The night a Super Bee scared hell out of me (Ed Story alert...)

[1967coronet]

Good memories Ed, To many RPMs though , but we did not care back then or know any better. Lol.
My 71 X had the 3.54 dana , jacked up with air shocks , big wheels and tires for the time.
It seen north of 140 on some Old Millwaukee fueled nights. Past 120 that thing would be buzzing and had a little shake , like your bee prob drive shaft angle ect.

 

[moparedtn]

You drove it under 3000 RPM too often in a forward gesr and had carbon on the valves.

That was never the case with that car....

 

[Cranky]

That was never the case with that car....

Been way too busy the past few months and missing out on your cool stories.....this one reminds me of some of the crazy stuff I did back 50 or more years ago!

 

[moparedtn]

Been way too busy the past few months and missing out on your cool stories.....this one reminds me of some of the crazy stuff I did back 50 or more years ago!

You're very kind, thank you - and yeah, there's a lot of this life I'd gladly live again, if only it were possible.

 

[sam dupont]

I have a pair of 3705 carbs from a low mileage Max Wedge because of a story like these. The MW owner was goaded into a top end race after spanking a new supercharged Studebaker in the 1/4 a few times. The Studebaker had an overdrive so it had much more top end speed. Ajax wouldn't back off and blew the MW. Then he sold the carbs to the Studebaker dealer who had talked him into the bad idea. He put them on a supercharged 327 that never ran again. The carbs sat for 50 years until his mechanic sold them to me to support the shop.
That MW owner had a few MW's and was into airplanes too. He built a 3/4 scale P38 in carbon fibre.

 

[Budnicks]

Not saying it didn't happen
( estimated figures below according to www.wallaceracing.com/calculators )

did someone change the speedo pinion in the trans to match the new gears
if not "the speedo would be wrong", faster than reality

not knowing all the spec.s of said worn out old 440
maybe more was done to that motor than you knew ?

or maybe
1st time you actually opened up, wide open, the secondaries
(Vacuum Sec. maybe)

It'd be about a 3.44:1 gear (your case maybe a 3.55:1) with a 27" tall tire
at 6,000 rpm to go 140mph+
most even slightly modified 440s won't do 6,000 rpm for any time (more like 5,800)
unless some lighter valves & much better valve springs, you said you had 3.91:1 gear

same thing with 6,000 rpm 27" tall tire 3.91:1 rear gear, would only be 123.26mph

be 133.53 mph at 6,500rpm a stock-ish 440 won't go 6,500 rpm,
not without serious valve float, hydraulic flattappet, even Rhoads anti pup up lifters
back in the day
even with that 3.91:1 gear ratio, camshaft & headers, Holley carb
most would top out at maybe 5,800 with great air/cool sea level air even

be 140.81 mph at 7,000 rpm a stock-ish 440 even with a purple shaft cam
won't go 7,000, not live anyway, not without many other parts

unless you had taller tires, with that 3.91:1 gear ratio
& most taller street tires weren't available back then, N50/15 was like 27"
an L60/15 was about 27" too

maybe 28" tall at best

not trying to burst your bubble

sounds like fun

I got my stock 68 Charger R/T 440 727tf,
I think I only had 1.3/4" headers at the time, 2.5" exhaust turbo trust Hemi mufflers
nice low-ish miles like 50k org. miles, otherwise stock, with wheels & tires
with a 3.55:1 gears & like 26" tall tires Big-O L60 15s
to appr. 135-136-ish (according to my 150 mph stock speedo)
held on the floor for miles, would not go faster, nice cool fresh night air
going down hwy-50 from Placerville, back down to Shingle Springs (Calif foothills)
at my Highschool dance after a Basketball game, with our rival HS in Placerville
no way with a 3.91:1 gear, it wouldn't go over 5,600 rpm max,
at speed & at that wieght of the car & wind resistance
not until I changed a crapload of parts
292*/0.509" Purple Shaft HFT camshaft, true 1.5 Crane ductile Iron adj. rockers
matching valve springs, for that cam, with Rhoads Anti-pump-up lifters
w/titanium/retainers, keepers & Titanium intake valves,
aluminum TM 6 Edelbrock single plane Intake & well-tuned 850cfm Holley,
with the 3.55:1 yeah it'd go 150, still only like 6,500 rpm at best at speeds

stock heads are a real choke point on these B/RBs
unless you have MW or some extensive porting etc.

