I learned tonight to never judge a book by it's cover. It made me want to get rid of the Max and get a real sports car. I pulled along side of a old work van. I believe it was a Ford. Out of nowhere he took off like a bat out of hell. I downshifted to 2nd in the auto and followed. He took off at the stop sign and I followed. I did not pass him until I hit 3rd! Perfect launch for me and the car shifted very close to redline in each gear. How could this be?

 

You smoke funny tobacco at all?

 

It might have been a turbo'd dodge caravan... some people have been getting them to run really quick 1/4 miles, I forget exactly the times, but some are at least in the 13s. If you search google im sure you will find some forums about them. quite the sleeper.

 

I wasn't a minivan. It was a large white work van with a latter rack on top. The license plate said safnsnd for "safe and sound" which is a local stereo shop that installed my sirius unit. I am still in shock. My car was running good. I just had it dynoed yesterday at 213hp and 225tq

 

Personally, I don't see anything fast about a Van.
Its got FAMILY writen all over it.

 

He might have engine mods and/or nitro. Those sound guys can be tricky

 

Was it a ford with the V10? A gutted out cargo van with a V10 could be a monster...

 

These old work vans u can drop all sorts or Big/Small block engines.

 

I have no idea what engine it had. All, I know is that it looked like a slightly rusted, old, piece of crap cargo van that kept up with my Maxima.

 

That's pretty funny. The same thing happened to me in my pre-2k3 days. At a light after which the lanes merge, I was beside this old station wagon thing - looked like a cross between a station wagon and a 57 Chevy (think it was even a woody). So I'm expecting to amble out in front and move over.

Light turns green, and he moves out quickly too. So I punch it expecting to then forge ahead - nope, he punches it too and pulls me handily

I found out later from my hot-rod brother-in-law that those (can't remember what it was) are pretty notorious, and have something obscene like a 427 or 455 in them.

 

Dude! I know from experience. Those vans definitely have mod potential. My dad had an old 72 Dodge full size van. He dropped a 350 in there and a sweet tranny. Had the headers, dual carb, etc. Too bad that thing weighed a lot, but it was still damn fast. He also took out the stock exhaust and made straight pipe all the way back.

I was only 10 to 12 at the time so I didn't really know much about it. I just knew it was fast,

 

 

I had one of those type cars. It was a 1979 Delta 98 Regency Oldsmobile with the Turbo 400 tranny and a built Olds 350. I used to eat all kinds of GTis, tricked out Scirrocos, Corrados, and the like, Sentra SE-R's...wasn't the fastest big car, but it was by no means the slowest.

 

Was it a diesel? One of the times I was at the track there was a white Ford cargo van there with a 7.3 turbo diesel with a upgraded turbo and a stage 2or3 bullydog chip and was running 14.7's all night. Same with the F350 turbo diesel's there was one I say a few days ago that smoked a riced out integra. It was lifted and had 36" swap tires on it too. I dont know how fast it would run the 1/4 but somewere in the 15's im sure of it, and with swaptires!

 

You can't read a forum without hearing about how some puberty boy spent his wad on cosmetics or modifications of questionable benefit. Yet you can hardly find a web page dedicated to sleepers. The art of the sleeper is not just having a car with more engine than people suspect. The art is putting the soul of a race car in a plain jane body. Not a nice car with a clean shiny body but one that looks decidedly average.

The best sleeper I've seen was this guy's Super Beatle. This guy was an accomplished Solo racer and always build his own unique cars for racing. This time he decided to build a sleaper for the street. He bought this Beatle off of some middle aged lady. It was a basic tan with touches of body rust. He build the engine and suspension just as he would on a race car but set it up to standard ride height and added a quieter muffler. He found some wide steel wheels that would completely fit under the fenders, painted them black, and added the little VW hubcaps. This car would't stand out in any crowd but catch a lot of people by suprise.

The Maxima will never be a sleeper. Nissan has promoted its performance image too much. I think the best sleeper candidate these days is a 1.8T Passat. Lots of aftermarket performance bits and very plain jane.

 

forget the mods. if it's a full size van, it's designed to haul loads. we're talking about a full bay of plumbing pipe, or bags o concrete, or even eleven passengers. that means lotsa torque. if it's empty, that'll look like a whole lotta engine off the line.

trust me on this. i lost to a friggin UPS truck with sliding door and three foot floor mounted shifter.

