| Author | Message | ||
     Bob_thompson |
Tom Sifo & others, that was a nice thread Tom on cars and fun driving. I hope you're enjoying your Miata. I have also just recently got back into a fun car after having just a sport ute for us and a pickup for hauling and our annual fishing trip north. I went a little different route being a muscle car guy from back in the days there by you in Lombard, Ill. I had then a nice '68 427 Vette and built a Hemi beater mid engine 427 Corvair(not mis-pelled). And recently bought a nice real low mileage '95 Camaro Z28 convertible 6 spd. for the wife and I to cruise in as she does not ride on the 1125R with me. Fun, fun, fun. BUT, I am reliving this thread because of a neighbor who just bought a real nice, almost unheard of Chrysler Crossfire. I did some research and boy are they nice, especially the roadster. Only made from 2005-2008. Made by Karmann of Germany ala, Karmann Ghia and comes with a Mercedes 215 h.p. 3.2 V6 engine with a turboed SRT6 version of 330 h.p, 5 spd. auto or 6 spd. manual. Nice. Styling is typical European. An upper end sports car but selling used now for $10-20K depending on version and mileage. They were $35-40 new. A few pictures below. Lets see some more car guy stories until Erik and Bruce's revival, hopefully coming soon.     | ||
| Etennuly |
My current Corvette is a C4 from '86. They handled well but were quite anemic in the power department. Mine is almost stock to run in it's class in N-C-C-C autocross. It has the 4+3 transmission and is great fun to drive with my side pipes. My goal is to make a tribute car to the 1966 Penske/Sunoco Corvette 427 road course World beater in it's day. That '68 Vette and the Corvair had to be just loads of fun to play with! I mean.....damn!  When I was a Votech student in highschool(early '70's) we had fellow students who built a '60's MGB with a built 238/Muncie 4 speed, and another who built a Corvair with a mid engine 327. I had a '68 Beetle with the bug spray Holly kit with headers and such. It would lift the front tires with a fresh clutch. I drove my Vette to Glitch Badness in the Georgia mountains. That was FUN! I did the Dragon, Richard B. Russel parkway with it's new pavement, Wolfpen Gap, and the Cherohala on the way home.  I usually pop the top all summer and drive the back roads as much as possible, not unlike cruising with the Uly. (Message edited by etennuly on August 18, 2015) | ||
| Bob_thompson |
Vern, it looks much like you're doing a lot of what I'm doing here in these Utah mountains. Cruising the back country blacktops like I do a lot of on the 1125R but not quite as fast of course. The only problem I have is trying to keep my mind locked into the driving and not watching the scenery. I opted for a 6 spd. also to really accentuate the driving, i.e. cruising around a turn then, down shifting and hard accelerating to the next turn, hard on the brakes & repeat many, many times through these canyons with safety foremost, of course. A stop for a bite & soda then back a different way with cruise on and for my wife to settle down! An added benefit is getting an honest 27-28 mpg in cruise on the freeways. Still livin' life, for at least a little while longer. | ||
| Jeepinbueller |
I drove a 2014 MX-5 Miata convertible with the 6-speed, Club edition. Granted, I'm 6'2", so it wasn't the best choice as a shop loaner, but the only stick shift on the lot so I got it. Space is very limited and the seats didn't recline enough for me to get comfy at all. Rev it till the moon and those "150" hp feels like 100 flat. 60 mph on the highway felt like 80, not due to the ride height, but bc everything was loud and vibrating. This is apparently a driver's car, which I can totally see: if all you were doing were sprints around your local twisties, keeping speeds overall low, this could be a fun car akin to the TR-5/6 et al "low power but zippy and fun to drive." Just not for me. | ||
| Pwnzor |
mmmmm YEP  | ||
| Doz |
Mid engine Monza corvair is on my bucket list, sporting a mini cooper right now...just not the same. | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
I bought a Jeep Wrangler last year, partly for it's do everything nature, but a big part of it is that it's a convertible... Buying it confirmed I should have bought a roadster years ago, roof down is so much fun!  An early-ish Porsche Boxster S is on my shopping list for next year  | ||
| Sifo |
Funny seeing this thread active today. I just did my third Auto-X event this weekend and won the Novice class. What a hoot! | ||
| Etennuly |
I went autocrossing with my Corvette Club a couple of weeks ago. My first time out this year. We have a National Corvette Council points system. It gets you in a couple of magazines and some pictures. Kind of a "Big Head" "look what I can do" kind of thing. It really is fun when you get practiced enough to the point of sliding it in and making a front tire pivot around the corner point pylon. Four wheel power drifts always feel good too! | ||
| Sifo |
