Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Two very good friends of mine are going to have a friendly grudge race early next year.
Thought you guys might provide some input:

Here's the background on both of the cars--

1st car
1939 Ford coupe. A very nice, well put together car.
Weighs about 2900# with driver
351C Ford engine with a 280 degree cam, single 4 carb., headers.
All other engine details unknown at this time.
4 speed toploader trans (wide ratio, 2.78 1st gear).
3.55 rear Ford 9". He May change to a 3.89.
I think a 27" tire, might use slicks?
Owner limits rpm to 5500.

2nd car
1964 Ford Fairlane coupe. Another very nice car.
Probably about 3100# with driver
351C, now 392 CI. BIG cam (unknown to me at this time).
Single 4 bbl Edelbrock carb (600, I think. Might be bigger).
Car has run on a chassis dyno, showed 304 HP (unknown rpm).
C4 Trans with a shift kit, 2400 Stall.
Spool Ford 9" with 4.10 gears, will run 27" slicks.

That's all the info I have. Thought it might be fun to have you
guys here take a guess as to who/whom has the better
combination. And pick a winner.
This is just gonna be a for fun race
Thanks
Jim

Oh, And Merry Christmas everyone

i pick the chevy for the win!

These are obviously not dedicated track cars. Money is on the automatic.

It also depends on the driver..... Without more details the first car kinda hard to tell.... I am going out on a limb a say car 2.... Although a Big cam in a Cleveland and only a 2400 stall isn't the hot ticket!

The Fairlane has more ci, more gear, only a 200 lb weight disadvantage, and will run slicks. The automatic will help too, unless Ronnie Sox is driving the '39.

My money is on the Fairlane.

Fairlane

Unless that 39 has some trick suspension parts under it the fairlane will dust him off.

I also picked the Fairlane. We'll have to wait & see
Thanks
jIM

There is no fun grudge races. Somebody has money on it-probably YOU, Please put a couple hundred on the Fairlane for me.

No, DCal
No money by me, but I'm real sure the Fairlane is much faster

I'm gonna go against the Fairlane crowd and side with the '39.

In this case the 4 speed may have the slight advantage with a higher RPM launch, though 'usually' limiting RPM to only 5500 doesn't mean he will in any serious Grudge race. I expect he already knows how much RPM and power he really has once that 351 winds up running through those gears.

I take it neither of these cars has 4V heads on it(judged by the RPM limits)??

The Fairlane seems to have every advantage but weight, so that's my pick.

Hi Eric
I have no idea about the heads on either car.
The guy with the 39 is very conserative with the car

Kahuna wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:57 pm Hi Eric
I have no idea about the heads on either car.
The guy with the 39 is very conserative with the car

I ask because with the Cleveland there is a HUUUUGE difference between 2V(Factory 2 barrel) and 4V(factory 4 barrel) heads.

With 4V heads a 5500 rpm limit isnot going to get you anywhere, the head has just started to come into it's own at that point and needs to rev to 7500+ RPM to really shine. That''s and the low power given for the Fairlane made me guess both engines have 2V heads on them

Where in Northern CA? Gotta see this, two cars not at all set up for drag racing doing just that. I live in Sparks, NV and see it year after year at Hot August Nights.