Rock Solid Shifts.com

[RockSolidShifts] For those of you who are unfamiliar with this car, this is a Fiat 500. Romeo Ferraris, a Italian tuning firm and racing car builder, build this puppy.  Originally 94 Horse power, the Italian firm turned the 1.4 liter engine into a freakin mean machine packing in 360 HP.  Thats over 257 horse power per liter.    Not my style at all, I have to say.  However, I have to admit, it is very intriguing.  It makes me want to take it for a spin. I mean… what does it feal like to drive something that has that much horse power and probably weighs as much as a paper airplane?

Fiat 500 Italian Racer style

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Popularity: 13% [?]

[Rock Solid Shifts] Flying through the dirty “out back” in Australia, with your now dirty sports coupe, you swing by to watch bikini models as they wash your car by hand. Not exactly… You pull up and see male nudity!  four dudes were caught naked washing themselves with their cars all while their girl friends were taking pictures of them… Thats wierd, or maybe they just finished watching the episode of Jackass where the guys strapped themselves to the hood of their cars and drove through an automatic wash, and were inspired by it.  Either way, what were they thinking?  They were charged with indecent exposure and public nuances, and are scheduled to appear in court in a month.  Boy would I like to be a fly on the wall for that one!

[source: kcra]

Popularity: 15% [?]

2008 Ferrari 612 Staglietti

Those are two words that you might have thought would never be in the same sentence.  However, Ferrari has confirmed that they have been experimenting with hybrid technology and plan to use it in a few years.  What?!? is Ferrari trying to be conservative and go green?  Not a chance.  In fact it’s the opposite.  They are designing something even more extreme.  The hybrid system, according to the source, will be used to improve the performance in the handling and acceleration department.  Two torquey electric motors powering the front two wheels provide for an extremely flexible and dynamic distribution of power to the wheels where and when the car needs it.

This is suppose to come as an option in the replacement for the 612 Scaglietti comming no sooner than 2014.  I will anxiously await that day to find out the success of the project.  I could speculativley say that the added weight of batteries and motors might not be made up by the extra control and power that the setup allows, but we will just have to wait and see.  On second thought… How could I doubt Ferrari?

Popularity: 12% [?]

Nissan Cube

I saw this thing on the road the other day, and I almost threw up a little bit in my mouth.  I looks like a two color rubic’s cube put in front of one of those image distorting mirrors.  I don’t know why anyone would pay money for that thing.  It’s classified as an “affordable small car”(although I wouldn’t really call it a car).  Is that why the car maker made it so ugly?  Because if Nissan sold an actual, normal, ok looking car that was at that same price too many people would buy it and then they would lose sales on other vehicles?

Please, I am interested in what others think about this thing.  Leave a comment below.

I found the best looking picture of it I could to give it the benefit of the doubt…

Popularity: 14% [?]

Rock Solid Shifts – A Generation III General Motors V-8, build by Wheel to Wheel Powertrain, reached a 6.86 second quarter mile pass at 205 mph, a new benchmark for the community of GM V-8s to beat. This is quite an accomplishment, but how long will this record last? Probably not very long.  That isn’t the point though.  The Gen III’s V-8s have been a hit ever since they came out first in the Corvette, Camaro and Trans Am.  This “new and redesigned” engine was simply a tweeking of the old, but ever so popular, small-block Chevy motors.  It features lightweight aluminum block and heads, drastically improved airflow, modernized and more efficient electronics and ignition system, but still maintains (here is the clincher) the old push rod design.

GM did this while virtually every other car manufacturer on the planet was switching to more complex and revolutionary over head cams and/or multiple valves per cylinder style engines.  however, this was one of the main factors that led to the massive amount of people that were drawn to the engine.  It could be modded easily utilizing existing knowledge from the prior push rod motors.  A simple few hundred dollar cam swap achieved astounding gains relative to cost.  Some have reported over 100hp gains from the 5.7L.

While the first LS1 engine was a hit from the beginning, the subsequent versions like the LS3, LS6, LS9 and others sport even higher displacements and performance attracting more and more enthusiasts.  Kurt Urban from Wheel to Wheel build his record breaker with a 6.0L block and a twin turbo plus nitrous setup boosting more that 30psi.(1,900hp)

Wheel to Wheel Twin Turbo LS Engine

This was only because of a weight requirement.  The LS7 7.0L sports even more potential.  I think we are going to see even more incredible accomplishments and awesome speed from these engines.

[Source- Hotrod]

Popularity: 13% [?]

I have been wanting to feature this car for along time but haven’t gotten around to it. What’s over looked is the incredible

Hyundai Genesis Coupe 2.0T turbo engine

similarities the Genesis’s 1998cc four has to the Mitsubishi Lancer’s (almost 300hp) Evo engine. These two engines being products of Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance between Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Chrysler is the reason for their commonalities. This fact, combined with the $22,000 and some price tag, makes for something special, and Hyundai knows it. What is so special? the Evo gave rise to a goldmine of performance aftermarket support, which can now be taken advantage of by the Genesis Coupe.
But the benefits aren’t limited to only the aftermarket. Check out this quote from Car and Driver:

“Similarities outweigh the differences, we’re told, between the Evo’s motor and Hyundai’s all-aluminum Theta four with its twin-cam variable valve timing and Mitsubishi TD04H turbo making 15.0 psi. Core components such as pistons and rods should move freely between them”

hyundai genesis coupe interior

No doubt the 2.0t will already be a fun car, but I think we will see the performance levels of the two-liters rise above and beyond the 3.8 six cylinder naturally aspirated cars. I think it’s a gift to the car community, because many of the times in the past the 2.0 turbo was the expensive upgraded option. Now Hyundai is making it more accessible as the base option, but also offering a more expensive “upgraded” version. It’s the best of both worlds.

Popularity: 23% [?]