The Golden Age of Horsepower - Enjoy it!

[Prochargedchevyi]

For a fella that has been building hot rods and race cars for 30 years; everytime I scroll through these FI pages Im constantly shaking my head in amazement with the power numbers cars today make. For anyone here that isn't old enough remember; back in the 80's if you were making 300hp you were one of the fastest cars on the road. In the 90's, if your V8 was nipping at 350hp-375hp you would blow away about 95% of anything on the road. I'm not sure any of you realize how hard it was to make 350hp back then with the limited technology and availability of parts.

Now we're here in 2010 talking about 700+hp from a stock block just by addidng a supercharger, a camshaft, and some headers. That, to me, is unbelievable. Especially given the fact that we still enjoy our creature comforts like A/C and these big stereo systems that you kids like to deafen yourselves with.

If it was the late 70's and someone came to me asked me to build them a street car that had 700+hp while keeping it a daily driver, and retaining the amenities - I would have thought they were crazy, or had about $100k to spend; and a 100 grand back then was a small fortune.

I just hope you guys realize that we're living in the golden age of hot rodding. I can't see it getting much better than this - but who knows. For the younger kids, I hope that you understand the roots of where this hobby came from; and everytime you see a beat up old Chevelle or Nova, you'll recognize that at one time it was State-of-the-art technology - much like your Camaro is now. Embrace the culture!

Goodness, I sound old don't I? I'm going to go rub some BenGay on my legs and eat some Nilla Wafers.

Vince

[speedster]

You are so very right Vince. Many people do not realize how easy it is today to generate HUGE amounts of power with a fairly small budget. The power today was "radical race car only" power years ago. It does make it nice now. I just hope everyone respects their new found power. Safety is still number 1.

[Z_Rocks]

Originally Posted by speedster

I just hope everyone respects their new found power. Safety is still number 1.

[usmcjlp]

I agree completely. It is amazing the amount of power all the manufacturers are making right now. Dodge, Ford, and Chevy all have muscle cars at over 400hp bone stock. That is insane! I don't think this will last. I think the next gens will have smaller V-8s or possibly FI V-6s. Better take advantage of it while it lasts.

[danhr]

Golden Age of HP? yes... more than likely

Golden Age of Cars? I dont think so.... a sports car should not weight 3900 lbs. Next to the 60's, I think the 90's was the best era of cars. Lots of different varieties of fast cars.

[GQ4Life]

Originally Posted by danhr

Golden Age of HP? yes... more than likely

Golden Age of Cars? I dont think so.... a sports car should not weight 3900 lbs. Next to the 60's, I think the 90's was the best era of cars. Lots of different varieties of fast cars.

I dont know why the main steam sports cars are getting heavy..
Makes me temped to beg GM to make an Alminum Camaro Z28 or hey call it the Z06 i dont care just get weight down to under 3,400lbs and bump up HP to 500HP or gives us stock forged parts to boost the hell out of these things...



Yes I know I am way out of the price range of normal camaro owner. But it would be nice..
Imagine what 426HP would do with only 3,400lbs to move. Be as fast as corvetter base model.

[lock]

Im with you bro. After blowing the stroker motor in my IROC 10 years ago. I set out to rebuild with a goal of 500 rwhp which would be very respectable with a street car . Now I have an 11 SS, popped on a SC and Im at 530+ rwhp. Technology is crazy and thank God the tree huggers havent stopped the car companies from putting out high power motors!

[GoodTimes]

I'm only 34 years-old, but my first 2 cars were muscle cars, and were daily drivers. I am proud to know and understand the heritage of the cars from that era. My 72 Chevelle put out 270hp and ran 14.5 consistently at the track. And back in the early nineties it still beat most cars on the road. My 72 Nova boasted 320hp and I thought I was in heaven when she consistently threw down 13.2s at the track. But something really started to happen here after the turn of the century. The horsepower wars are on again and I'm really enjoying it while it lasts, cause I don't think this is going to last too much longer. All this inovation and technology is great, even for us with older cars. I did a budget build roller-cam 350ci small-block for my 68 Camaro that puts out over 420hp for under $3000. Got to love it!

