2017 Ford Torino GT?

I'm not surprised by those numbers at all. Lots of cars of the muscle car era were overrated on power, and quite a few were heavily underrated and factory tamed for homologation. 600 HP is reasonable for a NASCAR racer of the era, so the top shelf torino (ford's NASCAR entry) putting down that kind of power isn't unusual.

the actual race cars were making more than that. at that time, they were in the last days of being allowed to run twin 4bbl's and likely a slightly hotter cam.
it was a solid lifter cam with 12.2:1 compression....i HAD to run 100 octane or it would rattle like a snake. we used to go thru a set of yellow jacket plugs every two weeks, if we were crusing it on friday and saturday nights. it would run very smoothly on the street, but it would tend to foul plugs if you didn't get them blown off.
ford figured that putting a secret rev limiter on those (few) models was saving lives, and they were right.

the drag pack cars had a choice of 3.90 or 4.10 rear gears. mine had a trac-lok 3.23 rear gear and a bigger breathing cam than the drag packs, hence the crazy top end.
it would run up to around 52 mph in first, 110 in second, 145 in third.....and well.......4th was all about how much balls did you have.
 
the actual race cars were making more than that. at that time, they were in the last days of being allowed to run twin 4bbl's and likely a slightly hotter cam.
it was a solid lifter cam with 12.2:1 compression....i HAD to run 100 octane or it would rattle like a snake. we used to go thru a set of yellow jacket plugs every two weeks, if we were crusing it on friday and saturday nights. it would run very smoothly on the street, but it would tend to foul plugs if you didn't get them blown off.
ford figured that putting a secret rev limiter on those (few) models was saving lives, and they were right.

the drag pack cars had a choice of 3.90 or 4.10 rear gears. mine had a trac-lok 3.23 rear gear and a bigger breathing cam than the drag packs, hence the crazy top end.
it would run up to around 52 mph in first, 110 in second, 145 in third.....and well.......4th was all about how much balls did you have.

Interesting stuff. I'm sure the rev limited was a life saver. Thanks for the corrections on my content. I find the idea of 52 in first hilarious. I guess that is low gears for you. Anyway, I love the 70-71 era torino body style (but hate the 69), and I would love to have your car.
 
Interesting stuff. I'm sure the rev limited was a life saver. Thanks for the corrections on my content. I find the idea of 52 in first hilarious. I guess that is low gears for you. Anyway, I love the 70-71 era torino body style (but hate the 69), and I would love to have your car.

i wasn't trying to correct ya.....just adding some info.
here, fast forward to 40 seconds, and this is a drag pack car (maybe 6000 rpm), not a NASCAR engine @ 7000 rpm, but you get the idea. when these things are all the way up on the cam, the sound is awesome to the point of scarey. oh yea....use headphones or earbuds to get the full effect.

 
i wasn't trying to correct ya.....just adding some info.
here, fast forward to 40 seconds, and this is a drag pack car (maybe 6000 rpm), not a NASCAR engine @ 7000 rpm, but you get the idea. when these things are all the way up on the cam, the sound is awesome to the point of scarey. oh yea....use headphones or earbuds to get the full effect.



No worries, I figure the person who knows best about something is someone who owns it. I just know these things from lusting after ford's big block race motors of the era. My mom had a mercury with a 428, and I remember that sound....and that was a lower end motor.
 
The 429 eventually became the 460, right?

they were produced in parallel. but yes, the 460 is the same block as the 429, to a point.

the 460 and 429 general auto engines share blocks and other parts. but the high power engines had different block castings and then lots of things were different. the cranks were forged steel, not cast, and were cross drilled for cross bolted main bearings (4 bolt main) and cross drilled for bearing oiling. there were more main bearings in them and they were beefier.
the rods and caps were forged machined steel instead of machined cast steel. the pistons were completely different as were the heads and the valve train. regular 429/460's were hydraulic lifters and cam. the CJ/SCJ's were solid lifters and much higher lift and duration cams and had adjustable rockers (because of the solid lifters) and were precision machines steel/aluminum alloy instead of stamped pieces like the regular motors had.

i could go on....but you get the idea. the SCJ's were purpose built for high rev racing. they made it to the street BECAUSE they had to fulfill the "stock" part of the requirement. the CJ's were really built more for drag racing (street) and such.
the SCJ's are STILL the only automotive engine that is endorsed by the Offshore Powerboat Association (OPA) for the big offshore cigarette racers. not the 454's, not the 440's, not the Hemi's. ONLY the 429 SCJ. and that's because the engine was purposefully designed to run at high RPM's all day long and not blow up. and that's why they dominated in NASCAR in the early 70's. you might blow a tranny, or loose an axle or hit the wall.....but that engine was still running.:grin:
 
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