147 Mph????

[brots06]

its the stock speedometer for a '99 grand am gt, my friends '00 grand am gt has it also...

[Markgase2000]

Yes we all know the volvo platform is among the safest sturdiest platforms on cars today hence why ford is using them in the 500's. A stock grand am can do 110mphish stock , thats when the rev limiter cuts out the gas. The rev limiter is also set to shift at lower rpms when shifting to higher gears. When you increase those shifting points its like driving a totally different car. More atainable power (better use of exsisting power) is gained in this process and gives the driver the chance to push it harder. For example one of my previous cars was a 99 escort sedan with a 2.0 split port 8 valve engine 0-60 in 12 seconds!!! wow!!! it was a putz of a car but since there was no govenor no rev limiters I could use and abuse the piddly power it had going to the automatic transmission and make it go 120+ mph..........eventually.
My grand am was pretty zippy for a sedan so I started asking questions about the rev limiters. A couple tecs sympathized and swapped work with me , I cleaned there trucks while they retrieved codes and changed rev limiter settings for me. This is very illegal and caused problems for the dealership when I got caught speeding. I was piss drunk in the passengers seat and my sober driver decided to nail the needle to the max (he was wrilled up from watching the peelers) he was clocked 145 mph , sober and still lost his liscence over the incedent. One of the police officers that pulled us over also owns a grand am and knew that they were restricted. He said since the computer was changed it made the car potentially unsafe so I was ordered to have it changed. I thought I could get away with pretending I had it fixed but the officer got in touch with my dealer and told them the story. The service advisor ran tec codes on my engine and it revealed the modifications and the personal tec numbers were then revealed (each tec has a pass number for retrieving engine codes over the phone with GM) the 2 tecs got in crap and had to change it back. Since I worked there and the codes were changed back to factory the service advisor reluctanly allowed me to keep my factory warranty. Suckers!! I was online fast looking for my next alternative to high speed gambling. I found a delco chips place in the state of texas and wound up sending my computer to them for a few weeks for a delco performance chip install. Its not as good as what the tecs did but at least I dont govern out at 110.
I hit 130 a couple times and figured after a couple months that I wasted 700 bucks by installing something totally not street legal and tough to get a chance to use. At 130 my car handles so poorly my knuckles turn white. I almost considered building up the suspension and brakes to handle the speeds better and came up with almost $10,000 worth of upgrades. I then thought "uh no." Now I lost the urge and wish I didnt waste my money that way so my concern moved to acceleration. Now I am content with my car , it accelerates the way I want and behaves at the safer speeds with mostly stock suspension. When the car went 140 it bottomed out on some small bumps and dented my exhaust pipe muffler , cat and resonator, that right there tells me I wasnt in good safe hands at that speed. Sorry for the long post.
P.S. - If you got the money go ahead you can spend $10,000 and it still wont handle like say a "VOLVO" and a volvo isnt a race car but a familly car yet its more rigid , tight and stable then our domestics with the exception of the racing ready suspension in the ford focus svt but thats not a familly car.

[Markgase2000]

Originally Posted by brots06

its the stock speedometer for a '99 grand am gt, my friends '00 grand am gt has it also...

Well unfortunately our grand ams here dont come with a cool speedo like that. I have a 2000 SE and my speedo is the same as the gt's here. Your a lucky bunch and I am jealous cus higher numbers do look cooler.

[brots06]

yeah i agree they do, and i dont care what you people think but i have gotten my stock grand am (as far as i no its stock, but i bought it used so i dont know) to 140mph, it doesnt have a rev limiter or anything...

[volvospeed850turbo]

Markgase2000, are you serious that my car doesn't have a "race-ready" supension? I sure it has everything that you could ever want in a car that can drive up and down a city street. Tell me that I IPD springs, Koni Shocks, and front and rear sway bars. Not to mention the 8" wide tires, I am pretty sure my care, even if it is a wagon, is more race ready that almost any grand am or grand prix, even the gtp, because those super chargers aren't really that good, but I do like the look of the newer grand am's a ton more than the gtp's We each have differing needs and our cars make us happy, just have to represent for those volvo wagons

[Markgase2000]

Please re read my post , I think Volvo's have the BEST suspension platforms in the world.

