Forgotten Cool Cars of the 90s

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by dorkpunch

Safe cars make bad drivers.

Complacency makes for bad drivers.

[VegasKLRider]

Originally Posted by Grainbelt

Getting t-boned by a minivan or SUV in a CRX would fuck you up right good.

And getting t-boned by a semi in my 3/4 Ton truck would have the same effect... Purchasing a vehicle based on protection against others' choice in vehicles seems like a waste of resources. As someone has already mentioned, it is still imminently safer than my Strom.

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by VegasKLRider

And getting t-boned by a semi in my 3/4 Ton truck would have the same effect... Purchasing a vehicle based on protection against others' choice in vehicles seems like a waste of resources. As someone has already mentioned, it is still imminently safer than my Strom.

Every little bit helps. Besides there's a hell of a lot of more ways to crash a car than to be hit by a semi truck.


Also, nowadays it's more of a fiscal choice than anything else.

A new small lightweight 2 seater "sport" coupe with no safety features other than some out dated belts would be obscenely more expensive to ensure than something with all the top of the line safety features.

[Juanjo_NY]

by far no questions ask my ONE fave "car" of the 90s is the full side Bronco!

[Jeffy]

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

Every little bit helps. Besides there's a hell of a lot of more ways to crash a car than to be hit by a semi truck.


Also, nowadays it's more of a fiscal choice than anything else.

A new small lightweight 2 seater "sport" coupe with no safety features other than some out dated belts would be obscenely more expensive to ensure than something with all the top of the line safety features.

Full roll cage and harness? Problem solved.

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by Jeffy

Full roll cage and harness? Problem solved.

Throw in a Hans device and we're good to go!

[Bevelhead]

While were on SUV's, Here's my '97 Lexus LX450, AKA Land Cruiser 80 Series. It's been called the bank vault on wheels for a reason. 120K and not a rattle. Will go pretty much anywhere. Heinous fuel mileage though. That's OK. I live in oil country. Keeps my friends employed.

[LuciferMutt]

Originally Posted by Juanjo_NY

by far no questions ask my ONE fave "car" of the 90s is the full side Bronco!

I like those, but they are ALWAYS driven by assholes around here. Without fail.

[Mambo Dave]

Originally Posted by soloyosh

When I first started with H-D I worked at their Florida proving grounds, FEC. The place used to be run by Ford and H-D leased to them during the winters. I had a 1989 SHO at the time.

One day I was sitting in the break room and a Ford guy came and sat next to me. He asked if the SHO in the lot was mine, then he proceeded to give me the whole history of the thing. He was the lead engineer on a project called GN34 that Roush was developing for Ford. It was basically a Ford Fiero. When Fiero sales began to tank, Ford pulled the plug. The problem was they'd already committed to buy the engines from Yamaha. He said they tried that engine in everything, Mustangs, Aerostars, Rangers, Merkurs, etc. The Taurus was tried because it was a huge seller for Ford and building a small run wouldn't hit the bottom line too bad. Then Nissan started pushing their 4DSC (4 door sports car) idea witht he Maxima and Ford marketing pushed for the Taurus.

At the time my car had 120K miles and the valve lash on the SHO engines needed to be adjusted every 60K. Ford had stopped selling the shims. He dug through his notes and found the Yamaha part number (from an FJ1200). The Yamaha dealer had them in stock.



GN34

What a shame - the Fiero was tanking because, aside from looking unique and cool for the time, the motors were crap and the performance low. Had Ford came out with a FIero-like Yamaha engined little beast, they would have made a name for themselves (like they did with the GT). It's cars like those that build a good part of a customer base, not the flashy crap GM always out out that broke down all too soon. There's a reason even the lowly Ford Taurus, non-SHO, was so popular - and it didn't have anything to do with its looks.

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by Mambo Dave

What a shame - the Fiero was tanking because, aside from looking unique and cool for the time, the motors were crap and the performance low. Had Ford came out with a FIero-like Yamaha engined little beast, they would have made a name for themselves (like they did with the GT). It's cars like those that build a good part of a customer base, not the flashy crap GM always out out that broke down all too soon. There's a reason even the lowly Ford Taurus, non-SHO, was so popular - and it didn't have anything to do with its looks.

I want an old Fiero to drop a transmounted v6-v8 into.

[FPGT72]

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

I want an old Fiero to drop a transmounted v6-v8 into.

I drive one to work every day and am pretty active in the community.

NorthStar cars are pretty popular and do not upset the car too much....problem with most of the convertions is getting a manual hookup for the car.

I like the fiero and despite being held back by the folks at GM (chevrolet) it was not a bad car for having a truck engine for the "fast" fiero and an old 4 banger for the econo version.

[Mambo Dave]

Originally Posted by FPGT72

I drive one to work every day and am pretty active in the community.

NorthStar cars are pretty popular and do not upset the car too much....problem with most of the convertions is getting a manual hookup for the car.

I like the fiero and despite being held back by the folks at GM (chevrolet) it was not a bad car for having a truck engine for the "fast" fiero and an old 4 banger for the econo version.

But, then imagine your car with that Yamaha 6 cylinder of the Ford Taurus... That would have been a race car.

[Range Motorsport]

Originally Posted by Gimpinator

It wasn't Yamaha Marine. (You may be thinking about OMC doing the original Corvette ZR-1 engine.) The SHO program was just getting started when I joined Ford Engine Engineering. Yamaha was originally tasked with developing a DOHC head package for the 3.0L Vulcan V-6. It quickly became clear that the block was no match for the anticipated power levels, so Yamaha developed the complete engine from scratch.

What an engine it was! It is my favorite V-6 of all time. Our test cars had no rev limiters and a hot calibration. (300 HP at the flywheel was as easy as plugging a chip into the EEC-IV unit.) I was tasked with durability testing the Valeo clutches in some of our test units, and it was a fun job I was forced to go out to Henry's Trimotor runway at the Dearborn Proving Grounds and do great smokey burnouts for hours on end

With no rev limiters, I was able to really explore the powerband on this amazing engine. With proper spark and fuel added back in to the calibration, the engine would pull strong to 10,000 rpm with no complaints. (Well, the Ford 3G alternator would complain after a while, since it was being driven at almost 3x crankshaft speed )

What fun it was to have smoke pouring into the air conditioning vents, and get paid to do it. The work took a few years to bear fruit, with the rod shifter and inproved clutches in later models.

I too had a blue '93 5-speed. Loved the engine. Hated the chassis...

It was Yamaha Motor that designed and built the SHO engine for the first gen SHO. They also did a lot of design work and the major assembly of the 3.4L V8 in the 2nd gen SHO. However the original ZR1 LT5 was not built by OMC it was built by Mercury Marine. Yamaha Motor is now building the V10 for the Lexus LF-A.

The funny thing about the 90's wasn't that there was a lack of power being made by the engines being put out it was the lack of power the transmission could handle. On several occasions I have read about engines developed to make in excess of 300hp and 300lb/ft of torque and the transmissions available couldn't handle it so they were forced to de-tune the motor for the reliability of the tranny.

One of the most underrated cars of the 90's was the Buick Roadmaster Estate. They came with an LT1 tuned to 260hp and were totally a sleeper for anyone that drove them. A few simple engine modifications would really wake them up. I had a chance to drive one a few years back and laying rubber in a big ol wagon never gets old

[Jeffy]

Rut tried selling it on ebay a while back but it didn't sell so I guess he's keeping it for now.

[seriousracer]

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

I want an old Fiero to drop a transmounted v6-v8 into.

look up Cleit Arschambol(?) .. He did the first ones back in the 80...

he had some things figured out...