GOT RICE?

[sammyb]

Absolutely...

Although, I'll never understand why the import tuner folks will spend $10K eeking an additional 100hp via turbos and nitrous on a 4-cyl, only to add 450 pounds in plastic body kits, stereo components, tvs, speakers etc...

Then there's the kid down the street that added a turbo and nitrous to the Acura 3.2CL his parents gave him for high school graduation (he works at a fast food place now, instead of college.) He has tons of body cladding too. He was telling me about all the upgrades, and I asked him if he upgraded the stock automatic tranny, and he said "nah." I explained that the transmission was built for no more than 225 hp, and he looked at me like he had never considered a tranny couldn't handle additional power.

He also challenged me to a drag race in my C5. (He asked how many horsepower it was, and I told him 350hp, so he said "We should race" while sporting that "I think I can beat you" expression.) I was going to explain that while he had close to 350hp in his car when at peak with nitrous, my 385 lb/ft of torque far outmatched that in his car, plus his Acura outweighed mine by a good 600-800 pounds, plus I had much more aggressive rear-end ratio, better gearing, better aerodynamics (not usually a factor at all, but with the huge wing on back, it would definitely drag above 60mph) ...

...but I just decided to say "okay we can go hit the drags, but I like to take my black Corvette -- the one in my garage...it has 498hp...can you run in the twelves?"

He just said "whooaahh man, that's awesome."

Kids.

 

[jayhawk]

[ QUOTE ]
Jim's right, there are a number of really great "import tuner" folks who really know their stuff. Supra, Z-car and Subaru guys tend to be very into the ins-and-outs of the mechanicals.

Yep-- Just hang for a while with the Miata folks-- superchargers, stiffer sway bars, bigger brakes, etc

Cars are just fashion to most folks. They like a certain car, own a certain car, and modify it a specific way, because it's fashion (or counter-fashion.)

My father-in-law would shake his head and say nasty things about the kids with their Civics, saying that they were destroying the cars, reducing the value of the cars they own.

Then I asked him: "What was your first car?"

reply: "A '50 Ford Sedan."

Asked him: "What was the first thing you did when you got it?"

His Reply: "Removed the chrome."

"And what did your parents say?"

"That I was crazy and asked why I'd ever destroy the car like that."

Since then, he has taken more of my stance: "It's not my cup of tea, but it's no different than the hot rodding or muscle car crazes of the 50s and 60s."

[/ QUOTE ]

 

[maynard]

Not too long ago, I was driving my Jag XJS V12 on the interstate when a tuner car (you know, with the big wing for drag and a coffee can muffler that sounds like a chain saw) passed me and sneered. I let him get a bit ahead of me and then punched it. I was going, lets say a bit in excess of the speed limit, no quite a bit, when I passed him. He tried to catch me but kept falling further behind. I really wished I could see his face. Just remember: My 12 trumps his four, and there is no replacement for displacement.

 

[jaybird]

I happen to own a 2000 Toyota Solara. And I have had a LOT of cars in my life, starting with a '66 Mustang. This is my first 'rice burner' and I will say, without reservation, that it is the single best car I've ever owned. I LOVE this car. And I've had a lot of cars I've liked. This car rides like a dream, runs perfectly, has not one squeak or rattle, and drives as good as the day I brought her home. With 66,000 miles on it. As far as my 'other car' goes, I'll probably never drive anything else.

So I'll raise a glass of saki to my ricer any day.

 

[Guest]

Don't worry Jaybird, I'd hardly classify you as a "ricer", unless of course you mount a triple decker 5 foot high wing on the back of that Solara.

My best friend has a 97 Toyota Supra TT, which is pretty much the holy grail of cars in the ricer crowd. He's my age, and he's the envy of every 17 year old kid in his neighborhood. His car has a few mods, nothing extreme and no NOS, but last time we dynoed he was throwing down 450 to the wheels, with plenty of room to build yet. However, he is really the antithesis of the ricer crowd, apart from his car being slightly lowered (Eibach pro kit springs) and it having a larger than stock exhaust, you'd never know it was modified. This is, in my book, not rice. His car is tastefully done, not obnoxious, and just about all the upgrades done to it are in the interest of improved performance (suspension tweaks, brake upgrades, and the motor and turbo mods). He tracks the car regularly at Pocono and at the drags, so it's certainly not a show and no go kind of thing. I just wish all the kids had this attitude. Granted, they all don't have the money that an older, settled person with a career might have, but if you've got a few bucks in your pocket why not go with a more agressive set of brakes instead of a goofy looking wing or fart can muffler. If money is no object, of course I'd get all the visual stuff (a whole other issue here with these kids based on taste) to go with the performance bumps but if I'm on a budget I'd be going for the functional stuff way before the eye candy. Fitting the ricer label has everything to do with your attitude and what you've done to your ride because of that attitude, and little to do with the ride itself.

 

[VitSport6]

I "got Rice"...Uncle Ben's!
My ricer goes the other direction, Being they are Landcruisers, We need bigger tires lift's and the like, But Im sure that is another thread.

 

[lesingepsycho]

Well, I can say that I was definitely one of the for-runners of the 'ricer' crowd. When I was in HS, a honda was still just a cheap, economical and reliable car. My buddy and I started working on his '85 Accord Hatch making mods... but in the "old school" fashion. We didn't buy Eibach springs. We got out the torch. We didn't buy a fart can. We got some exhaust tubing and made the only side-piped honda that I've seen to this day. It was real creative performance mods that we thought of and executed on our own much as I imagine it was done back in the hot-rodder days/custom chopper days. All of our mods were based on the real science of driving.

Now days, I still like to think of myself as 'cutting edge'. Sure I'm back to driving my Midget (which was my car in HS but I couldn't really afford mods back then) but I still like to do my own ORIGINAL work. I've been experimenting with composite materials like carbon fiber. I've made a carbon fiber battery tray, carbon fiber air cleaner lid, and even some structural carbon fiber. In HS we had loud stereos because chicks "understood" that. Nowdays, I've deleted the stereo from my Midget, prefer to hear it purr.

I've seen plenty of guys who are knowledgeable tuners and on the other hand, plenty of people who catalog order a crate 350 for their PWT camaros so it's not an issue of ricer, american steel or british style.

I guess, bottom line, on the issue of ricers what it comes down to for me is that irresponsibility and stupidity are personallity problems, not car problems. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/driving.gif

 

[TypeRboy]

Yea I guess I did some ricing too way back when I had a 73 Dodge Colt. I did the tourch thing on the springs, put glass flares on it, painted with blue flames ( the rest of the car was black..). I painted a rising sun on the end panel facia, and had Centerline look a likes for wheels. Orange shag carpeting and blue mood lights under the dash rounded things up nicely. I thought the car handled pretty well, and lot's of people liked the way it looked.

Mind you the crowd I hung with was a similar minded one back in the late 70's

The Celica's, 510's and Datsun 2000's ( 5 of them ) were all great fun, and kept me very poor making them go faster and racing at the now defunct Westwood circuit here in BC.

My Type R is still the best bang for the buck I have ever owned be it rice or not. When I spend the day fiddling with the Lotus or Cortina ( or whatever toy is not currently working ) it's very nice to get into a car that starts and runs like a Honda but feels and goes like a track car. A friend of mine has a turbo on his, as well as all the suspension stuff he needs to have fun on the track, and the car is a real eye opener to drive. Rice like that is fine by me..