Why modify cars

[obi_waynne]

Why do you modify your car? What drives you? What are your aspirations, goals and inspirations?

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

Well I wanted to go faster at the track and couldn't afford an M3

 

[stamford]

I didn't set out to modify it as I have, it just happened. I guess when you have the racing bug you will always find something to improve over standard and to make the car fit your style and become as one.

 

[old-git]

Why do you modify your car? Because I enjoy it.

What drives you? My ambition.

What are your aspirations, goals and inspirations? To build the fastest (over 1/4 mile) UK road legal RWD Elan in the world.

 

[obi_waynne]

I want to smooth out the compromises manufacturers make and have a fast, fun to drive safe car.

I just want to enjoy my car, and driving in general. You can't do that in a slow car that doesn't handle very well.

 

[HDi fun]

I'm actually a bit of misfit here, the only mods I've ever undertaken are a couple of Diesel ECU remaps; fitment of season specific tyres; a HID dipped beam retrofit and minor audio upgrade.

I'm a bit of a misfit everywhere really, HDi doesn't follow the herd in general.

 

[old-git]

Follow the herd and, at best, you stay with the herd.

 

[TNradcon]

I want to get the most out of my twin turbos, and I'm an adrenaline junkie.

 

[old-git]

I want to get the most out of my twin turbos, and I'm an adrenaline junkie.

Sorry, but there is no know cure, you will just have to live with the affliction.

 

[HDi fun]

Follow the herd and, at best, you stay with the herd.

Exactly. Bit like the rat race. Even if you win the race you remain a rat.

 

[old-git]

But the fastest rat

 

[HDi fun]

But the fastest rat

Or the least ethical rat which has won by illicit means !!

 

[old-git]

Could be. However, rats don't have moral or ethical 'rules' like us to guide them, so nothing would be illicit or illegal as far as they are concerned

This has strayed a tad off topic

 

[HDi fun]

Yep!!

 

[TNradcon]

As far as illicit, my state (obviously I am a "yank") has no emission checks. So I don't find myself crossing any lines. Ethically, that huge semi truck next to me is spitting far more into the air than I am. I don't imagine you guys see too many lifted trucks pouring black smoke. I see those all the time. I do live in Tennessee

 

[HDi fun]

TN is massively less densley populated than the UK and there aren't enough vehicles on the road to cause a problem. It's a nice way to live. Would I be allowed to emigrate to TN??

 

[TNradcon]

For sure. Don't know about your car with the steering wheel on the passenger side though.

 

[HDi fun]

For sure. Don't know about your car with the steering wheel on the passenger side though.

I have often wondered why UK, Australia and Japan have kept to the RHD arrangement when the rest of the world adopted LHD.

 

[TNradcon]

Do Australia and Japan drive on the left side like the UK? If so, I'd guess safer viewing angles. If not, I'm clueless. Unless you deliver mail, they are illegal in the US. I don't know if opiates have been a scourge in the UK, but they are an epidemic here. Because of that, cops will pull you over for ANYTHING. RHD would last 30-60 minutes on the road, before getting pulled over and impounded. What are petrol and diesel running on your side of the pond?

 

[HDi fun]

Do Australia and Japan drive on the left side like the UK? If so, I'd guess safer viewing angles. If not, I'm clueless. Unless you deliver mail, they are illegal in the US. I don't know if opiates have been a scourge in the UK, but they are an epidemic here. Because of that, cops will pull you over for ANYTHING. RHD would last 30-60 minutes on the road, before getting pulled over and impounded. What are petrol and diesel running on your side of the pond?

They do.

Viewing angles will be the same. Driving a LHD car on the LH side of the road will cause vision problems and vice versa.

Not sure why opiates would make any difference. I am currently using opiates - obviously not whilst driving.

 

[TNradcon]

Then I'd say that all three countries are committed. Too costly to change.

 

[HDi fun]

Definitely too costly now. It would have been better to do so when everyone else did.

