Another car thread - "Hey Astro!"

[45-70]

There is some guy down the street that likes to scream "mud der trucker" at me. I think he's German...

(S-10 for me!!)

 

[Svashtar]

I've always wondered what people use to get 0-60 times? Ever run a 1/4 mi? You say a cobra engine... it is the 03 supercharged?

I used a stopwatch. At a runway taxiway with friends tracking our cars from start to finish. It's the Ford Racing InTech DOHC 32 Valve 4.6L engine.

The car isn't supercharged only because that seems to be legal in every state but Kalifornia. I could do it but it wouldn't pass smog next year, which is infuriating. I also cannot swap out the exhaust for the Cobra headers and high-flow cats and Ford Racing exhausts (which would add another 40-50 HP and then WOULD make it as fast as the LS1) for the same reason. I am crippled with pathetic 2" pipes and FOUR low flow catalytic converters, and am still putting out 350 RWHP. Supercharging would add at least 100 HP more.

I'm a college boy who just dumped out his savings and bought his pride and joy, a ls1 trans am. Being a GM guy, I'm going to give you a hard time . My car is faster than yours!

Sounds like a great car! The car I watch for are the '94-'96 Impala SS's. The Marauder came with a top end limiter of 127, but the Impalas were unlimited and were great cars. (The first thing I tweaked with the SC tuner was to program the PCM to remove the speed limiter completely, as well as firm up the 1-2, 2-3 tranny shift points.)

However, it's not exactly the same comparison. I'm talking about a limited edition 2+ ton car that can comfortably seat 5 adults (I'm 6'8" and don't ask my weight!)and has a 135-140 mph top end, and a 22 cubic foot trunk. With the special factory suspension and the added mods it corners as well or better than anything on the market. It was arguably faster than that before I swapped out the 3:55's for 4:10's, but with the taller gears I traded top-end for much faster 0-30 quickness. I paid only $24 grand for it as a new undriven '03, and even with another 5K in additions I have way less into it than any comparably performing new car. (I crack up when I see the new Cadillac CTS-V with the same 0-60 performance as mine selling for $30 grand more. A nicer interior is not worth $30K to me.)

I think we're talking apples to oranges in this case. If I wanted pure speed I would have bought a Corvette.

Regards,

Norm

 

[Svashtar]

Hell I don't know if I can list 'em in order but my first car was a.....

Dayum Yvsa! What were you, a car dealer or something?

1965 Chevy Impala Super Sport, wish I owned it now.

You and me both. I was 9 years old when those came out and thought they were so cool. Fast, plenty of room, a real classic.

N.

 

[Eric_425]

I used a stopwatch. At an 8000 foot runway taxiway with 1320 feet marked off and friends tracking our cars from start to finish. It's the Ford Racing InTech DOHC 32 Valve 4.6L engine.

The car isn't supercharged only because that seems to be legal in every state but Kalifornia. I could do it but it wouldn't pass smog next year, which is infuriating. I also cannot swap out the exhaust for the Cobra headers and high-flow cats and Ford Racing exhausts (which would add another 40-50 HP and then WOULD make it as fast as the LS1) for the same reason. I am crippled with pathetic 2" pipes and FOUR low flow catalytic converters, and am still putting out 350 RWHP. Supercharging would add at least 100 HP more.



Sounds like a great car! The car I watch for are the '94-'96 Impala SS's. The Marauder came with a top end limiter of 127, but the Impalas were unlimited and were great cars. (The first thing I tweaked with the SC tuner was to program the PCM to remove the speed limiter completely, as well as firm up the 1-2, 2-3 tranny shift points.)

However, it's not exactly the same comparison. I'm talking about a limited edition 2+ ton car that can comfortably seat 5 adults (I'm 6'8" and don't ask my weight!)and has a 135-140 mph top end, and a 22 cubic foot trunk. With the special factory suspension and the added mods it corners as well or better than anything on the market. It was arguably faster than that before I swapped out the 3:55's for 4:10's, but with the taller gears I traded top-end for much faster 0-30 quickness. I paid only $24 grand for it as a new undriven '03, and even with another 5K in additions I have way less into it than any comparably performing new car. (I crack up when I see the new Cadillac CTS-V with the same 0-60 performance as mine selling for $30 grand more. A nicer interior is not worth $30K to me.)

I think we're talking apples to oranges in this case. If I wanted pure speed I would have bought a Corvette.

