Why hop up a motor?

You have been into Hot Rods since a teenager.....you have owned your 1931 five window Chevy since 1965 and started Hot Rodding it 3 years ago.....is your 1931 five window Chevy original? Also, if not the original motor (engine to be intellegent) what does it have in it.

 

If you have to ask, then no amount of explaining will ever help you understand.

 

twobit, you need to reread and study your question. and then LIGHTEN UP!!
"the only stupid question is the one NOT asked"--not necessarily true
"if you have to ask you won't understand"--- true
regards,
retard

 

I'm working on my first hotrod project. This past Saturday I jumped hard on it from a dead stop for the first time since installing a racing converter.

If you could have felt the way I felt when that hopped-up engine began to break loose the tires you'd understand exactly why people do it. It was a tremendous rush to hear the RPMs climb and to feel the drivetrain bang into another gear as the smoke started to boil in the air all around me.

Awesome, man.

 

If you approach hot rodding from a purely pratical standpoint you are missing 95% of the fun. If you would rather have a quiet smooth running engine than a open headered lumpy bad-ass sounding multi-carbed engine then you are missing the point completely. You might not need it, some say you will never use it but who wouldn't like to have a few extra inches?

 

Booo-hooo! I'm telling momma on you!!! I am soooo hurt. Not!!

If you look at my profile you might see that I have been a hot rodder at heart for about 52 years, just now working on my first. A '31 Chevy 5 window with a STOCK 305 sbc.

What prompted the question is the fact that that motor motivated the big Impala quite well, so I would not see the point in hopping up that motor just to gain some extra "go" when I get it running in that light coupe.

The first one that says, "Who cares", wins the big jerk award!!

Regards, Twobit

 

I believe you just answered your own question.

Regards, retard

 

Reason #19 from thehotrodguy

So my wife won't want to ride in it

 

You beat me to it .

 

Eh you boys need a beer and a blow job. You've all jumped on the same bandwagon....safety in numbers I guess.


If being a RETARD or a CARNIVAL FREAK, means NOT hopping up your engine and being happy with it STOCK...............then I guess that makes ME a fucking CARNIVAL FREAK.

Not every engine I own NEEDS to be overly done. Sometimes, STOCK will do just fine.

**And for the BAND WAGON NERDS, when I say STOCK, I don't mean a banger in a model T. I mean the STOCK 348 Chevrolet with tri power you SHOE HORN into it.

 

clean it up, paint it up, tune it up, dress it up, drive that way until you're bored with the performance then HOP IT UP!!!!! meanwhile lighten up and have fun with it!!
can i still be in the running for the BIG JERK AWARD?

 

My advise is to stay as far away from a dragstrip as possible. The first time you go is a LOT of fun. The second time you go and run the same et, things start to get a little bit boring and as you get used to the car it actually feels like you are slowing down a little. Then you get to thinking, how can I make it go a little faster? It's all down hill from there. If you run faster than you've ever run before this week, it's just the mark to beat next week. And THAT'S why you keep modifying your engine (and everything else).
Larry T

 

No beer but I will take a Gatorade and a a a a a a.

 

This guy has got to be kidding us!

Two Bit, if your serious there is only one reason...

more speed = more fun.

there is your answer.

Wait! I have another reason...

An expensive new high-tech BMW driven by a total choad revs up and looks over at me in my two-ton 53 year old car, which does have the original engine, "hopped-up" of course. The light changes and I pull away from him. As I gain a car length on him I shift into third and break my tires lose on purpose causing him to smell my melted tire smoke before I gain yet another length on him.

The look on his face at the next light is why.

Actually now that I think about it, this reason falls under the more speed = more fun equation. I guess there really is only one reason.

 

quite well...now THERE'S a subjective phrase. i've never been in a car powered by a 305 that i considered quite well motivated. my '84 delta wasn't quite well motivated by the higher torqued 307 and it's about the same size. as tomcat46 said, it wasn't enough. first was the exhaust, then the carb and no more computer...then the 461 olds w/ enough torque to lengthen the day if i head due east at full throttle. now THAT'S motivated quite well. then again, that's not quite well motivated (subjectively) to some other guy with a blown big block in a lighter car. all in perspective my misunderstanding FNG.

for a first hot rod, you're starting with a pretty light job...well aside from all the splinters you're going to get playing with the chevy. you wanna know the point if hopping up that motor? put it in stock, then add some borrowed performance stuff (they all bolt on to SBC's so i hear, never owned one) drive it for a week and take them off. if you don't get it then, GIVE the fucking car to a real hot rodder then tie that 305 to a chain and list it for sale at the marina.

 

Yah no beer for me either. But I'm always up for a slurpie.

 

Hey come on I didn't think mine was bad

 

Had a Slurpee yesterday.........banana cherry..........and without the a a a a a.

 

Well my goodness! There's a fine how-dee-do for 'ya.
You might want to check that attitude there feller. If the HAMB is so well known for knowledge and advice, and so many people here are giving you a hard time........... Well, maybe the HAMB isn't the problem.

Asking a question like that on a site like this is paramount to going to the Al-queda home page and asking "Why do you hate Americans so much?"..... No matter how innocent and well meaning your question might be, your gonna take a little crap.... And if you cant stand the crap, maybe you should not be hanging out at the shit-house.