 

[TNradcon]

Same reason why we are still on standard and the rest of the world is metric. It would rape my brain if the US went metric

 

[HDi fun]

Here in Britain we've managed the typical British half-witted changeover from imperial to metric. Road signs still use imperial units and car speedos must be marked as such. Yet under EU law weighed transactions (fruit and veg, for example) must take place in metric units. The merchant can display imperial units but the actual fiscal transaction has to be metric.

We are an EU state yet we chose to retain old money (£s and pence).

It's certainly not Great Britain. Braindead Britain maybe.

 

[TNradcon]

Way off topic, buuuut I think y'all would be better off out of the EU

 

[HDi fun]

I disagree. I think we need a United States of Europe much like you have the United States of America.

 

[TNradcon]

I dread the day when my taxes go up because California can no longer function as a governing entitity. The problem isn't limited to one state or one country. Everyone now thinks they can spend forever and there won't be an end to the rainbow. It has good principals, but I'm not a fan of having to support everyone, regardless of their input or how much they take away from our communal pie.

 

[MADRod]

Much like old git who is actually a fair bit younger than me I wanted to create a fast car & if possible a very fast car as it turned out managed to create a very very very fast car . Didn't expect to set World records though. That came because I could not stop the addictive race for Power. Ive another engine ready early 2016. Im 70 on Wednesday & this is my last engine but I said that at 65 .

 

[HDi fun]

I dread the day when my taxes go up because California can no longer function as a governing entitity. The problem isn't limited to one state or one country. Everyone now thinks they can spend forever and there won't be an end to the rainbow. It has good principals, but I'm not a fan of having to support everyone, regardless of their input or how much they take away from our communal pie.

When at such time as there's enough pie to go around and no one is starving then I have no issue. Principals or whatever they're called. Poverty would not exist without greed. I have a strong social conscience and a strong sense of responsibility.

 

[TNradcon]

I can respect that. I believe in charity very much. I do not however believe in mandatory charity. I bust my butt doing some nasty stuff to feed my family. I don't agree with a pound of flesh being taken from my family for someone who isn't my countrymen, is able but chooses not to work, or the person reproducing to increase their monthly check.

 

[HDi fun]

I can respect that. I believe in charity very much. I do not however believe in mandatory charity. I bust my butt doing some nasty stuff to feed my family. I don't agree with a pound of flesh being taken from my family for someone who isn't my countrymen, is able but chooses not to work, or the person reproducing to increase their monthly check.

Tax is only tax. Not a penalty or fine. Do many people actually make a conscious decision to not work?

 

[TNradcon]

Tax is tax, but where it is allocated I take issue with. The welfare system in the US has become completely whack. I am not against the poor. I am called to help the poor. If someone cannot eat, there needs to be a place with a hot meal. I believe in and support those types of organizations. I don't agree with raising my taxes, while giving money to countries that we borrow from. I don't agree with giving full citizen government benefits to any one who is able to step foot here. From what I've read, the UK as a majority is in agreement.

 

[HDi fun]

I am not necessarily disagreeing with you, I think my stance similar. The point I am trying to raise is that it's maybe necessary that we blur the boundaries between states/countries/continents. There is ample wealth, food, space and shelter to go around. One thing I generally don't do is to follow the pack. I rarely concur with UK majority opinion.

Ooops - We really have gone off topic now

Sorry folks, normal service will be resumed - please do not adjust your set.

 

[T9 man]

 

[HDi fun]

Very apt !!

 

[old-git]

Much like old git who is actually a fair bit younger than me I wanted to create a fast car & if possible a very fast car as it turned out managed to create a very very very fast car . Didn't expect to set World records though. That came because I could not stop the addictive race for Power. Ive another engine ready early 2016. Im 70 on Wednesday & this is my last engine but I said that at 65 .

Never Say Never Again. Now, where have I heard that before?

 

[SLEEPER]

why mod ?

My first answer would simply be Why not

It is natural to want to improve things so surely cars are no different

when do you stop ?

When the money or bottle runs out. Thankfully neither looks like happenig in the near future

PS the greanmachine is having another heart transplant - I seem somehow to have become the owner of an OS Giken motor . (the owners club is having a sweepstake on how many days the rear driveshafts will last )