Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2013 i Hot Rod

My convictions about hot rods were shaped by our Ol’ Dad, HRM’s long-departed Gray Baskerville. I turned 15 in 1982, and was a HOT ROD subscriber but more of a Car Craft guy—into Mopars and street racing. Collecting old mags gave me an appreciation of rodding in the ’40s to the ’60s, but contemporary pubs like Street Rodder and Rod Action showed me that ’48-and-earlier cars were no longer performance machines. They had become street rods, the name alone suggesting guys gone soft. Ten Baskerville used the pages of HRM to educate me, first with the budget-built, drag-friendly Eastwood & Barakat ’32 Tudor from Nov. ’82. It inspired me to buy a chopped ’32 Tudor body for $3,000 in 1994. Having never touched it, I sold it for $10,000 a…

“I’m limited only by the tools I use, my imagination, and the inspiration I see in the magazines.”—David Bryant David Bryant is yet another guy who proves you can hot rod anything—and in his case, it’s hunks of wood. “It all started when I was 9 years old, buying my first copy of Rod & Custom,” says David, mentioning the magazine that was most heavily into covering model-car building in the ’50s and ’60s. David started with plastic models as a kid and later won a Fisher-Price car-model contest with one of his first wooden cars. He stopped building them for a while but recently started again at 65 years old. David makes the cars from scratch using medium-density fiberboard (MDF), redwood, miscellaneous hardware, latex house paint as a primer,…

Charlie Kuenster // Joliet, Illinois Greg Rourke sent us this photo of Charlie Kuenster’s amazing 409-powered ’59 El Camino. This was at the ’12 World Series of Drag Racing in Cordova, Illinois. Sandy McCord // Memphis, Tennessee Sandy’s husband built and owns this ’41 Willys named Hednokr. We like the big-block, blower, and traditional flames. Fred Conley // Paintsville, Kentucky When Fred was 16, his father gave him this ’61 Ford Galaxie. Fred just turned 59. He restored the car to its current condition three years ago. Bill Balsley // Louisville, Colorado Bill used all old-school parts in his ’59 Corvette, including a 327 with a solid cam. The Corvette had a body-off restoration in 1987. Josh Clark // Edmond, Oklahoma This Wimbledon White ’66 Mustang fastback has a 347…

Steve Strope is a storyteller. Before the Pure Vision owner (PureVisionDesign.com) even builds a car, he tells its story in his head. This almost always involves a hypothetical mashup of eras, body styles, and racing design ethics, all juxtaposed in a way that would have never occurred in nature. What if the European Martini Racing rally team had a conversation with Ford during the freewheeling racing days of the ’60s? What if Ford’s feud back then were not with Ferrari but Porsche? Instead of building the GT40, perhaps Ford would have built a first-gen Mustang to go kick Porsche’s butt in their own territory. Maybe someone like Ford’s racing mastermind Fran Hernandez would have connected some dots, building a rally car powered by Ford’s DOHC Indy engine. Enter the ’66…

It’s nice to be surprised. Take another look at that green Fox-body Mustang. When the car fires up in the pits and heads to staging, there’s nothing that would make you take notice. It’s quiet, it’s flat. Good burnout, but that doesn’t mean much. When the lights come down, there’s no sound, but is that air under the front tires? A lot of air? Is that car really moving that fast? Yes—8.45 at 164 mph. The driver makes a few passes, packs up the trunk, and then heads out on the road, because this is a street car, and you just met Randy Seward, Internet legend. Randy made his mark in cyberspace back in March 2012, when he decided to drive his ’91 Mustang LX from Alamogordo, New Mexico, to…

When was the last time you built a model car? Do you remember the smell of the glue, the illustrated instructions, the frantic search for that tiny chrome suspension piece you just dropped in the shag carpet—or possibly the dog ate it? We revisited those memories when we took on the build of a Speedway Motors Tribute T-bucket kit. Speedway Motors in Lincoln, Nebraska, claims to be America’s oldest speed shop (so does “Ohio George’s” Speed Shop) and is certainly one of the biggest, offering all kinds of go-fast parts for muscle cars and racers. It offers a comprehensive T-bucket catalog, and with company founder “Speedy Bill” Smith having bought out Mickey Lauria’s Total Performance years ago, Speedway is today’s largest supplier of T kits. The company offers a number…

