Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2003 i Hot Rod

20 Years and Not Running I just realized that, as this issue goes on sale, I will have owned my ’70 Dodge Super Bee for 20 years. Old-timers may see that as a blip on the life screen, but at 35 years it feels like an accomplishment—even more so because, unlike many hot rodders, I managed to hang onto my very first car. I was lucky to get the thing at 15, before I could even drive (legally, anyway). My grandmother promised to buy me a new three-wheeler if I maintained a B average in school. I pulled it off, apparently also using my teenage powers of wit and influence to parlay the Honda trike into a complete car. I managed to double the intended value of my vehicular bonus…

IN THREE WORDS: Louder, Faster, Violent THE GIST: Nothing is faster. An NHRA Top Fuel dragster accelerates more quickly than any other land vehicle on earth, and even jet fighter planes that take off of aircraft carriers can’t keep up in initial acceleration. Top Fuel is hands down the fastest, scariest, most extreme display of controlled (hopefully) mayhem you can witness. You would most likely pass out from the excessive g-forces if you tried to drive a Top Fuel dragster, and it’s not uncommon for people to literally pee their pants from the big-bang-like vibrations that blow through your body just watching along the starting line. Want to know what its like to be close to a Top Fuel dragster? Just spray yourself with mace, press your ears against two…

w’ve showed you Cadillac’s vast recipient of this monster in this month’s talc of the Detroit Auto Show, but what of the V-16 underhood? A couple of Northstars welded together? During the Great Depression, Cadillac offered two V-16 engines, the first of which (‘;30-’37) was a 285hp, 452ci, overhead-valve unit. The finale came in ’38-’40 with a flathead (curiously enough) that displaced 431 ci and produced 185 hp. The behemoth you see here, at 828ci, is bigger than an IHRA Pro Stock motor and produces nearly as much oomph: How do 1,000 hp and 1,000 lb-ft grab ya? Big doesn’t mean real heavy, though. An aluminum block and cylinder heads save weight, so the dressed engine (at 685) weighs 84 pounds less than the current 8.1L (496ci) Vortec V-8. Further,…

With its double-overdrive, silky-smooth shifting, and wide availability, the rugged T56 production manual transmission would make a great retrofit into classic musclecars, were it not set up exclusively for use with hydraulic clutches. The new-breed tranny has a unique input shaft length and trans-to-bellhousing bolt patterns, and the LSI version doesn’t even have a conventional front bearing retainer snout. That makes dropping the T56 behind a classic musclecar a fairly big deal for the average shade-tree hot rodder. On the other hand, for those late-model racers not in need of the T56’s double overdrive gear (and extra bulk), stabbing in a Muncie or T10 behind a late LSI wasn’t exactly a simple bolt-in, either! Note the past-tense: By this summer, McLeod will be selling its new modular scattershield system that…

NHRA Stock and Super Stock are all about running astounding e.l.’s with essentially stock equipment, and they’ve long been considered the marvel of the blue-collar racers. But when it comes to watching ’em from the stands, do you really have a clue what’s going on? For the 2003 race season, there are 185 classes—102 in Stock Eliminator and 83 in Super Stock—and you’ll see nearly every combination of post-War Detroit sheetmetal racing on a complicated index system. This story will help you make order from the chaos. Or perhaps you’ll get the urge to do it yourself—last year participation grew by 6 percent from 2001 with more than 1,800 racers duking it out from coast to coast. Leveling the Field Wally Parks once told us he knew the NHRA was…

Dialing in your speedometer used to require crawling under the vehicle and messing with Drive and driven gears. Getting the right ratio meant a run to the new car dealer or the local speedo shop (assuming it even had the right part in stock). Extreme corrections often meant building a custom miniature correction gearbox. The advent of electronic speedometers fed by the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) eliminated these hassles only to create a new one: With no gears, how do you make the speedo read right after a gear or wheel/tire change? That’s where Granatelli Motor Sports’ GranSpeedo comes in. Unlike other systems that try to make changes to the hard (and encrypted) setting within the factory ECM, GranSpeedo uses a simple splice-in bufferbox that’s easily calibrated with a home…

