The Muscle Cars of Today

[4x4]

Wow , that is sharp , looks like a cross between a Jaguar & a Lincoln ..

[leet83]

drooling....

[mdeven]

Wow, good thing I DIDN'T fuck with that Saleen I saw the other day....
Can you say "Thorough Spanking"?
Mark

[lefty]

I don't know.....I guess since I was raised on ARDUN V8's, 392 Hemi's, 409 Chevy's, 427 Rat Motors, I can't get the feel of a earth shaking dual carbed, headered BIG V8 rattling my bones (and neighbors windows) out of my system.

This new iron doesn't do much for me (an old fart). ;) ;)

:cool:

[Chief]

Fuzzy, I hear ya, buddy....my personal toy is a fully restored 1969 Camaro SS 396 (396 long gone, we replaced it with a 502 crate motor, and souped 'er up from there)
Let me tell you about one that impressed me last weekend...saw this race at our local dragstrip. Mark, you've already heard about this.
Vehicle - 2001 Chevrolet One Ton Crew Cab pickup, 4 wheel drive, Duramax diesel, Allison 5-speed automatic.
Mods - 3 different performance chips, 4" exhaust, K&N air induction system.
Here's the numbers on this little darlin' :
Curb weight....7,200 pounds
Max horsepower (from dynomometer)....647 @ 3400 RPM
Max torque....1220 lbs/ft @ 1600 RPM
0-60 mph: 4.8 seconds
Standing start quarter mile: 13.35 seconds @ 112 mph

This is a daily driver, not a trailer queen....not one internal part of the engine has been touched.
Pretty impressive for a 7000 pound oil burner...I would imagine the kid in the RamAir Trans Am in the other lane is still scratchin' his head :D

[valenti]

I'm with you guys on all this stuff. There's just something about lots of HP. The best thing I've ever seen, (except for the nitro burners, which really take the cake) was an F1 car...1250 lbs and 900 HP out of a 3 liter normally aspirated gas burning 10 cylinder engine turning 18000 RPM. Sounds like a really loud hummingbird.those little cock-suckers really fly...and stick like glue too.

valenti

[Chief]

18,000??? Geez...that's 300 revolutions per second .....makes you wonder how the valve train keeps up with it all, without flying into the next county....

[valenti]

Yup...I don't get it either. There was a rumor that Ferrari had a Formula one engine design on the test track that ran reliably (that is long enough to get through one week of testing, qualifying and then the actual race), that ran 22500rpm....but when you spend 18 million dollars a year on an engine program (for 6 engines) you should be able to do the impossible.

As for valve trains, I live just accross a river from a great big long sweeping stretch of road. Every once in a while, I'll be lying in bed with the windows open and some guy on a big japanese motorcycle will just bust loose. I just wait for the guy to let off, and most times they do, but every so often, you get to hear "the valve train float" It's kind of a cool sound...mostly because you know the guy on the bike is just flying.


Still....nothing beats those Nitro burning pigs for an impressive show of RAW POWER!

valenti

[Chief]

Here's what happens when you guess wrong on the tune-up in a nitro car...
Doug Herbert having a bad day :p
http://www.dragracingonline.com/special/images/dherbert1.jpg

[HotRodTodd]

Chief , those little screamers f1 , have rotary valves that are chain driven. 18,000 rpm i dont know about, but we have one of the older v-8 type that ford used to campain. It has about a 3" bore and 2.85" stroke. It turns around 12,000 and makes 600-700 hp. Torque is around 200 ft lb.s max though. The heads look like dohc type but the cams are actualy the valves. They have slots ground in them that seal or open the intake or exaust ports. Anyway its a pretty cool little power plant.

[valenti]

Hey Chief, did Doug Heberts crew need to send his nomex suit to the cleaners after that little incident?

valenti

[Chief]

No, that was all behind him...but NHRA's chief starter had a diarrhea moment and couldn't hear for three days :D

[mdeven]

Does anyone remember the plastic engine Valvoline was developing a while back?
Wonder what ever became of that....
Mark

[Chief]

