A big run this morning

Was going to work on a huge stretch of highway, and here comes this F150 cruising around 90 coming up on me. i was doin 80, and suddenly i get this urge to just crush him (out accelerate him). dropped it in 3rd, went past 90, shifted to 4th, got up to 120 (was pullin on him very slighty), shifted to 5th, made it to 130 very quickly (started getting scared, and backed off) and this guy is still on my tail. he wasn't riding my bumper, he didn't have enough power to pass me, but he was hangin with me.

question-

how can an f150 (an old one) accelerate with an SC like that?

i thought those things were heavy with tall gears, and had stock 5.0 motors in them. i forgot- those thing can run 15's i bet, and my car is probably in the high 14's. that thing was pretty stock lookin, didn't sound like a big block and did not have anything special on it that i could tell, and it was an early '90's model- not even an old svt lightning.

now that i think about it, he had big donut lookin tires on it which were probably bigger than mine, and if he was running 2.73's on the rear, he would have alot of top end speed. now i get it.

Depends on the year of F150. I have had some pretty quick ones, a 1987 shortbox w/ 351H.O. was the best. It would absolutely crush a Mustang GT, Firechicken or 'Maro. Speedo ended at 100 and it would twist to the 7 or 8 o'clock position. It had 3.55 gears (15" rubber). The 94 to 96.5 models with the fuelie 351s with more aggressive roller cams were very strong as well. It is also easy to add a chip to the computer to delete the top end limiter that some have.

Basically, there is a bazillion out there and they are easy to modify. Unless you talk to that guy, you really have no idea what combination he was running.

Scott

i'm truly surprised at how those pickups can run. i guess anything short of 300 rwhp could get a run for the money with those f150's.

Man i never have thought about racing a f-150 but i will be cautous now.

back when my car was closer to stock I had a strech of about 4 races in a week, with the closest one being a new Z71. Go figure

Had that problem once, but it wasn't an F150, it was a full size Chev Blazer. You know, the really big 80's models. He had at least 6 inches of lift and these big *** mudders. I had a heck of a time pulling away from him. At 75mph we were side by side. I counldn't believe it.

Sometime, even the big stuff can be freaks and go fast.

i think those big trucks run about the same as a stockish or mild modded SC. They seem to run around 15's and 14's (for the newer ones).

Julian Miller-

i take it by your sig that you are runnin an AR. if you are, how do you like it compared to the stockish setup you had? (please describe in much detail)

thanks-

i used to have a 95 f150 i made a lightning replica with the painted front bumper cover and bigger valence, 351, that thing hauled, but i got in trouble with it, the only mods were exhaust and 3.55 rears...i completely annhilated a 97 eclipse and a 2000 cavalier, but that isnt saying much....o and a v6 stang...then funny part was when my best friend (chevy guy w/ '67 shortbox and a hot LT1 didnt relize how well it would smoke em and the truck stood there and started to move sideways until the E4OD shifted into second then it chirped and went forward

you know most of the trucks these days have just as much power, if not more than the SC in stock form, and mildly modded. IMO, To clearly pull on all these new high powered stock trucks/suv's except the extreme ones (like the dodge truck with the viper engine or the lightning), the SC needs a minimum of 300rwhp- it's as simple as that. at that level of power- the very least if that doesn't pull them on the top end, the SC will surely get em on the low end.

You Can Never Tell...

