Top speed

DOes anyone know the top speed of a 97 3000gt sl? i got it to 120 i think around 5,000rpms. so im guessing it will do around 135 or so.

You mean downhill?

Top speed is really a moot point given it's affected by weather, road surface, tire/wheel, tire pressure, gradient, etc.

About the only thing you can garentee is the speed that you in theory would hit with the rev limiter...

I've gone 135 mph in my stock '94 SL...with much more room i'm sure it would get up to 140, I don't think it has it in it to go any faster than that though.

some have said they have done 150mph in a sl, not sure how true that is

^ If they did I'm sure they had really good conditions, and alot of road/time to do it in.

I did 140 in my SOHC when it was 100% stock. Started at about 70mph and it took about a mile or so to get up to 140. I started running out of road or I would have tried to bounce the rev limiter. A DOHC if it had enough road would be able to hit around 160mph bouncing the rev limiter.

140 in my 95 sl

I hit 145, stock tires, racing a Mazda6 (left it bad)... my car was starting to bounce and shimmy alittle... I backed down after that...
BTW, my car has SOHC, dual exhaust (2.5"), intake, aftermarket clutch, at the time system was removed...
(soon to have/ordered) Fidanza lightweight flywheel, transmission rebuilt (hit deer), carbon fiber hood

(next on list) injectors, fuel rails, downpipe, racepipe, turbo, turbo manifold, lightweight rims, engine management and datalogging instrumentation

150 racing a camaro on the interstate. Never again though, it was scary lol

lol, yeah, I was on the Base 15" tires... at 145... that was crazy

yeah, the car was riding well, not really bouncing much, i put it in sport suspension mode before going that fast though, so it should be better at those higher speeds. And the camaro really got small in the rearview after about 110-115 :)

The fastest ive had my SL is 149.

yeah, the car was riding well, not really bouncing much, i put it in sport suspension mode before going that fast though, so it should be better at those higher speeds. And the camaro really got small in the rearview after about 110-115 :)
Yeah, at about 70-80...I noticed that there was a Mazda6 messing with me... so I slowly started climbing to see when he'd back off... but he gunned it... I let him get up in front of me a/b 2 car lengths... then I gunned it... by 110-120... he was but a reflection in my rearview mirror... at a/b 145, my car started bouncing... I looked back adn he was but a speck... so I backed off

BTW, 120 is a daily speed for me... I live on a country road, with long straight aways, and few cops....

100-110 daily here on the highway too many cops thought luckily no tickets

I've had mine up to 130(and still had room left) and I'm bone stock. I have a 98' SL DOHC

I had my 94 sl goin 135 in 4th gear on a 2 mile stretch. I havent drove it in 2 months tho becasue it lost my licence for me. or my lead foot lost it for me

damn i had a long straight away and only got my stock 94 sl up to 125 and that was going down a hill. it doesn't seem like it will go past 120 without a hill though.

You sure you may not be off a tooth on timing? That could very well cause the lack of top end.

I've had my car up to 157 with an extra 700 pounds on the car...only reason I slowed down is cuz I was coming to the end of the road

^lol you have a lion, the other guys have coyotes... not a fair comparison!

Anyone else here with a SOHC? I'd like to see what the highest possible speed on one of them is....

so the sl does 150mph? some say higher, and the vr4 only does 10-20mph faster with 100hp more?

aero

I had always thought the SLs maxed out around 140ish and the VR4s around 160ish, but it doesn't seem to look that way... I guess I was expecting a bigger number from the VR4s top speed... somthin more like 170ish?

i've taken my 93 base for several top speed runs. i can only get it to 125. there just doesn't seem to be enough power to get it beyond that. mine's pretty much stock as far as the engine goes. not sure how the other later SL's can get up around 140ish.

I had always thought the SLs maxed out around 140ish and the VR4s around 160ish, but it doesn't seem to look that way... I guess I was expecting a bigger number from the VR4s top speed... somthin more like 170ish?

Turbo engines are also less stable than NA engines at their top most speed, to push it too much higher, it wouldn't be able to handle the compression and or speed... I don't forsee a much higher top speed for the VR4, I just see it getting there faster... but it also depends on gear ratios... throw a taller 5/6 gear in there... and you'll be able to go faster, b/c your rpms will be lower and the engine will have a little more headroom

the car weighs 3800lbs, its stable enough. 320hp vs 222hp should by far have a much higher top speed then a sl

in that case some claim to have run up to 172mph in there vr4. the gears are made for 205mph in the first gens and 225mph in the 6 gears.

its like saying the v6 mustangs top speed is close to that of the cobra.

but i'm not an expert on aero, yogs is, maybe he'll see this and give some input.

I hate to tell you I told you so but I think we are coming back to my first point...

I have no doubts that people have seen 140-150 on their speedometers but that can be 20 MPH off at that speed...

I don't know if many people realised this but most speedometers read high because it's regulated to do that. The problem is no-one regulates just how much higher (the law suggests 0-20% higher then the actual speed but gives penaties if it reads lower then the actual speed).

Also what type of surface were these people on... 140 on cold asphalt is very different from 140 on hot asphalt.

I guess my point is... I wouldn't take all these Max speed numbers too seriously.

me either

good point

2old man you do make a great point, I'd never thought about it that way

true that... besides there could actually be a problem with the person's speedometer or speedometer gear... On my 95' escort the cable kept coming loose and the speedometer would drop and jump every now and then... I was doing a/b 70 on the Interstate one day... and it jumped to a/b 110-0-and back to 70

172 mph what else is there.......ohh about 24secs to get there.

i had my r/t up to 140 before, but i think the speedo is messed up b/c i haven't been able to get the gauge to go past 100