I'm in the poop again

big2bird said:
Horsepower limits for the street. Dep, I didn't know you were a left wing liberal. :rofl::rofl: What should the limit be there green peace buddy? 50? 100HP? 200HP? 300HP?:smash::smash::smash:
Click to expand...

LOL....dep sounds like a cop
 
Kid Vette said:
Geez! I actually agree with Dep on this one! As has been said, its a free country; you build as much HP as you want but the whole thing seems to be just a status thing for a lot of people. How much HP will you really be able to enjoy on the street? In the time I have been on the forums there have been several instances where guys have built megamotors only to lose it and crash their pride and joy soon after the build. If thats what you want to do with your money, thats cool. I just think many times its for bragging rights more than any other value.
Click to expand...

Witch is why I never wanted a mega engine, why? gas belongs at a buck a gallon if our damn .gov would GTF outta the way, maybe 1.50 at MOST....

still don't see it, but if ~350' lbs+ can't move the freight good enough on the street, why bother??...this coming from a guy who used to drive a '73 Grandville convertible...550 ft lbs at idle 273 posi rear, 5500 lbs of rolling steel....THAT car was much hated by the ex/kids' mom which is why I love the thoughts after it so much....:rofl::rofl: maybe it's because I drove it like a 'sports car'????

:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
I was just thinking about this recently. There is a practical limit of how much HP is going to help you in a redlight to redlight situation. With my paltry 300hp and 4:56 gears i can hang with most street stuff till about 40-50 mph, then their big hp comes on and they leave me like i hit reverse. The limit is how much traction a tire can put down and unless someone is running sticky drag radials on the street my 295/50s can do as well or better than most street cars. Hell the new mustangs with 415hp run wimpy 255 tires.

There are not that many high speed contests going on any more. So as long as the "race" doesn't go high speed i can look like i'm bad ass.

Like everything else these HP wars are like comparing penises.
 
DJ Dep said:
I couldn't resist posting to this thread. See #116. I still can't believe people build engines with 400-500Hp to drive ON THE STREET!!!! :eek::eek::eek:
Click to expand...

You mean GM, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, etc...not to mention Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini? :rofl:

vette427sbc said:
You can still get a ticket for driving "frisky" with a 300 HP motor... Its the driver that needs to be de-tuned for street driving.
Think about it... Build a 5,6,7,800 HP motor for your race car, then have another car with a more docile motor for just street use? Or build one car that can kill two birds with one stone that only needs a driver mod for street use.
Click to expand...

I can get a ticket for getting "frisky" with the 132 or so HP on tap in my little bitty BMW...surprisingly peppy little bugger for the low HP rating. I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers are on the conservative side.
 
Last edited:
mrvette said:
gas belongs at a buck a gallon if our damn .gov would GTF outta the way, maybe 1.50 at MOST....
Click to expand...

If we let them drill anywhere, deregulated, and gave them subsidies, it would'nt drop a red nickel. Give thet idea up Gene.:bonkers:
 
big2bird said:
mrvette said:
gas belongs at a buck a gallon if our damn .gov would GTF outta the way, maybe 1.50 at MOST....
Click to expand...

If we let them drill anywhere, deregulated, and gave them subsidies, it would'nt drop a red nickel. Give thet idea up Gene.:bonkers:
Click to expand...

Depends on cost of production/bbl......last I heard was with honest currency not all inflated is that the oil companies could frack that freeking oil HERE and do off shore for ~1.50/gal so even if the figgers I hear are rong, and it's 2 bux....that's all it's WORTH.....

we are screwing ourselves with this boutique fuel and in general ALL the EPA bullshit.....time to drop the hammer on the weenies....long since....

:flash:
 
big2bird said:
If we let them drill anywhere, deregulated, and gave them subsidies, it would'nt drop a red nickel. Give thet idea up Gene.:bonkers:
Click to expand...
Nonsense, Jeff. Six years ago gas was between $3.50-4/gallon, couple years later, it was below $2.50. Prices do come down sometimes.
I doubt we'll ever see it below $2/gallon any more. All the easy stuff to get has been got. No sense spending the money/time if they can't sell it for a profit. I don't blame them for that, I sell my product/time for a profit. No margin, no mission.
 
Back to the topic at hand, in our local club we have a young guy who built a 550hp (700hp on the spray) c5. He drives it to and from work every day. But he also takes it to the track for "Midnight Mayhem" a couple dozen times a year. To my knowledge, he doesn't race it on the street, maybe just some "spirited" driving now and then. But he wanted the fastest street Corvette in town and I think he's pretty close. Something to be said for being able to drive your car to the track, lay down an 11 second 1/4 mile time, then drive it home, if that's your thing.
Dep, you know, I have guns, lots of guns, and lots of ammo. I could wage jihad against the musloids if I wanted, but I don't. My guns and ammo are there because I enjoy going out to the desert and killing rocks in a variety of ways. But I suppose with your rationale, I should only have one gun to go out target shooting because that's all I need. Right?
 
