When is more too much?

[RR]

A thought that has been swimming around in my head:

When do you take a car too far to be enjoyable? This idea is at the forefront of my mind as I get ready to replace the engine in my old truck (the last one lost oil pressure and ate the crank and bearings). Having been to Drag Week a couple of days the question is- when do you purpose build a car for speed (and low et) too much? When does it become less fun to drive on a daily basis just to obtain that low et? Of course- my goal with this new engine is to idle like a stock engine while running 8's... ;D And drives like it is stock on long road trips...

NOTE- I am not trying to bash anyone nor do I want this thread to become a bashing of any car, no matter who's it is. I am just looking for opinions. I appreciate all cars- and if a guy has a 7 second car- more power to him. I wish mine was that quick!

Further motivation for asking this question-
1) If you see the 1320 Video clip of the 1320 Video guy riding with Lutz in his 57 for a while, you get the feeling (see Lutz's reaction as the guy is about to get out of the car) that riding in the car is not that much fun for even Lutz. (NOTE- not trying to bash Lutz- the car is beautiful and very quick! I like it.)

2) A few years ago- I read in a car mag- I think it was Frieburger talking about his orange hemi car- about the pains of a street driven 10 second (I think) car. That the quest for a low et had taken the fun out of driving the car.

3) Did I not see in a post where Spidey turned his car into a trailer queen when he put a roller cam in it?

So at what et or what modification makes a car unenjoyable in a street driven situation? What stops you from driving a quick car (provided you own one.)

[Barry Donovan]

Re: When is more too much?

concerns for other people stopped me in the 90s. ???

I pissed my own brother off in his humble mobile home (I did not know what I built until then). the resonance of big is well.. pretty darn fluncking annoying..

10seconds, furthermore, is not all that fast. To have a civilized power putting it down has been achieved by europeans forever..a v12 in just about anything..
american did well with the gt40...why aren't all v8s doing that calmly?
even the vettes stays loud and furious for no good reason.
this also stops me from insanity with american v8 and low ET... they do not need to be an earthquake for ten seconds. most American v8s do apparently...


those who do hang on with their brought up knowledge is hopefully for the media and money and real history.

[JeffMcKC]

Re: When is more too much?

Good Question, I would pose it as It depends on How you plan to get there from here.

N/A It gets pretty roudy to go 10's
Turbo Its pretty calm to go 9's even high 8's with a Big Block


I love driving mine, it has great manners for the most part because of the EFI

9's now are the old 10's

Everyone has a breaking point we had a Alky Injected Tunnel Ram at Car Craft and it bothered every one but us ;D

[stage1scott]

Re: When is more too much?

well, everything Jeff said above is true. in the eighties, when I had my Buick up to 12>1 and huge cam-it ran mid 11s and SUCKED to drive on the street. As I broke pistons and blocks working my way back down to 9>1 cr, and quieted the exhaust, it became a lot more fun to own and drive. I was always fighting a curb weight of approx 4200 lbs with an engine that (at the time) was unstable with big cams and high compression. My current Ford build reverses all those trends and I am looking forward to na 10s without drama/overheating/broken pistons, etc. a curb weight of 3200 lbs and modern aluminum cyl heads and cam profiles will all help that. in a pickup, you shold be able to employ an overdrive trans and get some et with gear ratio as well. It all dpeends on what you want to live with-undependability and loud drove me nuts.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: When is more too much?

So because a top-fuel dragster can't drive me to the market that makes it useless? I find it pretty humorous when friends complain to me about riding in some of my more rustic project cars.... my response to them (beside the "there's a cold wind blowing up your skirt") is to remind them that when they were 18 or 20 there was no downside to the car....

[nosnerd]

Re: When is more too much?

my near 14:1 522 inch is a bit too much.... 8)


i told my EX sunday (when she dropped by the shop to see the car)"i traded a high maintenance wife for a high maintenance car" she laughed..at least the fkn car isnt English!!lmao


i need a GV OD!!!

[squirrel]

Re: When is more too much?

I don't know, my car isn't fast enough to answer the question. I hope it never is.

[1badmonkey]

Re: When is more too much?

my Camaro is'nt fun, and it isnt that fast(12.0 off the bottle, broke it on the bottle.) old school 355. no accessory holes in the cyl heads so the brackets are cobbled up, the mini-spool sucks to do the parking lot shuffle. the fuel cell is 8 gallons with no gauge. TH350, 4.10 gears, 26" tall rear tires keeps the revs way up on a drive. all the goof sheet metal under the hatch where the P.O. cut the floor out. the roll bar eliminates the back seat.

jeez, i am sitting here coming up with more and more things. this sucks.

