Journey69 wrote:Rockindeano wrote:Journey69 wrote:
Sorry dude..your Old is not hitting 160.. What happened is you changed the gears from 3:23's to about 3:73's and your speedo was about 20-30 miles an hour off..Trust me ,I've done it myself.. My Trans am has 2:73 highway gears..Grrr.. I might put 3:42's in..not sure yet..Its still faster than hell..Mine would do 160..Yours isn't aero dynamic enough to do it..The wind would hit it like a brick wall..My 86 corvette convertible Indianapolis 500 edition pace car hit 156.. Still had more..My brothers 2000 Vette with the 6 spd should do 180.. Horsepower means nothing if you don't have the aero dynamics to back it up..
Very good post, however, horsepower means everything. I once had a train with 32,000 HP in 8 locomotives and we pulled 196 cars at 55 mph, on a .5% grade. Trust me dude, HP is everything! But you're right too, because on another trip, I had 24,000 HP and 60 cars of grain and went from 50mph to barely 30 when the fucking wind in the Columbia river gorge hit us. I had her full out, just to do 30!
I have been in the industry for 18 yrs.. Hp means everything when its set up right.. If you have a 69 chevelle with a 427 big block with 505 horsepower and 4:11 gears..guess what.. top end 115.. IF you had 2:73's potentially you could hit 160,but the car isn't aerodynamic enough and its way too damn heavy.. The chevelle would take my 99 Trans am til we hit about 120,then my TA would pull away.. My car would have the top end because of the 2:73's..Its like a bicycle with a big sprocket compared to one with a small sprocket..
Hey J69, I don't know the exacts on what was in the car but here's a little more info. The guy that modified it put what he called an "RV" gear kit or transmission in it. It had both low end torque that could burn out and really high end speed.
It was automatic and the shifting happened later than a normal '79 T/A. It may have had an extra gear at the top end. For reference, here's a clip with a closeup of a '79 speedo, I had the needle all the way around back past the zero at top speed. Since its not marked I was guessing 160 but maybe 140-150.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZtWzzK3 ... re=related
To keep thread on the Smokey trail, here's a Bandit clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXYBUeia ... re=related