I don't know. To tickle 140 in my car I have to slightly exceed my self imposed red line. With 3.70:1 gearing and the lengths of the straights, I couldn't hit 150 if my life depended on it. And I'm not sure I'd want to.

 

Ok, here goes, confession time....it's not the speed that one will notice the lift, it's the nut behind the steering wheel. The younger the nut, (the more invincible (foolish) it is) the likelyhood of noticing danger is considerably less than for an older nut. I grew up in an era when street racing was the norm and area (mid-west flatland farm country) where the roads between towns would be flat and arrow straight for 5 to 10 miles and crossroads were laid out every mile. In 1963, especially at night or early morning hours, traffic was practically non-existent. Street drag racing was not limited to 1/4 mile, but might last until 120mph or more depending on how far ahead one car was in front of the other.

True long run high speed side-by-side racing was not a normal exercise but for many owners it was a rite-of-passage to be able to answer the question of "how fast will it go?" That said, and without disclosing details of how or why this came about I also met this rite-of-passage one late/early morning run. Highway 231 was straight and flat for 5 miles, it was cool and the hardtop was on and I was young and urged on by my best friend that I credit for keeping me alive all those early years. Taillights were turned off (a quirk with my headlight switch, push it part way in and the rear lights went out but headlights stayed on).

As we blasted out of town at full throttle we watched the tach and speedometer competing as they worked their way around. 135mph was easy and had been there before but beyond that was uncertain. Foot on the floor, straddling the center line and eyes glued to the road while my friend was reporting RPM and speed. 140 came up pretty quickly but after that it was slower but crept up with tach finally reaching 6800RPM and speedometer bouncing at 147mph. I looked down and so badly wanted to see 150mph, Gas pedal to the floor with wind noise and engine screaming it would NOT go faster. I can't remember the car feeling loose but then I didn't have anything to compare it too as my previous car was a 55 Chevy. My car would never reach 7000RPM but my cousin and another friend's 63 Corvette would hit 7 grand easily, they ALWAYS beat me in a drag race to 110mph, but I had 3:70 gears and they were running 4:56 and 4:11. If I could have gotten those few extra RPMs i could have seen 150.

That was the fastest and the only time I attempted a top speed run, although early one morning with my friend driving I woke up hearing the gearshift vibrating and engine wailing. I asked him how fast he was going, his reply was, "140, I passed a car back there and it felt so good I just kept going" I went back to sleep.

Yeah, yeah, I know it was irresponsible to drive on public highways like that, I "may' have known it then but didn't care. I was driving my dream car and using it exactly how I always dreamed of doing. I don't know how a drug induced high feels, but I can't imagine how it could be better or more exhilarating than being young and driving a brand new Corvette. Corvette owners back in the day were much younger than todays and frankly, more rough-shod and carefree. We were factory workers, farmers, mechanics. (GM Came to hate that image as did Porsche owners that we beat regularly ) Rules, we don't need no stinkin rules!!! We are young Corvette owners.

PS If you think that was bad you should have been around the C4 ZR1 owners during their week ends at the NCM and Beach Bend and the Enzo that showed them all up.... It was like the 60's again. But that's another story...........



Gary

 

Anything much past 75-80 in the '66 and I become keenly aware that an accident has a fairly good chance of being fatal.

Pretty much not worth it.

 

You can say the same about EVERY car made. I drive 85 mph on the freeway every time I am on one and am being passed frequently.

These old Corvettes were MADE for this type of driving.

 

In every other car I own, if you crash at 75 mph big fluffy pillows deploy all around me. Plus they are all built with crumple zones and reinforcements to keep the "cockpit" as intact as possible. Plus I have seatbelts that actually work.

So you crash and it's most probably just a bad day.

The C2 on the other hand provides only marginally more protection than a motorcycle and there is a legitimate debate over whether you are better off with the lap belt buckled or unbuckled.

 

Always better buckled in. I drove a ambulance in the early 70s. The “thrown clear” is a myth. I saw it 1st hand and the stories I could tell.

drove my vert today. took a freeway cruise here in Vegas. Had to run 82 mph to keep up with traffic. No prob as I have a TKO600 5 Speed.

you just have to drive your Vette like you’re riding a murder cycle.

 

Just rotate the headlights most of the way up, that’s as much of an air dam as you’ll ever need.

 

I've been running mine for 25+ years. It's a pure street car..cross country cruiser that also happens to run 8's@162 in the 1/4 mile and 200+ MPH at the TX Mile.

I added a simple spoiler in preparation for my first high speed event. Previously I'd been running the 1/4 mile in the 142 MPH range with no handling issues...but I had heard all the horror stories and wanted to do what I could. I also install hood latch extensions when running at the track. I can't say the spoiler helped anything...but I don't think it hurt.

