What ever happened to...

[Redlined]

Ok, so. Went upto Tacoma yesterday and picked up my rebuilder for The Lemming (thank you Frantic Four!)

Took it home and unloaded it.

Set it in the garage and looked it over, Unconciously licking my lips as my eyes took in the promiss of hidden the potential of factory virgin metalurgy.

My eyes misted up and my mind relived several of my favorite hot rod moments. My disasterous first engine overhaul in my Mazda 808 sports coupe. The eyelid peeling acceleration of my 69 Baracuda. My wife (now ex) nagging at me about the smell, then complaining i had ruined her best fucking Cookie sheet, baking enamel on engine parts in our kitchen, then insisting I do the same to her truck after she saw the end result. Dominating my friends Chrystler lazer turbo on a scortching downhill run in my Audi Fox GTI.

I blinked my eyes clear to find my business hand groping around. searching for my long gone Dremmle box, egre to being grinding and searching, and trying to unlock some of that potential.

I have to stop and ask myself. What ever happened to...

Porting & polishing heads, Port matching, Balancing, Blueprinting. The old bread & butter terms of hot roding. Things I dont hear anymore outside of racing circles. Have manufacturing specifications improved to the point these are no longer viable practices? Are computer controlled cars so particular that you dont dare modify the internals to such an extent? Or, most likely to my mind, have these simply been dropped to the way side in favor of Bolt-on-performance?

[All_talk]

I'd say its mostly a combination of the first and last reasons. Production manufacturing tolerances are much better than they use to be, and that’s what a good portion of the old rod rodder trick were aimed at fixing... sloppy manufacturing. That’s not to say the grains cant be made on a modern engine, just not to the same magnitude, in many cases it just might not be worth the effort. And that leads to your reason #3, if good engine building practices wont yield to significant power gains… what do you do? Mount up a turbo, blower or the like. In today’s automotive marketplace if there is even a moderate call for it, someone will make the parts. But I will say that today’s average enthusiast (both import & domestic) has a good degree less of the resourcefulness and creativity required in the “old days”. I guess that’s why they call it “tuning”, cause its not really building a car. Hell you can even pay the man to bolt it on for you.

Just one (not quite) old man’s opinion
Gary

P.S. I would note that some of the members here at LC are quite resourceful and creative.

[Splinter]

From what Ive seen, most people in the tuner scene arent that interested in making real power, they're interested in bragging rights.

They like to list off all their bolt ons, and add up the advertised horsepower gains.

"Oh yea, Ive got the cold air intake, rise rate fuel regulator, garret t4, blitz front mount, greddy blow off, running 450hp"

[AWD_addict]

Car modding seems like it used to be more of a subculture. Like getting a more powerful engine in the same car by knowing the right code to put on the order form. These days everyone knows about the hot version of a car because it's heavily advertised.
Bolt-on parts are much more popular because most people don't have the skills/tools/desire to fling chips off their engine parts. And it's usually easier to reverse mistakes when you're just changing part combinations and electronics.

[206er]

its not like everyone who was a car enthusiast from the 60's through the 80's was a automotive renassance man who knew everything about specing a motor out and could port their own heads, there were idiots with their bolt ons and cookie cutter cars back then too. before that most people who modded their cars were probably a lot more talented than the average wrx owner. but I bet you could pick up an early 80's Hot Rod and see a bunch of the same goofy splash graphics and absurd turbonater type stuff that you do today. maybe a greaterpercentage knew more whats up because they wrenched out of necessity. stuff like adjusting valves and carbs makes you more in tune with whats going on in the machine. now its like to tune something you sit back and punch numbers into a laptop. to me its not good or bad, it just is.
people talk smack about kids with their sideways hats and souped up hondas, saying its not like it used to be or whatever. but what were the first model T's with a flathead loud exhaust and no fenders driven by punk kids? the cheap, light, tunable, disposable cars. same shit, different era.
to me, performance is performance. while maybe it used to be all stuff like compression, rod ratios and cam duration, now its compressor maps, boost levels and engine management. its all cool, just in different ways. but its not like any aspect of built motors is going by the wayside.

[evolutionmovement]

I tell people, when pressed, that I'm building a hot rod Subaru (not 'tuner') and quickly explain that it isn't a WRX. Around here it's mostly either expensive stock or retarded crooked-hatters in old shit boxes the work box truck could embarrass. All of them are driven disgustingly slow. Today I wanted to pass a newer Celica with wide low profiles on the inside of a tight freeway connector ramp ... in the E250. they either drive like old ladies in school zones or try to race at every light (only to get embarrassed by the van once again whereupon they pretend they weren't racing when they catch up at teh next light) or if they see you on the highway cruising at high speed. I don't race people - I just try to get somewhere quickly because I'm pressed for time (unlike those losers that have nowhere to be) or because I just like driving fast. These idiots (and the passing lane blockers) are making me less and less interested in cars.

[monty's legacy]

side note frantic four is co-owned by a friends husband

[entirelyturbo]

I tell people, when pressed, that I'm building a hot rod Subaru (not 'tuner') and quickly explain that it isn't a WRX.

Same here. People hear I'm a Subaru guy, and the first thing I say is "I don't have a WRX though." I also dislike the word "tuner."

[scottzg]

I think a huge part of it is just how engines are now. Port matching, compression bumping, etc just won't provide the gains on a typical modern sedan any more because they're already pretty well set up. That stuff is good for the last ounce, but the last ounce isn't very important to anyone who has a limited budget and isn't racing. They're more complicated too, you could easily harm performance by porting etc. Easier just to bolt a turbo on to the stock motor and make much more power than old school modifications would.

I'm sure its part of the reason old cars are still so popular to tinker with.


I don't tell people crap about my cars or hobby. The observant people can tell. I really hate the pissing contests that it seems to generate.

[Splinter]

Meh, I still think cams are the most important part of any build.

The biggest turbo in the world will do dick all trying to pump air through closed valves.

[93forestpearl]

I get annoyed by all the posers (read: Honda) that don't have a clue as to what their bolt-on even does. "yeah dude, I'm gettin a turbo kit for my GSR." ugg. Or the people that throw some cheap wheels and a swaybar on and think they have a race car. I saw a guy I know slalom construction cones and proceed to back it into the wall. All I could do is laugh.


As far as old school hot rodding techniques go, some are still viable, while others are neccessary anymore. When I assembled my shortblock, all the bearing clearances were fine. No need for over/under sizes. I'm pissed at myself for not polishing the domes of my pistons before I put it together, but oh well.


Nowadays, computer control is able to eek a lot more power out of a motor from the factory, so other tricks just don't apply. An intake, headers and a 1150 Dominator work well on a '69 Camaro SS, but bolt-ons on modern stuff doesn't really get you a whole lot. Shure my buddy has an intake, headers, catback, and ignition on his Honda, but it already was pretty good, and he won't get much more untill its tuned to utilze the breathing improvements, although small.

In some ways, you need to pick your battles. I opted not to dive into porting my old heads. I'd rather get an updated set down the road and put the work into those. Maybe some porting will get you what you want within your price range. The only person that can answer that is you. We all have a vision of what we'd do to our cars, and that varies person by person. The important thing is that we all want to go fast and have fun doing it. Peace.