blue collar opinion on mm & fast fords etc

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

This is why I don't have any subscriptions anymore. Then again, part of the magazine world is so you can live vicariously through others, so I can see how some enjoy it. I much more enjoy the real world stuff, but then that's also why I get most of that type of entertainment from forums instead of magazines.

 

[NIKwoaC]

It seems one of these threads pops up once a month around here.

Do yourself a favor and walk away from the Mustang magazines, or really any of the brand specific mags, period. If you want tech that wasn't written by someone with an 8th grade reading level, go for something like Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft, etc. Any of the brand specific or new car magazines are written by journalists, not necessarily high level car guys, and are highly motivated by sponsorship and trendy fads.

I remember one of the final straws for me was reading an article in a Mustang magazine where the author admitted that he thought "degreeing a cam" was just lining up the dots on the timing set. Someone with that level of tech knowledge should be making Starbucks runs for the REAL writers, not writing engine build articles themselves.

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

It seems one of these threads pops up once a month around here.

Do yourself a favor and walk away from the Mustang magazines, or really any of the brand specific mags, period. If you want tech that wasn't written by someone with an 8th grade reading level, go for something like Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft, etc. Any of the brand specific or new car magazines are written by journalists, not necessarily high level car guys, and are highly motivated by sponsorship and trendy fads.

I remember one of the final straws for me was reading an article in a Mustang magazine where the author admitted that he thought "degreeing a cam" was just lining up the dots on the timing set. Someone with that level of tech knowledge should be making Starbucks runs for the REAL writers, not writing engine build articles themselves.

My cam is installed straight up, but then it has advance/retard ground into it already (not sure which actually). Just sayin

 

[NIKwoaC]

My cam is installed straight up, but then it has advance/retard ground into it already (not sure which actually). Just sayin

It's still always a good idea to use a degree wheel and figure out exactly where your lobes are. Production tolerances are always screwing with things, and "dot to dot" may or may not actually put your cam "straight up". Plus, mistakes happen, and people have been sent the wrong cam before. You wouldn't know unless you degree your junk.

Don't get me wrong, a bajillion 5.0s have been blindly thrown together dot-to-dot" without a problem (I degreed my cam and dot-to-dot put it within 1* of perfect), but a so called "professional" writing an article for a mainstream magazine should know how to do things the right way. Otherwise it's just the blind leading the blind.

You just constantly see threads about people breaking parts or with rough running H/C/I cars, and 99% of the time it's poor/ignorant assembly practices. It's just unfortunate that some of these magazines are contributing to the ignorance of the hobby.

Eh, I'm just ranting. I need another beer.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I stopped buying the Mustang mags. Honestly...you've seen one Mustang, you've seen em all.


I stopped resubscribing a while back...early 2000's or so? I remember reading in the tech column some guy asking about putting SN95 brake parts on his car. The reply basically tried to steer him towards a $3K Baer brake kit instead

After that, i decided all I needed was Stangnet

 

[90lxcoupe]

I had a subscription to both of them from 03 to probably around 08 or 09, and this past year i got subscriptions to both of them because they were very cheap online. What i have seen in the last few months really bores me, and confirms why i let them lapse in the first place. I mean, i have seen enough chrome nitrous bottles or silly looking intakes in the mustang mags in the past few years to last a couple lifetimes.

I find Hot Rod, and Car Craft are much more my speed these days. 5.0 and fast fords is still good too IMO.

Sometimes i think that its me, my tastes have changed, i am not into show cars like i was when i was 18, buuuuut, then i think about all the NMRA features they used to do in both mags, and those have pretty much dried up, also, they used to do a couple drag shootouts a year in MM&FF, and i havent seen one of those in a long time. Every issues is just slightly different than the previous one.

 

[mikestang63]

ha.. just got this email

Hurry, 90% Off!

5.0 MUSTANG & SUPER FORDS [[email protected]]

 

[Ross12]

dgollem hits the nail on the head for me, though. Every time you read about a feature car it goes something like this...

John Smith bought this 91 LX from some old lady, and decided after six months he didn't have enough power. So, he shipped the car off to such and such engine builders to build and install a 347/393/408 take your pick here. Then, after he blew up that combo he decided to upgrade to a 408/427/460 and also paid someone else to install a blower/turbo and tune the car.

After that, the car went to the suspension shop where the owner dropped another 8K for some other people to work on his car. After all this work, John finally decided to do some body modifications and dropped it off at yet another shop for some more friendly people to do more work to his car. John did pick out the custom color that was from a Porsche though.

John is so proud of his car because it runs 8's in the quarter mile and wins at all the shows. John doesn't own a screwdriver. The end.

Hahahahahaha..........................

 

[RangerJoe]

I read a DIY stroker build a year or so ago where the author put the thrust bearing on the number 5 main and ran the motor in the car like this. Motor had to come back apart. I don't know, i like reading the articles, but they do get repetative sometimes. My biggest problem is when they take a year to finish a simple build, like their most recent 351 vs. 351 comparison.