Money, Mark....not cost-effective to mass-produce such an engine. Yeah, I remember the Valvoline deal....and actually, modern engines utilize quite a few plastic components....Oil pans, intake manifolds, non-stressed parts....
There are composite materials that are tough enough..Kevlar, carbon fiber...but anyone that has built a race car using these materials can testify that you'd better have a rich uncle handy.
There's all kinds of neat shit being built in the secrecy of the engineering laboratories...like that V16 Cadillac motor (which is basically two LS1 Chevrolet engines end to end sharing a common crankshaft)...but until you're ready to pay 60 grand for a Chevy pickup, I doubt you'll see composite engines in the forseeable future. You're much more likely to see advances in gas/electric hybrids (like the Toyota Prius) and hydrogen fuel-cell technology.....
Screw that, gimme a ground-pounding big block - I'm having a horsepower moment :p

[lefty]

There's all kinds of neat shit being built in the secrecy of the engineering laboratories

Remember the old 327 Chevy? There were Hemi heads developed for it.
Rumor has it that Smokey had one.

Wouldn't that be a kick?

:cool:

[valenti]

Don't remember the small block Chevy Hemi Heads, but I do remember a 69 Z/28 I had with a 302 in it that I would Kill or die for If I could have it back today.

valenti

[lefty]

I would Kill or die for If I could have it back today.

Yeah, the hemi heads were experimental. Not to be released.

You'd have liked my 56 Chevy Belair 2 door hardtop. Maroon with a white roof. Chrome reverse wheels. 66 Chevelle bucket seats.

And, oh yeah, under the hood - a 69 Z28 302 CID, Holley 3310, factory aluminum hi-rise, 2.02 heads, headers, Mallory Rev Pol dist, Muncie 2:20 4 speed. 4.56 gears.

God that was fun!

:cool:

[4x4]

I remember a small block with fake look a like hemi heads ..
They were just for looks only but that was back in the 60's ..
Just like the fake Hilborn fuel injector setup that Garlits made and they sit on top of a carb ... They do look real ..
Now if your talking Big Block Chevy , they do make hemi heads for them ..

I have a friend with an S10 Blazer with a 454 big block in it and he has the fake injectors on it , hole in the hood with the big blue pipes sticking out and everybody thinks it is real ...
Well at least the Americans do .. ;)

[HotRodTodd]

Actually there are hemi heads through the aftermarket for sb chevys. I dont know if any of you used to watch Hot Rod Tv on tnn, but they had them on one of thier hot parts segments. They are called Dominion Heads if i remember corectly, they also feature 4 valves per cylinder. They had a price tag of about 4900.00 . Ive only seen one pair on a motor and it was on David Rampy's super gas roadster about 3 years ago at Rockingham N.C. He has hemi fever as he is running the new Mopar sb hemis.

[Chief]

My first car was a '56 Chevy, too, fuzzy.....2 door post. 283, Edelbrock 2X4 manifold with dual AFB's (can you say "overcarbureted"?), Muncie, 4.11 posi....lots of fun, 6 mpg, but hell, gas was 20 cents a gallon then. Who cared.
Someone developed a set of small block heads about 20 years ago with the injectors mounted right on top of the heads, directly centered over the intake ports...and the ports ran straight down into the cylinder -just a straight-in shot, no curves...the exhaust came straight out the top of the head, in the same manner as the intake, just in reverse. The headers looked really weird...sort of like the old INDY Ford motors of the 60's. Man, they got the horsepower out of these heads..but reliability was a problem, and so was the cost...so they went nowhere.

People like Rampy and the guys that build Pro Stock truck and Competition Eliminator engines are getting 1000 horsepower out of a 358" small block Chevy. On gasoline, no nitrous, no supercharger. Absolutely amazing - in the 60's, we thought 300 HP was cutting a fat hog.....

[ghost71799]

My first car was a '56 Chevy, too, fuzzy.....2 door post. 283, Edelbrock 2X4 manifold with dual AFB's (can you say "overcarbureted"?), Muncie, 4.11 posi....lots of fun, 6 mpg, but hell, gas was 20 cents a gallon then. Who cared.
Someone developed a set of small block heads about 20 years ago with the injectors mounted right on top of the heads, directly centered over the intake ports...and the ports ran straight down into the cylinder -just a straight-in shot, no curves...the exhaust came straight out the top of the head, in the same manner as the intake, just in reverse. The headers looked really weird...sort of like the old INDY Ford motors of the 60's. Man, they got the horsepower out of these heads..but reliability was a problem, and so was the cost...so they went nowhere.