"Why do we hop up our motors?".....
Why did you spend $50 on those shoes when a $15 pair would have done just fine?
Why did you buy a t-shirt with your favorite team logo on it when a plain white would have worked just as well?
Why did you spend $60 eating at the steakhouse last night when you could have gotten just as full at McDonalds for $5.67 ?

.............Or are you the kind of guy that wears $15 shoes, plain white T's, and only orders off the $1 menu?????? Hmmm. Your question kinda' explains itself if you look at it in that light.

You either "get it", or you dont.
If you dont "get it", then you dont get the hot chick... You might fall in love with and marry a fine girl, but she will never be the "smokin hot babe" that other guys drool over.
If you dont "get it", then you dont hang out with the "in crowd".... You may have great friends, but they will never be the popular people you WISH you could hang out with.
If you dont "get it", then you dont get to be the guy that other people admire.... And when you see "that guy" that other people admire soooo much, and you think to yourself "What's he got that I dont???".......... Well, there's your answer.... He gets it!

 

A BANANA and CHERRY SLURPEE.............there is a joke in there.

 

You're right about one thing: If you have to ask, you're "not a true hot rodder".

_________________________________

Too bad youth is wasted on the young..........

 

You keep the 305, give me the '31 Chevy. I'll give you a real nice vega or something that you can handle with all that power.

 

ha ha ha ha ha.>;-)

 

1. Come to the drags in August.
2. Spend some time at the start line.
3. Spend some time at the far end.

If after that you still have to ask that question, you may not be.

 

You made a fundamental mistake when you called YOUR question legitimate..build your car anyway you want,or sell it to somebody who DOES get it..You've gotten the best answers possible to your asinine question already,so go cruise in your Kia..

 

Id sooner hop up my Flatty then throw a 350 in my Shoebox!!

 

a hopped up motor works way better than a box of exlax...that's why

 

Why do we 'hop up' engines???


Well, let me put it this way: stock engines are made to be driven by your average John Q. Public. That means the engine has to start nicely, idle smoothly, and not hiccup when driving around town. It also has to last long enough to get out of the warranty period, even if John Public does ZERO maintenence on it.

To accomplish all of the above, comprimises are made. Compression ratios are lowered, so John can burn the cheap gas. Timing is conservative, so John can lug the motor up a hill in the summer time and not have the engine ping itself to death. Camshafts are small, and lift is low, to let the valve springs live longer, and to act as a kind of built-in rev limiter.

Hot-rodding corrects this. We can build an engine that is not burdened with smog stuff, and because we know how to properly drive a car, we can get more aggressive with the engine!

We can raise the compression ratio
We can put in a big, lumpy cam
We can put a bunch of carbs on
We can get aggressive with the timing

All of this equals a more powerful, more efficient, crisper running engine, and one that is loads more fun in a lightweight car.

If you are building a cruiser, by all means keep the engine stock.

If you are building a HOT ROD, then correct all the factory comprimises and GO FAST!!!

Nick,
Thinks stock motors have their place...Just not in MY Hot-Rod!

 

twobit, what exactly did you retire from if I may be so bold to ask? I am just curious what kept you on the sidelines of hot rodding for 52 years...

 

It depends, I suppose, on the person, the car, and the intended use.

If you install that 305, and YOU are pleased with the performance, mileage, looks, and road manners that result, then you have no need to go further. That's fine...it's your car, after all. That's all that really matters. Not our damn business...ain't our money, ain't our car.

I know a gentleman, in his 80s, who has built several '53-'56 F-100s...just completed the latest in the summer of '07. It has a mild 302/C4, and does just fine for him. The previous one has a 360 FE (actually FT). It works just fine for him as well. I would say that he was smarter to go with the 302 this time around, because the performance is virtually the same, yet it weighs considerably less, therefore the truck handles better....it also gets about 4 mpg better mileage. But he had thought that he wanted a big block in the second truck, so he used one.

The truck he built before those two is a '53 with its original, stock, flathead. So you can see the progression of power, so to speak. Not enough...then a perceived "too much is just right" (yeah, debatable with the 360 ),...then a good compromise, third time around.

I might add that he thinks my putting a 460 in mine is ridiculous overkill...let alone what's coming after the 460.

For myself, I have rarely seen any vehicle from any manufacturer that couldn't be improved upon in one form or another, and most typically, it's the drivetrain.

The bottom line is that, truthfully, most of us see your question as slightly odd...either because most people here tend to want excess power (wisely or not!)...or because it appears to us that you are (to an extent) trying to justify your own decision to "keep it stock", by indirectly criticizing those who choose to "hop it up".

Or, if you don't agree with that conclusion, then perhaps we could say that you feel that your 305 will be just fine...yet you have some vague, nagging doubts, because many others seem to be going farther, and you wonder- just a wee bit- if you are missing a bet somehow.

If you don't intend to race it...don't intend to professionally show it...don't drive like a jackass on the street...but do intend to drive it a lot...use the 305. You can always modify it, or more wisely go to a 350 or 383, in the future, and it will just drop in to place without a problem.