Thunderbird on Horsepower TV

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: Duffman77
Musclecar and extreme 4x4 do have some good hosts who usually show me something new every epsisode though. The horsepower TV guys are the worst car guys on TV other than Barry McGuire.


Agreed, the Muscle Car and Extreme 4x4 guys have some talent.

 

[tom slick]

Originally Posted By: Duffman77
The horsepower TV guys are the worst car guys on TV other than Barry McGuire.


But he's Caaarrr Crazy!

I find most of those those are disguised infomercials.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: Ben99GT
Originally Posted By: TurboLuver
He has to be talking about the Coyote...


It was a Coyote, it made 465 HP on their engine dyno with all accessories spinning and the stock inlet/air filter.


Thank you, and there is one cool powerplant for an MN12 platform, especially a lightened one.

Build the bottom end, lower the CR a little, add a big WhippleCharger and charge cooler, and tune it and you're good to go (VERY FAST!!).

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

I'm a fan of the whole 'Powerblock' simply because it gives me my weekly car fix. I've been watching it for years, back when Chuck Hansen was on Horsepower (and it was called Hot Rod TV early on, IIRC) and Stacey David was on Trucks! with Mel Fair. I don't agree with everything they do and how they do it, but overall it's worth the two hours I spend watching it on the weekends. I also get to gawk at Courtney even though she's way too tarted up for the camera nowadays. She was a lot more attractive while on OverHaulin' in my opinion, though I do like the stiletto heels.

While the Powerblock lineup certainly has been affected by sponsors and product placement, Two Guys Garage and Truck U are a whole lot worse in that regard. Two Guys Garage was good back in the Shadetree Mechanic days when Sam and Dave did diagnosis and repair for the most part, but it's morphed into a show dealing mostly with basic bolt-ons. Every now and then there are shows that interest me but it's hit or miss. Truck U is just plain terrible. Bruno Massel is harmless enough but I want to reach through my TV and punch Matt Steele in the face whenever he starts talking about how cool he is, which is pretty much all the time.

Anyway, back on subject...

I'm not a huge fan of Horsepower's Thunderbird project. While I can see putting new, high-tech, high-horsepower and cleaner-burning engines into old cars, doing the opposite is a waste. They have taken a fairly modern car that has a modular motor, IRS and a comfortable interior (a gentleman's Mustang?) and are turning it into something that will be terrible to drive on the street and most likely be emissions illegal and therefor undriveable anyway. Use it at the drag strip then? Not with the T-Bird's IRS. So what's the point in the build? It seems like a huge waste in my opinion.

They should have built up a mod motor with modern tech or put any number of modern Mustang engines that would have more or less bolted right in and made a powerful street car that can handle in the corners (where the IRS is an asset not a hindrance) and you could drive it all day in full sleeper mode and saved that spiffy 'new' 427 for something else. ANYTHING else!

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

While I'm ranting...

Xtreme 4x4: I generally like the show, but watching Ian strip down and rebuild transmissions, transfer cases and axles without cleaning the mud and rust off the cases first spikes my OCD meter. It's like he builds parts like this knowing that a) they are not going to get much use or that b) they are going to get beaten on so badly that a little dirt and rust mixed in with the lube won't make any difference because it'll most likely break soon anyway. Also, not every truck needs an exo-cage or needs to be 'back-halved' with a four-link.

Horsepower: I like engine builds and driveline upgrades, but they seem to be doing a lot of 'catalog engineering' via Summit and Jegs recently. They need to expand their repertoire a little more. Dyno runs are only interesting for a pull or two. They also don't need to come back from a break and explain what they just did in the first eight minutes of the show, then do it again after the next break. We're watching, we remember, move on already!

Trucks!: Usually a pretty solid show covering a lot of different aspects of truck repair and upgrades, but it's kind of thin sometimes. Both guys seem to know their stuff. But it's a little creepy watching Kevin lovingly caress body panels- anyone else notice this? And the forced joking and laughter is old. At least Paul Vinson isn't on the show anymore. Those early shows with him were hard to watch.

Musclecar: Lou and Jared were a fun pair, even my wife enjoyed watching their show. Shame Jared left so early and Lou followed a bit later. I'm not Rick's biggest fan but he gets the job done, and Tommy's loosened up a little. Body repair and paint do nothing for me but I like their overall A-Z builds, especially the chassis and suspension builds. The recent green '70 Camaro project is pretty basic but one of my favorites.