Funny thing, but they had just sealed the asphalt. I'm not used to being able to spin the tires so easily in 2nd gear with the Miata. On the new sealer I was spinning them at will. Quite a different experience. After a few runs the rubber got laid down and traction got really good though. I also had my first completely out of control spin this weekend. It's kind of nice racing with the Miata club. It make for lots of close competition. It's a very friendly group too. | ||
| Midknyte |
New contender? http://jalopnik.com/2017-fiat-124-spider-this-is-i t-1733363750 | ||
| Rick_a |
I need a hot rod car. If I ever got a Miata it would have a V8 stroker in it. I've never driven either but the BMW Z3 and Z4 cars look like fun.   | ||
| Reepicheep |
The supercharged mini cooper S cars are a lot of bang for the buck now if you can find a way to do cheap clutch replacements. | ||
| Sifo |
I was almost sold on the BMW Z4 until I found out about the motor that powers the top. It sits in a well that collects water, and the cost of replacement is about the cost of an electric super charger for the Miata. The top on the Miata works so simply, being powered would just get in the way. I've been wanting to see how the BMWs will compare on an AutoX course. Haven't seen any yet at events I've gone to. | ||
| Etennuly |
A buddy of mine recently went from a 1973 Z28 350 hp 4speed, that he had for over twenty years, to an AC Cobra 480 hp 351 with a 5 speed manual. He said that the Cobra is cute and fun and all but with it's power to weight ratio it is stupid scary. He has swapped ends three times unintentionally, and thankfully it was done where it did not become a problem. He said that he will probably sell it to get something that can be handled without quite so much explosive power. | ||
| Rick_a |
I've always been a fan of the replica cars.  | ||
| Rick_a |
The Caterham is available in kit form as well.  | ||
| Tankhead |
The new Mazda Miata looks sweet. Can anyone post a picture of it here. Don't have time now. | ||
| Sifo |
    Grabbed from http://www.mx5gallery.net/thumbnails.php?album=64 (Message edited by SIFO on September 29, 2015) | ||
| Teeps |
Sifo, if that car was 10 grand cheaper. I'd seriously consider getting off the Uly. I would really like to have a Cobra, kit would be fine, but those are too costly for my budget too. I'd be happy with a 289 in front of a 2spd. Ford-O-Matic. Having been a life long Honda guy, an S2000 would do as well, but I really am done with manual shifting of street cars. | ||
| Bob_thompson |
Tom(Teeps), I have to agree with everything you have said and I have a few years on you but staying in good shape yet, I love to run my 1125R and the Camaro through the gears in these great canyons of Utah. It's still a thrill and rush for me at least for a while longer. I DO have to be extra careful on the bike, of course, but manage to have much fun with my son on his SV1000 dicing it up somewhat. Moma keeps me extra careful in the car when doing similar runs. Then its total cruise back home. Like you, I've thought about some foreign cars also and I came real close to buying a real nice 350Z roadster but out of my price range as were many other makes. Still nice though to be able to hold on to the fun times of the past and look forward to some more. Stay safe my friend. Bob | ||
| Sifo |
Sifo, if that car was 10 grand cheaper. I'd seriously consider getting off the Uly. Buy a used NC Miata and you are there. With money in the bank! And a glove box! And a bigger trunk! To be fair, the ND Miata above has great styling IMO. Some areas have been improved from the NC. Some things, like deleting the glove box? WTF? My guess is that in a couple of years there will be a minor revision of the ND like there was with the NC. As for the Cobra replicas, some are pretty good. Others are pretty poor. You really need to pay attention to the build details. I'm really torn on these. Great style for the period, and scary fast. They are also very raw and basic though. I'm not sure I would enjoy a week long trip with a Cobra replica. Even the Miata is a bit raw, but at least it's pretty weather tight. Having AC is a real blessing too when you realize just how much heat is radiating from the transmission tunnel after an hour+ heat soak on a warm day. My biggest complaint with my NC is that it would be nice to have more passing power when out on a country 2 lane road. I'm seriously looking at the electric super charger. I've had a ride in a Miata with the ESC and it does give a great mid-range boost for short periods. It also doesn't have the heat issues associated with other forced induction systems. Realistically though, I will probably just start with a header and a tune, and see where that gets me. Not going forced induction has me in a better place for AutoX too. | ||
| Reepicheep |
How much power can the electric supercharger add, and how much do they cost? It's been a thing I've wondered about in the past. It would take a lot of current to power one, and a pretty big motor, so also maybe a reserve battery (high current, shorter duration). But I wondered why one didn't exist yet. | ||
| Sifo |
