high HP crate engines

[Lloyd Smale]

you need to keep in mind how the rest of the car is built. lets take my old ls6 chevelle which in the day at 450 crank hp. measured by todays standards about 350-375 wheel hp. now with a chassis that is closer to a 48 chev then it is something like a new zl1 camaro that you could throw a cage in it some racing tires crank up the stereo put the ace on and show richard petty your working taillights. A chassis that will corner with a new porche and be a pro stock drag car from the 60s. now i had that chevelle and today have a 2011 392 challenger. i had it dyno'd before and after a tune and it did 421 before and with a cat back annd tune it did 438 wheel hp which if you were measuring by the way they did in the 70s would be north of 500. it would eat the chevelle for lunch. and its juust in the middle of the line up today. by the way my wife got 26mpg on a trip to MN.

Buddy has a hellcat red eye. its 797 crank hp and drives like your malibu if you want it too and about tear yuor eyeballs out if you have the nerve and its built so stoutly that it would outlast 3 70 chevelles. its not moms car with a big motor like in the 60s. its built knowing its going to be beat and is about bullet proof as are the zl1 camaro and gt500 mustangs. when i here "who can handle that kind of power" it usually comes from someone who hasnt had there prius or pickup over 70. guys that would pee themselves even riding with me on a backroad. be thankful that technology is here.

look at your pickup a silverado, ram or f150 today would take the lunch money from most gto's or 396 chevelles back in the day. it will get 20mpg on the highway and comfortably pull 9k down the road. hook a 79 1/2 ton up to a 9k trailer and you will be wide open at 55mph, getting MAYBE 5mpg and you will be leaving parts on the road and youd better plan your stops a mile ahead and swap to a 3/4 ton and the only thing you will gain is a few less parts.

now crate engines ? what car guy wouldnt love a classic mustang, camaro ect with o modern 800 hp motor that still gets twice the fuel economy as the original stuffed into a modern chassis with wildwood 6 piston breaks and a transmission and rear end that will easily handle the power with tires that a 60s nascar racer would be jealous of. ive drove hundreds of different cars and trucks and have manty times said to myself "this thing needs more power. i dont rcal ever sayin you need to loose 200 hp. i just wish i was 30 years younger because the real age of the muscle car isnt the 70s its today

[Lloyd Smale]

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.

the truth and memories are different. a 340 cuda was a high 14 second car and thats cutting aperfect light and perfect shifts. my chevelle would do high 12s and my 440 gtx mid 13s and my 340 duster which was a couple hundred lbs lighter the a cda would edge it out. the 340 mopars were mid pack cars. most of them sat back and watched while the real muscle cars ran. there also was never a 440 gto. there were 389s, 400s, and 455s most consider the stage3 400s the quickest and the 389s and lower hp 400s were again mid pack 14-15 second cars. 440 is a mopar motor. 90 percent of the gtos and yup that 340 cuda would have there lunch money taken away by a pickup or 6 cyl toyota. the 6 cyl camaros mustangs and challengers kind of ge laughed at today or considered a women's car. but truth be told there quicker then the 340s or the base gtos and 396 chevelles and 351 mach 1s

[Lloyd Smale]

theres some truthful memories

[shooterg]

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


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Plymouth GTX was probably intended with the 440 6 pack.Had a Roadrunner with that. GTO - Pontiac did have a tri-power 389 in the golden age of muscle cars . Don't regret not putting the bucks spent on cars a but, although if I'd invested in a 401 earlier, coulda retired earlier . No point in being young and dumb if you don't have fun !

[Lloyd Smale]

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

yup there no joke. i saw on line where they lined up a fancy f150 (not a raptor) and a 700 hp trx ram abd the ford shelby 700 plus hp trucs and that plain jane f150 ran right with the Shelby and the trx never beat it by more then a half a truck and all that f150 had was a dyno tune. i hate me some fords but tha sure impressed me.. my 2020 ram has headers and a tune and i always tell people if i could find a time machine i would even take a new muscle car back to 1970. id take a pickup like ours ango to a body shop and sit a period correct body on it and travel the country getting rich of off gtos 396 chevelles mustangs and camaros. do it in a pickup getting 20mpg with the air on and a stereo that would put ANY home stereo on the planet to shame

[TD1886]

the truth and memories are different. a 340 cuda was a high 14 second car and thats cutting aperfect light and perfect shifts. my chevelle would do high 12s and my 440 gtx mid 13s and my 340 duster which was a couple hundred lbs lighter the a cda would edge it out. the 340 mopars were mid pack cars. most of them sat back and watched while the real muscle cars ran. there also was never a 440 gto. there were 389s, 400s, and 455s most consider the stage3 400s the quickest and the 389s and lower hp 400s were again mid pack 14-15 second cars. 440 is a mopar motor. 90 percent of the gtos and yup that 340 cuda would have there lunch money taken away by a pickup or 6 cyl toyota. the 6 cyl camaros mustangs and challengers kind of ge laughed at today or considered a women's car. but truth be told there quicker then the 340s or the base gtos and 396 chevelles and 351 mach 1s

I remember when Mopar came out with the 340 and Hot Rod magazine did a write up on it how Mopar copied the Chevy small block 327/350 engine and said you could almost swap pistons between the two. 351 Cleveland Ford engines ran pretty good.

