truly im a gm nut but I worked for ford for 5 years and the 4.6 is a high reving engine.
I've owned about 7 differant 3 gens with 305 and modded 350s
the mustang will kill the 85 power to wieght ratio your car is 3700-3900lbs
the mustang is like 2900lbs
he has more power and torque he will just laugh and pull away fron you
you have a better chance from a dead stop because he has to wind his up to get any power out of his engine

 

Why does torque matter to about 60 mph and hp above 60 mph? What is the technical reason for this?

If you want some light reading on the subject, try these links:

http://mclements.net/mrc-PowerTorque.html
http://www.yawpower.com/tqvshp.html
http://www.elephantracing.com/techtopic/hpvstorque.htm
http://www.v8914.com/Horsepower-v-torque.htm

 

Wrong and wrong. The Stang weighs about 3250-3500 lbs. depending on options. The Camaro is less than 3700 lbs.

 

Go to www.summitracingequipment.com Any of the high flow aluminum heads from Edelbrock, Holley, AFR, etc. will be a major improvement over those stock iron ones. Even some high flow iron heads for $500-800 would help a ton.

 

Thanx for the input everyone, but spinout, you do relize that Brian's 305 is modded right?
Steve, i though that 3rd gens are closer to 3500?? What kind of Iron heads to you recomend??

 

What cam.. what intake.. what headers, what heads.

I think its possible, if hes running good ****.. but if hes running your typical run of the mill redneck setup, he will likely loose, and run lower than stock.

Peace,
Josh

 

I dont care that hes modded Ive had 7 or so 3 gens and ive wieghed
all of them the lowest was 3700 the highest was 3900 and they have had 350 and 305 stock and modded he dosent have a chance
unless the other guy is afraid to bring up high rpms with the stange
thats where they make the power

 

This thing says 31XX lbs. for a '90 Iroc with the 5.0.

http://www.edmunds.com/used/1990/che.....6.Chevrolet*

 

Port the stock ones, Dart iron eagles, Vortec heads, World heads, etc. I would step up to alum. heads like AFR, Trick Flow, Edelbrock, or Holley, though. They are worth if for the extra $300+. I would also ditch the 305 in favor of a 350 or bigger if the budget allows.

 

Here are some curb weights (w/o driver) for 1987 3rd Gen V8 F-bodys, according to thirdgen.org:

IROC-Z 305 5.0 5-Speed 3250
Formula 305 5.0 5-Speed 3383
IROC-Z 350 5.7 Automatic Overdrive 3341
GTA 350 5.7 Automatic Overdrive 3476

Note: These weights are with no options.

 

I dont care what your numbers say I have seen with my own eyes
on the wiegh scale

 

What the hell head/s cost only $300???? I would be MORE THAN HAPPY to buy those

Wow.. those are some REALLY low numbers for Camaro's. I alway though they were like 3200lbs+??

Brian has a preformer intake manny, performer 600 carb, i *THINK* SLP headers, and maybe a Xtreme Energy XE256H cam (not too sure).

Spinout- How do you figure that even MODDED he stands NO chance against even the WEAKEST year 4.6??

 

acctually the title say on my trans am 5.0 TPI says 3356 so id take that over some internet chronie LOL

secondly 85 305, you can absolutely own the pre 99 4.6 mustangs with the proper mods. Also i can see why he is conserned about torque, someone said it dont matter unless your racing from 0 to 4000rpm, what some people fail to realive the stock LG4 hits redline at 4500 rpm so YEA TQ MATTERS big time especially in a big heave 76 camaro. What kills your motor 85305 is the hot dog shaped cam shaft, a 400 cfm rochester q jet the pathetic heads and a garbage intake. To do it cheaply pull your heads yourself. It should cost between 3 and 5 hundred bones to have someone go through raplace all the valves seal and seats and what not but they will go through do a little porting/polishing, a multi angle valve job and if your bottom end is a good runner you could almost have them shave your heads 10 thousandths for added compression. A good cam that will make power from say 1500 to 5500 rpm is what you want to search for and a niec high flow alluminum intake manifold. Both a cam+lifter kit and a new hi po intake manifold wont cost u 500. Also you can either tune your stock carb(i wouldnt recomend this) or juet get a remanu 650cfm qjet from jet or edelbrock or something. Carbs can get exensive, youll spend 400 on one of those alone. U gotta remember on a stock LG4 bottom end i wouldnt be revving much past 5 grand so base your set up around that. Also HP is HP weather its at 10 grand or at 3 grand its still hp!

 

That is correct, stock redline on teh LG4 is about 4500-5k.
Thanx for the input though firebirdmike, you seem to really know your stuff

 

Nobody took your car out and weighed it before putting the number on your title. The title on my 2004 Cobra says 3114 lbs. Think about it.

No arguement with that.

Torque matters only in that if you multiply it by RPM, you get HP. If peak torque were THAT important, an L98 3rd Gen would be just as fast as an LS1 4th Gen (assuming equal weights, etc).

While that is true, you'll get yourself in trouble if you don't break it down some more. For example:

Car A and B weigh the same, and have the same amount of torque. The difference is that car A makes its 300 lb/ft at 3000 rpm, and it drops in a typical, linear fashion after that. Car B makes its 300 lb/ft at 5000 rpm, and it drops in a typical, linear fashion after that. Which car makes more HP? Geared and driven correctly, which car will be quicker and faster?