[alfie43]

Originally Posted by Prochargedchevyi

For a fella that has been building hot rods and race cars for 30 years; everytime I scroll through these FI pages Im constantly shaking my head in amazement with the power numbers cars today make. For anyone here that isn't old enough remember; back in the 80's if you were making 300hp you were one of the fastest cars on the road. In the 90's, if your V8 was nipping at 350hp-375hp you would blow away about 95% of anything on the road. I'm not sure any of you realize how hard it was to make 350hp back then with the limited technology and availability of parts.

Now we're here in 2010 talking about 700+hp from a stock block just by addidng a supercharger, a camshaft, and some headers. That, to me, is unbelievable. Especially given the fact that we still enjoy our creature comforts like A/C and these big stereo systems that you kids like to deafen yourselves with.

If it was the late 70's and someone came to me asked me to build them a street car that had 700+hp while keeping it a daily driver, and retaining the amenities - I would have thought they were crazy, or had about $100k to spend; and a 100 grand back then was a small fortune.

I just hope you guys realize that we're living in the golden age of hot rodding. I can't see it getting much better than this - but who knows. For the younger kids, I hope that you understand the roots of where this hobby came from; and everytime you see a beat up old Chevelle or Nova, you'll recognize that at one time it was State-of-the-art technology - much like your Camaro is now. Embrace the culture!

Goodness, I sound old don't I? I'm going to go rub some BenGay on my legs and eat some Nilla Wafers.

Vince

I agree 100%. Years ago, one HP per one cubic inch was a big deal. Today 1.2-1.4 HP per inch is common on normally aspirated engines. Look at the Camaro V-6....312 HP from 220 cubes. "Back in the day", we were happy to get that from a 350 V-8.

I used to drag race small block Chevys. I had to put thousands of dollars in a 8000 rpm engine to get 425 RWHP. Now I get 562 RWHP out of a LS3 that will easily outperform the legendary ZL1. Today's S/C bypass systems that unload the supercharger during idle and light load, provide us with engines that are mild mannered, economical and quiet....until you drop the hammer and then all hell breaks loose...literally.

When my wife drives my S/C Camaro and granny shifts it down the road, she doesn't know that she has 640 HP at the flywheel under her foot. She could never drive my old race car on the street with its radical cam profile, 12:1 compression, 50 lb steel flywheel and a 5.86 final gear.

Modern performance engines with computer controlled ignition timing and fuel delivery never cease to amaze me. I remember installing offset bushings in the cam gear on the race car to retard or advance the camshaft; depending on whether you wanted top end power or low end power, but the results were fixed; you couldn't have both. Now, the computer is constantly and continuously retarding or advancing the camshaft while we are driving. Amazing!

Alfie

[Prochargedchevyi]

Originally Posted by alfie43

I remember installing offset bushings in the cam gear on the race car to retard or advance the camshaft; depending on whether you wanted top end power or low end power, but the results were fixed; you couldn't have both. Now, your computer is constantly and continuously retarding or advancing the camshaft while we are driving. Amazing!

Alfie

That's funny...I still do this! I guess I haven't completely conformed to modern technology.

"Uh, I need 2* more advanced offset - Gotta get my bushing kit out." You young kids have no idea! (Laughing)

But I agree, 20 years ago there was no way to have your cake and eat it too. Either you had a mild mannered street cruiser, or an all-out race car that was miserable to drive - but you couldnt have both

Funny story: Back in the early 90's I found a 70' Nova SS (yes it was real) sitting in a sugarcane field in Southern Florida rotting away. I gave the farmer $500 (this is real too) and hauled it home to start a project for my wife to drive. Well, as most of you probably know, long-term projects tend to take several different directions before they're completed. The Nova started out as a weekend driver for my wife to take to car shows with me. We were going to freshen-up the 396ci and do mainly body work to make it "pretty."

