The streets are gettin fast.

neverfastenough

Registered User
Figured I yap a little about some modern cars and competition these days since I kinda raped DD's thread about it back in the day. I live in a pretty average home town full of civics and cobalts etc. The car scene her in the Akron canton area where I go to school is a bit different. Went to a very large meet here that happens every weekend, I was an outcast :eek:. High dollar vettes, cobras, t/a, supras. Some of the lower dollar stuff was still nicely done srt-4's, audi's, 240's, sti's etc. There I am with my $1500 dollar blue book value t bird chilling there next to 4 whippled cobras, and evo 10's.

Some people were poking their heads in and catching the boost gauge in the A pillar. I actually didnt pop my hood until a kid with a currently broken down sc asked me to. The cobra guys then took some attention. A few asked the turbo size etc and I figured I was talking to 600rwhp+ cobra owners. Then the big question, how much power does it make? I said 425rwhp on the current baseline tune, one guy shook his head and walked off:p, the others were very impressed. The highest rwhp cobra of their group was 480rwhp, the 2.3L whipple car right next to me was 460. Apparently they all owned a stang shop near norwalk and came down to show off their cars. Anyway a few other german car guys and supra guys were tossing around dyno numbers and I couldnt find anyone in the 500's. I feel like us sc guys really have our ~~~~ together.

I know there are tons of 800rwhp cobras out there and other cars but no one was getting the job done at this meet. We're making 400+ rwhp like its our jobs. Im still going to stick to my guns like I did in Dave's thread back in the day, that even if we had all the money out there, that our 3.8 platform cant catch new vettes, mustangs, etc that have an equal number of mods. The technology is getting better and so is the aftermarket, plain and simple. However, as car owners and modifiers, we do work. If we had cobras and vettes, supras, etc, wed be knocking on 4 digit hp numbers, and running 9s all day. Maybe its because we are obsessed lol or smart, maybe a bit of both;). If I was at the meet today with a fully done set of heads on my motor, and some real boost, it would have been an embarrassing day for some cars with rather badass reputations. Ha other than the vettes, I was probably the only thing there with pushrods. Dont really have any purpose to this thread, just proud of were we've come. This shootout and the shootouts to come are going to be crazy, just wait until someone makes a new single port casting and flows 260+ cfm. Its not just dyno numbers either, my car has been tearing up the highway.:cool: Not so much at the track tho:eek:. Some of you other guys can handle that reputation for us:p

Corey
 
Enjoy being the fast guy while it lasts. Those new 5.0 mustangs are starting to take over the LS1 F-body's seat at the top of the food chain. Up here in KC, If you don't put down at least 400 to the wheels, you aren't even quick.
 
Yes, the local Ford dealer here you can buy a whipple setup for your new 5.0 and it will be 600+ hp and if you really want to toss another 10k on the car you will be 847RWHP from the dealership. You just have to take the car across the street to the dyno shop to let them add on the equipment and do the tuning, but it is all purchased from the dealership.
 
Yes, the local Ford dealer here you can buy a whipple setup for your new 5.0 and it will be 600+ hp and if you really want to toss another 10k on the car you will be 847RWHP from the dealership. You just have to take the car across the street to the dyno shop to let them add on the equipment and do the tuning, but it is all purchased from the dealership.

Not 847 at the wheels but whatever. I got my first dose of reality on Hot Rod Power Tour 2001. They brought a chassis dyno on the tour and offered free dyno for anyone registered for the long haul so we saw some really whack cars get on the dyno. You know the type, fully tricked out small blocks with fuel injection and every "latest" part from all the big manufacturers, etc. Some were big blocks too but in nearly every case they were mean sounding bad ~~~ looking cars that sat in the midways near the vendor's tents. You know the type if you've ever been to a large car show.

These guys were slapping down 300-350rwhp like it was their job. In fact by the end of the tour they simply weren't getting on the dyno anymore because it was too embarrassing. It was on one of these days that I meekly signed up to put the XR7 on the dyno. I didn't know what it would make but when it put down 313rwhp I suddenly realized that these guys didn't have anything on me. That was 2001. Back then the meanest thing on the streets was a Lingenfelter twin turbo C5 making 505rwhp.

