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“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
To the guy in the blue Civic...
Once you have reached a station in life where you are showing up for work clean-shaven and wearing a tie, the fart can needs to come off the tailpipe. I'm just sayin'.
Neither. I say that the deep, rumble of a V8 engine is far more socially acceptable than the afore mentioned "fart can" popular among the street racers.
I am of the "more go and less show" school of thought. If I had to drive a Civic, I'd rather have 300hp at the wheels and a stock looking exterior and audible but understated exhaust, instead of five grand in body mods with the stock hamster wheel under the hood.
Of course, I have to fess up that I DID remove the sound baffles from the intake path of my own Q-ship. My only purpose was to improve airflow, I swear...it had nothing to do with hearing the supercharger wail like a banshee on boost, honest...
@benEzra, permit me to introduce you to the honorable and ancient Dodge D/Dart. 273CID V8 (smallest displacement version of the 318/340 small block, I think), 275bhp, 4.86 rear, D/Stock off the showroom floor (and sold with no warranty for that reason), and not hardly a durned thing anywhere on it to tell you what it was. Just a plain ol' Dodge Dart...honest. ;-)
My favorite part of those is that they reduce the back-pressure that Honda designs into their engines for peak performance. So now the car sounds like S**t, and runs as well as it sounds. Very cleaver indeed!
My Car could stand to be a whiff louder than it is, but the engineers didn't leave much power up for grabs on the exhaust side. (The intake being of course another matter altogether!)
hah! I drove my old 91 civic around with NO tailpipe (or muffler, or exhaust pipe, whole dang system just plopped off my car at a red light one day with no warning) for two weeks before I had the money to get new. Kept waiting for some cop to pull me over for excessive noise, never did get pulled over!
I suspect the fart can drivers have the same mentality as the local Hardly riders: Hey, lets make lots of noise to disguise the lack of power! Back when I used to play with hotrods, people would treat you like a pariah if it was loud but obviously lacking HP. Ah, for the days of turbo Corvair mufflers behind the Big Block in my '57 Chevy Ragtop. Looked almost stock, until it was fired up! Then, the rocking car, just idling, kind of gave the game away. No one challenged me at stoplights, sigh... ( Could yank the front wheels off the pavement shifting second!)
You're making me feel old.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking for an exhaust on my truck and the criteria second to flow is that the noise must not be significantly greater than stock.
Does this make me mature, or make me a crotchety old man?
Neither. I say that the deep, rumble of a V8 engine is far more socially acceptable than the afore mentioned "fart can" popular among the street racers.
ReplyDeleteI am of the "more go and less show" school of thought. If I had to drive a Civic, I'd rather have 300hp at the wheels and a stock looking exterior and audible but understated exhaust, instead of five grand in body mods with the stock hamster wheel under the hood.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I have to fess up that I DID remove the sound baffles from the intake path of my own Q-ship. My only purpose was to improve airflow, I swear...it had nothing to do with hearing the supercharger wail like a banshee on boost, honest...
@benEzra, permit me to introduce you to the honorable and ancient Dodge D/Dart. 273CID V8 (smallest displacement version of the 318/340 small block, I think), 275bhp, 4.86 rear, D/Stock off the showroom floor (and sold with no warranty for that reason), and not hardly a durned thing anywhere on it to tell you what it was. Just a plain ol' Dodge Dart...honest. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI always called those things "Butt Trumpets". Ones had a Coffey can chromed and end used it as a tail pipe end to insult a friends car.
ReplyDeleteAround here they're known as 'El Boxo del Farto'.
ReplyDeleteAll the illegal aliens around here drive those, even the IA chicks.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of those is that they reduce the back-pressure that Honda designs into their engines for peak performance. So now the car sounds like S**t, and runs as well as it sounds. Very cleaver indeed!
ReplyDeleteButt trumpet, LOL.
ReplyDeleteMy Car could stand to be a whiff louder than it is, but the engineers didn't leave much power up for grabs on the exhaust side. (The intake being of course another matter altogether!)
Jim
Damn, Tam, are you in Santa Fe, NM this week? That's exactly what I drive, and what I do for work.
ReplyDeleteJake
jakeblade9 +at+ yahoo
Well if you can call assistant night manager at the burger joint a sufficient "station in life". :)
ReplyDeleteHe needs to upgrade now that he's respectable.
ReplyDeletehah! I drove my old 91 civic around with NO tailpipe (or muffler, or exhaust pipe, whole dang system just plopped off my car at a red light one day with no warning) for two weeks before I had the money to get new. Kept waiting for some cop to pull me over for excessive noise, never did get pulled over!
ReplyDeleteI suspect the fart can drivers have the same mentality as the local Hardly riders: Hey, lets make lots of noise to disguise the lack of power! Back when I used to play with hotrods, people would treat you like a pariah if it was loud but obviously lacking HP.
ReplyDeleteAh, for the days of turbo Corvair mufflers behind the Big Block in my '57 Chevy Ragtop. Looked almost stock, until it was fired up! Then, the rocking car, just idling, kind of gave the game away. No one challenged me at stoplights, sigh... ( Could yank the front wheels off the pavement shifting second!)