Re: bonehead drivers

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

On Tue, 31 Jan 1995 PDQSHIP@aol.com wrote:

> Eliot: what tires did you put studs on? 

the snow tires that i have are rikens.. i know, they are not one of
the famous brands, but it wasn't sold out when i needed them.  they
suffer from the usual soft sidewalls and are terrible in the wet
(pirelli 210's much much better here) and dry but once there's half an
inch or ice, they are incredible.  the tread pattern almost look like
those of a snowmobile track :) .. just horizontal and vertical zig-zag
blocks.  i cannot spin these for more than a split second in the
snow..  the car just leaps forward if i gas it.  that's how much grip
they have.  anybody who thinks that driving enthusiastically in the
snow = death should try this combination.

> I understand that the 5speed v8 uses
> a higher final drive than the autobahner box...  Did you expore this option?

the 1990 V8 only came with slush and a 4.11 final drive.

the '91 V8 came with 5 sp w/ 4.11 final drive *and* slush w/ 3.78
final drive.  (and servotronic)  

get this: the reason why they raised the final drive ratio on the
slush version was to gain a measly 1 mpg on the "official" EPA
numbers, which probably amounts to zip in real life.  in fact
very early versions of v8 in europe (88-89) had this ratio, and
after a lot of criticism got it lowered to 4.11 for the '90.

this combination remained thru the 4.2 v8, though i think they dropped
the 5 spd for the 4.2.

mine is 90 w/ 4.1 final drive, same as the '91 5 speed.

>  I drove the v8 auto and the 5 and though it was night and day, but didn't do
> the torque lockup on the auto since it was a borrowed car...

it makes quite a bit of difference if you brake torque the slush car.. 
i wouldn't bet $$$ on it beating the 5 speeder, but it will blow a lot
of small fry away, especially the "formula 1 inspired" cars with their
boy racer owners.   :) :) :)


eliot