high HP crate engines

[porthos]

just curious: watching the motor trend channel on tv. a lot of the restorations are installing "crate engines" 1000 HP +-. to what purpose is this for, vs. what came standard in the muscle car era ie. 327, 383, 426, 427 cubic in. just what can you do with 1000 hp. in a street car. i do understand that fuel injection makes a much better engine; but why the hp??

[Tazman1602]

Pretty much because you can, *most* of those builds if you notice have either Art Morrison frames/suspension or Roadster shop with VERY specialized drive trains. Now as far as 1K HP goes, the next problem is something guys have been playing with for decades —- getting that much HP to the ground without breaking parts. I love hot rods I’m an old racer but I don’t see the sense in that either. Our current 6.2 liter truck has north of 450HP and it is a BALL when you step on it — but it likes gas when/if you do that. By the way those cars they’re building? Some of them are WAY NORTH of $100K…..hope this helped!

[imashooter2]

Street cars run the gamut between 3 wheel city transport to Super Stock drag racers with headlights and a real windshield. 1,000 horses in a drag style car mean you can get between red lights really quickly. 1,000 ponies in a road race style car make merging and passing a breeze. I don't want either at this point in my life, but there was a time...

[imashooter2]

Pretty much because you can, *most* of those builds if you notice have either Art Morrison frames/suspension or Roadster shop with VERY specialized drive trains. Now as far as 1K HP goes, the next problem is something guys have been playing with for decades —- getting that much HP to the ground without breaking parts. I love hot rods I’m an old racer but I don’t see the sense in that either. Our current 6.2 liter truck has north of 450HP and it is a BALL when you step on it — but it likes gas when/if you do that. By the way those cars they’re building? Some of them are WAY NORTH of $100K…..hope this helped!

LOL! I've replaced more carrier bearings than you could count with an abacus.

[downzero]

just curious: watching the motor trend channel on tv. a lot of the restorations are installing "crate engines" 1000 HP +-. to what purpose is this for, vs. what came standard in the muscle car era ie. 327, 383, 426, 427 cubic in. just what can you do with 1000 hp. in a street car. i do understand that fuel injection makes a much better engine; but why the hp??

Because people like performance? There are factory cars with over 700 horsepower. The cars from the muscle car era have style, but they are an absolute joke compared to modern cars in terms of any kind of race.

[TD1886]

Because people like performance? There are factory cars with over 700 horsepower. The cars from the muscle car era have style, but they are an absolute joke compared to modern cars in terms of any kind of race.

So are their brakes, suspension, and steering a joke compared to the stuff.

[Misery-Whip]

They like buying tires, fuel, u-joints, transmissions...and straightening frames...

[GhostHawk]

My best friend in the years after High School had a 70 Cuda with a 340 and a 6 pack.

There was only one other car in the county that could maybe take it.

It was a GTO with a 440. Best of 3 we'd win one, he'd win one, and in the middle of the third he would blow his tranny and be out of commission for 3-6 months while he earned enough to fix it.

I can not imagine needing or wanting more than that.

BTW common thing was sunday afternoon quarter mile races for cases of beer. Tis a wonder any of us lived.

And 3 months before we turned 21 and could drink legally, Minnesota changed the drinking age to 18.
I tried real hard to get my buddy to spend the night with me, or just park it and sleep it off. But no, he had to try to make the 8 miles home. 6 miles of blacktop was no sweat but he rolled it on the gravel, put it into the ditch upside down. Totaled the Cuda. He tried to save the engine but it was never the same after that.

[TD1886]

My best friend in the years after High School had a 70 Cuda with a 340 and a 6 pack.

There was only one other car in the county that could maybe take it.

It was a GTO with a 440. Best of 3 we'd win one, he'd win one, and in the middle of the third he would blow his tranny and be out of commission for 3-6 months while he earned enough to fix it.

I can not imagine needing or wanting more than that.

BTW common thing was sunday afternoon quarter mile races for cases of beer. Tis a wonder any of us lived.

And 3 months before we turned 21 and could drink legally, Minnesota changed the drinking age to 18.
I tried real hard to get my buddy to spend the night with me, or just park it and sleep it off. But no, he had to try to make the 8 miles home. 6 miles of blacktop was no sweat but he rolled it on the gravel, put it into the ditch upside down. Totaled the Cuda. He tried to save the engine but it was never the same after that.

