1970 Muscle Cars
- Thread starter YkcorCal
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Straightshooter2
US Veteran
I had a 1973 Roadrunner 440 with the pollution control motor with 8.5:1 compression pistons. We rebuilt the engine with 10.2:1 pistons, 1968 440 heads shaved .027", and Hemi valve springs. I may have the numbers wrong but it seems I remember the cam as .444 intake/.446 exhaust, 292 degree duration with 87 degree overlap? The crank, rods (6 packrods), and pistons were balanced buy Honest Charley/Atlanta Speed Shop. Edelbrock CH-4B dual plane intake with a 3310 Holley. Removed the metering plate from the secondaries in the carb and replaced with a block with jets. All of that was channeled through a Slap Stick 727 Torqueflight custom built for me by a friend of mine, Paul Forte of TurboAction Transmissions. It still had an 11" converter but was upped to 3300 RPM stall. Custom paint, including a 2 foot tall Roadrunner airbrushed on the hood, was done by an art teacher at one of the local colleges.
A friend of mine who was an auxiliary Florida State Patrol told me once every State Trooper in Jacksonville knew that car. LOL
BTW, that was the slow one. My '70 Duster dragster was the fast one.
A friend of mine who was an auxiliary Florida State Patrol told me once every State Trooper in Jacksonville knew that car. LOL
BTW, that was the slow one. My '70 Duster dragster was the fast one.
Shootist
Member
I like those styling duds too!
I see a GTX or Satellite in those pics. Hard to tell which.
We ran them in the '80s too. I had a '71 340 Duster I bought from a buddy's grandmother (literally!) in '82 for $600. Had 50k miles on it. Ran it all through high school and in to college. Most of my friends ran muscle cars too. One had a '69 GTO Judge, another a 442. They had been well used when we bought them but they were pretty cheap and parts not too hard to find. Had an abandoned airstrip we used to race them on the weekends. Great fun for a bunch of high school guys.
Some Shelby’s parked in the museum in Vegas.
Anyone ever own an AAR Cuda?
I got my DL in 1974, and my first car was a '69 Chevelle (Malibu w/lowley little ole' 307) But I put air shocks, glass packs and wide tires on it and drove the **** out of. Then bought a '73 Gran Torino Sport that I drove for about 10 years. Wish I still had that one.
Later, when I was in my late 20's I bought a '69 Mach I with a 428 Cobra Jet and toploader 4 spd tranny. It was supposed to go back to it's original India Fire color like the one shown. (not mine)
I had it restored as far as all of the mechanical (engine, tranny, rear end brakes) and just needed paint and some interior work, when I had to sell it. I'm still bummed about it, and miss that car. I included a photo of my last pass in it that is the actual car, the day before I had to let it go.
As a youngster running the streets there were muscle cars everywhere. Boss Mustangs, Super Bees, SS Camaros and Chevelles, Rally Novas, but the fastest car in my hometown was a red '71 Dodge Demon. It had a 340 6-pack that was built to run. He smoked everyone around for years.
I often wonder what ever happened to that one too.
Later, when I was in my late 20's I bought a '69 Mach I with a 428 Cobra Jet and toploader 4 spd tranny. It was supposed to go back to it's original India Fire color like the one shown. (not mine)
I had it restored as far as all of the mechanical (engine, tranny, rear end brakes) and just needed paint and some interior work, when I had to sell it. I'm still bummed about it, and miss that car. I included a photo of my last pass in it that is the actual car, the day before I had to let it go.
As a youngster running the streets there were muscle cars everywhere. Boss Mustangs, Super Bees, SS Camaros and Chevelles, Rally Novas, but the fastest car in my hometown was a red '71 Dodge Demon. It had a 340 6-pack that was built to run. He smoked everyone around for years.
I often wonder what ever happened to that one too.
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wheelgun28
Member
I cant find car pics but here's some engines I built.
Ones a 1969 427, was a mild street engine, went in a few things and a few cam/ intake changes. Wound up in my 66 corvette and was in it when I sold it.
Another is a 350, which was a solid engine. Had a BIG cam for a while, it had lots of goodies in it.
It did time in a boat but was to much cam and had no idle, around .600 I recall.
