Performance Parts Pout

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Well, I’m officially depressed. No it’s not because of the holidays, or the rapidly approaching  June when I’ll move too  far into the 50’s  to be able to fool myself that I’m just barely 50, nope none of those things.

I’m looking at GM’s (bastards!!) Performance Catalog and all the shiny things in it.  Like the ported LS3 heads, and the LS376 – 525…yes  525 hp in a crate engine, drop in and drive.  I realize two things, I need an older Chevy to play with (or upgrade the C6 Vette) and that I’ll need a second job if I even want to touch any of this stuff and where will I live when the better half finds this stuff laying around the garage? (Tell me you aren’t depressed now?!?!!…It’s ok…admin it!!!)

Note:  It’s gonna get worse… I have the Ford performance parts catalog as well…all I can say is thank GOD!!!  I don’t have a Morpar to drive around….oh….the therapy…bills….!!!  Why, OH Why didn’t I drink the family KoolAide when I was a kid..I would have been able to shun the Fords and Mopars and just be a normal one brand car guy??

There is some awesome stuff the Chevrolet Performance Team is put out, everything from small block crates to LSX monsters, to circle track crate engines.

Over the next few post I’m going to cover a few highlights and a couple unexpected – like engines for the Chevy Cobalt and some V6 engines.  (Have just read some specs for the upcoming 2013 Mustang V6 – I want to see what Chevy’s got.)

In fact let’s start with something off the wall.  Like the 900  V6 Intake for a 4 barrel carb!! What???!!!!  It’s an aluminum high-performance for the 3.8 or 4.3 liter V6.  So go ahead bolt on that 390 cfm carb..oh heck….grab that 600 cfm 4150 and drop it on top.

Chevy's V6 - 4 BBL Intake Manifold - about $265.00 (Part 10134390).

That is not a bad price.  Of course it’s not for all heads, like it  won’t fit the 3800 V6 or the 18 degree heads and you might have add a bump to your hood for clearance!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Last U.S.-built Ford Ranger built in St. Paul assembly plant

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Dec 16, 2011 the last produced Ford Ranger.  This isn’t just the end of the Ford Ranger, its the end of the Cologne V6 and the closing of a plant that has been producing car since 1925 – over 25 million.  The last Ranger was a fleet car going to Orkin Pest Control – yawn – couldn’t have been a Raptor or and F150 Harley Davison version.

2012 V6 Ford Ranger - The last one.

The plant produced armored cars during WW II and  50’s Fords, early Crown Vics and Galazies. It also produced one of my favorite cars the Ford Sunliner.

1955 Ford Sunliner

 

Sunliner

 

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Engine Line Up – 1973 Ford – Mustangs

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The engines for the 1973 Mustangs pretty well with the rest of the matched up the other models engines, but with some minor “tweaks”.

You couldn’t get a Mustang with a 4 cylinder (yet) but you could get with the standard 6.  This was the 250 version, (250 cubic inches of displacement) the bore and stroke was 3.68 x 3.91 also used in the Torino.  Topping it with a single barrel Motocraft carb and coupled with a compression ratio of 8.0:1 gave it a ground pounding horse power rating of 88 (Oh don’t worry, it gets worse in 1974).

302 remained the same for the Mustang and was the standard for the Mach 1.  The 351’s (Cleveland and Windsor were available and they really remained the same as those for the other models.

Now you might be saying, ‘Well Tim, seems like you typed yourself in to a corner here.  Those engines are the same.”  But here is what made the differences  – options!!!

With special intakes, valve springs, dampers, large 4300 D carbs, 2.5 inch diameter dual exhaust outlets and modified cam, you now talking increased breathing and exhaling capacity. Which we all know means…say it with me…..”MORE HORSE POWER!!!!!”   But how much? I’m glad you asked.

The 351 with these types of option produced between 246 and 266 horse power.  The 302 doesn’t show being configured with anything other than the stock options.

1973 351 Cleveland 2 barrel Intake

'73 351 Windsor 4 barrel intake.

Why didn’t they put the 400’s in the Mustang????

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Bloomington Gold moves again | Hemmings Blog: Classic and collectible cars and parts

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All Corvette Show

Bloomington Gold moves again | Hemmings Blog: Classic and collectible cars and parts.

The world’s most significant all-Corvette show is moving back to central Illinois. After nearly a decade of being held at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Bloomington Gold will be moving about 115 miles south to the town of Champaign for 2013, near where it first began nearly four decades ago.

