Sizzler

I LIKE winter. I LIKE snow. In the morning, there are bare footprints leading from the house down to near the street where the paper lands. Ditto around the wife's car. I go out, warm it up, brush off any accumulated snow, bare feet. There's currently a nice casting of my bare foot in ice where the footprint was exposed to some midday sun and changed from compacted snow to ice. WINTER is the BEST time of the year. Southeast texas? Isn't that jungle-humid year-round? Isn't that where you need gloves in the SUMMER in order to grab the door handle and steering wheel without suffering 2nd degree burns? You can keep it. There aren't any number of pieces of clothing you can take OFF down there to get comfortable...at least here we can ADD clothing until we're comfortable. Even 26 is a little warm if you're actually doing something like shoveling snow (by choice, I'll get a snowblower IF I need to, some day). I like to actually get out of the car once in a while and walk, do things outside, without having to wring out my clothes afterward. Keep your year round heat, give me a cool breeze any day.

What is the time frame on this trans (sorry, can't open the link)? Is this a trans needed for the Hurricane's torque rating?

This is just perpetuating a common myth: that all HP are equal. Your examples are proof only that the faster you CAN spin an engine, the more HP it will EVENTUALLY put out. Your examples are all high-rpm, low vehicle weight examples. Yeah, sure, if you narrow the bore, you can use a lighter piston which lets you spin the rotating assembly more, but in the real world Ford needs to satisfy, people don't want to listen to their Taurus spin at 10,000 rpm and replace/service the engine more frequently just to listen to it whine. The S2000 isn't doing too well sales-wise, why? because at the stoplight to stoplight level, it doesn't have the grunt to get it's lightweight butt going. It's owners will whine and beg for rolling starts, or 45mph starts, all to mask the basic lack of oomph from its tiny little bore. Saying 400HP might be satisfying on some level, knowing that it's 400HP at 9,000 rpm doesn't, at least to someone who knows a little sumtin'. Push a car off a cliff and drive another one down the road to the base; yeah the cliff-jumper'll be going faster and get there quicker, but at the end of the race, when it's time to go home, stopping to pick up some groceries first, which car would you rather be driving?

I did the math using your numbers and I get $10,280...not including a harness or the specially calibrated ECM, another $1,500 I'm guessing, plus sundries, and you're at $12K. Seriously, get a blower. New shortblock at $4K and the blower stuff at another $4K and you're money and power ahead.

*AHEM* M-6007-T50EA: $15,000 PLUS the sold-separately harness and ECM PLUS installation, plus the cost of a replacement vehicle because the package isn't emissions-legal... Call it $20,000 package leaving you with a toy that can't be driven on the street. I don't think that's what these benchracers are looking for. They want something they can pay for out of their piggybank and drive down to the Dog 'N Suds to look cool in and talk about "400HP" and stuff. For $20K, just get a blower...

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Just think of them as big NOS tanks. The only people who would pay actual money for a 400HP mustang, actual EXTRA money, are the boy-racer types. I doubt they'd miss a back seat, or most of the trunk. They'd probably love the whooshing, clanking, and general audio mayhem occurring behind their heads. They could paint everything in dayglo colours and chrome all the hold-down straps. Coolio.

Whatever happened to that Hydraulic hybrid system Ford was testing on its trucks. Something like that hooked up behind a mustang transmission would give you the feel of waaaay more than 400HP, not require a new transmission, and make all the environmentalists all weepy happy. Screw 400HP all day every day, just bring on the 'moment of joy' booster. Oh, and lets call it an alternative driveline...

It's been a while, but I believe that nearby in the same book (ONLY BOOK) of the Bible that seems to be against "alternatives" (when did that become a word?), it is also stated that handling pork or pork-products is unholy and against God's will. So, are these people against the Super Bowl (pigskin)?! The AFA is against highschool football, sausage (yeah, right), pizza... It's all in the same book. Perfect example of selective hypocristy. edit: found some interesting passages from Leviticus 20... I hope it's clear that if you hold Leviticus to be the level-straight orders from God, that California kids should be praying a spanking is all they can get, the bible says sassy kids should expect to be put to death for mouthing off to their parents. Interesting that Ford's stock price opened higher this morning...

photos make it look like it has an underbite, instead of the overbite look I thought they were going for. The front bumper seems much more pronounced/prominent which, in my opinion, will just make it look like a zillion other front ends. When they do this testing, do they just fit a front end onto an existing chassis/model and test that out, leaving the rest of the car pretty much alone? Or do they test out ALL body mods at once? Personally, I think the rear needs to be 'planted' more...down, wider, hips.

