Technical How much is enough for you?

You know it!


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I ran stock cars for a few years, and didn't need gobs of HP to be competitive. Even 350 HP in a left-turn car could get you into trouble fast on a short track. The cars were geared to pull hard off the corner, sprint down the straight and set it up for the next turn, 2500-6400 RPMs for 30 laps is fun.

 

....and hitting the rev limiter with that god awful sound.... No thanks!....

 

Way to much hp, is still not enough.

 

Really? That is amazing modern NASCAR Winston Cup, Sprint, or what ever the series sponsor of the day is, are E.F.I. 358 C.I.D. all pure after market parts in the engines and they are making the only making 750 or so wheel horsepower.
The Elmore engine in Busch and truck is E.F.I. and is in the same horse range.
The Indy cars and F1 all run E.F.I. with pure race engines and are in the 700-900 horsepower range.

 

Having close to 500 in both hp & torque in my 1800 # tbucket feels just about right , at 71 ,it's plenty to get me in trouble , and just enough to make me smile , I think THAT is the real reason to have the car ...

 

Google it. Hot Rod magazine did that build.

 

Katech has just finalizef their LT1 based 427, checking in at 806hp, naturally aspirated.

 

What was the question?

 

[QUOTE="

The problem is anyone with a half way decent credit rating can buy 6-800 HP cars and drive off down the street. They usually don’t last long. Kind of reminds me of the rich kids getting new Shelby Cobras in the early 60’s and not living to the first payment.

SPark[/QUOTE]

And lets not forget the fact any 16 year old kid with enough money can go into a Kawasaki dealer and roll
out with a 400 pound, 322bhp motorcycle (Ninja 1000 H2R) My EMT son scrapes them off the highways all the time.

 

I daily drive a 4 year old 1/2 ton crew cab short bed 4x4 pickup that weighs 7,000 lbs and has 360 HP. It's fast but with the traction control and such it drives fine in all weather conditions. Turn that off and it's a tire roaster with little effort. It's fun to drive but it's heavy enough it's no race car, nor do I treat it like one. It drives my family around and tows my trailers just fine

 

I have to go back to the question I asked in my first post on this thread. Where are you making your horsepower?

Yes it is inexpressive roll in to your local cruise night and say you have 500 or 600 horsepower, but if the engine is making it at 5,000 or more R.P.M. what good is it? I have never turned more then 2,500 to 3,000 or the street. I am usually around 1,800 to 2,000.

I will give a good example-
About 30 years ago one of the local guys in town was all wound up on his new pro built 600 plus horsepower engine.
As everyone was oohing and aahing over the dyno sheet my dad said "You know this doesn't start making power until after the R.P.M. range you turn?"

The guy asked "What do you mean?"

My dad replied "You will have lifted and will be on the brakes before this engine is in the power band."
"Or you will have to lower the gear and have it wound out half way down the straights."

 

Dyno sheets are present in every magazine build.

They are all there, if you are not too lazy to look.

You will need to prove it to yourself, since nobody here can.

 

350 HP in a 3000 lb car makes for a nice driver/cruiser. About 8.5 lbs per HP. New rig we have is 4400 lbs/430 HP--10.2 LBS per HP.
Had another 40 with a 425HP aluminum head small block-it ran pretty strong! About 7 lbs per HP.
A few yrs back I helped a friend build a 55 210. He had Panella build a 327 for it. Dyno sheet said 440Hp at 4000. It was a very expensive 327. Had a 4 spd and a 4:11 9" rear. Ran it at the drags at Kindon once - it was very fast. 109-don't recall ET but he was shifting at 6800. Another friend now has it. The orig guy has graduated to a 66 chevelle now-8.16 is the best ET thus far. Races West Coast Pro gas with it.

 

I have found this thread to be interesting but your comments caught my eye. The thing with horse power is that it comes at a price and not jut $$$ either. Where do you draw the line with a HAMB friendly car?? You can build a big block car or even stroker small block for lots of HP but what intake, ignition, carb and valve covers are you going to run? It can get real non H.A.M.B. friendly real quick. Plus you can end up with an aftermarket chassis and cert roll cage real fast or big tires. One thing leads to another and suddenly the car looks pretty modern. There are some guys on here that have gone to the trouble of building some pretty fast cars that also look good but it is usually not the norm. I like horse power as much as the next guy and can appreciate even a turbo charger 4 cylinder but to me I like H.A.M.B. cars to be....
well H.A.M.B. cars. Thus why I am spending the most amount of money for the least amount of horsepower I have ever spent building a flathead. Something in my younger age as a Chevy guy I thought was down right stupid. Despite the fact that it will never make a lot of horsepower compared to most everything I do it for the love of an era.




