What makes a car NOT streetable?
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 1,248
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From: Kansas City, MO
Gomer--
Different cams require different tunes. Re-tune and you should get most of your drivability back. A camshaft change definitely requires a tuning change.
Just as an example, I've seen cams that allowed tremendous amounts of timing in the low range and ones that couldn't tolerate much of any.
Different cams require different tunes. Re-tune and you should get most of your drivability back. A camshaft change definitely requires a tuning change.
Just as an example, I've seen cams that allowed tremendous amounts of timing in the low range and ones that couldn't tolerate much of any.
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 205
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Originally Posted by 6Cyl Firebird
Ohymyneck, You the same guy from Midwest City, OK? If so I saw ya yesterday on Air Depot. You need to make it to the ws6zxr board sometime.
I do visit the other board from time to time, but it takes everyone there days to reply. Besides the big boys hang out at LS1Tech 
I feel my cam in my car is streetable & i do drive it every day though only approx 2 miles each way but I do go home on lunches 
It has its quirks...as gomer said with the bucking with my 2.73 gears its alot more of a problem because im always under 2000rpms cruising...throw in some 4.10's like this cam should have and i dont think id have any of that because I'd always be over that threshold. Other than that as far as "streetable" goes the car is fine, just loud.
It has its quirks...as gomer said with the bucking with my 2.73 gears its alot more of a problem because im always under 2000rpms cruising...throw in some 4.10's like this cam should have and i dont think id have any of that because I'd always be over that threshold. Other than that as far as "streetable" goes the car is fine, just loud. 
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
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Also streetable, driveable, and daily driven have very different meaning.
Driving it out to street race on fri/sat is different than driving to work on monday. And driving it as a weekend toy is somewhere in between.
Driving it out to street race on fri/sat is different than driving to work on monday. And driving it as a weekend toy is somewhere in between.
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 14
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From: oklahoma
Originally Posted by Ohmyneck
Yea that must have been me. I'm the only Sunset Orange Firehawk around. I've seen a couple Sunset Orange Trans am's but I'm the only Firehawk rollin around I do visit the other board from time to time, but it takes everyone there days to reply. Besides the big boys hang out at LS1Tech
I do visit the other board from time to time, but it takes everyone there days to reply. Besides the big boys hang out at LS1Tech Yeh, Love your car. I'm the only black look alike firehawk (93-97) in midwest city heh. You need to come to a meeting sometime. Love to see the car.
Cam is a big one. I consider my cam almost unstreetable. It's just a little T1 (221/221). It surges below 1500rpm in 1st and 2nd gear. Parking lots suck, lotsa clutch in, clutch out action.
For an M6 car, upgraded clutches can be painful. My Cartek clutch chatters like a motor, squeals on takeoff, and has super heavy pedal prepssure.
Big stalls on A4 cars can make the car less streetable. When you're running a 4400 stall and it takes 3000rpm just to get moving, it gets real old.
The faster cars running drag tires hurt too. DRs hurt cornering ability and (usually) wet ability.
What else? I can't think of any right now.
Dope
For an M6 car, upgraded clutches can be painful. My Cartek clutch chatters like a motor, squeals on takeoff, and has super heavy pedal prepssure.
Big stalls on A4 cars can make the car less streetable. When you're running a 4400 stall and it takes 3000rpm just to get moving, it gets real old.
The faster cars running drag tires hurt too. DRs hurt cornering ability and (usually) wet ability.
What else? I can't think of any right now.
Dope
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 205
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Originally Posted by 6Cyl Firebird
Yeh, Love your car. I'm the only black look alike firehawk (93-97) in midwest city heh. You need to come to a meeting sometime. Love to see the car.
I saw the Firehawk on the side of your car so I gave you a nice little rev. I wish I had headers and a nice cam.. Maybe then you could have heard it. 
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10 Second Club
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,884
Likes: 4
From: H-town
if i cant got to the gas station and put gas, it is no longer streetable. this is all that really matter for me know, but i am also starting to lean towards needing AC and a sterio. those are the things i will not get rid of. everything else, like gears, cam, and loping, does not matter to me.
Unstreetable to me is a super heavy duty clutch like the RAM 980; chatter is very unfriendly for creeping in traffic. My TR224 once tuned is absolutely awesome for a daily driver; before with surging it sucked.
Originally Posted by z98
Dope, it looks like you need good tuning and a different clutch.
The spec clutches don't act near that bad after break in.
The spec clutches don't act near that bad after break in.
I've got an Exedy single setup sitting in a box in my room. It's going in in about 3 weeks. I was just using it as an example. Higher pedal pressures, grabbiness, chance of chatter, etc are all factors with aftermarket clutches.
