We started the day at Mike Dez Racing in Seekonk Massachusetts (508-336-6588) so we can gather a baseline on the GTO's horsepower levels. Mike and Brian cinched down the bright yellow “goat” for a few tests and the party began.
Power looked good for a new engine and after four passes the HP really didn't vary all that much. Peak horsepower levels were running around 286-289 RWHP so the stock flywheel horsepower rating of 350 is not far off!
I'll try to get the files from Dez Racing and load them up later.
After some “what ifs” as to the car's potential, we had some Cokes and pizza as we checked out the dyno sheets. The guys noticed a few items from the “Goat's” dyno graph that needed attention and once I have HP-Tuners in my greedy little hands, we'll have those problems rectified.

Around 2:00 pm I left Dez's joint and headed north on Rt. 95 towards New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire. There were a few traffic problems on the highway because of the holiday but the new toy ran flawlessly all the way there. What a great ride it was! The CD player blasting out the typical early Van Halen and older re-mastered Grand Funk Railroad that I love to hear. Fitting music for the old and the new venue of this GTO project car. I finally got to enjoy the car for more than just a short trip around town for a cruise night or just a craving for some speed...It was the best.
When I arrived at the gates of NED, I was rewarded with about a one-hour “hang around” time just waiting for the track to open up. At least it allowed the “goat” a well-deserved cool down period for its brand new engine and drivetrain. Once in the gate, I breezed through Tech and drove right up to the lanes.
There we waited again for almost an hour for the track personnel to get the facility race-ready. Guess I should have figured this all out since I've always known the NED routine was not the most “racer friendly” but at least it gave me time to cool the engine down even further and spend some time answering a few questions about the new “goat”.
At 6 pm the lanes were officially opened and I was finally strapped in heading up to the starting line. I did a slight burn out to clean off any pebbles, then push the button to shut off the traction control and dropped the "Goat's" shifter in “3”. A couple of seconds of gauge checking and it's up to the beams. I shallow staged to minimize the ET and brought the revs up to 1000 with the foot brake on, holding it on the line. The tree dropped and I was off with a howling of the rear tires.