i'm confused? which way does it drop into od? if it upshifts to od, your tranny must have had something done to it at some point.

 

I say fix the downforce problem with a dual-15" subwoofer box and some amps! that oughtta help out in that department

 

well on the wings being functional , the camaros lip spoiler does very well also the firebirds wing. The thing is it depends on the speed your at to determine if they work well . most wings and spoilers dont create actual downforce till your going pretty fast , say 60 - 80mph. Dont quote me on thoes speeds but the faster you go the morew downforce youll receive. The height of the car also plays a large part in it , if your car is higher off the ground then the wind will pick it up and unless your going pretty fast the wing is basically just added weight and does nothing to the car. when the cars lowered the car will actually squat down slightly when doing 90+ atleast its true with gf's 92 Firebird. Handeling it also does alittle for. Take a corner with your factory spoiler / wing on at a quick speed , then without it... major difference , also highway riding is a big difference... Know this thanks to a coinstruction sign on a windy day... the firebirds wing is now in pieces. but speed determins how well the thirdgens spoilers and wings work. Their not top fuel dragster wings like some civics throw on. But still work

 

umm i think im getting 14 mpg. at crusing speeds of 40mph. then with my driving i think 10mpg. at like 60-70 my rpms are at i believe 3k. but i have a 305sbc. car runs fine. i think i managed 16 mpg once. dont know but its a hog.

 

i get about 15 mpg city and about 26 hwy with my 3.73s.

 

Well to answer my own question I found out today what gear the tranny was hanging in. It was the 2-3 shift...I just blew out 2nd on the way to work. So the car must have been hanging in 2nd at WOT. So I have yet another mess into the tranny shop. Well I guess i will come out of this with a real tranny now. This one was a jasper rebuild and was always suspect for perfromance because of it. Though it heal up for over a year with the 3.4 and the Transgo shift kit I installed, so I guess it was pretty good rebuild after all. Going to tell the tranny guy to build it like he builds the 700r4s for the V-8 cars that race. All the goodies. Make this baby strong. Then when I turbo it I should not have to worry about it not handling the power.

Said at one point he would build the 82s tranny for $600 if we brought in a coreand theat it would hold over 500 HP and torque at the Rear wheels! So mayeb he can do the same for my tranny for RAIF!

While its there I will have him address all WOT shifting issues. Should come back out with a solid tranny! While its there I will also see what he can do about the speedo gears. Then I can actually say how fast I have gotten my car and I will be able to do it @ WOT!

 

I seriously doubt you can feel the affect of our spolilers at speeds our cars are capable of... I especially don't think you'll notice on a turn, because its kinda hard to take a turn at 100mph (which is probably when you would experience any real downforce....with a real spoiler

the porsche spoiler automatically comes out at 75mph... and their spoiler is actually designed to apply downforce, and since it comes out at 75, I would assume its not even pushing down much then, I don't think ours do anything really...

plus if it really required 100+lbs of downforce, I wouldn't be surprised if my spoiler just ripped right off, seeing how they aren't very strong, and imo clearly just for looks...

I don't really understand what you meant about a construction sign, but EVERY spoiler's effectiveness is determined by your velocity, not just thirdgen spoilers...

 

the construction sign fell and took the wing off the firebird , Also theres a curve , not a L curve or anything a really gradual one near where i live , always had fun taking it about 75 or so. Since the wing was taken off car is alot looser around the curve. Also dont know which wing everyones thinking of but this is one that is like the late 3rd gen Z28's just not as high. Not saying their not for looks , just saying they are functional somewhat.

 

are you sure the wings even produce downforce in reference to the rest of the car?


most cars generate lift not downforce and with the wings I'm not even sure that you really would have true downforce just a reduction of lift.

 

Yeah, I think that is what some people were trying to say.