Dope
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 14
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From: oklahoma
Originally Posted by Ohmyneck
Ohhh yeahh.. I saw your car. Definatly a sweet ride. I saw the Firehawk on the side of your car so I gave you a nice little rev. I wish I had headers and a nice cam.. Maybe then you could have heard it.
I saw the Firehawk on the side of your car so I gave you a nice little rev. I wish I had headers and a nice cam.. Maybe then you could have heard it. 
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 596
Likes: 1
From: Austin, TX
I'm sure everyone else has said this already, but streetability all depends on your tolerance, and your tune. I drive my car, with my stock 3.42's and G5x2 in rush hour traffic everymorning and dont mind a bit. I have a pretty high tolerance (hell, im looking at bigger cams already) where as some dont care for the surging. A big cam will shake the car a bit, which might be uncomfortabl to some, but I dont mind. A real good tune can make some big cams real streetable, take care of surging and all that stuff. Gears will help with a big cam as well. Again, it really just depends how far you want to go and what you can put up with
My T1 bucks under 1500 in first and second gear also. I also run a spec stage 4 with aluminum flywheel. This is my only means of transportation. The clutch dosent bother me at all. It dosent chatter, it dosent squeal. I can sometimes hear noises transmitted through the shifter when I put it in 4th gear. I have no fear of driving the car in trafic. The only thing is that when I leave a red light I have to bring the RPM's up (around 1500) more than I normaly would in order to slip the clutch and get going. And I dont like doing that at a red light if its a cop around cause my **** aint leagal. Streetability Driveability and so forth so on is a verry subjective term and its just a matter of what you can tollerate on a daily basis.
On The Tree
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 164
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From: Gold Coast Australia
I 'spose this is a question that is very opinionated.
My current set up sounds like it would annoy the **** outta most of you guys, going on the specs.
But it's all in the tune, if you aren't giving your engine enough fuel or too much fuel they are pieces of crap.
I had a 234/238 108 630/630 cam in before the current cam the stall converter was 4600 then.
My current cam 246/248 109 630/630 has the same converter but now it's a 5000 stall.
I drive my car an average of more than 60 miles (100km) a day...at least 5 days a week.
I pull away from the lights nice and easy, a few more revs on a hill or in reverse but nothing too bad.
Having a cam this size is easier in an Auto than a manual as the stall converter takes out the "lumpy loppy" stuff.
It all comes down to compromises and matching your combo.
There is no way this cam would be nice to drive with a tight stall converter plus it wouldn't let the engine get into it's power range.
I even have a full manual valve body, it's fine, just you guys are used to sitting in lounge chairs and driving by remote control.
The surging you guys are talking about is mainly fuel/air ratio problems.
With the overlap from a cam this size if you run a Maf at low engine speed there isn't enough velocity to give the maf an accurate reading for it to meter out the fuel. That is one reason we run our cars on speed density/volumetric efficency. Tunning on a dyno that can hold an engine at defined rpms for periods of time to log what changes are needed so the fuel/air/spark is spot on for every rpm incriment.
So there you go, it's in the tune, attitudes, opinions.
In saying all this, I wouldn't let my wife drive my car..anymore, I did it once it was funny and scary.
I reckon your cam is too big when you can't afford to drive it (which varies from person to person), or you don't have enough vacume to run your brakes.
My current set up sounds like it would annoy the **** outta most of you guys, going on the specs.
But it's all in the tune, if you aren't giving your engine enough fuel or too much fuel they are pieces of crap.
I had a 234/238 108 630/630 cam in before the current cam the stall converter was 4600 then.
My current cam 246/248 109 630/630 has the same converter but now it's a 5000 stall.
I drive my car an average of more than 60 miles (100km) a day...at least 5 days a week.
I pull away from the lights nice and easy, a few more revs on a hill or in reverse but nothing too bad.
Having a cam this size is easier in an Auto than a manual as the stall converter takes out the "lumpy loppy" stuff.
It all comes down to compromises and matching your combo.
There is no way this cam would be nice to drive with a tight stall converter plus it wouldn't let the engine get into it's power range.
I even have a full manual valve body, it's fine, just you guys are used to sitting in lounge chairs and driving by remote control.
The surging you guys are talking about is mainly fuel/air ratio problems.
With the overlap from a cam this size if you run a Maf at low engine speed there isn't enough velocity to give the maf an accurate reading for it to meter out the fuel. That is one reason we run our cars on speed density/volumetric efficency. Tunning on a dyno that can hold an engine at defined rpms for periods of time to log what changes are needed so the fuel/air/spark is spot on for every rpm incriment.
So there you go, it's in the tune, attitudes, opinions.
In saying all this, I wouldn't let my wife drive my car..anymore, I did it once it was funny and scary.
I reckon your cam is too big when you can't afford to drive it (which varies from person to person), or you don't have enough vacume to run your brakes.
