Jazsun

Im going to race my friend 454 vette today, puts out near 270HP, and like 395 Torque, I hear the 69+ vettes arnt very fast, atthe track he ran in the 14.8's. It is a manual, completely stock. Im pretty confident I will take him, is it best to race him from a stop or roll? 395 torque seems like it would kill down low, but then again the thing weight 3950Lbs even w/ the fiberglass body. I will get back to you guys later on tonight after I race him.


RESULTS:
On a corn field strip, from a stop. First race I raped it from the start, I got like 2 cars on him from the start and kept pulling maby to 3 cars, got up to around 100 and shut it down. Second race from a stop, (first race he blamed it on traction problems, which was a little evident as his car did squirm a little), this time same results, I pulled like crazy throught 1st gear, just slightly power breaking it. Got like 3-4 cars again.

Next we raced maby 3-4 times from a roll, everytime form the initial punch it would be even, up until my car would shift...then he would pull hard, for about a car length, then it would go even, until my car hit 4th and fell on its face.

Now here is the scary part. Afterwards, me, the guy in the vette, and my other friend who video taped it, went to a gas station to refil our guzzlers, and we finished, paid for out gas...then my friend w/ the vette started his car and we were all outside of it looking at it as it ideled, and we began to noticed some smoke coming from the front fender, then we saw huge puddles of oil under the car. Popped the hood, and it was all over the drivers side of the car. Shut the car off, and the puddle got huge, almost the whole bottom of the car. I hope he didnt blow his engine, hope its a valve cover seal or something not serious. Its such a classic car! Has 13K Original miles, he found it in a barn, paid 10k for it and restored it. Its still missing half the dash and has no passengers seat.

GT KILLER

Well, I guess you can literally say you killed it.....lol

85_305

what kind of car were you driving?
The reason all these old muscle-cars tend to be "slow" is because they find no traction, as you described. Think about it, 390lb's of torque in a light frame, skinny-assed 195-cross sectioned tires= no traction

Jazsun

His car has nowhere close to skinny tires, they are more than a foot wide, and stick out on the sides of the car. And the frame isnt exactly light, it weights aaround 3900lbs even its fiberglass. I was in my 93 Firebird Formula LT1 A4, Magnaflow catback, CAI (Inside fender well) w/ K&N, new double platinum plugs, new wires, new 02's, Throttle Body Bypass mod, brand new tires which hook nice. About 1/4 tank of gas, nothing in the trunk...the usual... On the first one he didnt get traction, cuz I could see his car squirm. On the second one he wanted to bet 10 bucks, and I was like "whats going on here", but I declined and we raced again, and this time he hardly launched it, and didnt seem to have hardly any tire spin and I got like 2-3 cars on him in the first 1/4 mile. After that if we kepy going he prolly would have realed me in. From like a 35-40 mph roll, it would be even up to my **** automatic would shift then he would get like 3 feet on me each time that happened. If I had a 6 speed it prolly would have been more even.

BlkLT1Z28

The 69 and 70 vettes were fast, you got to remember that in 71 the muscle car era pretty much died. And it just got worse after that. So that 73 454 was not really that great of a motor. Not trying to put you down, good kill either way! And I hope your friend didnt hurt his car to bad.

John M

Yeah, with a 73 it's got the cubes but it'll need higher compression, better heads, etc, to make the power you picture in your mind when you hear "454".

Jazsun

Thats what I was trying to say before. I knew the smog era killed the early 70's vettes, thats why I was willing to race him.

85_305

Oh if he has foot wide tires then I guess thats different than the stockers lol. And to the guy that said that muscle-cars after '71 were junk due to the smog-crap, a simple head/cam/exhaust exchange will cure that with no problem
I really hope that the problem is a low-cost one, and that ol' 454 is ok too

mhhodges76

1973 Corvette with the LS4 454ci rated at 275hp with 8.25/1 compression and 385 ft lbs of torque. Which is pretty sad with the 350ci L82 rated at 250 hp that year. Still no slouch.

I have a 73 Vette on the lot. Convertible,4-speed,LS4 and the only year with the urethane front bumper and split chrome rear bumpers.

Jazsun

I guess it turns out it was just an aftermarket oil pressure unit which crapped out, even tho he already has one. So thats good. And that guy is right about after 71' the muscle car era praticlly died, as they were forced to meet smog regulations and underrate their engines.