[Markgase2000]

Originally Posted by volvospeed850turbo

Markgase2000, are you serious that my car doesn't have a "race-ready" supension? I sure it has everything that you could ever want in a car that can drive up and down a city street. Tell me that I IPD springs, Koni Shocks, and front and rear sway bars. Not to mention the 8" wide tires, I am pretty sure my care, even if it is a wagon, is more race ready that almost any grand am or grand prix, even the gtp, because those super chargers aren't really that good, but I do like the look of the newer grand am's a ton more than the gtp's We each have differing needs and our cars make us happy, just have to represent for those volvo wagons

I clearly stated in my post that volvos are far superior to what we in north america think suspension setups should be. The closest thing we have is the ford focus svt. I love volvos they rock and I wouldnt wanna attempt racing one in turns or bumpy roads in speeds excessing 120 mph. Ummm you seem like a nice guy so I need to clear the confusion. Re read the post and you will clearly see that I am infact knocking my pontiacs platform and reveering the volvo platform. sorry you got mixed up.

[Markgase2000]

Originally Posted by brots06

yeah i agree they do, and i dont care what you people think but i have gotten my stock grand am (as far as i no its stock, but i bought it used so i dont know) to 140mph, it doesnt have a rev limiter or anything...

Ok brots Im letting you know right now your grand am is not stock and I believe you.

[Markgase2000]

Originally Posted by volvospeed850turbo

Markgase2000, are you serious that my car doesn't have a "race-ready" supension? I sure it has everything that you could ever want in a car that can drive up and down a city street. Tell me that I IPD springs, Koni Shocks, and front and rear sway bars. Not to mention the 8" wide tires, I am pretty sure my care, even if it is a wagon, is more race ready that almost any grand am or grand prix, even the gtp, because those super chargers aren't really that good, but I do like the look of the newer grand am's a ton more than the gtp's We each have differing needs and our cars make us happy, just have to represent for those volvo wagons

No! I was saying its not a race car but the suspension is as good as race cars its almost as good as the focus svt. We dont produce anything like it untill recently when ford put there heads together with the ford 500 and other cars of there linup. Since volvo has a great reputation for safe handling , rigid and tight controll throughout all the speeds it would have costed me over 10,000 dollars upgrading the pontiac grand am to have simular handling which I doupt to be as good as the volvo not to mention that my grand ams interior would also have to be sacrified for the numerous roll cage and stability bars that would riddle the interior. The volvo platform provides more stability and doesnt have all that mess in there cars therefore Volvo is far superior in the industry far more advanced. Then take into consideration the volvo's electronic stability controllers and traction controllers makes them that much more superior on the road.

[383Chevelle]

ur kidding me right? you think it would cost 10K to make a grand am to handle as well as a stock ass volvo LMAO! i can make my '70 chevelle handle near as well as a C5 for less than 8K and a C5 is guaranteed to handle exponentialy better than a foreign car that costs like 20K. Volvos are reliable because my lug nuts require more torque than they put out! they dont accelerate fast and the ppl who drive them dont go fast so thats why they got good rep...think about it. unless i am totaly ignorant(always a possibility) then mid range volvos are nothing special and i really dont no were u got that idea unless u work at a used volvo dealership. Now as for how fast a grand am or any car for that matter can go....engine size has absolutley nothing to do with it...theoreticly rev limit, tranny gears, rear end(or front) gears, and tire size are all that matter. if a bus had a 1 liter engine that redlines at 9K, huge tires, and a really high end gear ratio then it could go 230 it would just take a really long time to get there.