Joe

 

[90lxcoupe]

last windsor tech article i read was a 427'' stroker build, it made like 550 hp, and peaked at like 5500 rpm.... I just laughed and put the magazine down. With current technology and resources, there is no excuse to put that crap in print. If you put those kind of numbers up on hardcore5.o or yellowbullet, you would be laughed off the site. Then you have hot rod mag, ill never forget when i read the big bang theory article. No agendas in that one, no pushing parts that dont match. Just a good old fashioned group of gear heads pushing the limits of junk. It made me feel like a kid reading that, it was exciting.

 

[snakedoc257]

I too have gotten a little frustrated with MM$FF. It's all new stuff and not much Fox stuff. 5.0 Mustang is okay, I'll buy one everyone now and then at the grocery store. I do like the new Fox Mustang Magazine it's pretty good.

 

[mikestang63]

last windsor tech article i read was a 427'' stroker build, it made like 550 hp, and peaked at like 5500 rpm.... I just laughed and put the magazine down. With current technology and resources, there is no excuse to put that crap in print. If you put those kind of numbers up on hardcore5.o or yellowbullet, you would be laughed off the site. Then you have hot rod mag, ill never forget when i read the big bang theory article. No agendas in that one, no pushing parts that dont match. Just a good old fashioned group of gear heads pushing the limits of junk. It made me feel like a kid reading that, it was exciting.

Kind of like those goofballs on HorsePower TV that throw $10 grand into a motor and it runs like crap. I love how they always say, "while we are at it we replaced the following ( another 5 grand in unrelated parts) I remember they built a fox body a few years back and dumped like 20 grand into it and it ran like 12's before breaking down.

 

[90lxcoupe]

Kind of like those goofballs on HorsePower TV that throw $10 grand into a motor and it runs like crap. I love how they always say, "while we are at it we replaced the following ( another 5 grand in unrelated parts) I remember they built a fox body a few years back and dumped like 20 grand into it and it ran like 12's before breaking down.

yea most of those shows are a joke. Trucks was cool when stacey david was on it. I remember when elmores mustang got stolen, then recovered and sold to someone else, they found a reciept from "the local lube" as they called it. I was like, so this joker doesnt even change his own oil....

 

[mikestang63]

yeah. I do watch gearz. At least Stacey knows how to turn a wrench and build something and appreciates the guy building a car in his shed. I watched a behind the scenes show on him and its only him and an assistant. Not like those Spike TV car shows. Remember the old two guys garage shows with sam & dave? Those were cool. Just two guys working in their garage doing real world repairs. Now everything is corporate sponsored and run by huge companies.

 

[90lxcoupe]

I never saw the behind the scenes on David, that would be cool though. The thing i like about him is he takes a stand against stuff he doesnt agree with. Like he wont build cars for manufacturers because they are only used for TV, then they are crushed due to legal reasons. I think most of the stuff he builds now he just keeps.

 

[88LX5.Oh]

Stacey David FTW.

 

[7991LXnSHO]

dgollem hits the nail on the head for me, though. Every time you read about a feature car it goes something like this...

John Smith bought this 91 LX from some old lady, and decided after six months he didn't have enough power. So, he shipped the car off to such and such engine builders to build and install a 347/393/408 take your pick here. Then, after he blew up that combo he decided to upgrade to a 408/427/460 and also paid someone else to install a blower/turbo and tune the car.

After that, the car went to the suspension shop where the owner dropped another 8K for some other people to work on his car. After all this work, John finally decided to do some body modifications and dropped it off at yet another shop for some more friendly people to do more work to his car. John did pick out the custom color that was from a Porsche though.

John is so proud of his car because it runs 8's in the quarter mile and wins at all the shows. John doesn't own a screwdriver. The end.

I read that article and was sick. The tech is still better than Car Craft, way better.

 

[Ozz]

I still get 'em. For the couple bucks or less per issue, it's not bad having them kick around to pass some time. I've begun traveling a lot for work so that definitely comes in handy even if there's nothing too interesting to read about it half the time.

Plus you never know when you'll run across a familiar car within the pages, and that's always fun!

 

[Blu50Stang]

I still have my subscriptions to MM&FF and 5.0&SF. Like Ozz said, you never know when you'll see a familiar car grace the pages of an issue.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Stacey David FTW.

Meh,...he laughs a little too much for me. Everything he says he ends w/ his dorky yuk. I do give him credit for his skill and diverse interests though. And the Cougar,& the 40 Willys military truck are soo cool...

Regardless, now-a-days it seems like there is little to be learned from any of the Sat morning shows,...considering half of 30 minutes the show runs is dedicated to commercials.

Let me be on a car TV show,.........now that'd be entertaining.


Now that I think about it though,...half of that show would have to be edited for offensive language......