I recently had a long discussion with a couple local guys about making potential engine swaps,
various drive train component selection, cost and time involved.
most newer guys in this hobby seem to think that building a car with an extra 100-150 plus hp ,
will instantly give them impressive performance, yet I find it amazing, that they seem totally oblivious that you'll also need,
larger brakes, better tires, suspension mods, better cooling,some knowledge related to tuning and programing and diagnosing potential problems,
a good many more tools than they start out with, a place to work on the car, and it certainly helps to have a few knowledgeable friends,
and in many cases extensive durability related mods like a larger oil pan, oil coolers, etc.
the vast majority of the guys Ive ever known , modify existing cars,
and almost all existing production street cars are considerably heavier than a purpose built race car will be!
starting out with a street car body, and trying to maintain a street legal daily driver, as your performance car,
puts you at a considerable disadvantage if you intend to be the local race track hero!
now there are exceptions
,to the ridiculously overweight street performance cars,
most of us start out modifying.
there are huge advantages in starting with significantly lighter cars ,
that are basically weekend toys we don,t need to depend on for transportation.
like the T-bucket and cobra kit cars ETC.
that can be built with the stronger drive trains, larger engines, larger brakes, stronger transmission,higher power to weight ratios, better cooling etc.
but that tends to require planning the build in detail, and most guys I know are rather content to swap performance parts onto or modify the street driven car they use for daily transportation, which severely limits the options in components they can reasonably select and use, available to them.
Id point out a few facts
(1) your very unlikely to ever have the fastest car in your area for very long, simply because
technology is constantly improving, newer components, can improve performance.
someone else will always have more time and cash to invest in the project,
no one has unlimited cash and resources.
(2)most people follow proven trends, very few people have the skills and technical knowledge,
to fabricate EFFECTIVELY BETTER AND UNIQUE FUNCTIONAL parts from scratch.
yes you can build a kick ass, mustang, camaro ,corvette, nova or gto, etc.
but its going to be based on and always saddled with a considerably heavier than ideal frame, suspension and body .
designed for street driving, and customer comfort and passenger safety.
related threads
various drive train component selection, cost and time involved.
most newer guys in this hobby seem to think that building a car with an extra 100-150 plus hp ,
will instantly give them impressive performance, yet I find it amazing, that they seem totally oblivious that you'll also need,
larger brakes, better tires, suspension mods, better cooling,some knowledge related to tuning and programing and diagnosing potential problems,
a good many more tools than they start out with, a place to work on the car, and it certainly helps to have a few knowledgeable friends,
and in many cases extensive durability related mods like a larger oil pan, oil coolers, etc.
the vast majority of the guys Ive ever known , modify existing cars,
and almost all existing production street cars are considerably heavier than a purpose built race car will be!
starting out with a street car body, and trying to maintain a street legal daily driver, as your performance car,
puts you at a considerable disadvantage if you intend to be the local race track hero!
now there are exceptions
,to the ridiculously overweight street performance cars,
most of us start out modifying.
there are huge advantages in starting with significantly lighter cars ,
that are basically weekend toys we don,t need to depend on for transportation.
like the T-bucket and cobra kit cars ETC.
that can be built with the stronger drive trains, larger engines, larger brakes, stronger transmission,higher power to weight ratios, better cooling etc.
but that tends to require planning the build in detail, and most guys I know are rather content to swap performance parts onto or modify the street driven car they use for daily transportation, which severely limits the options in components they can reasonably select and use, available to them.
Id point out a few facts
(1) your very unlikely to ever have the fastest car in your area for very long, simply because
technology is constantly improving, newer components, can improve performance.
someone else will always have more time and cash to invest in the project,
no one has unlimited cash and resources.
(2)most people follow proven trends, very few people have the skills and technical knowledge,
to fabricate EFFECTIVELY BETTER AND UNIQUE FUNCTIONAL parts from scratch.
yes you can build a kick ass, mustang, camaro ,corvette, nova or gto, etc.
but its going to be based on and always saddled with a considerably heavier than ideal frame, suspension and body .
designed for street driving, and customer comfort and passenger safety.
related threads
link to physics of racing info, lots of good stuff!
