On Sat, 13 Mar 1999 DANMAS@aol.com wrote:
> > Whoa, hoss... Whoa! ....WHOA when I say "Whoa"!!!!!!!
>
> Greg,
>
> Neigh, neigh, my friend, stopping will NOT be a problem with this car!
>
> First of all, it is not being built for use on a race track. If it were, the
> design goals would be drastically different, and brake upgrades would be near
> the top of the list. On a road race course, brake improvements are often worth
> as much as horsepower improvements.
>
Dan a lot of us fall victim to the bigger is better thing. Brakes
in a hop-up situation are only one piece if the picture(I used brakes
only as an example) In search for more power, people should consider
that they ARE building a hybrid street/race car and should consider
the "whole car" as a system and upgrade the entire vehicle along
with the power train.
I am reminded of the fellow I bought my SU carbs and manifold from.
He was a hot rod weenie and was installing a 350 V8 in his TR4A.
the motor was shorter than the TR's 4 banger which allowed him to move
the motor back a bit from the stock set up. He then cut up
much of the tub to route the headers. He installed a Corvette rear
and suspension but left the front pretty much stock. He also used Vette
brakes all around. From what I heard, second hand, The car was a
beast to drive, and would like to swap front for rear at the drop
of a hat. Despite this he continued to drive the car until he
really got into the gas one day and drove it into a tree. Under
serious acceleration the car didn't answer the helm at all. Whe he
hit the brakes the car was too light to take much advantage from
the fat tires it was riding on. Granted TR frames are where much
of the car's strength comes from, there is some strength that
comes from the body. Of course since he chopped up much of the front
end there wasn't a whole lot of protection when steel met wood.
The car was ill conceived, poorly executed and came damn closed to
killing it's owner.
That is why I was concerned about considering the entire system.
Greg Petrolati
gpetrola@prairienet.org 1962 TR4 (CT4852L)
"That's not a leak... My car is just marking its territory!"
Greg Petrolati, Champaign, Illinois
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