Technical How much is enough for you?

A bit OT but badass none the less...

260CI LS, Twin 60mm turbos, 1200hp, banging on the 7300rpm rev limiter for 5 minutes on the dyno... one of twelve 5min WOT pulls this engine makes...

https://www.lsxmag.com/news/1200-hp-260-ci-twin-turbo-ls-full-throttle-on-the-dyno-for-5-mins/

Chappy

 

Yes I will admit you can work some to get an engine to work where you need it to. The example I gave was an oval track car, with a commercial built chassis (Troyer, Champ Car, Show Car, Olsen now T.E.O) which set up for a manual transmission and a quick change rear. Automatic transmissions were unheard of in oval track in that era and are still a rarity.

Yes, E.F.I. has allowed the people who really know what they are doing to free up more power tuning but not these wild crazy triple digit horsepower numbers.
You have to remember a tune is not making power it is freeing up power that is all ready there.

The only way to make horsepower is the same way it was 75 years ago and the way will always be made.
-Compression
-Camshaft
- Ignition Timing
-Cylinder head flow

 

my old "classic" car has a slant six. all my dailys have been 4 cylinders for quite a few years, and now I have a mighty 2.8 litre V6 in my GMC Sonoma.

had a few regular "quick" 60's cars in my misspent youth, and a 10 second motorcycle, so I do enjoy rapid acceleration. if I fell into a pit full of cash I'd like to have a good 450 horsepower or so from a Big Block Chevy.... whatever it would take to make a 49 Chevy coupe run 12 flat.

it's sad to think I may very well never do a smokey burnout again....

 

When I was young and dumb and full of mmmmmmmmmmmmgum, I never had enough horsepower. Now that I am older and really into mild customs over hot rods, I don't need the ponies. Speed limit is only 55 anyways.

Horsepower = trouble and extra $$'s and just driving the country back roads just = wasted power that isn't necessary.

A nice mild custom will attract just as many ladies as a hot rod will.

 

And in both examples, the quantity is not nearly as important as the effective application thereof.

 

only if yours is small to begin with.

 

At our age just walking and breathing attracts more ladies than most can handle.

 

I am a small block junkie. But I love flatheads and inline 6s too. As for how much power, who cares as long as you like what you got? I like to think more in terms of getting better volumetric efficiency out of an engine, than pinning a number on it.

 

Seems strange to spend the money upgrading the suspension and then undo it with bias ply tires.

 

When I was in the build process I spoke with guy at the Chevy performance booth at a car show- turns out he was one of their engineers. He asked me questions about my car and what I wanted to achieve. I didn’t have money for a new crate engine. I told him what I had and he made some recommendations based on testing combinations he had been involved in for the crate engine program. I never wanted a race car- just something that had enough power to get a 3400 lb car rolling, good highway manners,decent fuel economy and run cool. His combination netted approx 365hp and a little over 400ft/lbs with a redline of 5500 rpm- does everything I ever wanted for the car I put it in.


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Too much horse power?? Are you sure you're on the right forum!! Hot rodders have been searching for more HP since the Model T days. It's what we do!

 

Yeh, here's a scenario Dean.
Let's say you won a new engine at a car event and you had a choice of two different engines, one a 300 HP and one a 500 HP engine, let's see, which one would you pick?
hmmm
I know which one I would pick!

 

Yes but in both situations the response from the on lookers is the same........daaaayumm!
Having the big----(fill in the blanks) is more about 'between-the-ears' than anything.
How many times will we wring-out an 800-900 HP engine?(with a speed limit of 65+mph?) Come on guyz!!
But it does make you feel-good knowing you can,right?!!
6sally6

 

I have to admit that the new engines are truly badass ,,,I don’t believe that I have the ability to handle it anymore,,,,not on that level.
I never thought that I would live to see the factories offer power again like they do now.
While it is not for me,,,why would I want to ruin someone else’s parade ?

The new Hell cats are frightening to me!
I rode with a professional driver a few years ago at the Mopar Nationals.
We took the Challenger and Viper for a trip around the course they set up.
When he hit the gas,,,,,I was literally pinned to the seat,,,,when he hit the brakes,,,,my butt was not touching the seat and my legs were dangling forwards.
I would have flown through the windshield if not for the belt,,,I really believe that!
Not a vehicle for an old guy in the least,,at least not this one.
At least Mopar used their brain and gives two key fobs ,,,,the black one for everyday driving and the red one for “oh my Lord,,,, Please save me!!!

But,,,,we have to remember,,,all this new high horsepower is only produced by the use of a SUPERCHARGER,,,and some other technology.
It always comes back to the old ways of doing things it seems.