Looks can be deceiving! This post reminds me of two friends from the late 70's. Both had old beater trucks that were fast as Hell! The first was Clinton,
he had a big ole belly, was at least 280 lbs, had a full beard, and looked like a Mormon farmer. He drove an old '62 Ford truck that looked like scrap. Had primer all over it, several dents, and was in such bad shape that the driver side door had a GATE LATCH holding it shut! He wanted it to look that way.
He was actually a very savvy mechanic. Under the hood ( which was held up by a stick!) he had a 429 SCJ motor that was modded ...with 1150 Holley, alum. intake, cam, headers, the works. He could clutch it in 3rd, and the whole rear end would go up in smoke sideways. His biggest thrill was goin'
out on a Sat. night and blowin' the doors off un-suspecting victims. I seen him blow off Vettes like they were standing still, and man did that ever throw a mind-tweak on them! That truck had some big balls! This same friend had a "63 split-window FUELIE Vette that was pretty beat up with the whole dash torn out.Nothing but wires, in pretty rough shape. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda bought it for 900 bucks at the time...... I still regret passing up that one!
Friend 2 was Shane. He had a rather stock looking '57 Ford Truck, with big tires. The paint was faded so bad you couldn't tell if it was white or light blue. I noticed it had quite a rumble to it, and one day I asked him to lift the hood for me so I could check it out.... Lo and behold, there sat a gleaming big-block 427 side-oiler, with factory dual-carbs and matte-black Cobra air cleaner and valve covers. It looked like it came right out of a 427 Shelby Cobra. That thing would howl those big old mudder tires...on Dirt!I
It made some serious HP! Also got around 10 MPG.He was selling it for $1500 Cash, and I had to pass cause I couldn't come up with it.
Another one I really regret passing on.
Point is, everyone loves sleepers that catch others by surprise when they least suspect it. It might look like hell, but run like a raped ape!
You can't always tell what you're up against from looks alone.
I have a '95 SC Auto that I absolutely love, and also a '97 F-150 with the big V8 in it. That 5.7 FI engine is fast, powerful and smooth. A great design.
Put a blower on it, and you have the Lightning. With the 4-speed Auto Overdrive and tall gears in the rear end it has a lot of top-end, as well as loads of down-low torque. No wonder Ford chose this same motor, put a supercharger on top of it, mated it to a 6-speed manual, and dropped it into they the new Ford GT ultra-sports car. Using lots of aluminum, a light aerodynamic body, and a higher state of tune, it bounces the needle real close to the 200 MPH mark!
Our cars (SC's) were a gamble that paid off for Ford, that being a supercharged production car. Ours were the first, then the Mustang Cobra, then the F-150 Lightning, and now the Ford GT. All the doubts about the reliability of a supercharged engine in a production car have been proven wrong, and proven wrong by Ford's SVT Group. I applaud them for their willingness to take on that challenge, and come out on top!
Now then, if they would just get rid of that poor-selling, lame-***, wanna-be-a-retro excuse of a "Thunderbird" that they are now selling, and bring back the Thunderbird as a true performance car, instead of a Chrysler PT clone, THAT would be great! The Ford GT is an exotic coupe, and makes a great statement for Ford, but who among us working Joe's can possibly afford it? It's also not a daily driver.
FORD, are you listening? Bring back the updated version of the '95 SC/Lincoln Mk. VIII LSC! Lengthen just a bit, the great-handling MN12 chassis so you have more room in the engine compartment and rear seat areas. Shorten the trunk. Keep the same low, smooth ,aerodynamic lines either already has. Drop in the 5.7 FI SC V8, mated to a 5-speed Automatic (that shifts nice and quick), and keep it rear-wheel drive, with IRS and four-wheel disc brakes(11").
Do your best to keep the weight down.....
What do you get? A powerful, fast, supercharged luxury car for the masses that will sell! I don't see the new Ford "300" (or is it 500?) doing all that well. It's too average, and there is nothing catchy or special about it. You need this car in your line-up to fill the hole that you created when you dropped the "real" Thunderbird. Dump the wimpy retro, and bring back our 'Bird with some REAL POWER! I predict they will do exactly this within 2 years.... At least I sure hope so....I'd buy one, would you?
Look at the fan base here, of the great SC 'Bird, still going strong, after the last car that rolled off the line was 10 YEARS AGO!
As Zeppelin sang (No reference to Caddies)....
Bring It Back, Bring It Back, Bring It Back....OhYa, OhYa, OhYa NOW!

bringing back the SC would be simply awesome. Everytime i see a picture of the ford gt, i think how great an SC would have been today- after all the SC is the great grandfather of the ford gt.