Big blocks in the 80's vs. rich kids....???

[64nailhead]

I graduated in 90 and I had a 69 Chevelle ss with a 454 4 speed. I got that car about 2 months before graduation. I drove a rusty 75 trans am for most of the year. the t/a only had a 400 with a mild cam not overly fast but fast enough to beat a shock mustang. And before that a had a 69 Javelin and a 79 cutlass. My Chevelle was the fastest car at my high school when I graduated the only thing close was an 80 manza with a built small block. I would like to hind another 69 Chevelle But probably out of my price range now.

A 3rd Gen and a G are the new Chevelle

 

[Rt Jam]

The 80's was an easy time to go faster than stock new cars like 5L Mustangs and IROC Z's. They were popular and these 14 second machines were %50 of the cars at the street races at the dragstrip.

Even then I knew I wanted a 60's big block musclecar. Brought a 70 Road Runner back from Texas and it was so easy to swap out the 14.0 sec 383 in favour of a 12 sec 440. Then we had nitrous to make it run 11's but on the street, the 12 sec trim would beat 95% of other cars. Even a 12 sec Grand National came into town wanting a piece of my Mopar. Even though I kicked his *ss, it left a desire in my blood to own one someday and it happened last year, Boost Lee. https://gbodyforum.com/threads/boost-lee.82925/

I do miss the Road Runner, it ran low 11's and I can not claim I knew what I was doing. The Mustang was 351 Cleveland with a stick.

 

[Mikej89]

The 80's was an easy time to go faster than stock new cars like 5L Mustangs and IROC Z's. They were popular and these 14 second machines were %50 of the cars at the street races at the dragstrip.

Even then I knew I wanted a 60's big block musclecar. Brought a 70 Road Runner back from Texas and it was so easy to swap out the 14.0 sec 383 in favour of a 12 sec 440. Then we had nitrous to make it run 11's but on the street, the 12 sec trim would beat 95% of other cars. Even a 12 sec Grand National came into town wanting a piece of my Mopar. Even though I kicked his *ss, it left a desire in my blood to own one someday and it happened last year, Boost Lee. https://gbodyforum.com/threads/boost-lee.82925/

I do miss the Road Runner, it ran low 11's and I can not claim I knew what I was doing. The Mustang was 351 Cleveland with a stick.

That's the kinda story i wanted to hear, chief! Where did you get the 440 from? My dad had a '71 Super Bee with a 12:1 compression 383 built up in the 80's. She was running a 600 Weber/Edelbrock with stock intake manifold for street. Bet she woulda made ~475hp with a 750 Holley and high rise dual plane. But who cares, right? nobody's impressed by 400hp anymore, nowadays you basically need a top fuel dragster to compete with the new stuff....

 

[Turbo Zach]

The fastest street car around when I was younger was Ed's 70 Nova with a high compression 383. He held record for ten years. It would cost you a hundred bucks for him to even take it out of the garage. I miss the days of guys bringing their cars out on Saturday nights. Cruising and bullshitting. There is still a group of guys that do that in Fort Dodge. Prostreet drag cars mostly. They are a little different and like to drink a little too much for me. The cars are still around the Cruise To The Woods proves that, but no one gets together any more. I blame Facebook for that, and the law.

 

[Rt Jam]

That's the kinda story i wanted to hear, chief! Where did you get the 440 from? My dad had a '71 Super Bee with a 12:1 compression 383 built up in the 80's. She was running a 600 Weber/Edelbrock with stock intake manifold for street. Bet she woulda made ~475hp with a 750 Holley and high rise dual plane. But who cares, right? nobody's impressed by 400hp anymore, nowadays you basically need a top fuel dragster to compete with the new stuff....

Glad you enjoyed it MikeJ The memories of it make me smile. Even the stock 383 was pretty quick, it ran a 14.0@99 as I bought it. I'm sure there was more in it.

It was later put in my sister's Dodge Dart. We installed a bigger hydraulic cam, ported the heads and and it ran 12.4's@109. It only made 1 visit to the track and the car was sold.

The Road Runner's 440 was from a mid 70's truck. When I say we didn't know what we were doing. We ordered the wrong pistons and compression was super low. We decked and ran thin gaskets just to get it up to 9.4:1. Also a hydraulic cam, ported heads, 750 Holley vacuum carb and 4.10 gears. It ran mid to low 12's and I knew getting a time slip on the nitrous would raise the eyebrows of the track officials due to no roll bar. So I didn't turn on the nitrous until after the 60' and it went 11.4 at 118 and it was flagged for no roll bar but I went home with a smile. No other runs were made.

High rpms, computers, turbos are todays way to do it but one thing the old cars had which will never be known again was the torque. Engines like 455's GM, 440 Mopars made 90% of their torque at 1/4 throttle under 2500rpm, this is fun times some will never know.

 

[64nailhead]

High rpms, computers, turbos are todays way to do it but one thing the old cars had which will never be known again was the torque.

Hmmm, no. Small turbo on any SB will make equivalent or more torque of any make BB at 2500 rpm’s. But it will also be all done before 6000rpm’s.

