Well, I guess I should have been more specific. It often depends on the application. Forced induction is a waste of time for something that cannot handle the compression. For instance, I have an Accord that has a 9.1:1 compression ratio stock. If I wanted to turbocharge it, it wouldn’t take as much work as say, a car that has, stock, a compression ratio of 12:1. Strengthen some of the internals, and I am set.
The part that bugs me with forced induction is all the other stuff that goes along with it. Sometimes it just isn’t worth the upgrade if most of the expense is used up on cooling apparatus and other things.
I am not as well versed in all this sort of thing as I would like to be, so if I said something that makes no sense, or if I am missing something, please let me know. Never hurts to learn.
Stccrd
Yeah I see what you mean, I wanted to supercharge my current car, but after looking into it I’d rather wait till I get this newer car that already has the stronger pistons/components…
Why do import enthusiasts feel that a larger exhaust tip improves the air flow of the exhaust gases? A 4" or 5" can at the back doesn’t change the 10 feet of 1" piping of the rest of the exhaust system.
I won’t comment on the oversized wings, mismatched body panels, tacky stickers, manufacturer stickers sans parts, or neon lighting because it all comes down to people’s taste and opinions. You can’t change that or reason with it.
Well Frank, the large tip is pretty easy to explain. It is essentially a megaphone, making the exhaust sound much louder, which in the mind of the owner equates to faster.
For what they do, those tips actually make more sense than the 3" pipe all the way from the engine. Exhaust systems are designed to create back-pressure to help the engine operate most effectively. If you dramtically increase the size of the exhaust all the way back from the engine, you will often end up making it perform * worse* than stock.
That’s honsetly the thing with import tuning I don’t get: many modifications actually harm performance, but are still heavily sought after: blow off valves, huge exhausts, cone intakes, wings, aero kits, etc. etc.
Why choose to make your car look or sound faster but actually be slower?
E-Sabbath hit right on it. A racer does what is necessary to achieve as great amount of power as possible, and then to utilize that power to the cars fullest potential in order to get a low ET.
Ricers, on the other hand, are what we know as posers. They imitate what they cannot afford. They do a poor job of it, as well.
For the definitive source on ricers, go here.
For the specific remark about exhausts, and the notoriously large mufflers* on the back, there is typically only one way that an import can use it effectively. This is through the implementation of forced induction. It has to breathe. Then again, you can’t have a 4 inch tip, and 1 inch piping. The whole thing should be 3 to 4 inches, especially for turbocharging.
Mufflers are condusive to quieting the sound of the exhaust, as well as filtering it. One would think they would be considered something else for the likes of ricers.
Well, but many times the things posers buy are just as expensive if not more expensive than a proper part.
For example, the intake systems on most cars are carefully engineered to get the most cold outside air into the engine. However, tuners insist on mounting paper cone intakes, which just pull hot air from under the hood into the engine, causing the engine to run less effieciently. In addition these paper filters must be oiled to prevent dirt geting in, and the oil can often foul computer parts downwind of them.
Why anyone would buy one of these things is totally beyond me.
I’m mostly a fan, but I have turned a wheel at speed in a few race cars.
I’ve been to the Skip Barber Racing school twice, and have done several lapping days in both of their open wheel cars: the “school” cars, as well as the race series cars (wings and slicks, sequential geabox - so much fun to drive I still grin thinking about it)
I’ve also driven my dad’s 1959 Elva Formula Junior in vintage events. That thing is an adventure just getting it around the padock. The gear shift lever is between your legs and under the steering wheel, and the drive shaft universal joint is directly below the family jewels. Would not want to be in one of those if the engine or transmission ever let go…
I am mostly an enthusiast, although I have been guilty of streetracing in the past. Also, I have done some drag as well. I drive a Honda Accord, and I have raced my brother’s (very clean, but fast) Honda Civic Hatchback. Its not tacky, there isn’t anything about it that screams rice, and yet it runs a 13 sec quarter.
Among my experiences driving in general are the BMW M3, Lambo COuntach, and others.
Well, Stccrd let me say this to you and all aspiring good drivers:
The absolute #1 money-in-the-bank mod you can make is going to driving school. It will be the best money you ever spend on your car I guarantee.
It will cost anywhere from $500-$2000 depending on where and for how long you go, but seriously, I can’t recommend it enough.
It’s sooooo much fun, and it makes you a much better and safer driver in day to day situations as well.
13 second quarters are so-so, but going in a straight line is not driving. Break 1’05" around Lime Rock in a street car, now THAT is an accomplishment Import Challenge
first things first. Imports cars are anything that is not made by a domestic car company. Not just japanese, but also italian, german, english, french and so forth. Second of all how can any not actually owning an import fully understand what it is like. Just hanging around doesn’t cut it. Stccrd was taking car of my LS/Vtec hatch while I was on vacation. And every domestic v8 bitch and their mom think it is funny to harrass civics with body kits and rims. Most just go for look. If I am going about my business and you decide to mess with me I am going to pimp slap you like a 2 cent whore. If you are in the Cincinnati/N. Ky area just be careful which 6th gen. hatch you decide to piss off. Also FATF (Fast and The Furious) for those who live under a rock was not about 200 shots of NOS. It was about an evolving culture. The plot didn’t portray it well. But the cars sure as hell did. Last but not least. For all the import haters maybe you will be able to compete with the best of the imports when you stop using 3rd world r&d, technology, and parts. Also for any cops that see this you are next. I am tired of being harrassed by cops that think that just because my ride is lowered, my system is up and I am rollling on RH Evo rims that I am out doing something illegal. For the next cop that decides to tail me because he/she thinks I am up to something I dare you to catch me. Your basic patrolcar for all of your information only runs a mid 15 quarter without the equipment in it. See you at the finish PIG!
I think you seriously underestimate the ability of the police to nail a speeder. Don’t know about how a modern Crown Vic will do, but this almost makes me long for the way things were in the 60s and 70s when only a complete idiot thought he could outrun a police car…
That is where cops do most of their work isn’t it. Eating donuts sipping coffee while wishing they still had that rusted out nova that they used the back seat of to get some ass. If I wasn’t harrassed on a daily basis I simply wouldn’t care. Since officers have nothing better to do than piss me off. I don’t want to hear one more time about how they are protecting the innocent from my illegal actions that bought my 13K dollar civic for me. You know these days you have to run a chop shop or pimp ho’s to get that kind of a car. You know the kind that you don’t mind being seen driving.
I recall a former co-worker of mine talking about Nissan putting a mad amount of HP in last year’s Sentra and Maxima (IIRC). Assuming I’m remembering correctly, how good are those cars out of the box?
Just how similar are the inner workings of Civics/Accords/Integras? Not that I’d have the money any time in the forseeable future, but how feasible would it be to drop, say, an Integra engine in my '96 Accord?
Along similar lines, the acceleration on my car blows. Are there any reasonably affordable mods that would get me more power without a) shortening its life any (I won’t wrap it around a tree, promise) and b) making it sound like a riding lawnmower?
:eek: