That's not natural
 

Well, tonight, I ran across a Cavalier Z24 (manual) and, to put it blatently, I lost to him. I could not beat him. All I could tell my buddy in the car is "that's not natural." So, can anybody tell me what the heck is up. I refuse to believe that my SVX is slower than a Cavalier. It's really pissin' me off, cuz I put alot of work and effort into my car, and, if it's running right, I don't see any way that I should lose to a car like that. We talked to the guy and he said it had "just what it comes with." So, am I expecting too much of my car, or is something wrong?
Mat-1

what???
 

mat one of my friends had a manual z-24 and i ate his a$$ up. in fact i toyed with him. he took off just barely ahead of me at the start but by the time i hit second and definitely by the time i hit third he was in my rear view mirror. but my svx is fwd, i mean i dont know if that has much to do with but that would be my guess. other than that i guess it is the fact that his is manual, race him rolling at about 5 miles per hour. that way you can stomp on it, throwing it into power mode. the SVX is supposed to be very fast from 5-60 mph. if you lose after that then hell i dont know.

you got me thinking......
 

the only car that has ever shocked me was a damn honda prelude (manual of course). he legitimately beat me and i just couldnt believe it. i would really like to race him again!!

Puzzle's not fittin
 

Yea...I don't know what the heck was going on. I'm beating my friends Porsche 944 that hI haven't really been able to beat before, so I don't know what happened. I'm gonna have to reace something I KNOW I can beat (Civic?) and make sure I can still do it. Hopefully it was just a couple of weak runs...they were all from a dead stop, and that's all I can figure.
Mat-1

check the "best looking svx post" .......
 

for a start and a more economical solution (possible solution).

Prolly gonna try that
 

Yea, I've been thinking about having that done for a while. I have to drive to MI this Thurs, so I guess I'll do it after the drive (don't have time to go to the mechanic). Hopefully that will fisx some problems, eh? Man, I love this car, but I have no idea what kind of maintenance itneeds, cuz I've only owned it for 2 years. I'm taking care of it, but I don't know what the last guy did to take care of it. I guess I'll just have to keep stabbing at stuff.
Mat-1

i would just have the 60,000 mile maintenance done.
 

minus the timing belt if yours is in good condition. that would give you a baseline to work from. that way you would know everything was checked and maintenanced. just a thought.......

i know the crap shoot feeling. this car is really finicky....but i love the hell out of it too!

oddly i am actually considering buying a Porshe 928. just love that car. i have been looking at autotrader.com waiting for the right one to come along.

not natural?
 

How many time have we posted that the SVX needs a rolling start of around 50mph to beat the crap out of any car. The SVX is not for racing. You can race it. Do you know how much your SVX weigh? Do you know how much that Z24 weigh? Think. I have raced Mustangs and Camaros and preludes and civics (at at least 40/h). SVX is slow to take off from the line.

If anyone post a post like this again, I will blow up on his ass. If you want to race, at least you should know your car a bit -- IMHO

Lwin

For the record... I have an SVX and a Z24. Those are my 2 cars. The SVX is so much faster than the Z24 its scarey. However, The Z24 is much faster off the line. I think this may be your problem. My Z24 is prety vintage stuff, but the performance between the old ones and the new ones is prety much the same. Any questions? Let me know.

-Mike

Re: not natural?
 

I would advise against it. As moderator, I'll have to say that anyone "blowing up on anyone's ass" is not going to fare well. You are welcome to your opinion, but, "blowing up" is not an option.

As for the "rolling start" theory, yes, it works with more powerful cars, but, a Chevy Cavalier Z24 should have been drowning in exhaust fumes in very short order behind an SVX. Try cleaning your throttle body for now. If it hasn't been done lately, you may be surprised at the gains you'll find there. When's the last time you've tuned her up (changed the plugs)? There could be many factors. Start with the very "simple" first (throttle body cleaning, making sure your air filter is clean, etc), then, crap shoot your way through the rest. I only feel confident in offering this advice because "I know my car . . . a bit."

Know thycar
 

Well, spark plugs were changed when I got my new tranny (15,000 miles ago), so that should still be good. Air filter (KC cone) was cleaned about 5,000 miles ago, so that should be good. I have a sneaking suspcion that it's the induction system somewhere. So, I'll work on that stuff. As far as knowing my car, I know that I've kicked the crap out of Cavaliers, from a dead stop, before, so I know that my car is faster than those, despite its weight...yea, an SVX weighs about 500 lbs (conservative guess) more than the Z24, but it's also puttin out a good 80 more HP, so I think that probably makes up for it. Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions.
Mat-1

Mat, I just read your post about octane. Sheesh, man. There's your problem. You're going to need to run out that last bit of midgrade crap, fill up with "good stuff" run a tank through, then, fill up with "good stuff" again, and undo your battery and erase the memory from the ecu. The car will have to "re-learn" how to work with your higher octane fuel.

Wish it were that easy
 

Been running premium for about 2 weeks now. Maybe it's just gonna take time...I'll do the battery thing...haven't done that yet. Maybe that'll do it and I won't have to clean the fuel system after all. I want to do it...but I don't want to pay $70 and find out that my injectors are shot so I'll have to pay $250 more to have those replaced. So, I'll probably do it anyway, cuz $70 dollars ain't much to figure out what shape the fuel system is in, I guess.
Mat-1

You could also try running some Techron through it. I've got some sort of injector problem that I'm still trying to figure out, but a bottle of Techron definately improved things. Figure that at $7 its worth giving it a shot...

Re: Re: not natural?
 

Randy, I will not really blow up on someone. I guess I may hire someone else to do the deed. :)

Guys, I have raced enough cars on the streets (including police crusiers -- and they are pretty damn fast!). The thing is you have to know your car. Racing an SVX can be fun. Do it legally -- on the track where it is SAFE and TIMED for your RECORDS! Street racing is dangerous and can be deadly.

Furthur more, KNOW THY SVX. You know how the SVX can preform. If you own it, push it at one time. Know the limits of the SVX -- hack, any car you own. Know if the car under or over steers. Know how long it takes to break. Know how to use that "power" mode. I am not saying you should not win. I believe that if you know your SVX, you would have whipped that Z24's ass. If I can take on the Camaros and Mustangs (V6s), you can take on that z24.

Once I took on a 01 Chevy Malibu from stand still. Damn, it took me a while to pass this car. I have said this muliple times before in different threads. Rolling start is good for the SVX. 0-60 on svx is not the greatest. Anyways, don't mourn too much about your lost. Enjoy the SVX. I think I am done preaching for the time being.

Perhaps the hot weather is making me go crazy. Sorry guys
Lwin :)