It's easy to focus on what gets the most press - the 800rwhp Cobra's etc., but for every properly tuned and executed 800rwhp Cobra there are 100 poorly executed ones that make little more than half that. I had the opportunity to tune an 07 Mustang GT with an Edelbrock TVS kit on it. Advertised at 390rwhp, it struggled to make 365rwhp with the Edelbrock tune on it. We were able to turn that into 450rwhp with tuning.....but this car is now the exception, not the rule.

There is nothing wrong with admitting that someone else is faster. Other people will always be wealthier and smarter than us. The key is only being the best at what we do and making the most of what we have to work with. In your case Corey, you are only scratching the surface......
 
There will always be someone faster. Last night I was chilling with an old buddy of mine. He has a tricked out 3000gtvr4. Fully built turbos and all. Its a mid 11 sec ride. He constantly blows up transfer cases. His cars been that fast for years..Im talking over 10. It still rips up most anything at 4000 plus lbs.

a 400plus rwhp will rip most anything also at 4000 lbs or so. EVerything ..no

I personally dont like my SC because its the fastest or best handeling out there. I like it because its different and comfotable for me..ANd does most things well. I could go out get a new stang, build the motor with a big whipple and be that much faster...Heck a new stang with barely anything alone may just do it alone...But the point is as Dave said just because those cars are out there doeant mean all of them are like that and at that...It also takes nothing away from the fact that the SC with 400rwhp is much more impressive than most with more anyhow....We are comming from an uner 200rwhp platform!

ANd seriously..Ill be at a show or a meet and barely anyone of the stang guys look under the hood...They just kinda walk by. Why? I have no idea as I have a whole lot of shiny stuff goin on....But hey...Its just a tbird in thier eyes.
 
Ill be at a show or a meet and barely anyone of the stang guys look under the hood...They just kinda walk by. Why? I have no idea as I have a whole lot of shiny stuff goin on....But hey...Its just a tbird in thier eyes.

Parked...w/the hood open? That's for posers.

Sitting at a show is not the way to gain their attention. Spend a few months picking 'em off while out cruising around and once word gets passed, they'll start coming 'round one at a time to see what's been kicking their ~~~.

They only thing you want to be in their eyes is tail lights...it's the only thing that matters.
 
There will always be someone faster. Last night I was chilling with an old buddy of mine. He has a tricked out 3000gtvr4. Fully built turbos and all. Its a mid 11 sec ride. He constantly blows up transfer cases. His cars been that fast for years..Im talking over 10. It still rips up most anything at 4000 plus lbs.

a 400plus rwhp will rip most anything also at 4000 lbs or so. EVerything ..no

I personally dont like my SC because its the fastest or best handeling out there. I like it because its different and comfotable for me..ANd does most things well. I could go out get a new stang, build the motor with a big whipple and be that much faster...Heck a new stang with barely anything alone may just do it alone...But the point is as Dave said just because those cars are out there doeant mean all of them are like that and at that...It also takes nothing away from the fact that the SC with 400rwhp is much more impressive than most with more anyhow....We are comming from an uner 200rwhp platform!

ANd seriously..Ill be at a show or a meet and barely anyone of the stang guys look under the hood...They just kinda walk by. Why? I have no idea as I have a whole lot of shiny stuff goin on....But hey...Its just a tbird in thier eyes.

A few years back a bunch of us were attending the Hot Rod Supernationals in Springfield, IL and the SCs weren't getting much love until I entered mine in the dyno competition. Nothing is quite as fun as seeing people shocked by how much power these little v6 motors are capable of making. See this thread for details.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81170&highlight=Hot+Rod+springfield

David
 
Mr. N is correct. Seeing is believing. Never fails when I go over to the local speedshop to use the dyno for something there are always a couple of 'stangs and lawn mower type cars hanging out or waiting to be tuned. Since I only need to make a couple of pulls they always let me jump on first and they really don't pay much attention to me, until after the hear the AR during the first pull.

Then they're all ears, peaking under the hood and holding their heads when they see I'm making more power then most of their cars, even some with V-8's.

Ya gotta love it.

