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The question comes a lot - how fast will your Corvette go? I can only guess and am not about to try and find out the real way. It's a 66 vert w/ hardtop, 390 hp original L36, 3.36 rear and 4 speed trans. Everything else is stock including carb, cam, etc. At 60 mph it spins at 2500 so I assume at 5500 redline it would translate to around 135. The question I have is whether the 390 hp would keep pulling that far and then self destruct.
The question comes a lot - how fast will your Corvette go? I can only guess and am not about to try and find out the real way. It's a 66 vert w/ hardtop, 390 hp original L36, 3.36 rear and 4 speed trans. Everything else is stock including carb, cam, etc. At 60 mph it spins at 2500 so I assume at 5500 redline it would translate to around 135. The question I have is whether the 390 hp would keep pulling that far and then self destruct.
The first assumption is, would that engine still pull to 5500 rpm in high gear. Might not do it.
I don't know why it would self destruct unless there was something wrong with it.
People would ask me all the time when I had my first 54 Corvette, "How fast will it go" I told them this car is sum 50 yrs old I do not know nor do I care how fast it will go. Then I would ask them how fast can there grand mother run the Boston Marathon? She would die if she tried they would say. So I told them oh but you want me to take a 50 year old car and drive it as hard as I can and if something breaks then you get to pay for the parts if I can find them and if I can not find the parts plus labor to fix it then you get to buy the car from me for $60K. They never asked how fast it could go again. You can not fix stupid.
Personally I don't care how fast any of my C1 or C2 cars go I drive them to enjoy them. If I want to go fast I will take this bad *** out and push it to the max and it will do well I am sure of it.
Last edited by Mike Terry; 11-25-2016 at 09:00 PM.
My 65 coupe, back in the 70's, with a 365/327 (6500 redline) and 3:55 rear would do 135. After I added a small front spoiler and small rear ducktail would do that hands off. At 120 before the small spoilers it was both hands to keep it straight.
My 72 Porsche 911 coupe with a 78 3.0L twin plug engine (9:1 power to weight), with front spoiler and rear Porsche Ducktail (7200 redline) will do 140 pretty easy.
Only done that a couple times on the street but 125 frequently on road race track. I'm a retired pilot so those speeds are typical approach and landing speeds to me.
Just did it a couple of weeks ago from a standing start in a 1/2 mile. But I had a little more power to get it there.....
To OP...no reason to not expect a 427/390 to go 135 MPH. If it can't get to 5500 RPM in high gear...something isn't right. With 26" tires it will take about 5850 to get to 135 with 3.36 gears.
I can't do the math (rpm x rear gears) to come up with 177 with a stock tranny.
I would not even think about trying it, personally.
My 6500 rpm '65 with 4.11:1 rear gears says about 126 is the limit. Would I do it? He'll, no.
In my C6, easily.
Mine has 3.07 rear gears......28" tall tires....1 to 1 high gear. Was only turning about 6500 RPM at 177 MPH. Plenty left in it when I crank up the power a little next time!
I had my 66 sb up over 120 a handful of times but not in the last 20 years though.
I I remember right it was taching over 5300
FWIW it handles a static 5K easily.
Most engine self destructions (my experience anyway) happen at the top of 1st or second gear (not in 4th) from over rev or a missed shift.
To OP...no reason to not expect a 427/390 to go 135 MPH. If it can't get to 5500 RPM in high gear...something isn't right. With 26" tires it will take about 5850 to get to 135 with 3.36 gears.
JIM
That engine is rated 390 hp @ 5200 rpm. How much does it put out at 5850 (if it will wind that tight) and whatever that amount is, is it enough to push the car that fast? My limited experience with those engines over the years tells me they don't make much power beyond 5500. Solid lefter engines are the exception. They just keep on pulling.
Might get close with a 27 inch tire (stock size) and a fresh engine/valve springs. I had a 427/390 with 3.08 rear years ago that on a deserted 4-lane in northern OK I used to take up to just a little over 100 once in awhile and it was just loafing. But I'm too old to try go-fast stuff any more.
I remember doing 110 in a stock 64 coupe with a 327/300hp and at that speed it felt like the front wheels were coming off the ground. A front spoiler would have been helpful.
After 120 mph, it's more about aerodynamics and suspension/tires than anything else, geared properly. My early GTO's hit a wall at 130 mph: steering is light, car is about to take off the road, wiper arms are blown straight up, scary. 145 in my friend's lowered spoilered '74 Firebird is as solid as a rock. There's a gent from Finland who hit about 200 in a mildly modded '65 coupe....spoilers and small aero mods. The C2 is far better than most mid '60's platforms to try to go fast with.....the mid size musclecars are like a brick. Another thing to consider is the gassers back in the '60's....they changed over to funny cars around '67 or so when the speeds were getting high enough for the cars to take off and get fully airborne at 3/4 track (about 170mph)! Aerodynamics is critical at speed!
With your 3.36 gears it will easily run 135+. In fact I predict it will run 140+ at 6200 with evrything stock! My 67 427/400 would run to 6200 in every gear, but was geared 3.70 with CR transmission. The hydraulic lifters are the ONLY limit on your engine speed. When I changed to the stock 427/425 solid lifter cam, the engine would rev to 7000+ and did many times until I sold the car. However, it's not "safe" because the low performance (hydraulic lifter) version comes with cast pistons which will come apart (and DID) after about 6200rpm if used very often. As far as the stability of the body/chassis, I run over 160mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with complete stability, and (as mentioned) Jim runs his convertible to 177mph, and is still here to tell the story.
11-25-2016, 08:14 PM
How fast could I go?
