Fast is relative, Hemi vs. Hemi

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Back in the early '80s my brother had a '70 Super Bird.
It was stock everything except tires.
440 4 barrel, console automatic, 15X7 rallyes, and 3:23 gears.
We top ended it once (it took a few miles) and figured out what it did MPH wise. (It did have an aftermarket Sun tach) And the 160 speedo was buried FWIW....
It ended up being 135 MPH.
That is the fastest that I've ever travelled, and it was scary.
Just think, if one of the tires blew or a deer ran out in front of us, we would have been dead and of course, the car demolished.
But after about 100 MPH, the car felt like it settled down closer to the road as we went faster.
The nose and the wing worked, is my best guess.
What a weird feeling....
And never again!
 
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diymirage said:
Paging @dadsbee

We need a ride

:poke:
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LOL, my 383 x 4 gear Bee is faster on the highway than the Bird. I have 2:94's in the back of the Bee and Cops hated me as a teenager I can tell you that. Many a Friday night with the speedo wrapped around to the bottom on good old Tornado tires... and a slow old LTD behind in the distance with lights a flashin. One of those Cops is older than me by 25 years and now a FB friend that likes to tell stories of how we played cat and mouse... lol
 
Years ago (early 90's), I built a 440 and put it in a '69 Sport Satellite (400+ HP). 318 suspension - no sway bar - 3.23 gears.
One day I decided to see how fast it would go. When I got to around 5500 RPM, the front end starting swirling around big time in a circular motion. When the glove box popped open and scared the **** out of me, I let up on the gas. I figure I was doing around 130+ when that happened (speedo was buried). Car had more in it
 
From a 1991 "physics of racing" article, using the current corvette as an example. Written be a physicist/hot rodder, during the 55mph national speed limit period. Calculating JUST wind resistance at speeds, for the frontal area of the vette, he got....
7 hp to go 55. (To overcome air resistance. Does not include engine friction or rolling resistance from tires)
12 hp to go 65 mph
148 hp to go 150mph (the theoretical top speed of the 240 hp vette)
350 hp to go 200.
So your hemi peak rpm at 6500 , 1500 rpm past hp peak, gets you 150.
Where does the extra rpm and 200 horsepower for 200 mph come from?
 
Compairing old hotrods to new, a stock Daytona to a new Shelby GT 500 Mustang. The Shelby has 750 hp and can go close to 200 mph. The Mustang is lower, narrower and more aerodynamic than the 50 year old bird that has what, RT 450 hp and even with the nose and wing is still a brick. Every picture I've ever seen of a stock super bird at speed has had the tail down and nose up. I would think it would be a hairy ride at a buck fifty if it would get there.
 
65 Cuda 340 said:
They probably had - what - 2.76 gears? I knew some Ga. State Patrol officers back in the mid-1970's who claimed their smog 460 Fords would do 160. I was more than a bit skeptical of that claim. Thought it was funny, though, to hear these law officers bench racing just like any hot rodders I ever knew.
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I agree with your skeptimism. Ford Police cars speedos only went to 140 MPH if I recall .

Here's one from a 1973 LTD Police car.
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Around 1979 we Did 145 in my 70 Charger with a 383 Magnum and 2.97 gears . It was middle of the night on fresh blacktop outside of Litchfield MN . Passed a guy doing 55 . One of my buddies was reading the tach and speedo while my eyes were glued to the road. Front end got really light !

The 3.23s developed a howl so we swapped in the 2.97s ...

Been 110ish in a mint 70 Hemi Cuda without it breaking a sweat... that thing would rev way past 6k and pull hard in the 6900 range. I am sure 150 is not a problem with 3.23s. 170 mph takes a whole lot more ponies , 200 is another universe. Even with enough HP the aerodynamics wouldnt allow it in anything but a Daytona or Superbird
 
shittyslant6 said:
i've been 75 in my duster and that was downright terrifying.
no way in hell I was looking at the speedo. good thing my phone gps has speed memory.
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Bummer, I regularly cruise on the freeway in my Duster at 80-90 mph. Might be time for you to rebuild the front end, get the alignment better and put in some stiffer t-bars. That's what I did anyway. With 2.94 gears I've had it over 110 several times and it feels the same as at 90 or 75... like it's glued to the road.

If I somehow made a ton of money I'd LOVE to build a restomod wing car and do 1/2-mile and standing mile drags. Keep in mind the drag coefficient of a Daytona is only 0.29 which is still lower than most modern cars. Yes they need to be lowered and the suspension stiffened up to handle high speeds but the potential is there. I need to watch that video on the #71 car again but weren't they able to hit like 230 mph with it on the salt flats? And that engine had to be making 700-800 HP at most...
 