All I have to say it must have been a small county. Where I grew up a 340 was nothing. You would literally have to have thousands of dollars in one of those to make it deadly. I dusted a couple of those with a 327 Chevy. I even raced a friend's hemi Charger and he only just beat me at the end. Had I put some money into the car, which I didn't have. it would have run even better. The cars to beat back in the 60's and 70's were the 454's, 427's both Chevy and Ford, the 429 Fords, the 426 Hemis and the 440 Mopars. The 396 Chevys causes a lot of trouble too. Occassionaly there would be a 409 Chevy that run like a bat out of hell. I never seen a 389 GTO that impressed me. Same goes for a 383 Mopar unless it had big bucks in it.

[compass will]

It might be fun, but my 400hp v6 f150 gets me in enough trouble.

[GhostHawk]

Yes it was a small county and highly rural.

[pmer]

Tractor pulling

https://youtu.be/7eWKDBKgL3U

If I had a 1000 horse burning a hole in my pocket this is what I'd do with it lol. WOT is short for wide open throttle.

[gunther]

Several years ago, a buddy remarked that he had left a porsche behind at around 155mph on the interstate the night before. His ride was a dodge pickup that looked like a highway department refugee. The engine was a 440, and there was a pretty good locking differential involved. I asked him how much pedal he had left; he figured about half. Remarkably, he said the truck would get 20 mpg if you took it easy. He had several 440 blocks stashed away and did wonders with 383's, too. His bread and butter was rebuilding diesel trucks.

[sukivel]

My best friend in the years after High School had a 70 Cuda with a 340 and a 6 pack.

There was only one other car in the county that could maybe take it.

It was a GTO with a 440. Best of 3 we'd win one, he'd win one, and in the middle of the third he would blow his tranny and be out of commission for 3-6 months while he earned enough to fix it.

I can not imagine needing or wanting more than that.

BTW common thing was sunday afternoon quarter mile races for cases of beer. Tis a wonder any of us lived.

And 3 months before we turned 21 and could drink legally, Minnesota changed the drinking age to 18.
I tried real hard to get my buddy to spend the night with me, or just park it and sleep it off. But no, he had to try to make the 8 miles home. 6 miles of blacktop was no sweat but he rolled it on the gravel, put it into the ditch upside down. Totaled the Cuda. He tried to save the engine but it was never the same after that.

Imagine if you had a GTO 440 6 pack now! You could sell it and buy a house!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

just what can you do with 1000 hp. in a street car. i do understand that fuel injection makes a much better engine; but why the hp??

we now live in a world of extremes.
1000 HP doesn't make sense to me either ...there is so much in our society today, that doesn't make sense to me.
.
Maybe, the world has passed us by?

[porthos]

as john said above ; i think that the world has passed us up.

[Wag]

High HP is easy enough to install but all of the structural improvements you have to do make it a little tricky.

--Wag--

[MaryB]

They like buying tires, fuel, u-joints, transmissions...and straightening frames...

Driven normally that 1k HP crate engine gets 20+ mpg! They use a computer engine management system to control fuel, timing, spark....

[MaryB]

Street racers buy those engines... and since the Discovery channel show it has really taken off... original cast are all racing no prep on tracks and not so much the street anymore. No prep racing means they do not do anything to the track, it is slick and hard to keep the tires glued to begin the races, as rubber builds it gets sticky... and they have to adjust tune to drive both cases. And some of those cars are 2k++ HP!

Back when I was 16 I built a 1974 AMC Gremlin with a 401 V8, 750 rear wheel HP without the nitrous... we used narrowed rear ends out of trucks to handle the HP. It was actually pretty reliable, street legal if I left the wheelie bars off. Ran low 9's to high 8's in the 1/4 mile. Did a little "street" racing on the piece of road the sheriff closed off for us to use Friday night and Saturday. It had no driveways or connecting roads in a 5 mile stretch, had been repaved the year before we started using it... Only requirement is we have an ambulance and fire truck on hand and every car had to pass a safety inspection so no junk with bald tires...

We had a blast, sheriff knew where we were and we were being safe instead of using random roads all over the county.

Friends 1970 Mustang Mach One hit 1khp rear wheels then the dyno blew up... street car 100% barely! Idle was a wee bit rough LOL

Ahh the days of turning wrenches and having a blast! Someone broke everybody in the car club helped them out.

[jsizemore]

Got a friend that has those kinds of cars built. Makes a bunch of money selling them to guys with garages filled with production high performance cars and are looking for "one of a kind" cars. They've got money to burn and buys all kinds of high end stuff. Just oversized kids. Accountant says go spend money on a new car and pay less tax. No restriction on the kind of car just use it for your business. They're pretty good for picking up girls in some areas.

The friend drives a leased 600hp BMW M8. Most times Priess and Corrolas pass us in traffic. I've only seen his Audi R-10 leave the garage when it's service time.