Technical What's the deal with Horsepower Lately?

Woh!.....

 

I still love the old pushrod V8's of my youth. Especially the high Horsepower small block Chevys. But it really amazes me to see little factory stock four cylinders putting out over 200 HP (normally aspirated), while pulling 35 mpg and a 60,000 warranty! And living longer than 200,000 miles with very little maintenance. I've been looking at a new Impala for my wife. 306 Horsepower out of less than 220 cubic inches! And this is not a hipo engine!

 

Well I have 3 cars.....my 67 Shelby put down 320 to the wheels on the dyno....my 56 should put down about 400 to the wheels....and I have a 2018 Mustang GT with a 10 speed auto that is rated 460hp and a few guys out there have run 11.90s @118MPH with....

I have no question in my mind the new GT will get down the track much faster but here is the issue....
1. My old cars feel faster - probably because they start feeling like they are going to fall apart after 70 lol
2. 460hp in the new car and no lumpy idle...no drama...feels boring

100 mile daily commute = take new car no questions asked
But when the weekend comes I grab the keys to one of the old cars...they are just more fun.
I would NEVER put a new motor in an old car...yeah I could make 1000hp with a junkyeard turbo LS swap but it would take away part of what in my opinion makes the car so much fun....besides unless you have big money once you get past a certain hp level in an older car it just becomes too much power not enough traction

 

Sometimes, it ain't just horsepower that brings satisfaction.

 

Is there still a stigma on running other than a V8? I am doing a couple 4 cyl. projects, one hooded and one open.

 

I'd describe Political Correctness as the attempt, real or perceived, to abolish context and nuance in favour of simple Freudianesque dead-giveaways ("He said 'you people'!!") In so far as we agree with Jacob Burckhardt that the essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity, this is undeniably tyrannical, and hence understandable that people should experience it so.

At the same time, in much the same way successful muggers' behaviour is ambiguously threatening until it's too late, it is the habit of nefarious privilege to equivocate around the sincerity of its statements. When challenged a heartfelt expression of naked contempt has suddenly become a mere joke, a tongue-in-cheek witticism, a good-natured jab. Thus it is equally understandable how opposition to nefarious privilege should take this reductionistic course.

But the fact that the scum for whom "militant ignorati" is actually quite an apt term like to feign nuance and plead context doesn't mean that context and nuance don't exist, nor that sacrificing context and nuance doesn't constitute a real and considerable loss.

 

CAFE is a particularly graphic example of a phenomenon which is extremely common, i.e. a transaction-cost factor arising wholly out of policy determining the dominant form of economic structure. Here the marginal cost of bringing an individual automobile to market is influenced by the product diversity attainable by the entity producing that automobile, hence the production volume attainable by that entity, hence the level of capitalization, hence the capacity inevitably to influence policy. It's a long snake which eventually bites itself in the ass, and one cannot but ask, cui bono?

If the aim really was to reduce petrochemical fuel consumption across society, I can think of several far better ways of doing so.

 

Indeed. That, rather than electronic control, is the key. And the great breakthrough was not the turbocharger but the wastegate. That and understanding metal fatigue strength, and the consequent move to large main/big-end bearing overlaps. Given these, the only limit to specific output is the absurdity of a static compression ratio of 1:1.

 

Careful now. You might get mistaken for an educated elitist.

The Dunning-Kruger aficionados don't like that sort of folk coming around here.

I wonder what Burckhardt would make of the current cultural devolution in the US.

Honouring the debts of the past, indeed.

Die Renaissance ist wirklich tot.

 

Not, which is arguably more important, to mention the Middle Ages ...

 

We seem to want a cultural revisit, here in The Colonies.

 

With a carburetor and standard advance mechanism, you get one state-of-tune.

Now that state-of-the-art is onboard computing running at >500 x 10^12 floating point operations per second, managing a car, that can drive itself in rush-hour city traffic, digital engine management of an ICE is a pedestrian endeavor.

TL;DR: as has been mentioned, brutal unreasoning horsepower and torque numbers only required a modest credit card limit.

 

"stopping being a jerk to other people."

