Indholdsfortegnelse for February 1984 i Hot Rod

More Hot SVO Parts Following up on the success of their 5 liter/ 302-c.i.d. street engines, Ford’s SVO group has released their new 302 SVO cylinder block which can be used to construct engines from 260 to 330 cubic inches. It has all the unique features of the 351 SVO block plus full compatibility with 302 Boss and SVO V8 components, .060-inch overbore capacity, four-bolt main caps of nodular iron with splayed outer bolts, drilling and tapping for 1/2-inch head bolts, and screw-in oil gallery plugs. It’s available under part No. M-6010-A4, and a new 302 Roush/SVO aluminum intake manifold to complement the aluminum cylinder heads will soon come on line. Rocker Lockers SVO has released their new valve cover stabilizing kits for the 302 Boss/ 35 IC/35 IM/400 engines.…

While Pete Jerardi and crew spent the better part of five years reconstructing “'Lil' Pete's” '67 Shelby Mustang (page 37), Frank Shetrone and Tom Artusi fashioned a ground-up, hammered 'n' turbo-stuffed Deuce coupe in just under five months… but it helps when you own Progressive Automotive (125 W. Rome, Baltimore, OH 43105) and build street rod-related components for a living. For the record, 'Hot Stuff” sits on a 10-gauge, Progressive-produced frame fitted with a front end consisting of a Vintage Chassis Ibeam axle, Deuce Factory four-link split wishbones, reversed eye spring, and Super Bell's VW-type disc brake kit. The coupe's rear suspension consists of a narrowed (14 inches) Dana 60 rearend, three-link radius rods, and Carrera coil-overs, while Center Line, Goodyear, and McCreary make up the rolling stock. Hair-dried hoss…

In this era of exact duplicates, resto rods, and old/new strokers, it’s nice to see a super-straight stocker that has been given a lot of pizzazz...especially when its owner is an 18-year-old high school senior who plays linebacker on his championship football team. And with the help of his dad (Pete Jerardi), Don Boeke, Jim Walker, Don Broyles, Jack Chandler, Jerry Lacy, Barry Lobeck, and Carl “Mr. Mustang” Pendly, PJ. Jerardi was able to turn a half-finished basket case ’67 Mustang into what you see on the cover of HOT ROD. Meanwhile, the five-year project rocks on a suspension system comprised of A-arms which have been moved up 1 inch, springs that have had one coil cut out of them, Gabriel shocks (on all four corners), Ford GT anti-sway bar…

A Nova Wolf Huffs & Puffs the Competition Away Pat Toot really gives a hoot when it comes to going fast. So he put a blown .030-over Chevy 350 in his ’67 Nova SS and built it to last. The engine was stuffed with a forged crank, rods, TRW pistons, and Crane CCH-304 bumpstick, while topside a modified Edelbrock intake feeding big-valve 2.02 heads was Pat’s pick. A GMC 6-71 blower receives its mixture via Hilborn injection, while a Mallory mag ensures constant ignition. With torque transferred from a Turbo 350 trans back to a 12-bolt Chevy with 4.11 gears, big Firestone slicks on Center Line rims are needed so Pat can avoid any bum steers. Thanks to a Tommy Thompson-built roll cage that provided chassis stiffening, Pat drove his…

El Mirage—that dusty, dingy, dirty dry lake nestled near downtown Palmdale—remains as the last vestige of hot rodding's past. It's our roots, our Mecca, our Wailing Wall, our Blarney Stone. It's where it all started. It's 60-plus years of hauling fast. It's the ultimate, hard-core experience, and if you don't dig it, forget what is on the next four pages. From a historical standpoint, the dry lakes scene is said to have begun in the middle '20s, when a Glendale, California, resident by the name of Frank Lockhart tested his Stutz Blackhawk on Muroc's vast raceland. Local car crazies took note, and soon similar speed trials were being conducted at Muroc as well as at Harper's, Rosamond, and El Mirage dry lakes. Now only El Mirage remains, but the memories…