[gc45]

I was a teenager in the fifties, one did not need to be rich to have fun with powerful motors or muscle cars clear up to the 70's when the first gas crunch hit. I then got married and bought a Toyota corrola comuter car for work while my hot rod Nova sat in the garage covered over for a long time. I later sold it to a collector sometime in the late 90's.

[Lloyd Smale]

I remember when Mopar came out with the 340 and Hot Rod magazine did a write up on it how Mopar copied the Chevy small block 327/350 engine and said you could almost swap pistons between the two. 351 Cleveland Ford engines ran pretty good.

i guess there both small blocks like the Winsor ford small blocks but thats the only similarity the chev small blocks were hads down the best on friday night

[TD1886]

I was a teenager in the fifties, one did not need to be rich to have fun with powerful motors or muscle cars clear up to the 70's when the first gas crunch hit. I then got married and bought a Toyota corrola comuter car for work while my hot rod Nova sat in the garage covered over for a long time. I later sold it to a collector sometime in the late 90's.

4 speed transmission, Hurst shifter, big cams, aluminum high rise intake, deep rear gears, high compression pistons, 11 eleven inch clutch assembly cost money if you were a teen and not working or early married and the money went toward the family.

[Lloyd Smale]

its come full circle today. you can get a chev camaro lt1 which is a low option ss for 35k and it has 460 hp and will do a low to mid 12 second quarter mile. took a copo or yenko 427 camaro to do that in the 70s and they were 6k when you could buy a 396 for half that. that camaro package down at your chev dealer today is probably the best bang for your dollar EVER in a muscle car. if your a dodge guy a 5.7 rt challenger will run you about the same. it wont beat the camaro but would bury any 340 stock. like i said TODAY IS THE GOLDEN AGE OF MUSCLE CARS. todays cars are scary fast, 70s cars were just scary to drive fast

[TD1886]

its come full circle today. you can get a chev camaro lt1 which is a low option ss for 35k and it has 460 hp and will do a low to mid 12 second quarter mile. took a copo or yenko 427 camaro to do that in the 70s and they were 6k when you could buy a 396 for half that. that camaro package down at your chev dealer today is probably the best bang for your dollar EVER in a muscle car. if your a dodge guy a 5.7 rt challenger will run you about the same. it wont beat the camaro but would bury any 340 stock. like i said TODAY IS THE GOLDEN AGE OF MUSCLE CARS. todays cars are scary fast, 70s cars were just scary to drive fast

Remember Traco Engines? They were painted that awful grey color? I've seen those run in the 10's with 283 cubes. I've seen some dual quad 409 Chevies run pretty darn good too and those were heavy cars they were put in. I had a 65 SS Chevelle. It was supposed to be a pretty light car. Pulled it on the scales with no spare tire and an almost empty gas tank. It was well into the 3000's! My favorite car I owned was a 1965 Impala SS convertible, glass rear window top, 400 hp 409 cube engine with a Weiand aluminun intake marked Weiand on one end and GM on the other end topped with a Daytona 750 AFB four barrel, had an experimental L88 solid lifer cam, 12 to one pistons, 11 inch clutch, Muncie Rock Crusher 4 speed with the Corvette short throw Muncie shifter, 3.73 posi rear end, power steering and brakes, with full instrumentation. Impala convertibles were plenty, but SS ones were extremely rare. The end also had the tall port racing heads. All this from the factory. Wish I had it today. It was a very heavy car, but that 409 made it move pretty fast.

[rbuck351]

I wasn't into cars but I did have a 1970 Kawasaki H1. 13.2 in the quarter miles very consistently. Not too bad for 30 cubic in.

[TD1886]

I wasn't into cars but I did have a 1970 Kawasaki H1. 13.2 in the quarter miles very consistently. Not too bad for 30 cubic in.

I had one of the first 750 Honda Interceptor it did the quarter in 11 point something. It was even faster then I put MAC headers on it. Handle real good too.

[Idaho45guy]

Nobody needs 1000hp, or more than 10 rounds.

The irony is thick in this thread.

[D.Bullets]

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??

My example- A 223 will kill deer so why use a 30-06. Its just a more humane way of driving. I would rather be looking at it than looking for it.

[Lloyd Smale]

Remember Traco Engines? They were painted that awful grey color? I've seen those run in the 10's with 283 cubes. I've seen some dual quad 409 Chevies run pretty darn good too and those were heavy cars they were put in. I had a 65 SS Chevelle. It was supposed to be a pretty light car. Pulled it on the scales with no spare tire and an almost empty gas tank. It was well into the 3000's! My favorite car I owned was a 1965 Impala SS convertible, glass rear window top, 400 hp 409 cube engine with a Weiand aluminun intake marked Weiand on one end and GM on the other end topped with a Daytona 750 AFB four barrel, had an experimental L88 solid lifer cam, 12 to one pistons, 11 inch clutch, Muncie Rock Crusher 4 speed with the Corvette short throw Muncie shifter, 3.73 posi rear end, power steering and brakes, with full instrumentation. Impala convertibles were plenty, but SS ones were extremely rare. The end also had the tall port racing heads. All this from the factory. Wish I had it today. It was a very heavy car, but that 409 made it move pretty fast.

