Newly Found Z-16 Chevelle

[x33rs]

Originally Posted by big gear head

I thought 3.31 was the factory ratio for the Z16. Did I miss something?

That's also always been my thought as well. As far as the MPH claim, I kind of doubt it. Even with that gear, and a 26" tire, it would require you to spin about 7400 rpm to reach that speed. Quite a feat for a stock hydraulic cam.

Problem with that is not only the engine appearing to be stock in the photo's complete with exhaust manifolds, I doubt the engine would make enough HP to overcome the aerodynamic challenges involved to reach a speed like that.

Unless we aren't getting the whole story?

Neat car though.

[bbjohnny]

A friend of mine had one of these cars and he took me for a ride. He had 3:08 gears in the car. He said "you know, these can peg the speedometer! I said really! He said that the speedometer starts bouncing pretty bad at about 130, but with a 27 inch tire and the 3:08 gears you watch the tachometer. When it hits 6100 rpm you are pretty close. Then he looked at me, smiled and dumped the clutch. The speedometer was pegged and so was the tach. I don't know if we were doing 160 or not but I'll bet we were pretty darn close. All of this on bias ply tires!

[John Brown]

Originally Posted by x33rs

That's also always been my thought as well. As far as the MPH claim, I kind of doubt it. Even with that gear, and a 26" tire, it would require you to spin about 7400 rpm to reach that speed. Quite a feat for a stock hydraulic cam.

You might be surprised how high you can wind an engine when the hydraulics are adjusted to where the travel is maxed out. I used to adjust my old stocker with a .003 feeler gauge, as per Lunaiti instructions.

[carnut4life]

Link to the L88 story https://issuu.com/mecumauction/docs/againstallodds_web

[x33rs]

Originally Posted by John Brown

You might be surprised how high you can wind an engine when the hydraulics are adjusted to where the travel is maxed out. I used to adjust my old stocker with a .003 feeler gauge, as per Lunaiti instructions.

Yeah I have an L-79 I did that with, and would spin close to 7,000 without issues, but it didn't make much power up there.

But that's a different deal, SBC has much lighter valve train in it. Plus the fact that these L78's don't make power way up at 7400, the cam is long done before that. Aside from that, a stock L78 complete with exhaust manifolds would fall short on HP needed to push a brick to that speed. Just my thoughts.

Neat story though. Some of these cars always seem to be associated with tall stories. Makes them interesting for sure.