Public transportation is looking better and a explination of exactly what a stealth is
If you don’t already drive or own a car do yourself a favor and never start… seriously for those of you that its not already to later for do not learn to drive or buy a car… you will thank me later when all your friends are paying 5 dollars a gallon for gas and then the mechanic bills…. For those that claim to be mechanically inclined they normally fail to take into consideration the money spent on tools transportation to and from an automotive store and of course the sheer amount of lost time one has trying to diagnose car problems then fixing them.
If you must buy a car buy one of those small hybrid economy types that looks like a shopping cart with better ergonomics, again you will thank me later. I didn’t listen to people when they told me that, I bought a sports car with an engine block that weighs roughly the same amount as most vehicles produced by Honda…. Which means between that and the 2 inch ground clearance its only serviceable in a fully stocked automotive shop.
There is an old saying that goes around from Stealth owner to stealth owner "My Stealth is just like a woman. Beautiful to look at, but can be a total bitch, could stand to lose a few pounds and has a ton of issues I completely fail to understand” Some of you despite reading my live journal for years still have no idea what a stealth even is… so before I continue I will tell you.
A Stealth or 3000GT is A Japanese sports car that was mainly designed to be a grand tourer (GT). Because its capabilities exceed those of the GT line, many people compare it to Ferrari and other cars of that category. This often makes some folks say that it was a failure of technology and leave other comments of that nature. These people come short of rational thought though, because they do not think of the main purpose of the car and what would happen if its purpose was to be a racing supercar, using all the light materials and all necessary equipment in order to compete in this class. As a matter of fact, this car is capable of an acceleration of 11.8 seconds in the quarter mile and 4.2 seconds 0-60 MPH times in stock trim. These times are better than the times achieved by many of the supercars including Acura (Honda) NSX, Porshe 911 Turbo and many others. Such people should only ask themselves "What would have happened if the 3000GT was meant to compete in this class instead of in the GT class? The answer is pretty clear - it was going to be the king of the hill, just like it is in the GT class for which it was meant. The Mitsubishi 3000GT has a steel body which is much heavier than the aluminum body used by all the super cars. And yet, its times are so close to these of the NSX... Can you imagine the 3000GT being dressed in the lightweight clothes of the supercars? Oh, happy day... But it was made heavy, because of the purpose it serves - to be stable and safe as a GT! This car has a superb styling as well. It is so perfect that, as one journalist said, "Maranello needs to roll out a Testarossa in order to match"! Actually, the 3000GT still looks contemporary while the Testarossa does not so much.
What does this mean? Basically its Japan’s auto industry attempt at making a true American spots car, take a big ass engine and stick it in a aerodynamic car with as little drag as possible, The Stealth has a few big advantages over those though such as the corvette and viper (Both of which only have top speeds of less then 20 miles an hour over that of the stealth despite the substantial differences in materials and HP generated. A stock first gen stealth puts out 330HP compared to a first gen viper’s 500… the first gen Viper RT10 tops out at 192MPH, 1st gen 3000GT VR4 180MPH) Being a GT however it has many advantages over that…. Like controllable cornering and breaking and its almost comfortable to sit in…. ever sit in a Vette or a Viper? I have…. There is a reason if I ever own one it will sit in the garage and rarely be driven. In addition the Stealth/3000GT also features real all wheel drive and all wheel steering at over 30MPH
But I am way off topic I went for a drive Sunday it was rather long and the first drive I have taken since I got back that was longer then 10 miles, in that time I noticed an odd quirk it seemed after about an hour of driving pretty much non stop when I would stop at a light or sign and depress the clutch my tachometer would go nuts, surging between 1 and 2000RPM as it sat there in neutral. I figured that it was most likely a bad o2 sensor and the car was trying to compensate to keep itself from stalling from lack of oxygen when it didn’t need it… thus revving the engine back and forth by varying the amount of air being let in (and killing my air-fuel ratio thus killing my gas mileage at the same time)
This wasn’t a big deal though slightly inconvenient because I kept watching it and in one case tried to fix it by simply giving it more gas when taking off…. Anyone who has ever driven a sports car can see where I am going…. In a rather loud and obnoxious display I took off leaving a fair amount of my tires back on the pavement… but it didn’t solve the air fuel ratio problem.
As I went driving for home my day ruined by car annoyances and constant text messages on my phone about what was happening on wanton (I am undecided which is more annoying) I began to notice other issue with the car, a weird hitch and almost violent shake when letting my foot off the gas to shift and the weird idle thing continuing…. Both consistent with my engine being starved of o2 and suffocating.
So Monday morning I start my car to see if its worked itself out (sometimes on a stealth issues actually do work themselves out… its fucking weird) and my starting idle is almost 3000RPM…. And once the engine warms up there is the bouncing tachometer again… a day later I am sure I know how to fix it, its just a matter of tearing my intake apart and cleaning or replacing my Idle Speed Control servo…. I just need to decide where a good place is to do this, and if I can even get to it without also disassembling half my engine bay, not that I mind, one of these days I will combine my love of cars and guns and have a car thats straight out of a james bond movie....
