Motorhead350
06-17-2009, 12:16 AM
I picked up the latest issue of Hot Rod Magazine and came across an article on someone building an old Cadillac. It was stripped, had a new frame and everything to handle the new twin turbo 1,000 horsepower engine that was placed in it. At first I'm thinking old Cadillac, that's cool. Than the 1,000 horsepower part and I'm thinking so what?
We all know we cannot enjoy a 1,000 horsepower car as much as we would with a 600 or even a 350. I know from my own experience and I know others have too about what works and what ends up in the garage 98% of the year especially, if you are in an area that actually has a summer and winter. To get a car up to 1,000 horsepower isn't cheap even if you can do it yourself.
The more you modify something the less dependable it becomes. My Marauder has been down that road. Everything that came from Ford is doing fine, but the aftermarket parts love to break on me or maybe it was my own fault for being cheap when I started. A lot of us seem to have a second car as a beater that is unmodified to keep the dependability.
Most stock cars are a bore unless you spend a good chunk of change. The only cars that seem to be any fun that are stock seem to be the older cars. The problem is an old car is an old car and age doesn't mean it'll last no matter if it's a Chevy or Toyota. My Blazer has been more dependable than the Marauder lately simply because I left the engine alone. 350 horsepower is all I need for that truck and it would probably be fine with the stock 210 horsepower output I had since I rarely tow and I never seem to ever need full throttle anymore.
Having a 500+ horsepower Marauder is a gas don't get me wrong, but when it was stock it could be counted on a lot more. Those of us that have gotten our cars into the 13s or lower do not seem to daily drive our cars anymore. Actually lots of us have a daily driver and the Marauder is just something for nice weather. (For those with a 13 second Marauder) If you drive it everyday and it's 550hp not only will you have bad gas mileage, but you know you must keep tools, spare belts.... whatever it takes to keep it going for WHEN something goes wrong.
If something goes wrong with our daily driver and or stock car it isn't going to cost us that much unless the car has high mileage. The only thing wrong with my K5 is the exhaust needs repair and it was my fault in the first place for putting header dumpers on it. That and one rim leak. The Marauder needs new tires all around, a spare, another dyno tune and a new rear end. Not to mention the $400 worth of parking tickets I have to pay off before I can even take it out of the garage without fear of getting a boot.
I know driving my 19 year old truck has left me with less worries than a 6 year old 500hp car. With the truck I know it'll fire up and if it gives me an issue it never cost me more than 50 bucks at Autozone and never more than 20 bucks at a junkyard. With the Marauder if it gives me a problem it's usually going to cost over $300 easily unless it's something that the car came with.
I think there is a limit for how much horsepower we can truly enjoy, I'm just not sure on the amount.
We all know we cannot enjoy a 1,000 horsepower car as much as we would with a 600 or even a 350. I know from my own experience and I know others have too about what works and what ends up in the garage 98% of the year especially, if you are in an area that actually has a summer and winter. To get a car up to 1,000 horsepower isn't cheap even if you can do it yourself.
The more you modify something the less dependable it becomes. My Marauder has been down that road. Everything that came from Ford is doing fine, but the aftermarket parts love to break on me or maybe it was my own fault for being cheap when I started. A lot of us seem to have a second car as a beater that is unmodified to keep the dependability.
Most stock cars are a bore unless you spend a good chunk of change. The only cars that seem to be any fun that are stock seem to be the older cars. The problem is an old car is an old car and age doesn't mean it'll last no matter if it's a Chevy or Toyota. My Blazer has been more dependable than the Marauder lately simply because I left the engine alone. 350 horsepower is all I need for that truck and it would probably be fine with the stock 210 horsepower output I had since I rarely tow and I never seem to ever need full throttle anymore.
Having a 500+ horsepower Marauder is a gas don't get me wrong, but when it was stock it could be counted on a lot more. Those of us that have gotten our cars into the 13s or lower do not seem to daily drive our cars anymore. Actually lots of us have a daily driver and the Marauder is just something for nice weather. (For those with a 13 second Marauder) If you drive it everyday and it's 550hp not only will you have bad gas mileage, but you know you must keep tools, spare belts.... whatever it takes to keep it going for WHEN something goes wrong.
If something goes wrong with our daily driver and or stock car it isn't going to cost us that much unless the car has high mileage. The only thing wrong with my K5 is the exhaust needs repair and it was my fault in the first place for putting header dumpers on it. That and one rim leak. The Marauder needs new tires all around, a spare, another dyno tune and a new rear end. Not to mention the $400 worth of parking tickets I have to pay off before I can even take it out of the garage without fear of getting a boot.
I know driving my 19 year old truck has left me with less worries than a 6 year old 500hp car. With the truck I know it'll fire up and if it gives me an issue it never cost me more than 50 bucks at Autozone and never more than 20 bucks at a junkyard. With the Marauder if it gives me a problem it's usually going to cost over $300 easily unless it's something that the car came with.
I think there is a limit for how much horsepower we can truly enjoy, I'm just not sure on the amount.