Jeeesh! I woke up this morning and said: "Gee,
I'll bet Jim wanted to know what kind of car I
raced, since he already knew I raced in /G". I
mean, gimme a break - first Monday after time
change and all!
I ran a 1992 Geo Storm 1600. I had a big Mopar
I was going to convert from drag to LSR when a
guy made me an offer I couldn't refuse. That
left me readin' and cryin' a lot 'cause I didn't
have a race car. My wife got sick of hearing it
and suggested that racing the Geo slow would be
better than reading and crying fast. She was
right!
As it turned out, the little Geo is a pretty good
car and a well-kept (often overlooked) pocket
rocket. By running a 1600 motor, I was giving up
a coffee can full of cubic inches right at the
git go, but that was what I had. Also, my motor
was only a SOHC, which gave up a lot of
performance to the DOHC version. I put on a
header and 2 1/2 inch exhaust to the back of the
car, installed an Accel coil and wires, Bosch
Platinum + plugs, and replaced the throttle body
with a bigger one. The computer kept trying to
correct these "problems" and I could really feel
it retarding timing and looking for a better fuel
mix just about the time I got to the clocks. I
would disconnect the battery between runs in
order to let the computer re-index, hoping that
it would be fooled until I finished the run.
Sometimes it was - sometimes it wasn't! When I
got home, I was all set to hit the junk yards and
find a 1991 1500 DOHC motor to build for /H when
I bought this flathead roadster set-up, and
re-dedicated the Geo to my grateful teenage
daughter.
The 1500 motor would be much more competetive,
factory rated at 135 HP, it has good after-market
cams available, and with a couple of side draft
Webers and "de-computerized" ignition, it should
put the clean little Geo body right in the mid
140s. The Geo uses a motor designed and built by
Isuzu and Isuzu had a very competetive factory
sports racer in Japan which used this motor. The
new Lotus also uses this motor, which in it's
1600cc version, is rated at 145 HP, as it was in
the last Geos. In the "Pocket Rocket" world,
even though Honda gets all the hype, on the
street, a Geo Si DOHC will eat up a Honda. It
will even stick with the newer "V-Tec" Hondas. I
think one reason being is that in stock trim, the
Geo/Isuzu lives between 5000 and 6500 which puts
the torque and HP curves much closer together
than some of the super high RPM motors. If
you're thinking about a small motor, be sure to
check this one out before you start building. I
think it could be a real winner in /H. I can put
you in touch with some guys who know a lot about
these things. For a true /G motor, I believe
that the Olds Quad-Four would be hard to beat.
There were versions of that motor built in the
245 -265HP range!
=====
Dick J - - ECTA #72
G/FCC - FX/GMR
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