Alpo Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 I remember, in high school, hearing people talk about a B&M bang shifter. I have the impression that it works like a motorcycle shifter. You push it as far as it'll go, and it shifts one yearGEAR and you let go when thatAND IT springs back to the original position, then you push it again and it shifts to the next gear. You can't accidentally shift from first to high - it has to go through second. You can't accidentally shift from low to reverse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 A lot of the automatic transmissions used in racing, especially drag racing, are modified to only operate in the “gear” selected. There are a number of reasons for this, the most important one being that the shifs are made immediately and only when the operator wants them. This prevents an upshift or downshift from occurring at the wrong time. The shifter that Alpo describes is a “ratchet” style shifter, popular with mostly street driven vehicles. Several manufacturers make versions of this style of shifter for competition, but they operate a little different. These include mechanisms to prevent shifting into neutral or reverse inadvertently. Some even have provision for operating the forward gears in reverse order in conjunction with modifications to the internals of the transmission. The old B&M “bang shifter” didn’t block out a shift into neutral. One of my racing partners tried one when they first came out. He accidentally shifted into neutral at the “big end” of the drag strip and grenaded a very expensive engine! Later versions were improved to prevent this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nostrum Damus SASS #110702 Posted March 9, 2022 Share Posted March 9, 2022 This one was mine. It was absolutely awful on everything except straight dry pavement, with almost no weight at all over the rear drive axle, and a 351 cubic inch (5.8 L) V-8 under the expanse of hood. I had the rear external glove box (aka "trunk") filled with 80-lb sandbags to get solid traction with the rear tires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major E A Sterner #12916 Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 11 hours ago, Rip Snorter said: I can't recall the top end on the GTO, but it was very fast, and there is at least one fun story for another time. Coming across eastern Montana in the Magnum a few years back, had a Corvette pass me at speed. He passed with all courtesy, but I paused a minute, slapped the shifter, and floored it. You could see his head come up to look in his rear view mirror, suspect he heard the engine. Reeled him in pdq and the Magnum hadn't quite topped out. Haven't been past 110 since, but a fun car to drive. Top end on the GTO was about 115mph, If you remove the speed limiter on the RT it's about 140mph, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderRiverCowboy Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 5 minutes ago, Major E A Sterner #12916 said: Top end on the GTO was about 115mph, If you remove the speed limiter on the RT it's about 140mph, 143 speed limited , as set by factory (speed rating on tires because of a law suit ) Returned mine when in Germany on A6 autobahn mine with 6 speed stock at the time was 167 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 1 minute ago, PowerRiverCowboy said: 143 speed limited , as set by factory (speed rating on tires because of a law suit ) Returned mine when in Germany on A6 autobahn mine with 6 speed stock at the time was 167 . They claimed 150, dunno about anyone else, and I even ran a few chases in Police "Interceptors" back in the day, but when I hit a certain speed "Harmonic", I'm too busy to pay much attention to the speedometer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderRiverCowboy Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 1 minute ago, Rip Snorter said: They claimed 150, dunno about anyone else, and I even ran a few chases in Police "Interceptors" back in the day, but when I hit a certain speed "Harmonic", I'm too busy to pay much attention to the speedometer. I had a license plate frame on the Duster that said there were no atheist's at 150 MPH the Duster in 84 was a low 9 sec car back then super quick , the 5.0 Mustangs were out all over stop light race left with wheels up in the air . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 One unforgettable thing, if you've ever done a high speed chase, I was going to say as a LEO, but on either side of the law for sure, is when the engine of the chased car blows. A bit of a bang and some smoke. Mostly, unless there is a wreck, you have to chase again on foot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderRiverCowboy Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 The group I was part of actually had a decent relationship with LE , often they would be there to watch , but also Had our own track at Terminal Island Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 There was plenty of open country close, with little traffic, and good roads so the Street Racers didn't do much in town but troll the strip on Friday & Saturday night for competition. If you treated them fairly, and had a "situation" if I asked them to leave they were just fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 In the ‘80s, I worked for a drag racing team owner as crew chief. The team owner also ran a transmission shop and specialized in racing transmissions. We did R&D for ATI Transmission Parts. I also built V8 Vegas and Monzas for fun. My own daily driver was a ‘77 Monza with a rowdy 302” Chevrolet small block. I used an aluminum PowerGlide with the rear pump and a narrowed 12 bolt rear end with 2.56:1 gears and a posi-traction carrier. I mounted Z speed rated tires on Corvette wheels on all four corners. It was lowered and the suspension had all the latest road race modifications. I don’t know how fast the car would actually go. One of my State Trooper friends set up a radar “trap” one night on a stretch of interstate highway that had nearly two miles of reasonably straight, new pavement and a gradual curve and a long uphill grade at the end. At the trap, he clocked the Monza at 173 mph and I was still accelerating, but ran out of safe road to go faster. The car didn’t accelerate all that fast, but it never seemed to run out of legs! It wasn’t the fastest car I ever owned, but it was the fastest I ever drove on a public highway, not counting a few blasts on one or another motorcycle. My brother wrecked the car a few months later. I ended up selling off what I could salvage of the chassis and the engine wound up in a round track car. I put the PowerGlide in the Super Gas car I was building with one of the ATI converters, a full manual, trans brake valve body, and a 182 tooth planetary. It worked great behind that old big block!! Back in those days, the rules on the street were different and there weren’t so many people on the roads. If you treated the LEOs with respect, they’d do the same with you. We could all see the changes happening and I quit street racing after that. I was fortunate to live in the true heyday of the muscle car! Today’s cars are truly fantastic, but they lack something of the outlaw essence of the old days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 2 minutes ago, Blackwater 53393 said: In the ‘80s, I worked for a drag racing team owner as crew chief. The team owner also ran a transmission shop and specialized in racing transmissions. We did R&D for ATI Transmission Parts. I also built V8 Vegas and Monzas for fun. My own daily driver was a ‘77 Monza with a rowdy 302” Chevrolet small block. I used an aluminum PowerGlide with the rear pump and a narrowed 12 bolt rear end with 2.56:1 gears and a posi-traction carrier. I mounted Z speed rated tires on Corvette wheels on all four corners. It was lowered and the suspension had all the latest road race modifications. I don’t know how fast the car would actually go. One of my State Trooper friends set up a radar “trap” one night on a stretch of interstate highway that had nearly two miles of reasonably straight, new pavement and a gradual curve and a long uphill grade at the end. At the trap, he clocked the Monza at 173 mph and I was still accelerating, but ran out of safe road to go faster. The car didn’t accelerate all that fast, but it never seemed to run out of legs! It wasn’t the fastest car I ever owned, but it was the fastest I ever drove on a public highway, not counting a few blasts on one or another motorcycle. My brother wrecked the car a few months later. I ended up selling off what I could salvage of the chassis and the engine wound up in a round track car. I put the PowerGlide in the Super Gas car I was building with one of the ATI converters, a full manual, trans brake valve body, and a 182 tooth planetary. It worked great behind that old big block!! Back in those days, the rules on the street were different and there weren’t so many people on the roads. If you treated the LEOs with respect, they’d do the same with you. We could all see the changes happening and I quit street racing after that. I was fortunate to live in the true heyday of the muscle car! Today’s cars are truly fantastic, but they lack something of the outlaw essence of the old days. Deal is, time passes and we're all old. I still have my moments in the Magnum. The Sheriff would be annoyed at my behavior, and he is at least a friendly acquaintance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted March 10, 2022 Share Posted March 10, 2022 10 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said: Deal is, time passes and we're all old. I still have my moments in the Magnum. The Sheriff would be annoyed at my behavior, and he is at least a friendly acquaintance. Yeah! The sheriff is a personal friend. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that. My old pickup is plenty fast enough to get me into serious trouble. The current project is going to be more than capable, but it’s a different style! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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