Police motors have published horsepower ratings?

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dibbons

dibbons

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I was curious how the early 1980's 318 four-barrel police "interceptor" motors were rated (horsepower and torque). Did Chrysler ever publish such data? Never forget the time trying to merge on a Los Angeles freeway (as a CHP rookie) on an uphill ramp, had to yield and brake at the end of the ramp because I could not match traffic flow! Humiliating. The academy vehicles were quicker because the garage mechanics there tricked 'em up a little. Thank you.
 

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I have always wanted to know that also, because I had a Police 440 magnum and wondered the same thing you are.
440-440mag-440 Police?

Hey I wonder if I was one of the cars you couldn't catch at some point or another in your travels at work. :D
(69 Roadrunner, tan over gold metallic sound familiar?)
 
Chrysler seems to be pretty bad about publishing specs on a lot of things ....ever try to find horsepower ratings for trucks and RVs ....if the info is out there, they sure don't make it easy to find.

When I have pulled engines from trucks or RVs.....I "guess" its like the car counterpart ....?????
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
Chrysler seems to be pretty bad about publishing specs on a lot of things ....ever try to find horsepower ratings for trucks and RVs ....if the info is out there, they sure don't make it easy to find.

When I have pulled engines from trucks or RVs.....I "guess" its like the car counterpart ....?????
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There were definitely output differences between the standards, and magnums but I have no idea what the difference between a magnum and a police motor.
Better cooling was one, but ??? on everything else like heads, cams, valves, pistons and strokes.
 
Why does it matter? I mean......it's not like those ratings are gonna be 50 HP more than a passenger car engine......or even 25 for that matter.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Why does it matter? I mean......it's not like those ratings are gonna be 50 HP more than a passenger car engine......or even 25 for that matter.
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I usually need to know so I can sleep peacefully and not twitch so much .....i get a rash and get itchy all over when I don't know where a part came from and exactly what it is. LOL
 
RustyRatRod said:
Why does it matter? I mean......it's not like those ratings are gonna be 50 HP more than a passenger car engine......or even 25 for that matter.
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I thought the differences were fairly noticeable between them.

It only matters out of curiosity now.
 
Here's a web site that may help.
http://www.policecars.us/dodgevindecoder.html

I don't really think as far as engines and performance they were any different than a regular production car. I recall an article that I read years ago they were actually slower due to all the added equipment. This is referring to the diplomats in the early 80's. At least as far as I recall. The thing to remember with most police cars is they usually had a ton of time sitting and idling, regularly maintained but you can bet by the time they were taken out of service they were pretty well done
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
I usually need to know so I can sleep peacefully and not twitch so much .....i get a rash and get itchy all over when I don't know where a part came from and exactly what it is. LOL
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LMAO...................I think doctors can prescribe something for that
 
There were differences in all the engines my friend had a 4 door 318 valliant , I had the same car , his car was always 4-5 cars faster in the 1/4 mile , no matter who drove the cars . Both were stock same equipment . He had at least 40- 50 hp over mine . Frustrating as hell , must have had a `1/2 inch dent in the floorboards where the gas pedal was from pushing it harder to try and catch him , That and a bent steering wheel .
 
TrailBeast said:
I have always wanted to know that also, because I had a Police 440 magnum and wondered the same thing you are.
440-440mag-440 Police?

Hey I wonder if I was one of the cars you couldn't catch at some point or another in your travels at work. :D
(69 Roadrunner, tan over gold metallic sound familiar?)
Click to expand...
A friend bought an ex police car unmarked one with a 440 magnum , had duals , think it was a 1974 , thing flew ! Hit 140 mph no problem . Car was a tank .
 
jerry6 said:
There were differences in all the engines my friend had a 4 door 318 valliant , I had the same car , his car was always 4-5 cars faster in the 1/4 mile , no matter who drove the cars . Both were stock same equipment . He had at least 40- 50 hp over mine . Frustrating as hell , must have had a `1/2 inch dent in the floorboards where the gas pedal was from pushing it harder to try and catch him , That and a bent steering wheel .
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Yes, some engines run better than others... :burnout:

Luck of the draw.... :farao:

It's nice if you get the screamer.... :angel12:
 
jerry6 said:
There were differences in all the engines my friend had a 4 door 318 valliant , I had the same car , his car was always 4-5 cars faster in the 1/4 mile , no matter who drove the cars . Both were stock same equipment . He had at least 40- 50 hp over mine . Frustrating as hell , must have had a `1/2 inch dent in the floorboards where the gas pedal was from pushing it harder to try and catch him , That and a bent steering wheel .
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I worked on Police Cars in the 70's. The engines were pretty much top of the line High Performance engines that we tuned to the max. Valves, rings, pistons, Carbs were different from standard and had different part numbers from non performance engines. Valves were premium material and slightly smaller stems, for a bit more clearance. Rings looked like Sealed Power moly? I'm not sure how the pistons were different, but had different part numbers. They had all the heavy duty parts such as forged cranks if available, windage trays, high pressure oil pump springs, double roller timing chains, big blocks had platinum plugs, and premium gaskets and seals. I do remember on 440's we drilled the primary jets on the Holley carbs. But the head and block castings were production. I think the cams were the highest performance cams and valve springs available that year. Our 440's would do over 140 mph with 3.23 gears in a loaded down early 70's C body.
 
