Woodie, Dave gave you the long version (and he is absolutely correct)...I
merely summed it up. If you are serious about it and do it right, how much
money and time will you have invested in the car? If you don't do it right,
what will the consequences be? I've been known to swim against the tide
too, and that's OK, as long as you know what you're getting into.
Terry Banbury
Mk III (I think we should officially close this thread now)
> ----------
> From: Dave[SMTP:IwannaConvertible@mmcable.com]
> Reply To: Dave
> Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 3:19 PM
> To: spitfires@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Teenage drivers
>
>
> Woodie
>
> The real insanity here is not the desire to put a more powerful motor into
> one of these cars, it's putting a dodge motor in one of these cars
> (grins).
> Yes, you could be called a torch carrier for...dodge.
>
> There is a lot of material, experience, and expertise out there concerning
> chevy and ford swaps for british cars, so 'splain to me why you'd go with
> a
> dodge? Personally, I favor the mazda rotary, or just about any V6 over a
> V8. If you gotta have a V8, then I would go ford first, chevy second -
> this
> is all solely due to all up weight. If you consider that most V6s will
> easily provide over 200HP without too much fuss, and will lighten the nose
> a
> bit, you could more than double the HP in your car easily, and experience
> some eye opening performance without seriously degrading (and possibly
> improving) your handling. As to a V8, factor in the probability that
> everything from one end of the car to the other will have to be reinforced
> to handle the torque of a warmed up 360, (let alone any other V8), throw
> in
> the additional space taken up by the larger motor and transmission,
> increased cooling requirements, replacing the parts of the driveline you
> will break because you didn't upgrade the rear, and the fact that with all
> that power, it will be almost undriveable on a wet road...Insane, no, ill
> advised, possibly, at least with that much power.
>
> Quick background on me - 38 year old military pilot, I like to drive, and
> I
> like to drive fast - I spent a few years in Germany on the autobahn, and
> never fully recovered from the experience. I have done more than my share
> of stupid things behind the wheel, but have NEVER caused or been part an
> accident (more luck than anything). I have driven a lot of different
> cars,
> some had a more power than the handling capabilities (and my experience)
> would support, others were just the opposite (gee this would be a great
> car
> if it had more power. I used to drive a 93 Ford Mustang Cobra for 5
> years,
> I used a few power adders (nothing like nitrous or blower), and by most
> people's opinion, it was a quick car, but not seriousy over powered - the
> point here is that the car weighed about 3500 pounds, had about 280 ft/lbs
> of torque, and was all over the place when it rained and you stepped on
> the
> gas, and you want to put similar power in a car that weighs almost 2000
> pounds less? I just hope you never try driving it on a wet/icy road, at
> best you'll be all over the place, at worst, you'll end up in the morgue.
>
> Dave Korzun
> '69 GT-6
> > No, Woodie....You are insane; and you need not concern yourself with
> torch
> > carriers; only pallbearers. Best of luck.
> > > ----------
> > > From: Sptfire318@aol.com[SMTP:Sptfire318@aol.com]
> > > Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2000 4:38 PM
> > > To: Terrence.Banbury@dnr.state.oh.us
> > > Subject: Re: Teenage drivers
> > >
> > > I'm 17, and am putting a 360 Dodge in a Spit ... am I a torch carrier?
> > >
> > > James "Woodie" Arens
> > >
>
|