360 vs 383

rumblefish360 said
WOW! Both cars are heavy!

Yep. E bodies are crazy heavy, hard to figure. By '74 A bodies had all the 5mph crash stuff saddled on them so it makes sense that one is as porky as it is.

rumblefish360 said
I think the 383 has the goods over the 360 to be a more powerful engine and a better street or strip performer. Weight of the power plant is of some concern if the OE must be retained. Once the OE heavy iron is dumped for the aftermarket performance parts, it’s the big block.

What would 225lbs. weight reduction and 3.55’s do for the challenger’s 15.46 ET? The power plant remains the same.

Maybe a 1/10th? It's only a 10% difference between the two gear ratios so I doubt the 3.55 would amount to much.

273 said
Plus were talking 70's tire technology. What does it matter what they ran stock 50 years ago.

Those are the historical benchmarks, have to start somewhere. Radials may not slip as much but the stiffer sidewall does not allow as much of a contact area. 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other.

The PSMCDR results I posted above were on the OE tires so the 2023 performance is still essentially the same as it was when the cars were new. Not sure if a '74 Duster would have had belted radials or not but the Challenger would definitely have been on bias ply Polyglas GTs. Some of the quicker F.A.S.T. guys are basically in the 8's on bald Polyglas tires so the tires may not be as big of a factor as you'd think.