Dominick Consalvi San Jose, CA Pontiac Sunfire GT ENGINE Type: 2.6L LD9 Twin Cam Pontiac Crankshaft: B.R.E. Engines Pistons: Weisco, 10.2:1 compression Cylinder Heads: GRD and B.R.E., ported, reshaped chambers, bronze guides, larger valves, five-angle valve job Camshaft: Secret specs Induction: 2.3 conversion intake, Electromotive Tec II fuel-injection controller Ignition: Electromotive Tec II Exhaust: B.R.E. headers, GRD Apexi System Power-Adder: Super 60 Series Turbo PERFORMANCE Output: 625 hp @ 7,000 rpm, 500 lb-ft @ 6,300 rpm DRIVETRAIN Transaxle: NVT-550,4.17:1 gear ratio, limited-slip Driveshaft: ½-inch GRD solid chromoly Shifter: GRD Clutch: Clutchmasters’ Stage IV CHASSIS Front Suspension: GRD A-arms, HD hubs, GRD coilovers, camber plates, GRd/Tokico shocks, 475-pound springs Rear Suspension: 375-pound springs (street), 1,000-pound springs (drag), GRD/Tokico shocks Steering: GRD modified ’96 stock rack-and-pinion Brakes: PBR, GRD special light CNC…

Don’t let Coddington’s Tinker Toy—like coupe fool you, it’s one of the most comfortable riding and handling dosed cars that I have ever been in. The muffler is noisy, and it could use little more inferior room and visibility, but after spending over 900 miles in it, I would do it all over again. How moity owners of show winners would subject their rods Io this combo of sleet ond rain? But who ever said that Varni end Boyd were normal? Varni’s right rear taillight was working when we left Coddington’s shop. Pit stops were a frequent happening because the healthy Chevys that power most of these rods are rather thirsty. Varni had a bra made to keep road debris from damaging the paint on his grille shell. However, the…

’67 Olds 422 ’39 Ford Sedan ’69 American Motors AMX ’40 Ford Pickup ’72 GMC Sprint ’67 Mustang GTA Photo Tip We love Oscar’s’Stang (above), but in general, it’s best not to park your car on grass for a Readers’ Rides photo. You don’t drive on grass, do you? The phone pole in the background is also a bummer. Did You Know …? A bunch of our past feature cars can be seen at hotrod.com. Click “Features” on the home page. ’79 Chevy Z28 Camaro ’69 Ponitac Firebird How Quick? When you’ve got the info, please, tell us how fast your car really is. “Goes 10s” is nice, but exact numbers are better. Hey, Late-Model Guys Send us your photos and stories! You’ve got a better chance now than ever…

I have a ‘90 Chevy K2500 4x4. What would it take to install an LT1 from a ’95 Impala SS? I have thought of the following areas where I should probably be concerned: Transmission: I think the ‘95 car has a computer-controlled trans, and my truck trans is not controlled with the computer. Are the controls for the engine separate from the controls for the transmission? Motor mounts: Are the motor mounts at the same location? Can the motor mounts for the truck be used? Radiator: Are the radiator hose hookups in the same location? I think the ’95 used an electric fan. Is it best to get this fan from the ‘95, or should I try to get the fan and radiator both from the ’95? Power steering pump:…

Be sure to check out our redesigned site as you preview the stories listed on this page. The new format includes thumbnail photos and teaser text for each story (1), a more logical and easier-to-use left navigation bar (2), and a search function (3) that pulls up stories by keyword or phrase. The search also checks on our 18 sister sites to see if the topic you’re after is covered in their content archives. Plus, we’re adding features all the time. Give it a look, and enjoy more stories of all types! June Issue On Sale May 5, 2003 SEE THESE STORIES NOW AT HOTROD.com/Web www.HOTROD.com/Web By buying this magazine, you’ve got access now to stories that will appear on the HOT ROD Web site, plus some sneak peeks at…

