i have a friend with an 85 Impala who is currently getting the engine rebuilt (350) to race specs and he claims that he will get it to 400HP/450TQ. How do you think this machine matches up against my 04 STi (stock)?


my friend's 85 Chevy Impala

or

my 04 Subaru STi

 

he may have power but you have grip. In a straight line, he might be able to pull on you a bit but when it comes to the twisties NOT EVEN CLOSE! If acceleration is what your concerned about, remember that the delivery on your STI will give you better pull than his larger numbers (my legacy will pull on my friends el camino with a decently built 350). I wouldnt worry too much over it, you got him beat.

 

I didn't even realize that the Impala was available in '85. It's butt fugly
Like whitelegacy says, you'll do fine if you guys do anything involving handling. Straight line will be interesting though... he may have a slight edge there. Just take him to the twisties and watch him roll over!

:banana:

 

Impalas of that body stile wear available fom '76 to '90
I wouldnt worry about him, the curb weight of that car is over 4500 lbs!

 

lol, he can only go straight, plus he will have problems, its not manufactured and shipped from gunma like the Sti is =). basically slap on a turboback, dyno tune ur shiet and u owned. ofcourse u need good driving skills but im sure u do

 

matching a new sti vs that is a laugh! lol!!!! seriously got me laughing

 

LOL, thats one ugly car. If you didnt beat him in the straight, you could sure as hell know you could beat him in the twisties and in a looks competitioN!

 

Okay, 400hp and 450tq. That big thing weighs over 4000lbs. Traction limited, heavy car, sloppy drivetrain........

Nevertheless, if he puts a strip prepped TH400 or 700R4 transmission in it, a locking rear diff with short gears, sticky drag tires, and skinnies up front, he'll ruin you in the 1/4 mile.

 

STi is 300lbs torque, boosting. 3200lbs. curb weight. DCCD, 6 speed tranny. itll do the ruining.

 

not to mention AWD.

 

Apparently that Impala weighs a lot less than I thought. I was sure they were a shade over the 4000lb. mark, but apparently not. They're in the 3500lb range:

http://www.goissca.org/imp_hist.htm

DCCD don't help much going straight. AWD launch is a minimal advantage when facing drag radials, a high stall torque converter, and a locker rearend. 6 speed means time lost shifting, vs 2 slam bang shifts from a race prepped auto trans. Put 4.56 gears or shorter in that impala with the prieviously mentioned mods and its showing taillights to an STi.