I've made around 40 passes with it so far. 30 of those were last year with the stock rear (4:10's) all on drag radials, launching from 2000-4000rpm, ran a bunch of 13.0x's and two 12 sec passes and didn't break anything........yet!

If you are on your stock clutch there's a good chance you could smoke it with a few hard runs at the track. But at 70K it's about time for a new one anyway

 

Tell him old cars are junk.

 

The problem may not be that things are going to break, ut that once you start racing you will get bitten by the bug...And you will begin to upgrade everyhitng anyways to go faster. So dont worry about fixing stuff that breaks, cause when it does, it's only a good excuse to add a performace version of the part in its place...I wish my motor would seize up so i coulkd have an excuse to get a stroked LT4

 

IMO, this is the best response so far.

trust me, "the bug" is VERY hard to fight off. you go a few times and you're hooked. next thing you know you're adding CAI and cat back, and before you know it, you're dropping in a stroker.

if you can TRULLY be satisfied with keeping your car stock and just using it as a weekend warrior every now and then, you shouldnt have any problems AS LONG AS YOU MAINTAIN IT.

anything can break, just remeber that. you want somthing that wont break as MUCH, lease/buy a NEW car with warranty.




jon

 

any car you drive, if you race it, something will brake. my friend has a VR4, and he spend more than me in fixing stuff...sorry, no race car is reliable...camaro seems to be a pretty reliable sport car that has a lot of power

 

Take it from another "old guy," you will start breaking things when you start using your car hard. It's a machine and all machines break.

Having said that however, I must point out that I make a distinction between the notion beating on your car, and using it hard.

Beating on the car in my mind involves high rpm clutch dumps, vicious stabs at the throttle etc. Using your car hard involves letting the vehicle components "load up" progressivley in a non-violent manner.

Yes I know it sounds like hocus pocus. Think of it like this. It is a fact that you can apply ferocious pressures to any component in a vehicle drivetrain if you build loads up progressively. It is also a fact that you will smash the he*& out of vehicle components if you frequently "shock load" it.

If you want to use your car hard, you better plan on rigorous maintenace schedules for ALL fluid levels. You better plan on being constantly vigilant for anything that looks or sounds even slightly out of the ordinary. You better plan on fixing these "out of the ordinary"issues immediately. You should be aware that you are at a disadvantage here because you will often not recognize something as being out of the ordinary, if you have limited experience with machinery. IOW, you often won't see or hear the trouble coming at its earliest stages because of your inexperience. As a result, it will cost you more to use a car hard than it would an old guy who is attuned to the workings of machinery.

In any case, you will have a lot of fun with the car, if you use it hard, and you will undoubtedly learn a lot, but you will have to do a lot of maintenance, to keep repair costs from going through the roof.

If you start beating on the car it will break in ways you can't even imagine, in places where you can least afford to have it break, at times when you cannot afford to have it break, and the price tags will be much more than you imagine.

How do I know this?

I learned the hard way: with my wallet. It took me years to learn what kind actions were going to cost me money and which kind of actions were relatively inexpensive.

Another note: Very few young men intuitively know what is going to cost money and what is safe. Most will learn these things the same way I did.

Bottom line: your dad knows that you are probably going to learn the hard way; he knows that this will cause you a good deal of grief; he knows that this will cost you a lot more money than you think.

Are you going to follow that advice: Not likely.

So have fun and most importantly be safe. I am sure he would probably rather die than go to the morgue to identify you, or your friends.

 

Reliability? You picked the wrong car.

Serioulsy, I have really had mild problems. If you plan on racing expect to blow out rearends, water pumps, header gaskets, etc. Drive it softly and you won't have any problems.

It's an easy enough car to work on yourself and learning to work on your own car is invaluable. My advice? If you're young save your money. Don't even get a car. Listen to what Janny says.

 

Then I sure would not let my friends drive it.

I think they hold up as well as anyone could expect. If you don't dog it an take care of maintenance, it will be faithful enough.

 

i'd ahfta agree with everyone here, drive it hard, ya break syuff. nice and easy still break stuff, just not as much.


P.S.- i wouldnt show your pops this thread.

 

IMO they're not too bad, Mine has 168000 miles on it and the motor still runs great. However, like any other car you will have to fix stuff eventually, and you'll have to replace more stuff if you drag race. My car has 10 passes on it and I've only had to replace the opti. Take care of the car and you shouldn't have many problems.

But I don't care if I woulda had to replace the entire drivetrain, just the fact that I have my dream car and I get to race it makes it all worth while to me.

 

My '94 6spd has 86K miles and about 150 runs down the track. So far I haven't had to replace a thing. This is on street tires though.

Aaron

 

I got a good example here for you, hopefull it helps. Take my car, a 94 Z that I've had for almost 4 years. Only things I've replaced because I had to were the IAC valve and the clutch disc and PP. Probably could have waited on the clutch, but I had the cash so I did it (upgraded a little to the LT4 stuff because I had an excuse). Did the intake gasket leak fix myself and a few mods (they are all in my list, I like to to all my stuff myself). So 4 years and I've never had any serious problems with my car and she's almost at 100K. Now take my buddy, who used to have a 93Z. He used to drive it around in 2nd gear on the highway at 60mph. 3rd at 95. Why? Just to hear the engine. Never shifted out of 1st in town unless he really had to, ie he was speeding 60 in a 45. Got the car with less than 35K on it. It died less than 2 years after he got it, fuel pump and cylinders shot. Probably the rear too, it was making a new noises that it shouldn't have. Moral of the story, beating on your car and not taking care of it results in it's destruction. I don't drive my car like a maniac all the time (sometime when I feel like it, but that's not very often). He did. Still got my car. He's got a Ford Probe right now. Take care of everything right and you won't have as many problems. But they will exist, everything mechanical eventually breaks. That's why you should upgrade it before it breaks. By the way, does anyone out there have $2000 I could have for a 12 bolt? Might as well upgrade my rear end now that I think about it.

 

Road racing or drag racing? Drag guys, especially with a 6 speed break rears. Road racing, I made over 400 RW and never had any problems with the stock rear. This was all on a stock replacement clutch.