Today’s NHRA Top Fuel teams must attend to an excruciating level of detail to be competitive. We tracked down Jim Oberhofer, crew chief for Doug Kalitta’s Mac Tools Top Fuel dragster, to find out what it takes just to tune the supercharger. Kalitta’s blower dyno is powered by a small-block Chevy that spins a 4,000-pound flywheel. At the same time, a 50hp electric motor keeps the supercharger at idle (about 2,000 rpm). When the flywheel is up to speed, it instantly kicks the supercharger up to about 12,000 rpm, simulating the launch of the dragster. A series of small turbines measure the output of the supercharger in cubic feet per minute of air; the more cfm, the better the blower. Once the run is measured, the operator hits the brakes,…

Eric Yost and friends were burnt out on renting trailers to haul their HOT ROD Drag Week® supplies behind their Pro Street Power-Adder, class-winning ’82 Firebird, so they built their own trailer out of leftover NASCAR parts and a PT Cruiser. Seriously. The axle was a $110 wrecking-yard score—the rear axle from a front-wheel-drive PT—that Eric redrilled for the same 5-on-43 ⁄4-inch wheel bolt pattern so the rolling stock is the rain gear for the Dirty Bird. When it rains, the Bird gets the trailer wheels and the trailer ends up wearing a spare set of front wheels for the car. All of the 2x2x0.250-inch aluminum for the custom frame came from NASCAR raceteam equipment trailers. The pivoting side panels were built from the top doors of raceteam pit boxes,…

Whether scratch-building a complete wiring harness or lengthening kitsupplied wires, you need to determine the correct electrical wire size needed to support each electrical device. The wire must carry the required current without overheating and burning, and without excessive voltage drop. On a 14.2-volt automotive electrical system, there should be no more than a 2 percent voltage drop from the alternator/battery to the main distribution node or fuse box, and no more than a 0.5-volt drop from the node or fuse box to the device. In practice, this works out to about 13.5 volts at the electrical device. Each wire-gauge size has a rated current-carrying capacity, but the longer the wire runs, the higher the resistance, which means more voltage drop. Proximity to other wires also increases resistance because the…

Q: I am building a ’76 Chevy Vega. When completed, it should weigh about 2,900 pounds, driver included. My intention is for it to be a high-revvin’ street car. It has a Vortec 350 block, GM LT4 HOT Cam, Dart SHP heads, and an Edelbrock Torker II intake. It is equipped with a 700-R4 trans and 4.10:1 rear gears. I plan on using a 650-cfm carb with an electric choke. Should I go with vacuum or mechanical secondaries? What about the new Street Demon carb that allows for adjusting the secondary? A: This question has been debated ever since Holley (and similar-style carbs) gave hot rodders a choice between vacuum or mechanical secondaries. However, regardless of secondary actuation method, virtually any four-barrel carb can be tuned to affect how the…

Maybe I can get my helmet to fit if I stand like this. —Jon Bulgrin No, no, no! Moon Eyes, dummy! —Don Richardson Damn! Nitro is some kinda powerful drug! —Hodges Mercer Always stretch before a race. —Danny Calleri Good-luck rituals. Crazy. —Rocha Rui Year? Make? Model? A: This is the badge for the new-generation SRTV iper, seenona’13model that SRT brought by ourofficesinlate2012. HOT ROD (ISSN 0018-6031), June 2013; Vol. 66, No. 06. Copyright 2013 by Source Interlink Magazines, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Published monthly by Source Interlink Media, LLC, 261 Madison Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates for 1 year(12issues): U.S., APO, FPOandU.S. Possessions$20.00. Canada$32.00. Allother countries $44.00 (for surface mail postage). Payment in…

