I No Longer Wish To Make Cars Fast.

Olemiss540 said:

If you broke just say so

Are you an adult? Did you make you make it past the 4th grade? Sorry, people speaking/typing like uneducated idiots really grinds my gears. 

Income has nothing to do with preference. 

I love making cars fast. Building is my passion.

maschinenbau said:

I love making cars fast. Building is my passion.

And my hat's off to you. I've done it and find little joy in it.

There are days when I think of building the Datsun so that it keeps up with Caymans on track would be awesome...........but then I realize buying a Cayman would be easier and cheaper.......and as mentioned I don't much like modern cars.

I've experienced cars so crazy powerful that I know I'll never have that, because there's always more to be had and what you have already will never be enough.

That way lies maxed out credit cards and a car that never runs.

In reply to Tom1200 :

I believe you have attained project car nirvana. 

ShawnG said:

In reply to Tom1200 :

I believe you have attained project car nirvana. 

Yes, and I now I feel scared and alone.😄😄😄

In reply to bobzilla :

That is what I hope my 64 Comet will do.

easier and cheaper(by far) to do an early Mustang but I love the sharp edges on the Comet.

I think it depends on what I'm using the car for.  Since I live at altitude, something with forced induction is a must and around 400 wheel horsepower feels good, whether it's a street or track car.  My 911 makes 525whp and on the street it's a riot, on the track it's a little intimidating...

I like older cars/ trucks, however I am way past carburetors, points ignition, etc. I have no problem putting a newer driveline in an older vehicle. I am perfectly capable of working on the old tech listed above but I don't want to deal with it from behind the wheel. I don't need mega horsepower but I sure like a modern start up and drive away experience. 

In reply to madmrak351 :

One of the first things we did to the Datsun was fit a newer electronic ignition from a 210. 

The flat slide carbs seldom need attention.

With that said I like the Foxbody for all the reasons you mentioned. Rad Era classics have all the modern features but still drive like old cars.

Points definitely suck, but as long as your carburetor uses phenolic floats and not brass floats that can leak and sink, carbs are generally set and forget items.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Agree that carbs are set and forget if used on a reasonably frequent basis. Cold start and warm up are not nearly as seamless as modern fuel injection. The really funny thing is that I will put up with all this old tech on my vintage 2 stroke motorcycles!

In reply to Tom1200 :

At age 60, for me it is more about I no longer want to make cars so stupid fast they are not driveable. I still want to make my stock cars faster, so my TR250 project has a high compression, big cam engine, my 914 has a 2.7 911 engine and suspension waiting for it, the Scorpion will get an Alfa Busso V6, etc... but my goal is not to hang two turbos on any of these cars and make them faster than the suspension and overall car will support. My turbo Miata Spitfire project, basically was just too much on the street, so I would much rather have great performance versions of my projects, than something just too far down the path..... At least at my age at this point in time. Same reason I stopped riding motorcycles.

In reply to madmrak351 :

I find that carbureted cars start a LOT faster than modern injection (aside from GM's fast start technology that they seem to have abandoned).  With EFI, you have to crank it long enough for the crank wheel to pass what it uses for a home position, then it starts injecting fuel and sparking the plugs.  With a carb, it'll usually light off within half a revolution or less.

My carbureted car doesn't have a choke and it's fine when cold, albeit "cold" for that car rarely dips below 50 degrees.  In Alabama this October it was below freezing overnight, it still started right up, just needed a little throttle tickling until the oil warmed up enough that it would idle at a high enough speed to not stall.

'Course, you get that with a mostly stock vehicle.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to madmrak351 :

I find that carbureted cars start a LOT faster than modern injection (aside from GM's fast start technology that they seem to have abandoned). 

Way back when ('89?) my friend had a '67 Camaro with a 327 and a small carb.  One day we tried to NOT start it but the slightest movement of the starter would light it off.

He still has it.  It's a bit of George Washington's axe at this point but he rebuilt it to stock and did a beautiful job.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Shhhh....

Carburetors are scary, all it takes to mess them up is one ham-fisted idiot with a screwdriver. 

Model Ts use a carburetor and four sets of points. By some miracle, I can make one start in 1/4 turn of the crank. 

In reply to dherr (Forum Supporter) :

I'm a couple years older than you but in pretty much the same place.

I've always tried to do this on the cheap. I'm spending between $4000 & $4500 in any given year. 

Stupid fast cars go through tires stupid fast and that would likely add another $2500 to $3000 per year. That still isn't huge compared to what many folks are spending but it's more than I want to spend.

I drive a couple of 35+ year old BMWs.  They feel fast and that's good enough for me, even though an average late model minivan would be faster.

z31maniac said:

Olemiss540 said:

If you broke just say so

Are you an adult? Did you make you make it past the 4th grade? Sorry, people speaking/typing like uneducated idiots really grinds my gears. 

Income has nothing to do with preference. 

If I was mature and intelligent, I wouldnt be hanging around the idiots on GRM. I would be on Rennlist with the other intellectuals.

The big weird elephant in the room is that without context, perhaps people sub-30 just don't realize how slow cars used to be on average.  Even in the '80s and '90s, cars were pitifully slow, at least in contrast to what we have now.  The ability to get up a hill without downshifting used to be such a useful measure of suck (or not).  Your average Ram gasser pickup now has more horsepower than the original Dodge Viper, which was seen as crazy fast and powerful in its time . . .

Literally everything is fast (and potentially "fun" to drive) now, at least by '80s standards.  If I could only figure out the death wobble on my Willys . . .  

In reply to rustomatic :

Oh man, people need to drive a late 70s engine with like 8:1 compression and cam lobes designed for maximum smoothness and minimum cylinder pressure.

I like smallish engines.  I found a 265ci Pontiac engine very cheap.  3.something bore, 3" stroke, same deck height as the 301 so you can't get any performance intake manifolds for it.  Rated power was 110 or 120hp or something.  If today you had that power in a car half the weight of one of the cars that came in, people would complain about how slow it was.  And that's even before you factor that a lot of those cars had 2.2-2.4:1 rearend ratios.  

That's also kinda why cars like the 280Z, early RX-7, first gen GTI were so fast for the time.  They made the same power as many contemporary V8s (and more than the V6s) in a chassis that weighed half as much.

In reply to Olemiss540 :

If it's any consolation your original comment made me laugh.

I spent a large portion of my childhood in Hawaii. Your statement would be just fine among kama aina.

rustomatic said:

The big weird elephant in the room is that without context, perhaps people sub-30 just don't realize how slow cars used to be on average. 

I will add further context.

A couple of years ago Porsche was touting turning a 2:13 at Road America with a GT3-RS.  That's phenomenal but one could buy a Formula Continental or P2 sports racer for 1/6th the price and go 3-4 seconds a lap faster. 

And therein lies my problem. I could stuff a V8 in the Datsun and have my fabricator add state of the art suspension and have a 1900lb with 500hp but it would be simpler and likely cheaper to just buy a fast car. Granted I don't like modern cars on track as they are heavy.

Carbs. Points. Other pointless (pun intended) upgrades. Shout at the clouds with me.

After I made that one, my buddy suggested another one. So I present you with: