what kinda top speed can i hit

if the limiter is removed what speed am i limited too? when does my gear max out?

you will be drag and power limited before the 2.93 gears top out.
i've had the riv up to 135 no problem. it could likely do 150mph with the a few more mods, a place to do it, and a aftermarket speedo.
keep in mind i have all new stiffer suspension, the proper tires, and lower drag coef.

not sure how you can remove the limiter without the ability to tune 95's though.

sinister tune

Just make sure you have tires rated for the speeds you are attempting to attain. Factory tires are the reason for the speed limiter.

Agreed. Also only do high speed tests in safe locations. In the midwest, I can think of maybe 2 places in a 100 mile radius where I would go very high speeds. They are long, straight patches of interstate with barrier walls on both sides.

Speed at your own risk - it's one of most dangerous things you can do in a car.

Especially that kind of speed... You should be able to hit 140+ easily before you run out of power. The question is where can you go at that speed...

I happened across the right section of interstate at the right time, and was catching up to a couple of cars that had blown past me when I was going 90, when I buried the needle down there good. Guessing by RPM I was over 140 but I wasn't scanning so I can't be sure. I was also fighting transmission shift points - you get to a certain speed and you are pressing the gas pedal down so far it won't shift out of 3rd, but if I could have gotten it into 4th I know I could have gone faster... With my tuner I have since changed the transmission behavior, but haven't had an opportunity to check it out... normally too much traffic around here.

ya down here there are a couple of straight a ways that i hit in my brothers car we built up. (1.8l ford escort gt, 19psi at 356hp 334tq) nice straight that i had some fun with my friend and his evo x. made a run from 75-155 before i was outa gear. plenty of room to slow down. almost no traffic at night.

im not really trying to hit those speeds, just really wondering. this cars alil to big to be beating around like a four banger.

im pretty modded, but I had my needle buried (between 130 and 140mph) and my car was still pulling real hard....still had ALOT left. I know it could do 160 pretty easy.

now keeping the car on the road at that speed is another thing.

no one has really answered my question. at what speed does my gear run out at? all power aside...

95ParkAveUltra wrote:

no one has really answered my question. at what speed does my gear run out at? all power aside...

You will have to try it and find out. (Preferably the Bonneville Salt Flats or an abandoned airstrip.)
No one can answer that question exactly.

228 mph in 4th gear if you have the same gear ratio's as the riv.

but again, that number doesnt mean anything since the car will be limited WAY before that based on many other factors.

What's your final drive ratio? The Riv stock is 2.93. Multiply by overdrive ratio (0.8? 0.75?) and RPM , then figure tire diameter/revolutions per mile and you should have your top speed. You can go to your tire manufacturer's website and they have 'revolutions per mile' spec for each tire model and size. It's different for different brands of tire.

That gives you the mathematical top speed. Wind resistance will prevent you from getting there, but it's much higher than any speed you could reach on any reasonable stretch of highway. You want to go to Bonneville salt flats for that.

thanks guys thats all i wanted to know. i will never have the power or guts to try it.

Whats the speed limit on a non modded SC Series I? I had mine down to 105 to keep up with this Marauder, but I didnt get that stalling effect that Ive gotten on my old 97 Grand prix SE. When I hit 105 in that, the limiter kicked in and I couldnt go any further and it slowed me down automatically. I didnt want to push the Riv any further than that, but if I can, then I probably will lol

108/110/112 somewhere around there. no one can read/tune 95 pcms so we dont know the exact value. it depends on how far off your speedo reads (they are a little off at higher speeds).

oh ok. mine goes up to either 120 or 125. one of these days late at night ill give that 108 theory a try.

http://warped.org/vw/calc.html

Cool. Stock Riv comes in right around ~155 mph. 300 HP Riv is around ~168 mph.

Wonder how accurate it is?

It seems a little exaggerated. I was able to hit 142 (GPS confirmed, 3.5" pulley with current mods), but that seemed to be about max velocity. Car was pretty stable at those speeds though. I could have stayed in it for a couple more MPH but it was just climbing so slowly I decided to back off.

That's fast enough! At those kind of speeds, each mph comes very slowly. I bet with a couple more miles you'd see 150+. Be careful. Unless I was on a runway or death valley, I'm not attempting anything close to these numbers. I hit an estimated 135 a few years ago and the hood seemed like it wanted to come off.

AA wrote:

I hit an estimated 135 a few years ago and the hood seemed like it wanted to come off.

I've noticed that too. Any time I've buried the speedo, the hood starts to shake and looks like it's going to blow off.

Another note....factory or close to factory tires ARE NOT stable above ~110. The car gets extremely "floaty" at those speeds. Plus, you risk literally throwing a tire off of the car.

I had tires rated or it, so I wasn't too concerned about it. Still dangerous though.

Interesting comments you make about the hood. I had my Riv at very high speed one time and it felt very stable and there was no hood shake at all.

Just a comment on tire speed ratings. I was watching a video review of the Bugatti Veyron SS by Harry Metcalfe. He made a comment about the tires used on the car, which cost $20k+ per set. At 250 mph, the tires spin at ~3,500 RPM, or 58 rotations/sec. At that speed, the outward G-forces exerted on the tires tread is 3,000 G. Tire rubber is pretty heavy, so at such speeds each 1 oz of tire weighs over 185 lb, and tires can easily weigh 25 lb each!

The forces are so high that a normal valve stem design will leak air, so special valves are made for the Bugatti tires.

At half those speeds, the rotation rate would be roughly half. Still, that's a lot of stress on the tires. I can see why speed ratings are so important. I'm sure heat is a factor, too with the amount of friction seen at higher speeds.