 

I bet since the sign was strong enough to knock off your spoiler, something else is wrong with your car too... but I dunno...


one thing I've often wondered... do those rediculously ugly aftermarket spoilers on those imports actually do anything useful for them? I know most 4-bangers civics have problems passing on the highway at even 70mph... makes me wonder if they can even reach speeds of 120+, where you might actually need some downforce.

 

I guess I shouldn't mention the must*ng wing on my car then

 

115

 

60MPH



Just kidding, sorta.. I was doin 60MPH on a 50MPH road when I first got my 91 Firebird. Next day I found the starter was shot and the battery was dead (again).

So right now I'm in the process of replacing those, but I am determined to hit the 120 my speedo tops at... theres a lot of long stretches of road out here in the sticks with not many cops.

 

No clue, The Berly speedometer does not show more than 85 MPH..when it starts blinking.

 

you cannot reprogram it? (it's digital, I'm assuming)

 

I have no clue if I can update or modify the speedometer...yup it is digital.
If somebody knows how to change it, it could be really helpful.

 

why on earth wouldn't it go higher? it should easily be able to show up to 99, and possibly 999... I'd have to look at it, that sure is strange.

at least the non-digital 85 speedo's are more defined, (more space between numbers,) so that's something to consider... there should be no reason to limit a digital speedo...

hrm it may be worth looking into, maybe you can reprogram some chip, or it's just some setting somewhere that a pro would know about.

 

because in 1985 it was the law to only have 85mph speedos.
and i beleive ive read you cant change it to go higher.

 

fastest I've been is a little over 100 . . . anything after that and I'd be probably scared ****less, as my right front tire is bald and I haven't really had time to get a new one lately.

 

some new tires are in order... your car should feel fine up to about 120mph... no vibrations,

 

I made it to 4000 RPM in Over Drive. I dont know for sure how fast it was, but was crazy fast to me. The car was supprisingly smooth though, some vibration but not near what I expected. I looked sideways out the window, and everything was just a ludacris speed blur. It was awesome.


"Prepare for light speed... No, light speed's too slow. We'll have to go straight to.... Ludacris speed!!"


Max

 

4,000 in OD?? are you sure it was in OD? that would be well over 100 mph. i don't feel like doing the math but probably more like 130 or so! ...depends on your gears and tire size of course.

 

I don't think that's possible.

In my 700r4, my engine turns at 2100rpms at 85mph, so mathematically speaking, I'd be at 161.9 MPH at your 'claimed' revvs.

I bet you were in 3rd gear, AND your TCC was not engaged.

force your TCC to engage and see what kind of speed you can achieve then.

 

It is possible on a long downhill grade with a little more holding pressure in the tranny valve body (1% grade only will do, not steep like 6%).

my top speed in this car so far is 4100 rpms in OD and that calculates to about 138-139 mph. I was able to get the car up to about 5600 prms in D and the pedaled it to shift. It then took a while to get the extra 10mph out of it but patients and a downhill grade will do it. By the way, 138 in D is just shy of 5900 rpms in my car. I have the areodynamics also because the car is very low and does not lift at spped due to the very stiff suspension (the nose will not bobble up on bumps at that speed so it is very stable. When this car was stock suspension when I first bought it years ago, I would have never tried to even go over 100 in this car it was that scary feeling- I'm talking when it was only 4 years old back in 1991. The stock tranny would never allow that speed either.

Scrapmaker, your calculations are not correct.
85mph/ 3.23/.70 OD/ 13" radius tires= 2483 rpms

 

one of those factors must be wrong then... because I am at 2000-2100rpm at 85mph, when the TCC is engaged.

215/65r15

rear-end unknown. assume stock 1990 3.1 rear-end... but I am not the original owner.

I am also assuming the gear ratios in my tranny are stock.. but again, I don't know ANYTHING about those factors...

three things I know for sure... 85mph/tire size/engine speed

 

My V6 2.8 2bbl carb Firebird from 1984 :
+/- 180 km/h = 112.5 mph (clocked with the gps system)
the rpm was at that moment about 4500 in overdrive

car was getting unstable after 175 km/h.
this was on a long straight road, in the Netherlands.

