Swapping the Glide for 727, weight difference

Pulled the glide out of the Hemi GTX this week to replace with a 727 as I am way to heavy to take advantage of the glide. I'm chasing ET, not consistency. Cars weighs 3550 with me in it 540 inch hemi. Best time so far has been a 9.24 at almost 145. 1.31 60 ft, 5.85 in the 1/8.
Weight wise, the glide is a ATI SFI case, Bell and rollerized tail shaft with a deep cast aluminum pan. it came in at 130 lbs on my bathroom scale. the converter was a FTI nitrous 9 inch and with the flex plate and hub came in at 48 lbs for a total of 178 lbs.
Torque flight came in at 150 lbs with carbon shield. 8 inch converter with flex plate 30 lbs for 180lbs total.
I will need to shorten up my steel driveshaft 8 inches so it might be a equal swap!
I didn't stop there. between swapping to Lingenfelter bumper brackets for my lightened stockers I lost 19.8 lbs. With 1/2 of the undercoating removed sofar, I lost another 10 lbs I, am headed in the right direction.
I need to get an 8.99 out of this car before I die. I know I have an easy 30 lbs to go. rear disc over drums, aluminum master cylinder to replace the cast iron and working on a front air dam.
The guy I bought the torque flight has a 3000 lbs Roadrunner that has gone 9.0x. he put a glide in (serious bracket guy) and slowed down to 9.teens-9.20s.
I hope mine picks up what his lost. Wish me luck!

You could shave off an easy 100 Lbs if you look closer at the beast.
What year GtXXXX is this we speak?

1969 GTX
Still wont be as fast as willard.....

Heck, if we put your engine in my 2700lb A-body, it would be in the 8's already....Post some pics please...

Speak no further than MoparJohn. His GTX is classified weight material and he's flying for an ALMOST all metal brute.

Have yet to figure out how to add a picture. I've looked at the instructions and the don't work for me. Any hints? Car is a 69 and looks almost show quality.
Willard's dart is toast compared to the GTX. His MoFo is something to definitely fear. 8.90s from a normally aspirated small block mopar in the Thunderbird is just Bad A$$! The 2700 lbs doesn't hurt.

Who is this MoparJohn and how much alchol must I pry him with to give up his secrets?

Regarding pics, you have to put the picture on a photo-hosting site, then link to it. Not sure if the mods have changed the directions since the software change about a year ago (you used to be able to drop them straight here).

Here are some old pictures

That's my girls! Thelma, the Street GTX my girlfriend races (very well I might add) and Louise the Hemi GTX I race. Hemi has the lift off hood. Street GTX has gone 10.84 at 123.50 at almost 4000lbs with a 3.73 gear. Pump gas 493.

I've never seen John drink, but he does like helping Mopar folks go faster. Say his name 3 times and he will appear.

Heres a couple more

MoparJohn MoparJohn MoparJohn I need about a tenth and a half. Please send your GTX Genie to Stuart Fl. There are 4 GTXs in the garage that can use your help.

I've reached out to MoparJohn and he should be on board shortly. He's also sprinkled some of his ideas on the other weight thread on here (Real world weight loss and its cost)

This MOPAR powered T-bird,,,,,does it come off the Island of Long??
Sound familiar..............

No sir, its a street car out of florida

ok. So can you educate me as to why a glide would slow the car down. This isn't the first time I've heard this but never asked before. A few years ago I called ATI and told them I was looking for a 727 beefed up for racing and he said no you want a glide. I haven't had a chance to complete the car but I do have a new glide sitting in the garage

Lighter cars like glides. As far as the OP is concerned, I think I would try another 1st gear set or rear gear to get that tank moving rather than go to the 3 spd. I picked up .02 in 60 and a nearly a tenth in a 2,400# car switching to a glide. Not to mention the night and day consistency... My

What weight constitutes "Lighter car"? I ask because 2,400 Lbs is ultra light/feather weight and most people have different ideas/numbers of what a light car is.

I was going to ask about gear ratios because ATI offers a lot of them . Before I put my car together I'm gunna make sure the gearing is right. I hate to call some of these companies
I always worry that the rep knows less than I do. As far as weight I would expect the rep to set you up based on weight of the car ect.

The magic of a glide is the tamer launch and only one gear change. Makes it VERY consistent. The catch is you need a ton of power and a light car to make it fast. (why do pro stockers have 5 gears? to keep them in a narrow power range)
My hemi makes max power at 6650. In order to get it to launch I had 4.56 gears and a 1.82 first gear in the glide.
Running through the traps at 8100 plus RPM, I am wasting time and wearing out expensive parts.
I switched to a 4.10 rear gear and the car lost ,001 in the 60 ft and .009 in the 1/4 mile. The car now traps at 7300 or so.
I believe I can improve the launch of this heavy beast with the 727s 2.45 first gear and maybe 60 ft in the 1.26- 1.27 range. being able to keep it in its power range longer and not wear out parts with 8100RPMs in the traps, it SHOULD be faster.
What I have seen for a glide to match a 3 speed car in ET, is the car needs to be 2700 lbs or less. I know there are many variables but this is what I have gathered so far.
When I was transmission shopping, the big trans guys all wanted to sell me a glide or a turbo 400. not sure if they make more money on the chevy trans or they just don't know how to build a torque flight.

. What yr was this? Looks like the Mopar race at sgmp

ive always heard a glide takes less hp to turn than a 727,plus a 727 is a bomb about to go off,and cost 3 times as a glide

And you've built how many?

Any automatic transmission can explode. The horror stories you read here are not confined to 727’s.

Car was 2,600# with me in it. 3,000# is about my limit. Anything over that I wouldn't consider very light. I wouldn't run a Torqueflight in a race car anymore after making the dreaded switch. OK, maybe Matt Hartford's old B/DA but other than that...

Cost is about the same. Yes there is less rotating mass in a glide. Is it worth 15HP? I don't know??? The horror stories as mentioned before are not limited to T/F's. Every glide guy I know has a spare in the trailer except me!

Yes sir it was!

I'm really surprised the weight difference is negligible.

That was 2016 at SGMP

Not to start a pissing trans fight here, but many, many do not know how to build a 727 correctly aside from not performing the right rituals during a burnout.
My 727 guru who has build bullet proof 27's has done so with stock parts and occasionally a steel drum in it for the extra insurance. But he has told me about some dum and dummer moves from some guys.
Known as Top Boy here in Brooklyn, he has been building 27's since when they were in cast iron cases. He's one of the first to introduce the 904 into racing behind some stout hot street setups. I'm talking real world 10 second street cats.

There are good builders for all makes and sizes and there are good racers that know how to handle them on the saddle.

Mopar John is here to help!
I'll start with a list of reasonable cost weight reduction items:
Swap out original windshield for Current replacements-7 lbs
Prop up the quarter windows and remove the regulator-10 lbs
Lightest weight starter you can find- 5 lbs
I went to 10 inch drums then discs front & rear- 40 lbs
Aluminum drive shaft
Aluminum radiator
Aluminum water pump mine Meziere
Aluminum strut rods and tie rod ends
Aluminum master cylinder
Aluminum distributor hold down bracket
The new M/T ET Fronts are 4" vs 4 1/2"
No tubes or screws out back!
Send me an e-mail at moparjohn@frontier.com with questions

Also watch your parts upgrades carefully. A good example is you can buy a Wilwood disc brake kit for $$$ and for just a few dollars more you can get lighter drilled rotors or even lighter calipers in most cases.
MJ