Actual power of 60's and 70's GROSS engines?

[pontiacgp]

back in the 60's you could go to a dealer and order a car and order all sorts of performance parts for the engine and have chevy, pontiac, olds or buick build you a race engine for your car at very reasonable prices.

 

[vanrah]

Good Morning Guys; How many of you are over 50 on this thread? Mikej89 you are so correct about less power from those old so called performance cars from the 60's. Then the big inchers from 1970 & 71 more torque less RPM. How many of you are aware that the same solid cam L-78 (396-375 -425 HP) was also used in the L-72 (427-425 & 435 HP), 454 450 HP and possibly a earlier 1964 Big Block. The performance difference between BB Chevy's was eminence (did I spell that right?), from the poor 325 HP & truck 366 cu in engines that were out of breath at 5000 RPM to the high compression solid cammed units that shared NO parts with the pass castings of the hydraulic lifter versions. All the solid lifter versions had HI Perf cast on the blocks & heads and have provisions for external oil coolers. But compared to todays performance cars they were ALL slow. My stock GuTOo (3900 lbs) it ran 13.4. And the Camaro as stated did 13.99 & only weighed 3270 lbs. I should mention that the 375 solid cam in a 396 inch engine would rev 6800 to 7000 off the show room floor, but the same cam in a 427 was out of breath at 6600 to 6800 and in the mighty 454-450 HP that same cam was done at 6400 to 6600. Less cam single in relation to the cubes. Another example is the the solid cammed 327 360 & 375 HP engine from 1964-5. GM used it again in the 302 of 67-8 & 9 and again in early 70 (first LT-1?) the 350 cube 360 & 370 HP. In the 327 it would rev to 6800 easily, the 302 it would let you buzz it to 7000+ without complaining. But in the 350 inch LT-1 it was done around 6500 to 6700 max. Many of us would swap the second edition L-88 cam into our L-78's and mine with 4,56 & 4,88 gears (on the street daily driver) easily buzzed to 7500. Short stroke 396, but did I mention value springs? And with leaded gas my spark plugs would last about a week before they started misfiring. My dad just couldn't understand why I had to change plugs so often as he & other joe average guys could go a year or two. Back then most people did plugs & points yearly, cause if you didn't your car might not start when the cold winter weather set in. Thanks for the entertainment Bob Jr.

 

[87National]

back in the 60's you could go to a dealer and order a car and order all sorts of performance parts for the engine and have chevy, pontiac, olds or buick build you a race engine for your car at very reasonable prices.

I'm not aware of the factory installing performance parts, unless you are talking about (for example) ordering an ls6 instead of an ls5 454 in your chevelle. A dealer would likely install aftermarket parts on a new car back in the day, but that's a different story.