Well.....needless to say, that didnt' last. Rather than freshening up the 396ci, I swapped in a fully forged 383ci with a N2O plate running a HUGE 300 shot of nitrous. Nitrous loves high compression, so we ran a 12.5:1 C/R with a mix of 93/100 octane. That whole combination yeilded around 780hp and was absolutely miserable to drive around town. The large solid flat tappet cam had terrible idle/vacuum - and the driveability was aweful. My wife hated it because it was loud, tons of heat from the headers radiated through the floorboards, and you couldn't drive it for 5 minutes without reeking of fuel. Not exactly something that a lady wants to drive.


Long-story-short, that Nova ran low 10's and that was damn fast for a car that was registered and "could" be driven on the street. I owe that Nova a great deal of gratitude considering I paid for my first home with the money I won from Bracket racing with it. I still have that car sitting in storage in Florida: and once I year I'm reminded of how uncomfortable it is to actually drive once I slip back into my 10' Camaro.

My how things have changed.

Here's a picture of that Nova - keep in mind that this car ruled Moroso Raceway (now called PBIR, I think).













Notice the A/F ratio gauge hidden in the dashboard.....You see, this dog's got some new tricks!

[Z_Rocks]

Originally Posted by Prochargedchevyi

You see, this dog's got some new tricks!

It even has a seat belt!

[flyby]

I can't say I completely agree. My 1st car was a 69 impala ss (427) 426 HP from the factory which was actually much more (not sure how much more). Early muscle cars could be ordered with a host of "special" setups. It has not been until recently that you can get the kind of factory HP that we get now.

[superstockcam]

I remember squeezing 386hp out of my .30 over 327 was quite a process in my first 69 Camaro, "single carb NA", I finally got my RWH to a little over 1hp - 1ci. now I step into my new Camaro with the 1-1 in place box stock...I love it!

[alfie43]

Originally Posted by Prochargedchevyi

That's funny...I still do this! I guess I haven't completely conformed to modern technology.

"Uh, I need 2* more advanced offset - Gotta get my bushing kit out." You young kids have no idea! (Laughing)

But I agree, 20 years ago there was no way to have your cake and eat it too. Either you had a mild mannered street cruiser, or an all-out race car that was miserable to drive - but you couldnt have both

Funny story: Back in the early 90's I found a 70' Nova SS (yes it was real) sitting in a sugarcane field in Southern Florida rotting away. I gave the farmer $500 (this is real too) and hauled it home to start a project for my wife to drive. Well, as most of you probably know, long-term projects tend to take several different directions before they're completed. The Nova started out as a weekend driver for my wife to take to car shows with me. We were going to freshen-up the 396ci and do mainly body work to make it "pretty."

Well.....needless to say, that didnt' last. Rather than freshening up the 396ci, I swapped in a fully forged 383ci with a N2O plate running a HUGE 300 shot of nitrous. Nitrous loves high compression, so we ran a 12.5:1 C/R with a mix of 93/100 octane. That whole combination yeilded around 780hp and was absolutely miserable to drive around town. The large solid flat tappet cam had terrible idle/vacuum - and the driveability was aweful. My wife hated it because it was loud, tons of heat from the headers radiated through the floorboards, and you couldn't drive it for 5 minutes without reeking of fuel. Not exactly something that a lady wants to drive.


Long-story-short, that Nova ran low 10's and that was damn fast for a car that was registered and "could" be driven on the street. I owe that Nova a great deal of gratitude considering I paid for my first home with the money I won from Bracket racing with it. I still have that car sitting in storage in Florida: and once I year I'm reminded of how uncomfortable it is to actually drive once I slip back into my 10' Camaro.

My how things have changed.

Here's a picture of that Nova - keep in mind that this car ruled Moroso Raceway (now called PBIR, I think).













Notice the A/F ratio gauge hidden in the dashboard.....You see, this dog's got some new tricks!

Nice Chevy...errr, nice "stovebolt". Anyone remember that nickname for Chevys?
Alfie