Hi Auto Brothers... I was out driving for fun Saturday and I noticed something with a friend. we raced for 2 and a half miles upstate new york on his track and I won twice!!! He has a car I think some kind of mustang the speedomter said something like 230 or 40 something mph The **** is LOUD!

I have a 1989 Pontiac Firebird with v6 2.8 litre engine my Speedometer say's 180 mph

When we started my car took OFF!!
His did also but not like mine he was close to me but he did not pass me WTF?
I looked at the specs on my car and it say's that is somewhere near the 280 hp mark I say's that it was a pace car or something?

Is it possible for the car to go faster than the speedometer say's?

And how do I find out how fast this thing really moves?

By the way my friend now wants to buy a new engine I told him it's not worth the money you don't really have that many places to race that thing
except out of town... Oh well I won and I'm going to give my car a wash for a job well done

Thanks for reading and any answer would help me... really

 

you dont have a 280hp motor i think you misread 2.8l and no it will not do 180mph. i dont recall and 89 pacecars but you should check with somebody who knows the history a little better. i would like to see links for the info you found giveing you these numbers. and saying that your friend has some sort of mustang really dosent help at all. was it a foxbody? an sn95? ect... i can belive that a v6 fbody can take down some mustangs, but i dont think your numbers are right.

 

well first off, you car doesnt have 280 HP, secondly, the speedo is probably 180 KPH, the third gens only had 85, 115, and 145 MPH clusters.....and if you;re beating a mustang its probably the 4cyl fox or the v-6 sn-95's..

 

No, you don't have a 1989 Turbo Trans Am (3.8L SFI turbo)...

 

I'm going to have to agree with everyone else.. There's no way your car is 280HP, with the V6 [stock anyways].. and there's no way your car can do 180MPH.. Yes it is possible for a car to go faster than the spedometeter.. but a stock V6 will not reach anywhere NEAR 180MPH.. thats.. 300KM/PH [I think? If it math is correct?]

 

This is a classic case of someone who knows alot about nothing.

Thanks for the laugh.

 

I hope he's a troll.

 

 

To answer the question 280 hp is pretty fast. If my 5L TPI had 280hp I would be happy.

 

Hello Auto Brothers again...
First and foremost I will say that I am sorry for all the hoop-La! that was started yesterday over my car. Here's what happend I did read the guage wrong on Saturday it did say 180 on the speedometer but you were right is was in kph. Also the article I read on the car was from this article which say's




Comments: Pontiac created a special 20th Anniversary edition Trans Am for 1989 by raiding the Buick parts bin. Pontiac took the Buick turbo-charged 3.8 liter V6 (which had gained fame under the hoods of Buick Gran Nationals and GNX), modified the cylinder heads and turbo plumbing, and squeezed it into the Firebird engine bay and hooked it up to a mandatory four-speed automatic transmission. Pontiac conservatively rated the engine at 250 bhp, but most independent testers felt that it made more. This turbo charged beast was relatively easy to live with and truly fast. Furthermore, it could also be ordered with a notchback-style hatch, that gave the car the look of a coupe.


And this was the other article I read:

The 20th Anniversary Trans Am had a special turbocharged, intercooled 231-cubic-inch V-6. It was conservatively rated at 250 horsepower to avoid high insurance premiums, but produced closer to 300 horsepower and massive torque. Even the most powerful standard 1989 Trans Am V-8 produced only 225 horsepower.
The turbocharged V-6 was similar to the engine in Buick's 1987 Regal Grand National GNX model -- another desirable 1980s muscle car that saw production of only 547 units. Other Trans Ams had a V-8, so the V-6 installation called for extensive custom work. The engine came only with a crisp-shifting four-speed heavy-duty automatic transmission.
A sport suspension allowed superb stability and handling, although rough roads caused it to bounce around a little because it lacked independently sprung rear wheels. Fast stops weren't a problem because it had four-wheel power disc brakes beefed up with competition-developed vented front rotors and dual-piston aluminum calipers.
The 20th Anniversary Trans Am currently is valued at $23,325, compared with $5,775-$6,825 for a regular Trans Am V-8. When new, the anniversary model was the most expensive Firebird, with a list price of about $25,000 -- or about $5,000 more than the top Trans Am V-8.
Some Pontiac dealers charged at least $30,000 for the anniversary model because the car was rare and desirable. Its low production and perceived historical significance caused a rash of speculation. Pontiac had 3,000 dealers, so that meant that roughly one or two of them probably never got their hands on one of the cars.

Now after all of that stuff I again say I am sorry for you guys getting the hairs on your backs raised

By the way I love this forum because you guys really respond to eachother and I think that that is great!!!

Take care and bare with me as I learn about my car this is my first one and most likely my last one since I have always wanted this car.

See you soon my Auto Brothers

 

you see you need to pay attention to those numbers. confuseing 3.8l and 2.8l will do that to you. although i would hope you could figure out that your car was not turbocharged without haveing to read a article. if you had a TTA you would know it it would look just like the one pictured.

 

10-4 over and out Auto Brother.

May the torque be with you

 

Auto Brother come in Auto Brother whats your 20? SRY I had too LMAO I know how it is to be misslead when I got my camaro some 6 yrs ago I thought the rs on the side stood for Really Slow and turnes out it dose!

 

just fyi the iroc-z g92 camaro had more hp than 225