120 and climbing

O

OneBad89SC

Registered User
Man by 'bird hauls A$$.Well past 120 mph.I'd guess
140. Nice strip of I-95.Set the car to firm ride
car didn't even move. Silly newer Tarus get mad
& tried to keep up.Only after I slowed down to get
off.What's with Tarus owners,they seem to always
wanna race or keep up?
 
5-speed SC's with a decent motor will run close to 150mph (need to install a 145mph/94 SC speedo in those earlier models though). I've had my '90 & '93 flat out on Hwy 401 in Canada quite a few times (firm ride automatically comes on around 85mph anyways). Only trouble I found was the 'speed sensitive steering' got really hard to work around a bend in the road, at that speed - I guess that is the purpose of it. My '94 automatic is another issue however, the motor cuts out at around 130 (suppose to protect the rear trans bearing from damage due to driveshaft wipp). So I have an alum. shaft and chip on my wish list. Nothing worse than trying to pass a Pontiac GTP or Bonneville only to have to back off in embarrasement at 130. Never mind.


SC90_Pete said:
one word, envy.
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Joisey Jim said:
5-speed SC's with a decent motor will run close to 150mph (need to install a 145mph/94 SC speedo in those earlier models though). I've had my '90 & '93 flat out on Hwy 401 in Canada quite a few times (firm ride automatically comes on around 85mph anyways). Only trouble I found was the 'speed sensitive steering' got really hard to work around a bend in the road, at that speed - I guess that is the purpose of it. My '94 automatic is another issue however, the motor cuts out at around 130 (suppose to protect the rear trans bearing from damage due to driveshaft wipp). So I have an alum. shaft and chip on my wish list. Nothing worse than trying to pass a Pontiac GTP or Bonneville only to have to back off in embarrasement at 130. Never mind.
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The torque converter inside the bell-housing actually starts to "swell" around these speeds, so Ford governed the automatics in all years for the SC's. Your 1994 will govern out at exactly 135mph. :cool:
 
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That's interesting; so maybe I shouldn't waste my money on an alum. drive shaft, but consider replacing the TC with something like a Precision or Art Carr. Some of the EEC specs show the speed limiter set at 127mph, but I know mine cuts me off at 130mph (on my speedo, that is). Whether it's 127, 130 or 135mph it's still a pain. Long live the 5 speeds.






dirtybird91 said:
The torque converter inside the bell-housing actually starts to "swell" around these speeds, so Ford governed the automatics in all years for the SC's. Your 1994 will govern out at exactly 135mph. :cool:
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dirtybird91 said:
The torque converter inside the bell-housing actually starts to "swell" around these speeds, so Ford governed the automatics in all years for the SC's. Your 1994 will govern out at exactly 135mph. :cool:
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I always assumed the driveshaft was to blame for the speed limiter.
The TC is going to be spinning the same speed at 5k RPMs in first gear as it is at 5k RPMs in 3rd gear because it's connected to the engine. The DS will continue to go up in speed as the car does because its after the transmission.

Correct me if I'm wrong but a TC shouldn't have anything to do with a speed limiter.
 
Joisey Jim said:
Whether it's 127, 130 or 135mph it's still a pain. Long live the 5 speeds.
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Amen. I've cruised for quite a duration at 130+ in my '95 5 speed on I83 in MD heading down to the airport. Nice clear, dry Sunday afternoons are great times for arrest-me speeds.

I kind of assumed a 140 limit existed and didn't want the computer choking off the fuel pump at that speed, so I stayed away from there. Also, I'm not positive what my Dunlop Sport tires are rated at, so I try to keep it under 100 for extended cruising.
 
Joisey Jim said:
That's interesting; so maybe I shouldn't waste my money on an alum. drive shaft, but consider replacing the TC with something like a Precision or Art Carr. Some of the EEC specs show the speed limiter set at 127mph, but I know mine cuts me off at 130mph (on my speedo, that is). Whether it's 127, 130 or 135mph it's still a pain. Long live the 5 speeds.
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Some 89-90 SC auto's didn't have a speed limiter. Mine certainly can go above 135.
 
"Only trouble I found was the 'speed sensitive steering' got really hard to work around a bend in the road, at that speed - I guess that is the purpose of it."

This was mentioned in the 1989 test article by either Road & Track or Motor Trend (the one with the cougar on the roof of the red XR7 on the cover).

They said the steering help goes up to 95, then on the transition of leaving entirely, it was hard to control for the driver. They went on to say they hoped it would be fixed in the production model. I for one notice that it's not. It's just not a smooth handling car in terms of steering at speeds.

I'll find it tonight and type it verbatim.
 
90blkbrd said:
Some 89-90 SC auto's didn't have a speed limiter. Mine certainly can go above 135.
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i had my car well up there also, only the 120mph speedo but the needle was down at the M in KM/H (i think thats the furthest it will go) but i was side by side with my friend in his mustang doin top speed runs. he said i got up to about 135 - 138
 
I've gone so fast I got back before I left

Great for beer runs...lol just kidding...

I have a 1989 5 speed and I got the 5 speed just so I wouldn't have the governer, plus you can rev to 6200 instead of 5000.

