Like some advice from guys that have done it. Daily driver to track only.

TooSlo86

TooSlo86

Club Member
I've been toying with/fighting myself on this one for a couple seasons now; do I keep driving the car on a daily basis during the summer? Or do I take it off the road and get serious? Usually this feeling doesn't hit till mid winter when I've forgotten how much I enjoy driving the car, but lately I can't stop arguing with myself as to plans for the winter.

I LOVE driving the car everyday and have since '03, it's my personality for one, gets good mileage, gets comments and looks, it's a 5 speed which keeps the 2 hours a day in it enjoyable, I never have to listen to the radio since the sound is music to my ears, and its not something you would expect to run low 12's IMO, and apparently others.

Here's my dilemna, I despise driving a car without a personality and can only take so much of my old s10 (which is starting to show it's age for the 2nd time around) during the winter months let alone year round. I've been told I could get something newer if I drove it year round and got rid of the s10. But the only things that interest me are either summer only cars or a fullsize pickup that doesn't get squat for mileage, especially after the lift and tires.

So, what I'm asking here is; for guys/gals that have retired their beloved daily to track only, or VERY occasional use (and not be able to take the kids in the back seat) while having to drive a normal cookie cutter all the time, how much did you regret it? Was it worth it suffering through everyday blah, but able to really turn up the wick on the other? Did it kill you to gut and cage it? The option to go turbo and have the best of both worlds isn't in the equation for what I want to do either :icon_wink Neither is buying or building a track only since I've already got 3 other toys sitting in the shop that I can't convince myself to get rid of, or when I do the wife actually talks me out of it, no kidding!

So hit me with the goods, the bads, the I wish I never did it, the best move ever....whatever if you've been there.
 
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Pics and details of car. I would keep the car as a daily summer ride so you could enjoy it more.but i like street cars
 
gub said:
Pics and details of car. I would keep the car as a daily summer ride so you could enjoy it more.but i like street cars
Click to expand...

You tryin' to trick me into pics in the pub? :lol:

It's my avatar, and it's just an Explorer Long block as it left the factory in 96 or 7 or whenever with GT40P heads and my custom cam and the normal bolt ons and ALOT of seat time, tweaking and tuning. I put the engine in back in 06 w/90k miles straight out of the junkyard and have been tacking on the miles/abuse since. Went a best of [email protected] over Labor Day in street legal trim, only difference from work duty was tires and adjusting the rear shocks/airbag but I'm really wanting to go further over the winter and the custom cam and 4.30 gears are already pushing limits on keeping it as a daily. Would like to try some tricks on another explorer long block with GT40 heads and go to a full race cam, not a compromise like this one. I'll post a couple pics as long as it's all good.
 
Try to find a DD thats fun to drive. I retired my car to fun status a few years ago. With work and family commitments, and my daughters travel ball (hate to say this) it wasn't practical. IMO my fun car is too nice to drive every where and worry about it when I'm not in it.
I will say NOTHING beats coming home from a BS day and taking it out for a rip.
A killer stereo in the DD helps alot.
My .02
 
Haha, I put a nice stereo in this over the winter and NEVER even turn it on so when I yanked it to go to the track, I never put it back in, different story in the s10. We only have one 10yo daughter so without a cage it's all good for now in this car, it's not our family car but it is nice to take when practical. Cage it and that's over with, that was my hold up last year. I worry about this one EVERY morning as I drive in a well deer populated area and have been lucky in only getting one in the s10 so far and the wife got one in our old Yukon. It's usually not weather that I park it for in the winter, but deer in the morning have me puckering my ass all the way in to work. I've actually had one run into the side of this car in it's earlier days and hit one of those damn ghetto deer right in freaking Saginaw one morning, didn't do much but crack the paint. I would love a fun car as a daily, but it has to be something I can drive year round and get at least 20mpg like this does. Can't say that for the slow ass s10 btw, but it goes through snow.

