500hp 66 coupe

well, it's a free country

if he wants to drive with 500hp, then I'm sure he can, and take steps to strengthen the frame. After all, without guys posting big numbers for bragging rights there wouldn't be anybody for the experienced older guys to razz.

I assume the Trans Am '69-70s had a roll cage, and that might be in his plans if he wants 500hp.

The thing is, there are semi-supercars out there now that are getting 500hp, (Mercedes, Bentley, Aston-Martin, and of course Ferrari, Porsche, etc.) and I think that for a lot of the guys here who have spent a lot of money on their car, the last thing they want is for a Mercedes to beat them in a straight line. I'm talking track here of course - your insurance probably doesn't cover street racing.

With a 500hp stroker, you would probably get the benefit of having tons of freeway torque even at a low RPM, which would be a nice benefit for effortless passing.

And the Trans-Am cars were silly light; I'm sure there's a lot we could do with 450HP and similar torque. I have no idea how I'm going to get my 'vert to handle anywhere near that without a roll bar, and I would only want a bolt-in roll bar at that . . .

To each his own, just be careful with all that power . . .

180 Out said:

Your question reminds me of the fact that, in their "factory team" Trans Am hey day these old heaps only generated about 450 hp at the flywheel; even at that performance level the Trans Am was disinvited from the Daytona and Sebring endurance races for fear a production-based Mustang or Cougar might finish ahead of the exotic European sports prototypes.

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my benz would be one of those.......... see signature line.

5.0ina66 said:

Centrifugal blower is easy, roots a little harder, and turbo is major Fabbing fun, but Shelby's Paxton blown ones made 400+HP back when...no reason a 393 or 427W can't do 600FWHP. All provided $$$ is there of course! amnit:

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My bad, I did not think the Paxtons were rated that high. Their website is showing a 1500 that is rated for 825hp too.

brianj5600 said:

My bad, I did not think the Paxtons were rated that high. Their website is showing a 1500 that is rated for 825hp too.

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to reach 500 on a stroker you could probably get away with 7-8 psi to reach 500 HP if you go up to the 10+psi you would probably surpass the 500 HP,I would like to think I have 500+FWHP,but if i rarely step on it whats the harm,its there incase i need it

dodgestang said:

The accident was back in Feb. do a search or go to my site...you can read all the details....driving under tractor trailers is fun.

All fixed...just ran 12.5s at the track with it. Just putting it up as an example....you spend $$$ on power, and you spend big money on suspension, and brakes, and wide tires, and then you might get a little overconfident about the car....add a little weather.....

I know alot of what is driving numbers anymore is the HP numbers not only coming out of manufactures...LIke 300 this, 400 that....but then the aftermarket crowd adding up their mods and spitting out numbers.

Any car with 400 (not even 500) RWHP even a brand new one presents a HUGE amount of power that you are lucky if you can even use 50%-75% of within the street environment.


Just curious; Have you (originally poster) ever driven a car that put down even 300 RWHP on a dyno?

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So, in your experienced opinion, how much horsepower is 'enough' for a primarily street driven '66 Mustang ?. I'm genuinely curious..as I suspect are many owners who are planning a new engine combo, and are confused by the marketing hype surrounding HP numbers as you state. I for one haven't experienced 300 rwhp, and don't have a clue whether I need 300 or 400 rwhp to give me the horsepower rush I need/want, while still keeping a reasonably balanced car which is not solely defined by the amount of horsepower it makes, but is more of a powerful,and balanced package for street use.

I'm sneeking up on 300 rwhp and if/when I reach that goal I think that would be plenty for any street car. I'm not counting the nirous I have on it for track use. Its not hard to get to 300+ with the right engine and a paxton or something similar. I'm sure there are guys out there that would say 300 isn't enough but if you have a daily driver I think much more than that and your going to have a car that isn't going to like the rain and still be able to hold traction with the street tires you'll have to use.

KiwiGT said:

So, in your experienced opinion, how much horsepower is 'enough' for a primarily street driven '66 Mustang ?. I'm genuinely curious..as I suspect are many owners who are planning a new engine combo, and are confused by the marketing hype surrounding HP numbers as you state. I for one haven't experienced 300 rwhp, and don't have a clue whether I need 300 or 400 rwhp to give me the horsepower rush I need/want, while still keeping a reasonably balanced car which is not solely defined by the amount of horsepower it makes, but is more of a powerful,and balanced package for street use.