Back in November 1967, a new era in drag racing began with the fire-breathing, nitro-burning, flopper Funny Cars. Those cars created a spectacle with potential to draw untold numbers of new fans, and with a new “superstrip” having been founded in Southern California, the event seemed a natural: the first Manufacturers Funny Car Championship at Orange County International Raceway (OCIR). The track’s first general manager, Mike Jones, had the brainstorm of corralling touring Funny Cars and combining them with the slew of local Funnies within burnout distance of the track, and having them all compete on a single night. With so many Funny Cars in one place, why not line them up prior to the elimination rounds for one big picture—which might promote the whole idea for years to come?…

For years when I’d trekked north, I’d pass a rusty ’73 Dodge Charger sitting just off the road. One day, I finally spotted the owner outside and asked him about the car and some other Chargers lying around. He said they were parts cars for other projects: “See all those tractor-trailers out there? They are full of Mopars.” My jaw hit the dirt. The owner was more than happy to start opening the trailers. The first one had a Sublime green ’70 Dodge Challenger R/T, U-Code (440, four-barrel) with A/C (one of just 1,886 built). The next had a ’70 Road Runner with a 383. Other trailers revealed a low-mileage ’72 Dart four-door, a ’71 Charger, a ’49 Chevy business coupe, a ’39 Plymouth business coupe, and a ’54 Buick…

When it comes to traditional land-speed racing, the glory always goes to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. This year, we hope to spend more time at El Mirage, the Southern California desert dry lake with a hot rodding history that’s nearly two decades longer than Bonneville’s. The Southern California Timing Association holds six events there each year, and they need your support. El Mirage is an hour and a half from Disneyland, so bring the family for a vacation and sneak away from Mickey for a day to see real hot rods in their natural environment. The 2013 races will be held May 18–19, June 9, July 14, September 15, October 20, and November 9–10. For more, see SCTA-BNI.org. HOT ROD DRAG WEEK DATES ARE HERE! The 2013 edition…

Take a cop car out of the hands of Johnny Law and you’ve got yourself either a taxicab or one mean sedan with hot rod potential. It’s been like that ever since the ’60s, when OE manufacturers began to serve The Man some beef in the form of big-blocks, Sure-Grips, big brakes, and trick cooling. You know, Akroyd’s Blues Brothers rundown—you’d have been disappointed if we hadn’t brought that up. Everyone wants one of the legendary, 440-powered ’69 Mopars, reputed to be the fastest squad ever. Sorry, that’s not happening for you. The good news is that late-model fuzzmobiles fairly well trounce anything from the pathetic late ’70s through the early ’90s, highway patrol Mustangs and Camaros notwithstanding. However, the newest Chevy Caprice PPV and Dodge Charger models won’t hit…

What does a 74-year-old guy do when he’s tired of autocrossing his daily-driver ’90 Corvette? He builds a purpose-built SCCA Solo racer out of a ’67 Camaro. Paul Caselas—formerly of Goodies Speed Shop in San Jose, California—built both cars for owner Milt Burleson and is responsible for infecting him with the racing bug. Paul explains, “I said, ‘Milt what do you do with your Corvette?’ He said he just drives it to work. I said, ‘Ever heard of autocross?’” Milt ran the Vette at local autocross events for about two years before wanting more. The Corvette had been built without any SCCA rules in mind, so its modifications forced Milt into the open class with much faster cars. He got tired of being outrun and wanted to compete in the…

What if we told you that a car with iconic ’60s lines that you can build today for around $45,000 can hold its own against an Italian exotic that stickers for nearly $200,000? Tired of the lame kit cars that were on the market, Dave Smith founded Factory Five Racing (FactoryFive.com) in 1995 to prove that a car you can build in your garage can run toe-to-toe with the fastest production cars in the world. It began with a Cobra replica called MK1. Now the company is on its fourth version, the MK4, and the lineup has expanded. There’s the street-going MK4 roadster; the track-only MK4 Challenge car; the Type 65 Coupe, which is a Shelby Daytona Coupe replica; a ’33 hot rod that uses a tubular space frame; the…