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With a 500+ c.i. and 500-600 hp with the right rear and torque converter you can be in power band pretty damn quick.

 

Current wagon project car's dyno sheet, seems about right for me. Torque is more important to me than HP. It's a large car !

 

Excessive horsepower is a form of, "Mine's bigger than yours."

 

Have really never understood that mindset, Maybe if you are constantly bragging about it, but if you built it the way you wanted it, it's really got nothing to do about yours.

 

What cam and what duration are you running? I am running a 454, HD280 Comp Cam (hydraulic flat tappet) with roller rockers and slightly modified heads. I had no reason to put it on the dyno, but I am happy with my setup.
Bob

 

Bob
This is a Rodeck small block.
I'll need to dig up the cam card.

 

I am 76, and still feel that way as well.
Bob

 

If you got brakes and a suspension setup that are bad enough you won´t need silly horsepower to feel " cream your pants" crazy fast, hahaha. But that´s not completely true. My 56 Chevy has a pretty good 327 that is around 350 HP. I added swaybars, a subframe to stiffen the chassis ( Art Morrison style),a 4 link rear, a panhard bar and put good shocks on it until it drove pretty damn well. Then I replaced the 215/60 and 255/65-15s with 6.70 -15 Firestones. Because they look so sexy. Now the cars is a handful going really fast in corners that weren´t a problem before... oh well. Now I understand why my girlfriend complains about hi heels. It obviously hurts to look good, hahahaha

 

Going straight is not problem on the Autobahn. But the corners...hahaha

 

Well, looking good will never be a problem for me, but driving on bias ply tires, is more like aiming a car rather than driving.
I had a set of Uniroyal Masters on a 63 Pontiac, and no matter how lovely they looked, I had to remove them in favour of radial tires. I have been driving on radial tires since 1961, so there was no way I could get used to bias ply tires again.
The irony was, that I sold the tires for more than I paid for them. When I advertised them, I forgot to list a price. The guy that called me said, how much are you asking, and I replied what sounds reasonable to you. As a result, we both were happy.
Bob
Bob

 

The question is, "How much is enough for you?" My daily - 385 hp, 420 torque six banger with two hair dryers, is a great tow vehicle and plenty of power for a daily.

It's our duty to occasionally show up with an old outdated single carb big block and wax a few new high dollar cars. My new 900+ hp single carb big block is going to have some fun doing that. Yes it's off topic cubic inches, but what the hell, I didnt build it to go slow. Is it enough? Hope so, but I can add cam if needed and easily go 1000+ all on pump gas.

 

The edge that modern motors have in stock form is that they are computer controlled. In some everything is variable including the cam timing. With infinite adjustable engine monitoring and adjustments happening in real time in nano seconds you have a real advantage on the performance dept.

Then of course you do have marketing power on your side and it has not been too many years that ford got caught with its finger in the pie on that front.

 

Only when it is applied to vehicles that dont get raced and don’t get driven .


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How much is enough? LOL

We failed to ask the more important question, how good can you drive?

 

I'm not even sure what the hp is on the Ole Hotrod but if everything was functioning like a top it would probably near scare me...but even as it is it delivers enough power to push the vintage metal to speeds it never dreamed of...It ain't your average Model A...I'm more than Happy with the current set up but the end goal would be to just have it all functioning as best as it can.

A trip to the Strip would then definitely fulfill Stogy's desire to have my cake and eat it too...

OT 327ci, Cam?, 6x2 Holley 94 (2 functioning......someday all just because), Edelbrock X1 Manifold, OEM Points Distributor, OT TH350 with shift kit no kickdown......yet, 57 Chev rear end unknown Gearing, Regular Gas

The typical highway speeds of 50 & 60mph this way are quickly reached in this light vehicle......and it does respectably in either zone


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