for Fast & Furious fans ...

[Mike DC]

  
Q.  What motors would you use, if on-set delays were costing you $10,000 per hour?  

A.  Whatever is consistent & reliable.  Whatever you can repair, swap, and buy parts for, in a hurry.  This includes parts availability in foreign countries.  

They run a matching drivetrain in all their old american RWD stunt cars.  Chevy crate motor/trans, Ford 9" rear axle, Wilwood brakes, etc.



People think they bondo their stunt cars because they are cheap/lazy.  It's really because they are in a goddamn hurry.  They might buy $3000 worth of brand new repro sheetmetal and then end up slamming it all onto the car overnight using rivets & bondo.  

[Cncguy]

I'd put a mopar engine in it and a stock interior.

[Mike DC]

          
Stock interior?

Not on my watch.  It wouldn't fit the F&F vibe at all.  
Vinnie's onscreen car has never once had a stock interior.  It's been a lot of bare sheetmetal & aftermarket stuff in every movie.  

To us, this looks cheap.  To the rest of the world, it looks badass & racy.  Most people without car resto knowledge will assume that keeping the stock interior is the easy way.  



Mopar engine?  

Yeah I agree with that.  
Put a big blown gen-2 Hemi in there and make the car what it's always supposed to be.  
 

[cbrestorations]

ls3 and ford 9", cheap, lighter, all aluminum completely dressed crate engine making 430hp is only $6500. better handling for stunt scenes too. this is what they are using now for the fast and furious movies now anyway. the daytona was ls3, the new movie was ls3. imagine if the general lee had an ls3 in it, the charger wouldnt need 300-400lbs of ballast in the rear for jumps lol

[cbrestorations]

so.. Can anyone explain the bigass turn signal switch? 

that bigass turn signal switch is actually a stand alone signal switch used for columns that had no turn signals. these cars were very basic and instead of taking the time to rewire the cars and replace worn out turn signal switches they just hose clamped these stand alone ones to the column

[Mike DC]

Insert Quote
ls3 and ford 9", cheap, lighter, all aluminum completely dressed crate engine making 430hp is only $6500. better handling for stunt scenes too. this is what they are using now for the fast and furious movies now anyway. the daytona was ls3, the new movie was ls3. imagine if the general lee had an ls3 in it, the charger wouldnt need 300-400lbs of ballast in the rear for jumps lol

Exactly.  The weight of the engine is a big deal when you're driving off the pavement or using the steering wheel.  That LS3 literally weighs less than a slant-6.    

$6500 . . . aarggh.  And Mopar, in their infinite laziness, still won't mass-produce an alloy block Hemi in anything.   Their Hemi muscle cars are pushing 4500 lbs.      

that bigass turn signal switch is actually a stand alone signal switch used for columns that had no turn signals. these cars were very basic and instead of taking the time to rewire the cars and replace worn out turn signal switches they just hose clamped these stand alone ones to the column

AFAIK that turn signal thing wasn't even there for the movie.  Probably just a post-movie addition to help legalize the car.

[cbrestorations]

i wish chrysler also produced and aluminum block in their performance cars, because $4k for a mopar aluminum block is just too pricey