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RE: Ford Performance?
By Mel Clark - 08/21/2001 11:52:46 PM; IP 152.163.207.187
The "58 Fords that came with the FE engines were slugs, mainly because of 3 things; 1) Weight, they had grown to be positively obese. The shipping weight was in the area of 3600 lbs. but in fact the 500 hard top, which was very good looking, was over 4000 lbs. 2) Engine horsepower, the 352 was rated at 300 (?) HP with a single 550 cfm holley and it performed like it had an honest 100 hp. This was very likely caused by fairly modest compression and a very mild cam. 3) OEM gearing, this car was produced in an era when Ford went the wrong way in standard gearing. 2.75 or 3.00 to 1 was the usual gear that an automatic was delivered with. Thats a pretty good gear for Bonneville or Daytona but not for the average street driver. I don't say that the 352 has no potential, only that it was a slug in its normal state and I have to say ther was very little development by racers or parts companies because of this fact. The '57 cars were about the same but came with better gear ratios, and were alittle leaner and they also had the benefit of a lot of factory performance development. Most notable was the 300 HP rated McCollough supercharged cars as raced in USAC and NASCAR. Based on the cars they beat they had to have a lot more than 300 HP. As Ford chose to honor the performance/racing agreement, they lost the edge that they fought so hard to gain.
I was going to buy a Ford in '58 and after riding in a friends new car as well as beating him badly with my 292 powered '54 Customline I decided to wait and see. The year went by and Ford did nothing so I bought 1 of 51 345 HP, 4 speed equipped Pontiac Catalinas and I had a lot of fun racing and beating most cars that I came up against, both on the street and at Union Grove and Oswego. My Pontiac was pretty consistant at 13.8s and 103 mph. The toughest race I had was with some farm boy in Paw Paw, Michigan that had a new Tudor Ford sedan and a 352/360 engine with an overdrive trans.. He cleaned my clock, not once but three times as I couldn't believe he could beat me, he also got a few bucks in the bargain. Ford had finally done something right after stalling for three years.
This thread, so far...
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Collapse <a href=../ForumFE/reply.aspx?ID=7730&Reply=7730><img src=../images/reply.png width=30 height=10></a>&nbsp;<a href="#" id="anchor7730" onclick="return false;">352</a>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>nick, <i>08/20/2001</i></font><script type="text/javascript"> new HelpBalloon({ dataURL: 'replyb.aspx?ID=7730', contentMargin: 60, icon: $('anchor7730') }); </script>  352 -- nick, 08/20/2001
Collapse <a href=../ForumFE/reply.aspx?ID=7732&Reply=7730><img src=../images/reply.png width=30 height=10></a>&nbsp;<a href="#" id="anchor7732" onclick="return false;">Re: 352</a>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>Mel Clark, <i>08/21/2001</i></font><script type="text/javascript"> new HelpBalloon({ dataURL: 'replyb.aspx?ID=7732', contentMargin: 60, icon: $('anchor7732') }); </script>  Re: 352 -- Mel Clark, 08/21/2001
Collapse <a href=../ForumFE/reply.aspx?ID=7747&Reply=7730><img src=../images/reply.png width=30 height=10></a>&nbsp;<a href="#" id="anchor7747" onclick="return false;">RE:sorry Mel but...</a>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>Mike McQuesten, <i>08/21/2001</i></font><script type="text/javascript"> new HelpBalloon({ dataURL: 'replyb.aspx?ID=7747', contentMargin: 60, icon: $('anchor7747') }); </script>  RE:sorry Mel but... -- Mike McQuesten, 08/21/2001
 58 too heavy ?? -- Lou, 08/21/2001
Collapse <a href=../ForumFE/reply.aspx?ID=7754&Reply=7730><img src=../images/reply.png width=30 height=10></a>&nbsp;<a href="#" id="anchor7754" onclick="return false;">Cam retainer</a>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>Styleline58, <i>08/21/2001</i></font><script type="text/javascript"> new HelpBalloon({ dataURL: 'replyb.aspx?ID=7754', contentMargin: 60, icon: $('anchor7754') }); </script>  Cam retainer -- Styleline58, 08/21/2001
Collapse <b>RE: Ford Performance?</b>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>Mel Clark, <i>08/21/2001</i></font>RE: Ford Performance? -- Mel Clark, 08/21/2001
Collapse <a href=../ForumFE/reply.aspx?ID=7762&Reply=7730><img src=../images/reply.png width=30 height=10></a>&nbsp;<a href="#" id="anchor7762" onclick="return false;">3600#=slug?</a>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>Styleline58, <i>08/22/2001</i></font><script type="text/javascript"> new HelpBalloon({ dataURL: 'replyb.aspx?ID=7762', contentMargin: 60, icon: $('anchor7762') }); </script>  3600#=slug? -- Styleline58, 08/22/2001
Collapse <a href=../ForumFE/reply.aspx?ID=7764&Reply=7730><img src=../images/reply.png width=30 height=10></a>&nbsp;<a href="#" id="anchor7764" onclick="return false;">RE: 3600#=slug?</a>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>Mel Clark, <i>08/22/2001</i></font><script type="text/javascript"> new HelpBalloon({ dataURL: 'replyb.aspx?ID=7764', contentMargin: 60, icon: $('anchor7764') }); </script>  RE: 3600#=slug? -- Mel Clark, 08/22/2001
 RE: 3600#=slug? -- Styleline58, 08/22/2001
Collapse <a href=../ForumFE/reply.aspx?ID=7758&Reply=7730><img src=../images/reply.png width=30 height=10></a>&nbsp;<a href="#" id="anchor7758" onclick="return false;">RE: Cam retainer & castings</a>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>Mel Clark, <i>08/22/2001</i></font><script type="text/javascript"> new HelpBalloon({ dataURL: 'replyb.aspx?ID=7758', contentMargin: 60, icon: $('anchor7758') }); </script>  RE: Cam retainer & castings -- Mel Clark, 08/22/2001
Collapse <a href=../ForumFE/reply.aspx?ID=7767&Reply=7730><img src=../images/reply.png width=30 height=10></a>&nbsp;<a href="#" id="anchor7767" onclick="return false;">RE:Thanks Mel</a>&nbsp;-- <font color=#0000ff>Mike McQuesten, <i>08/22/2001</i></font><script type="text/javascript"> new HelpBalloon({ dataURL: 'replyb.aspx?ID=7767', contentMargin: 60, icon: $('anchor7767') }); </script>  RE:Thanks Mel -- Mike McQuesten, 08/22/2001
 RE:Thanks Mel -- Mel Clark, 08/22/2001
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