ram jet 502

[smurf69]

ok i just found a ram jet 502 from gm performance but it doesnt tell me if i can put it in a new body car. does anybody know it that moter will pass all the emmisions requirements and stuff for it to be street legal.

[BlackHawk T/A]

Doubtful on emissions but depends where you live, and say goodbye to getting any kind of decent gas mileage.

[Liquifire]

Smurf......do you know anyone from Wisconsin with the last name Wolf who is in Ft. Hood?

[Rhino21149]

ok i just found a ram jet 502 from gm performance but it doesnt tell me if i can put it in a new body car. does anybody know it that moter will pass all the emmisions requirements and stuff for it to be street legal.

If you spend enough money on it and go through a long enough sorting out period you can make it fit and make it run well and make it pass emissions.

Most people running 502s are using carberators and have them in pre-emissions cars. driveability is okay but fuel economy is really lousy. There are fuel injected versions but that does not guarrantee driveability and emissions.

Butit won't be easy and it won't be cheap and you will need someone really good for the tuning.You can get alot more power for a lot less money by going with a modern engine (C5R) and forced induction. Remember that the HP ratings for crate engines are as tested on an engine dynometer and that generally gives a reading better than the manufacturer's flywheel rating. So a 400 HP crate engine is not equivalent to a 400 HP LS2, etc. The 502 is powerful and torquey, but heavy as an anvil and it makes about 465HP at the rear wheels unless you spend a whole lot of $$$.

[SteveC]

That setup will not pass emissiions in California. When going for a smog test, the first thing they do is gun in the VIN or type it in, and the computor comes back and tells the inspector what year the vehicle is and what engine is supposed to be installed.

In the case of the 502, you would first fail the visual.

SteveC

[Rhino21149]

I wouldn't be surprised if you could finesse the visual, but he has a real point here. You'd be taking a chance.
Still, I've seen some very cool installations of monster-block engines in older cars that made them look absolutely original: a 502 in a 70 Pontiac that looked almost like it was the orginal engine and passed as "original" in a show inspection.

You could "disguise" the 502 as a new engine, I suppose. If you go fuel injection, and all the modern sensors on the engine, and did the work neatly, you mightprobably fix it up enough that it would trick someone: you just have to find an inspection technician half asleep on the day you need the car inspected. But I doubt you could do it for even $50K. It has too look good and the computer has to talk to the inspection system fluently, and everything.

And it really wouldn't be in the spirit of the law - which I respect (I run cats on my 'vette even though I know it robs me of 30HP and I know I could get away with dummies, because its the right thing to do).

Beyond that, you really can get ALL the power you could ever want , with better economy, direability, and durability, up to 1000 HP if you want, from modified forms of the original equipment engine.

Crate engines like the 502 and the even bigger 572's and on up, etc., are really mostly for guys who want power equivalent to what a modified modern LS2 or LS6 would give them, but from something very much in the spirit and style of the original carburated, distributor ignition engine that came in their car.

[smurf69]

so i probably would be better off i was gonna go with the 502 to put it in my 77ta. i know about 572's cause i have one in a camero that i drag race it came from the dealer with 720hp but i guess for the 01 ill just keep the stock block and beef it up as much more as i can. thanks for the advice

[Rhino21149]

Yeah, that's it. A 572 in a 68 Camaro (the first new car I ever bought) inow that is my dream -- just don't have a place I could keep the car, once I found or built it. My wife is extremely tolerant of my automobile addition but she insists that we keep "all of the toys" indoors, and I am our of garage space.