The thing i do (did??? :-[) like is the thing is brutal, and you know you are driving!! built it almost 10 yrs ago, would do it WAY WAY different now.

EFI/ turbo overdrive, 3.73 gears 28" tire.

and a damn radio.

[Thumpin455]

Re: When is more too much?

I have one car that is still fun to drive, but it is hard on the passengers. Before this new engine it ran 11s, had 11:1, 4.10 gears, 28" tires, no interior, plastic buckets. It was ok for cruises, and I took it on a couple road trips, but it wasnt something you wanted to drive daily. Now that same car has 200hp more, its lighter, and scarier. It is too much to drive often, that is why I have others that arent as radical.

[TheSilverBuick]

Re: When is more too much?

My car's aren't quick, but I throughly enjoy them. My Skylark will likely be more rowdy, but I want it reliable until I have my garage built. But no matter how rowdy I intend on building the engine it'll still be docile enough to drive on long hauls and sit in stop and go traffic and if I can get away with it, A/C (which hasn't worked since 1997). If I can go 11.9x's N/A, I'd be happy.

I like Jeff's answer.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: When is more too much?

The answer depends on the person and their breaking points. There are plenty of peopke that will drive a car with no interior, getting baked by engine heat, crawling over the jungle gym roll cage, and have exhaust resonance so loud it knocks out their dental work. Others would hate it.

My old boss's wife had a '69 Camaro she drove every single day when it didn't rain. I've even driven/ridden in the car and I thought it was fine. It was all steel, had an 10 pt cage I had slide over the door bar, full interior, 468 (Brodix 335 cc heads, Brodix single plane intake, Comp solid roller .660 lift 260* at .050, 10.6 compression, 1050 dominator) TH400, 3.73's. It ran consistent 10.60's at 125 mph on Arco's swill 91 octane. She moved up to an 8-71 and twin 850's, lower static compression and was hitting high 9's on pump gas.

My Impala is OK when the weather is nice, but it's hard to take when it's leaking in the rain and baking in the hot sun. No carpet, no headliner, no AC. It can actually be hotter in the car than outside. It's something I want fixed and soon, but I deal with it. Keeping the water and heat out of the car and having a decent interior is more important than a great paint job.

For me, a hot, loud interior, and having to get in and out of a funny car style cage would be the deal breaker. A car that doesn't want idle in traffic would also suck no matter how fast it was.

[Gary 351C]

Re: When is more too much?

I've known guys that build an engine and before it's even been in the car for a week they're swapping cams and intakes all in the search for that last horsepower or pound foot of torque. I admire those guys, but I'm not one of them. Once I put something together I don't want to have to tear it down again. If and when I ever get the Montego done it will be fast enough to be fun and dependable enough to drive every day if I want to. Some people need an eight second street car, I don't.

[KeithTurk]

Re: When is more too much?

I really like the question...

To the extreme.... The Modified sports car we ran went 262mph.... with a Drag coefficient of .271 ,,, Took it to the wind tunnel and lowered the CD to .183 within the structure of the rules. What that means in reality is that with the same HP the car would run 308mph... No tuning... just get in the Hot Rod and drive.... I sold the car... Hmmm

It all ends up here...... If you have the passion for it.... Anything is worth the risk... it's what we LIVE for.... to die doing something you don't have a Passion to do would be pointless. I love setting records... getting red Timing Tags... it turns me on... Speed is just something you do because it's required to get the record... and there are still tons of records below 300mph that interest me.... I have a Passion for that...

I know some of that sounds melodramatic... but it's my car reality.... My passion... I love the Camaro and the fun we have with it.... the Bikes turn my crank.... again they are worth the risk.... because with them I live... and without them life is mundane....

So whatever level you find comfortable is disco bitchen.... it's You... and you get to decide the mechanical mayhem you wish to absorb in the quest for fun...

Keith

[nesabo]

Re: When is more too much?

Isnt that one of those things you don't realize till you have gone to far?

My Mustang is not done, so I am making plans for it to be more comfortable on DW next year.

[Dave the Bartender]

Re: When is more too much?

To those of you that have neared your breaking point . . . You lucky dogs. I have always built the fastest thing I could afford and I have never went as fast as 12's. It appears the breaking point is how far your dollars and passion will take you. Lucky for me my passion is still strong . . . and I am saving my money.

I am revvin on the red line to get to the point where I will question, when is it not as enjoyable. It hasn't gotten to that point in 51 years.

Gonna go 12's DTB

p.s. Lutz is my hero !