[geeks] Off-road trucks (was F*n sweet car..)

[Brian Hechinger]

On Fri, May 10, 2002 at 10:46:59PM -0400, Kurt Huhn wrote:
> Simple - the Magnum engines (318, 360) are based on the LA block from
> years ago - same displacement, same inner workings - pushrod, single
> cam, etc.  Minor upgrades to increase reliability and output, but still
> very much the same as the 318 that I had in my '73 Satelite.  There's
> electronics in there, it is ODB-II compliant, and it has a PCM, so it's
> not like it's all old - but the basic design is nice and easy.

very cool.  one of the downsides of the X is the engine.  my god, what a
mess of wires, hoses and pipes.  i'm no car expert, but talk about really
over complicated.  i love my '79 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce.  there is somewhere
in the range of like 3 moving parts in the entire engine compartment. ;)

> Putting a supercharger on it is as easy as pie.  Vortech makes a kit
> that bolts right on, really very easy to do, and it adds about 30% to

see, on the X you are talking new programming to really take advantage of it.
although there are no aftermarket kits, just the factory one, so.....

on the other hand, what i'd *really* like is for someone to do a chip for the
X.  clean it up a bit, and optimize it for 92-94 octane, none of this 87 crap.

although i have yet to get the SC put on it, gotta do that one of these days.
it's not so bad now, but i'm looking to put a LOT of weight on the thing in
offroad hardware, i can only see it getting more sluggish.

> the output with no tuning or exhaust work.  Minor tuning can make it do
> %50, and if you know what you're doing you can make it do close to 80%. 

hell %50 is 255HP and 300lb-ft.  those are numbers i could live with. ;)

> But that gets expensive, and a that point you really want a CTD anyway
> :)

4000lb-ft torque?  sure, i'll take that. :)

> I would *love* to see a TD in an X - that would ROCK!

if the engine doesn't die, then after the warranty expires i will consider it
anyway.  hell, that's 5 years, 100000 miles, so it won't be any time soon
anyhow. ;)

-brian
-- 
"when it absolutely has to be there oh, sometime in the next few weeks"