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Not quite that cut and dry. Depends on how much $$$ you are willing to spend in other areas of the car to get everything 'right'. If you look at the stuff coming out of unique motors they spend just as much if not more getting the rest of the car in tune with the power levels made. When DT was putting 290 RWHP out at the wheels....(# made on very first dyno pull with no tune yet) the car was fast but still managable on the street. I could down shift and take off at any time. I could floor it out of lights spin the tires a little and then take off with traction. When the car was dyno tuned the second time it started at 330 RWHP....and it had become difficult...downshifting into second would light the rear tires and they would smoke all the way until I shifted again into 3rd. Now with the tune I have....I can never leave a traffic light without feathering the throttle, the only time I really give the car any amount of gas is up at freeway speeds and merging...but even then I have to be careful. Where you are used to driving other cars and punch it to pass someone, with power levels close to 400 RWHP, if I punch it...I run into the person in front of me so it requires a lot more 'attention' when driving. Sitting in traffic also sucks rocking and rolling and heating up in the summer sun and running along at 213 degrees.

I'm never satisfied...that's why I have such a big motor...but right now even though I drive DT all the time, it honestly is too much power for a street car that can only fit a 255 40 17 on the rear.

dodgestang said:

Here is what 400 RWHP looks like after bad weather and 70 MPH.

I've been using these 3 questions a lot in the last week....

1. What is the budget?
2. What is the use for the car? Street, Track, Both?
3. Aside from puffing up your chest and saying "I have 500 RWHP", what is the actually performance goal you want to meet?

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Man I feel for you - it's horrible seeing beautiful cars crunched, especially when you know someone loves it. Get it fixed, don't let it die or throw it away.

To the thread topic - I understand what the 500 / 600 / 400 rear wheel horsepower goals are all about, and I'm now down to the 400 goal, for several personal reasons that I don't expect anyone to understand, but I was once someone who wanted 600hp in my car. I've since realised that yes it would beat any car in a race, but be a pain to drive and would suck fuel, and get you many tickets. I now want a car that is nice to drive, nice stereo, sound and heat proofing, air-con, fuel injection, and SOME power. It won't be the god car, but it will hold its own. I agree with those saying to think about your goals, as once you've spent the money and have what you wanted, you'll soon realise your long-term wants are more friendly. That's just my opinion.

The secret formula for the 500HP is: $$$$

I have found a good way to measure what is "enough for me", I compair power to weight ratios. Here's the deal, My buddy has an 03 Mach 1, The fastest car I have ever ridden in. Lastnight we were on some country roads when I really got a chance to open her up. The car pinned me back in the seat through all 5 gears. We were well on our way and would have passed 150Mph (Faster than I'd ever want my car's 41 year old ass going). Driving the Mach made me giggle (on the inside of course) and made me realize that that kind of power is enough for me, but since it IS my good friends car, I want to go just a little faster. So I theorize: Mach 1 weighs 3460 curb and puts out 281rwhp and 305rwtq, That gives us a respectable 12.3 lb per hp and 11.34 lb per tq. My car weighs 2600 lbs which means I only need (theoreticaly) 211 rwhp and 229 rwtq to be competative. Of course his 3.55 gears and 245 rubber will beat my current 3.00 gears and measely 195s now, but thats all going to change. Plus, I'm shooting for 260 rwhp to get me at 10:1. The point is that weight makes just as big of a diffrence as HP and TQ we HAVE light cars, we can use that to our advantage. IMO 500 HP would tear up your 66 coupe unless you have BUILT it FORD TOUGH to handle that kind of power, in which case I would probly **** my pants going that fast. Your not making a drifter are you?

Tyler

dodgestang said:

I'm never satisfied...that's why I have such a big motor...but right now even though I drive DT all the time, it honestly is too much power for a street car that can only fit a 255 40 17 on the rear.

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I hear ya...

I managed to tuck a 275 and it's not even close to enough with mine. I basically feather first gear, and the same as I get into 2nd just so I don't spin the tires into my rev limiter! I even switched to a softer tire to try and help a little.

A different thought

You know what works nice in a light bodied car, is a higher reving motor (easily spins 7K+ rpm) that makes it's peak torque above 5,000 rpm. This is not a gas thrifty engine, nor is it your stop light to stop light racer, but it is way fun on an open twisty road. Very tractible at 400hp due to the lower torque numbers at normal daily driver rpms. Talk about a sweet sound. Solid roller cam, big easy breathing heads, manual transmission 3.73 or lower gears. Really a lot of fun on the track.