1Michel said:
Ok then, this whole "hot rodding" culture thing thats been going on since the second car was produced is all bogus?
it needed to be faster than the first.


Should I sell my BB and install an 6 cyl?
Click to expand...

Definition of bogus: false; not genuine.

Nope. I wouldn't use that word. But just like our wonderful President, the hot rodding culture has EVOLVED. This is NOT the late 60s-early 70s. Those were the days of street racing and REALLY hot cars being driven on the street. Ask any of the old geezers on here who remember those days. There were guys driving full race strip cars on the street. The days of the Nickey Nova and Camaro, the Yenko cars, Ace Wilson's Royal Pontiac's super-tuned GTOs and Mr. Norms Grand Spaulding Dodge are GONE. Street racing is GONE. What you have now are super-expensive factory hot rods that most people can only dream about. The owners of those cars may "peel out" once in a while, but you won't see many of them at the dragstrip. There was a time when you could cruise to McDonalds or Burger King and ALWAYS find some hot rods in the parking lot who were looking for a race. That was before fast food joints made you get out of your car and come inside to eat. If you weren't around during those days, you missed a lot. Go watch "Amercian Graffiti" to see what the REAL "good ol' days" were. Compression ratios were 10-1 or higher. The really hot cars (L-88, 426 wedge Mopars, 427 Ford side-oilers) were 12 or 13-1. Those cars were FAST. Now we have 502 crate motors with 8-1 compression. Pffft...might as well have a 6-cyl. Those aren't hot engines. They are eco-friendly motors that run smooth on the crappy gas from the pump. You can thank your government and the tree huggers for killing off hot rods.

Me? I'm building a 427 big block clone of the L-88 for strictly track use. Including the high compression 12.5-1 pistons. No pump gas for me. But I have a few sources close to home that sell racing gas. It ain't cheap, but you gotta pay to play. ;)
 
clutchdust said:
Back to the topic at hand, in our local club we have a young guy who built a 550hp (700hp on the spray) c5. He drives it to and from work every day. But he also takes it to the track for "Midnight Mayhem" a couple dozen times a year. To my knowledge, he doesn't race it on the street, maybe just some "spirited" driving now and then. But he wanted the fastest street Corvette in town and I think he's pretty close. Something to be said for being able to drive your car to the track, lay down an 11 second 1/4 mile time, then drive it home, if that's your thing.
Dep, you know, I have guns, lots of guns, and lots of ammo. I could wage jihad against the musloids if I wanted, but I don't. My guns and ammo are there because I enjoy going out to the desert and killing rocks in a variety of ways. But I suppose with your rationale, I should only have one gun to go out target shooting because that's all I need. Right?
Click to expand...

Nope. And keep those guns cleaned and functional. You may need them in the future ;)

Guns are like golf clubs. Just one ain't gonna do you no good. They are SPECIALIZED tools. Same thing with a Vette. I mean you'd have to be nuts to use a Vette to haul lumber and steel pipe from the hardware store. Right?
I won't even get into the practicality of having only two seats. :)

For me, I can't see having one car that "does it all". That's why I have a pickup truck. It will haul around the car that does the racing. Cars that are hopped up have a bad habit of malfunctioning at the most inconvenient time. Plus what I am building won't be streetable anyway.
 
I dont want to race my car, BUT I want 500hp if I can or at least near that.
It's my toy car.

My wife has a Mustang GT, I dont think she needs all those hp's to get the groceries,, yet IF she can get a hold on a Shelby GT500.... she will,

It's only a matter of time before she does.
She retires next feb. and she's set on finding one as her "retirement gift".

And why not???
 
I guess if you're mentally somewhat stabil then it's ok to have 400+ HP and drive it on he street ... :bounce:

over the past 12 years I have put 100k miles on my Z28, then 30K on my C6, and maybe 5K on the C3 ... all these cars have/had close to 400 HP and I have not had an accident, killed somebody, street raced or crashed the cars....

It's not the car, it's not the HP ... it's the idiot behind the steering wheel that is the problem!!! some stupid moron can street race and/or kill somebody with a 90HP Civic....

Is 500HP on the street overkill ? hell yes..... but what's wrong with that ??? My 55" flatscreen that is dedicated to my PS3 is overkill too, but I think it's perfectly fine :D
 
Last edited:
DJ Dep said:
This is NOT the late 60s-early 70s. Those were the days of street racing and REALLY hot cars being driven on the street. Ask any of the old geezers on here who remember those days. There were guys driving full race strip cars on the street.
Click to expand...