Most gearheads grock the concept of center of gravity—the point about which the weight of an object is concentrated, and where the mass of the object surrounding that point may be considered equal in all directions. It’s critical to handling—lower a car and you lower the center of gravity—but top-speed racers should also concern themselves with center-of pressure. Ask a model-rocket hobbyist about it. Center of pressure is the point about which all the aerodynamic forces act on an object. At high speeds, you hope the center of pressure is forward of the center of gravity; if the c of p is ahead of the c of g, the aerodynamic forces act like a lever against the center of gravity and tend to lift the front wheels, causing scary handling.…

Thunderbolt Minis What: Supercar Collectibles Limited-Edition (only 2,500) Gas Ronda Thunderbolt Set, PN 29241 Who: Supercar Collectibles, 763/425-6020; Supercarl.com How Much:$84.95 (plus shipping while supplies last) My first impression of the new Gas Ronda Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt set from Supercar Collectibles was that it looks great but must surely suffer the same heavy-handed execution as most 1:18 scale die-cast metal replicas. I’m a self-confessed plastic fanatic, a lifelong modelkit builder who views pre-assembled die-cast metal replicas with the same snobbery that hands-on hot rodders reserve for checkbook chumps. I’ll build it myself, thenkyewvery-muchindeed. To me, the metal die-casting technique typically yields thick, clunky forms that can’t compare to the detail of injection-molded plastic. This time I was dead wrong. When I worked the T-Bolt’s articulated doors, hood, and trunk lid,…

Wally’s 90th In February, 2003, HOT ROD’s first editor and NHRA founder B Wally Parks celebrated his 90th birthday and was honored at two events we attended—one at the newly renamed NHRA Wally Parks Museum of Motorsports in Pomona, California, and another several months prior at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. That second event is represented here with a photo of many of the luminaries in attendance, as shot by Bob McClurg, himself a motorsports legend. It’s clear that all the heavy-breathers came out to celebrate the life of the man with the foresight and enthusiasm to create drag racing as we know it. It was also clear that the sport pays way too much, as we watched John Force drop 25 large for one of Wally’s sweaty old…

Man, a one-legged drunk would have been easier to suit up than the Crusher Camaro. Finding an air cleaner that would fit beneath the cowl hood and still draw sufficiently, smoothing out the fuel and spark maps, sourcing slicks, finding wheels with the proper offset, and a tangle of tuning quandaries were among our bundle of woe. The captain, Kevin Thompson, did as much as he could at his Memphis shop before opening the back door and shooing it out, but the Crusher had more teething problems than a 2-year-old, and for various reasons seat time was short. It needed another month of shakedown, so the rest of it was up to us, and a close circle of friends. Trepidation shrouded our first taste of the Crusher after Freiburger delivered…

We’ve jonesed for a squeeze motor for sooo many years. Squeeze in the old-fashioned sense—compression, not nitrous—and a big, stanky roller cam to go with it. Trouble is, we had neither the need nor the short-block. We did have a trick Dart top-end and a juicy King Demon removable-sleeve carb. Meanwhile, our pal Jeff Jacobs at Dougan’s Racing Engines has been scheming his own street-race unit for some time, and had scored some used odds and ends that added up to a stout small-Chevy short-block. You see where this is going. Bore & Stroke Jeff’s combo was born more of happenstance than planning. First he got a 4.165-bore Chevy 400 block—a well-seasoned race unit with unidentified steel caps—then he found a similarly experienced 47-pound LA Enterprises billet crank swingin’ a…

Attend Power Tour 2003 and you could end up winning HOT ROD’S Project PowerDriver! Last year we handed out a new isiSif ‘Sag Monte Carlo, and the year before that it was a ‘66 Chevy II. This time we started out by purchasing a sano ’67 Malibu from reader Ross Isaacs, and the car is currently at Chevrolet’s Desert Proving Grounds in Arizona where legit Chevy engineers are installing a Gen III crate engine and 4L60E overdrive trans. The buildup of the Chevelle will be seen over the next few months here in HOT ROD. In addition to the GM Performance Parts LSI crate engine and trans, we’ll add four-wheel disc brakes, a new 12-bolt rearend, and upgrades to the car’s existing airbag suspension. PowerDriver has original power windows and…

