[uneasyrider]

If I got the right gear ratios plugged in for that ST-10 here are the calculated speeds. I realize that it's just on paper: (@ 6,000rpm) 70mph in 1st, 107 in 2nd, 138 in third, and around 170 in 4th.

1974 TA, here's my spec's, how fast do you guys think the old girl will go?

E-heads (out of the box)

462cid (400 block 0.060 over)

Eagle crank and H-beam rods

10.2:1 compression

Pistons = SRP

RPM manifold

Crower part # 60243 Grind # 284HDP: (2,500-6,000)

@ 0.050 228/235

112deg lobe sep.

0.479/0.494 (w/1.5:1)

1.5:1 rockers

stock 800cfm Q-jet

Hooker Super Comp. headers (forget the size but needless to say they are large)

Kumho ECSTA MX 255/45 17's front and 285/40 17's rear "Y" speed rated 186 mph

Stock Super T-10 4-spd

Comp Engineering Subframe connectors

Comp Engineering Traction bars (to be installed soon)

10 bolt GM, 2.73 rear (soon to have a new Eaton posi)

I'm thinking it will be awhile before I try to see what it will actually do (roll cage, harnesses, FWD's, etc. first) so all I have now is the bench to race on.

[transam_kahuna]

Hey uneasy..another good subject...looks like you've got your bases covered for top speed..what kind of springs you have up front?..stock ride height?..gotta watch for front end float at 140+ all that air goin underneath really makes the front end come up even with the rear spoiler.....before I lowered big blue the front really got light at 130-140....if fuel delivery is good to the top rpm..I'd guess you'd be able to touch at least 155 and if front end doesnt get freaky on you and feels stable I think 165 is obtainable...one question though..do you have straightaways long enough to try it?...ED

[uneasyrider]

Originally Posted by transam_kahuna

Hey uneasy..another good subject...looks like you've got your bases covered for top speed..

(1) what kind of springs you have up front?..

(2) stock ride height?

..gotta watch for front end float at 140+ all that air goin underneath really makes the front end come up even with the rear spoiler.....before I lowered big blue the front really got light at 130-140....if fuel delivery is good to the top rpm..I'd guess you'd be able to touch at least 155 and if front end doesnt get freaky on you and feels stable I think 165 is obtainable...one question though..

(3) do you have straightaways long enough to try it?...ED

(1) Stock

(2) Stock

(3) Not only yes BUT H E L L YES! and curvy roads, and just about every kind of road you could want, WE GOT IT ALL! I love driving around here.

[uneasyrider]

Originally Posted by transam_kahuna

Hey uneasy..another good subject...looks like you've got your bases covered for top speed..what kind of springs you have up front?..stock ride height?..gotta watch for front end float at 140+ all that air goin underneath really makes the front end come up even with the rear spoiler.....before I lowered big blue the front really got light at 130-140....if fuel delivery is good to the top rpm..I'd guess you'd be able to touch at least 155 and if front end doesnt get freaky on you and feels stable I think 165 is obtainable...one question though..do you have straightaways long enough to try it?...ED

Well I rang the old girl out to 145-150mph yesterday and you are correct, she starts to get a bit light at around 130-140mph. It's worse if I'm on a two lane with "truck ruts" in it. Last time I drove a car this fast it had narrower tires on it too and on those two lane roads with "ruts" in them the narrow tires track straighter. The wide tires grip better but they tend to wonder more. I need to get it lowered down so I can make those quick blasts less nerve-racking. After doing that I think it will run out to around 160mph but that will be all she will want. I need to get a little bigger carb on it I think if I want to get more serious with it which I really don't because it's getting 18mpg right now and I wasn't being easy on it by any means. I think I might drive it real mellow today and see just how good a mileage I can get. I like that, a bit of cake and eat it too thing.

[uneasyrider]

Found out the lifter wasn't the problem it is the rockers just barely touching the valve covers so that was nice.

That prompted me to go ring the old girl out a bit more. Found out for sure the speed'o is off exactly 20%. Clocked it on one of those portable radar set-ups that shows you your speed and it was dead on 20mph and the radar showed 25mph. Then I had my brother pace me again on the highway and it was showing 56mph at 70mph. So I took it out and ran it to 125mph on the speed'o which should be 156.25mph and it wasn't giving up it was still pulling good. I tell you what, there is NOTHING like 3rd gear in this car! You roll through 1st and 2nd smooth and agressive and then MASH the BEECH in 3rd. From about 90mph to around 130-135mph she plants you right in the seat!!!!!!!!! There is nothing like dropping her into second at 70mph and WASTING someone. It's looking like she will do all that was calculated above.