heres a link to some useful suspension info.... reading thru the sub linked info could take a few hours but be well worth the effort http://phors.locost7.info/contents.htm http://www.avsontheweb.com/product.php?productid=739 http://www.welderseries.com/blog/online ... angulated/...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
whats it really take to run reasonably fast in street trim
whats it really take ? , well a decent transmission,rear gears ,suspension and tires sure helps, but its basically dependent on your having a high hp to weight ratio,matching the cars tires and drive train gearing to the engines power curve, and how effectively you get power to the ground, how...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
a really nice BBC muscle car engine combo
I was asked what Id build for a good performance engine in a weekend toy, well as many of you know I,m partial to some early two door Pontiac body styles and some corvettes and mopar cars. I,m also rather fond of big block chevy and larger hemi engines but because chevy parts are much less...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
learning to drive a really fast car
ever notice my signature, line, IVE used for years "if you can,t smoke the tires from a 60mph rolling start your engine needs more work!" http://vexer.com/automotive-tools/1-4-m ... calculator I built and drove a 13.7:1 compression ratio ,CROWER INJECTED 496 BIG BLOCK CORVETTE, for...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
building a weekend toy / engine to bracket race, not transportation
hey grumpyvette, Ive read a bunch of these threads and most of them were heavily slanted toward building street/strip performance engines, that run on high test pump gas, that's fine and I understand why. but, what would you build on a semi -reasonable budget, too put in a weekend toy / engine...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
basics of starting a 383 sbc combo planing
I'm needing some help with my 383 stroker of all the block is Bored 30 over the stroker kit is a 3.75 inch stroke with 6-inch rods and -10 CC dish top pistons the heads I went with some edelBrock E210 witch are a 64 CC chamber and a 210 cc intake runner with maximum lift 650. I have 1.5 roller...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
Bbc Related & Links And Useful Info
a few useful links, and sub links videos, and tips to look over yeah, increased displacement helps and building a killer BBC old school, for your car can be both cost effective and produce impressive results some of the most effective, cost per hp and efficient combo's , will be the 496...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
some sources for garage plans, + some build info experiances
if your planing to build a shop/garage, its going too be a huge advantage to your planed project, check with building and zoning as too what size and type of structure will be allowed and what are the required steps before a proposed shop/garage can be built. in many areas this will require a...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
A Few Basic Precision Tools
Hey GRUMPY, I need a few basic tools to measure bearing clearances and tools for installing a cam, etc, and suggestions? (and yeah, I'm not swimming in cash, so please take that into account!) keep in mind there's a long list of more expensive tools, like mills, lathes, various types of...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
do you match the cam to the engine or build the engine to match the cam specs?
"do you match the cam to the engine or build the engine to match the cam specs?" I got asked that question a few days ago, frankly I have never ever considered doing it either way heres some basics that won,t change theres a couple thousand related threads here to help you. You may find this a...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
IT durability thats KEY in building a good engine
when ever I get into a discussion with many of the guys I build engines for, the younger guys especially seem to be captivated or primarily focused on the concept of having " a RADICAL CAM, that rumbles at idle, or the new brand X heads that some magazine is pushing in the latest engine build...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
bits of weight vs speed related info worth reading through
It is widely accepted in the automotive community that for every 100 pounds of weight lost from a vehicle the gain in acceleration felt would be like getting an extra 10 horsepower. Now remember, you are technically not “gaining” 10 horsepower. Your vehicle is accelerating at a quicker rate that...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
anyone on the website in the process of building a kit car?
Theres several hundred different kits and each has its limitations and advantages I was sitting in and driving my brother-in-laws cobra kit car recently, its light weight, and even with a stock 302 ford its fairly quick for a street car, and it certainly gets attention where ever its driven...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
interesting custom car body suppliers
http://www.race-car-replicas.com/rcr70.html http://www.factoryfive.com/ http://customimagecorvettes.com/product-category/c2-corvette/complete-body-c2-corvette/ http://www.scottrodscustom.com/racebodies.html http://www.factoryfive.com/galleries/gtm-supercar/gtm-rolling-chassis/...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
383 information overload
Hi guys, I will be posting an introduction shortly, but I've been doing research on 383s for a little over a month now, usually several hours a day. I'm very familiar with the concepts and how they are built and what additional components I have to upgrade to get the most bang for my buck, but...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
thoughts on building a larger displacement street engine
I get asked rather frequently ABOUT BUILDING LARGER DISPLACEMENT big block engines (MOSTLY CHEVY) AND I figured I'd point out a couple common thoughts and concepts, limitations etc. its just a fact that you can generally produce a bit over 1-1.3 horse power per cubic inch of displacement in most...
garage.grumpysperformance.com
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