Ira
 
Last edited:
speaking of mustangs, I got tore up by a turbo 05-06 mustang GT the other day. There wasn't much positive to say about it from my end, but he had a hp performance turbo on it with all the other bolts-ons. I think I would need to be in the mid 400 rwhp range to even knock on his door again.
 
speaking of mustangs, I got tore up by a turbo 05-06 mustang GT the other day. There wasn't much positive to say about it from my end, but he had a hp performance turbo on it with all the other bolts-ons. I think I would need to be in the mid 400 rwhp range to even knock on his door again.
Get there, slacker!!!
 
Get there, slacker!!!

Haha, this year is devoted to koni shocks/struts and bigger brakes all around. It's one thing to get there, its a whole other when you get there and realize, "Oh ~~~~ I gotta stop"

If I had your big pockets and corporate sponsers I would be there though!! lol
 
A lot of folks don't even know what these things are. I drove mine past a friends house the other day while he was mowing his yard and the next day his wife came up too mine and said, "i'm so pissed, Jerry said you drove by in some old car and didn't even stop to say hi." ~~~! I drove it back from St. Louis last week after meeting Dalke for a tune session and had some (no doubt) card carrying member of the short pecker club in a little Kia coupe try me out, . . twice, . . No respect. While these things may not do mach III, I have yet to see anyone, including Napoleans little brother in the Kia, who was not surprised at what one will do on the highway. It's a bonafied Left Lane vehicle.
 
these cars just can't catch a break..

One night on the way home I got a 03 cobra with my V6 car. The next week I stopped off at some cruise night and someone pointed out that this was the car that did that cobra. That got some of the local boys up for the night. So the next week I took one of my big blocks over to the place and sure as the day is long some kid with his hopped up mustang was talking trash and flashing some $$ for a chance to win back his buddys pride... Long story shortened, he went home with less cash then he left home with. They are still trying to understand what happened that night. They looked at the car the week before and it was a V6, but what happened during the week??

That is the thing about playing on the street, there is always someone with a bigger stick, ready to take on all comers. This time it was a pair of S.C.'s but one was packing two extra spark plugs and over three hundred more inches... Life is good sometimes........Rich
 
Parked...w/the hood open? That's for posers.

Sitting at a show is not the way to gain their attention. Spend a few months picking 'em off while out cruising around and once word gets passed, they'll start coming 'round one at a time to see what's been kicking their ~~~.

They only thing you want to be in their eyes is tail lights...it's the only thing that matters.

When at a car show you generally have your car..

1) Parked
2) Hood open

I just find it amazing that with all that chrome/polished stuff, huge front mount, Autorotor and by the sound of the exhaust something going on inside the motor that barely anyone even pays a look..As far as racing this thing...One dya it akes 100rwhp the next over 400....So no....Ill pass untill its consistantly over 400rwhp...And thats when I tend to break things:O)
 
I just find it amazing that with all that chrome/polished stuff, huge front mount, Autorotor and by the sound of the exhaust something going on inside the motor that barely anyone even pays a look.

It depends on the show and who attends. Young guys tend to skip the tbirds just because they aren't something that is familiar to them. Some are drawn to shiney stuff, but most see the cars and don't think performance. the folks that will take a look, and often the folks that will chat with you are the older guys. Guys that may have shopped for cars when these were out, or guys that worked at a Ford dealer when these cars were running through them. These tend to be the people that can appreciate the cars.

this year at the Car Craft Summer Nationals I picked up a few younger guys checking things out when one of a group might catch view of my dyno sheet flapping in the wind (I laminated a larger version of it and zip tied it to the hood) stop, read it, then call over to his buddies the number and say it was a v6. About 1/3 of the time his buddies would come over and check out the car, often then commenting on the fact that it's a 5 speed.

Walking around at that event where there were thousands of cars, those with dyno sheets tended to be in the 300-600rwhp range, with most around the high 300 low 400. Then there were the purpose built dyno cars that had one large or twin turbos and managed 800-1100 rwhp but the torque and power curve nearly useless. Other than a couple highly modified 4 cylinder cars, most were V8's.

As far as the streets getting fast. Remember it's not just the car that needs to be fast, the driver has to know what he/she is doing as well. More fast cars doesn't mean more fast drivers.
 
Back
Top