I may be leaving the third gen world here shortly, well kind of, I've had my eye on a 85 vette for a long while now and have driven it twice. Its in great condition and the price is right, $5500. Now, the owner claims it to have 500hp (assuming he means crank), and I believe it, but I need a better opinion. The car has a 355 block (as far as I know, its stock) tpis mini ram, completely worked fast burn heads, tpis solid roller cam(specs unknown to me), ceramic coated long tubes and borla exhaust, and accel 36lb injectors and larger fuel pump, with a good tune. Everything on the car works and everything else was built to handle the power. The car pulls well past 7k easy and chirps the tires out of every gear. Reaches 160 in no time. So is this car the beast I believe it is, or am I just blind to what Horsepower really is?

Sorry for the long winded post!

 

by the way, if this happens, which this time around I am determined to make it happen, I will most likely be parting out my Trans Am. Watch for it in the classifieds!

 

Sounds like alot of H/P for what it is.
If its that important to you, get it on a chassis dyno before you buy it.

If its a fun car and you like it, who cares what the horsepower is?!?

Everyone seems to claim stupid high H/P these days. Stock '85 Vette's had like 235-H/P....

GM Performance Parts Ram Jet 350 Crate engine:
Chevy Ram Jet F/I with Vortec Heads makes 350 hp.

160mph? Really? The last time I sat in a '85 vette with LCD cluster, it had a redline of 5500 and the spedo topped out at 85mph...

 

ask him why he put 36 lb injectors in that setup

 

I have an 85 vette with a built motor and it stops pulling at 4900 rpm. if that vette is pulling to 7000 rpm its built.I agree though the only way to know for sure is a dyno sheet or quarter mile slip.

 

36lb injectors seem a good bit large for a 355. a 383 making 500hp would only require 30lb SVO ford injectors/36lb accels. thats with a 383 with 30 more cubes basically and flowing a bunch more air. supposidly the 36lb injectors are good for 550hp. still i think thats a bit large for a 355 even wit pullin to 7000.

 

well, the car pulled a 11.53 in the quater down here in 70 degree weather, watched it happen. I was just guessing that it was a stock bottom end, but it could be a 383 for all I know. When it idles its very lopey but in a good way, not hunting rpm wise, just sounding likes its gonna die. The gauge with the bar only goes to 85, but the actual number readout goes to 180, of course it could be slightly off. I think this car is well worth the money, just wanted some opinions.

 

Well if you use a calculator like;

http://robrobinette.com/et.htm

You are looking at aprox 500 flywheel H/P.

3400lb car with 11.5ish in 1/4 Mile

Of course this is rough guess, there are many facotrs to 1/4 mile times = accual H/P.

Ballpark at least