According to Bloomington Gold CEO, David Burroughs, “Although it will be hard to beat the beautiful fairways of Pheasant Run, input from Corvette-owning customers wanted more opportunity for socializing and driving events as part of the entire Corvette show experience. It needed to become more dynamic.”

David went on to say: “Our customers own Corvettes because they are fun to drive. So, we needed a venue that not only served our exhibitors and customers who buy/sell and certify Corvettes, but also a venue that makes it easy and fun to navigate to/from and around the community before, during, and after the show. Therefore, we needed a small-town atmosphere with big-town hotels, great facilities, and quick escape routes to miles of country roads. Champaign, Illinois, has the smaller-town atmosphere, and the University of Illinois Assembly Hall grounds have everything else.”

So mark your calendar for June 27-30, 2013. Not only will this be the first year for the new venue, but it will also be the show’s 40th anniversary. And if you’ve ever attended one of the Bloomington Gold shows, you’ll know that there’s something very special planned that every Corvette enthusiast will not want to miss. In the meantime, the 2012 edition of Bloomington Gold will remain in St. Charles and take place June 21-24. For more information, visit BloomingtonGold.com.

COPO IS BACK!! The Camaro As it was Meant to Be!!

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I just recently picked up a copy of GMs new Performance catalog and all I can say is WOW!!  But we’ll dive into that in a future post.

Gracing the cover was the latest and greatest COPO Camaro.  You remember those special order packages.  Well they have brought it back and factory racing just jumped up and shouted “LET DO IT!!!!”
[vodpod id=Video.15839761&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

COPO IS BACK!!, posted with vodpod

Engine Line Up: 1973 Ford – The 400s Part III

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Next up are the Ford 400’s that were available for 1973.

There were 3 options when it can to Ford’s biggest power plants in 1973, the 400 Cleveland the Thunderbird 429 and the Thunderbird 460. If you are thinking…YES!!! More Horse Power!!!! …you are going to be a bit disappointed, compared to today’s standard and the 1960’s standards.

The Cleveland had a cast iron block, over head valves and displaced 400 cubic inches. Its bore and stroke (4.00 x 4.00) and compression ratio (8.0: 1) were choked to death by the two barrel Motocraft carb. It produced only 163 hps

Wimpy - 400 2 barrel intake...needs a 4 barrel intake

Ford ' 73 400 in a wagon

 

 

The two Thunderbird engines (both cast iron with overhead valve) got the privilege of being topped with 4 barrel Motocraft carbs. The 429 displaced 429 cubic inches and the 460 knocked out..yup you guessed it 460 cubic inches.

They had a bore and store of 4.36 x 3.59 and 4.36 x 3.85 respectively and both had the same compression ratio of 8.0:1. The top hp for the 429 was just barely over 200 at 201 and the 460 out did that by 18 giving it a 219 hp.

Fords 460

 

429

 

Here is the twist with these and the rest of the Ford engines.  The horse power stated was changed depending what model the engine was used in.  Most of those in this series were the lowest stated.  For example the 302 was rated at 135 hp in the Maverick, but 138 in the Torino. (Yes, a whopping 3 more hp!!!)

The average difference was between 1 and 5 hps, so we aren’t talking about a bunch of hidden power as they were configured.  But we all know that you pop off  the that 2 barrel carb off any of these engines and plop on wide mouth Holley, and you were going to get much better numbers!!

Thanks for reading.  ’73 Mustang engines coming up.

Tim

Engine Line Up: 1973 Fords Part II – 351s

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Here is the second part of this ’73 line up for the V8.

There were 7 V8 in 1973 (not including the Mustang engines) and the ranged in numbers from 302 to 460 (big number to be sure). Just reading those you think..OH…THE …POWER…NOTHING BUT 100’s RUBBER BURNING, FISH-TAILING HPs!!!…right….uh…NO….these ain’t 60’s engine and they aren’t 2010 engines..nope..they the 70’s engines.  Here’s how they ponied up.

The 302 – Overhead valves, cast iron block with a bore and stroke of 4.00 x 3.00.  Compression ratio of 8.0:1 with 302 cubic inches displaced.  Top that with an awesome 2 barrel Motorcraft carb and you are knocking out 135 hp’s!!!!  Those are number only a grandma could love.  Compare that with the 302 sold under the hoods of Fords in 1970 which yielded 220 hp with a two barrel carb. (Take that 302 bore it .030, toss on a typhoon intake and a 4 barrel Holly you’ll have exactly what currently have in my ’70 Stang.)