How much power can the electric supercharger add, and how much do they cost? It's been a thing I've wondered about in the past. It would take a lot of current to power one, and a pretty big motor, so also maybe a reserve battery (high current, shorter duration). But I wondered why one didn't exist yet. There have been a few areas that have prevented them from becoming viable. Some of the same issues that electric vehicles face. Strong, but small light motors. Efficient controllers that can handle the amps. And of course, batteries, batteries and batteries! All of these areas have made real progress in the past decade. Enough so, that for some applications the technology seems to be working out. Here's a dyno comparison of a Miata, comparing the stock engine, then the ESC + tune, then the ESC + header + tune.  The cool thing about the ESC is that you get full boost very early, so it really boosts the mid-range. The bad thing is that the ESC can't keep up with a 2.0 liter engine at high speed and boost falls off, so you don't see the huge HP gains that you would normally expect with forced induction. You also don't get the heat issues that you normally see with forced induction. On the Miata, you get about 5 psi boost max. That's not huge, but it's still very noticeable. It drops to about 1.5-2.0 psi at the top end though. They use a 24 volt "dump pack" battery system to run it. It won't work long on a race track. I'm told it will work well for the duration of a lap of the Nurenberg Loop though. He said the system cut off early on the second lap though as the voltage continued to drop to the point that the system shuts of because of the low voltage. I got to ride in an ESC Miata at an AutoX. It works well for that, but honestly, puts you in the forced induction class where other systems will make more HP. Cost is supposed to be right about $3,000 by the time you are done. Pretty good bang for the buck IMO. Installation is pretty easy. The super charger part isn't much different that simply bolting on a cold air intake. You do have to wire in the charging hardware and the controller. That does require a few electrical splices. Then they replace the original battery and battery tray, with a new tray that shares some space that the old air filter used to occupy, to make room for a new starter battery and a pair of "dump packs". At 5 psi there's no need for an inter cooler. There's no oil plumbing to be done. There's no replacement of the exhaust manifold. They claim you can revert back to meet an emissions inspection in under an hour, if that's an issue in your area. Much to read if you have the interest... http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=567709 The car I rode in belonged to arny56 in that thread BTW. | ||
| Sifo |
BTW, if you decide to read the thread on the ESC, it will make more sense to understand from the start that there was a version 1 and a version 2 that get discussed. The version 1 has a much simpler controller that simply switched the boost on at high load/RPM. Version 2 had a controller that would start the boost earlier and gave proportional control over the boost, and boost maps can be tuned. Version 2 also uses bigger dump packs than version 1 that will keep you boosted slightly longer. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Neat, thanks for the detail. But bang is still a little low, and buck is still a little high, so I will now drive home in a Saab I got with a V6 and a turbo with 45k miles out the door for $9000 a little more smugly  . I'd park it behind the wife's mini cooper S smugly when I get home, but I can't, because while it came with a supercharger, the freaking clutch lasted less then 10k miles and cost $3k to replace. I'm doing it myself this time, then selling it if I hated the job, or keeping it as a fun car if the job was tolerable. It's getting closer though... | ||
| 86129squids |
FWIW, those new generation Boxters are sexy! MUCH more so than the previous gen... Gotta start fattening up the piggy bank! | ||
| Tankhead |
tanks SIFO. | ||
| Sifo |
But bang is still a little low, and buck is still a little high That's a 40% gain for $3k. More if you toss in headers. As performance mods goes, that's a pretty big jump in power. It's a 45% jump in torque. Beyond that, the power band becomes more friendly to street driving. This is a little bit like trying to explain why 103 hp from an XB12 is such a fun bike to ride. It does depend on expectations. For all the limitations I described, users of the system claim that it's pretty much impossible to run the batteries down on any normal public roads if you are driving anything close to sanely. IIRC they said that it's kind of limited to about a 2.2 liter engine with current technology. On smaller engines you see more benefit. I am curious how far this technology will go in the future. With a strong enough motor, and a good controller, the potential could be pretty impressive. Oh, one last thing. Users claim that there is pretty much zero lag in the boost. Better than even the most responsive turbo systems out there. You can turn it off with the touch of a button too for when you hand the keys to the valet. | ||
| Reepicheep |
My bad! I thought the two lines at the top were the before and after. I missed the green line because it was so far down. OK, I stand corrected. That's great bang for the buck! |