Well, against my better judgement;

pside1.jpg302.jpg

and for track viewing here's my youtube vids; http://www.youtube.com/user/tooslo86?feature=results_main The latest are a "testing day" that I made 17 passes in 3.5 hours in 90 degree heat to dial in the tune for the new cam. Best it went that day was a 12.29, worst was a 49 when I bogged it. The following weekend in time trials I did much better but only caught the 12.18 on vid. Didn't film the 12.11 since we thought it was going to run the same 12.24 it did in the 1/4 finals the night before by looking at the weather (same 2400 DA), DAMN. It's all good though, the camera will be rolling in that good October air when I take it out to try to get those 11's out of it.
 
In my opinion it would be based on your budget. Remember the faster you go, the more shit you break, the more money it costs. It sounds like you enjoy driving the car and have fun driving it around with the family. Plus if your getting 20 mpg and running 12's what more could you ask for?

If I were you I would be looking for a cheap roller and start a new build from scratch. You could race that car until you have the other completed. If you save up some cash and keep an eye out on MM you can get some really good deals on some nice stuff. Then as time and money permit you could build your car faster. You have a very nice car and I wouldn't cut it up to make a race car, escpecially since there are a ton of cheap rollers out there. Nice car bro!!
 
I had an SRT4 as my beater and it was great! Had all the Mopar goodies on it, Stage 3, so on and it was both practical and fun to drive. I got 12.7's out of it and beat it daily, good weather and not so good. I miss that car.

I have a 95 GTS that I bought new off the lot. It was a daily driver for the first few years with mods along the way. It got close to mid 11's then I turned it into a "race car". We chopped almost 2 seconds off that and although "street legal" it was now a track car. Put it this way, I put on over 30,000 miles in the first 3 years and about 1000 in the next 13 years! I've been lucky enough to keep the car and just this year I've been taking steps to make it more daily driver friendly by converting over to E85. With the sweet cheap corn gas I plan to drive it as much as I can, even to work. I feel like I have a new car and am rediscovering it all over.

If you are enjoying your car "as is" it may already be the perfect car. I used to enjoy racing slower cars very much. More reliable, not set on kill, and the improments on the track come from learning the car and being a better driver. You could probably throw a little more power at you car and get into the 11's and keep it street friendly. But it's a fine line my friend. :)

Nice car!
 
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Thanks for the input guys, you are really re-enforcing the sane side of my brain, and my buddy that told me he would kick my ass if I cut it up last year when I was close. You know, when the 11 GT's came out I wanted one more than any car I can remember and the other day the wife and I were discussing the 13's and she said sell this (the stang) and your s10 so you can have your new car. It was then that I realized I wouldn't be happy with it and this is the car that does it all. Also on your note falcon, last year I was REALLY watching some of the rollers on here and called on a few on CL but it was a moot point having the stipulation that I would have to decide to unload one of the others so I could build a track only car. When I finally did tell her that I had decided to list my 72 C-10 on eBay she said no, we need to keep it. :confused: This is where I'm stuck, and why I keep trying to convince myself to do it with this car. The two others have been around even longer than the Stang, from before our daughter, and not long after we were married 15 yrs ago. Plus the 72 is what I drove with the other in tow from San Diego when we moved here so I'm kind of attached to it. It was kind of a Hot Rod Power Tour with just my two old cars :-) Yes, all 3 are Southern CA cars that I brought here when we moved.

Sardeanie; that's awesome you mention an SRT4. That was another car that I had wanted when they first came out, I had seen guys at the local track running high 13s and knew they would be great for my 114 mile commute at the time but I wanted a "Muscle" car so I searched for 3rd gen F-bodies at the auctions to stick an LS1/t56 into. Then I went to an auction that had two 86 Mustangs, well, I went home with one and boy was I dissapointed after owning two LS1 F-bodies! Talk about a walk on the darkside, and to a retarded slow first year FI turd! Well, that's this turd in the pics now. Anyway, enough with the life story. I've got enough ammo to suppress my thoughts about retiring this one for now, real hard sell right? so...just hit me up mid winter and remind me. :huh:

Once again, Thanks guys. Most of all, Thanks for the compliments!
 
