Full throttle consequences

[James Landi]

 Every so often, someone mentions a high school experience with his parents' car involving burning rubber.  Alas, I indulged myself in this guilty pleasure on dad's '56 model 62 sedan--- result was a wrecked "Jetaway" transmission--- my question:  Our old girls had engines with tremendous torque... just how much punishment can they take before they break... and (or) are there certain models and years that are extraordinarily durable?     

[TJ Hopland]

Unless you seriously over rev the engine I don't think the engines really care.   Its the rest of the drive line that tends to suffer assuming you are able to keep the car reasonably under control and didn't run into anything.   What really destroys things is if the tire / axle begins to hop as its spinning.  The sudden loading and unloading at high speed tends to break things. 

You kinda wonder if your dad knew you were doing that or if for years he wondered why the tires were wearing so fast?   I suppose the transmission failing could have been a clue?

I think on one of Jay Leno's videos he talks about drilling holes in the muffler on his dads car so it sounded cooler.  His dad would go get it replaced and he would do it again.   I suppose the muffler shop guy was not going to say anything because he was selling a lot of mufflers. 

[Scot Minesinger]

My 17 year old son drove our Dodge Charger w/Hemi as his primary car and after 12k miles wore out the tires completely.  The first and second set each lasted 41k miles when I drove the car.  Then there was the 12mpg when he drove instead of 20mpg when I drove.  I enjoy a powerful car, and thought I was driving it a little hard.  This change of cars happened last month.  Don't send me any I told you so e-mails.  He drives a much slower car now and is on family driving probation.  Yes, the parents know, but how much of a control freak are you going to be, especially when we all did it ourselves to our own parents?  In my son's defense he has a great gpa  and has been accepted at one of the colleges he applied to, we await the other two responses.

I bought and drove the hell out of my own cars when I was in high school when insurance was reasonable; a 1965 (hardtop) and a 1968 Thunderbird.  Always dreamed of a Cadillac convertible, took 29 years to make the dream a reality.

[mgbeda]

I started driving Bessie ('76 SDV) when I was 17.  I'm male.  You figure it out.  That's part of the reason why I figured I owed her a complete restoration.

The tires wore out quickly, but the transmission lasted 40,000 miles with me as the primary driver before it finally needed a rebuild (120,000 miles total).  The engine never wore out, and even when I recently got it rebuilt (180,000 miles) the rebuilder commented on what good shape it was in.  She had a rear axle bearing go out while my Dad still drove her (sometime between 10,000 and 80,000 miles), which is how she ended up with 2.98 gears, but the (used) rear end handled everything I threw at it.

Bessie is one tough car.  I hope she will no longer need to be. 

-mB

[David Greenburg]

As a teenager I used to enjoy doing "neutral drops" in the parents' '72 Ambassador wagon w/ the 401 in assorted suburban DC parking lots. The day after one such session of abuse, the trans went out on my mother. The car was probably 3 years old but it was such a lemon that they didn't suspect foul play; they just had it fixed, like everything else that went wrong with that car.

[wbdeford]

Driving a car for speed is kind of like the Price is Right....you want to get as close to the point of screeching tires as possible without going over.  If you are screeching the tires, you are driving poorly, regardless of whether your goal is speed or economy.

[TJ Hopland]

Driving a car for speed is kind of like the Price is Right....you want to get as close to the point of screeching tires as possible without going over.  If you are screeching the tires, you are driving poorly, regardless of whether your goal is speed or economy.

That only starts to become logical around maybe age 35.   15-25 that just makes no sense not to mention is no fun. 

[TJ Hopland]

My 17 year old son drove our Dodge Charger w/Hemi as his primary car and after 12k miles wore out the tires completely.  The first and second set each lasted 41k miles when I drove the car.   

If you had an earlier car with the Continental tires they were just really soft tires.  That's about how long mine lasted too.  When I complained the dealer told me I was over driving the car.  I pointed out to them that it was an especially icy and snowy winter.  I actually got a new set of Goodyears out of them for free, I just paid freight and install.  The Goodyears were better but still didn't last.  Before I got rid of the car I had Tiger Paws and they were by far the best riding and wearing tires I had on that car over the 180K I owned it.   I made it 130k on the factory brake pads.  That included a fair amount of towing about 3k worth of trailer.  Thats a sign that I was not driving it that hard.   

[Scot Minesinger]

TJ Hopland,

The Charger is a 2006.  What make and model was your car?

The best car ever for me was my 1995 Fleetwood, which never delivered less than 70k miles per set of tires.  That was just one of the wonderful attributes, best what sense of power.

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

Youth is wasted on the young----

My problem was that I had no money to fix it when it broke.  I had to, by necessity, not push my hi school car too hard because crap would, well..... Gee dad, I don't know what happened.  I think it sounded like that when I left the house, didn't it??