The simple, user-friendly calibration program runs on both the PC platform (Windows 95 or later) and the Macintosh (System 5 or later).…

I can’t remember when our trip to Indy-featuring Boyd Coddington’s Cosmic Coupe and Dennis Varni’s America’s Most Beautiful Roadster-was a done deal. It could have been the instant that Andy Brizio, the T-shirt king, challenged those present at. a roast during the 1992 Oakland Roadster Show to drive their rods—not trailer them. It might have happened when Vami promised himself that if his totally rebuilt ’29 on Deuce-like rails won the Oakland Roadster Show trophy, it would never see a trailer again. But perhaps it was the day that Boyd Coddington—the guy who was supposed to be the last man on earth to subject one of his creations to the travails of interstate travel—told Vami that all bets were covered. It seems that some of the Bay Area Roadster Club…

Here are a series of small “heps” within the big “hapz,” including a top 16 (Coddington presents 16 billet wheel trophies) collection of Streeters; a nostalgia drag race with side-by-side punch-offs featuring the likes of Wayne Stumpf’s 7.13/199-mpb ’53 Studebaker versus Jerry Dawson’s Rex Stevons—driven b.9b/2M-mph AA/Fuel Coupe; today’s mica color—such as the ones used on Fred Warren’s ‘33—contrasting well against the hot licks of red, blue, and yellow that grate Greg Dammer’s ‘49 Willys; proof that (california Kid clones still exist but with polished Daisys rather than Halibrands; and ‘50s “burple” purple, which has returned, as aptly illustrated by what rovers this Willys in the Midwest Street Rod booth.…

Customized 1:64 Scale Racing Haulers Erisco714/847-3733 www.eriscotoys.com 1 Versatile Air Compressor Campbell Hausfeld 888/247-6937 www.chpower.com 3 Cobra Blower Powerdyne661/723-8800 www.powerdyne.com 4 Forever Flashlight Car Cover Company800/423-5525 www.calcarcover.com 5 Modular Integrated Oeck Sleeve Kits Carton Sleeves800/713-2786 www.dartonsleeves.com 6 Hot Rodder Watches MAG-nificent Impressions888/543-6995 www.fastflames.com 7 Lightweight Racing Flywheels 10,000 RPM661/942-1312 www.10000rpm.com 8 Early Nova Coilovers AutoFab410/796-8777 www.autofabracecars.com 9 Justice Brothers Garb Justice Brothers626/359-9174 www.justicebrothers.com…

In your Oct.’99 (page 36) and April’00 (page 91) issues, you discussed the formula for computing tire size, vehicle speed, engine rpm, and rear-gear ratio. It makes sense to me, except that you multiply the speed by the constant “336.” Why 336? What determines that number?William SpizzirriVia e-mail The constant “336” is a reduction of the various conversion factors needed to convert dissimilar measurement units to like measurement units (inches to miles and minutes to hours), as well as calculate tire circumference using tire diameter times π (pi, approximately 3.1415927). Let’s take it from the top, starting with the raw equation, then reducing it: But the result is an awkward-to-use decimal constant. An alternate reduction method that when rounded off produces a whole number constant is: “Axle rev/1 engine rev”…

…conversion kits to make overhead-valve motors into overhead-cam (OHC) motors?Jon CleghornLathrop, CA Aardema Development (San Diego, CA; 619/297-6500; www.aardemasohc.com) offers OHC conversion kits for most any wedge-head-engine with in-line valves. … hop-up parts for the 4.0L Ford 60-degree V-6 now that Vanair is no longer in that business?Jim MumawCleveland, OH Try the 4.0L Performance Division of Central Coast Mustang (Tehachapi, CA; 661-823-2400;www.centralcoastmustang.com). … a cable-clutch conversion kit to aid putting a T5 in a ’68 Mustang?Russell KopeskyVia e-mail Contact Modern Driveline (San Jose, CA;408/265-0741; www.moderndriveline.com). … 351-based small-block Ford crate engines?Steve BondVia e-mail They’re available from Ford Racing Performance Parts (Clinton Township, Ml; 810/468-1356; www.fordracing.com/performanceparts) and Coast High Performance (Torrance, CA; 310/7842977; www.probeindustries.com), among other sources. … a stroker kit for the tail-deck 427 big-block Chevy?Kathy RaymondVia e-mail Lots of…

Electronically Mastered LSB in Vintage Tin GM Performance Parts is an offspring of the Service and Parts Operations’ (SPO) and represents the corporation’s cornucopia of aftermarket factory goodies. As any fool knows, the ’70 Chevelle had an optional RPO LS6 engine (454 ci, 450 hp) that reached the pinnacle of success in the NHRA Nationals–winning Truppi-Kling SS/EA convertible (driven by Ray Allen’ out of Briggs Chevrolet in South Amboy, New Jersey. GMPP offers the latest version of the LS6 engine, a crate version of the Gen III smallblock V-8 that produces an underrated 405 hp and 400 lb-ft. The assembly includes an engine control wiring harness and a PCM that facilitate entry into any vehicle. The PCM acts upon the engine as well as the preferred 4L60E transmission, now upgraded…

What: Ed “Big Daddy” Roth: His Life, Times, Cars, and Art Who: Author Pat Ganahl, available from CarTech; 800/551-4754; www.cartechbooks.com How Much: $39.95 The exploits of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth have been well chronicled in dozens if not hundreds of magazine articles as well as a few books. This latest tome is a great addition, but I wish it could have gone a little further in its examination of Roth’s personal life. Author Pat Ganahl is highly regarded for his no -B.S. writing and reporting, yet in Big Daddy he treads too lightly when controversy comes knocking. It’s no secret that Roth lived hard, and this reader was hoping to get all the juicy details—not to leer from a safe distance, but to more fully understand the madness, mayhem, genius,…

Michigan: In March we outlined a bill that would have prohibited hobbyists from storing damaged or inoperable vehicles on private property in Michigan. Happily, the proposal died a quiet death when the legislature adjourned in 2002 without taking any action on it. Evenso, thanks to readers who took time to write their senators. Big win for us! Michigan: Legislation to substantially reduce fees charged to historic car owners by the Catastrophic Claims Association becomes law effective July 1,2003. The Association’s fees, which are charged to all Michigan auto insurance policyholders in equal amounts, enable the state to reimburse no-fault insurers for amounts paid on personal injury claims in excess of $250,000. SEMA and allied organizations convinced legislators and the governor that the assessment was disproportionately applied to historic car owners,…

The ’03 North American International Auto Show in Detroit will be remembered as the one where manufacturers rediscovered that they build cars, too. After years of presenting car-truck-minivan-4x4-performance-crossover-sport-luxo-utility-conversion-GenX/Y-extreme vehicles that look to be built from Legos, Allen-head screws, and old Bubble Yum, actual passenger cars—some concept, some bound for production—got most of the attention in Cobo Hall this winter. Every American manufacturer also had an old musclecar in its booth to proclaim its heritage: DaimlerChrysler had our crony Dave Hakim’s ‘71 Hemi Charger and an early Chrysler 300 while Ford wheeled out a minty-fresh ’68 Shelby fastback. Chevy featured old iron too, but unlike some warm-’n’-fuzzy link to the past like the other resto-babies on display, it had a red ’70 Chevelle packing a crate LS6/4L65E driveline and tons, of…

