we all seem to be on a constant quest to make our cars faster, now having been this route over and over for fourty plus years and many cars, dozens of engines ETC.and having spent a small fortune on cars and engines over the years it EVENTUALLY sinks in that YOULL NEVER have the fastest car around and you only get to ENJOY your car when its running correctly.
read thru this also
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=783
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2834&p=7327#p7327
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3733
http://robrobinette.com/et.htm
this might be of interest
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=151
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=13
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=483
So, whats a realistic goal, whats IMPRESSIVE to you? and what will make YOU happy?
now I sat down and spent some time thinking this thru, thinking about what it takes, to have a good car, and for ME its not all about speed or E.T.,
Ive owned a very low 10 second corvette, Ive had several 11 second cars, but the cars Ive enjoyed the most were the ones I got to drive on the street with both performance and FEW PROBLEMS,CARS that while faster than average, were also cars that appeared to be nearly stock, and didn,t attract a good bit of attention, its just a P.I.T.A. to drive a car when your constantly needing to think about keeping the plugs from fouling or the local cops hearing it running,or one that's about to get stolen if you park it,without constant supervision,ETC. and when the local track requires a certified roll cage, trans blanket,blow proof bell housings, and battery disconnects, ETC. and you can,t drive to the track, it fast becomes a P.I.T.A.
most of the cars Ive really enjoyed driving were big block cars that would run in the low 12s or high 11 second range on street tires, they could be driven on trips to the store, or on vacation,, DEPENDABILITY was a HUGE PLUS, what made them so great was that they were both dependable and faster than ALMOST all the cars they got to play with on the street,you could EMBARRASS the local street screach ricers and mustang crowd, and there was little worry about breakage or problems, and you could park them without needing to watch them every second.
I just thought ID point that out for the newer guys here!
don,t get so worried about running fast! build your car so you can ENJOY it and DRIVE IT.
having 600-700 hp is nice, but nearly useless if you can,t go anywhere with the car............think it thru......you may really want 400-500 hp and a dependable car rather than a 600hp-900hp garage queen!
having a larger displacement engine generally means you can run with the engine slightly out of perfect tune and still have impressive performance, as in most things a compromise needs to be struck, but having a car you can enjoy on the street beats having a toy you can rarely get to drive, and only at the track, in most cases.
Ive worked on hundreds of cars over the years and the trend seems to be that a skilled driver in a good ,well thought thru combo can have a reliable car in the high 11 second range,to the low 12s, but once you get into a much faster car the problems operating it on the street multiply to the point where you don,t enjoy driving it and spend an enormous amount of time and money just maintaining it.
and a guy who knows how to tune/adjust,a large displacement big block or car with a power assist like a turbo, nitrous,or in some cases a supercharger makes the goal far easier because your engines not putting all its potential power out all the time at a given rpm range.
now Im certainly not saying you can,t build a good 9-10 second combo, but its going to take a good deal of thought and an enormous amount of money if you want it reliable, and your driving & mechanical skills better be good
the one factor I didn,t touch on was power to weight ratio while its very unlikely you can do it starting with a nearly stock corvette due to the weight, the LIGHTER the WEIGHT the easier it is to ACCELERATE AND SLOW a car and the LESS STRESS the suspension and drive train will be under, so there ARE OPTIONS if you want a fast street car, but they may NOT be a corvette, there are some kit cars, t-buckets, etc. that can be built that weight easily a full 1000-1500 lbs less than a stock corvette, that will allow a 500hp engine to produce astounding performance.
http://www.miata.net/sport/Physics/
Id say 90% plus of the guys I build engines for among the street crowd, are similarly clueless, as to how displacement,compression ratio, cam duration,valve size and port cross sectional areas and runner length, and drive train gearing ETC. are calculated for a given rpm band and hp range.
most have zero idea how to index a cam, check clearances or set up valve train geometry,and even less about matching intake runner size to displacement and cam duration, etc.
most guys read far to many magazine articles, without understanding the relationships and why certain combos work and why many don,t!
or they relied on how their buddies engine combo runs for their parts selection, and in many cases the thinking goes
(well if hes running that cam, Ill just get the next bigger one and he can watch MY tail lights)
never thinking for an instant that the small differences DO MATTER to the END RESULTS
IF YOU'VE GOT TO DO RESEARCH HERE ON THE SITE (AND WHO DOESN,T ) READ THRU THE LINKS AND SUB LINKS, GET YOUR COMBO CORRECTLY DESIGNED BEFORE YOU BUY THE FIRST COMPONENT AND YOU'LL BE AMAZED AT HOW MUCH BETTER IT WILL RUN THAN THE AVERAGE GUYS CAR DOES.