Regards,

Norm

Haha, I know it's apples and oranges; I was just playing around, see the smiley. I know what you mean about acceleration... it's all about knuckle dragging, ball swinging power with me. I don't run road courses, and handling doesn't matter on the street, since it's all stoplight or highway runs. The great thing about the new cobras is that forged bottom end... I hear about some holding 800 horse on a bone stock motor. Too bad GM canned the F-bodies. It would've been great to see them stick the ls2 in there, though honestly, I suspect the Ford would still have the edge. So much easier to get power out of a FI motor... Superchargers are illegal in california? Just to install, or do they not even sell cars that come supercharged from the factory? They got some odd emissions laws down there.

LT1 impalas... are they a lot lighter than your car? I don't see them giving a lot of competition stock. Modded though, anything goes, especially with a bigger motor.

 

[Svashtar]

Haha, I know it's apples and oranges; I was just playing around, see the smiley. I know what you mean about acceleration... it's all about knuckle dragging, ball swinging power with me. I don't run road courses, and handling doesn't matter on the street, since it's all stoplight or highway runs. The great thing about the new cobras is that forged bottom end... I hear about some holding 800 horse on a bone stock motor. Too bad GM canned the F-bodies. It would've been great to see them stick the ls2 in there, though honestly, I suspect the Ford would still have the edge. So much easier to get power out of a FI motor... Superchargers are illegal in california? Just to install, or do they not even sell cars that come supercharged from the factory? They got some odd emissions laws down there.

LT1 impalas... are they a lot lighter than your car? I don't see them giving a lot of competition stock. Modded though, anything goes, especially with a bigger motor.

Gotcha! I know, yours is a screamer and does it stock to boot. Thanks for the feedback. What pisses me off about the MM is that the Ford concept MM (a _convertible_ no less) had an engine producing 335 RWHP with 355 lbs. of torque! And the idiots didn't make it. With me in it, this car weighs 2 and a half tons. It needs faster / taller gears and more power off the line, and you shouldn't have to mod it after the sale to get that. That concept car would have sold like crazy, AND it had an optional 6 speed manual. That would have been my dream car. FLM said they would make that car if the MM sedan sold well, but the idiot dealers didn't even know what they had or how to sell it. The keys on mine said "Grand Marquis!" At least I used that fact and the fact that it had sat on the lot for almost two years getting the paint ruined (they ended up having to repaint more than half the car), to beat them down $12K on the price. In the end they just wanted to get rid of it.

FLM estimated they would sell 18,000 Marauders a year for several years. They sold 7093 2003's and about 3000 2004's, and then dropped the car completely.

I hadn't heard about anything approaching 800 HP with the new cobras, but after the stuff they pulled in the '90's fudging their HP numbers I think they finally did get it right. I do know that they make a CA legal factory SC'd engine. I have heard of "50 state legal" superchargers, but don't know the particulars. The two outfits that make them for my car are Reinhart's Racing in Florida and Lidio's Alternative Auto in Michigan. They each are slightly different and both run around $6K which is not bad. They can be pretty much self-installed in a couple of days, but the car really needs to be dyno-tuned to get the full effect. Some of the guys report up to 480 RWHP with the SC kit.

As I said, I know there are factory SC'd cars, but the trouble here is that the damned emissions standards are so high that the cars are half-crippled compared to the same platform cars sold in 49 other states. I like to get the most out of things, and it really tees me off that my car is crippled this way. In the "old" days I would just unbolt the smog canister crap and throw it in the trash, but now the DMV is involved and the smog systems are of course a hell of a lot more involved.

My brother-in-law is a Mustang freak, and has a '66 fastback, a 69 and a Supercharged 95. He drove the SC'd model for two years until the smog requirement came up on his renewal, and now the car is parked in his garage.

My wife and I are talking about relocating to the southwest in a few years, and when we do the first thing I am doing is ripping out everything from the exhaust manifolds backwards and putting a decent exhaust system on this thing. Right now the engine is trying to breathe through a straw.

The LT-1 Impalas were a really nice ride and Chevy had them in the planning stages for almost 10 years. Like Ford did with the Panther platform (the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis) when designing the Marauder, Chevy used the Caprice as a platform. I think the LT-1's had 5.7 liter engines and trad. iron blocks, while the MM's are only 4.6L and aluminium block but with 32 valves is a more sophisticated engine overall. In any case, the Impalas are a lot lighter and run like hell. I think if they still made them today I would have gone with one of those.

