Joewee3.5

If its turbo from the factory there will always be people that want bigger turbos and more power. Whenever fueling is ready then I will buy the biggest turbos that will fit and hit the 1/4. Street ability is different for everyone. I drive like a snail until it's go time.

engineermike

I think you hit the nail on the head, on all counts.

LastResort

Of course you think it is silly if you measure things that way. Go to any car stereo forum and you'll still find people upgrading, improving or modifying OEM stereos. However, that doesn't mean the its a thriving industry.

There will always be a group of people looking to push the envelope. My opinion is that the portion of population in search of more power will be an ever decreasing number as manufacturers are able to meet the needs of the vast majority of the population. And, at the same time the cost of entry is ever increasing.

StrawHatShinobi

The problem with your theory is this, in general manufactures have made it increasingly difficult to replace the factory unit without spending big money to make it work with the factory components, in most cases you replace the whole system to make things all copasetic. And I'm sure 99% of people would agree they'd rather tackle mechanical issues than electrical ones. Turbos, unlike stereos, are mechanical and require little to any know how to install. After doing mine it's about patience, patience patience, I'm sorry but 5 bolts, a water line and a oil line take a lot to actually screw up.

papa tiger

Something like this with the change in the way the air interacts before entering the CAC are interesting in a kit.


http://www.slowracing.com/ebf150fullracecac.htm

http://www.full-race.com/store/ecobo...ir-filter.html

And then there is the winch installed which makes a win-win for some.

engineermike

Unfortunately, I think LastResort is at least partly correct. American society, as a whole, is moving away from "high performance", in general. Kids are playing video games instead of working on bicycles, the EPA is discouraging mods through regulation, real income is down, real unemployment is up, and gas is over $3.00 a gallon for the foreseeable future. Powerboat racing and motocross are a fraction of what they used to be in popularity. Even NASCAR has gone green and is losing ground. We used to watch knight rider, smokey and the bandit, mad max, Miami vice, and air wolf. Now it's X factor, American idol, big brother, and the bachelor.

I do think, though, that the recent increase in use of oem turbocharging will cause somewhat of a resurgence in performance modification interest.

StrawHatShinobi

LOL, Mike I've been in a total resurgence of the Knight Rider, Bandit stuff. Despite what we may be watching on TV socially there will always be the fathers, grandfathers out there that remind us of the good ol' days of HP and fun. I'm sorry but there will always be those of us out there that the EPA and the gov't don't shield the truth from.
I'm sorry but I'm not blind to the fact that car companies have made absolutely NO progress in fuel efficiency in the last 10+ years. I remember the days I could buy a gas car that had some sort of displacement that got almost 40 mpg in real world driving. Ford, Chevy, Mitsu, Toyota can claim whatever they want to for EPA mileage, but from what I've seen the minority gets those numbers.
Hell even my 2.3 Mazda3 could eeck out 32 mpg having the absolute **** driven out of it, why do I want a death trap hwy approved golf cart to obtain those numbers, and that's all they seem to be able to obtain realistically.

papa tiger

Xcept there are tons and tons of trucks ! And this is affordable mod with the air hoses / tubes. Many owners are now out of warranty and looking for a better way to make it work for them. Giving room for a front winch is just an example and maybe the BOV helps get rid of moisture Plus it has Meth bungs for the full out guy. Say a garbage truck has kicked up loose and it has damaged the CAC it might make sense to try this over another one from the parts yard. There are all kinds of examples of damaged ones on vehicles. One would then be ready to upgrade a Turbo next, remove it upgrade the exhaust manifold and go. Some guys love to tinker with air flo thru manifolds and polishing ports to fit. And some do stuff just for the challenge of doing it. I personally had so much fun with small block Chevys. The Ford for transportation and the Small block for temptation. Those hundreds of hours of work and some few $1000's kept me busy.



http://www.full-race.com/store/inter...ade-kit-1.html

http://www.full-race.com/articles/Ho...ce-upgrade.php

packplantpath

There have been advances in MPG. It has just been offset by heavier vehicles.

Mat Morkin

I hope that that people still want to buy stuff, I have students loans, via a History degree I don't use to pay off. I was kind of smart when I took math, physics and CAD classes as electives, but History, what was I thinking? With that said, anyone's kids need History or Math tutor? I'll write a paper for you $100 a page! Just joking.