Posted by RDavis on September 30, 2000 at 00:44:21:
In Reply to: WM-300 Dodge Power Wagon from 1971. posted by Clark Sindorf on September 26, 2000 at 04:04:53:
The max rpm rev.is between 4000-4500 rpm's in the 251 L-6 flathead.The speedo says 80mph max so why did they put 80 on the speedo if it wouldn't get close to that? As a joke! I think not.Do the math.If you were doing 80mph with 5.83 gearing and 36" tall tires what would the rpm's be?The formula is:mph x gr ratio divided by tire dia. x 336 = eng. rpm. I do the math and get 4353 rpm at 80 mph. Thats only 753 rpm's faster than the max hp rating at 3600 rpm's.To sustain that rpm for only 11.5 sec you would have covered approx. 1/4 mi. This fellows PW was using a slant-6 by his description which had about 140 hp at that time. I would not expect a weaker 230 eng. in earlier PW's to do this.I claimed I did 80 mph once in my 64' WM300 and got ridiculed for it.But when your young and brave and full of piss and vinegar as I was at the time,you fail to see the folly of pushing an older vehicle to its limit.I was at that moment a test pilot and that 251 w/no muffler and a straight thru to the rear exhaust pipe, sounded like a spitfire fighter at full throttle! I had about 10 sec. of fantasy bliss that day because I had pushed that PW to its limit like a test pilot and pegged the needle to 80 ! AT that time and whatever speed I was doing ,I assure you was like flying because that buckboard riding PW was the smooothist riding it has ever been,almost floating! Watching the look of the folks I passed in this screaming old (military looking)rig was priceless. Had I blown the eng. in that instant,it would have been worth it!