hole, you caught him in the end. I bet my mom's Chrysler 3.8 v6 minivan would keep up with an SOHC car 0-45 easy.

[larryo340]

I bet my mom's Chrysler 3.8 v6 minivan would keep up with an SOHC car 0-45 easy.

Alot of cars can keep up with a SOHC when red light racing. Those 2.73's out back kill low end, but are great for mileage :rolleyes:. The 3.27's in a HPP are a little better. My car with 2.73's seems to really get going from 60-65 MPH and up.

75-80 MPH on cruise control I have gotten 25 MPG.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

That's my point, unless 0-45 is really critical, trying to reinvent a heavy 225 hp car off the line is going to start costing $$$$. Loose converters are a definite trade off, because shift firmness and low speed driving (before the converter is locked) definitely suffer. I would not put a high stall converter in a daily driver. I have a $600 PATC 2800 stall converter with a 12.5" lockup clutch in another car, and it is definitely a lot soggier than stock in city driving. I can't speak for the MM converter but I'm sure the same holds true. If the converter stalls higher, something's got to give, since there's no free lunch.

[BillyGman]

Your best bang for the buck short of nitrous oxide injection, would be a Stallion Torque converter with the stall speed set to 3,000 RPM from Precision industries. http://www.converter.com/stallion.htm I bought one of those for the Marauder I used to have(the single plate model is all you'll need), and it actually reduced my ET's at the dragstrip by .7 seconds. I'd also install a set of 4.10 gears in the rear, but if you do that, you'll also need a computer chip that will re-set the speedometer reading for the new gears. And BTW, for the record, that Marauder was also my daily driver for over 3 years for 12 months out of the year even in the snow with snow tires on it, and having a 3,000 RPM stall speed on that aftermarket torque converter was just fine. In fact, I never even noticed a difference in the way the car acted during normal driving and during heavy traffic conditions, until I hit full throttle, and the car would accelerate much better.

With an O/D transmission, the gears and the higher stall speed with the new torque converter will be fine. You'll only be reving at 2,500 RPM at 70 MPH. Those would be the two best modifications that you can do for under $1,000 each. The exhaust would cost you more, because to really do anything, you would really need headers, and an entire 2.5" diameter exhaust set-up, and all of that will cost you close to $2K, and it still won't make the car accelerate as well as that torque converter, and gears will.

If you did both of them (gear & converter ) along with a chip, it would likely cost you close to what the exhaust system would, but it would make more of a difference.

[TiTo35]

My 1.4 L Fiat could out run a Beretta. :lol:

The sodas around my way are 2 liters...:lol:

[J D]

The GM V6s w/ the tuned runner intakes are very torquey, and his car weighs 50% of what yours does. I wouldn't worry about blazing out of the hole, you caught him in the end. I bet my mom's Chrysler 3.8 v6 minivan would keep up with an SOHC car 0-45 easy.

I miss my mom's ol' '90 Inline4 Plymouth minivan. I learned to drive in that thing.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I don't think I'd miss an inline 4 anything. But the 3.8 van would lay down a 1 wheel peel probably 50 feet long if you were leaving an intersection and the wheels were turned. It didn't have traction control or PCM routines to reduce wheelspin, so it would just blow the tire away and keep going

[a_d_a_m]

The GM V6s w/ the tuned runner intakes are very torquey

x2!!!!
i've owned a 2.8 and 3.1 firebird. the 3.1 is a surprisingly decent motor, and if that beretta was a brickyard pace car, it just mighta had the 3.4, which is even quicker.

GM also geared those 90-degree V6 cars for pickup. my 3.1L firebird can roast tires in 1st and 2nd gears. 3rd is decent for getting on the freeway, but the freeway gears make it feel like there's an anchor tied to the ass end! i raced my buddy last year - he drove my '02 MGM and i drove the firebird. i annihilated him until around 60mph, or, when i put it in 4th.

if you woulda had the a/c off, trunk empty, and one less passenger, it probably woulda been a closer race.

is your transmission J-modded?

[sd8683]

I had a 3.4l Z24, it was a POS but I was amazed how quick it was

[Pops]

I had a 3.4l Z24, it was a POS but I was amazed how quick it was

I had one for a while. Those motors had oil pump issues! :flamer:

[sd8683]

I had one for a while. Those motors had oil pump issues! :flamer:


Yup!! Among many many other things!!!

[a_d_a_m]

which, i believe, is why they scrapped it. well, that, and the fact that the 3800 was a superior motor.

this thread got hi-jacked into a "GM V6 appreciation" thread. sorry.

[Aren Jay]

If you don't have him by 50 mph he has beaten you. He probably gave up at 50 mph.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I had a 3.4l Z24, it was a POS but I was amazed how quick it was
I had one for a while. Those motors had oil pump issues! :flamer:<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
__________________


All of the 60 degree V6 motors had oil pump issues. I tried to drive a 2.8 car I got free, on the highway to transport it, and it lost oil pressure and died on me on a bridge, with no breakdown lane, during rush hour traffic. A V8 replaced that thing. Yeah the 3800 series, especially the series II, are excellent engines. The series II's are full roller, balance shafted so they are extremely smooth, and move heavy cars much better than 205 hp rating would suggest. The series IIs in fullsize cars are high 15 second cars!

[offroadking208]

lol, i sadly do not have the jmod as of yet. I need it but funds as of right now are low :)

[offroadking208]

lol, alright. so as an update, i FOUND the person with the Beretta. Turns out they just got a job, conveniently at the same place that i have my second job, Marsh :) I just ordered a JLT CAI tonite and after the install i think im gonna try him again. I asked him about it when i saw him leaving the little beretta in the parking lot in a marsh uniform and he recognized my car. Said he thought i'd pull on him faster than i did (which makes two of us, hahaha) but said he'd do it again, anytime, anywhere. Im thinking ill just wait for my CAI and try again, minus the people and crap in the trunk :) Ill update again on this as it develops :)
Peace

[BillyGman]

Just keep your expectations realistic, cuz the reality of it is that you're not gonna experience a colossal difference from that one small modification. Not meaning to offend you, but HP costs $$$...no way to get around that. ;)