Psst. I am quite sure there were speed limits then too. ;)
 
If you do it right, it's perfectly possible to drive a high horsepower car comfortably on street/highways. By doing it right, you have to have reasonable torque at off idle rpms to gently pull away from stop signs, and you have to have a final gear ratio so that you can drive at 70 mph with a reasonable engine rpm.

1) My 68 Convertible. A ZZ4 Hot Can engine. I forget, 395 or 405 flywheel hp? Probably 2800 to 2850 pounds car weight. Perfectly streetable. It cruises at ~2000 rpm at 70 mph. Even with the Hot Cam option, it's starts out in first gear with only a little bit of clutch slip. Tranny is a TKO600 with a 3.55:1 differential. I get good gas mileage with the 68.

2)My 08. Supercharged LS3. 580 rear wheel hp on the A&A Corvettes dyno. Driving with ambient street/freeway traffic, my engine rpm are almost never above 2000 rpm. At 70 mph on the freeway, I cruise at 1700 rpm. At engine rpm below 2500 rpm, the centrifugal supercharger is completely inert, especially since the blow-off by-pass valve is open. At WOT, you can tell at 2500 rpm you're getting more hp. At 3000 rpm, you've got full boost. I'm still feeling my way along with this car. My big concern is getting a gear shift (automatic tranny) at about 60 mph or so that causes the rear wheels to break loose. I've been warned that the supercharger will overwhelm the computerized traction control at high engine rpm. 27 mpg with the supercharged 08.

3) My 69 with an L88 Clone engine and a Richmond 5 speed and a 3.08:1 diff. (The Richmond 5th gears have a 1:1 ratio, not unlike the TKOs 0.64:1 ratio.) The L88 was supposedly a 550 flywheel hp engine. It had a 12.5:1 compression ratio, and I milled my pistons down to 11.5:1. Maybe I was getting 500 flywheel hp. This car was perfectly streetable. The L88 had a long duration cam, with the Richmond and a 50 pound flywheel, I had no trouble rolling away from a stop sign on a city street. With the tires of the 70's and 80's I could spin the tires between shifts at full throttle. If I didn't get on the throttle the car was gentle and normal to drive. (OK, the clutch was a little stiff on this car and the Hooker headers meant on a long drive it was hard on your ears.) With my L88 clone, 20 gallons of gasoline would get me to Las Vegas (300 miles) with fuel to spare.

............bottom line. You can comfortably drive very powerful cars in normal city street and highway driving if the engine/gear ratios are compatible,and.........you have a gentle foot on the accelerator.
 
big2bird said:
DJ Dep said:
This is NOT the late 60s-early 70s. Those were the days of street racing and REALLY hot cars being driven on the street. Ask any of the old geezers on here who remember those days. There were guys driving full race strip cars on the street.
Click to expand...

Psst. I am quite sure there were speed limits then too. ;)
Click to expand...

Wrong oh ancient one! I dinstinctly remember driving through Montana on my way to Ft. Lewis, WA to finish out my enlistment in Uncle Sammie's big green machine. When you crossed the border on the Interstate, there was a big sign that said "speed limit whatever is reasonable and proper for existing conditions". I was cruisign along at 75 MPH and people were blowing past me like I was standing still. So I promptly floored my 1969 Mustang Gt adn drove at somewhere above 120MPH through the whoel state. Or at least, my speedometer was buried the whole time.

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/25/us/montana-s-speed-limit-of-mph-is-overturned-as-too-vague.html
 
68/70Vette said:
you have a gentle foot on the accelerator.
Click to expand...

And there is the hook. When you HAVE gobs of horsepower, it's human nature to want to USE it. I mean after all, you PAID for all those ponies. You can toot around in a Chevy Cobalt and get from point A to pint B for a lot less money. I just don't buy that people spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a mega-horsepower car, and then drive around like Mom and Pop going to church on Sunday. Is it possible to do? Of course. Is it likely that it is done by the owner of that car...I don't think so. Paying a small fortune for "bragging rights" about the size or horsepower of the engine is just plain crazy. Much cheaper to just buy some cubic inch emblems and glue them on the hood.
 
DJ Dep said:
And there is the hook. When you HAVE gobs of horsepower, it's human nature to want to USE it..
Click to expand...

I got to admit. Street racing is some of the most exciting shit i've ever done. When i bought my GN, i was out at least 2 nights a week for about a 5 year period. That was in the heydays when Coxfax ave was just loaded with hotrods Friday and Saturday nights.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top