This pic is at 177 MPH while still using my drag race front springs and shocks...so it was rising in the front....but it seemed to be more of an issue of acceleration as I put my foot in it. As mentioned..I found the headlights tended to roll open at mega speeds...hence the tape holding them down. I've heard it actually helps...but I wanted them closed for aesthetic reasons! LOL

JIM

 

Tremec has a nice gear ratio calculator that includes the ability to check various transmissions. Using a 1.0 transmission ratio and a 205/70-15 tire, I get just over 139 MPH at 6000 RPM with a 3.36 rear end. You can play with it here.


As for the issue raised by the OP, I have absolutely no need for a spoiler as my car is only driven on the street and I don't go past 80mph in this car. I do think a tasteful spoiler looks nice, though.

 

I installed a front air dam like the '69 Camaro on the front of our car. It seems to me that if it helps a lot at 100 mph plus, then it would also help a bit at freeway speeds.
For me, there are two benefits. First, I think there might be a very slight increase in miles per gallon. The much bigger benefit is that it keeps the dead bugs off of the A arms!


Gerry

 

[QUOTE=Kurgen123;1605133493]I was thinking of getting a front spoiler for my C2 Corvette to keep the front from lifting at higher speeds. Any suggestions of where to find one? Plus do you think it throws off the look of the C2 by doing that. I've seen a lot of C2s that get modded out & they start looking very strange to me.

As far as, throwing off the look I think it depends on what satisfies your tastes. Of course at high speeds in excess of 140 mph you may want one for protecting against the front end from lifting.
I use one but for a few other reasons: 1- for me I like how it looks, but that's just me; 2- for cooling my front brakes on the '65 because I have the side vent louvers' and my spoiler accommodates this function; and 3- if I ever drive that fast again I want to know I'll stay done with the front end. I've tested this in the past when I was much younger. Here's what it looks like.


There are ducts on both sides to send the cool air to the brakes and exits out the 3 vents behind the front wheel.


Side view shows the profile as the spoiler is not a straight line but a shallow 'V' shape.


You can see where the cuts were made in the spoiler for the bumper to come through.

My spoiler was built back in the 70's by I believe it was Phase 3 Motion or something like that. I've had it that long.
For many years it was off the car but after my resto in 2007 I put it back on and have not looked back. It sits at the just right angle and height that I have not scraped it on any speed bumps or curbs.
I guess what I'm saying, if you think you will like to have one on your car than go for it. Whether you drive at those speeds or your looking for the cool factor it's all good.
Wayne

 

heres a picture of the 67 with the ecklers front spoiler can't tell you about speed, don't drive that fast anymore

 

Back in the sixties when I spent at least one day a year hot-lapping my SWC (340 HP, 3.08 axle) at Kent, the front end was definitely "up" and the steering felt light going through the "kink" (Turn 1) flat at 140 MPH.

I also had it up to about 150 (about 6000 revs) a couple of times on public highways including northbound on the I5 express lanes over the ship canal bridge just north of downtown Seattle at 2:30 AM back in June of '68. (There was NO other traffic.)

Aero drag and lift increase with the SQUARE of speed, and you might be able to feel it at reasonable highway speeds that I'll say are up to 80 MPH, but I recall Texas has some 85 MPH limits. A front air dam will not only reduce lift, but it will also reduce drag, and aid cooling by forcing more air into the radiator opening that might otherwise flow under the car.

C2 pitch-up angles can get pretty extreme due to both front lift and rear squat since the three link rear suspension has poor anti-squat properties. I'm sure everyone has seen photos of the Grand Sports with pitch attitudes like a 737 at V2.

Duke

 

427Hotrod,
Do you run any kind of frame close out pan or under-car floor pan to help with air flow under the car?

 

No sir....not a thing. It would certainly help... but there's nothing under there. Heck the spare tire carrier would help...but it's not there.

JIM

 

I have a 64 with a Muncie and a 4:11 rear and the 300 hp engine redlined at 5000. I have noticed that with this combo my speed is approximately 2x the rpm. So my top speed would be just at 100 mph which I would never do. I'm still paying off two speeding tickets from two years ago and another one would put me in the high-risk category with my insurance company. I wouldn't even consider taking this fuel monster on a long highway trip. At 70 mph my engine is about 3500 rpm which is so much higher than any modern car. For me, this is the ideal town car with instant acceleration in any gear. I rarely use 3rd since 4th has so much torque at any legal speeds. I thought long and hard about the TKX before I bought the Muncie but decided that I did not buy this car as a highway cruiser so the need for a 5th gear just wasn't in the cards.

 

Your combo sounds nice for the way you drive your car and an air dam would only aid you for cooling purposes.
BTW, there is a difference between an air dam and a front spoiler and all of my posts on the subject are in reference to an air dam.

 

but if you have a cooling system and engines tuned to correctly and experience zero cooling problems why would you need one?

 

Likely he doesn’t but this is a thread about air dams/spoilers so I simply pointed out what the advantage to him MIGHT be.

 

I am in favor if fixing the root cause not a band aid. but carry on. but it seems the only thing that it helps is the aesthetics if you like that look