Regardless of any gripes I may have, I'm just glad these are on TV and in HD!

 

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
They should have built up a mod motor with modern tech or put any number of modern Mustang engines that would have more or less bolted right in and made a powerful street car that can handle in the corners (where the IRS is an asset not a hindrance) and you could drive it all day in full sleeper mode and saved that spiffy 'new' 427 for something else. ANYTHING else!


The extent of Horsepower TV's Modular builds consists of a cold air and a programmer with a canned tune, or slapping on a bolt-on supercharger kit. They just don't mess with Mod motors, and this Thunderbird project showcases that. Jegs and Summit don't have many Mod motor parts ready to order by credit card, and that's probably why they are afraid of them.

 

[Colt45ws]

Actually, they do have a lot of parts for the mod motors. I think its just laziness to learn something "new". The extra cam makes it too complicated to time I guess.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Come on, Summit is loaded with modular parts. But it is true that they have ignored them mostly.

As to complicated timing, these guys never really do much on camera, there's a break and suddenly everything is all finished!

 

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Come on, Summit is loaded with modular parts. But it is true that they have ignored them mostly.


Not really, outside of Trick Flow 2V heads/intake, Summit really has very little in the way of Modular hardware.

No aftermarket 3V cylinder head castings, no aftermarket 4V heads/intakes, no mainstream LT headers with bigger than 1-5/8" primaries, etc. With an LSx they can order up a set of AFR/TFSs in various port sizes, FAST 90/102 and make a show out of it.

 

[morris]

sounds like something dumbed down for arm chair mechanics.

 

[bdcardinal]

The thing with mod motors in Summit / Jegs, they only have mainstream stuff. People who are in the know generally have certain brands that dont sell through Summit / Jegs. You dont see Griggs Racing and Maximum Motorsports in there. There are universal brands that people will use no matter what, ARP, Comp Cams, Crower, Canton. Lethal Performance or Modular Mustang Racing are the places to buy parts for mod motors generally.

The Trickflow2v heads are actually really nice pieces. I would run them if I was doing a 2v build.

 

[MrHorspwer]

Maybe they don't do Ford mod motor build because, outside of a select few Mustang owners, nobody cares? Seriously, a built LQ4 is an easy, inexpensive, and viable engine for just about any GM car that was available with a V8. Ford mod motors? Not so much. Ford mod motors are generally complex, expensive, and too big to fit in anything except the cars that were originally equipped with them. If you start doing mod motor builds, you may as well call the show Mustang TV, because that's the guys who will show interest.

That said, god am I sick of LS builds on that show. Yes, they are sponsor driven and I'm sure that affects much of their show content. I would love to see something different, even a mod motor build. They have done a few mods though, but all have been crate engines. Most notably, the Coyote and the engine Trucks is using in their Ranger.

Hang on, the engine Muscle Car is using in the Falcon is a mod too. Didn't they do a whole show on that build? The Canadian mod motor guy was on the show, they used his parts, and he helped with the build.

Three mods. One build is completed. The other two are ongoing. Who said they don't do any builds with mod motors?

 

[bdcardinal]

Sean Hyland makes some really nice stuff, you pay for it though.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: Ben99GT
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Come on, Summit is loaded with modular parts. But it is true that they have ignored them mostly.


Not really, outside of Trick Flow 2V heads/intake, Summit really has very little in the way of Modular hardware.

No aftermarket 3V cylinder head castings, no aftermarket 4V heads/intakes, no mainstream LT headers with bigger than 1-5/8" primaries, etc. With an LSx they can order up a set of AFR/TFSs in various port sizes, FAST 90/102 and make a show out of it.


Kooks, American Racing, and QTP do not make big primary headers for the 4V Mods??

 

[Ben99GT]

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
Originally Posted By: Ben99GT
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Come on, Summit is loaded with modular parts. But it is true that they have ignored them mostly.


Not really, outside of Trick Flow 2V heads/intake, Summit really has very little in the way of Modular hardware.

No aftermarket 3V cylinder head castings, no aftermarket 4V heads/intakes, no mainstream LT headers with bigger than 1-5/8" primaries, etc. With an LSx they can order up a set of AFR/TFSs in various port sizes, FAST 90/102 and make a show out of it.


Kooks, American Racing, and QTP do not make big primary headers for the 4V Mods??


Kooks and ARH do