On 3/31/2013 11:33 PM, The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 3/31/2013 8:36 PM, dpb wrote:
On 3/31/2013 8:13 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:
On 3/31/13 7:47 PM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
Take the dimensions in inches, multiply them.
Whatever the big number you get, divide by 231 (the number of cubic
inches
in a gallon).

That means my 1969 Plymouth had a 1.66 gallon engine. (383 cid)

I know modern engines produce a lot more horsepower for their
displacement and last longer. The sound of the old V8s with glass pack
mufflers is hard to beat.

Had '69 Charger 383 w/ 4BBL Holley that iirc was 335 hp. *Dxxx* I wish I
had kept that puppy even when couldn't have gotten the kids and all the
stuff in it when small...but definitely couldn't afford two vehicles
back then.

The 426 hemi's were rated at 425 hp.

Warning-codger story coming...

Brother married daughter of local Dodge salesman -- this was when NASCAR
still made manufacturers sell 500 of the production model they ran on
the track. Dealers were mostly shipped on a random draw 'cuz they were
difficult to sell because weren't at all good on the highway and local
dealer was lucky that year ('68). Two years later still hadn't sold it
so made brother a "real deal" on it when got out of uni. It was a
disaster as a highway car--so hyped up you could barely keep it running
at an idle; would be doing 50/60 by got to next stoplight w/o even
trying, and got about 5-8 mpg of high test. If you recall, the gas
filler cap was on the top of left fender; on the highway production
vehicles like my '69 it was a 2" pipe that ran vertically down to the
left end of the tank only taking up a little trunk room. On the NASCAR
version, it was a 4" pipe at a 45-deg angle straight to the middle of
the tank leaving no room for anything of any size; not even a spare
tire. They didn't keep it...

--

When I was in college I remember seeing the remains of a Dodge Charger
Daytona, the one with the wing. It looked so sad and lonely there in the
wrecking yard. Some kid had flipped it on the interstate highway at a
speed in excess of 150mph. I loved the big engine brutes which got no
gas mileage to brag about but gasoline was 22 cents a gallon so I didn't
mind. Our family cars at the time had engine sizes like 383, 389, 425
and 430. Mom wound up with a Lincoln with a 460 V8. ^_^

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Charger_Daytona

TDD

Yeah, we thought nothing of it then...the 4dr got when sold the Charger
was a Buick Electra 225 w/ the 455 iirc...

The Charger actually was pretty good on mileage--we bought it to spec
and put in a gear ratio to bring rpm down some at highway speed--took
away a little of the acceleration performance, of course, but it was
still plenty enough. For the time it was a great Interstate road
car--not squishy soft suspension but still reasonably quiet. At the
time we were in Lynchburg and traveling to far SW KS regularly where
both sets of grandparents were--about 1550 mi trip before I81 was
finished from Roanoke to Knoxville and I40 ended at Crab Orchard Mtn w
of Knoxville across the Cumberlands and then dumped you in downtown
Nashville. Another uncompleted stretch thru AR hill country from just
west of Little Rock to nearly Ft Smith...

The bummer was the lead plugs that sealed machine holes in the Holley
split-barrel carb would get soft after two long days on road and in the
morning when cold they leaked. Had to reseat them w/ a small hammer the
second morning before heading out again...

It also developed some nasty electrical problems w/ time...

--