Unless you’ve been cast away on a desert island, you’re aware that Ford’s current performance standard-bearer is the ’11-and-later Mustang TI-VCT (Twin Independent, Variable Camshaft Timing) 5.0L V8 that’s commonly called the Coyote. The 412hp engine is currently the standard Mustang V8—no more SOHC two-or three-valve base motors. Before long, the new 5.0Ls will be all over the wrecking yards, but in the meantime, Ford Racing Performance Parts (FRPP) and savvy aftermarket companies are already full speed ahead. Not only does FRPP offer a bunch of crate engines—including supercharged and high-output versions—but it also has a range of add-on kits to simplify retrofitment. And what Ford doesn’t have, the after market does—or soon will. But hasn’t the modular-engine architecture been around since the mid-’90s? Yes, but the new TI-VCTs have…

Dennis Taylor Restorations is operated by Dennis Taylor and his wife, Debby, and the two have been building fiberglass Willys and ’32 Fords for 15 years. When it came time to build this wild ’53 DeSoto wagon, Dennis decided to ditch the fiberglass: “That’s what I’ve done all my life. This is my project now, I just do steel.” Dennis and Debby built this wagon over the course of a little more than five years to take on the HOT ROD Power Tour®. “You can put four adults in it and still cruise like a Cadillac,” Dennis says. [9.20.07] After selling a previous project, Dennis went on eBay and began browsing the project-car section. He found the wagon listed in Kansas. “I’ve never done a car like this, and I…

OK, you were right. I couldn’t hack it. The constant 4,000-rpm misery for 60 miles every day finally got to me, and I gave in. My Challenger, as you knew it, is no more. Wait, what? No! I didn’t get a sensible car—that’s crazy-talk. I did take a performance step down, though, and swapped out the highrevvin’ 3.91:1 rear gears for a somewhat more commuter-friendly 3.23:1 ratio. Swapping gears had some expected effects, most noticeably that I now get double-digit fuel mileage—although just barely. Still, that allows me to go from daily gas fill-ups to only two per week. It’s like I’m rich all of a sudden! The freeway-cruising rpm is much more pleasant, down from 4,000 to around 3,200. That should make a difference in how quickly I shake…

01] K&N KNFilters.com; 888.858.3333; Price: $199; PN 61-4020 The Flow Control line of air-cleaner assemblies from K&N isn’t filled with cool-looking gadgets—instead, these pieces are designed with only power in mind. The lightweight, composite lids, inserts, and bases are specially built to cut down on turbulence and increase airflow through a carburetor, and multiple versions are available for 4150-or 4500-series carbs with or without choke horns. For circle-track racers, Flow Control units are also sold for Holley and Rochester two-barrel carbs. The price and part number listed above pertains to one of the most common applications—the 4150-series four-barrel with a stock choke horn and with a 14x4-inch K&N filter element. 02] SUMMIT RACING SummitRacing.com; 800.230.3030; Price: $55.95; PN SUM-G3235 Summit Racing’s brushed-aluminum air-cleaner assemblies offer a very clean look for…

SEND YOUR PHOTOS To be included in Scene by Readers, send low-rez photos and some information about them to HOTROD@HotRod.com. If we elect to use your photo, we will email back with instructions on how to send us a high-rez photo for publication.…

Hook-and-ladder. Ladder truck. That fire truck with the guy who sits in the back. You’ve probably called a tiller truck and tiller driver one of those things, and we all know what you were taking about. But by definition (ours, not Webster’s), a tiller truck is the big-ass fire truck with the big-ass ladder on top. The tiller is a rear-steering position, because, technically, the back of a tiller truck is a trailer, steering independently of the front half of the fire truck. The tillerman is the one who steers the back end of the truck. Because it’s a trailer, one false move and it can jackknife. Firefighter/paramedic Tyler Shook of the City of Vernon Fire Department in Southern California gave us an opportunity to drive a tiller truck and…

