[Malibu73]

Hi all again, I'm here to try and get a rough figure for just how much horsepower my '73 chevrolet Malibu 4DR is running, I'll tell you what I can, but my dad's the mechanic, I'm just learning so bear with me.

Okay, all I know is it has a built 350 V8 with a 4 barrel carb on it. It has speiclal pistons + rings on it, it's been bored and flowed (to make all the places where air flow through line up real good, not sure if that's the term though). Um, I think my dad replaced the cam in it, but I'm not sure.

Back when it was running he ran it down to the beach to have his friend put a new exhaust system on it. There was a piece of junk rebuilt carb on the motor at the time and when my dad was on his return trip home he had it wide open on this long stretch and got it up to 135Mph. Later on he found out that on that trip home on that stretch when he had it wide open, the secondaries in the carberuator (sp?) were frozen shut and he had scored two cylinders on the car and it ran steadily worse until it ended up where it is today, right in front of our house waiting for the engine to be rebuilt.

Anyway, it also has a Turbo 350 tranny in it with front + rear sway bars, and performance suspention, it took corners real good.

Do you guys think you could come up with a estimation of what HP/torque it was running. I know if you had more info like the compression ratio and whatnot you could make a better estimation. But that's all the info I have now, I'll see if I can find out some more for you guys. If you could tell me what you needed to know to give me a better estimation, please tell me and I will try to find it out for you.

Sorry for the lond post :embarrass

Thanks in advance

 

[78 monte]

Yea dude we gotta have more info.
For a HP figure were gonna need to know
carb cfm
intake type
heads(what type/brand etc.. any porting??)
compression ratio(or at least type of pistons and head cc so we can guess)
cam specs
headers??

 

[Malibu73]

Okay, i will try a find that stuff out for you guys, one thing i do know is we have headers on it, if that's what you were asking.

 

[tommytempest]

Malibu 73 is a funny guy! I like this post! I think the 4 dr given the fact that something was polished and/or ported and that it has some kind of cam in it, not to mention that it has a 4 bbl carb, should EASILY be pushing 700-800HP! Did you say which oil pan you were running? Cause if you are running a blue one, that could be an extra 50HP or so.
L8r G8r!

ps, don't worry about that piston scoring from running it too lean, that will cure itself as soon as you get the high flow fuel pump installed in the washer reservoir! Hell, it should be good for 150mph after that!

 

[Ghetto Jet]

Malibu73, you say your dad is a mechanic and he built the motor. Why don't you ask him how much horsepower it makes, he knows a lot more about it than any of us.

 

[Super Chevy]

Malibu 73 is a funny guy! I like this post! I think the 4 dr given the fact that something was polished and/or ported and that it has some kind of cam in it, not to mention that it has a 4 bbl carb, should EASILY be pushing 700-800HP! Did you say which oil pan you were running? Cause if you are running a blue one, that could be an extra 50HP or so.
L8r G8r!

ps, don't worry about that piston scoring from running it too lean, that will cure itself as soon as you get the high flow fuel pump installed in the washer reservoir! Hell, it should be good for 150mph after that!

soo umm, how the hell do u justify saying something like that, just because he doesnt know as much as u about engines doesnt mean u have to mock him.

 

[Malibu73]

Malibu73, you say your dad is a mechanic and he built the motor. Why don't you ask him how much horsepower it makes, he knows a lot more about it than any of us.

I have asked him, but he's never dyno'd it, he thinks somewhere around 400HP but I have a friend at school who knows a guy with a dyno, so when we get it back together I'm going to have it dyno'd..

But I was just curious as to what it was running before it died. That's all..

And I don't need to be mocked, not from the likes of you tommytempest. I'll thank you not to do that in the future.

 

[NewtONleE]

reply

dude go to autozone and get whats called a dyno 2000 its a cd rom and its pretty accurate thanks

 

[tommytempest]

Okay, all I know is it has a built 350 V8 with a 4 barrel carb on it. It has speiclal pistons + rings on it, it's been bored and flowed (to make all the places where air flow through line up real good, not sure if that's the term though). Um, I think my dad replaced the cam in it, but I'm not sure

You really didn't expect to get mocked?? I thought for sure this was MEANT to be comical. "Speiclal pistons + rings??" Bored and flowed? You do realize that there is actually NO WAY to even come close to estimating the HP with that info right?

