Old School Drag Test - 1970 Chevelle SS 396 375 HP - L78, 4 speed - 1/4 mile- Road Test TV, ®

Road Test TV - We Live Hi Performance!

[topenddean]

Love the car! Brings back memories!
Those headers are adding more than you think.

[crrider]

Hat's off to whomever was driving for not power shifting that jewel.

[SealofPerfection]

Looks like he was rolling it off the line and not launching it hard. Damn quick for having a slow launch.

[skyclimber]

Hey, great video - thanks for posting! In 1976 I bought a red with black stripes 70 Chevelle SS 396 auto, had that pop up cowl induction. My neighbor towed his boat with it, sold the boat and then wanted to sell the car. Man I had to get it, and at 16 put a down payment on it and worked two jobs to pay it off. Almost criminal for a 16 y.o. to have one of these. Was part of a killer car club at school which had some cars like a 66 SS, Camaros, a Vette, Mustangs, a Cuda, a Duster, a Charger, a Gto, a Buick GS and even a XKE. Alas, I had to sell it shortly after I moved out of my parents crib at 18, I couldn't afford it and it also didn't get any traction in the deep snow that winter. I had to settle for a beat up Pinto which totally sucked. And to make matters worse my vehicle's babe magnet quotient went from a near perfect 99 to a dismal -1, bummer. Now these big block Chevelle Super Sports are worth their weight in gold.

[nik]

One of the best best looking ...and sounding cars ever!

[ronaldlewis]

Cool there is one down the road from me same color with original owner and 10, 000 miles he got it when he was 16 sitting in his shop!!

[lewisshepard]

I love this video. It's so accurate. Most of these videos show cars like this running a eleven flat or high elevens, and say completely stock except for better tires. Love all the old muscle cars. I use to think it was just the cars, but now thinking the times back then was a big part of it.

[Dr.Enduro]

I had a basic 68 325 hp 396 SS 4-spd, and that thing hooked like a slick dog turd.  Can't imagine how tough it was to get these 14s to hook!

[zxtenn]

Very BELIEVEABLE time and trap speed, not like some of these 'so-called' stock vehicles running high 11's- great to see the original engine there - I had a 67 Yenko clone Camaro, 427/425 with 456 gears, truly miss the old machine

[FloridaCoastalGuy]

The 1970 Chevelle SS came from the factory with F-70 14” tires and would not hookup, it would spin both back tires fish-tailing all through 1st gear,
then speed shifting into 2nd gear it would leave two black marks for 30-40 feet,
then speed shifting into 3rd gear it would leave two black marks on the pavement for 10 feet and
then speed shifting into 4th gear it would leave two black patches.
 
The 1970 Chevelle SS L78 4-speed transmission with a 4.10:1 ratio positive traction differential would swing around to the right on a hard takeoff,
it needed to be in the right hand lane if drag racing; if not, it would get close to or hit the other car while launching.  
It needed taller and wider tires or sticky slicks to get it to hookup!
 
The Cowl Induction vent on the hood opened and let fresh air into the carburetor each time the gas pedal was pressed to the floor,
there was a vacuum sound that commanded attention; as in
 
The M-21 Rock Crusher 4-speed transmission had a high-pitch whine as it was being shifted under full throttle through the gears.
The OEM mufflers were real quiet out the dual exhaust pipes.
 
The OEM (Munice) 4-speed shifter linkage would hang-up if not shifted in a certain manner, the shifter linkage would get stuck;
you could not change gears until you stopped the car, lie down and reach under the car and wiggle/knock/beat the linkage to get the shifter back in neutral and then,
you could start over. The fix for this was to install a Hurst Shifter on the Muncie transmission.
 
The 1970 Chevelle SS 396 L78 was actually a 402cid with 410 HP @ 4800 RPM.
It says 375 HP on the breather, however, that was true for the L78 in the 1969 Chevelle SS.
 
Not all 1970 Chevelle SS with the 396 Badges on the fenders had the L78 engine!
Other 1970 Chevelle SS 396 engines were the L-35 rated at 325 HP and the L-34 engine rated at 350 HP
These were the 396’s that came in a 396 Camaro, unless a L78 was ordered!

[carsbyjeff]

Beautiful Car and a Great Running 396!

[ralphreich]

Wow did I see 2 chevelles in that driveway u lucky!!!!

[TheMrmmkkpro]

Nice work, enjoyed the trip to the past, I miss them days. 👍👍🏁🏁

[Mikeyyyy_L]

Good to see an actual "stock" car and not one with headers, different tires and tuned advertised as stock.

[davidkeeton]

Easing it out and granny shifting to a 13.40, this car would go 12s with the engine temperature dropped to ambient air temp, some sticky tires and power shifting it.

[DONDIVA]

Great video. Very believable 1/4 mile performance. I had 4.11 rear gears in a Nova I owned many years ago. These were impossible to live with, highway was out of the question and only marginally streetable on local roads.

[ayebee]

I had one of those. All naysayers saying it's slow. Full restoration. 13 is plenty acceptable. Yes, I have split a Muncie close ratio case before. Behind a bracket 64, 327 in a Chevy II. And that car ran 11.8.
So yeah, a nice sanostock ride. Shift er smoothhhh.

[davidkeeton]

Alright Alright Alright! Wooderson approves this car.

[mopar]

When Muscle cars were Muscle cars, and Men were proud and women did laundry and cooked dinner and shut their mouth. Good ole days!

[matrox]

The car has one mean looking stance to it. Its hard to launch those cars. If you just stomp it to the floor you will just spin through most of 1st gear, so he feathers it to avoid spinning. Either way it skews your E/T.