how hard can i safely push it....?!

[chinkamon]

I got a mk1 1500 cortina, completely stock.

I'm not looking to thrash the a*s off her, just wandering how hard can I push her, acceleration wise and speed wise without doing any damage?

I used to have a 3.5V8 so a 1500 precrossflow is all new! ( Well sort of!!) So I no she won't beat a Porsche off the line lol! But I'd like to no where the red line is if that makes sense?

[Snapper]

In the dim and distant past (38 years ago) I used to thrash mine to valve bounce, it used to boil befor it broke, well it never broke I crashed it.

In my opinion 5,600 revs is plenty, you'll be well past peak bhp by then

[chinkamon]

So it's not as fragile as I'm thinking then??

[Sharky]

Hi mate , ginger Martin thrashed the granny out of his an it took everything he through at it , 100e van , cheers Rob

[colr6]

Treat it with a bit of respect its getting on a bit. It's no good to you with a hole in block! Just so you can say it does x miles an hour third.

[Snapper]

Set a rev limit and stick to it

If you use a gear speed calculator you can map speed to revs in gear

[browneskids]

I used to thrash mine to valve bounce, 

 

Soooo remember those days!! Used to bend pushrods but not really do any proper damage

[chinkamon]

As I said originally, I aint looking to thrash it within an inch of her life, I just wanted to no am I able to give her a bit now an again without fear of going bang lol

[colr6]

If you know the sound of an engine you will know when it's to much for it, how it feels through acceleration again you will know when it's had enough. But I have heard people without a clue thrashing the knackers off them valves bouncing going no faster, like I originally said treat it with respect you will soon know the sound of it and it's comfortable limits. When it gets there it will feel and sound right. Bit like drinking really have enough feel good to much and you throw up SIMPLES.