Sorry man! Its all good!
L8r

 

[Malibu73]

You really didn't expect to get mocked?? I thought for sure this was MEANT to be comical. "Speiclal pistons + rings??" Bored and flowed? You do realize that there is actually NO WAY to even come close to estimating the HP with that info right?

Sorry man! Its all good!
L8r

Well sorry for not knowing the EXACT specs, I wish I did, and maybe I'll find out, but there is SURE a heck of a lot better ways of telling people this than mocking them. You don't see anybody else mocking me do you, they just reply and try and help a beginner out! I'm trying to learn and mocking certainly isn't helping, so if you don't have anything nice/helpful to say DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL!
The engine was built 9 years ago for crying out loud!!

This is thebeginner section, I'm a beginner and I'm trying to get help. Sorry for being a NOOB but if you need to say anything, critique me, don't criticize or mock me please, thank you.

 

[dmc12mk3]

You don't see anybody else mocking me do you,

In all fairness to tommytempest, he beat me to it.




j/k


He was just picking at you a bit, no real malice that I could see. I wouldn't take it personal. Best I can tell - being a beginner hotrodder, you'll probably soon learn to laugh at yourself when you goof up or you'll find another hobby. With gearheads though, if you ask not to be made fun of or picked on it usually doesn't produce the results you want (grin). Free advice, take it for what its worth and all that jazz.

 

[Nightfire]

Actually this is the friggin HOTRODDING BASICS section of the board. People should expect to get some very BASIC questions asked on here and most of them know that and try to help newbies like us.
So if you think that we should know everything and anything there is to know about hot rodding you're obviously not getting the point of Hotrodding Basics. And if you wanna talk with the experts like yourself you could've gone to the Advanced Hotrodding section back when it still existed but it got shut down because not too many people frequented there soooo, don't mock the beginners since you were one yourself someday.


Mike

 

[dmc12mk3]

Actually this is the friggin HOTRODDING BASICS section of the board. People should expect to get some very BASIC questions asked on here and most of them know that and try to help newbies like us.
So if you think that we should know everything and anything there is to know about hot rodding you're obviously not getting the point of Hotrodding Basics. And if you wanna talk with the experts like yourself you could've gone to the Advanced Hotrodding section back when it still existed but it got shut down because not too many people frequented there soooo, don't mock the beginners since you were one yourself someday.


Mike

I find it hard to take myself seriously most days - taking someone else seriously is even harder. I still don't see the harm in some good natured ribbing. I got my fair share (still do)...probably someone else's too but I earned every bit of it.

 

[tommytempest]

Wow dude! I DID apologize, I mean WOW! Little sensitive on this board huh?? Cant we all just get along?? I am changing my original HP estimate. 1000HP!!! Does that make it better?
Peace out!

And to be helpful, like suggested above, here is some of the info required to guess at horsepower. The only REAL way to know is to take it to a shop that has a dyno.

Cubic inch
Compression ratio (which is figured by a formula that consists of bore, stroke, deck height, piston volume, head gasket thickness, and combustion chamber size)
Cam specs (intake duration @.050, exhaust duration @.050, intake lift, exhaust lift, and lobe separation)
Head specs (casting number, runner volume, valve size, combustion size and shape, port matching, polishing, spring rate)
Intake Manifold
Carburetor
Exhaust

Have a nice day Malibu73, and TAKE A CHILL PILL!
:thumbup: imp:

 

[Malibu73]

Wow dude! I DID apologize, I mean WOW! Little sensitive on this board huh?? Cant we all just get along?? I am changing my original HP estimate. 1000HP!!! Does that make it better?
Peace out!

You see, even when you reply you still mock me, NO that does not make it better, 1000HP I wish!

I am sorry for the outburst, but I am a beginner in here trying to find out some info about my engine. Now I know that it's not that simple, so I think I'm just going to wait until we rebuild the frickin' thing and have it DYNOed as suggested on here.

But posting some questions about my engine and getting mocked does not make a beginner feel too great, I was just looking for some help or somebody to tell me politely (not mocking) the answer, or just simply that we need more info.

I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot tommy, but when I'm just trying to find out some info, and I'm a beginner on the subject, I don't like being mocked. I'm sure you were just having a good time and all that but, I didn't find it funny.

Anyway, thanks for all the help you guys, I'll post back if I ever find out the info you need, otherwise I'll just wait until the rebuild which I'm going to help through the WHOLE thing so I'll know all the specs.

No hard feelings tommytempest