Top speed of your van

How fast are you guys going with your van? Mine doesn't seem to want to go over 60mph. I have a 67 with a 240 and 3 on the tree. I am unsure of the rear end gears but it definitely isn't roaring at 60mph, just seems to run out of steam.

My pickup has a stock 302 c4 swap with 350 gears. It will run 70 on the highway with the throttle barley open, never tried to go faster yet. It ran 10.61 at 66 mph in the 1/8th mile with alot of tire spin.

I got my 170 up over 65 once, was feeling gutsy. It ran out of breath around 67 iirc.

I haven't had mine up higher than 63 mph. Original 170 engine (not rebuilt) transmission and rear end.


--Oh I forgot to mention that the previous owner "TexasJohn" said he drove it once on the freeway from Lewiston ID to Seattle going 70 mph all the way. Of course that's all hear-say lol

I have a 63 falcon. I rebuilt a 200. Kept the stock trans and rear end. 60 is about tops for me

No idea. I think maybe 65, but once I am over 50 the speedometer begins to jump around a bit so i could be going anywhere from 55 to 85. LOL

Ok, thanks everyone. I know this thing has the aerodynamics of a brick. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't leaning out or anything. Guess a v8 swap is the next step if I want more speed.

Geeeez you guys, My little A-100 with a 225 and 3.55 rear seems to top out at about 80. Guess I got a Hot Rod!

80! WOO HOOOOO! I love Hot Rods!

Zach, it's all about breath and the condition of your engine and your rear end ratio. That 240 should be able to easily do 90++. Either you have very short gears, ie 3.5:1 to 4.11:1 ect, or the engine is worn out, or it's literally running out of breath b/c of the carburetor size. Running out of breath is a bigger problem with the small sixes b/c of their anemic head and goofy integrated intake design than it is with the 240's and 300's. A 300 is a direct swap for your 240. Once I get my 250 in with the overdrive trans I have no doubt the only limit will be my nerves, even with the small six log head. I'll be running around 2250 RPM @ 70 mph w/3.7:1 in the rear end, @ 3500 RPM I'd be running 110 mph. Your 240 should be able to out run and out pull my little worn out 170 for sure, and right now that isn't the case.

Check your rear end ratio(3:1 would probably be good for you or 3.25:1 or less), do a compression test and then, if needed, a leak down test on the engine. If all of that is OK look into getting a larger carb on it like an Autolite 2100 1.08 or 1.12 venturi 2-barrel.

69A100, your slant 6 breaths alot better than our falcon sixes do. When I hit my top end of around 67-70 w/3.5:1 in the rear you could literally hear and feel the motor run out of air to go any faster. She was screaming but really, I figure I was only running 3300 RPM or so. I think that's part of why they last so long, they can only spin so fast b/c of the heads

Had mine up to about 140 on I5 back in 1976.

66ThunderVan wrote:Had mine up to about 140 on I5 back in 1976.

Downhill on the grapevine?.. Your balls are bigger than mine. I pussed out at 95mph (using the "speed box" GPS app)

I was young and dumb. It was just north of the grapevine where is flattens out. A 396 and a TA with a bird on the hood were weaving in and out of traffic racing down the mountain and I moved into the middle lane and didn't let them pass me. They were both in shock and we slowed down to around 70 and they tried again and I left them both.

had my 67 108 up to 90 sat up like a gasser up in the air small stearing wheel 292-6 had more pedal just no more balls a lot of float sitting up 4"over stock

On my previous 65 Falcon all stock with 170 and small rear end I could easily cruise at 60-65mph. I did go above 70 but I knew she didn't like it, that extra 5-10 mph wasn't worth it...

Couple weekends ago set my new high with my 170cc '63 van at 65 MPH. We did and extended cruze in the van and I think it's just a matter of getting comfortable with it at that speed. Probably won't try and break that speed for a while.

yeah that's the thing of it, safety is a state of mind in these old rigs, like how are the wheels bearings in this 50 yo van LOL

If you don't know, it could be a problem

You know your alive when you're on the highway in one of these rigs Almost half the fun.

I can go as fast or faster than most vehicles on the road - that's fast enough for me! LOL I regularly cruise at around 75 and know from racing with a guy that I have no problem running around things at 90+ - I just don't drive it that way very often, just once in awhile when I forget how old I really am.

Which is why I built it the way I did. I wanted to be able to punch it and go and not be a slow fuddy duddy out on the road. Freaks people out all the time. They think it's a slow mo rider until they try to pass me! hahaha

My van tops at 83MPH! It steady cruises at 68-70. It drives smooth and straight and the frontend is tight.

200/3 speed

I'm thinking the issue is more of: how high can you go in RPM's? If you do have a tach.
I'm running a 170 with 3.50 and don't like taking it above 2500.

My 66 Vanup with it's 289 and 350 rear has never topped out.
I'm too afraid to go past the 100 mph mark!
Got to 100 and it was still going for more.

Well, lets see. Generally my 170 in my 1963 pickup would peak out at about 60 miles per hour. Of course there was that time it went about 90. Of course that was downhill in a hurricane. Wildest ride I ever had. LOL

I have Camaro 1969 350 SS w/Rochester 4b... got up to 85 before the fear of driving a 50+ year old van that fast hit my mind. I leave scratch up my driveway... just ask Russell!!

In the distant past 1989, I had my first van a 1964 Chevy Panel with a 6, my husband was driving because I had a sprained clutch foot... he rolled the van on the 5 N at 5 PM, it exploded like in a movie... just as we were running out of the broken windshield facing South in the North bound lanes. We had slid 186 feet revolving like a turn-style on it's side, never hit anyone else. We had no seat belts, I almost went through the windsheild at one point. So, speed is never as fun after you have actually rolled a old van and watched it burn. The airport was closed for 3 hours while my van burned.