Car Modifications, Amazing stuff you can do to a ride!

One thing that amazed me when I was in the 'states last year was the amazing varity of autos on your roads.

In fact, I got told to "shut up about the damn cars already" (I stayed in Queens and out in Nassau County).

Coming from Australia where we have a limited number of "common" cars, be they domesitc or foreign, I was simply amazed at the array of vehicles on the road.

Must admit a major liking of the Cadillac's.

What do you guys think of the Pontiac GT? I could be wrong but I believe it is based very heavily on our Holden Monaro. I was also led to believe (by someone I met whilst over there - friend of a friend etc) that getting rear-drive new cars is very difficult. I find that hard to believe as I do enjoy rear-drive cars far more than front drive. I think RD are much safer too.

I am probably buying a new car on Monday so I'll post pictures next week.

Gas prices? Don't talk to me about gas prices. We're paying 78p per litre here in the UK, that's £3.55 per gallon in old terms (roughly US$5.50 per gallon, or AU$2.00 per litre for Felix!). It now costs me over £60 to fill up my car from empty.

I'd love to be paying the prices that people in the US or Australia pay!!

Rgds
Andy

I pay $AU1.10 per litre for lead-replacement petrol for my '84 Nissan.

Unleaded is $AU1.05 per litre.

Premium ULP is $AU1.15 per litre.

For those who know NSW geography, I live on the coast about 300km south of Sydney. We have some of the most expensive petrol on the NSW coast.

Well, I just paid $1.75/gal for 93 octane ("Premium" unleaded in this area) last night, while regular unleaded goes for about $1.50 right now. It seems that the areas in the world where cars are needed most have better fuel prices, or at least have governments that aren't taxing so heavily. We frequently have people that go to Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland and they not only speak of the higher fuel prices, but they also note that things tend to be closer together and allow for bike riding or walking. These areas also seem to have really nice public transportation systems as well.

thats not even freakin fair
2.07 reg
2.30 premium

rape rape!!!!

at least now that i got a car like apk i dont need premium anymore
to fill the truck up is almost 50$. (which almost lasts 2 weeks)

Where do you live, are you in California? I am in Wisconsin right now (near Chicago), but I'll be moving back to Tucson soon where the gas should be cheaper than this.

sweeet
yep yep i wanted the intrepid but could only afford the stratus.
i still got the 210 horse v6. 28 mpg@ 100 mph cruise. it's geared low
ill post some pics

hey whats that white stuff all over the ground

after seeing that pic of the tricked out one i think it would be neet
to dress up the little car.
i get hit on all the time in this car
who woulda thought huh.

Here is an english Ford Escort spoofed up!



and here a car as standard....

Is this like the difference between XP and 2k?

Actually the standard is a 1.6 and the spoofed up has an xr3i engine it.

The tricked out Escort looks almost like a Cosworth, but it doesn't have the flared fenders and super-dramatic spoiler like so:



You can see the rest of the pics at www.wrc-cosworth.org. They have a ton of pics with the car in rally trim, but I was looking it up after watching "Getaway in Stockholm 2" (which had a Supra and a Cosworth racing around Stockholm pissing off police).

Car eh? Try a motorcycle! I ended up buying a brand new ZX6R sportbike 4 years ago. This thing will do 170mph in seconds PLUS I can go about 200+ miles with $4 - $5 in gas

This escort is also the next model, the cosworth was made only at mk5, these are mk6's which i prefer and u can get whaletail's for these too!

Edit: The cosworth btw will do 188mph and has the world record for pulling a caravan at 128mph 8)

I'm a car person myself, and I favor AWD vehicles (Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi EVO, Nissan Skyline GT-R R34, etc) since I want max performance in all weather. After that, I dig RWD cars as they're more fun to drift.

as long as it's got wheels or wings im game

it's all fun

Well, I do more than play racing games

This is my old car, a BMW Z3 Coupe 2.8


And here is my latest, an 02 Subaru WRX


I could have come in 2nd year end, but I missed a few races.

As for the Fast & Furious, that movie was not bad - BUT it glorifies illegal street racing. And that is causing all sorts of hell out here in SoCal! And as for drag racing? What good is a 8 second thrill, when road racing you can have up to a half hour or more or pure rush???? And its also more fun when you turn right as well as left! Never did any rally stuff, though it looks like a blast. Just don't want to spend the next month still trying to get the dirt out of the car 8)

Lot more to do that just the dirt.

When I was a little tacker my old man used to drive rallies.
(I'm talking aussie cars from here on)
WE had a Datsun 1600 Sedan with a 180b engine, Celica 5-speed, twin webbers, extractors and some really cool green mags.

Used to pull around the 160mph mark and had some mean acceleration and power.

Never won much bet we all had an amazing amount of fun with it.

Too expensive now, and after Dad sold the car, the blokes wrote it off in their first rally.