We have a lot of wide open highways here in Oklahoma, often deserted, pretty flat and large medians with no houses nearby... :D

I don't know what my top speed is since I have the dang 125 mph speedo, I can tell you however my particular superchicken will bury that needle faster than teamsters with Jimmy Hoffa's dead corpse and a bulldozer....

I can also tell you that I barely toe the throttle and the thing accelerates so far past 125 for so long that I am not sure I have ever reached top speed...plus its scary to realize that if you are doing 140, and the guy in the opposite direction is doing 75, when you hit him it's like hitting a parked car at 210 mph...yikes...and I don't have any airbags...

These cars are fast enough on top end I've seriously considered getting ahold of some good downforce components, this is a car that could use a functional spoiler, i just think it would make the car uglier...

I am also trying to find an airdam for the front, very important piece that...ever hear the story about the guy who bought a very very fast porsche then got the aftermarket whale tail spoiler? It seems he didn't get the airdam for the bumper...flipped that sucker end over end at triple digit speeds. Seems like too much downforce can be a bad thing after all. :eek:
 
mn12freak said:
These cars are fast enough on top end I've seriously considered getting ahold of some good downforce components, this is a car that could use a functional spoiler, i just think it would make the car uglier...
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I've thought about this a couple of times too. I think a Nascar-type lip on the trunk could look pretty cool if done correctly. But I wonder about the daily decrease in gas mileage and any other possible side effects. I haven't noticed a real decrease in steering or handling above 100mph, but I'm usually going pretty straight then anyway.
 
ARC Auto Firm Ride

There are several conditions that will set the ARC to Firm.

(1) Driving over 90 mph for more than 30 sec.
(2) Going into Hard Boost (acceleration signals from the EEC)
(3) Anti-Lock kicking in
(4) .3 G's in a corner. Don't remember the actual G-Force necessary, but that's what sticks in my mind.
(5) Input signals from steering sensors.

I got the information from the 1989 Thunderbird/Cougar Product Information book.

Also the '89 5-spd SC/XR-7 would do 146 mph straight off the show room floor. Mine also got 27.5 mpg when I bought it new.

68COUGAR
 
150+ mph

mn12freak said:
I have a 1989 5 speed and I got the 5 speed just so I wouldn't have the governer, plus you can rev to 6200 instead of 5000.
I don't know what my top speed is since I have the dang 125 mph speedo, I can also tell you that I barely toe the throttle and the thing accelerates so far past 125 for so long that I am not sure I have ever reached top speed. These cars are fast enough on top end I've seriously considered getting ahold of some good downforce components.
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"Life begins at 150 mph" I've had my XR-7 at terminal velocity Many times, for extended periods. I bought my car new & shipped it straight to Germany, where I was stationed in the Air Force. No weird air dams or Top Fuel air foils are needed to keep the thing on the ground. It remained firmly planted on the pavement & never got light or twitchy, even at 150+ mph. Also never had any trouble negotiationg autobahn curves at that speed either, BUT the autobahns are DESIGNED for those speeds. Average speed in the slow lane, 90 mph, Middle lane 130, Supersonic lane = keep watch of your rear view mirror!

When I was there, the radars in the planes kept picking up phantom signals. The radars had a threshold of 150 mph. Finally somebody realized that they were picking up 150+ mph cars on the autobahn!

68COUGAR
 
Well is my car rare or do rev limiters burn out .I an asking because I too have only a 120 speedo the 1st time I broke a balancer my automatic Sc reved well past 5500rpm and felt like she still wanted to pull when the HB gave out I have 10% overdrive pulley moded exhaust dbl Ic and such I don't think any of my HP mods caused higher revs of course but they get me there a lot faster .That is probably why I noticed in the first place
 
Speed Limiter or RPM limiter

darriantbird said:
Well is my car rare or do rev limiters burn out .I an asking because I too have only a 120 speedo the 1st time I broke a balancer my automatic Sc reved well past 5500rpm and felt like she still wanted to pull when the HB gave out I have 10% overdrive pulley moded exhaust dbl Ic and such I don't think any of my HP mods caused higher revs of course but they get me there a lot faster .That is probably why I noticed in the first place
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Is it a speed or RPM limiter? My 5-spd car doesn't have it, so I really don't know.

68COUGAR
 
That is extremely cool :D

68COUGAR said:
"Life begins at 150 mph" I've had my XR-7 at terminal velocity Many times, for extended periods. I bought my car new & shipped it straight to Germany, where I was stationed in the Air Force. No weird air dams or Top Fuel air foils are needed to keep the thing on the ground. It remained firmly planted on the pavement & never got light or twitchy, even at 150+ mph. Also never had any trouble negotiationg autobahn curves at that speed either, BUT the autobahns are DESIGNED for those speeds. Average speed in the slow lane, 90 mph, Middle lane 130, Supersonic lane = keep watch of your rear view mirror!

When I was there, the radars in the planes kept picking up phantom signals. The radars had a threshold of 150 mph. Finally somebody realized that they were picking up 150+ mph cars on the autobahn! <---- Holy Crap!!!!!! :eek: :eek:

68COUGAR
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That's just awesome....the highway I am usually going that fast on out here in oklahoma has slight undulations, little up and down swells, and its about 500 feet above and alongside a large river, crossing over and through several large hills, so not only does it move around a bit, because of the landscape, there are also cross-winds, maybe that's my only problem.
 
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