Yay for weekend projects
If you must buy a car buy one of those small hybrid economy types that looks like a shopping cart with better ergonomics, again you will thank me later. I didn’t listen to people when they told me that, I bought a sports car with an engine block that weighs roughly the same amount as most vehicles produced by Honda…. Which means between that and the 2 inch ground clearance its only serviceable in a fully stocked automotive shop.
There is an old saying that goes around from Stealth owner to stealth owner "My Stealth is just like a woman. Beautiful to look at, but can be a total bitch, could stand to lose a few pounds and has a ton of issues I completely fail to understand” Some of you despite reading my live journal for years still have no idea what a stealth even is… so before I continue I will tell you.
A Stealth or 3000GT is A Japanese sports car that was mainly designed to be a grand tourer (GT). Because its capabilities exceed those of the GT line, many people compare it to Ferrari and other cars of that category. This often makes some folks say that it was a failure of technology and leave other comments of that nature. These people come short of rational thought though, because they do not think of the main purpose of the car and what would happen if its purpose was to be a racing supercar, using all the light materials and all necessary equipment in order to compete in this class. As a matter of fact, this car is capable of an acceleration of 11.8 seconds in the quarter mile and 4.2 seconds 0-60 MPH times in stock trim. These times are better than the times achieved by many of the supercars including Acura (Honda) NSX, Porshe 911 Turbo and many others. Such people should only ask themselves "What would have happened if the 3000GT was meant to compete in this class instead of in the GT class? The answer is pretty clear - it was going to be the king of the hill, just like it is in the GT class for which it was meant. The Mitsubishi 3000GT has a steel body which is much heavier than the aluminum body used by all the super cars. And yet, its times are so close to these of the NSX... Can you imagine the 3000GT being dressed in the lightweight clothes of the supercars? Oh, happy day... But it was made heavy, because of the purpose it serves - to be stable and safe as a GT! This car has a superb styling as well. It is so perfect that, as one journalist said, "Maranello needs to roll out a Testarossa in order to match"! Actually, the 3000GT still looks contemporary while the Testarossa does not so much.
What does this mean? Basically its Japan’s auto industry attempt at making a true American spots car, take a big ass engine and stick it in a aerodynamic car with as little drag as possible, The Stealth has a few big advantages over those though such as the corvette and viper (Both of which only have top speeds of less then 20 miles an hour over that of the stealth despite the substantial differences in materials and HP generated. A stock first gen stealth puts out 330HP compared to a first gen viper’s 500… the first gen Viper RT10 tops out at 192MPH, 1st gen 3000GT VR4 180MPH) Being a GT however it has many advantages over that…. Like controllable cornering and breaking and its almost comfortable to sit in…. ever sit in a Vette or a Viper? I have…. There is a reason if I ever own one it will sit in the garage and rarely be driven. In addition the Stealth/3000GT also features real all wheel drive and all wheel steering at over 30MPH
But I am way off topic I went for a drive Sunday it was rather long and the first drive I have taken since I got back that was longer then 10 miles, in that time I noticed an odd quirk it seemed after about an hour of driving pretty much non stop when I would stop at a light or sign and depress the clutch my tachometer would go nuts, surging between 1 and 2000RPM as it sat there in neutral. I figured that it was most likely a bad o2 sensor and the car was trying to compensate to keep itself from stalling from lack of oxygen when it didn’t need it… thus revving the engine back and forth by varying the amount of air being let in (and killing my air-fuel ratio thus killing my gas mileage at the same time)
This wasn’t a big deal though slightly inconvenient because I kept watching it and in one case tried to fix it by simply giving it more gas when taking off…. Anyone who has ever driven a sports car can see where I am going…. In a rather loud and obnoxious display I took off leaving a fair amount of my tires back on the pavement… but it didn’t solve the air fuel ratio problem.
As I went driving for home my day ruined by car annoyances and constant text messages on my phone about what was happening on wanton (I am undecided which is more annoying) I began to notice other issue with the car, a weird hitch and almost violent shake when letting my foot off the gas to shift and the weird idle thing continuing…. Both consistent with my engine being starved of o2 and suffocating.
So Monday morning I start my car to see if its worked itself out (sometimes on a stealth issues actually do work themselves out… its fucking weird) and my starting idle is almost 3000RPM…. And once the engine warms up there is the bouncing tachometer again… a day later I am sure I know how to fix it, its just a matter of tearing my intake apart and cleaning or replacing my Idle Speed Control servo…. I just need to decide where a good place is to do this, and if I can even get to it without also disassembling half my engine bay, not that I mind, one of these days I will combine my love of cars and guns and have a car thats straight out of a james bond movie....
Yay for weekend projects