There are a few morons out there who think nitrous oxide can also boost their personal spirits by inhaling it. What they don't understand is that while nitrous oxide will rarely kill you immediately, prolonged inhalation will cause brain damage and eventual death. Severe damage to the respiratory tract can also occur since the same cooling effect that makes your engine so happy can also freeze lung tissue; moreover, direct bottle pressure can expand and explode your lungs if you're foolish enough to try it. The nitrous oxide injection industry and automotive users are unfairly affected by jerks who abuse nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is a controlled substance in most states, and although most automotive suppliers aren't experiencing a great deal of difficulty obtaining it, things could change rapidly if…

Any of you with kart experience knows that in some cases a vehicle can operate with almost no suspension, and most of us think big American cars can't be made to handle. Well, times change, and with the correct pieces, any car can be made to draw out the Walter Mitty in you while you blast your way to work. Ever watch a late-Thirties Detroit roller go around a sharp curve? Back then, most of the products from Michigan were less than sophisticated in the suspension department. They rolled, pitched, curtsied to a stop, and took off like they had concrete in the trunk. Thanks in no small way to Stock car racing, cars have evolved to the point where some new ones will outhandle the racing equipment built in…

When a car leaves Detroit, it carries with it the plague of fine handling. low-Durometer rubber parts. They're in the suspension, between the chassis and body, even in the steering. The Durometer readings refer to the softness of the rubber, usually on a scale of one to 100. A soft bushing (take a GM rear control arm bushing, for example) will have a Durometer reading of about 45. You can squash it with your hands. A “high Durometer” bushing, such as those sold by TRW or Guldstrand, will have a reading of 55-65. A urethane plastic bushing will exhibit a reading of 90-100. Although the urethane bushings seem hard as a rock, they still offer some degree of movement, but not so you'd notice. Real masochists used aluminum bushings in…

Late Z28 Booster A way around the lack of horsepower exhibited by the late-model Camaro Z28s may be to bolt on a Paxton supercharger. I have a few questions regarding such an undertaking. Does Paxton make such an animal; will the 305 V8 handle the load without modifications; will the new 5-speed stand up to the increased horsepressure; and how about the Dana 44 3.73:1 rearend? Jim Wood Edgefield, South Carolina Paxton Products, Inc. (929 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90404, 213/394-2751), offers an '82-'83 Camaro/Firebird kit under part No. SBC-82. You'll have to relocate the battery to the driver's side (there's plenty of room for it) and axe the computerized distributor and carburetor. The spread-bore Quadrajet intake will have to go, too; replace it with a single-plane, standard-flange intake…

More Weldins Tips I enjoyed your article on the selection of welding equipment (Dec. '83) with a few exceptions. I’ve been doing restoration and custom work on antiques and special interest vehicles for 11 years and have had the formal welding instruction that you suggested, and all of the welding on my customer’s cars has given me even more experience than the average car builder needs. The only detail I feel you’ve overlooked was that you gave the impression that the correct welding machine (arc, oxy-acetylene, tig, mig) for a specified job will be a safe one. When you weld chassis components together, you are dealing with life-threatening parts that you cannot afford to have improperly welded. The right machine just isn’t enough. I feel that you should stress bench…

Fire in the Hole Fire burnouts were a common sight back in the early ’70s, but, for obvious reasons, most sanctioning bodies put an end to this hot shoe approach to heating the meats. However, Rod Hynes—in his Palmdale, California-based “Scrounger II’’ AA/Fuel Altered—recently relived those legendary days of awful-awful Altered when he parked his Donovan-powered ’23 T-bodied roadster in a pool of percolating petrol, then sent it smokin’ down Antelope Valley Raceway’s quarter with a 1000-foot burnout. Now you know why they used to call them “hot” roadsters. National Motorsports Calendar Girl Contest HOT ROD Magazine will once again sponsor a regional National Motorsports Calendar Girl contest during the 1984 SUPER NATIONALS in Indianapolis, Indiana, on June 15-17, 1984. Last year, both the winner and the runner-up went to…

