Wound my window down crossing the Rimutaka hill this evening, to listen to the soundtrack of an early Torana with a V8 conversion that was in front of me. He had a pair of 2.5" mild steel pipes out the back, making a proper V8 rumble, just a fast car the way they used to be - beautiful!
I need to mention/brag that my mighty 1.3 GL Laser hung in there behind him quite well with its standard suspension, generic cheapo tyres and 50 raging horsepower:-)
The Torana was obviously in a hurry because every straight he put his foot down and his acceleration in a straight line was massive. But he wouldn't carry any speed into corners and he wouldn't use any throttle to power out of corners, it must be a bit of a lead-tipped arrow despite having pretty ample looking tyres all around. ? I would have thought that on a twisty road you'd need something pretty serious like an Evo or a WRX to keep up with one of those things.
Lack of power steering in the Torana and heavy engine - does that reduce cornering speed?
pfemstn,
Dec 5, 6:55pm
perhaps he was just cruising!
tamarillo,
Dec 5, 7:05pm
Slow in fast out, or in this case very slow in, slow all around, fast when straight.
socram,
Dec 5, 9:50pm
Might be a cop hiding around the corner? Boot it on the straight when you have good vision. Boring as hell, but fast road driving is impossible to enjoy these days, unless you drive an old, less powerful car, that is on its limit below the speed limit for a corner. That is why I have such fond memories of my hot 850cc Mini, pedal to the metal, yet in the modern Cooper S, all you can do (legally) is cruise.
mrfxit,
Dec 5, 9:58pm
Mighty beasts that DEMAND respect.
Either . He's just mucking about He's bored The suspension has been set up crappy Nursing the front tyres Utter crap driver with no balls
I would have thought that all other things being equal, such a small car with a V8 should be ridiculously fast on that sort of road.
The other thing is he was clearly running some sort of 3-speed auto, for all I know the whole set-up could have been an unmodified tri-matic 308 out of a Statesman. It's a road where you want to be in the right gear all the time no matter what size your engine is.
, and you'd need something pretty top shelf
sr2,
Dec 6, 12:35am
As much as I love V8 Torana's the sad truth is that time has caught up with them. Most modern 2 litre sedans will eat one (In standard trim) for breakfast on a tight piece of road!
bwg11,
Dec 6, 12:55am
Don't think it would even take a tight piece of road. The old 253 was only about 140 kW, but a modified 308 may a different matter. Still they are great memories from the mid-70's and in my opinion definitely a classic.
nz_outrigger,
Dec 6, 11:51am
I use to own a chevy powered V8 Torana,all kitted out flares,bonnet scoops etc,, fast as hell off the line and straights but piece of sh#t around corners,heaps of body roll scary as hell lol next car was a turbo skyline a lot slower but good compromise and saved me heaps in repairs and fuel,the V8 id be breaking diffs just about every month as still had the sh#tty holden V8 diff,couldnt stand up to the extra chevy power
exadore,
Dec 6, 7:08pm
Ha ha, 'lead-tipped arrows'. Richard has been reading about 6 cylinder Leyland Marina's.
extrayda,
Dec 6, 8:28pm
Funny, I had a 383 HQ and Turbo Skyline at the same time. Corners and general handling the Skyline would have it easily. Much easier car to drive at speed than the HQ. However, ultimately I enjoyed the HQ more. If you use the right parts (9" in this case) then you shouldn't be breaking things with the V8. It was much harder not to speed in the Skyline because that was when it was fun. The HQ was fun at any speed, just the noise and the fact that you HAD to be involved or it would go sideways, fall off the road and try to kill you. Especially in the rain. Slightly exaggerated but because the Skyline was a good handling car it was much more forgiving (was a standard 2 litre turbo).
mrfxit,
Dec 6, 9:12pm
Odd comments about the Torana's handling because I had the later UC Sunbird which has a similar suspension setup & it had brilliant handling with the 186ci 6cyl. Was very responsive to driver input.hard in to corners. Power on = oversteer Power off = understeer Even throttle = even slide
richardmayes,
Dec 7, 2:09am
The Sunbird is what the late Toranas evolved into wasn't it?
The one I was following was a 2-door LC, I understand those were never V8 from the factory and were built even before the V8 race cars?
I bet the factory had to do a lot of development work to turn a small car designed around a 4 cylinder engine, into something that could go around corners at V8 speed, with a V8's weight up the front!?
sr2,
Dec 7, 3:48am
The Sunbird was only available as a 4 cyl?
We did a number of both 6 and 8 cyl Sunbird transplants in the 80's and always had difficulty getting them comfortable with the additional hp, the triangulated upper arms in the rear made it difficult to set them up to steer with your right foot! The best I ever drove was owned by a mate who ditched the back seat and fitted a 4 bar setup with a watts linkage. Despite the brakes being woefully inadequate we sure had a lot of of fun!
mrfxit,
Dec 7, 4:17am
Mine had a warmed up 186 & Toyota 5sp As far as I know the suspension was std but alignment & shocks were spot on. Brakes were ok, never gave me any problems apart from rust & the missus jack knifing the trailer when backing
sr2,
Jul 21, 7:21pm
Still got a soft spot for the old "Sun-turd". We had one with a warm 350 Chev in it that was the terror of the neighbourhood, it ate 5 speed toyota boxes like there was no tomorrow!
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