My Mustang's Enhanced 302

 

Next up is the family of 351s, the Windsor, the Cleveland and the CJ Windsor.

All three had overhead valves, cast iron blocks and all displaced 351 cubic inches.  They shared the same bore and stroke which was 4.00 x 3.5 and the compression ratios ranged from 8.0:1 to 8.6:1 and the horse power varied by rpm 3800 to 4000 between 156 up to 177, the Cleveland and baby Windsor were choked with a 2 barrel carb while the CJ managed to steal a 4 barrel of the assembly line shelf and had a compression ratio of 9.0:1.   The 351 CJ was able to come in a little more respectable with 266 hp at 5400 rpm.

I will tell you this there were very few 351 CJ Windsor made in 1973 and 1974.  I owned a 1974 351 CJ  and my researched showed that less than 100 of these engined were produced that year.

All of these were used in the Torino, Montego, Mustang, Cougar and other Ford and Mercury models.  The 351 CJ was used in the Mustang and Cougar.

1973 Cleveland 351 2 barrel under the hood of a Mustang.

 

Up next the 400’s for 1973.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Ford says 200mph was the 2013 Shelby GT500 goal

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Source: MustangsDaily

 

As if the news of the 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 receiving 650 horsepower and 600 lb.-ft. of torque wasn’t awesome enough, we also found the new Shelby snake was to be capable of 200mph.  When we read the details of this 200mph GT500 feat back in November, we were (for the lack of a better term here) floored.  C’mon, 200mph (stable) from a Mustang?  Crazy enough, it’s just what Ford had in mind the entire time.

Keep reading to get more on this fantastic accomplishment by Ford, Shelby and the SVT engineers & designers.

Back at the 2011 LA Auto Show, Jamal Hameedi (SVT chief nameplate engineer) informed the masses the team had original plans to meet and surpass their original high speed ceiling during testing over in Italy.

“We told the guys to not bother coming back unless they had a two as the first digit…”  –Jamal Hameedi

In order to make the magic happen, the entire SVT team was tapped to make changes to the 2012 Shelby GT500 gearing, body, and suspension to maintain integrity at speed.  What’s most notable is the dual front splitters stacked atop each other, streamlining the draft to make the top speed of 202mph possible.

So…we have the top speed figure for the 2013 GT500; now it’s only a matter of time until we hear/read/feel the official accelerations times & rates.  Keep your eyes peeled for the intel here when it’s known!

WOW!

Thanks for reading

Tim

Engine Line Up: 1973 Fords Part I

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1973 was a good year, I was a still in high school and big engines weren’t extinct yet. Ford had a big assortment.  We are talking 10 to choose from if you didn’t count the Mustang engines.

Ford Pinto (this will be a parking log spot light coming up)

On small size 6 cylinder were still king but 4 cylinder was available for the Pinto.  For the larger engines displacement was large and the horse power small.

There was only one 4 cylinder available, reserved for the ill fated Pinto.  It sported an overhead cam and iron block.  It displaced a whopping 122 cubic inches and as one would expect had the smallest bore and stroke – 3.58 x 3.03.  The compression ratio was 8.2:1 and it tore up the street with 86 hps.  (No I didn’t for get the “1” in front of that.)  It was topped with a Ford/Weber 2 barrel carb.

2.0 Pinto Engine

The six cylinders came in 2 varieties  and were used in the Maverick and Torino.  The first was dubbed the Maverick 6 cylinder. It was configured with overhead valves and a cast iron block.  With the bore and stoke 3.68 x 3.13 it was able to displace 200 cubic inches.  The compression ratio was slightly higher than the 4 cylinder at 8.3:1 but it was fitted with a 1 barrel Motocraft carb resulting in only 84 hp.

The second ‘big brother” six cylinder was called the Maverick/Torino.  Again it had the overhead valves and cast iron blocks, same as its little brother, but it had a greater stroke 3.91 (3.68 X 3.91) compared to the its sibling 3.13.  The compression ratio was lower (8.0:1) and topped with the same single barrel carb it managed 88 hps.

The Torino was not a small car so it really need those 4 extra hps!!!

Ford 6 cylinder - nicely restored!!!

V8s  for 1973 coming up and then the Mustang engines.

Thanks for reading.

Tim