my first car was a 65 impala ss convertible red with white interior with a kind or rare set up. a pretty lame 300 hp 327 but with a 12 bolt rear with 373 gears and a close ratio 4 speed. good story behind it too. we were on dads back porch listening to the tiger game with his neighbor. i just got my license and was looking for a car. somehow that came up in conversation. he looked at me kind of funny and said take a walk with me over to the house. i thought he needed help with something but by the time we got to yhe garage he had taers running down his face he opened the door and there was a cut up car cover on a car. i knew the car was there but when i was younger i didnt pay attention to it. he pulled off the cover and there was a like new ss convertable. he said it was his sons car. he bought it in 65 when he joined the army and was killed in action in 68. he told he just couldn't part with it but some punks broke into his house they destroyed some stuff and stole some things and one thing the did was slice the crap out of the car cover and top. he said its time for it to go.

it only ha 20k on it and other then the top could have passes for new. i asked him what he wanted and he said give me a grand and its your. I told him it was worth more and all he said was have fun with it. i think it cost me 300 to have anew top put on it. it wasnt the fastest car in high school but it was hands down the nicest. it carried the home coming queen in the parade my junior and senior year and my younger sisters junior and senior year. 65s were my third favorite car and that one i had would have been oh so much coller with your 409!!! that said my favorite impala and the only car ever made in america prettier the a 70 ss chevelle is a ss409/409hp bubble top impala. make mine sea mist green. if i won the lotto those would be the first three cars id buy. had the 65 and had the 70ss but tha 61 are things i dream off. thats one sexy old lady that could hold her own in a bar fight

[Lloyd Smale]

I wasn't into cars but I did have a 1970 Kawasaki H1. 13.2 in the quarter miles very consistently. Not too bad for 30 cubic in.

kid in school had one. i drove it quite a bit and it was about like a turbo. very little low end but at about 3k it felt like an afterburner kicked in. cousin had a h2. that thing was scary fast. a 550 today would beat it but they handle so well and the power is about lineal. that 750 was like riding a hand grenade. run it in the quarter you launch at 4k and hope you spin a bit or it will come back over you, the for the first half the quarte youd best be about laying on the bars to keep the front tire from trying to launch into space and for the second half you fight to control the lightfront end and the chassis flex and when you crossed you were fighting the wheel shake they all had at high speeds.

even with there faults the h1 and h2 were about the most fun you could have with your pants on. i often wonder why with 2 stroke technology that we have in snowmobiles and outboards why weve never seen a modern 2 stroke street bike weve talked alot about cars but every kid i knew back then would stop and stare every time those ring ting ring kawasakis would ride by and i saw lots of racers on friday night put there wallet back in there pocket when one arrived.

i still remember one night back then. i wasnt racing yet because that impala wasnt much in a race but there was about 20 cars there and off in the distance we heard what sounded like the demons from hell 'it kept getting closer and louder until we saw a bike coming AT SPEED when it pulled up it was my cousin. he had just put on 3 bigger carbs and a set of tripple expansion chambers with muffler tips that were only 3 inchs long and about as big as a 50 cent piece. everybody stopped racing to check it out. he couldn't find a single race that night. im a harley guy and have been since my first one in 1980. dont have much use for jap bikes but those triple kawasakis even the 350 EARNED cool status

[Lloyd Smale]

My example- A 223 will kill deer so why use a 30-06. Its just a more humane way of driving. I would rather be looking at it than looking for it.

ill give that an amen. ive shot well over a 50 deer in a year for the last 11 years with at least every caliber and have seen deer way out there and kicked my but for having something like a 300bo. i dont recall ever kicking my self in the but because i had a 7mag or 300 wby 0r even my 7stw 6.5x300wby or even my 300 ultra mag. the real big ones might come out to shoot one a year but the 7 mag and 257 wby are probably my most used guns maybe my 06's too. i use smaller guns too but anymore chasing deer that ran off isnt a fun challenge its something i dread!! I chuckle at idiots that think there better hunters or more skilled because they get away with using squirrel rifles. when in fact it shows just the opposite. its about like pulling a 35 foot camper from nc to ca with a prius. you might even get away with it once or twice but it WILL eventually go all kinds of bad. God forbid instead of the prius you use one of those overpowered new diesels with a 1000ft lbs of torque. that wouldnt make a lick of sense.. youd be much cooler in a prius

[MaryB]

I remember when Mopar came out with the 340 and Hot Rod magazine did a write up on it how Mopar copied the Chevy small block 327/350 engine and said you could almost swap pistons between the two. 351 Cleveland Ford engines ran pretty good.

Clevelands were boat anchors, big, heavy... unless you built it with aluminum intake and did other things to lighten the car they were good for burnouts but not all that fast

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Nobody needs 1000hp, or more than 10 rounds.

The irony is thick in this thread.

I don't see any Irony.

Personally I like single shots and six shooters.
For my purposes I don't need more than 10 rds.