Don’t take my comment wrong though, big low end grunt is fun to cruise around in, but it’s difficult to be the fastest guy in town with it, even in the 70’s and 80’s. But for comparison if stock builds, the BB always won back in that era.

 

[scoti]

Really, nobody had a big block anything in the 80's? I just met a guy at the bar who said his brother let him drive his '69 Super Bee 383 4-speed to the prom back in 1986.... That's bad azz, man! In 1986 literally nothing could beat a Super Bee 383. A new Vette L98 or Grand National would be the only new cars outta Detroit that could give it a run for it's money and that was a 17yr old car in 1986!

I just love how classic muscle was so dominant back then. I mean in 1986 what was THE fastest car you could buy; a Ferrari Testarossa or Porsche 911 Turbo? So we're talking 0-60 in 5.3-4.9 sec for the fastest new production car a rich lawyer or NFL player could buy back then?.... A '70 Chevelle SS 454 with traction bars, big meats, RV cam, and headers could dust 'em in 1986 at high-mid 12's on street tires with no nitrous. That's a 3-5k car with a grand or two worth of upgrades built with blood sweat and tears in grandpa's pull barn beating a brand new quarter million dollar German or Italian super car. *case closed

We had several @ my school but nothing to be nostalgic about. Nova. Camaro. Chevy trucks. Couple of 400ci Pontiacs (69 Firebird & 78 T/A). Big block Mopars (Dusters). Even a couple of big 455 Olds (67 & 77 Cutlass).

The money maker was a '65 Chevy primer black short-fleet pick-up. Ugly as could be. Looked like it was falling apart. But it would put the hurt on everything the local high-schools had. Big block & LOTS of juice. That guys old man had a Ford short-fleet w/a worked over big-block on juice in it. Much cleaner/nicer truck & fast as hell to boot.

Of course when you were in high-school likely plays the bigger part of what was common in the parking-lot.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Hmmm, no. Small turbo on any SB will make equivalent or more torque of any make BB at 2500 rpm’s. But it will also be all done before 6000rpm’s.

Don’t take my comment wrong though, big low end grunt is fun to cruise around in, but it’s difficult to be the fastest guy in town with it, even in the 70’s and 80’s. But for comparison if stock builds, the BB always won back in that era.

Exactly, look at the EcoBoost truck motors. Also Dodge's new Inline 6 is designed to make 95% of it's nearly 500 ft/lbs from below 2500 rpm. Yeah, the BB motors were cheap and plentiful of all makes, used back then. Plenty of guys also blew the bottom ends on the Olds 455 and BBC 454 revving them like a SB, I knew a couple of guys who did it.

 

[64nailhead]

Exactly, look at the EcoBoost truck motors. Also Dodge's new Inline 6 is designed to make 95% of it's nearly 500 ft/lbs from below 2500 rpm. Yeah, the BB motors were cheap and plentiful of all makes, used back then. Plenty of guys also blew the bottom ends on the Olds 455 and BBC 454 revving them like a SB, I knew a couple of guys who did it.

We had a Fusion with a 2.0 Ecoboost and that thing made all kinds of torque below 3500. And the turbo GAVE UP 6000. I believe they had some type of strategy in the boost controller to allow excess exhaust to bypass based off engine load and rpm. Perhaps it incorporated a BOV as well. I know it was weird to drive - ease into the throttle at highway speeds and it wouldn't downshift and it would take off.

That was by all means the most impressive 4 cylinder factory motor I ever drove. I should mention though, I'm not a good source for 4 cylinder factory performance.

 

[carnutjw]

I grew up in a small western Kentucky farming/coal mining community. The school I attended from 6th thru 12th grade(it was K-12) was just as small, I graduated in 1986. I had 41 students in my graduating class, so maybe 180-200 high school students. There were zero "exotics", everything pretty much made in USA, maybe a random VW, Toyota, Honda. For such a small world, I think we had our fair share of cool cars. These are what I can remember, thirty something years later:
'60 C/10 SWB V8/4spd
'67 Camaro, red, white nose stripe, 283/3spd, later upgrade to more cid/4spd
'69 Camaro, orange, V8
'67 Camaro convertible, white, white top, blue interior, 327 auto. really nice
'67 Mustang, 289, auto
'71 Dodge Demon, white on black, 340/auto
'70 Chevelle, red on red, 350/4spd, two owner car
'70 Torino, yellow, 351C/auto
'79 T/A , black, 6.6L(403Olds), auto, mild mods
'73 Nova, red, V8, same guy had '72 C/10 SWB stepside later
'66-67 Nova hardtop, blue, v8/auto
One guy had a succession of cars, '63 Impala, Vega hatchback, '71 Nova, all V8/manual trans
'67 Chevelle, blue, 396/4spd, 4:10's, ladder bars, probably the fastest car I've ever been in, it would rip
Not many "new" cars. There were two girls, cousins, one year apart, they were next door neighbors, that had nearly identical Monte Carlo SS's, one an '85 with steel wheels, the other an '86 aluminum wheels, maroon, bucket/ console cars.
And my best friend's '79 Monte Carlo, 305/auto., black, red interior, red 1/4 vinyl top.
Yeah, I've always paid attention to cars.