Ma ma ma my Sharona!

TORQUE TORQUE AND MORE TORQUE!!!!!!!!!!! It wins races. I love my Pontiac.

P.S. I was passing a car going up a steep grade coming out of the "big city" and they were going a bit under the speed limit. It was a newer car and it was night so I couldn't tell what it was but as I was passing them I noticed I had to give it EVER so slightly more throttle to go around them as we went up this grade. You have to understand that this car (my TA) is only turning about 2,200rpm at 70mph so I'm just loafing along. When I say I was barely on the gas to pass this car I do mean about 2% over what I was at to stay at 70mph. As I got beside them the car hit about 2,500rpm and reponded better (bogging a bit at first) because it was coming on the cam and manifold and I accelerated a bit harder at the same throttle. Well I got beside them and realized why I was having to give it more gas to pass them they had the throttle to the floor (could smell the cat and hear the engine ) and all I could think was how many cars had been trying to race me that I NEVER even knew were trying! LOL! I realized what he was doing was slowing to check out the car and as I started to "pass" (more like ease by) he floored it!. LOL!!!!! I had been playing around with the car behind him and I'm SURE he heard the car because I had pulled down into second and was "hopping" it for the guy that was checking it out (I'm so EASY ). The dang thing sounds like a bomb going off when you are doing that but it's acceptable at part throttle and cruise. We hit the exhaust combo just right.

[SlowSpitzer]

How much would a ticket be going 156 MPH?
Sounds like you need to go to http://www.saltflats.com/
How far would it take you to stop to zero going 156 mph?

[uneasyrider]

Originally Posted by SlowSpitzer

(1) How much would a ticket be going 156 MPH?
(2) Sounds like you need to go to http://www.saltflats.com/
(3) How far would it take you to stop to zero going 156 mph?

(1) A bunch.

(2) I'd love to, do you want to pay for it?

(3) A long time.

Are you a policeman? LOL! If so I guess I can tell you I was lying. I don't have the balls to go that fast! It's all hypothetical.

P.S. Now that that's over does anyone want to PM me?

[roadrage david]

Cool and way to go uneasyrider . looking at the pic of the start post i imidiatly tought what Kahuna was mentioning in his responds about your front end stance . it needs a 1 1/2 to 2 inch drop . mind you the hookers will suffer big time if your off the high way .lowering hodskish springs for sbs are the ones you need . for the rear detroid speed engeneering 2 inch drop leafs are the way to go they offer a firm but comfertable ride . the hodskish leafs are to stiff . i see you have the good stuf in your engine!!!!ps sc..w the cops . driving high end without beeing a cop gives more grunt ecsighting to it . and remembering that straight your useing you are not putting people in danger!!!!

[Bad Karma]

I used to have a 72 lemans with 2.56 gears and it was a BLAST also. I could do 70 in first 110 in second and I dunno what third did but speedo was almost on zero again LOL. I know the feeling and it is great. That was with a "xy" IIRC ram air III 400 built to the hilt. Man I miss ponch power!!!!!!!!!!!!

[uneasyrider]

Originally Posted by roadrage david

Cool and way to go uneasyrider . looking at the pic of the start post i imidiatly tought what Kahuna was mentioning in his responds about your front end stance . it needs a 1 1/2 to 2 inch drop . mind you the hookers will suffer big time if your off the high way .lowering hodskish springs for sbs are the ones you need . for the rear detroid speed engeneering 2 inch drop leafs are the way to go they offer a firm but comfertable ride . the hodskish leafs are to stiff . i see you have the good stuf in your engine!!!!ps sc..w the cops . driving high end without beeing a cop gives more grunt ecsighting to it . and remembering that straight your useing you are not putting people in danger!!!!

Yes it needs to be lowered but I sure hate to do it. The roads I like to drive are mostly country and tend to be undulating and the lower I get it the more selective I have to be about where I enjoy it at. It will be more stable and thus safer on the road which is what I need though so of course I'm going to do it along with 4wd brakes.