My best friend in 1975 had a Pontiac GTO model called the "W30" that he had fixed up beautifully. It was a '69 I think. All sorts of instrument clusters inside, classic south of the border leather tuck 'n roll, nice rims and a new paint job, etc. Ever hear of it? Nice car.

Regards,

Norm

P.S. Here's a pic. I have SS Inserts in the back bumper on mine, but otherwise it's the same.

 

[Eric_425]

Gotcha! I know, yours is a screamer and does it stock to boot. Thanks for the feedback. What pisses me off about the MM is that the Ford concept MM (a _convertible_ no less) had an engine producing 335 RWHP with 355 lbs. of torque! And the idiots didn't make it. With me in it, this car weighs 2 and a half tons. It needs faster / taller gears and more power off the line, and you shouldn't have to mod it after the sale to get that. That concept car would have sold like crazy, AND it had an optional 6 speed manual. That would have been my dream car. FLM said they would make that car if the MM sedan sold well, but the idiot dealers didn't even know what they had or how to sell it. The keys on mine said "Grand Marquis!" At least I used that fact and the fact that it had sat on the lot for almost two years getting the paint ruined (they ended up having to repaint more than half the car), to beat them down $12K on the price. In the end they just wanted to get rid of it.

FLM estimated they would sell 18,000 Marauders a year for several years. They sold 7093 2003's and about 3000 2004's, and then dropped the car completely.

I hadn't heard about anything approaching 800 HP with the new cobras, but after the stuff they pulled in the '90's fudging their HP numbers I think they finally did get it right. I do know that they make a CA legal factory SC'd engine. I have heard of "50 state legal" superchargers, but don't know the particulars. The two outfits that make them for my car are Reinhart's Racing in Florida and Lidio's Alternative Auto in Michigan. They each are slightly different and both run around $6K which is not bad. They can be pretty much self-installed in a couple of days, but the car really needs to be dyno-tuned to get the full effect. Some of the guys report up to 480 RWHP with the SC kit.

As I said, I know there are factory SC'd cars, but the trouble here is that the damned emissions standards are so high that the cars are half-crippled compared to the same platform cars sold in 49 other states. I like to get the most out of things, and it really tees me off that my car is crippled this way. In the "old" days I would just unbolt the smog canister crap and throw it in the trash, but now the DMV is involved and the smog systems are of course a hell of a lot more involved.

My brother-in-law is a Mustang freak, and has a '66 fastback, a 69 and a Supercharged 95. He drove the SC'd model for two years until the smog requirement came up on his renewal, and now the car is parked in his garage.

My wife and I are talking about relocating to the southwest in a few years, and when we do the first thing I am doing is ripping out everything from the exhaust manifolds backwards and putting a decent exhaust system on this thing. Right now the engine is trying to breathe through a straw.

The LT-1 Impalas were a really nice ride and Chevy had them in the planning stages for almost 10 years. Like Ford did with the Panther platform (the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis) when designing the Marauder, Chevy used the Caprice as a platform. I think the LT-1's had 5.7 liter engines and trad. iron blocks, while the MM's are only 4.6L and aluminium block but with 32 valves is a more sophisticated engine overall. In any case, the Impalas are a lot lighter and run like hell. I think if they still made them today I would have gone with one of those.

My best friend in 1975 had a Pontiac GTO model called the "W30" that he had fixed up beautifully. It was a '69 I think. All sorts of instrument clusters inside, classic south of the border leather tuck 'n roll, nice rims and a new paint job, etc. Ever hear of it? Nice car.

Regards,

Norm

P.S. Here's a pic. I have SS Inserts in the back bumper on mine, but otherwise it's the same.

Oh, not 800 hp from the factory. That'd be crazy. It's 800 hp on stock engine components, while putting on a huge turbo or blower, injectors, fuel controllers, etc... Put that kind of power to an ls1, or the older cobra engines for that matter, and the thing would be prone to exploding. The need to rebuild and strengthen the bottom end is what usually limits most cars from making those kinds of crazy numbers that the supras and cobras are pulling. If it weren't for the forged engine components, almost all cars could've had a few modded to the same 1000 hp that these guys are pulling. (Even though the supras can't hook up. Ever hear that joke, what does a 400 hp supra and an 800 hp supra have in common? They both run 12's) It's also what made the old ford 5.0's memorable, even though the newer 4.6's came out with more stock power from the factory. You're right that the newer impalas are a travesty... scrapping a big musclecar v8 for a tiddly blown 6? Jeez...
If I had to trade my car for something, it'd be an 03+ cobra. The strong components give it incredible potential, the supras of the modern day.
Pic looks nice. Some of these sedans are getting pretty fast, though I still don't care for the wild rice-boy look of the EVO and STI's. I'm done with most of the bolton's on my car, now I'm thinking about throwing on a cam. But with gas prices like they are now, I find myself driving the old toyota corolla more and more.
Don't know much about the classic musclecars... I'm too young. I wasn't even born when that car came out.

