[robhardy]

just traded my 67 cougar for a 69 torino gt convertible. it has an unmolested 351w 4v, c4 transmission and a stock 9" rear end with 3.91 gears.
pretty much a factory hot rod for it's time. it was rated at 290hp and the torque is 385 ft pounds of torque at something like 3200 rpm. the hp isn't that impressive but the torque combined with the rea end gears seems like it ought to be pretty quick.
here's what concerns me. at 70 mph on the highway i'm betting the rpms will be crazy high.
i'm thinking about going to 15" rims. how much difference will that make? what's going to do to my 0-60? how do i figure out what speedo gear to use? i'm not planning on racing this car or taking it to a drag strip. i just want to be able to ride it every afternoon for a couple of hours.
of course if a mustang pulls up next to me i do want to be able to get to the next redlight ahead of him too.

[robhardy]

oh,before anybody jumps me about street racing..... i'm not planning on racing from light to light. i just want mustangs to be scared i will.

[75gmck25]

I had a '69 Torino Cobra with 3.50 gears, and I don't remember RPMs being all that high when cruising. However, the 3.91 rear end will run a little higher RPM, which will hurt your gas mileage. With 3.50's and a 428 engine my speed was about 125 mph when I hit 5500 rpm (approximately the RPM for the engine's max HP rating).

These Torino's do not have a lot of extra clearance for larger tires. You can bolt on helper springs in the rear to bring it up a little, but in the front you may have to put spacers in the coils or use taller springs. My car had F70-14's on stock offset 6 inch rims and they fit very well with no lift.

Most folks who had 15's on Mustangs used an F60-15, which were actually shorter than the 14" tires. 15" tires were not an option on the '69 Torino.

Bruce

[robhardy]

thanks bruce,
got the marti report back and the car was ordered with 300 gears. should be a-ok (a little sluggish, if anything). i'm going to use the original rims for now and put 235 60's on the back. i agree, there isn't going to be much room for change in the rear tire wells without installing some air shocks. if i don't have to build the engine i'm going keep this one as close to original as possible even though it kills me to. i'm looking at a 72 cutlass and a 79 camaro to hop up right now. the torino is too rare and too original to screw up.