Car Talk

[adwinistrator]

What do you drive? What do you like/dislike about it?

What's your favorite car you've ever owned?

What's the most enjoyable car you've ever been in, or drove?

What's your financially realistic dream car?

What's you dream car, if money were of no concern?

What's your funniest car story? Amateur mechanic mishaps? Road trip hijinks?

Post some pictures, have a flame war.

[de officiis]

I think a '67 GTO would be nice.

[Montegriffo]

Money no object, Bentley blower





second choice, VW Schwimmwagen

[adwinistrator]

I currently own a 2006 Subaru Legacy GT Spec B (#68/500). It's a heavily modified Frankenstein setup, tuned for about 300 hp and 350 ft/lbs of torque. Car is the best I've ever owned, still running well at 137,000 miles. It's expensive in terms of maintenance, and the gas mileage is terrible, but it's a lot of fun. Feeling the turbo spool up to 21 psi full throttle is an incredible feeling, completely unlike NA engines. Subaru mechanical all wheel drive is no joke, great traction, and evenly balanced (in snow I can induce oversteer with the throttle).

What's the most enjoyable car you've ever been in / funniest story was with a wealthy lunatic I worked for who gave me a ride to his other business in his "beater Ferrarri". I had detailed it before this and felt like a bleeding heart animal activist working at the dog shelter, giving a puppy a bath a week before it's put down. I had to carefully remove a quarter inch layer of tire rubber from the bottom of the rear bumper, near the wheel wells, from when he was doing burnouts and donuts, like 4"x6" patches of rubber liquidized and sprayed onto Ferrari paint.

It was a 98 Ferrarri 355 Spyder, only a few years old at this point. So I hope in the very nice passenger seat, top's down, all smiles. Gabe looks over and says "is you're seatbelt on?" before mashing the pedal, pulling out of the parking lot way too fast, and bottoming out the front bumper on the pavement... It was disturbing. He drove way too fast, which was fun, but the thing I remember most was the sound. That V8, and the exhaust, was absolutely glorious.

While it made me remarkably sad to see someone abusing a Ferrari like that, I will say that I've seen enough of them in parking garage storage to be thankful someone was able to brutally enjoy a car like that. Too many of them site, barely driven, and never really enjoyed.

[C-Mag]

A few years ago I restored a '53 Willy's Jeep. My dad thought that was pretty cool. He bought be a '52 M37 Dodge Truck to restore.

It's gonna be a project
Currently looks something like this


Here's a nicely restored one


And a cool one someone had some fun with

[adwinistrator]

A few years ago I restored a '53 Willy's Jeep. My dad thought that was pretty cool. He bought be a '52 M37 Dodge Truck to restore.

It's gonna be a project

That is pretty bad ass though. Looks like they can be turned into a beast.

Any pics of the Willy resto?

[TheReal_ND]

21 PSU and only 300 hp? Is that whp? That's a terrible tune. Did you do it yourself?

[adwinistrator]

21 PSU and only 300 hp? Is that whp? That's a terrible tune. Did you do it yourself?

If you think peak hp is all that matters, especially on a daily driver, I'd have to disagree. Subaru engines are designed for better torque curves, it's a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder, not a 2.0 liter with a disco potato strapped on.

Wider power band, and earlier power to the wheels matter more to me. Peak torque at 3,700 rpm.

I should correct myself, the tune is technically targeting 19.5 psi, it hits high 20.#'s at full throttle as the waste-gate catches up.

[TheReal_ND]

Mustang dynos always read higher. Something is wrong with your tune. A qr25de can make double those numbers at the same psi.

This is 28 psi on a qr

[adwinistrator]

Mustang dynos always read higher. Something is wrong with your tune. A qr25de can make double those numbers at the same psi.

This is 28 psi on a qr

There is nothing wrong with my tune, thanks.

It's using the JDM turbo from a WRX STi, it's better than stock, and still spools up very quickly so the power on tap.

Show me the dyno charts of those QR25's with an aftermarket turbo, and it will have a smaller range of decent torque (5000-7000) and a peaky hp curve, because the aftermarket turbo has a larger turbine housing A/R than mine.

Larger turbine housing A/R = biased towards peak horsepower, while sacrificing transient response and torque at very low engine speeds.

Smaller turbine housing A/R = biased more towards low-end torque and optimal boost response.