33IMP said:
Agreed, but people mistake a Nascar STOCKER for "stock". Not quite the same thing.
It's the Daytona/Superbird owners that should know better that perpetuate that b.s.
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a nascar "stock" hemi
MopaR&D said:
Bummer, I regularly cruise on the freeway in my Duster at 80-90 mph. Might be time for you to rebuild the front end, get the alignment better and put in some stiffer t-bars. That's what I did anyway. With 2.94 gears I've had it over 110 several times and it feels the same as at 90 or 75... like it's glued to the road.

If I somehow made a ton of money I'd LOVE to build a restomod wing car and do 1/2-mile and standing mile drags. Keep in mind the drag coefficient of a Daytona is only 0.29 which is still lower than most modern cars. Yes they need to be lowered and the suspension stiffened up to handle high speeds but the potential is there. I need to watch that video on the #71 car again but weren't they able to hit like 230 mph with it on the salt flats? And that engine had to be making 700-800 HP at most...
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oh yeah, the suspension is all stock. I don't like to think about what it looks like under there. its bad.
 
dad tought me to drive in that 41 4x4 in my avitar (still have it) but mom showed me what passing gear was in our 61 caddy coupe de vil , 390 in the cad and flat six in the dodge . i've built hotrods ever since , lol .
 
One of the scariest, most evil handling cars I've ever driven was a 76-77 or so Ford Torino (or whatever they called their mid-size car then) that I drove for Hertz as a side job while in college. Seventy miles an hour was scary in that. Felt like if you moved the steering wheel just a hair too much it would just flip over and start rolling. Also, it was unbelievably gutless - no power anywhere, even with a 351. The 350 Chevelles ran much better, lots of low end, although they did run out of steam at 4000 or so rpm. One of the best driving and performing rental cars of that period (and I didn't drive any seventies stuff except for Hertz) was a Cadillac. Actually ran pretty well with that 472, and was very stable in a straight line. We did find out that if you alternated hitting the gas and the brake while stopped at a light, you could make it rock up and down like a very fast see saw. Loved the looks the driver next to us gave us when we did that.
 
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On a classified highway stretch I got my '69 440 4-speed to bury its 150 MPH speedo. Tach at 6k. This on 3.55:1 Dana. 28" rear tire. Grant it. The speedo and stock tach is 50+ years old. But GPS confirmed 140+ MPH. 440 is a little built than stock. But just purple grind hyd cam. Some head work. Eddy low deck torquer with Holley 750.

My GTX may not be a drag strip king. Takes too long for the 440 to get into its power band. But it's a highway commando. I only lifted because some valve float could be detected. And fear of tire performance. Another words it was still pulling. And surprisingly stable ride.

I drove to a station off highway. It was sitting there idling normally. (Only difference was a little higher water temp.) And I swear it looked at me saying "Pussy" lol.

Below is quick walk around vid of that car idling.

 
Oh. And it's mission to new is complete on that GTX.

Christine was right Shitters! Lol.

20180823_115241.jpg
 
65 Cuda 340 said:
They probably had - what - 2.76 gears? I knew some Ga. State Patrol officers back in the mid-1970's who claimed their smog 460 Fords would do 160. I was more than a bit skeptical of that claim. Thought it was funny, though, to hear these law officers bench racing just like any hot rodders I ever knew.
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A 1970's LTD at 160? Float isnt the word you would use - IF it could get anywhere near that. In 1983 I bought my uncles 77 Ford unmarked Chiefs unit when he retired. The 460 was kinda soft getting to 75 mph, but sounded great. Still had the department issue Chapparal high speed tires on it. I would love to tell you top speed, but I only saw 120 on the certified speedo. More than once I accidentally went past a cop parked on the interstate with no repercussions. You would not be that lucky today, they know who's who.
 
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cojohnso said:
On a classified highway stretch I got my '69 440 4-speed to bury its 150 MPH speedo. Tach at 6k. This on 3.55:1 Dana. 28" rear tire. Grant it. The speedo and stock tach is 50+ years old. But GPS confirmed 140+ MPH. 440 is a little built than stock. But just purple grind hyd cam. Some head work. Eddy low deck torquer with Holley 750.

My GTX may not be a drag strip king. Takes too long for the 440 to get into its power band. But it's a highway commando. I only lifted because some valve float could be detected. And fear of tire performance. Another words it was still pulling. And surprisingly stable ride.

I drove to a station off highway. It was sitting there idling normally. (Only difference was a little higher water temp.) And I swear it looked at me saying "Pussy" lol.

Below is quick walk around vid of that car idling.

Click to expand...

I'm sure the B5/white and R4/black crowd is strong, but I love the green/buckskin.
 
fratzog lover said:
I'm sure the B5/white and R4/black crowd is strong, but I love the green/buckskin.
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I do too. I wasn't sure I would. My first '69 GTX was same exterior, but black buckets. This gal is split bench camel tan. It works with the F8 Green. (But I'm guessing not as well if reversed? Lol.)

The point of my story is that a hemi Superbird with some mods could hit 200 MPH.
 
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