An unfortunate reality of corporate life is this: if you stick your head out and succeed, you get rewarded. If you stick your head out and fail, you get it handed to you on a platter. If you keep your head tucked in and just shuffle along you're allowed to just keep on shuffling.

So is there going to be something in the owner's manual to the effect of "don't just throw that 8-point buck up on the hood because it'll ding up real easy"

There's a business model Ford can take to its creditors: we want to sell cars to people who don't want to see too many of the same car on the road, so we'll limit production to keep our customers happy. And as we close more and more plants and lay off more and more employees, at some point we'll start making money. That's the plan?

The new 6-speed for the F-150 is probably called for by the expected torque output of the Hurricane/Boss engine, also expected around 2009 MY. Any info (even what it's called since the name usually included a torque rating at Ford) as to its power handling capabilities?

Ever wonder why Australian's like their IRS so much? Longest, straightest, most boring roadways in the world, and they need IRS? Gotta be the comfort factor. GM has stuck with OHV for decades despite the 'perception' the buff-books, blogosphere, and euro-trash have of OHC's: that they're 'superior'. It's all about context. It's all about reality. In the context of everyday street use by soccer moms and commuter dads, OHV works just fine. In reality, in the rpm ranges ordinary people drive in, OHV's get the job done. Ford fell for the OHC hype, created a monster-sized engine that didn't really work out, nice and all, but too big outside, too little inside, with OHC's...big whoop. GM kept the cam in the block and motored along at least as well as Ford, without the big investments (cash out the door) Ford made. IRS vs SRA is sorta similar. The hype is performance, the reality is smooth ride. The cost is complexity and more parts. Maybe the interceptor gets IRS, at a higher price point than the base chassis might imply. Maybe at some point, for a 33% bump in MSRP, the mustang gets IRS in a 'performance' option package. I've always been of the KISS mindset, and car as transportation. I've seen the other side of KISS, and it's an awful sight.

I don't feel my questions have been answered yet, anyone? How does this Holden's dimensions measure up against the Interceptor's? Length, width, wheelbase? Why can GM bring in a V8 Holden for $25,000 NOW but the GTO had to cost $35,000+++++???? They look pretty similar cars, what made the GTO cost $10K more, 40% more, with two fewer doors?

And no one thinks a potential buyer might expand AM? Downward into Jag territory? Why wouldn't a buyer come out a a 4 door? SUV? CUV? In price ranges that drop down into Jag/BMW/Porsche ranges? Then again, some billionaire went broke after he bought Lambo, before it got sold to Audi and revived with 1 model. If someone buys it, Ford should suck all the money they have available out of them so that they have nothing left to expand/develop the marque.

I can see any number of uses, mostly commercial. Airport transportation. Companies that pick up employees from hub train stations. Police support vans... What problem(s) with it do you see?

Thanks. Finally! I can't believe all the 392 Hemi sites, and all anyone actually knew was "low" or "tall" deck.

I see that Ford only has the exclusive until 2008. So they don't offer it until this year, work out the kinks for everyone in 2008, then in 2009 GM and everyone else gets to offer it, kink-free in their units. This is smart how? Ford is playing beta-site for GM? Who did this deal? Ford's system works out the kinks, gets a kinky reputation why doing so, then Microsoft sells the debugged version to all comers? Meanwhile, GM is bringing out the "fruit bowl" setup when you just toss your cell, ipod, pda, whatever in a cushioned fruit-bowl-looking thing and it links/recharges/plays them. No wires. . . . . . . . . . bummed

How does this Holden's dimensions measure up against the Interceptor's? Length, width, wheelbase? Why can GM bring in a V8 Holden for $25,000 NOW but the GTO had to cost $35,000+++++???? They look pretty similar cars, what made the GTO cost $10K more, 40% more, with two fewer doors?

I'm looking for the deck height of the old "Fire Power" Chrysler hemi from the 1950's. All I can find is "low deck" and "tall deck", with the "tall deck" being 1/2" taller, but taller than what? I think I found that the bore spacing was 116mm (for the old 392 Hemi...4.5625" for Americans), veryvery close to the bore spacing of the new Hurricane/Boss Ford keeps teasing about. Ticks me off that I can't find a simple dimension like deck height for such a common engine. Anyone know?

GM, who is working on a similar setup with its VOLT concept says the Lithium battery pack won't be ready for production use before 2010. It works as a prototype only right now.

Yeah, it'll appeal to women (teeny boppers) like Tommy Shaw (of Styx) used to...

Doesn't FIT??? In a truck it doesn't fit? Isn't that the first platform they want to use it in? How many BILLIONS does Ford have invested in CAD systems, and when it comes time to lower it into (or raise it into, whatever) the bay, it doesn't fit??? I don't really care, stick it in a crate and sell them until they figure out what/who/why it doesn't fit.