Michael Kranefuss is literally bursting with enthusiasm, and who could blame him? He’s the man at the helm of the most expansive factory performance program in the country: Ford’s Special Vehicle Operations, or SVO as it is more commonly known. Michael began racing in the mid-Sixties while still working in his father’s laundry. He started in hill climbing because it was all he could afford. Through his various racing contacts he eventually worked his way into a position as Assistant Manager of Competition for Ford of Germany, and he was promoted to manager in 1972. He was responsible for teaming Ford with the Zakspeed racing team and the development of Advanced Vehicle Operations (AVO) in England. Kranefuss was directly responsible for the widespread Ford parts program in Europe as well…

Restoration projects are very much like cooking from a cook book—the recipe is already there, but no real just such a gastronome, and his 64 Plymouth Sport Fury is just such a variation on a theme Back in 1967, Ermil bought the Fury for a meat-and-potatoes family car, out after a few years he started turning the leftovers into the main course. His goal was to restore the ’60s supercar flavor to the great handling and driving old hauler. As with most recipes, the Plymouth Cook Book called for starting with a good stock, and Ermil did just that, having Dana Klouzek (also of Rolla) garnish the bumped-out stock Fury body with stock Plymouth ruby red paint, adding a cus tom bar grille. The interior was likewise left as is,…

We chose “Halibrand Type” wheels (15x7 fronts /15x10 rears)and Goodrich radials for our Porsche “continental orange” colored beauty. Filled hood peaks, painted upper grill bar, and chromed bumper bullets are chief mods here, A look at a scallop paint scheme. Two rows of approx. Gin. wide louvers work well. This version also includes a custom center grill bar that retains stock turn signals. Side view really shows dropped front, Bel Air rear fender trim, wheels. As in past years, we will Ganahi again be constructing a special hot rod to be given away to some lucky participant at Super Nationals ’84—this year we decided it would be fitting to build a hot rod version of the classic that nearly perfectly splits the difference in age between a ’32 Ford and…

Read the text if you feel the best way to make a car corner is with stiffer springs. Actually, it's the combination of spring rate and bar rate that determines how “stiff” a car feels. Some basic clarifications about spring cutting and rates are in order: Cutting a coil from a stock spring will lower the car. It will also raise the spring rate, usually by approximately 10 percent. Replacement springs are available in softer or heavier rates than stock. Although most alignment shops don't like to search for a suitable spring for your car, they have reference books that list the rates and dimensions of hundreds of coil springs. The most important dimensions will be the inside since that determines the fit of the spring in the chassis seats,…

Applied Torque and Extensions It is often necessary to use an extension on a torque wrench when tightening a fastener. I am often asked if the use of such extensions will affect the wrench's accuracy. They will if the extension is in the same plane as the torque wrench (that is, horizontal). A wrench acts as a lever when force is applied, and the amount of torque produced upon the bolt is dependent upon the length of the wrench and the amount of force applied. In Illustration 1, the wrench's lever length from the center of the nut to the center of the hand applying the force is represented by L. The applied force is indicated by F. Since torque (T) is the product of the applied force multiplied by…

Tool Crip Ever wonder where to get one of those slick, internally tapered ring compressors all the pros use? Try B&B Performance. Made from hard anodized aluminum, they're available in all common bore sizes from 3.810 to 4.500 inches. These things are really the hot ticket, and a giant improvement over the old wraparound-type band compressors. In addition, they're easier to clean and faster to use—that's why they're so popular in the pits at any Top Fuel race. The real advantage, however, lies in the fact that ring breakage is less likely with this compressor because of the large area contacting the deck surface, assuring the smooth and easy insertion of the piston without snagging a ring. Each compressor has the bore size engraved on it. B&B will also make…