 

4500 in OD?? what rear end gears do you have??

 

All stock !

 

I bet your TCC was disengaged at such high rpms in that gear... I though that normally it would shift back down into 3rd if you gave it any gas in OD like that.

 

Something is very fishy here.

Figures don't lie, and they are not equalling your so called GPS speed reading. I would tend to trust GPS more than I would the cars gauges, however, you are not even close with your figures.

You were either in drive (D) doing 102mph @ 4500
-or-
You were in OD doing 145mph @ 4500

Since the second is virtually impossible with a 2.8 on a stock trans (will NOT reach 4500 in OD on a stock 7004r due to the nature of the vavle body)and stock hieght car(aroedynamically speaking). You were then in the range of 102mph.
-or-
you taxing that stock 2.8 for everything it had doing 4972 rpms in drive(D) Which I tend to believe and your factory tach is wrong.
4972rpms in drive(1:1 trans gear) with 26" tall tires (13" radius) and a stock rearend (3.42)= 112.5.

You were in Drive, not OD.

 

or he was in OD with his TCC disengaged... his converter could have been... 'converting' the rpms into torque...

I can get my OD to some high rpms but I'm clearly not going 145mph...

but I don't think I can get to 4500rpm in OD without the TCC engaged, because if I were to jam on the pedal enough to get it to rise to 4500 in OD, it would downshift...

so the only way to get to 4500 in OD is to slowly get there, which means the TCC would be engaged, and like RTFC pointed out... that would be almost impossible...

btw, those GPS things are only accurate if you maintain a certain speed for a while

I doubt you kept you car in OD AND at 4500rpm for a whole mile...

 

i think that the convertor will lockup at higher rpms on its own. the gear selector may have been in OD but the tranny wasn't.

 

I'll be breaking the 140mph barrier soon, just a matter of time and a few more motor parts added. The areodynamics, drivetrain and suspension can handle it, the motor just can't quite push me that fast even on a downhill graded.
I can hit 130 on flat ground in a reasonalbe distance, anything over that takes forever and I slight grade helps. I have done a GPS reading of 132mph around Calif Speedway high bank. That was the end of turn 1-2 bank after coming onto the beginning of the front straight at 90. It took about a mile from 90 to 130 all in (D) Sad but, my Vette does that in about an 1/8 mile. I am doing 155 when I crossed the start/finish line half way down the front straight. The camaro is at only about 110 here.

 

wonder what a honda accord v6 would get?

I'm ashamed to admit it... but man those things haul ***, even the mid 90's ones...

 

honda accord??? come on, man!

Dean, you don't have headlight covers, do you? do you think they do anything for aerodynamics? I would think that they would do something at those speeds as long as you have some that'll stay on.

 

AHAA gotcha!

I'd never drive one of those...

/secretly admires Type-R stickers, and their magical horsepower-gain ability.

 

Nothing fishy,
i will try ever make a video of it...
but the insurance of the car is currently off,
because i m driving now a GTA 5.7

and one more thing,
i ve used the GPS by all my cars,
i ve also a BMW 525 TDS, which i was
running at 200 km/h, the gps told the same, +/-190 km/h

 

so you were going somewhere between 10km/h and 390km/h??

that's really accurate for GPS!

 

whaha nooo noo... just 10 km/h difference :-)

 

not to revive a long dead topic but that just has arizona written all over it, the not listening to the federal government and keeping your state laws and its the way to go, i love arizona if it wasn't so damn hot i'd move there..............they'd need a beach aswell

 

Well, its just that burying the needle at all 85MPH is SOO innacurate for any fast speed! And listening to it by ear via RPMs aint gonna do it.

I really wanted to somehow put a small, digital speed gauge right undr the actual dial gauge so that i would know how fast i was going, like a digital LCD readout under the dial, keeping both functioning. Can that be done?