[Markgase2000]

Hey you tell me how much a good setup would cost and what components will be used and yes a volvo platform is way more rigid than the fossil tecnollogy in a corvette thats why the britts think were clowns for praising the corvette as the icon american sports car. I seen the track results of a corvette versus cars like cerberra's and the corvette loses controll trying to achieve what the cerberra does with ease. The volvos handle much better than the cerberra's as well. Its like a buddy of mine spending 20 grand on a mustang so it could ride on rails with a huge horse power gain from a supercharger and the car still cant take the rear sliding out on accelerating turns. Im sorry to say but you are ignorant (ignorant meaning just dont know enough about it) the standard platforms in volvos is very tight tighter than anything stock that chev ever put out. Chev is trying to achieve this tecnology by working with honda and honda looks up to volvo cus in direct competition with one another with the volvo platform in the lead hondas got some work ahead of them. Its ok man these smaller cars these days I tell ya I was having trouble believing some of this crap then one day I started going to dealerships and test driving all sorts and what my find was volvos are pretty zippy and the most tight handling cars. Hondas were pretty good , mitsubishi lancers were pretty good , subaru imprezzas were pretty good and ford focus was pretty good but the volvo was like a driving dream at all speeds , I felt safe perhaps too safe. If you dont believe me mih , no lost sleep to me but rather than argue I will just let you go and test them out yourself so you can have an opinion yourself. And yes I have drivin a c5 and was impressed with everything ,,,,,,, but the handling.

[383Chevelle]

hey theres no doubt that a tvr Cerbera is a badass car but it also costs over twice wat the corvette does....the corvette is badass and gets all the praise because its fairly affordable and can compete with way more expensive cars. as for vettes losing control because they want to achieve wat the Cerbera did then thats the drivers fault...if you watch a c5 go through the course with an experienced driver then it is amazing wat this car can do. ive never heard of chevy looking to honda for getting technology, they look to ford and buy tech because ford does extensive testing with racing and off road stuff and i guess its cheaper that way? but i cant say they dont look to honda because i simply dont no, i just doubt. i also doubt that any volvo short of that 1.2mil one that was a concept(i dont no if they actually put it into production) will outhandle a Cerbera...which volvos are you talking about dude? maybe we are talking about different volvos? do you really think that chevy would put millions in research and development for the corvettes and still not make it handle as well as a 20K family wagon? ditto for the TVRs. i think not....maybe you could find some evidence of this miracle family car that outhandles supercars? its just really hard to believe, especialy since the car and driver reviews of the vettes all praise its handling and the reviews of the volvos dont say anything close to it outhandling a vette or any other respectable sports car

[BFT]

Enjoy your tickets.

[Forkliftguy]

Originally Posted by 383Chevelle

Now as for how fast a grand am or any car for that matter can go....engine size has absolutley nothing to do with it...theoreticly rev limit, tranny gears, rear end(or front) gears, and tire size are all that matter. if a bus had a 1 liter engine that redlines at 9K, huge tires, and a really high end gear ratio then it could go 230 it would just take a really long time to get there.

I agree with most of your post, but the last part is not exactly accurate. There is a limit to how fast an engine can push a car. That limit is how much HP that engine can produce. every vehicle has a specific HP requirement to travel at a given speed, which is directly proportianal to it's coeficient of drag. A bus is a brick wall on wheels, hence it would require astronomical amounts of HP to travel 230mph. If, and I repeat, if you could get that 1 L engine to produce the necessary power to push it to 230mph, it wouldn't last long enough to get it there. In realistic terms enigne size does matter for the fact that a 5 L engine producing 300 HP will outlast a 2 L engine putting out the same HP, if maintained and treated equally because there is less stress on the components.

[383Chevelle]

the 1 liter bus was a huge exageration just to get point across, but i really think that to a limit the hp doesnt matter, because lets say we upgrade to a 4 liter in the bus putting out 250hp and torque...that will get the bus moving and eventually it will get to 50 mph yes? well if u keep the foot on gas theoreticly(forgeting about friction, bumps, wind resistance, and that junk) then eventually u will go through the gears and wind up redlining it, at which point u will b going the outrageous 230mph...as long as u have enough hp and torque to get it moving then its possible, no? i could be way off, this is the way i understand it though, and i got a few speed calculators and when u factor in hp it doesnt affect anything.