I was more into the stop-lite to stop-lite challengers
& off the line acceleration,
so I had steep gears like 4.30:1, 111-ish mph @ 6,500 at that point it was spent
it could maybe wind higher, not for long with stock rods/stock cast pistons
especially with stock port cylinder heads 906s std on all 383-440 1968-70
or not spin a bearing or break it

 

[Black_Sheep]

My first Mopar was a ‘70 Charger SE with a 383/727 and 2:?? gears. One night after a few cold snacks I found myself on a straight and dead level stretch of state highway. There were no on or off ramps along a few mile stretch so I pressed the pedal to the floor to see what it would do. It quit climbing at 135 mph which was pretty stupid in retrospect, that car was a heap. That was the fastest I’ve ever driven a car…

 

[68BabyBlue]

My first Mopar was a ‘70 Charger SE with a 383/727 and 2:?? gears. One night after a few cold snacks I found myself on a straight and dead level stretch of state highway. There were no on or off ramps along a few mile stretch so I pressed the pedal to the floor to see what it would do. It quit climbing at 135 mph which was pretty stupid in retrospect, that car was a heap. That was the fastest I’ve ever driven a car…

When Bob Miller owned Baby Blue, he had similar experience on I-95 in Maryland at 1:00 am, no traffic. Said to took forever to hit 135, pretty much ran out of power after he hit 125. Stock 440 except for headers, 3:23 rear and G70-14 tires. Says it makes him shiver today when he thinks about that level of speed on those bias ply tires.

 

[Black_Sheep]

When Bob Miller owned Baby Blue, he had similar experience on I-95 in Maryland at 1:00 am, no traffic. Said to took forever to hit 135, pretty much ran out of power after he hit 125. Stock 440 except for headers, 3:23 rear and G70-14 tires. Says it makes him shiver today when he thinks about that level of speed on those bias ply tires.

It probably took a mile or more to hit top speed, stock long block with a 3310 Holley carb, Edelbrock intake, Cyclone headers and a hodgepodge of aftermarket ignition parts…

 

[moparedtn]

not trying to burst your bubble

Not bursting my bubble.
I was there. I know what happened.

 

[moparedtn]

My first Mopar was a ‘70 Charger SE with a 383/727 and 2:?? gears. One night after a few cold snacks I found myself on a straight and dead level stretch of state highway. There were no on or off ramps along a few mile stretch so I pressed the pedal to the floor to see what it would do. It quit climbing at 135 mph which was pretty stupid in retrospect, that car was a heap. That was the fastest I’ve ever driven a car…

Eh, you just stretched its' legs a little....

 

[HawkRod]

...it makes him shiver today when he thinks about that level of speed on those bias ply tires.

I hit about 105 MPH in my 73 Road Runner and then I got out of it. I didn't want to go faster. Even at "only" 105 MPH, it felt like the front end was going to lift. Conversely, I was at about 108 MPH in my 70 Road Runner in Kansas with very strong side winds. Without the side winds I think it would have felt decently stable.
I think the front end design on the 73 drove air down under the car and made it much LESS capable at high speed.

So basically, I can definitely see how speeds 135 MPH+ would be quite scary!

 

[SteveSS]

Nice. I was in my 66 Mustang fastback in about 1975 and my friend was driving down to Bartlesville, OK. He started playing with a 69 GTO. We finally passed a Hi Po around 130. Then my friend tells me his license is revoked. I'm considering letting him use my license so we don't go to jail then I think better of it. I'm putting my billfold back in my jeans pocket as the officer sees this and thinks I have a gun. He pulls out his service weapon and points it at me as I'm trying frantically to explain. So my friend gave the officer his info and miraculously over the radio we heard DL,OK. Some snafu got us off the hook. He let us go with a verbal warning.

I was a wild-assed youth.

I've never been a top-speed driver. Smokey burnouts are my thing.