Do all full sized pickups have a speed governor?
Arch
with the 5.9? (no, not the new Hemi) V8 and auto transmission -
extended cab. He says he has had it up to 130 mph and in his words
"easily pulling towards 140 mph." Not quite sure how he knows since,
if I am not mistaking, the maximum indication on the speedometer is
120 mph.
He says he won't do it again because the LT tires are not designed for
such speeds, but he seems to think that his truck won't accelerate as
quickly as a Z06, but "could easily stay with a Z06 (yes Corvette) on
the straight."
Anyway, enough of his silly boasting. Don't all full sized pickups,
in the non-performance category (not counting the Lightning, what
else?) have a speed governor around 105 mph? I asked him, and he said
his didn't. If it did come from the factory with a governor, then how
did he disable the governor? I know for a fact that he has the
factory computer in the vehicle.
Does Dodge leave all of their pickups un-governored? If so, aren't
they taking a liability risk when someone in their HD Dodge Ram cracks
it up at 120 mph?
Y
I know at least until '91 they were not and 350 2WD trucks would hit in the
105-115 range. Never drove one with a tach to get a true calculation. I
have yet to drive a Dodge or Ford full size that I have found a governor on.
All of the Ford PowerStrokes (3 '94's, a '95 and a '96) I've driven shut off
the fuel to keep from overspeeding the engine at 3300rpm (yellow line on
tach) which is about 100 with 4.10 gears or 110 with 3.55 gears. I've seen
112 out of a '96 Ram 1500 reg cab 4x4 auto. Not sure which V-8 since it was
a rental. Saw 118 out of a '94 2500 4x4 V-10 auto with 3.55 gears. I
don't think any full size trucks with the exception of the Lightning and
maybe new Hemi Rams will do much over 120.......they have horrible
aerodynamics. LT really has no direct impact on the speed rating. Simply
find the speed rating on the tire (it's a letter like Q, S, T, V etc.) and
you'll know what sustained speed it is rated for. The GM governors are
quite violent when the come on.....kills all the power instantly. Very
annoying. On the plus side you can set the cruise up to the governed speed.
"Arch" <cr1...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c8cde796.03033...@posting.google.com...
Joel Gallun
> The GM governors are quite violent when the come on.....kills all
> the power instantly.
I'll second that. My '99 454 is still accelerating hard when it
hits the speed limiter and its like hitting a wall.
As far as I know all the gm cars have speed limiters too. I was in one
of the generic mid-sized cars when it hit the speed limiter between
nascar turn 2 & 3 (back straight) at charlotte (lowes). I suggested to
the student driver that it might be a good idea to avoid doing that in
nascar turn 3 or 4 :)
joel
Steve
I have a friend with a Ram SS/T (1998 model) and he's put just about all
the Mopar Performance goodies on the 5.9 (360) engine- computer, cam,
fast-ratio rockers, performance cylinder heads (the cast iron version),
MP intake,oversized throttle body, MP headers, and cat-back exhaust. Its
his daily driver with over 120,000 miles, and it runs 13s in the quarter
(he won't use nitrous or a blower- thinks that's "cheating":-) He's
actually used several different performance computers with it (both MP
and Jet, IIRC). His computers don't seem to have a speed limiter (at
least he hasn't found it- God knows not from lack of searching :-) but
the do seem to have a *rev* limiter and different computers have it at
different levels. One particularly annoying computer would sometimes
kiss the rev limiter before the transmission would shift, but I think he
got that sorted out in the latest setup.
And FWIW, he test drove a 5.7 Hemi Ram 1500 and although quick, its not
anywhere close to his modified truck. The salesman demanded a ride in
the SS/T before he would believe the claim, and apparently was a little
bit pale when the ride was over. It'll be interesting to see if Mopar
Performance comes out with the same line of goodies for the 5.7 Hemi
that they have for the 360.
Chris Z.
"Steve" <n...@spam.thanks> wrote in message
news:1RGdnY5QyrN...@texas.net...
> I have a friend with a Ram SS/T (1998 model) and he's put just about all
> the Mopar Performance goodies on the 5.9 (360) engine- computer, cam,
> fast-ratio rockers, performance cylinder heads (the cast iron version),
> MP intake,oversized throttle body, MP headers, and cat-back exhaust. Its
> his daily driver with over 120,000 miles, and it runs 13s in the quarter
> (he won't use nitrous or a blower- thinks that's "cheating":-) He's
> actually used several different performance computers with it (both MP
> and Jet, IIRC). His computers don't seem to have a speed limiter (at
> least he hasn't found it- God knows not from lack of searching :-) but
> the do seem to have a *rev* limiter and different computers have it at
> different levels. One particularly annoying computer would sometimes
> kiss the rev limiter before the transmission would shift, but I think he
> got that sorted out in the latest setup.
The speed limiter should have been in the factory computer which he
removed....... One of the reasons to chip or change it is to remove the
limiter, like your friend did.
Chris Z.
BULRID8
computer. It is 95 mph, there is no rev limiter on them. I have had mine up to
4000 rpm's maney times. All you have to do is chip it and it will remove the
govener.
Pete Geurds
match speed rating of tires.
It's possible to have similar models of same car come through with different
governor settings due to which tire option you checked off. The "governor" is a
fuel cutoff which is why it's so abrupt for those of you that have done "field
testing".
Moral of story: Buy the good tires!
If you order vehicle with cheap tires thinking you're going to upgrade with
aftermarket you'll have lower speed governor.
Pete Geurds
Douglassville, PA
Melvin...@mailcity.com
based on the sustained top speed rating of the tire on the
vehicle when new, except those equipped with 'Z' rated tires.
Their design limit of 190 MPH is faster than the speed any
standard vehicle is capable of attaining.
mike hunt
Ricardo
>Not only GM, ALL vehicles sold in the US have a speed limiter
>based on the sustained top speed rating of the tire on the
>vehicle when new, except those equipped with 'Z' rated tires.
This is correct, which makes it a royal[*] PitA later on if you want
to shark your car and the sharked chip manufacturer has nothing
compatible in stock. I obtained the possible engine codes for my '89
Pontiac, but Superchips told me they had nothing available.
Hypertech and Jet don't seem to have a compatible chip either, and
when they did it was only for the auto tranny version (or so they
claimed).
Since my limiter kicks in at a ridiculous 96mph (not violently btw,
is this unusual for a GM car? From what I've read it appears so), I
have been running a policy of "shark it or sell it" for a while now.
When I've pulled my fingers out and pulled my life together
(emerging from a tempus horribilis of long term illness), the white
"speedless wonder" will be sold or traded for $1900 and replaced by
a *real* car. BMW perhaps? Very likely if the price is right. :)
[*] I am aware there are a lot of yanks reading here, and that
adjective is probably not appropriate for them. ;)
--
ricardo, ex-euroslav vancouver bc canada
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