read thru this also
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=783
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2834&p=7327#p7327
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3733
http://robrobinette.com/et.htm
this might be of interest
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=151
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=13
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=483
So, whats a realistic goal, whats IMPRESSIVE to you? and what will make YOU happy?
now I sat down and spent some time thinking this thru, thinking about what it takes, to have a good car, and for ME its not all about speed or E.T.,
Ive owned a very low 10 second corvette, Ive had several 11 second cars, but the cars Ive enjoyed the most were the ones I got to drive on the street with both performance and FEW PROBLEMS,CARS that while faster than average, were also cars that appeared to be nearly stock, and didn,t attract a good bit of attention, its just a P.I.T.A. to drive a car when your constantly needing to think about keeping the plugs from fouling or the local cops hearing it running,or one that's about to get stolen if you park it,without constant supervision,ETC. and when the local track requires a certified roll cage, trans blanket,blow proof bell housings, and battery disconnects, ETC. and you can,t drive to the track, it fast becomes a P.I.T.A.
most of the cars Ive really enjoyed driving were big block cars that would run in the low 12s or high 11 second range on street tires, they could be driven on trips to the store, or on vacation,, DEPENDABILITY was a HUGE PLUS, what made them so great was that they were both dependable and faster than ALMOST all the cars they got to play with on the street,you could EMBARRASS the local street screach ricers and mustang crowd, and there was little worry about breakage or problems, and you could park them without needing to watch them every second.
I just thought ID point that out for the newer guys here!
don,t get so worried about running fast! build your car so you can ENJOY it and DRIVE IT.
having 600-700 hp is nice, but nearly useless if you can,t go anywhere with the car............think it thru......you may really want 400-500 hp and a dependable car rather than a 600hp-900hp garage queen!
having a larger displacement engine generally means you can run with the engine slightly out of perfect tune and still have impressive performance, as in most things a compromise needs to be struck, but having a car you can enjoy on the street beats having a toy you can rarely get to drive, and only at the track, in most cases.
Ive worked on hundreds of cars over the years and the trend seems to be that a skilled driver in a good ,well thought thru combo can have a reliable car in the high 11 second range,to the low 12s, but once you get into a much faster car the problems operating it on the street multiply to the point where you don,t enjoy driving it and spend an enormous amount of time and money just maintaining it.
and a guy who knows how to tune/adjust,a large displacement big block or car with a power assist like a turbo, nitrous,or in some cases a supercharger makes the goal far easier because your engines not putting all its potential power out all the time at a given rpm range.
now Im certainly not saying you can,t build a good 9-10 second combo, but its going to take a good deal of thought and an enormous amount of money if you want it reliable, and your driving & mechanical skills better be good
the one factor I didn,t touch on was power to weight ratio while its very unlikely you can do it starting with a nearly stock corvette due to the weight, the LIGHTER the WEIGHT the easier it is to ACCELERATE AND SLOW a car and the LESS STRESS the suspension and drive train will be under, so there ARE OPTIONS if you want a fast street car, but they may NOT be a corvette, there are some kit cars, t-buckets, etc. that can be built that weight easily a full 1000-1500 lbs less than a stock corvette, that will allow a 500hp engine to produce astounding performance.
http://www.miata.net/sport/Physics/
Id say 90% plus of the guys I build engines for among the street crowd, are similarly clueless, as to how displacement,compression ratio, cam duration,valve size and port cross sectional areas and runner length, and drive train gearing ETC. are calculated for a given rpm band and hp range.
most have zero idea how to index a cam, check clearances or set up valve train geometry,and even less about matching intake runner size to displacement and cam duration, etc.
most guys read far to many magazine articles, without understanding the relationships and why certain combos work and why many don,t!
or they relied on how their buddies engine combo runs for their parts selection, and in many cases the thinking goes
(well if hes running that cam, Ill just get the next bigger one and he can watch MY tail lights)
never thinking for an instant that the small differences DO MATTER to the END RESULTS
IF YOU'VE GOT TO DO RESEARCH HERE ON THE SITE (AND WHO DOESN,T ) READ THRU THE LINKS AND SUB LINKS, GET YOUR COMBO CORRECTLY DESIGNED BEFORE YOU BUY THE FIRST COMPONENT AND YOU'LL BE AMAZED AT HOW MUCH BETTER IT WILL RUN THAN THE AVERAGE GUYS CAR DOES.