It looked something like this:
http://www.carsales.com.au/pls/carsales/...p;model_id=2737

Love what I have back in good old days thoses new cars junk to much BS on them.

WRX, nice rides. I just have a RS 2.5 myself, but I am hoping to add a "-T" at the end of it once I move back to AZ (there's a speed shop in Phoenix that does turbo conversions for the 2.5L motors). At first, I didn't care for newer cars either since they had a ton of sensors and crappy ECUs. But the newer engine management systems are much more flexible and can deliver a great deal more power by just tuning or swapping out the ECU to adjust the fuel maps. Basically, once you get familiar with the systems you find them to be much nicer than fiddling around with jetting at different altitudes and such. I like having the car manage itself.

Clutch, if you ever consider doing an SCCA Solo II (autocross) DON'T DO IT! The 2.5RS is a great car for the STS class (kind of a street prepared class allowing many mods but on real street tires), and most of the time so far, are beating us in STX (the class the WRX is in). A guy name Hiro Sumida has near the entire USA STS class shaking in their boots with his 2.5RS! Sure the turbo in the WRX gives us a ton of hp - but at the cost of lowend, low rev grunt. Just go look at www.scca.org and look under Solo II and PRO Solo. Then see the results of the national events. Instead of more hp - work on the suspension!

Amen brother, I am already picking out the replacement parts for the suspension. Mainly, I want solid droplinks and then replace the sway bars. I am also going to make sure that the sway bar in the back is dialed in a little firmer with respect to the front so I can get a little more oversteer. It has a slight amount of understeer right now, but with new sway bars, strut braces, and the eventual replacement of the wheels and tires I should be good to go. I don't mind the ride height and the suspension has a decent ride on rough roads, so I am not in a hurry to switch out the springs. The turbo conversion will be last, once the car is stable enough to handle the power. With respect to running in SCCA tourneys, I am just gonna go to have a blast, and not compete seriously. I want to run hard, but mainly have fun.

AlecStaar you love my old 76 Pinto she was bad bone
289 HiPro
5speed
195/50 15"
15" SlotDishMag
Ford 9" rearend
Diskbrake all way around
Sway bars suspension package
Peal White with Black/White Interior

Yup got very lucky when run a croos the 289 HiPro Engine setting a old 1967 Maverick she was stock 270HP but when I got done with she pump way more 300 pony's with a few custom eng mod hehe.
That was idea FLY not walk hehe she very fast I had 160 OD and I peg I build for speed and handeling like ROAD raceing car, and yes I reinforce sub frame.
Yup that rigth she come with drums on them stock 8.8 rearend most of the the part come newer Mustang II which was baic the same sub frame so swap thing was eazy.

Speaking of motors on bike frames... Dodge Tomahawk

I my day I was crazy I build some hot stuff


No not really she front end heavy but add iron in back got 50/50 and no I didn't need add wheelie-bars.


Yes it was unibody there nothing a Mig welder couldn't fix and some iron so what I did weld in channel iron


Like said must of the come form a newer Mustang II which had V8 in them so pick up HD motor mounts which eazy.


Same as above


eazy no heavy but she gaine a few pounds heheh.


No it custom ford 9" rearend I order with dishbrake

Ready for this?! There is a company out there that specializes in turbo charged NOS kits for bikes. Yes I said turbo charged AND Nitrous. I'll try to get the name of the company later..I'm at work now. Could you imagine that? The bike in the article is a Suzuki Hayabusa and has 367 horsepower on the rear wheel! This bike can spin the tire even when at 150mph. Now THATS scary heh

I saw "Ghostrider, The Final Ride" and at the end of it was some psycho doing wheelies at around 200mph on one of those bikes, but I don't know if it ran nitrous or not.

You want REALLY scary try FULLBLOW drag bike hehe now that scary.
But REALLY scary PART come in to play here the WIFE with BIG cast IRON frying PAN in her hand RUNRUNRUN for dear life

Just looked at the new cycle world, and it happens to have a turbo charged NOS kit in it. The bike is pretty sick...I'll try to grab the mag on my lunch break and scan the pic. It's pretty ruthless.

Does it come with a matching coffin?

too funny

i know the guy who owns the wlsr for "open" motorcycle (or used to own it)
256 mph or sunthin around there
had the priviledge of taking it down the 1/4 mile just to get a little feel.
dual kawi 1100's with a very large turbo.

11.40's around 180 mph
had quite the top end kick

Comes with a gas mask on the front of it hehe. The headlights shine through the goggle area and the breather is used for air intake I believe. Too funny!

I understand the fear factor to a certain degree. Heck when I first bought my bike off the showroom floor, I was scared as hell driving down the road at 35mph. It felt like 90mph at the time. Now I can drive as fast as I want and I feel very comfortable.

The other side to that...most accidents happen because of someone goofing around. We just lost a guy in the next town for doing as such. He pulled a wheelie and lost control. He was thrown into the other lane into an on coming vehicle which..gulp...cut him in half. =( Probably didn't know what hit him.