If the guys want a 1000 hp,,,,more power to them I say.

Tommy

 

As I said above I am more into the mild customs lately but when I feel the need for speed I still have my ol' Mercedes that can bury the 160 mph speedometer. Well ok, it is the wife's car but the only time she drove it was home from the auction 20 some years ago.

 

It's actually 7400 rpm... At least my 2019 GT/CS sez on the tach.. These cars are brutal... But I love the thrill...
Is yours an auto trans car or manual????...

 

Well, I drive my 39 ford pickup to town about every day and with its whopping 85 hp I can easily reach the speed limit. With these hedman headers and duals it sounds better my son's 47 ford that has a 275 hp ABC with duals and is just as much fun to drive.

 

The wife didn't want a manual so unfortunately I went auto.

 

Earlier I wrote whats good enough for me in a street hot rod, now I'll share what happens when you "run out of horse power".

In October 2003 I was attempting to take away a record my son held at Bonneville in our Roadster. He set the record in 2002 entering the 200 MPH Club at 202 mph and only ran thru the 3 mile as oil pressure was coming down. For 2003 I changed the oil pan design to eliminate the problem and qualified at a speed of 205 thru the 5 mile as I was running high gear only.(blown cluster the first day of the meet) Our roadster was powered by a Skinner 12 port GMC 6 @ 321" running 78% nitro for me. The return run the following morning ran as the day before other than I was better after leaving the push truck feathering the throttle better with the high gear only.

Thru the 4 mile I knew I was hauling ass infact was running right at 214 when the GMC ran out of power pushing it's 32 grille shell.I was now as they say "just along for the ride" Thank the SCTA for having a 100' wide course as the roadster first went left about 30' and after I barely reigned it back in, it went right about 30' and in my head I was sayin' please don't spin. My average speed over the last mile was 215 and out the back at 216. Ended up with an average of 210.9 which has been surpassed by another GMC pwrd Roadster
I was in one hell of a ride and of course all the guys with roadsters never bothered to tell me this was normal and what happens when you pushing a 32 grill and run of of HP.

On the street you can have to much....but on the salt you never have enough. JD

 

Awesome story Jimmy,,,,,the salt is super fast and can be unforgiving.
Congratulations on your run,,,,and your save!

Tommy

 

I can only imagine what you could do to the small block in my car...it was your working life and I'm sure you would know and have ample usable power in your Hotrods moving forward. I certainly understand why many would be forever in search of what they can push from the mechanicals...it wins races.

 

Bingo-x2!
Tommy, what a great attitude and I agree totally.
Dean, it might have been a lot earlier than that if you include horse breeding.

 

This is a wild and fun thread! A few of my disconnected and un-asked-for observations: In my highschool days, I thought 600-1,000 HP in a rail was as high as it could possibly get. I wasn't involved in racing then. Then when I got involved, the only cars that I thought had too much HP belonged to our competitors. Rarely, I got to drive and not just wrench, and that further convinced me that there's no such thing as too much HP and that if I or someone else gets killed, it's our own fault. At what point in history should we have put a cap on HP, 1910?, 1930?, 1965? 2010? What kind of HP figures are we going to be complaining about on this thread 5 or 10 years from now?
Personally though, those high HP figures intimidate me, as I don't think I have a youngster's reflexes now, and I enjoy what we hambers call the cool factor of old hot rods and vintage racers, and will admit that one of life's greatest pleasures for me is quiet drives in the country, or cruising and bench racing with buddies. Life is good!

 

That 150 hp 235 in my 37 Chevy p/u is good enough for me,it will get it up to 80 and not have to worry about breaking many parts. Yes I would love to have one that would smoke the tires but maybe if I could win the Poweball.

 

450-500 hp and 600 tq in a light car is enough to get tunnel vision and still get 18 mpg if driven sensible.

 

Really, you had to ask?

 

Those people watch too much Nascar on television..... Or is it top gear????...

 

I have a stock low compression 1978 454, Turbo 400, 2.73 rear end. Why anybody could need more then this is beyond me. When I first bought the car, my buddies were all telling me to get these heads to raise compression, get this cam, it has a bad ass lope. After driving it the first few miles I forgot how nice a smooth idling car was and it has all kinds of low end torque, I missed that.. It starts nice when hot since its low compression and runs on 87. If I punch the gas at 20 mph it burns rubber!

Frankly I have no idea how you could even get 600 hp to the ground with street tires, its just plain dangerous..
We have a 94 year old guy that comes to our cruises. The local Chevy dealer sold him a Vette with all kinds of power! Something like 700 horses, a blower and all. The salesman should of been fired for selling that old man that car, the old guy has Parkinson's!!