Choppa

hey this isnt about a mustang but can be related to any car. how come older cars like my 79 T/A is a 6.6 liter engine but doesnt seem to have as much horsepower as say a 5.0? i kno that weight is an issue but still that big of an engine wight shouldnt be a problem please let me kno.

birdman076

Kind of a bad comparison really, by 79 all the emissions crap had the Pontiac 400 and most of the other big engines bogged down from 350hp to about 165hp. Of course they rated hp differently then too mind you but the fact of the matter remains, emissions standards and insurance premiums killed the big engine in a mid size car platform. Another fine example is the Pontiac 455, 1976 was its last year and it was down to 190hp and 375lb of torque, with a weazy 8:1 compression ratio talk about a joke. It could only muster high 14s in the quarter from the factory lol, and average about 8-10 mpg. Now if you want to compare Muscle car to muscle car then go back to pre-71 american V8 automobiles, thats when the factory horsepower wars were in full swing and IMO real muscle cars were made.

langod

Another big factor is that in the late 70's, the US was coming out of a serious fuel crisis, so the car makers were trying to make the cars more efficient, while still sporty. So your average Mustang, Camaro, Corvette and even Ferraris were considered "really fast" with 0-60 times of 7 or 8 secs, because an "average" car was doing 0-60 in 10 or 11 secs but giving what was for the time pretty decent gas mileage.

Plus, nowadays, you have the fact that newer technology is helping engines develop more horsepower with less displacement.
Who, in the 80's, would've thought you could ever have a street legal 300 hp 4-cylinder? (Like a WRX STi)

Choppa

i understadn the whole "muscle car" thing but wat im trying to get at is how such a huge engine is jus soo weak? you mentioned the exhaust is very restricting. if i opened her up would this show a big improvement? u also said compression was bad back then could this also be the reason? thank you

birdman076

Yes, a good duel exhaust and headers is a start. And yes its something like 1 or 2% hp increase for each point bump in compression.

98stngfrk

I think its pretty simple, TECHNOLOGY, and you know if they wanted to get more power out of today's smaller engines they could. As much as I love any car built to about the mid 70's they really can't compare much with today's cars. But to me they will alway's be better

98stngfrk

Oh- and it is definetly more than 2% increase for each bump in compression, forgot what it is so i am getting ready to go look it up.