Match Race 1972 ~ 'Road Runner/GTX 440' vs. 'Buick GS 455'
Have any of you noticed that just comparing #'s, especially camshaft, the mopars always seem to do more with less?
This is what I keep trying to say in all of my "yes there is a replacement for displacement" comments.
All of my mostly stock 318's could hang with or best a stock or lightly modified 350. My 383 and 400 could hang with any gm big block.
There seems to be an inherent design efficiency that Mopar motors had, that the other guys didn't. As a bonus, since the factory parts were fairly mild, there was a hell of a lot of room for bolt on improvement.
I had a 72 skylark in the identical color combo as the one in the exhaust post.
I have a hard time believing the listed weight on those cars.
Even with factory sway bars it drove very heavy and lumbering, with lots of roll and wander. It was a 350 auto with fairly low miles.
It was not even a close match for either of my 318 Coronets I owned at the same time (a 66 and a 67) either in performance or handling, despite neither of the coronets having a sway bar.
In my experience, the 2.94 (common 66/67 ratio) in the 8 3/4 was good counter for a gm 3.08, as it gave you a chance to catch up on the top end. The torquey 66 poly motor with that gear minced a LOT of 350 with 3.08 gm a body cars.