Joe Jill and the staff of Superior Automotive were hellbound in their quest to be among the first to deliver 400 hp to the rear tires of an LSI F-body. Sure, plenty of tuners have eclipsed the magic 4-C mark using laughing gas, exotic stroker kits, or above-atmospheric intake charge manipulation, but few have done the deed solely on the motor and with stock displacement. The test mule for the all-out assault is Don Holly's ’02 Z28 six-speed, one of the last of this fantastic breed of Detroit-by-way-of-Canada factory stormers. Already equipped with headers, an 80mm throttlebody and a low-restriction air filter housing, the little black honker cranked out healthy baseline chassis dyno readings of 341.3 hp at 5,350 and 352.1 lb-ft at 4,500. A huge part of the recipe…

Don’t pick on Dominick Consalvi’s ’96 Pontiac Sunfire GT if you hap pen to roll up next to him at a stoplight. Sure he’s got some stickers and a lowered stance, but so does most any sport compact these days. Probably another pooch with a buzzy exhaust, right? Wrong. Believe it or not, Dorn’s packing heat with a B25hp, 2.6L four-banger. Throughout the building process, Dominick got plenty of flak from people saying he wouldn’t get anywhere with a Sun fire. Why a Sunfire you ask? “Why not?” has always been Dominick’s answer. “It’s always fun when you pull up to the guy next to you and blow him away in a Sunfire. He might expect it from a V-8 musclecar or a tricked-out Honda, but he has no idea…

Lay rubber,” said Dave Koepke as he stood waiting for Wes Λllison to record images of his Creamsicle Nomad. We were feeling frisky in the HOT ROD Camaro, so the revs went up and the clutch came out. The car fishtailed off, soiling the virgin tarmac with thirty feet of variegated black. Dave hails from a pinpoint on the map, a dot on Indiana Rte. 20 with a population of 600 souls, give or take. Though this sounds like the sticks, he’s only an hour or so southeast of Chicago, a town famous for its particular style of hot-lick blues … and fast street cars. Laying rubber in Rolling Prairie is a lot more prudent than it is on our hometown Wilshire Boulevard. Dave is here because his car is…

Buick turbo V-6 racers are a diehard and stubborn bunch, but with Buick Motor Division back in performance hibernation, the scarcity of original rear-drive Buick V-6 blocks has seemingly put Grand National racers onto the road to extinction. But not if TA Performance has anything to say about it. This February, TA released its Extreme Duty Buick V-6 aluminum cylinder block. Designed to both replace production iron blocks as well as withstand racing’s rigors, the block accepts all stock components as well as most aftermarket parts. Blocks are offered in the standard production off-center configuration, as well as on-center to meet the needs of those running late Stage 2 full-race combinations. TA says the blocks incorporate lessons learned in Pro Stock and Top Fuel racing. The bottom-end features beefy, billet,…

I read in an article that someone was thinking about putting a Roots blower on a 351 Cleveland. What is a Roots blower? I’ve got a ‘73 Mach I and am open to options of power add-ons, as long as it looks stock on the outside. Will a Roots blower fit under the hood? If I’m already pulling around 375 hp, how much more power can I expect out of the blower? Who makes the blowers?David CarterManchester, TN The basic rotor, or positive-displacement supercharger, was invented in the mid-1800s by the Roots brothers (that’s why it’s referred to as a “Roots” supercharger). “Positive displacement” means that with each full rotation of the compressor element, a specific fixed volume of air is pumped from the inlet side to the exhaust outlet.…

A longtime friend of HOT ROD, John Lingenfelter is shown here during a july-76 photo shoot, the first of many for the magazine. He’s a racer known equally for his dragstrip prowess and for brutal modern street cars from his Lingenfelter Performance Engineering shop. During an NHRA/Summit Sports Compact Racing Series event in Pomona during October, 2002. Lingenfelter crashed severely in his Cavalier race car. His spinal injuries appeared to be stabilized when he was flown to a hospital in hometown Indiana, where a drug used prior to a second surgery led to prolonged cardiac arrest, leaving Lingenfelter in a semi-comatose state. We’ve delayed mention of the accident hoping for the best, but tragically, prognosis for recovery is not good as of press time. See www.lingenfelter.com for updates and keep…