spinealigner

I am being quite serious here. Why would anybody spend dollar one on performance parts for a small 4 cylinder engine? Is there ANY, even slight, hidden advantage that I am unaware of? And front wheel drive? I understand that some kids might like the looks, but I cannot for the life of me understand the performance end.

Any reasons other than stupidity?

terryrudy

guilty as charged. :)
-terry

Brettmc

The question of the millenium. When I was comin up, everybody fixed up ANY v8 ride they had. V6s were out. 4-bangers were not even thought of. I was constantly flippin the air cleaner lid on my mom's 76 Chrysler Cordoba but dad would flip it back. I loved the intake moan but I guess dad didn't. Ever seen a front wheel burnout? I have, and almost expired from laugh-itis. Maybe they do it cause those cars are cheap and they have no other options. Surely they could find a v8 ride thats comparably priced tho. Maybe the chicks think those rides are "cute". Heck, I don't know.

Brett :thumbs:

Jvette73

Weight is one factor. Power to weight ratio. Those cars are light and can be made real light. Dont need much power to move a feather down the track. Im glad however, cause my 15 year old wants a Chevelle. Some how Ive managed to save him. Now dont I deserve a pat on the back????

theandies

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I don't know what they are thinking. For the same amout of money to get a Honda etc. to go 13's in the 1/4 you could have a mid 10 second streetable V8.

norvalwilhelm

You won't find me putting them down. Why should everyone take a 2 ton piece of detroit with a big V8 and go from there? I like some of there rides. I have run into a few at the stop lights and I don't belittle them at all. They are car enthusiasts the same as me. At cruise nights I walk over and look at their cars too and admire some of their work.
We are all car enthusianst and some of those guys do better work then we do. Just because it doesn't say corvette on the side or V8 doesn't mean it isn't a nice car.
My daughter loves her accura and my nephew loves his honda. I loaned my daughter my wifes new Bonneville SSEI Supercharged and she thought it was OK but her accura was better and that bonneville guys will give alot of you trouble off the light.

Paul L

I'll give this one a try. Those little cars are easy to tweak. And they respond very nicely! It's a different world now and although I live in the old, I do admire young folks who are just as performance conscious as I was...a few years ago. And they are fun cars. I have driven Honda Civics that are a real treat to push around a corner and up the straight. You really cannot fault the engineering: it comes from the racetrack. I recently had the occasion to drive a new BMW/Mini Cooper S. I was very impressed during the short ride. Again, a few years in the past I ice-raced an Austin Mini Cooper S and had a ball. The recent ride brought back those memories. The new Mini is a very well-engineered car.

There are many shades of enjoying the hobby of motorsporting. Putting aside the wings and garish decals, I have a lot of respect for a well-turned-out four cylinder performance car. The GM Eco-Tech (Sunfire/Cavalier) engine can be modified to put out 1,000hp as an extreme example. I truly enjoy my 1979 but do not frown on those who enjoy other aspects of automotive performance. I do NOT go along with the wings to heaven mods, neon lights and Type R decals, etc. We may be getting down to a nuance in language: what is a ricer?

Wilson6t7

Yes you do *applause!* :cool: :chevy

turtlevette

I'm with Norval.

These guys love their rides every bit as much as we love our vettes. If everyone was after American iron prices would be out of sight. Let them have their fun the way they want.

I don't like being walked by a subaru at the big end of the quarter mile, especially when i'm running high 13s but it does happen and it gives us incentive to get our rides running the way they should have run from the factory.

jim

greatgonzoglenn

Just to add my .02, why would you spend so much money on parts for these vehicles when you can get sooooo much more for the same price for a V-8. Sorry, but a I believe a thumping engine sounds much better than a thumping stereo and farting exhaust. No offense to those who choose, but why???????? :flag

adamdinat

It is generational. I think the biggest thing is that they were brought up in an era of 4 cyl cars. Up until the mid seventies everything was American and the family car had an 8 with a four barrel. In the late seventies and eighties the 4s and sixes became more common. The family car was an accura or honda. Being that these were the cars they were raised on and there are a lot more of them around so this is what they buy and fix up. You can Look at the automotive marketing as well, Zoom Zoom Volkswagen, Infinity, accura, the muscle car with brains, :U :U :U :U :U It has corrupted a whole genrations thought processes . Those who have avoided the brain wash post on CF. :party:

aharte

I normally define a ricer to be someone who puts on the huge wings/decals, etc, but does nothing for performance. If you want to broaden it to any japanese car, then I think some have legitimate toys. Turbo systems are very cheap to add to a lot of those cars, and many have bulletproof engines stock. Supras, RX-7's, and eclipses can be made very fast very cheaply. I have a friend with an RX-7 who put about $5k of mods into it (completely streetable), and it beats Z06's at 60-100. Civics have a lot less potential though...

terryrudy

Far be it for me to argue against the merits of a rumbling V8 ;) There is something to be said for pulling up beside a rumbling V8 in what many regard as a econobox and then blow their doors off. Did this to a rumbling (VERY NICE car I might add) Chevy II a month or so back. Couple younger guys were eyeing my Eclipse probably thinking I was a typical SLOW riceboy. :) We eased it off the light as we probably both wouldn't have traction and then we gunned it. Needless to say I shut down them, and it was fun surprising them like that. Wasn't being mean to them or anything, we all wore smiles at the next light. The sound of the turbo spooling up, the blowoff valve whooshing off loudly at the shift, and then the turbo jumping back up SUCKing in the air with loud whooshes is a sound that will bring smiles to ANYone's face. It sounds like a jet engine sucking in all that air.

