Yes tonight, my truck had lamb chops for dinner!!!

I was driving home from work tonight when I encountered a mid to late '90's Dodge Ram on the freeway. Normally, when I see other lifted trucks on the freeway, none of them want to mess around or have any fun. But tonight was different. This Ram was lifted about 4 inches and had 35" muds, same as my truck. I don't know what engine it had or what mods if any besides exhaust it had, but I figure it most likely had at least a V8 which would already give it a displacement as well as stock hp/tq advantage.

I'm always curious to see how my mods. have helped my truck and how it stacks up against other vehicles in its "class". So I was cruising behind him when I decided I wanted to make my presence felt. My plan was to keep pace right beside him for a few seconds, so he would notice me and know that I wasn't just another vehicle in a hurry, then accelerate past him and see if he can keep up. That way he'll know I down for a little fun. So I pulled up next to him and maintained my speed. I wanted to wait until the right time before I downshifted into 3rd, but I came up on another car so I had to change lanes. Now I was right behind him again. Well, he definitately noticed me as he started accelerating. I kept pace and as soon as the next lane opened up I hit the accelerator and flew by him, changing lanes and eventually ending up back in his lane, only this time I was in front of him. Now I know he was deffinately biting since he then changed lanes and started passing other cars. He hit some paydirt and cruised on by me a couple lanes over. Meanwhile, I was stuck behind a car doing about 75. The car ever so slowly put on its blinker and changed lanes, all the while I was glancing at the Ram, gaining ground on me, anticipating the moment I can let all 200+ horses out the corral. Just as the left tires of the car in front of me crossed over, I slammed the accelerator and watched me speedo needle climb towards the 85 marking on my dash. Soon, we were completely in the clear. There were no cars in front of us or behind us for at least 500 yards. I was gaining ground on the Ram at a rather brisk pace, and it wasn't long before I passed him doing about 100-102 mph. From then on, he remained in my rear view mirror until I exited the freeway.

This was sweet for me. First of all, I am not at all a fan of Ram's so this was extra satisfying. Also, I had always doubted the power of my 302, so if by chance he had the 360 in his Dodge, which of course I'll never know, I have some bragging rights to my small, small block.

Now I know a lifted 4x4 truck isn't meant for freeway racing. And it could just be that he didn't want to get a ticket so he laid off the gas. However, whether I'm in the dirt or on the pavement, kicking Ram a$$ is kicking Ram a$$. And secondly, either he didn't have the ba!!s to keep up with me, or his truck didn't have the ba!!s to keep up with mine. Either way, it was a victory.

Just thought I'd share that with y'all!

 

His name was Scott Miller, and he was giving it everything that 440 had. You beat him fair and square! be proud.

Take care,
~Chris

 

good kill, i hate dodge's

 

I love smoking those dodges LOL. My kill story https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...ighlight=dodge

 

Good kill!

Wes

 

Thanks guys!

beastie, congrats on your kill! I'm surprised I missed that thread.

pkrwud, lol! I'm not a fan of Dodge's, but I gotta give credit where credit is due. There's now way I'm hanging, let alone beating a 440 hemi!!!! BTW, the new hemi's could be something to be reckoned with. We'll have to see.

I don't like to get discouraged if I get smoked by a late model vehicle, with the technology these days and the ever increasing hp. But guys like us are working to make sure the 300/302/351/460 still get the respect they deserve. My brother's looking to buy a late model Z71 with the 5.3L V8... 285 hp stock. My dream is to somehow find a way to smoke him with natural aspiration in my truck. It might take a 351W engine swap, a chip and some aluminum heads along with a built C6 tranny, among some other gadgets, but I'm gonna find away to bring glory to the small block Ford family.

 

Make our older truck reign supreme LOL. I want to run low 16s to high 15s and I'd be happy. I'd beat almost all ricer, hell I beat most now LOL, and I could take on the higher hp trucks of today. Not all new trucks are faster though. A friend has a 2000 F-150 4.6 ext cab sort bed and I can walk on him. It depends on their configuration. I want to run with the 5.4L reg cab short bed F-150s, then I will be happy. I dont ask much lol.

 

my 4.9L smokes my dads brand new '02 Dodge with a v8...that thing is alright with torque though.

 

Wow! I'm not believing your story about beating a Dodge 440...

How do you like the mods you've done on your 302? I have a '91 with the 302 and auto, and it is a DOG. I've been considering selling my '02 Impala LS (which is quick), but don't want to be stuck with my SLOW '91 F-150. If I could get in the 6-7 second range for 0-60 with my truck, I'd be happy... but I'm not convinced that either YOUR truck or mine could do that, NA.

-Mike

 

AIm of 8 sec 0-60 NA. I think thats all we can do unless we really tear into the engine. But we can have the fastests beasts around. The aftermarket for us is limitless. Imagine pulling up next to a new GT and you just blow wm away. That would be the greatest thing. They would be like WTF, all you have to say is I did a few things, and its still NA. LOL

 

Mike,

My truck can't hang with a 440 (apparently it can hang with a 318/360 on the freeway), but when I'm cruising at just the right speed, about 23 mph in 3rd, and I stomp on it, it has some ba!!s that even impress me. Since I got my pulleys and intake manifold, the thing dowshifts and revs almost at will (compared to stock). So when I jump from about 1500 rpm to 4000 almost instantaneously, since it'll usually downshift twice at that speed, I can feel a nice kick in the rear end!

Yeah, 6-7 seconds 0-60 is asking a bit much. Even the new L's do high 5's stock, so to do 6's you'd have to be running in the 14's in the quarter mile. My goal is 16's in the 1/4 mile, low 8's 0-60. Who knows if I'll ever get there but I figure eventually, I'm gonna run a rebuilt 351, with the Edelbrock Power package which includes cam, aluminum cylinder heads, headers, intake manifold, water pump, and throttle body. They claim an increase in over 80 ft/lbs. of tq over stock with this combo. Not too bad. In addition, a K&N FIPK, underdrive pulleys, superchip, cat. back exhaust system, good spark plugs/wires, cap/rotor/coil combo, and throttle body spacer should help get the powertrain to 300+ horsepower and close to 400 ft/lbs of torque. To handle this power, I want to eventually get a built C6 tranny, and I'm still wrestling with the decision to install 4.56 gears. I do have 4.10's and the loss of OD weighs heavily on this decision as well. But I did weigh my truck a couple months ago, and even with me inside, the truck was relatively light, weighing in at 4680 pounds. So I don't think my goals are to unrealistic. To have a truck that can hold its own on road and off road is my dream, and I feel as if I'm about half way there to that pot of gold.

 

You lost OD when you installed your 4.10s?

 

Good Goin! Too many Dodges think they're hot sh*t. (must admit...they sound good, though) Looks like you won the Mayor of Truckville's old lady for the night.

 

Thanks for the info. Good run... gee, if I could get my 302 down 8 seconds, I'd give someone else my new car note!

 

beastie,

No actually the 4.10's are stock, and I was just thinking that if I swapped in a C6 transmission, I would lose my OD since the C6's only have 3 gears. And not having OD combined with a beefed up 351 engine, 4.56 gears, and large off road tires make for a serious poor gas mileage recipe!!! I wouldn't do all of this unless I had something else to drive that had better mileage.