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not runing on pump gas is the big thing giving up the ability to pull into any station & fill up is tuff im on 116 & can only take the car as far as i can go & make it back to the house on the 16 gallon cell & it dont get as far as one might think if you could keep it on 93 mabee throw a 250 shot on it & run 110 at the track to spray it might be the best of both worlds but once you cross the line to race gas the street car is all but gone
 
Yea, and that's part of what I wanted to build into this other engine I have in wait, more compression, more aggressive, quicker ramp rate cam, some reciprocating weight loss, coatings, etc, etc. and on irons it's definitely going to need better fuel, no 116 but it'll rattle it's ass off on 93 if I can squeeze as much as I would like. I think it would be a riot on the gas, but it would also EASILY put me into bar territory anyhow. Actually, a 250 shot would probably finally end this particular high miler and have me building the other one quicker than anticipated. HMMM
 
Everyone has their own preferences. I rarely drive my Vettes on the street. If I can't be racing it I just don't see much point in driving it. Just my .02.
 
i'm diggin my new street car. it's running on 93 octane Can drive it just about anywhere and isn't that slow. Maybe think about keeping the 302 and just add a Supercharger or turbo kit to it. keep it pump gas and just have that extra power when you want it. Should get your car in the low 11's high 10's without a ton of boost.
I was building a full on race car and just couldnt see the time I would find to use it. I'd also have to buy a trailer and a truck I would have to store the trailer someplace. I'm going to need to take the day off just to take the new mustang to lidio day oct 13th.
 
A few years back I was all about building a turbo set up, I had been given an HX35 which turned out to be WAY too small, but then I set a goal to get it in the 11s on motor alone. So if after I do get my 11's I would consider the turbo route, but, the longtubes I just put on, the custom cam, and the MicroBlue 4.30 gears I have good $ into would have to come right back out. I did keep my shorties just for this, but I may be better off with a good set of aluminum heads and just keep up the all motor thing. I guess the compromise just like in my cam would be to keep going even past where a cage is mandated but keep it on the road. I can live with driving it on a daily basis with the cage, I'll just have to realize that the days of the family cruising it would be over.

Yea, I'm not brave enough to drive my car an hour to race and take the chance of it breaking even though it's only broke once over all these years at the track, and it still could have gotten home so I already have the trailer, my problem is I need a truck to use other than the wife's since anytime I want to go I get the; and your going to leave us with no car? I can't convince her to put insurance on anything other than the two we are driving at the time so the others just sit out in the shop, and that's another fear I have if I were to make this a track only car, it would be relegated to taking up square footage just like the others that rarely see the light of day anymore.

Well guys, at least I have all this input, and a long winter to make the next move, but for now...

It's time to get ready for the DYNO!!! :baddancin Assuming the rain holds off long enough. First time with the custom cam, got the track #'s, now let's see what it was worth for power. I honestly don't believe I'm going to see much of a peak increase since the trap speeds doesn't really show it (unless I use weather correction), but I know the average of both tq and hp are going to be up. Sure would be nice to see 325-330 to the feet though, but that would be a 15-20 peak increase. I'll post results later.
 
So just to be clear this is a stock 5.0 explorer long block with a custom ground cam? No spray or boost? Would you mind sharing your cam specs? I don't race was just curious as to what your running. Also are you running a stock T5 still? What kind of clutch do you run? Seems like you have a good set up thanks for sharing.
 
Falcon64 said:
So just to be clear this is a stock 5.0 explorer long block with a custom ground cam? No spray or boost? Would you mind sharing your cam specs? I don't race was just curious as to what your running. Also are you running a stock T5 still? What kind of clutch do you run? Seems like you have a good set up thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Yes, stock long block. Only thing I did was swap to the fox oil pan and timing cover, threw on a set of TFS valve springs, retainers, and locks, the custom cam (just this summer, up till then it was an AFM B2), and professional products upper/lower intake, that's the extent the engine has been apart, not really at all since it came off the line.

NO spray, NO boost, NO tricks, just motor.

Not "really" a stock T5, all the stock ones were breaking. It's just a Z-Code T5. I switched to a Zoom Musclecar this year and am VERY happy with it so far.

Thanks
 
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