OK, it's a 'gotcha'...this is not a Solstice, but it's a close cousin, albeit of the FWD variety. This Street Sunfire is a father-son project that my son Adam and I have run for a few seasons. He was running 11's in it when he was 17...he's 20 now, and he enlisted in the Air Force some weeks back.
As he'll be hitting boot camp soon, I devoted much of my time these last few weeks to finishing what we started. It's been challenging, but very rewarding!
It's been our objective as of late to get it into the 10-second range, where no Ecotec manual-trans street car has ever gone before. This last Tuesday evening, we hit paydirt...BIG TIME!
Video of 10-second pass
Video of 606 WHP dyno run
The car has been an ongoing testbed of high-performance Ecotec development for us.
I dedicated myself to working with Adam to achieve our dream for this unique 'father-son' Eco-car before he begins his journey to serve our nation. Time has been short, so we've been working hard on it for the last few weeks. We are now very proud of the car...and the best part is, there's way more left on the table!
We're going to do a full feature on our website soon on this fascinating car. Originally prepared as a SEMA show car back in 2002 (hence the flamboyant paint!), this current iteration was conceived to show that Ecotec power can result in impressive times while staying within the budget constraints of the average enthusiast. GM Racing has built 'street' cars of considerably more performance than this, but they've always featured megabuck engines and very altered drivelines built around a conversion to the 4T65 automatic transaxle.
We set out to prove that a stock transmission and engine location can also get the job done nicely, and with a fraction of the budget GM Racing lavished on their FWD cars. I must emphasize that this is not meant to take anything away from what GM Racing has accomplished, for they've done an outstanding job of showing the Ecotec engine's capabilities. This car is instead a 'bridge' from those well-financed efforts to the average Joe!
Overall, the car weighs 2475 pounds, and still sports a complete interior, stock window glass, stock body panels, and is street legal and plated (well, we DO put different wheels on for the street!).
Here's the timeslip numbers:
60': 1.712
330': 4.665
1/8 ET: 6.982
1/8 MPH: 109.39
1000': 8.954
1/4 ET: 10.583
1/4 MPH: 139.23
I must take a moment to thank the companies who have helped out with this effort. They all support the Ecotec mission faithfully, and are worthy of your patronage!
ClutchMasters
The DriveShaft Shop
ACCEL-DFI
Random Technologies
Keizer Wheels
Competition Cams
Wiseco Pistons
AllEcotec.com
Linear Mode