Movie productions have huge crews of people whose jobs range from babysitting actresses to making fake rain, so why don’t they do a better job of getting car facts right? We love car-chase movies, but there isn’t one that a group of car guys can’t pick apart, finding mistakes ranging from the very nerdy (a scene shows an automatic but plays the soundtrack of a four-speed) to the achingly obvious (how can a car lose more than four hubcaps during a chase?). Here are the five worst car mistakes we see over and over: Disappearing Dents: All those scenes where you see the fender crumple, and then it’s good as new in the next shot? We want that magic bodywork. Transforming Transport: It’s a floor mount in one shot, a…

In between photographing dragstrip passes during a recent test day, we kicked around the gravel next to the guardrail to see what parts had been sacrificed in the name of speed. If what we found at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway is any indication, it’s time to buy stock in quarter-turn fasteners. We spotted more than a dozen body fasteners along with quite a few hose clamps, a couple of grenaded U-joints and yokes, shredded carbon-fiber panels, a spark plug, snapped aluminum blower studs, a blower belt, and bits of tire tread. There are also a few chunks of unidentifiable cast aluminum that we plan on recycling into more speed parts.…

PERFORMANCE AS TESTED Rear-Wheel Horsepower: 435 hp at 6,175 rpm Rear Wheel Torque: 433 lb-ft at 4,404 rpm Time on the HOT ROD Autocross: 1:06 (fastest tested) Quarter-Mile: 12.124 at 114 mph 60–0 Braking: 143.2 feet Competence in Its Intended Purpose: Milt’s Camaro did what it was built to do: destroy everyone on an autocross. It has been the fastest we have tested to date. It was built for a reason and proved its legitimacy here. Ranking: 9 Performance vs. Potential: Here’s where we look at the components on the car versus how it functions on the street or track. If a car has 1,200 hp but can’t use it, it gets a low score. It took the guys a few tries to get the car to hook straight, but…

Next Month: Buy Your Own Mill Whenever you buy anything you don’t know the history of, have it Magnaflux’d before spending the money.—Joe Sherman Contacts JOE SHERMAN RACING; Santa Ana, CA; 714.542.0515; JoeShermanRacing.com A&A MIDWEST; Las Vegas, NV; 800.426.8771; AAMidwest.com…

Next Month: How to Pack a Parachute Contacts ALCAST FOUNDRY INC.; Redondo Beach, CA; 310.542.3581; Alcast.com BACKYARD METAL CASTING; Backyard MetalCasting.com ALUMINUM TIPS You can melt down almost any kind of aluminum—cans, even—but a piece that has already been cast (such as a water pump, wheel, or intake manifold) will have an alloy that’s better suited for casting. Aluminum pours at about 1,500 degrees, so have the proper safety gear in place and a fire extinguisher on hand.…

We spotted Kevin Brooks and his overthe-top Model A at the Viva Las Vegas car show in 2012. His blown, smallblock–powered coupe typically runs pie-crust slicks on the rear, but when we invited him to participate in our first-ever HOT ROD Flog Test, he bolted on some sticky Hoosiers to make a few drag passes. His first pass started pretty well, with a 1.5-second 60-foot time and a 4.20 330-foot time that should have been good for a mid- 10-second pass, but as he gave the car throttle in Third gear, both radius rods in the rear suspension snapped. “I’m just happy I broke them both at the same time,” Kevin says. Had only one rod snapped, the car could have rear-steered itself into the wall. The radius rods might…

Bolt-Together Torque Converters TCI Auto //888.776.9824 //TCIAuto.com Most street-style torque convertors aren’t designed with serviceability in mind, but TCI now offers a bolt-together converter for GM 6L80E transmissions, and because the housing can be separated to access the internals, it’s easy to service the bearings and components. Perhaps more importantly, the stator and turbine can be easily modified to adjust stall speed if you change your combo or want to swap the converter into another car; no longer will the entire converter need to be shipped back to the manufacturer for these updates. Off-the-shelf stalls vary with application but are available around the rpm ranges of 2,600–2,700, 2,800–2,900, and 3,100–3,200. The TCI converters are also built with more lock-up torque capacity for longer life. Price: Varies Relay Board Trick Cable…