Did Olds Toronados have bad torque steer?

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Jim Prower

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I've heard that very powerful Front-engine, Front-drive cars can suffer a phenomenon called "Torque Steer," where the steering wheel fights with the driver when the throttle is applied, and the car wants to steer itsself.

now, the Olds Toronado was a huge FF car that could be ordered with a 455 ci engine. what i'm wondering is, did the terrible Toronados have something to counteract the Ginourmous torque that sort of engine can produce?
 
The half-shafts were of equal length becuase the engine was mounted longitundinally like a RWD car, so torque steer was minimized...

The FWD 500 cid Cadillacs used basically the same drivetrain, and they put out even more torque than the Olds 455.
 
Well, i'll be pickled. I always thought the engine was Transverse...

shows what I get for not popping the hood on one, huh?
 
So, the motor was mounted longitudinally, but it was Front wheel drive? where did they route the half shafts?:confused:
 
I'd guess it had a transaxle like a VW or Porsche

they used to build FF cars that way, in the '30s. ever heard of a Cord?
 
Basically, both it and the land-yacht Cadillacs put out so much power and torque over such skinny tires that torque steer was only a problem if you forgot to downshift while passing.
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[FONT=verdana,arial,sans-serif]So, the motor was mounted longitudinally, but it was Front wheel drive? where did they route the half shafts?[/FONT]:confused:
Because the Toronado only was offered with a 3-speed slushbox, they split the torque conveter from the planetary gearset by a 2" thick steel chain and mounted the torque converter next to the planetary gearset, then the half shafts went into the wheels through a rear-mounted transaxle (sat between the rear tires), unlike the Cords, which had the transaxle infront of the engine. Because no transmission linkage stuff actually went under the car, the floor was flat and a manual tranny was unproducable.

 
I wonder how those cars handled on the track. Huge land yach with massive amounts of power and front wheel drive......
 
Funny?!! The Buick Riviera of that period had the same platform, but was adapted to rear-drive.
 
My Dad had one of the origional Toronados before he got his '68 Camaro (this was in 1975 and 1976), and although he doesnt talk about the car too much, he never mentioned the torque steer, but said it was pretty fun to drive.
 
Amazing what Olds engineers did eh

455ci with FF...must have been a hard job to minimize torque steer.

I cant even begin to imagine the nightmare they faced :sly:
 
There's word that they used the Olds for racing for a while. even tried to set a few records with them, but they still weighed tons after everything was taken out.

And torque steer isn't that bad in a big heavy car with a slow gearbox. Volvos are a case in point. Torque steer isn't that bad when you put your foot down in an S80 T6, but as it isn't exactly as light or as fast as an Evo, that's to be expected... oh, it also helps that it takes a little more time for the turbos to hit full boost.
 

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