Eventually, I had a smaller cam .450 0r .460 in it and some second-hand heads.
One day it started missing and made a horrible thunk then locked.
Broke an exhaust valve, the valve head went through the piston, broke the block, bent the rod, smashed the head cracking it. It was only running about 2000 rpm when it let go.
The post mortem was the valve seized in the guide and held the valve open letting the piston hit it. The strange thing was the build had about 20 hours on it already. The pistons were domed but had been relived for the big cam, this little cam would have run just out of the box.
Ones a 1969 427, was a mild street engine, went in a few things and a few cam/ intake changes. Wound up in my 66 corvette and was in it when I sold it.
Another is a 350, which was a solid engine. Had a BIG cam for a while, it had lots of goodies in it.
It did time in a boat but was to much cam and had no idle, around .600 I recall.
Eventually, I had a smaller cam .450 0r .460 in it and some second-hand heads.
One day it started missing and made a horrible thunk then locked.
Broke an exhaust valve, the valve head went through the piston, broke the block, bent the rod, smashed the head cracking it. It was only running about 2000 rpm when it let go.
The post mortem was the valve seized in the guide and held the valve open letting the piston hit it. The strange thing was the build had about 20 hours on it already. The pistons were domed but had been relived for the big cam, this little cam would have run just out of the box.
wheelgun28
Member
I figured a boy from the BX would have been at White Castle or the Wedge Inn. The Wedge used to run the Hutch or as it was called "The Freedom Land Track" Been a few times, chased off by the cops usually. Most of it was over by my time but still some going on.
Mount Vernon had action and VERY fast cars.
We always were told of the races in Brooklyn being fast and big money 20k in the early 80s kinda thing.
My oldest sister bought a brand new '69 Mach I with a 351 and auto trans.
It was Indian Fire.
Jon651
Member
I often say that if you remove the name badges from all of today's cars, you wouldn't be able to tell one from the other...
Some Shelby’s parked in the museum in Vegas.
Mike you have the location wrong, that’s ain’t Vegas—that’s HEAVEN!
rockquarry
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I'm so glad the new wore off of high performance cars, motorcycles, boats, and travel trailers pretty quickly many years ago. I sometimes miss my '67 Stingray and '69 Impala SS 427, but those moments fade fast when I realize the relief of not having to work on them.
To most of my friends and acquaintances that own vintage cars...working on them is as much fun as driving/showing them.
rockquarry
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I enjoyed driving them a lot better than working on them. For years after I got rid of my '67 Corvette in '73, I'd pull up alongside a Corvette at a stoplight. If my wife was with me, she'd look at the driver and comment to me, "He must have just bought that car, his hands aren't greasy."
LDM
Member
I had a '71 Barracuda with a 340. Four-speed, Sure-Grip, the whole nine yards. Got a chance to put in on a chassis dyno and was getting 260 hp at the wheels. Alas, one night a drunk driver used it for target practice.
I loved working on my cars back then, but not so much now. I have a competent few mechanics and use them.
I came into the world with nothing and will leave the same way.
My 1970 Torino GT. It came with the 300 hp 11.0:1 comp with the closed chamber heads. This is the only picture I have on the car.
I pulled the engine down to freshen it up a bit and installed a 1971 351 CJ cam with Sig Erson racing tappets, a Shelby dual-plane intake, a Holley 4150 780 cfm carb, dual point ignition and a set of Hooker Headers.
I had a lot of fun in that car. Everyone hates getting beat by a Ford.
"Friends cars" This is my friend's 1969 Mach I 428 SCJ 4-speed.
Today this car has only 27,000 original miles on it. Its 100% original.
It hasn't seen sunlight in over 4 decades.
Nice cars! I had a buddy in HS that had a ‘70 Torino GT 429 SCJ, shifted into fourth gear at 120 mph. I once drove one of the demo’s at the dealership I worked at, a ‘70 Mustang Mach One, 428 w/ C6, floorboarded it at 50 mph and it went broadside while burning rubber, car salesman screaming until I let off the go pedal...
On my application to join the LE agency I’m retired from, I had to list all the speeding tickets I’d gotten. They didn’t allocate enough room on the front of the form so I had to finish up on the back of the form (don’t know if they looked there, though).
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