jerry6 said:
A friend bought an ex police car unmarked one with a 440 magnum , had duals , think it was a 1974 , thing flew ! Hit 140 mph no problem . Car was a tank .
Click to expand...

It's got a cap motawh, cap tieers,................

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yil9wlfa0yo"]The Blues Brothers - the bluesmobile - YouTube[/ame]
 
My charger had to be slower. I drove it on the scale at a local scrap yard and it was weighing in at over 6k. Have no clue about the older cars. I've heard stories from the old guys about doing what ever they wanted to their cars to make them faster
 
dibbons said:
I was curious how the early 1980's 318 four-barrel police "interceptor" motors were rated (horsepower and torque). Did Chrysler ever publish such data? Never forget the time trying to merge on a Los Angeles freeway (as a CHP rookie) on an uphill ramp, had to yield and brake at the end of the ramp because I could not match traffic flow! Humiliating. The academy vehicles were quicker because the garage mechanics there tricked 'em up a little. Thank you.
Click to expand...

The 318-4bbl was rated at 155 horsepower. I've never seen a published torque rating. One of the issues with the AHB M-bodies wasn't being underpowered. A big part of the issue was gearing. Because the cars were built with top end in mind (and I don't consider a 115 mph that much of a top end) gearing was, at it's shortest leg, around 2.76. I've seen a few AHB's with 2.26's.

(And the correct term is "Pursuit." "Interceptor" was a Ford term.)
 
Not mopar

But cop car shoot out

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVTz2lSePSw&index=12&list=PLix3Lckty8q6pbukK71dxVw7XNDsi-36S"]Chevy vs. Ford Cop-Car Thrash Battle! Roadkill Episode 12 - YouTube[/ame]

And it is pretty fun
 
jerry6 said:
There were differences in all the engines my friend had a 4 door 318 valliant , I had the same car , his car was always 4-5 cars faster in the 1/4 mile , no matter who drove the cars . Both were stock same equipment . He had at least 40- 50 hp over mine . Frustrating as hell , must have had a `1/2 inch dent in the floorboards where the gas pedal was from pushing it harder to try and catch him , That and a bent steering wheel .
Click to expand...

Or one was geared lower than the other.
 
999yards said:
My charger had to be slower. I drove it on the scale at a local scrap yard and it was weighing in at over 6k. Have no clue about the older cars. I've heard stories from the old guys about doing what ever they wanted to their cars to make them faster
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A 6,000 LB charger ?!? WTF was it a former dukes of hazzard jump car with concrete filling the trunk for ballast or something?? I thought B Body 2 door coupes were 3,600-3,800 LBs.

Unless its a new charger pursuit special cop car with all the extra crap required by law enforcement but still 6,000 lbs is freakin heavy.

Had some idiot at work tell me my 67 cuda weighs 4,000Lbs uuuum NO. Its curb weight is approx 3,100 lbs with a full tank of fuel.
 
dibbons said:
I was curious how the early 1980's 318 four-barrel police "interceptor" motors were rated (horsepower and torque). Did Chrysler ever publish such data? Never forget the time trying to merge on a Los Angeles freeway (as a CHP rookie) on an uphill ramp, had to yield and brake at the end of the ramp because I could not match traffic flow! Humiliating. The academy vehicles were quicker because the garage mechanics there tricked 'em up a little. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Wrong application... A guy at our track has one and he kills 'em in bracket racing. 9.30 , 9.30, 9.31... you get the idea. Drives it to the track. Leaves it in DRIVE and just tree's 'em.
 
ramenth said:
(And the correct term is "Pursuit." "Interceptor" was a Ford term.)
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What did they call the CHP big block Dodges that prowled the SoCal desert and would run 150 easy back in the early 70's?

Yup... I was in H.S. and we used to dodge 'em. Before that the locals had gumball machines.

http://www.440magnum.com/mopars/2005/january/1972dodgepolarachp1.shtml

72polarachp1.jpg
 
I had a grocery-getter,71 Polara for a bit, with a 73 teener engine and hi-way gears. It looked like it would weigh 6000 pounds, but with a 4bbl, that teener pulled pretty good. I think it mightabin a lot lighter than it looked.
 
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