Original cost of car aside, I spent less fixing up my Eclipse than I did my Vette and they are about the same power level. In the DSM (eclipse) community, many of the owners are die-hard fabricators and like to tinker and tweak. I see them as no different than hardcore C3ers.
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/blackcar-index.htm
FrontWheelDrive race car. I think there's a video on that page of it pulling away from a Porsche race car off the line. Not bad for FWD.

To each his own I guess. I appreciate them all.
-terry


[Modified by terryrudy, 3:11 PM 3/28/2003]

71roadster

Hey man, quit knocking the rice boys. I started that way back in the day. Had a 510 with a tall deck block with extra stroke and bore, ported polished heads, and dual mikuni carbs. it was PHAT and I had a lot of fun in that car. Plus it was way more reliable than my vette, at least in terms of I didn't take it apart as much as I do my vette.

now front wheel drive...go figure :lol: nothing so pathetic as torque steer!

Chris

427V8

I usually try and stay out of these 'dis-cussions' but WTF...

I think most of you don't get it. Car people make up a small fraction of the population. 99% of the people out there can't tell the difference between a 9 second prostreet corvette and a 42 second Civic.
All they see is a thing that may or may not be able to get them to to work. In their eyes, the civic is a better car cause consumer reports said it's more reliable.
The act of putting a NOS sticker on their window takes all the technical skill they have. Adding a wing, is akin to walking on the moon as far as they're concerned.
I can't tell you how many people have been surprised that I can change my own oil! ( Hmmm, maybe thats a personal statement ! :LOL )

Just remember, to most people, there is no difference between a Corvette and a Ricer. Both noisy, garish and impractical...

Bamavette74

Here is a good story...
I have a 17 year old. About a year ago we bought him an '80 El Camino. Major POS but we aint rich and he needed to get away from the Play Station. He has been the brunt of many jokes as he is the only kid at Daphne High School with old iron. Everyone of his buddies has an import with kick a** stereos and large exit pipes that sound kind of like a bumble bee in a jug.
Well, we have been in a slow rebirth mode. We have painted his Camino, added some 15X8 rally wheels (yeah, they came off my Vette) and on Spring Break (this week) we installed his long awaited, new motor. All of his freinds came over to assist in the R&R and they were a lot of help. None of them really know anything about cars so it was a get greasy and learn, labor fest. As I said, they all have sharp little Hondas, Mitsubishis and Toyotas. All of their cars were outside of the garage and again, they were absolutely awesome and it was fun to show them my tools and let them watch me assemble the engine (I posted a timing problem I am having on this forum----help). Well, after a couple of days and nights and their parents no doubt wondering why all of thier clothes were coming home greasy and wore out, it was time to fire the engine.
They came over the next morning, as I halted progress the night before, and at 0800hrs, they watched on as my boy turned the key. The Hooker Headers were all that we had on in the way of exhaust and when that thing came to life it was friggin great!
One kid nearly took off running and another's eyes looked like paint can lids. I reached down, grabbed the throttle linkage and spiked it and everyone about sh**! My son, nearly tackled me with an aggressive hug and I shut the engine off.
I just looked at em and smirked "that is the difference between 350 cubic inches of Chevrolet and 1.8 liters of Honda".
I went to the meat market, cooked em all steak on my old grill and thanked all of them for the help and asked that they handle the stereo system.

They do not know any better. The imports are the thing these days and how many of us are there that can right the wrongs of "The Fast and the Furious". I can not tell you how many times I heard them say "Noss". They are good kids, they learned something and my son (actually step son) would not have an import right now! I like the work they have done on their cars, they love them the same as I did my first car, an old POS El Camino. Hell, my 6 year old will probably live in a time where they will have hydrogen power cells and the import crazy kids of today will look at them with disdain.

Hey, its all good...

Corz

great story Bam, some of my friends have either mustangs, or imports. which makes it REALLY hard to find parts, but I'm the only one with a vette; They give me the upper hand. Even though I'm the butt of most of the jokes, they give me a lot of respect for what i built from scratch. For the amount of money i dumped into my vette i could have a killer Civic (if i wanted one) or a slightly used C5. When i hang out with my "ricer" friends they have the same desires I do, to have one hell of an automobile; weather that is putting a body kit on and a sweet stereo that will make you deaf, or my route of having a clean vintage stingray. Import guys arent all that bad, when they line up to run, they want to see how they do against the cars of yesterday (chevelle's, roadrunner's etc) and to see if their new intake actually helped.
Ricers are still auto inthusiasts, and even though i joke about them, i still get it in return.

Jvette73

Ditto, excellant story. I was right there with ya when readin it. :cool: :cheers:

mpettus

I know that there are going to be alot of opinions on this subject, so I guess that I will include my thoughts. Although I would probably be considered one of the generation X'ers, I am infactuated with cars from the muscle car era. I guess that is why I bought my 68 vette. Being a gearhead, I do have respect for the "ricers" who perform actual performance mods to their cars. The majority of the people, however, are more interested in Lowering, stereos, and goofy wings which give the legitimate ricers a bad name. To each his own though.
As I stated previously, I have a 68 vette but I also autocross a 94 Civic. Believe me when I say that this Civic would trounce my vette and usually any other car in either a drag race or an autocross. This Civic is heavly modified and is not drivable on the street, but the performance is suprising for a front wheel drive four cylinder. Everyone has their own thoughts as to what is cool, but as long as it has four wheels and can do a burn out its cool with me.

Thanks
Matt
68 Convertible

(I don't know if I have figured out how to posts pictures yet.) :confused:
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Paul L

I agree with you. Those Civics are quite something!