 

WTF are you doin goin up agaisnt a UPS van Hey I got toasted by that cargo van that day. Btw that thing had like 450-500hp but approx 700lb ft of torque from what the dude said so that is alot of motor.

elledgem in a way your right a max will never be a true sleeper, lest doctile then most fast cars for sure but a true sleeper is something along the lines of what you said. The reason there isnt a site about sleepers is well, the point is to keep them a secret no showboat them on the internet. Along the lines of a true sleeper is a 88 Toyota Cressida, Its a RWD with a I6 in it and you see old grandmas driving them. Some1 take a wild guess at what you can do to that car...

 

Sniper.

 

when you passed him did you fly by real fast?

 

my dad had a 1991 dodge caravan AWD with the 3.0L engine in it. We were at a junkyard and there was a wrecked stealth RT. He bought the manifolds and turbos off of it and put them on the minivan! That damn van was faaaast as hell.... in a straight line

stevo

 

yeah, i know. funny for me too. the guy was hella trying, with his head all down and shifting all hard. the shifter throws were like two feet!! he had the sliding door open too, so i was watching him up on his driving stool. what a sight.

 

 

donkey

 

Yes!

 

If that old work van had a stock 351 Windsor block and truck gearing, it could accellerate very fast. Put in a Cleveland and some hi-po goodies, and the chevy boys begin to cry.

I've always loved sleepers - mine was '67 Galaxie with punched out 390, shift kit, etc. Gobs of torque. Very docile in appearance. That was 29 years ago, when premium gas was $ .64/gallon.

But I LOVE my Max.

 

 

Hey..I do...

Haha....dude got by a redneck hillbilly van!

 

Sorry about the previous blank posting!

I owned a sleeper once. It was my brother-in-law's beat up piece of crap 1979 Sunbird with zero paint.

The car was special-ordered new as a notchback hardtop with zero options except a big 3.8 ltr, AM radio and a automatic. No PS, No PB, no air, etc.

With 110,000 miles on it...it looked dreadful. But it was soooo light and....extremely fast. I could dust Accords and 6 cyl cars easily. Plus, leave a little blue smoke on their nose bra's.

An unstable car to drive and stop, it could scoot bigtime on the straightaways.

I sold it...and it immediately died from a broken heart.

Thanks

Vic

 

Ha Ha. I am fricken rollin on the floor here.... That has to be the funniest thing I have heard or can imagine seeing. I wish I could have seen that race.

Going back to the vans, I was a driver in the Army and one of my toys was a 1993 Dodge Van with a V-8. That thing would haul! I could roast the tires down 395 in the DC area all day. On an empty stomach those vans can get down, I can totally see you getting stomped by one. Don't feel bad, there are plenty of V-10 Dodge trucks out there with 200 shots of Nitrous that will put all of us to shame too.

 

Vic..you consider a 6 cyl Sunbird a sleeper??? now dude.. I know ur an oldtimer, but you can appreciate the fact that a TRUE sleeper woulda been a 67(?) or so Coronet 440...maybe a 79 T-bird with the 357 cleveland in it....

those are SLEEPERS!!!

 

go there & take a pic or find out what the hell it is

 

ok. so maybe you had a bad launch and he had so much torque he took you through 1st gear then midway through second you flew by? one time at a light a 2..5 5 speed altima raced me, but at the time i had no idea he wanted to race. the light turns green and i hear him peel out, so it took me a sec or to to floor it.... plus the hesitation from the ecu, but after 1st gear part way through second i was flying by him. now i did have 2 other people in my car too.

 

Sleeper identified: Dodge Ram 350 Cargo Van. Anyone have any info on them?

 

If its a 5.9L... It has up to 245 HP (depending on the year)... And 345 LB of Torque!!!!!!

 

The diesels are sleepers as well. Do Not underestimate deisels. Those bullydog chips can give you up to an extra 300+ ft lbs of torque.

 

i tell ya folx, this is the most fun iv ehad reading a thread in a long time! seems to me that everyone has been in a ****y mood during our nuclear winter!

way to keep the org fun again! and as for losing to cargo vans - dont worry about it ... the maxima police isnt out patrolling for embarassing loses just yet!!

think of it this way, somewhere there is a post on a dodge cargo van forum from a very proud cubano about his kill ... "hey man'g i blew away this friggin maxima today, man'g! can you believe it?! i even had my cargo bay door open and her belly was full with plywood, man'g!"

cheers!

 

You buttmunch. The guy driving the van WAS CUBAN. I swear he was. I can never go back to that shop again. I need to go see a counselor. I'm distraught.

 

Or a five speed

 

Don't you guys know we Cubans love to mod old beaters???

Don't you see pictures from the old country? Only we can get Russian parts to fit into 50's GM and Ford vehicles!!!