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Just been thinking about this as I see some car's are really cool with a modern engine conversion with a few hundred bhp and you know they will be fun to drive.
But some people go that bit further where the car is over shadowed by it's power and it's only really driveable on the strip in a straight line.
What do you guys think on this? Id love some retro car's with big bhp, but at what point should you stop if you want to still be able to have fun with it on the road without running the risk of crashing if you look at the throttle pedal in the wrong way.
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Last Edit: Jul 6, 2009 15:19:00 GMT by rmad
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No... but you can have too little grip
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No... but you can have too little grip Or too little control of the sp30 pedal!
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There's the old wisdom that it's bad when a cars limits are past yours. For example, if you have a supermini, you can rag the balls off it, and have fun when it starts to let go on a back road, whereas you can't really reach that level in the likes of an evo, which makes you push too hard, and eventually go backwards through a hedge.
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drive train or shell strength weaknesses asside, IMO the answer is purely a personal (and hopefully informed) choice.
to use one obvious example Red Victor One: its drivable on uk roads, and has 2100 BHP ( i hope i got that figure correct), with body shell and drivetrain that can take the power.
but to ask if a vauxhall victor can take that enormous BHP, then IMO no, but in RV1 onwers informed opinion, yes
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Someone just shot the elephant in the room.
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I put about 300 BHP (and maybe 350 lbs torque) in a stock FD Victor shell and when it hooked up you worried about the rear screen, I swear that was what was making the creaking noise...
Too much power is only relative as has been said to the vehicle and driver abilities.
I span out a Morris Minor.
I have driven some quite fast powerful cars without incident.
In fact the more powerful it is the more care I take.
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1937 Austin Street Rod - 1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1976 Rover V8 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,842
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Power, can you have too much?stealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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As long as you realise that the accelerator pedal is variable in movement not just an on/off switch there's no such thing as too much power. With lots of power you've got to be much more aware of the conditions though. I've driven a 500+bhp car with a 91" wheelbase in the curse word rain. Was certainly a bit hairy whilst accelerating out of corners.
Matt
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I have been wondering about this too. Recently was watching a video of a Datsun 510 with 200SX turbo power. It seemed that on the road, the driver was having to shift up early because the car would start to break loose as the revs rose. Seemed to make the whole thing a bit pointless, and dangerous. Less power would have meant more fun, and more driveability, and probably quicker too as the car would be able to be stretched through the gears a bit more??
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Last Edit: Jul 6, 2009 15:00:11 GMT by alolympic
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drivability is what counts and too many people see big headline numbers as what count not drivability.
A remember a guy on a forum I used to frequent, swapped the cam and some other parts in his ride (either a Dodge Dart or a Ford Fairlane I forget now) and on the dyno the thing made about 20 BHP more than before but on the road was slower - trading top end for mid range and torque doesn't make for a more drivable car on the street... Well, depends on the car of course, but this one was a great and very graphic illustration. Buy was he pished!
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1937 Austin Street Rod - 1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1976 Rover V8 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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piperfish
Part of things
Dinky-di 100% meat and veggies
Posts: 386
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Nope.....It depends how you use/harness the power. After all its YOU who is at the helm. mmmmm....power ;D
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Its my snake...I trained it...and I'm gonna eat it....
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Quite a few of the lads with the YB powered mk1 Escorts dial the power down after they been using them for a while, 300bhp in a road escort is fun and useable, 400bhp makes them skitish and harder to drive and virtually impossible to use if the roads damp, having said that a big V8 making 400bhp across a wide rev range is gonna be MUCH nicer to drive than a 2 litre 4 pot turbo making the same power all in one go.
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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haha makes me giggle a lil bit everytime i see you sign off lol... think we all know your name off by heart now lol
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i remember seeing a web page ages back but have been hunting for it a tuning company in the US that could tune your stock Toyota Supra to something like 1300bhp and at the time of seeing the web page would have cost roughly £30k but now with the dollar rate etc would obviously cost more!
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my cortina estate is no less drivable with a 5.4ltr 400+bhp engine than it was with its 1.6 it had as standard it just has to be treated with more respect . i know it has a lot more power so it gets used accordingly ;D
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No... but you can have too little grip that's a good thing when you still have the weedy stock axle
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drive train or shell strength weaknesses asside, IMO the answer is purely a personal (and hopefully informed) choice. to use one obvious example Red Victor One: its drivable on uk roads, and has 2100 BHP ( I hope I got that figure correct), with body shell and drivetrain that can take the power. but to ask if a vauxhall victor can take that enormous BHP, then IMO no, but in RV1 onwers informed opinion, yes It has a full spaceframe chassis so yes is the answer.. A std FD no bloody chance.. ;D It really depends what you want from the car. I had fun when it was about 350hp without nitrous, I could drive it anywhere without the wheels spinning and it was very useable. I wanted it to continually get faster at the track so i was happy to make it not so good for the road. Remember that it easy to lose your licence going fast on the street,but impossible to lose it going fast at the track.. I never wanted to be the fastest on the street.I just wanted the fastest street car,if you get my drift.
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i once read an interview with james hunt which said he had more fun driveing his A35 van than anything else he'd ever driven. due to its poor (skinny) tyres & brakes & little power meening he had to use all his skill to make it perform to its max.
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theres more to life than mpg & to much power is just enough.
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Depends on the drive layout
fwd I wouldn't go above 300
4wd is pretty limitless in terms of driveability but not in reliability unless you are spending £££££ on the drivetrain a standard evo clutch isn't going to last long from 400bhp launches.
Rwd Unsure of this one depends on how you drive and how well the suspension is setup
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No... but you can have too little grip coupled with chassis/body stiffness, I think that's about accurate
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Remade In Australia thereimaginarium.com.au
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