[455Grandville]

Originally Posted by The Champ

You may want to go back and reread what you posted.

Regardless, you seem to like name calling and making derogatory comments when you can't post facts to prove your point.

The titling you created for the photo of my wife and I up in Alberta "Brokeback Mountain" is very telling about you as a person.

You really need to get a Chevy truck. It would probably improve your outlook on life. Driving those Fords must really be depressing to get you into a lather like this.

Champ, nevermind that: never said anything about the wifes looks. You did. Never called you gay, you brought that up. Brokeback Mountain was childish, but I couldnt resist -

Get a Chebby truck ? Technically every taxpayer here did pay for one ? Who do you think paid for the damn bailout Champ ?

Wife has had 2 new GM's : Cavalier and a Saab 9-7x (aka Chevy trailblazer)
Both left her and our children on the side of the road multiple times within their first year of ownership.

Why on Earth would I want to do repeat business with a company who's products put my family in danger ? (Side of I-44 can be a scary place at night)

Bottom line Champ : GM dropped Pontiac, hell with 'em !

[Alvin]

Chevy Dodge & Ford comparisons testing: 1977 "Battle Of The Big Blocks" (Car Craft)

johnta1 was correct! My mistake - instead of 1973/74...It was the June 1977 Car Craft issue I remembered reading (Chevy NOT Dodge) the Chevy Rat Truck ruled...so all of you SD-455 fans can relax too!

1977 "Battle Of The Big Blocks" (Car Craft)

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King Rat: 454 'Big 10' Pickups scorched the 70's!
http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...12/index3.html

June 1977 Car Craft headline blared: “Supercars of the Seventies are Where You Find Them: Car Craft’s First Truck Off

King Rat: 454 'Big 10' Pickups scorched the 70's!

This is my most recent story in the Chicago area "Gearhead News" - all about the 454 Big 10 1/2 ton whipped everything in sight - including the fabled Dodge Lil Red Express...

It’s a fact: Chevy and GMC 454 pickups were not just the quickest pickups of the 70’s, but, due to loopholes for ‘heavy duty’ vehicles, they were also quicker than any cars you could buy except 4 speed Trans Ams or Z-28s. In 1975, the worst year for super cars, GM installed an “Efficiency System,” which included a catalytic converter, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and electronic ignition, on all cars and any pickups rated below 6000lbs Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). The “heavy duty emissions” 454 used in C-20 and C-30 trucks got high energy ignition, but no smog equipment, so it actually gained 15hp over the 230hp 1974 454.

In 1976 Chevy introduced the “Big 10” rated above 6000lbs GVW. This heavy half ton’s optional 454 resembled a supercar engine from 1965. It lacked the belt driven smog pump (said by GMC engineers to steal 15hp), EGR and catalytic converter.

The same year an L-82 Corvette ran a 16.5 e.t. for Road and Track, a 454 Big 10 with the standard Turbo 400 automatic and 3.07:1 axle ran a 16.9 e.t. for Pickup Van and 4WD. The PV4 crew was particularly impressed with the un-smogged gas mileage of the 454 – 14mpg. They fell in love with the Big 10 and named it “Pickup of the Year.”

Soon the Big 10 454 sparked a mini trend. A June 1977 Car Craft headline blared: “Supercars of the Seventies are Where You Find Them: Car Craft’s First Truck Off.” They drag tested the 454 step side with an optional positraction 3.73:1 axle against a Dodge “Warlock” (precursor to the Lil’ Red Express Truck with similar gold pin striping and bedside stakes) sporting a 440 V8 and 3.55:1 axle and an F-250 Ford with a 460 engine and 3.25:1 gears. The crew spent all day whittling the Rat’s e.t. down to just 15.51 seconds at 87mph. The Dodge, without the benefit of posi, scored a 15.93/86mph e.t. and the Ford ran 16.32/83mph.

Given the Chevy’s 4300lb girth and blackjack weight distribution, a 15.51 second run is impressive. In addition to the heavy iron big block, Turbo 400, and heavier springs the test vehicle came with nearly every option in the book, including air conditioning and new for ’77 power windows and door locks. It also sported the “Chevy Sport” trim with tape stripes, white spoke wheels and fat tires. The truck was a boulevard cruising “Cowboy Cadillac” that could still embarrass any 1977 car on the strip. The truck didn’t come cheap. Though based priced at $3989, the window sticker was a shocking $8467. PV4 tested the same black step side in their August ’77 issue. With plenty of hard break in miles inflicted by the Car Craft hooligans, PV-4 measured a thrifty 14.4mpg on its fuel economy test loop, despite the high winding 3.73:1 axle

Car Craft writers emphasized that the Big 10 was a 60’s supercar holdout. “It brings back memories of days spent behind the wheel of a Rat motored Chevelle with 3.70:1 gears. Merely stomping on the go-pedal is enough to produce billowing clouds of tire smoke.”
This was a rare period when California engines had an edge since California “heavy duty emissions” 454s rated 250hp at 3800rpm and 385lbs/ft of torque at 2800rpm in ’76 and ’77, while Federal 454s rated 245hp and 365lbs/ft. The Big 10 454 retained the ’76 compression ratio of 8.25:1, while compression dropped to 8.15:1 for the ‘77 ¾ and 1 ton.

For 1978 the Chevy Sport added a hood ornament, color keyed bumpers and chrome hubs for the white spoke wheels. Unfortunately, Chevy lowered the compression to 8.0:1 for the Big 10 and 7.9:1 for the ¾ and 1 tons. For Californians, the Super Truck party was already waning. They got a smogged Rat that made just 205hp at 3600rpm and 335lbs/ft at 2800rpm. 49 state Rats made 240hp at 3800rpm and 370lbs/ft at 2800rpm.

According to a December ’78 Hot Rod test of a 454 GMC with the flashy “Amarillo” paint and stripes package “The difference (between Federal and California engines) is nearly a full second in the quarter mile, two miles per gallon of gasoline and rubber in second gear.” Hot Rod drove the 240hp Amarillo to a 15.60 e.t at 87mph at Orange County Raceway. “That run is the quickest laid down by any HOT ROD test truck in recent history, dethroning the ’78 Dodge Lil’ Red Truck that ran a 15.71/88mph e.t. (June ’78 HR).” Testing the same truck in the February ’79 issue of PV4, editor Don E. Browne wrote “The Amarillo was considerably faster than the 205hp GMC and even was a tad quicker the Dodge Lil’ Red Truck (both of which PV4 tested in September ’78).”

By 1979 even federal Big 10s used the 205hp 454. Motor Trend drove a GMC “Street Coupe” (GMC’s version of the Chevy Sport) to a 0-60mph time of 8.0 seconds and a 16.4 second, 83mph e.t. This was still quick for anything built in the late ’70s, but ironically, the smogged Rat suffered an even bigger penalty in gas mileage. While the 8.25:1 compression ’77 delivered 14mpg, and the lower compression, but unsmogged ’78 made 12mpg, the smogged ’79 got about 10mpg.

It’s possible a ’79 Dodge LRET might have beaten the ‘79 GMC. Chrysler used twin catalytic converters on the “police” 360 to maintain a true dual exhaust, while GM’s “X” dual exhaust forced both pipes into a single catalytic converter then split them back into twin mufflers and tailpipes.

By 1980 the “heavy duty emissions” loophole was raised to 8500lbs, limiting the 454 to ¾ and 1 ton trucks. Though the “Super Truck” genre has waxed and waned since the demise of the 454 Big 10, later models like Ford’s “Lightning” couldn’t claim to be faster than most performance cars. The smog loopholes of ‘76-‘78 created a unique era when Rat powered pickups could outrun 99% of contemporary cars. It’s an era we will likely never see again.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by 455Grandville

Champ, nevermind that: never said anything about the wifes looks.

What did you mean when you posted this?

Of course Chump with the beaut below you have alot of room to talk about us toothless hicks, maybe if I was not a toothless hick I could caught something like that instead of settling for the woman in my Bonneville ?

Never called you gay, you brought that up.

Well, what does this mean?

Of course; any straight man with a pulse would prefer looking at hotties, drinkin beer and riding in hot boats over sitting at a dusty track watching cars go in a circle.

I've never found boats very interesting, but I thoroughly enjoy dirt track racing. There are plenty of "hotties" at the tracks around here. Maybe it's just down in your Ozarks that all the women are 200 pounders as you posted.

Brokeback Mountain was childish

First honest thing you've posted in awhile. You should post like that more often.

Wife has had 2 new GM's : Cavalier and a Saab 9-7x (aka Chevy trailblazer)
Both left her and our children on the side of the road...

Why on Earth would I want to do repeat business with a company who's products put my family in danger ? (Side of I-44 can be a scary place at night)

Ever hear of the Ford Exploder?

Better to be on the side of the road alive than on the side of the road dead...

[Stuart]

Geez, why don't you two get a room or something.

[Overkillphil]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Geez, why don't you two get a room or something.

Great idea, and here is an ideal place to have dinner on the way:

[sleepy]

The ONLY part of Jimmy Mars engine that's chevy is the block(and it's not even a true chevy, He uses world products blocks) so he uses an improved copy of a chevy block.
He pays more for an engine than you paid for your new car.

[wytnyt]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Geez, why don't you two get a room or something.

this will likely turn this discussion in the wrong direction. I'd suggest you start a separate discussion so this one doesn't get derailed.

[Alvin]

Chevy or Ford Wise Gyzezz!!?