Disappointing test drives/rides……..

[furrystump]

I had a friend in high school. Spent many hours looking through the Direct Connection catalogue. He was putting together a 440 with a 6 pack to go in a 66 Charger. Purple shaft…… put it together and it wouldn’t even spin the tire. I think it ballooned the converter or the transmission was toast. Graduated and he continued on with it, moved it over to a Dart and ran it a bunch. He stop running the car about the same time I started running my car. Eventually got it sorted, but what a dog!

 

[66fs]

There are a bunch of blindingly fast small block ford's out there, now. Most with heavy doses of power adder. And having great aftermarket heads available certainly helps.
But hot rodding a 289 or 302 in the 70s, or early eighties, with those pretty pathetic heads that were available, sometimes wasn't as successful as the owners hoped.

Like everything, it's in the combination. My brother had a 65 Mustang coupe that he said ran into the 12's with slicks. 289 K motor clone: factory solid lifter cam; dual exhaust; Offy intake; 10.5 forged pistons; 1970 Windsor 351 heads with 194/1.60 Chevy intake valves and factory BBM HP valve springs; topped off with a 69 Carter 750 cfm AVS 4640s carb; 3.90 LSD from a big block Mustang. That car was quick. I think people put too big a cam in, run highway gears, headers because everyone says you need to, slap a Holley carb on, don't tune the combination, and think they have a race car because they have all the right stickers on the rear quarter window.

 

[Hellrats]

1973 Mustang with a 351. What a pig. I had a 1970 Mustang with a 351. That car was cool looking and fun. The 73 what **** to say the least.

 

[middleagecrisis]

I had a friend many years ago who had a 2nd Gen Firebird and was always saying how fast his built 305, B-W T-10, 4.10 gears, etc. was and how more than one person had pissed their pants when riding along in the passenger seat. I was over at his house one day with my car ('69 Camaro, 400 SB, double hump 1.94 heads, Comp 280 magnum, TH350/small stall, 3.08 gears) and I said let's take each other for rides in our cars, since we'd never set in the other's passenger seat. So he pulls the cover off, starts the car and off we go. I'm expecting big things to start happening when he say's "hold on". He goes through the gears and said what do you think? I said it runs "good", which was the best complement I could possible give him. Completely dry pants, of course. We get back to his house, he goes inside, comes back out and says he's got an emergency at work and he can't go. Despite multiple offers he never could find the time to ride in my lumpy sounding torque monster, lol.

 

[ValiantRacing]

I helped a friend in high school auto shop, pull a 327 out of a Impala, and we did some work to the engine cam, intake, headers, and put it in a Vega, everybody thought is was going to be so fast, that thing would not even turn the tire from a dig. i am sure it had way to much cam.

 

[MadScientistMat]

Looking for beaters or projects mean I have a few doozies.

First was a Chevy Cavalier Z24. I got the speedometer up to 140 mph. How is that a disappointment? The car was parked when I did that.

Then there was the Nissan 300ZX where I walked back to the dealership and told them where to send a tow truck - didn't make it a half mile.

 

[ProjectBazza]

I helped a friend in high school auto shop, pull a 327 out of a Impala, and we did some work to the engine cam, intake, headers, and put it in a Vega, everybody thought is was going to be so fast, that thing would not even turn the tire from a dig. i am sure it had way to much cam.

That would be my guess as well. My ‘71 Vega had a bone stock ‘72 350 2bbl and a TH350 when I first built it. Didn’t need much more than that for the street, and I surprised a few Camaros and 2 other Holley carb’d Vegas with it. Learned a lot with that car, mostly what not to do.