RJ,

They are buying Mid 80's Monte Carlos for several reasons not including horsepower.

It is easy to drop in a crate motor.

It is easy to strip the emissions.

They are RWD cars.

They are cheap.

 

Oh please don not understand my post are am not saying cars from the 70 and 80s are worthless. they are great project cars like RJ said there is an incresing supply of turn-key motors available for lots of applications modifying these government regulatated slow cars into fast machines.

I was saying the amount of perforamace based cars and just cars over all are faster and have more power 20 years ago there was much that is 200 hp rollin off the line now days its easy to list the cars that don't have 200+ horsepwer

 

besides, who woulnd't want a relic of the end of the cold war & the Regan years? I like 80's monte carlo's, they are beautiful vehicles in my opinion.. and quite easy to make fast. theres not much from the 80's i like.. but i like the 80's monte carlo's. the firebirds are even nice.. not too fond of camaro's. the 80's mustangs were lazily designed... most cna be found on the drag strip to thsi day... they are cheap to be made fast. they had large engine bays, they were easy to work on, they did not have much computer stuff on them to make them hard to tune, and they were light cars. you strip the emissions equipment and you got something.

 

Might have not had horsepower, but lots of torque and torque is what gets the car moving.

 

First - the u bend delete does increase HP. No doubt. I went with a complete kit (DP with hi flow cat, and SLP cat back exhaust). No u bend in the kit. I did have to install the O2 simulator past the new cat because of the higher flow and my check engine light kept coming on.

More HP will increase mileage IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR FOOT OUT OF IT. Problem is, most people enjoy the extra power and drive the car faster, thus reducing mileage.

And lastly, from about '72 on until the mid 90's cars were required (and still are) to achieve certain levels of gas mileage and emissions. Congress is now considering new and much higher mileage requirements. Auto makers did it by reducing weight (look at all the plastic in those cars)and HP (by smog equipment chocking down the engine). The 80's were the worse. The '82 Vette (I think that is the right year) was something like 150 (or maybe 170) HP. For a Vette!!!

Engineers finally figured out how to make HP along with good mileage. Again, look at the Vette. An '07 Z-06 is 500 HP and gets mileage in the 20's. Amazing! We are living in the next generation of true muscle cars!!!

And finally, muscle cars of the 60's weren't that fast not because of HP but because of tires and suspensions. You couldn't get the power to the ground.

Just my 2 cents. Good Thread!

 

That's exactly what I did - didn't charge more that 60 bucks. I'm going back to that same shop soon to get my “one ball” exhaust mod to my Mini Cooper S. Basically it's just cutting of the resonator and welding in an elbow to connect the peices back together. Only 60 bucks! Woo Hoo!

 

Congress already passed that law you were referring to rchurch. George Dubya signed it late in December.

damn you George Dubya, you too Nancy Pelosi and your Democratic Congress....

 

I stopped in at a local meineke to get a quote on a new exhaust and asked about the u-bend delete. The guy told me it wouldn't do anything considering the size of the motor. When I told him I was considering upgrading soon, he started griping about the computer errors I would get. I figured that since it's a independently owned franchise he'd be happy for the business. Guess not.

 

i went to 3 shops that told me the same thing. i never felt a difference in the power, and never really saw it on the drag strip (although it was very hot compared to pretty cool when i did a comparisson run). maybe hte exhaust shop guys know what they're talking about, idk

but if you take your u-bend out (or when you find some one to do it for you), pick up the little piece (if it's cool from being cut out) and check it out. if you could still read the section i wrote in the Headers, Intake, and Exhuast section (blame forum crash), you could see my pictures. But what i wnat to say here that was written thereis that the u-bend, whilepinching down, also widens out, sotheoretically it shouldn't make a difference.HOWEVER, if you could run your fingers inside the u-bedn from either side, you will see that it widens out AFTER it pinches down.

so does it make a difference? i'd think so. maybe with a CAI intake to get more air in in the first place would really make hte difference so there you go.

as for computing errors, many memebers here have done this mod at various shops across hte US, not a single computing error to my knowledge.

 

The only computer errors that I've heard come up were from people who chose not to install the sensor into the U-bend delete.
I don't know what to think really. Because I've had a couple guys tell me that removing the U-bend will take away needed backpressure and cause power loss.
Either way, my exhaust is going to have to remain as is until I get the car paid off.