What does eveyone consider decent rear wheel power ?

[440]

As the title implies.

What do you consider decent rear wheel power for a street driven car, trips to the local shops, cruises, Sunday drives etc ? Should be interesting seeing how varied the responses are.....

[68X426]

Decent? That's a big subjective term. 

So here's a first shot: 300 hp in an A body, 350 in a E body and 400 in a B body.

[440]

Very subjective but interesting to hear what peoples opinions would be. I was half expecting a range somewhere between 300 - 600. I was reading an old thread where someones car dyno'd at around 300 and quite a few people chimed in saying that was good power. 

Personally I'd say about 340 at the wheels which would be roughly 400 at the fly.

318 would be a standard R/T 440 accounting for a 15% loss....

[Cooter]

"Decent" and "streetable" are on opposite ends of the spectrum...Sure, there's always one that will tell you that having a vehicle he/she LOOSELY calls "Streetable" with over 650 RWHP, is where it's at...However, It takes ALOT of money and broken sh*t to get to that level...

I consider any musclecar with at least one HP per Cu. In. at the crank a "Decent" ride, and the hell with at the wheels..

[tan top]

 not going for all out power    but thinking  good street 440  motor , nothing too radical  in a big ole heavy B-body  , 400 -420 at the wheels  ,( would be aiming for big torque low down  in a street motor though ) obviously we know with all the aftermarket blocks & heads & stroker cranks  you can get some serious power  , that can almost double that figure &  to the casual observer looking under the hood ,  still bares quite a close resemblance to a stockish 440 if you paint it all orange or..


not 100% on this but
think RWHP  for a stock 69 440 4 barrel HP motor  was  only 310 -320 maybe   think   the   stock 426Hemi was about 350 -370 RWHP  
depending on what transmission  , & A/C  power steering  cold air hood      

[Cooter]

I have a car that puts out 700 HP at the crank and over 600 At the wheels...Wanna guess which one sits in the garage with flat tires while I cruise the Charger?

Sure, it's fun but like Nitorus Oxide, it's good in small doses as it's an all day deal to swap starters on that damn thing...

[Brass]

I don't know...  I kind of think 1 crank HP for every 10 lbs is decent.  1 HP for every 7 lbs is good...  

RWHP is good for establishing a baseline, and I have a long, long way to go!  

Somewhere on here I recall seeing crank (gross) HP = RWHP x 1.53.

[Todd Wilson]

1500

[Mike DC]

 
Are we talking about "decent" from the experience of the driver, or "decent" from the time it posts on a stopwatch? 

A lightweight Jeep with some low-end torque can feel pretty powerful and fun.  But it won't post a decent track time.  My daily-driver luxury 4dr might post a better 1/4 mile time than a jeep but it won't FEEL nearly as quick. 

 

[miller]

1500

I'm going to go with 1 HP Bob.

[440]

not 100% on this but
think RWHP  for a stock 69 440 4 barrel HP motor  was  only 310 -320 maybe   think   the   stock 426Hemi was about 350 -370 RWHP  
depending on what transmission  , & A/C  power steering  cold air hood      

Pretty close to what I figured Tan Top @ 318

Too many factors to play in to worry about track times.

HP per LB seems like a better more universal method.

[HPP]

Since a lot of people tend to like stock to midly warmed up rebuilds, I'd say 350-400 crank HP or 290-350 rear wheel HP are the most commonly occuring numbers.

[Mike DC]

  
I might measure it by comparing the engine's midrange torque against the vehicle's tranny/gearing setup & curb weight.

[redmist]

This was on the engine dyno, not at the wheels...

I have no idea what this will be like on the street...    

We never ran it past 5700RPM so I don't know what max HP was.  It's a solid cam so i assume it was over 500..

[Rolling_Thunder]

I would say for a B-body (this is a charger forum) I would say 350-400 RWHP would make it an awesome and fun ride while being totally streetable...   


Say what you will about the new gen engines - but that is why I put a 6.1L hemi in...       guys put 400-425hp with mild mods (headers, tune, cam) and there is no reliability or driveability issues...         

[elacruze]

RWHP isn't a good measure for a 'street car', not to me. 500 lbs-ft of torque below 4000rpm is a better measure of street-legal fun.

[SRT-440]

I would think 400rwhp in a bbody would be a good number..enough power to have fun in and be able to put it to the ground. 

Then u get into boosted cars like my Buick GN...feels like a granny car just crusin around town...but as soon as u get into boost (at almost any speed) it gets sideways...so in that case how much HP is too much for the street? 

[adauto]

RWHP isn't a good measure for a 'street car', not to me. 500 lbs-ft of torque below 4000rpm is a better measure of street-legal fun.

Agreed, torque on the street is what you need..

[resq302]

If I remember right, about 7 years ago, I had my car dynod and had something like 230 hp at the rear wheels.  This is also with a 383 4 bbl, manual 4 spd trans, power steer, and power brakes.

[RECHRGD]

From many articles I've read over the years a bone stock 440 HP would put down around 270-280rwhp with an automatic tranny.  Based upon my different dyno sessions, I think that's about right.  My last dyno reading came in at a little under 340rwhp, but I had a lifter problem that I wasn't aware of at the time.  It should be around 350-360rwhp and that's fine for an old guy like me that thought the stockers were fast.  The same shop that dyno'd my car did a 426 HEMI rebuilt to stock specs and could only get 315rwhp out of it.  The new technology available now can make some amazing horsepower numbers.  So "decent" will depend on your pocketbook and level of courage.   Bob

[charge69]

This motor was built by a professional shop and dynoed as shown. It is a .0030" over 426 hemi (now a little under 432") with JE Forged pistons at just under 11 to 1 cr and a custom grind comp cams hydraulic roller cam installed. It is a 1969 motor (original motor) and had new oem rocker arms and all new SS Manley valves w/hardened valve seats and Manley H-beam rods on assembly. I wanted to drive it, not just look at it and went for dependability. The carbs were professionally (DaVinci) rebuilt and dialed in on the dyno. I haven't had it on the ground yet but I expect it to be an awesome streetrunner. Hope it will not be long now.

P.S. This was with "dyno" in-house and homemade headers. I already bought TTI headers and a complete MSD Digital 6 ignition for it and it will be on the car when finished. The TTI headers just would not fit on the motor on the dyno. Gonna have a complete TTI 3' exhaust w/X pipe under it also.

[Hissing Cobra]

Decent rear wheel horsepower to me differs based on the weight of the car. If you can run low to mid 12's on the track @ 110-115 mph and still drive it around on the street  (on pump gas) wherever and whenever you want, you've got decent rear wheel horsepower. Now in a 3,100 lb. car, that may be 300-325 rear wheel horsepower to run mid 12's but in a 4,000 lb. car that number may need to be 400 rear wheel horsepower to equal the same quarter mile times. Of course, I'm talking about Naturally Aspirated engines here. If you add boost in the form of a Turbo, Supercharger, or Nitrous Oxide, the rules change considerably. Just my opinion.