 

[Dave Rishar]

I'm digging this thread. Good stuff.

My list - short, but distinguished:

'81 Ford Courier - it will get its own description in a moment.
'90 Geo Prizm - didn't like it, couldn't stretch my legs, so incredibly unremarkable in color and styling that I could never find it in a parking lot.
'84 381i - loved it, nearly wound up becoming an organ donor to keep it running.
'90 Toyota Cressida - big, power everything, leather everything, fast, handled like a slug. 26 mpg on the highway if I kept my foot off it.
'80-something Geo Prizm - much more fun than the first had been. Due to a shot suspension, the tires gripped very poorly and I layed down much rubber, both intentionally and otherwise.
'04 VW Jetta TDI - apotheosis. I'm right where I need to be.

The Courier deserves a special mention here because it was my high school vehicle. Between wrenching on it and walking home, it kept me in shape - that, and the "armstrong" steering. (I've read that it was supposed to have a vacuum assist...I think what they meant was that it sucked.) It was basically a rebadged Mazda B2000 with the Ford 2.3 liter four banger. Color was primarily robin's egg blue, with the exception of the driver's side door (beige, salvaged from a '79 Courier), the bed (dark red, hid the rust well), and the odd patch of primer or Bondo on the exterior. It was so unforgivably butt ugly that it quite literally made your teeth hurt to look at it.

With a few miles of running room and a good tail wind I could get it up to 80 mph; higher speeds would require one to drive it off a cliff. (And don't think that the thought hadn't crossed my mind a few times.) One of the previous owners had attempted a well-intentioned but poorly executed engine rebuild, causing a variety of problems not limited to a bent cam seal - this engine didn't just leak oil, it literally sprayed oil. After the third water pump went I gave up on trying to keep it going and carried a number of water filled milk jugs in the bed. Because the electrical system was trashed the truck wouldn't start immediately after being shut down, it had to wait a while; thus, my radiator hot pumps were a bit spectacular - pull over, kick the radiator cap off, catch it in my shirt, top off the radiator, pour some water on the cap to cool it, drive a few more miles, repeat. The one time it caught fire, I put it out with my extinguisher (I was dumb, but smart enough to have an extinguisher) and drove it home afterwards. It also dieseled very badly no matter how many times I tuned it up, setting what I believe is the world record - just over fifteen minutes. I didn't mind too much as it made it easier to start.

Things became more interesting when the master cylinder blew. Lacking the money for a replacement I just kept driving it. One learned to avoid the stoplights and be ready with the parking brake. When an off road excursion went bad, stretching the parking brake lines in the process, I became adept at inching up to curbs and walls in first and gently stalling against them. This seemed to fix the problem with dieseling as well.

I'd fixed most of its problems by the time I graduated and sold it. I'd purchased it for $600. I sold it for $600. I left the state but kept in touch with my friends; they swore that they'd seen it on the road for another six months before it finally disappeared. I believe that the town of Poulsbo breathed a collective sigh of relief over that.

 

[Bill Marsh]

I'm digging this thread. Good stuff.

My list - short, but distinguished:

'81 Ford Courier - it will get its own description in a moment.

After reading the above, more than LOL, I have to add ROTFLMAO!

But back to topic, anybody remember the SEVEN liter 427 Ford and Chevys?

The most powerful American car I remember riding in was a Corvette with a "stock" 427 mill and TWO four barrel carbs.

Rated at only 400 hp, I was amazed. One time I was riding with my friend. We were doing 100 mph on the expressway. He punched it, both 4 bbls kicked in and you could hear the chirps as the rear wheels broke loose when we went over the expansion joints in the road.

The acceleration was remarkable. It was one of 20 made. Mid 1960s.

I think that those 400 horses were big dark brown stallions! Whew!

 

[Kismet]

Long ago, and far away...

ran with some guys, one of whom had a '63 (although some sites say it wasn't so offered until '64) Plymouth Satelite, 365/426 cu.in., two door as his first new car.