Yeah, I wish you'd do that.

 

I can't afford HP...so I go for low and slow. lol

 

HP is like speed and ET. The old I get the faster and quicker I was.
My 311" stock GMC 6 in our highboy roadster has run 159 at El Mirage and 171 at Bonneville pushing a 32 grille shell, has 14-1 compression, a lot really really good shit in it and has never been on a dyno. I be happy if it made 300HP. Those are records and stand today.

 

torque times rpm divided by 5252 equla hp

 

I hope not because I have a little 16 valve 4 banger rated at 130 hp that pulled harder though the gears in the car it came in that will go into a light weight roadster project in the next year or so. It will never be seen here because it is way off topic but it should be fun.
Still the differences in HP between now and then has to do more with advances in technology at all levels more than anything else. In the 60's and 70's we read every article in the magazines detailing what performance could be gained by swapping to this that or another cam, swapping heads and the battle between after market intake makers was fierce at the time. I knew a racer back then that had a batch of aluminum intakes on the shelf in his shop that he had tried on his car in hopes of knocking a tenth or two off his time in the quarter. I was pretty impressed with the car at the time because he was running in the 12's with it.
My niece's hubby runs a tuner shop over around Roy WA somewhere and has turned out a lot of OT rigs that pull 700+ hp with turbos.

 

Or a way to shut down opposing political thought, just label it politically incorrect, or racist, and shut down all discussion. It's very effective.

 

And that's just fine.

Far to many people confuse their Constitutionally enumerated right to free speech as a right to a delivery platform, and an audience.

The owner of this board could arbitrarily did decide that any previous and future discussions of Chrysler products are forbidden, and that's fine (same with air bags, clips, etc.)

That is not a violation of free speech, either.

Why?

Your Constitutionally enumerated right to free speech pertains only to what the government can do to a citizen. It is only a limit on government (and who doesn't love those?!)

If citizens do not care for the speech of other citizens, they are free to shut it down.

Post about fitting 26" wheels, and test that for yourself.

 

It's everywhere, shrink the package, raise the numbers, especially true ar car events and grocery stores. There once was a 1957 270 hp 283 with duntov cam, they did make hp.

 

Well, a 4000# car with 300 hp equals 13.3 pound per hp, not exactly smokin'. My 2160# A pickup with a low hp 283 easily has <10 # per horsepower. I ain't afraid of no minivan.

 

Of course the 1st Amendment only applies to gov't action against speech, I never said anything about the 1A. I referred to shutting down opposing political discussion by the intellectually lazy or intellectually dishonest who cannot compete on an equal footing with opposing political thought, & who find it easier to simply apply a derogative label and shut down their opponent rather than address their argument or position on an issue.

 

What spins my brain is watching programs like "Leno's Garage" when they test the new ZR1.
Wasn't the 770HP, or the 204+ top end but the 25MPG on the freeway. Long live technology.

 

Label me PC (Probably Confused). One minute we're bench racing HP and the next writing intros for Mensa International. Hope I can hang with the HP crowd.... got kicked out of Mensa for inflating the numbers.

 

The hot rod is 2700# and dynoed @ 465 hp and 599 lbs torque (at the crank)... That's 5.8# per hp. It won't hook up the 235/75R15's in first gear on the street.
It's like a hog on ice, but it sure is a lot of fun!

 

Sometimes it is easier to short to ground, rather than finding the switch.

I'd love to stay here all day, discussing the vicissitudes of changing the minds of the possibly ill-informed, if I thought it would do any good.

Frankly, I'd rather go talk to my horses. At least they listen, and can be trained to do new things.

 

What happened to Horsepower? I have to go find the threads that use the word "dizzy"....
I'm not breaking out my copy of Mr. Webster's book to keep up here!

 

Tolerance and acceptance of everything and everyone,,, except of those who truly & genuinely hold conservative viewpoints and beliefs.
It's Just the same old hypocrisy viewed from the other end.

 

So if your going to label someone, whats's the label for someone that has "Tolerance and acceptance of everything and everyone" as long as they follow the rule of law?