A bike is not a toy...It is a very powerful machine and needs to be respected as such. But...if you buy a bike to cruise around and not do what I do (wheelies, stoppies etc...) chances are you'll be fine. You do however need to keep a hawks eye on everything going on around you. That will get easier with more experience.

I guess my point if any, is that a bike will do what you tell it to do. Just be sure you can handle what it does =)

I tell my friend who is gonna try his first wheelie this year, "BABY STEPS!". Don't try to get a high or long wheelie your first try. Just lift the front tire a little and set it back down. Get used to what it feels like to have the bike at that angle. I played with wheelies for 2 years before I felt comfortable. Experience takes some time to attain.

I feel like I am getting off track here hehe. I think everyone should try riding at least once in their life. It's a very rewarding and fun feeling. Don't let a bikes power scare you, just take the time to get used to it.

On a last note..I have people asking me all the time why I do things like wheelies, stoppies and drive reel fast...

"If you've never done it, you'll never know =)"

Ok, here's another Popular Science article to blow your socks off:
Tuning Japanese

I especially like the 1200HP Toyota Supra on the second page...

Though the Civic on page 4 is damn impressive too - take a 1.8L 4-cyl Integra GS-R engine (~170HP stock) and turn it into over 600 HP!!!

Right now I'm driving an Integra. I would love to do some modifications to it, but alas, I am a poor college student... It's still a fun car to drive though, even stock.

But I am much more interested in performance before looks. If I had the money for it, I would concentrate on making it fast first. I would love to be able to drive up next to someone with a bunch of aesthetic mods, like your hopped up Intrepid, and then burn them off the line. I guess the "sleeper" is more my style - they would never see me coming...

I want to see someone else try this!!!

http://home.attbi.com/~bernhard36/honda-ad.html

Check this out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2412766618

Um,
In the pic showing the shaft standing upright, there's quite a bit of metal shavings on it.

This guy writes quite well, I especially like the part about Great Britan, Australia etc and also the part that read something like Country Music is the Baptism Anthem of Lucifer himself.

Amazing that there is a bid of $20 on it though.

Nice find.

Still like this one though.
http://home.attbi.com/~bernhard36/honda-ad.html

Heh, my radar detector was stolen from my car on the 4th of July, along with the radio out of my inlaw's car. I bought the next version up from my old detector (I had an Escort Passport 8500, and got the SR7 and installed it myself) and an alarm (Viper 790xv, again I installed this myself). I had one car with a ton of audio gear in it, and when I had my alarm I never had an issue. So, I bought this one with the 2-way "Responder" transmitter (will page you if there's an issue, and can send/receive up to 1/4mi. away), and it's working out pretty well. I am going to finish up the remote start this week so I can fire up the A/C when I get ready to go out. Now, while an alarm isn't absolute protection by any means, it's definately a great deterrent. In addition, you can get a lockout module that wires up to several systems in your car and you get a "key" that you have to plug in before the car will even start, or prime the fuel pump, let alone go anywhere.

ummmm
when i was talking to an ex car thief (wink wink) i learned
the biggest deterrent to a car thief is when the car wont start
after about 30secs of the car turning over without starting he will leave

the best ignition/gas shutoff switches are the ones you devise. some criminals can be very resourceful at finding info on dissarming off the shelf and factory installed systems.

the run of the mill car thief will be stopped with a good ignition/gas shutoff that activates with the alarm.

the club and a audible alarm will deter the kids who just want a joyride

I was speaking of this actually:

http://www.neverstolen.com/

Also, many alarms (such as mine, it was $235 w/o installation, about $500-$600 installed) have "fail-safe" starter kill relays. These relays are "normally closed" units, and are designed so that if the alarm dies, the car can still be started. Well, many thieves simply cut the power to the alarm, and the relay closes so they can start it. In my case, I have a "dummy brain" in the car as a decoy, and I have all the relays hidden all over the place in the dash. Plus, I am working on an ingnition/fuel kill setup to keep it from going anywhere.

As for the theft deterrent, I was more concerned about the jackasses that break into cars because "they're there" and take stuff from them. Now, I am looking to harden the car from most attacks.

excellent with the fake stuff. good antiTHEFT.
on my old car i changed my fuse box to a breaker panel like in an airplane
one of the breakers is the ignition cutoff, but works like a magneto where the car only starts when it is broken.

as far as the run of the mill punk breaking into cars, i like the directional claymors in the doors

This is for the few of you who left school to early for your own good.

Rotary Engines

Felix Wankel a German scientist first developed the rotary engine. His version wasn't very efficient but as per anything in this day and age people always try to improve stuff. The japanese version of this motor is in no way connnected to america in any way, so don't try and claim credit where it ain't due......do your homework before you post rubbish.....


Still you guys do have some seriously fat cars

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