These were the days of street races, closed off roads with 1/4 mile marked in highway paint, with increments for "negotiated" handicaps, and occasionally, cars being towed into burger joint parking lots, as the owners cruised for new competition; collector boxes announcing their gun-slinging ability.

Lots of images flash through my mind, Bill, but I have a similar recollection of gravitational force facial distortion as Tom nailed it when you thought there couldn't BE any more acceleration.

I also remember that he had to change the oil filter from underneath the car because the engine compartment was so crowded.

 

[philthygeezer]

In order of ownership:

1. 1978 Cheve Malibu 2 door 305ci
2. 1976 Chevette POS (never drove that one)
3. 1990 Chevy 1/2 ton 305ci 5 speed manual
4. 1993 Ford Taurus POS (only 52,000 km on it when I bought it, 69K when sold). My first and last Ford. ...ever.
4. 1970 Cheve 3/4 ton Custom Camper 330hp 402 v8 3spd auto (only 67,000 miles on it)
5. 1994 GMC SLE 1/2 ton 350ci Auto (beautiful black and chrome: I really liked that truck)
6. 1997 Nissan Pathfinder 3.3L v6 auto. I have nothing but good things to say about this truck. It's been great.

Also, all the Chevs with v8's I have owned have had very good reliability. I'd own another Chev truck.

 

[Elysium_II]

I have always liked the Crown Vic platform (Ford's Panther platform), and got a 2003 Mercury Marauder. First production of the Marauder since 1970. Ford-Lincoln Mercury didn't know how to sell it, so sold only 7000 units in 2003, and then cancelled it mid-year in 2004. Fewer than 10,000 were made. It has the Ford Cobra 4.6L 32 Valve V8,

Actually the 03-04 MM's have the MACH 1 motor in them.

 

[Elysium_II]

1977 TR7
1980 Z/28
1988 Mustang LX 5.0
1989 Civic Si
1990 Beretta GT (winter beater)
1997 T-Bird Sport 4.6
2002 Focus SVT
2004 Focus ZTW-still have
2004 Marauder-still have
1983 GPz 750-still have

 

[Red Flower]

I got my first car in 2002. It was a green color Ford Taurus 1995. It was crashed by Howard few months later while he was driving 2 teenagers back home.

Now my car is a red color Ford Taurus 1996. I really like this one, because red color is my favor color.

 

[Howard Wallace]

I've never wrecked one of my own cars.

Totaled a couple of other people's cars though.

 

[Geoffrey Raiser]

'68 VW Fastback w/1.8L dual carb- neat car. Kinda quick.
'62 Triumph TR-4. Learned how to rebuild EVERYTHING on this car.
'87 Jeep Wrangler- last year made by American Motors. Almost like owning the TR-4 again! Lots of wrenching on this one too!. Crappy French-made transmission. Great 4.2L six motor, though.
'96 Dodge Dakota w/ 318 V8 and 5 sp. Fast sleeper!
'00 Toyota Rav4. Very reliable.
'04 Subaru Forester XT (turbo), in white. The ultimate sleeper! Don't race one of these unless you are really quick. Full time AWD, fast on all surfaces. Great handling. Looks like Grandma's station wagon. Only 21 mpg, though.

Some bikes along the way, too. '75 CL360 Honda, CX-500 Honda, '83 650 Honda Nighthawk, '89 R100 GS BMW, '95 M900 Ducati (still have), '97 DR650 Suzuki (still have). Plus my wife's '69 CB350 and '70 CL450 Hondas (still have).

Always wanted a 4.2L XKE...

Geoffrey

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Current status of 3 vehicle life :

2003 Hyundai Sante Fe

1999 Ford Contour

1984 Yamaha Venture (motorcycle)

Layin' arond the yard:

1968 Chevy C10 Fleetside Shortbed P/U

1988 Chrysler LaBaron

199? Fiero

Grumman Railroad Truck

1957 Willys Jeep

199? Diesel Rabbit

1993 Ford Escort

1989 Nissan P/U

1988 Ford LTD

1971 Chevy Malibu

1972 Chevy C30 Box truck

1973 Jeep CJ5

It was a lot worse when my Mom still had the salvage yard, I must have had just about every car I owned since I started drivin' in 1977 about 100 different cars, some cars only lasted a week, some only till the gas in the tanks was used up.(my insurance company hated me)