I have a 2.8. It runs smooth (im amazed its not dead) and it loks good and sounds nice, but.. the highway is work for it. Thats another reason i do 70 or 75, rarely 80. So its a good thing i think?

Honda Accord referenced will EMBARASS your Camaro on anything but a corner. And even then, it will get to it first and it will do a smooth 140 (V6 accord, even the 4-cyls move,) ... wow, Accord vs Camaro. That hurts, but, hey. Can the Accord do burn-outs? Was the Accord KNIGHT RIDER? Yup, ill take my 85mph car.

 

Glad this thread got revived. I was at Bonneville speed week last week and it was awesome. Looking at some of the "bricks" running out there I thought the 3rd gens would be very good aerodynamically. I've got a 91 V6 and it looks very sleek so should require less power to get to a given speed than many other cars. Yes a blown fuel big block would be easy but that's a tough class. Sticking with the V6 may be more interesting. Has anyone run this type of top speed event? I'm using the car for auto-x but mods required for the salt, other than gearing and tires mostly, wouldn't hurt the auto-x set up much. Even if the car was used for rookie qualifying in the 150-170 range it would be a hoot. Any thoughts?

 

I did 136 on the dyno in 3rd with the TCC unlocked.. does that count?

 

Is it possible ot put a digital LCD triple=digit speedo under the 85MPH dial in our cars, for when it ekes out 105MPH of really revving to redline?

The V6 Camaro looks nice, sounds nice, and does burnouts, but.. its sloooooow, highways it does 70mph and 75mph ok. Otherwise? Get ready to lose to that stock Honda Civic DX with three people in it..

 

Not sure, i was going by the datalogs.


I don't think i'll have a problem with any average civics.. I had a little fun with a LS1 swapped Miata the other day though.

 

238Km\h (a GPS was used to measure that) on Autobahn .Stock car (V6 MPFI)...well ,almost stock except tires and radio if that counts
I have no idea if it can do more than that or if that speed is normal since in papers I have 180Km/h as the maximum speed ,but I guess papers and reality don't mix that good

 

the v6 car would be lucky to hit 120mph at the ned of the 2 mile salt run without some forced induction or nitrous, not to mention the fact that u are goverend to 112 or 120 mph by the ecm on the 3.1 cars

i plan on running 2 cars out a bonneville in september as of right now my twin turbo iroc is a deffinate and ive been busting my *** on getting the v8 out of the firebird so i can drop in my v6 turbo motor and go run that as well

i am going to run both cars in the 150mph club,so if u make it out to the salt in september look for me ill be there with the tt iroc and an ugly red v6 powered firebird

 

do what i did buy a 145mph cluster out of a z28/iroc and swap it in

 

I would, but i want to accomplish two objectives:

1) Keeping the original 85MPH one working, even if it means converting the dash to/from "Gear drive"-driven speedo to imput the triple-digit LCD one, then retrofitting it BACK to the mechanical 85MPH gauge;
2) I really want to put Oil pressure GAUGE, Oil temperature GAUGE, coolant temperature GAUGE, and Ammeter (not voltmeter) GAUGE on the dash, too (under steering column.) Keeping the original fuel gauge, which does work. (Basically, im after a nice custom wiring job, so all my old, old brittle wires get replaced in process. Yes i know its time and $$ intensive. So what. I love the car.)

Im not a fan of the all-digital ones, though i have seen those. I want it to be different!

Assuming i had a lot of $$$$, would a setup like what i described (with the items in #2 sitting on the steering column, which is loose in my car) be possible?

I have the 84 2.8 Camaro Carb'd Auto, and when i am reunited with it.. it is not parting from me EVER again.

oh, and btw: *STOCK* 2.8 Camaros only go 145mph after smoking some good chronic/drinking some good beer. They dont like to go very fast. And i say this lovingly... it is a good motor, i love it, im jokingly chiding it as it is my car, and no offense to the weed, lol.... but "top speed" is not its forte. Its not the new Turbo Camaro V6 coming out for MY2012........