Kenwood Cares Kenwood Electronics is now offering a tape deck maintenance kit as part of standard equipment accompanying their new KRC-929 cassette tuner, a new computer-controlled unit with extensive high-quality features. This “care” kit (offered for a limited time only) is packaged within a plush leather bag and includes Allsop cassette tape cleaner, an instruction tape on operation and maintenance, an original master recording of Chuck Mangione's Feels So Good, a catalog of other available tape selections, and more. Available at your Kenwood dealer. In Style with Koni Koni, manufacturers of high-performance shock absorbers, offers their bright red racing jacket featuring crew neck styling, a concealed hood, and heavy-duty zippers. Available in unisex sizes XS to XL for $29.95. Koni America, Inc., Dept. HR-02, P.O. Box 40, Culpeper, VA 22701…

In engine building, there are certain rules that aren’t frequently broken. Jim Ruggles and the Buick engineers have broken most of them, with a surprising outcome: they’re winning races. The Buick Stage II engine assembly is a hybrid racing engine—a test bed for ideas and a scratch pad for engineering exercises. Some of the ideas have or will find their way into production in Buick’s cars, but the Ruggles’ version of Buick’s six-hole wonder is as different from a production engine as red and black ants. The Stage II is an “even fire” engine. It’s called that because a piston comes up to TDC every 120 degrees. That’s not so simple when the cylinders are at 90 degrees, like on a V8. A 6-cylinder engine with its cylinders arranged 60…

Hand painted on the tailgate of Ralph “Doc” Bednar's big, blue 1968 Caprice Estate Wagon is the message, “If it happens … it must be possible.” Okay, it's possible to bolt an 8-71 blower on a big-block in a station wagon, and it's possible to drive such a car daily. But it's hard to believe this heavyweight runs 11.30 quarter-miles. I'm here to tell you it's not only possible, I saw it happen. Doc's wagon was a family car, but you know how things go. First he decided it needed a new paint job, so he layed on 30 coats of azure blue lacquer, plus candy blue and gold graphics-all done in his driveway. Then Doc came by this 8-71 Ed Pink blower (once used on Don Prudhomme's AA/FC) and…

Although Jim Collins of Redding, California, has f been reading HOT ROD since 1948, this is his first attempt at building a full-on hot rod. It took a lot of time, patience, and perspiration, but the license plate sums up Jim's satisfaction with the project. He started by adding a Corvair independent front suspension, with '71 Chevelle disc brakes, and a Corvette independent rear to a hand-molded frame. Then he dropped in a 350 Chevy V8 with forged TRW pistons, Mondello heads, and a polished Weiand 4-71 blower. Next came a Wescott '32 Phaeton body painted Cadillac firemist blue by Kustom Kolor, with gennie fenders and all the original extras. Al King outfitted the interior in blue leather and added a beautiful Mercedes blue top. After Joe the Chromer plated…

Nitrous oxide makes the wheels go round … and how! If you followed along in our first installment (January '84) on the relative merits of power augmentation with nitrous oxide injection, you already have a pretty good grasp of the basic principles. We discussed how nitrous oxide works to enhance power output, and we looked at the various types of nitrous oxide systems and the manufacturers who supply them. Now we're going to look at some different aspects of nitrous oxide usage, including where to get your bottle filled, how to go about it, and how much to pay for it. We'll discuss the safety hazards in terms of potential abuse by people who would rather get high than go fast, and we'll look at the proper ways to use…

Hold on to your helmets. Six of the 12 motorcycles here will run 10-second quarter-miles. Four of them will go 150 mph. Some are sleek, some are boulevard macho. Either way, people strain their spines to get a closer look. It's time for the annual HOT ROD Muscle Bike Buyer's Guide. Time to roll out all the horsepower in one place … and dream. Currently, the Kawasaki 750 Turbo is the quickest and fastest motorcycle on the planet—it's run 10.71 at the strip and 145 mph on the lakes. But those marks will fall in a couple of months as the iron pictured here is uncrated and tested. We'll do a little speculating and predict that the year's quickest quarter-mile will be a 10.59. The champion of speed will clock…

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