Speaking of LOUD,
Note: I have a Monza setup on the street car. I've documented my opinion
of how LOUD it is.
So, I was trying to "tune" my TR6 one night. I had an annoying misfire
which I eventually tracked down to a condensor (and a minor adjustment to
the point dwell). At any rate, the process was change out a component,
measure the dwell/timing then road test the car. I was swapping out all
sorts of stuff including the entire distributor (having two cars running
has some advantages).
The road test was basically down the hill onto the "big road", take it up
to speed then take the next exit to turn around and head back to the barn.
By the time I did the turnaround, the motor would be at the exact temps
that exhibited the misfire/stumble.
On the fifth or sixth test iteration, as I was coming down the offramp, I
did the usual downshift thing.. snic into third, snic into second and come
to a stop. Right about the time I shifted into second (I was probably at
about 40 or 45 MPH) I saw a local yokel drive by. I didn't give it much
thought.
I proceeded to the next stop sign, and when I looked in my mirror, there
was the local cop. Hmmmm. I thought. Perhaps I've upset this person by
coming off the highway a bit too briskly. Oh well. Off I go. Ease the
clutch out, first gear up to about 2500 - shift to second up to 2500. The
speed limit is 25 - I'll just stay there. To the next stoplight. Hmm,
maybe I'll turn right. I put on the signal, the light changes to green and
off I go. Same story.
Except right when I shift to third, the blue lights come on. So I pulled
over. I sat there for about 5 minutes (verified with a stopwatch - don't
ask) when the cop comes over the intercom: "Ummm, Mr. Lang. I'm really
sorry that I pulled you over. I pulled you over because of the sound your
car makes. Unfortunately, I did not realize how old your car is. You can
go, sorry for bothering you."
It turns out that my town (and subsequently my state) had passed a noise
ordinance aimed at the "fart can" crowd and the guy was probably going to
issue me a ticket. But I was saved by some forward looking rules writer
that somehow felt that old cars should be exempt from the noise limits.
Interesting - but the point is: many law bodies are cracking down on noise
from cars and motor cycles. I say "good for them". But I would really like
to see the manufacturers put some sort of rating on mufflers and systems
so you could know how loud they are (relatively speaking). That would make
the consumer choice easier - but they don't, so you have to take our word
for it that our Monza systems are just plain noisey.
:-)
rml
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Bob "I beat the MAN" Lang |
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