As for me and my son, I took him out last year to drive in the snow.  We had an unexpected snowstorm and the salt trucks had not been out yet.  Wanted to teach him what it feels like when the car just starts to break loose.  You can't do that in the newer ones with ABS,etc.
Went to a vacant lot and taught him the 'art' of doing a doughnut.  He looked scared at first but then saw a smile creep over his face. 
Proud Dad moment!
Jeff

[TJ Hopland]

Scott, mine was an 05 Magnum R/T.  I think they got rid of that particular Continental tire on some of the later 06's.   They said it was designed for that car.  Did some research and found out it was made for a Mercedes that weighed like 1800 pounds less than the typical LX car.  I hit something on the highway with mine when it had a few hundred miles on it and destroyed the tire and the inner fender well.  I think I had to pay over $400 for the new tire, it had to be shipped from another dealer out of the state.  At the time no one else made em.

My early youth I didn't have any cars with enough power to really get in trouble.  Had a few friends that had their parents 'new' FWD cars and I was one of the ones that figured out the parking brake and doing donuts in reverse.  We also used to put plastic lunch trays under the back wheels for some fun.  I think the first car I ever owned that could spin the tires was the 73 Eldo that I still have.

[James Landi]

Flooring my 67 Eldorado (it was six years old at the time) caused the front motor mount to tear loose--- the engine jumped up, and the air clearer wing nut punched a dimple in the hood..  engine was designed with only three mounts--- grabbing the air cleaner, you could easily rock that big engine sidewards with not much effort.  I often wonder if that one front mount could hold the engine in place even when new.  (never floored it again!)   

[TJ Hopland]

I didn't know the first gen E's had a different mount setup than the 2nd's.   The 2nd's 71-78 had a fairly typical for the era side mounts near the front of the engine and then a fairly large one behind the transmission.   The 3rd's 79-85 they did go to a more retro style of mount at the very front of the engine and then 2 side mounts at the back of the trans.   The front mount was a bracket that I think caught the standard mount locations on the block then extended forward. 

Broken motor mounts used to be a lot more fun.   I had a friend with a truck that had the solid throttle linkage so when he would take corners it would accelerate on its own from the engine moving and tugging on the throttle.  He thought it was a cool 'feature'. 

[James Landi]

TJ--- I suspect your pal's car was produced during the days when you could kill the engine by shutting off the ignition switch and not have to concern yourself with locking up the steering wheel.  your friend's heart was pumping during those turns! Frankly, I have owned 2nd and 3rd gen Eldorados, and it was only my 67 that you had the sensation that the engine was tentatively held down by those three soft mounts.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

T.J.

Better go and have a good look at your '73's engine mounts.    What you described was the RWD Cadillac mounting system.

You will find that there is one at the front, and two side mounts at the back.   

Bruce.

[TJ Hopland]

Really?  I know my memory is going but I didn't think it was that bad.   I don't have a 73 or 75 handy at the moment and I have done 3 gen 3's since last time I had the motor out of a gen 2.   I really remember pretty typical mounts on the sides of the block.  One of the mount bracket had that almost impossible to get to bolt in it that went to the final drive?  The trans mount I remember being a long narrow thing with a couple bolts in it. 

[TJ Hopland]

My friend's truck with the broken mount was a 60's Ford pickup with an inline I think.  Its been a long time so I could be a little off on the details but it was for sure old enough that the key was on the dash. 

[TJ Hopland]

My memory of the Eldo engine mounts is bugging me.   I thought I had some pictures of when I had my motor out but can't find them at the moment.   Shop manual was not much help with the transmission mount but did show what I remember the motor mount looking like.  Scan didn't come out too good but you can see the stud sticking out the rubber mount.   THat is what I remember dropping into a bracket in the frame.  Maybe they changed the mounts when they shifted the core support and such around in 72/73?   I have never had an engine out of an Eldo older than 73. 

[Philippe M. Ruel]

my question:  Our old girls had engines with tremendous torque... just how much punishment can they take before they break... and (or) are there certain models and years that are extraordinarily durable?   

All these cars came new with a manufacturer's warranty. It means they could be driven full throttle for long periods (except with cold engine) with no damage.

The (almost) unmodified Coupe De Ville that ran Le Mans in 1950 did an average 82 mph for 24 hours including pit stops - I bet on full throttle most of the time.

Of course, after 50+ years of use, the transmission or u-joints or whatever may not like it. One may consider full throttle driving as a trial for these components .

The speed limit here is 130 km/h (81 mph) on most highways. I usually drive my '52 at a steady 75 mph, which means full throttle on some long grades in mountainous regions. I have often passed many so-called powerful recent cars whose drivers were shy on the gas pedal - I guess to their astonishment and deep shame, because few of them missed a downhill revenge .

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

The Front Engine Mount consists of two pieces of steel, bolted to the Block side mounts, and extend forward and under the front of the engine, and the actual rubber mount attaches to the ends of these pieces.

The Rear Mounts attach to the bracket that bolts to the rear of the engine, covering the Chain Drive.

Bruce.