Quote:
Originally posted by JackOlsen
Why does this always happen when V8 conversions come up? All sorts of things peole do to their Porsches -- aside from storing them inside a plastic bubble -- are not in the actual best interests of the cars. Track time dramatically increases the risks of damage being done to the cars -- from collisions and accidental mechanical over-revs more than anything else -- but also from the stresses of high-speed driving. Turbochargers and superchargers are a bad idea -- if preservation and longevity are part of your engineering goals. Turning a stock street car into a track car means ruining its stock value. Adding aftermarket suspension and brakes also turns it into a different car.
My point is this: 99% of the cars discussed on this board, in one way or another, are getting used, and modified, and subjected to -- if nothing else -- creeping metal fatigue on a daily basis. No one gets bent out of shape about the addition of enormous spoilers, or turbo flares, or any of the other modifications that also (generally) deteriorate the long-term integrity of the car. For some reason the V8 conversions make people nuts -- even when the converter doesn't boast (as no one in this thread did) about "how superior an alternative [the V8 mule] is to a 911."
Again, I am not a fan of V8 conversions. But then again, I'm not a fan of weekend wannabe racers putting the cars into walls and fenceposts, either. And I'm not a fan of the number of 911s that get junked every year because it's no longer economically viable to keep them running. Those are all bad things; they shrink the pool of available 'real' 911s for future generations. But why do people have to come down so hard on the V8 converters? I don't get it. A tiny minority of Porsche owners (and even a small minority of people on thie board) are really dedicated to doing everything in their powers to preserve the longevity of our cars. Most of us would much rather gamble it all and do the MOST dangerous thing you can do to a Porsche -- subject it to the risks of public roads and other drivers.
I don't want to start a flame war, here. But I am trying to suggest that when some of the tiny minority of Porsche owners who opt to do a non-Porsche engine swap decide to run a thread on a discussion board, we should give them a little break. It's going to be tough enough for them to get any respect in POC or PCA circles. Put any of us behind the wheel of our 911, and it's easy to forget: cars are still just cars. Porsches -- as great as they are -- are still mass-produced, consumer-oriented, four-passenger vehicles designed to get people to work, or to the store, or to grandmothers, and back again. They're not sacred cows. They are awesome cars. But they're just cars.
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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T sunroof coupe
http://members.rennlist.com/jackolsen/Jalopy.html
[This message has been edited by JackOlsen (edited 07-24-2000).]
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Absolutely correct post, from a moderator even. Too bad some people can't get it.
Another interesting common thread in discussions about conversions (I got this from Rotary purists when I did my V8 RX7 converison, that also worked better than stock):
"without the Porsche (or insert car brand here) engine in it, it's crap/not a Porsche (or RX7, etc)." As though none of the rest of the car mattered at all. It's the ENGINE that made the car. I got told when I did my Ford 5.0 conversion in my RX7 that "If you wanted a Mustang, you should have BOUGHT a Mustang becasue now it's no better than a Mustang." COnsidering that they were trying to insult my car by insinuating that since a Mustang is a POS, then my car is too. I always respond with, "since you think the Mustang is so bad, and all I've done is change the engine, you must feel that other than the engine, the RX7 is built poorly, with bad ergonomics and no style."