How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

How Much More Can Be Made Street-able


by: Mike Alleman

Can more street-able horsepower be made and can our cars get much faster? And what will you have to give up getting it there? Well it seems like power increases in 4g63/64 engines go through stages. We seem to hit a wall where we say, "that's all folks", and then somebody finds something new to do, and BAM! More power is made. Years ago a 12-sec street DSM was the shit. Then all of a sudden everybody is driving 11-sec street DSM's. Then street DSM's crested into the 10-sec range. But now it's almost to the point that if you don't have a 9-sec street DSM you don't get any respect. Survival of the fittest, I guess.

Then there is the BIG debate about "What is really considered street?" You have the gutted "tin can" with lights and a steering wheel. Or you have the full weight; full interior car with a high horsepower engine shoehorned into everything else the factory built around it. And then you have the whole spectrum of every conceivable combination in between. So where is the line drawn between racecar and streetcar? Everybody will have his or her own opinion. Do we draw the line at full exhaust making it street no matter what else has been done? D.O.T. tires? More than one or two seats? Full interior? Some interior? Size of the turbo? Amount of boost? Amount of nitrous? Roll cage? Pump gas or C-16? Air-to-air or water-to-air intercooler?...... And the list goes on. Can you hear the beating "thunder drums" as you think about what your ultimate street DSM would be? You bet your ass you hear them. But in the end how street-able would it still be?

The biggest problem we have with DSM's is weight. Our cars are too heavy. My car is way too heavy (3500lbs with driver too heavy). Unfortunately we don't have much we can do about it unless you start cutting the car up. I don't just mean pulling sound deadening insulation and plastic. I'm talking about using cutting wheels, torches, drills or jigsaws remove every piece of anything that does not make it run, go straight or stop. And it seems as if many could care less if they can stop it after a run. Sure there are a few carbon fiber pieces we can get, but in the end they may only save us 100-200lbs. Not much of a gain vs. the cost involved.

As far as pure "VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER", there are several really high horsepower cars out there. Rau, Shep', AMS, Magnus, etc. Even our own ecoli (Shane). Several cars hitting anywhere from 800-1200hp which definitely helps with the weight issues. But take care of the weight issue and you have a record holder on your hands, just ask Rau. But these are not streetcars in the normal sense of the term. 50+ psi, methanol, 200+ shot of nitrous, 10,000+rpm, etc. are becoming the high horsepower norm. Even Shep's car (especially lately) raises the question of "how street-able is it really?" Its latest incarnation is definitely not street-able at all.

So where do you set your standards?

For me it's a "blurred" line. Big power that's "reliable". Sure seems like that statement right there might be an example of wishful thinking. But with the advancements being made with regard to better parts, better tuning tools in the hands of people who really know how to use them, years of experience backing it up and so on, it is much easier to build big power and be reliable. But I also want some level of comfort (oh I can hear the "die-hards" screaming already). I want my a/c, my sunroof, my 1000 watt plus stereo, my leather seats, my nice wheels, my show car shine, etc, etc. And I can and do have them. Sure I could gut it and remove all of my creature comforts, but it would not be my streetcar anymore. It would turn into something I would only take to the track, possibly only trailered. There would be no joy found in just the simple pleasure of cranking up my favorite hard rock anthems and cruising the streets just for the fun of the drive. Or knowing I can spank 95% of what pulls up next to me at the stop light without them even seeing it coming. Or to find that stretch of deserted back road that beckons to be tamed. Even now as I bolt new parts onto my car (the never ending saga) I wonder where it will go next if I really like how it turns out this time. Because we all know "it's never fast enough".

So where do you draw the line?

-1ViciousGSX --- ---

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

9 second street dsm? Not in this state....

Nice article.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Street-able to me means that you can give your car to some average joe and he wouldn't mind driving it every day to work.

You the driver have to be comfortable in it, gotta be able to make road trips with no problem, and not be so low as to rub all over.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Streetable, to me is keeping the creature comforts, HVAC, AC maybe, i would say probably, but not that important to the "street car factor" Keeping everything functional on the car so that it could be driven year round i guess.
Comfy seats for long road trips, heat for those chilly summer nights, windows that work(i am fixing that), all lights(headlights etc.)
I don't think we have seen a DSM push this non-streetable ness yet as far as power, cause most strip the cars out or flat out only run one time.

we will see this year will be full of these controversial cars.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Streetable to me is being able to start under it's own power and have lights, turn signals and license plates. Everything else after that is just gravy. :drive:

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

No AC, no radio, no power windows, no power door locks, no sunroof. Is it unstreetable or just a 2006 Kia Rio base model.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Unstreetable!

LOL.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

but they have door locks and windows that go up and down right?
If not i am gonna build a goodwill KIA!!!

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Yeah, a Kia is unstreetable in my book. Meaning I wouldn't be seen on public roads in one.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

My car will be "streetable"! :D

I wont daily drive it because climbing out of the cage will get annoying but I will drive it quite a bit.

My def of "streetable" is if it can drive under its own power around on the street without doing any damage to it, without getting pulled over and the car impounded for obvious reasons and as long as it appears street legal by looking at it from the outside.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Yep, streetable is being able to drive it and not worry about it overheating at a stoplight or a bit of rain causing control issues. It can start under its own power and have all the lights, etc. Daily driven is a much different issue.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

I own a 06 spectra 5 its not a bad car and looks ok too.
Jow

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

I like the Pantera referance. :)

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Wise man Hill might of just produced a quote for '07?

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

I think streetable means just that, you can drive it on the street. As long as you can get a sticker and tags, that's all. I used to drive my 88 RX7 completely gutted and open header. It was annoyingly loud and not overly comfortable, but it got me to school, 30 miles each way, everyday... well... snow kinda sucked, but that was what the mustang was for...

I think it comes down to each individual of what they are willing to sacrifice. If they want to run a full race machine down the street, having to run a sprayer on the radiator and intercooler, dump additives into their fuel every stop and put up with the PD, it's streetable. A friend of mine has a mustang with, the last time I talked to him, was bored and stroked to a 614 (yes, six hundred fourteen cubic inches), got less than 4 mpg, couldn't run pump fuel to saves it's life, but was driven all over creation. To me, that isn't streetable, but he sure drove it.

Street-legal :deadhorse: is a different story, which should be the guideline, but who wants that? To that I will say a few years ago, I was watching a truck pull and then winner actually was a street-legal dodge cummins diesel. The owner even drove it home from the event. I think that says something.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

A streetable car imo is a car that could drive my a police officer and not have an obvious reason to be pulled over. A streetable car is something you could go pick your girlfriend up in. Sure some people don't really care about a/c. I've got it, but it doesn't work very well. Plus I would rather drive with the windows partially down.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Here's my defination of street.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

Agreed!

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

If it's got a license plate, it's streetable, the rest is gravy.

Re: How Much More Can Be Made Street-able - 12/26/05
 

I drove in a 9 second DSM on the street the other night ;) As far as its steetability that's up to the owner I guess, Kyle would like to think it is perfectly streetable lol.