People like Rampy and the guys that build Pro Stock truck and Competition Eliminator engines are getting 1000 horsepower out of a 358" small block Chevy. On gasoline, no nitrous, no supercharger. Absolutely amazing - in the 60's, we thought 300 HP was cutting a fat hog.....
chief i could not help but to post i am a camaro man myself i have an 84 ltd,85 z28,87 rs,89 rs the one i am driving and talking about is the 85 z28 much love for them all i have a 350 4 bolt main small block bored 60 over sivolite piston heads pro moly rings trw rods steel crank 270 comp cam edelbrock perfomer rpm heads with matching intake roller rockers hardend steel lunati pushrods hedman hedders 3" exaust flowmaster muffler i built the motor myself and have burn up four 700r4 trans. and one 350 turbo with this motor so i carried my ass to a racing trans. builder the first one he built i burned up overdrive and scorched 2nd gear in the first day so he fixed it 2 weeks later i lost all my forward gears he got it to the shop tore it down it turned out i had stripped the sprag gear out he fixed it ever since that no more problems from the trans i have beat every mustang i have run across street legal that is i even beat a mustang that ran 13 seconds through a quarter what i like best about it is its not that hard on gas round about twenty miles to the gallon but i can make it drink up the whole tank in fifty miles if i push down on the six fifty double pumper holley oh yeh one more thing i like it catchs tire in first second and third gear by the way that shit cops say about you cant out run a motorola is a lie because i have left more than thirty five of them in a vapor trail i have 145 on the dash all thats left is the peg all i can tell is it takes a while to come back to 145 and cheep speedodometer cables dont last long every one tells me i ought to run nos on it i could the motor is built for it but i dont want to get there no faster or go any faster but if and when i do change bottles are for babys real men like to be blown. and hey if you here anything about the camaro comming back to the show room floor any new info please let me know i heard some rumors about them comming back with a 6.0 liter but i have seen it i do have to confess my favorite body styles are 67,68,70,71,81,through 92. 69 is ok i hope they come out with the 67 or 68 body style with the 6.0 that would be to sweet but i dont think the cops or the law like them that much and thats why they took them off in the first place. from one camaro man to the other much love to ya. :)

[xlurker]

i have seen it i do have to confess my favorite body styles are 67,68,70,71,81,through 92. 69 is ok i hope they come out with the 67 or 68 body style with the 6.0 that would be to sweet


I actually liked the final year body style on the firebird(camaro clone) with the ram induction hood,but sad to say back seat is not very useful for kids.

Test drove the six speed stick and I was hooked and ready too piss off my wife with a surprise when she got home. The first thing they say is "What can we do to get you into this car?" I told them a black 6-speed which I scaned before and didn't see.Darn it if they didn't have one in the back. Found out the cars first owner loan fell out but he did manage to put around 1000 miles on it. BASTARDS wanted to sell it as new then I told them to take a hike. Car salesmen= :asshole2:

[Chief]

Be nice, X-Lurker...we're not ALL :asshole2: 's....HAHAHA
Of course, they can't sell that 'Bird as new...although they can ask you a new price for it. Those damn things really hold their value...especially the 98-up models with the LS-1 engine and Ram Air. Still...a lot of car for the money...honest 160 mph, and the chassis and braking systems to handle that kind of speed.
New Camaro? Who knows. It's like the P4 hack. Nothing but rumors. I just hope that GM doesn't reincarnate it as a V6 front wheel drive car, like Mercury did with the Cougar...you saw where that got them....
I'm like Ghost, though...gimme my 69 model anyday. Not efficient, similar to killing flies with a sledgehammer...but 502 inches of marine big-block makes for a pretty big sledge :D

[xlurker]

I just hope that GM doesn't reincarnate it as a V6 front wheel drive car, like Mercury did with the Cougar...you saw where that got them....

The other boner they made was the new Impala. The first year they introduced it was the best car I'd seen in a long while. then what did they do? They put the car in the washing machine with the hot water selected and shrunk it like my wife does with the laundry. Those first couple of years are classic,reminds me of the monte carlo Hurst grand national but bigger.

[4x4]

Here is my bird , 1980 Trans Am , bought it brand new , this pic was taken last summer .. Still has original paint and has 28,000 miles on it ...
Never changed a light bulb on the car yet .. It will cruz at 140 and you will think you are doing 50 ...