First, thanks to Mark for keeping this list going.
Joe Curry wrote:
>
> Mark J Bradakis wrote:
>
> > Now, on to Spitfires. Someone brought up the old chestnut about 1 bhp per
> > cubic inch of displacement equates to a sporting motor. That is a tad
>dated.
>
> Yes, by todays standards, that is dated. But then so are the cars we
> are describing.
>
> I apply the "rule of thumb" because it was applicable when the cars were
> new. And like you say, few among us can afford the tricks to make it
> above that mark (pun intended).
>
> The questions stems from claims of 125 hp from a California 1500
> engine. I am unable to extract enough logic to determine how this could
> possibly be accomplished on a street machine, while still being able to
> get the car through the emissions testing.
>
> Any clues?
>
Well, I think I have an explaination. See, Laura and Nigel live
down in So-Cal. So I'm betting they run chrome 2 inch exhaust tips and
a 'Type R' sticker ;-)
Or maybe it's the little red bottle in the trunk ...
Seriously, there are ways to bend, pervert, distort, or even break
emmision laws. Not that anyone on this list would be anything but a
model citizen <VBG>. If you have money and motivation,
you can run any motor mods you want.
One thing that has bothered me about emmision laws, is that
the emmision requirements killed power output, which made all
the small car makers go to bigger motors to keep the same
(or even less) power. So here we are burning MORE gas so our
cars will run cleaner.
BTW, I do support emmision laws. I've been to cities in countries that
had little or no emmision laws, and they were MUCH worse than LA.
I think that a lot of the '70s smog stuff tends to make the car run much
worse (and probably pollute more) unless everything is
working just right.
--
Reed Mideke rmideke@interbase.com
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