Twisted

At any rate, when people say they drive their cars hard, I always wonder what their definition of "hard" is. Short of outright abuse, what is considered driving a 5.0 hard? Is running a motor to 5500 with your foot all the way in it, gently through second gear, once or twiceevery time you drive it considereddriving it hard? How about 5000 rpms? How about 4500? Or is just running the motor wide open "running it hard" regardless of rpms? Is driving around, never really putting your foot hard into it, but never shifting below 3500 or 4000 considered running a motor hard? It may sound like a silly question, but with some vehicles, shifting just under redline is fine; whereas on others, it's considered risky. For example, I used to be into oilcooled Suzuki GSXRs, and learned on an enthusiastforum that it's not necessarily abusing those bikes shifting them just below redline, many times a day. I rode my Gixxer this way every weekend through the twisties, in scorching desert-like heat, and the bike seemed to love it. On the other hand,most engines are far more delicate, I suspect. How are 5.0s in this regard?

mattdel

this is my 2nd stang. in my opinion, these motors are unkillable. i beat the ever-living snot out of my 87 hatch, and it never died. this car is holding up nicely as well, still pulls hard with 3qts of oil

Twisted

LOL. Thanks, Mattdel. Those are the kind of stories I like to hear.

dimebag

i beat on mine prty hard... i just drove it about... 5-6 hours today... to school and back... n just ridin around... i prob gave it hell about 10 times... so far so good

Evil_F

I think the factory set the red line kinda' low on these so they will last longer. I dont think that 5k is abuse. Nor can you abuse it with anywhere near stock HP. Atleast not the motor. It may be a little straining on other parts when you drive it hard. But of course you will accelerate wear on parts reving fast. But not really abuse.

With bikes the redline is kinda close to what it can take. I say that mainly because they rev so fast, it will cover a 1000 rpms in a blink. Bikes are sort of different. They really come tuned closer to their limits than a car does. SportBikes, are SPORT-BIKES.

w8less

i some times use to drive around town in first gear just to hear the exhaust note and the shift light on. you should have seen some of the looks i would get.

i use to let my car see the shift reguarly when i would drive it. (pretty much every weekend) it held up fine

AdderMk2

A normal night for my car...

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...RI-Stangs1.flv

edit... I have the vertical 97 tails.... not the black GT with the SVO sideskirts

CIZ58

+1