the torture test

[SFRT]

Ok so I went out and tried to break my car today. heavy downtown rush hour traffic, tight parking spots,mega blast stoplight to stoplight antics, steep crazy hills. fast curves ( 19th thru the park for Daves amusement) at speed, parking lots, freewy etc etc etc. 100 stops and starts, maybe 150 miles total, in and around San Francisco.

nothing broke, nothing boiled over, re-tightened a few loose screws after the days events. I did all the stuff that caused previous 'old cars' of mine to croak. nothing did.

I am a happy camper.

[tan top]

sounds like you gave it a good run    ...................  nice job 

[SFRT]

yeah I think its pretty much good to go, fussed with the idle a bit is all I really did after the test out. Disc brakes are starting to 'bite' nicely, they where reaaaaaaal soft at first. I need another 100 miles of 'normal' driving to finish breaking in the clutch, then I figure I can swap out the break in oil and proceed to get ON it some.

[Mike DC]

 
Good for you.  That's how you end up with a car that actually gets driven and enjoyed. 



And a car that's been idiot-proofed like that is so rare, that's what trips me out.

Probably more than half the "restored" cars in this hobby would fail to meet the real-world standards that their owners would require from a $40/day rental car. 

[PocketThunder]

Did you drive the bullitt route with the same speeds 

[Hemidog]

Did you drive the bullitt route with the same speeds 

If they used SFRT's car in the movie, McQueen would be the one in the ditch!

[SFRT]

to actually drive the Bullitt route youde have to be able to instantaneously teleport from one end of town to the other. I havent installed that feature yet! also, i dont have enough green volkswagens or 6 hubcaps..lol.

one reason I am trying to make the car as sturdy as possible is that my wife will be driving it a lot and i kinda dont want her dead.

man..over the build period there where many times when I felt insane, but its all worth it to be able to get up in the morning and pull this out of the garage to drive to work

[Magnumcharger]

 

[Brock Samson]

 

You asked me about the stance Frank and at the show it sure looked down in front but i see now that is not the case at all....
of course she's brand new and you got a few little trick items that might make it taunter then my now ten year old suspension, i think you said your runnin a mix of rubber and poly and all these factors will mean stance differences but i'm sure mine is at least an inch lower in front.
  Anyhow she's lookin' great and I'm glad the droopy turn signal stalk is the worse disaster you've encountered... may you both enjoy many miles of trouncing the hills, miles and other lesser autos. 
I was gonna put these pics on the other massive thread but I'll put them here, your chargers baby pictures frank the others were the sonograms
and these are what approx 12 hours after the birthing?..  I bet after all those 20 hour stints up till sunday midnight It felt like a breach birth..
I had fun at the BBQ and have 200 other photos (no, not all of your car Frank) I'll post when I got time to waste at the computer...

[SFRT]

that sundaya t the picnic I hadnt adjusted the front ride hiegth or done the alignement yet so it was nose down, i had em do it up monday. I wanted as much of a 60's ' high boy' look as possible as oppossed to a 70's airshock/shackle look. its sitting nice and high and level now. I might even go up a bit more.

[SFRT]

so todays was a nice day. sunny and hot so I didnt feel like going to work and decided to further test the scow. this time hi speed on the freeway.

drove down the beach and got on the 280 which is a great huge sweeping freeway with lots of long stretches where theres no on ramps or cops able to hide and I let her rip...80...90..100..110...120 and then I hit some traffic and back off. A guy in a real nice big BMw paced me and I think I freaked him out a little.

I am satisfied..no vibration bands, car still felt like it had plenty of legs at 120, rode very smoothly, no porpoising or anything. then we proceeded to do another 50 miles or so into San Jose at 80-90 mph, pulled off and checked her out for any problems, leaks..everything was fine.

so I reckon...some time down the road I am going to have to see if I can get some track time somewhere and find out what max top end is.