I can say that "IF" this car would really go that fast there a MENY roads in my area that are deserted enough that you wont see a car in an hour except during harvest season when you better stay off the roads and away from the migrant worker drivers.

[uneasyrider]

Originally Posted by Burn out Buster

I used to have a 72 lemans with 2.56 gears and it was a BLAST also. I could do 70 in first 110 in second and I dunno what third did but speedo was almost on zero again LOL. I know the feeling and it is great. That was with a "xy" IIRC ram air III 400 built to the hilt. Man I miss ponch power!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, that's how this "WOULD" run too if I only had the balls to do it. I bet it "would" pull from 80 to 160 as fast as a lot of cars pull from 0-80. The nice thing about it is that it gets reasonable milage too. I've been getting about 17mpg and if I keep my foot out of it I think I might get 20mpg! NO JOKE! I haven't had a chance to do a good mileage run with it and just cruise down the highway and see what it will do yet but I think it could from all indications. My buddies 472cid (440 block) '70 Roadrunner with 3.80's and a four speed is getting 15mpg and I got it on a few times when I did that milage check! NO JOKE! That makes me believe that I just might get that 20mpg on the highway. There was a post here a few days/a week ago where someone was talking about the milage their big Poncho got and it was over 20mpg on the highway so I really think the old girl can be a bit "economical" too!

[uneasyrider]

The most common question I hear from people when I tell them that I've taken the car to 156mph is "Where is there a place to go that fast around here?" Well, as I said above, I never "REALLY" went that fast so I was lying anyway and what I'm about to discuss is purely hypothetical , but if I was able to I can see what most people don't realize is that you're already going 60-70mph when you hit the straight you would like to haul assp on so it's not like you are starting from a dead stop. Second thing is that most people only have experience with a relatively stock car so they just don't have a clue how fast a car like this will get to 160-170mph from 70mph. They think it will take MILES of road. Well I guess technically it takes a couple miles or so + of road if you are running at 70 or so and that gives to plenty of time to slow down even with good old disc/drum brakes. Later model ('70's) disc/drum will work fine (except maybe Mopar ) they just need a LONG time between stops to cool properly. With a set of aftermarket 4wd brake's I bet I could really cut down on the space that I might need. A lot of people don't know what it's like to drive around here either. There are no trees here (except in town or where there is irrigation) so you can see for MILES and miles and miles and miles... as the song goes. The population base is small and when you get out of town there is NO ONE on the road and the only thing to hit if you go off is the ditch, cliff wall, sage brush, canyon, or power poll. Not that I would want to hit any of those. In the farming areas (dry land wheat or irrigated circles) you will hit the above or ruin a few hundered yards of crop. Not that any of the above makes driving over the speed limit legal or safe it's just that it isn't what most people experience in the US for driving conditions so they can't relate to the "waste land" that can be found out of town here in Eastern Washington. If you live in a populated area of the Eastern US there are lots of trees (usually) and buildings and lots of traffic. There are 20mile long STRAIGHT stretches of road out here where all you will see is the horizon for hours at times if you sat there waiting for a car to come by. Anyone living in the plains states or Nevada, Wyoming, etc. knows what I'm talking about or has even better areas to drive.

P.S. Here is an interesting site: http://www.motorists.com/ma/kill.html

Here is another interesting one: http://www.hwysafety.com/hwy_montana_2001.htm

[taalltheway]

Uneasy: That sounds like my dream engine combo. Do you know how much power/torque she is producing? How is the driveability with a cam of that size?

[pontorquer]

I took a 1972 Pontiac Luxury Lemans , that I was going to buy , for a test drive back in winter 1996. That was up north Saskatchewan (Canadian Prairies ), the weather was around 0 F, colder than ice ! Anyway, that car had alot of nice options such as 12 bolt rearend, white bucket seats with black console...GTO 400 YS / 7K3's. The owner was sitting in the passenger seat and I was test driving it ;first I had to spin the rear tires to see if she had a posi(didn't) then I had to see what she could do, I took off on 2nd gear (turbo 400) followed by 3rd (drive gear) next thing I knew I was doing 120mph in no time ! DO LIKE THEM PONCHO CARS TOO !!! By the way the owner told me I sure did know how to test drive a car.