Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2006 i Hot Rod

THE WORLD’S FASTEST VOLKSWAGEN This picture is of a long-forgotten (except by those who built it) race car campaigned by four die-hard drag racers from Joliet, Illinois, from 1963 to 1968. It was primarily driven by my brother-in-law, Joe Kodrick, now of Morris, Illinois. The Black Pup was billed as “The World’s Fastest Volkswagen” and originally ran a Hilborn-injected 327 Chevy backed up with a four-speed Muncie in the B/A class. After a couple of years, they installed a GMC 6-71 blower with a two-port Hilborn fuel-injection unit and ran in BB/A class against the likes of the famous Lil Screamer at midwest tracks. The picture was taken in 1968 at Rockford, Illinois, with Joe at the wheel. The car was homebuilt by brothers Joe and Hank Kodrick, Jim Coonan,…

H&H ACQUIRES NAVARRO RACING EQUIPMENT Last month we ran a photo of the legendary Barney Navarro and his turbocharged Rambler six-cylinder IndyCar engine (Inside the OEs, page 30) and neglected to mention that Navarro Racing Equipment is still in business, but we just learned that Barney is finally retiring. After more than 60 years in business spent researching, developing, and manufacturing some of the finest cylinder heads and intake manifolds for flatheads, Barney and his wife, Donna, have passed on the business to Mike Herman of H&H Flatheads. H&H is a family-owned-and-operated business that has been building flatheads and four-bangers since the mid-’60s. The company has been in the same location since 1972. H&H will continue to produce the Navarro parts and will also reintroduce the ’49-’53 heads and a…

To many hot rodders, young and-old, there’s just nothing as cool as a-gasser. The nose-high stance and-brutal simplicity take us all back-nearly a half-century to a time when amateur drag racers ruled. It was a-time when a few buddies could pool their-resources and build a competitive car using-little more than boneyard parts, raw ingenuity, and a smattering of goodies from the-burgeoning high-performance aftermarket. The original wave of gassers came about in the mid-’50s, as the NHRA worked to attract more street-driven machinery to its sanctioned racetracks. Knowing that pairings between dual-purpose (street and strip) cars and all-out race cars would be unfair, in 1955 the NHRA set up the Street Section, which comprised three divisions: Gas Coupe and Sedan, Street Roadster, and Sports Car. The assumption was that street-driven vehicles…

Tracing the life of hot-rodding pioneer Ak Miller is sort of like watching a Speed Channel version of Forrest Gump. If something important happened in rodding history, Ak was there. Lakes racing? Yep, before World War II and as the SCTAs first postwar president. Bonneville? He worked alongside Wally Parks and Bob Petersen to plan the first speed trials on the Salt in 1949. Drag racing? Ak was the NHRA’s first vice president when the association was formed in 1951. Street racing? Ak did his fair share in the day, often humbling flathead-powered iron with a sleeper Chevy roadster packing a Buick straight-eight. Road racing? HOT ROD made legendary his exploits in the Carrera Panamericana road races and on Pikes Peak. Factory performance? For 10 years, Ak worked for Ford…

HOW TO STRIP PAINT PG.110 Part two of our exhaustive How-To-Paint-Your-Car series. shows how to get all the old paint and grime off. Next month we show you how to fix dents. ROOTS-BLOWN LSI PG.116 Mixing old school with new tech is the idea behind Machine Tech’s 6-71 supercharged Gen III small-block. Squint and it looks like a full-tilt big-block. WHAT’S UP WITH FLAT TAPPETS PG.124In the last few years, cam manufacturers and engine builders have been seeing a dramatic increase in lobe and lifter failures with flat-tappet cams. Here’s the story behind what’s really going on. THE HOT ROD SOLSTICE, PART TWO PG.132 Putting the body and finishing touches on what is the baddest magazine project car ever. And next month we let it eat on the track. TEST…

57 HEMI SWAP HEADERS Hooker Headers 800/465-5391 http://www.ilovemyhookerheaders.com/ Those thinking about swapping a new 5.7L Hemi into an early Mopar don’t have to worry about custom-fabricating a set of headers anymore. Hooker has introduced a set of its Super Competition headers for’G8-74 B-bodies and 70-74 E-bodies strictly for that purpose. They’re built from 16-gauge steel and feature 1 5/8-inch primaries, 3-inch collectors, and 3/8-inch-thick flanges. The headers retain all emissions control fittings and will accommodate most manual and automatic transmissions, including the 727 and Chrysler’s new five-speed automatic. An optional ceramic coating is also available. VALVE-COVER SPACERS Street & Performance Electronics 501/945-0354 www.streetandperformanceelectronics.com Sometimes aftermarket rocker arms won’t clear factory valve covers, but doubling up on gaskets almost always creates leaks and is cheesy. If you have a Gen III…

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY Two pages before this, Freiburger wrote about the 10 cars he let get away and now wants back. I guess I’m fortunate that my list of automotive regrets is less than half his, but it doesn’t diminish the pain I feel when I think about the ones I would really like back. I realize that I have an unhealthy, sympathetic connection to every vehicle I own, and that means I hate to sell anything. Even the ones I don’t like that much make me pause as I watch them drive away. And the nightmare cars brought some good times with the bad. The ’94 Mustang GT that I finally rid myself of last year started off as a really clean, one-owner, low-mileage car. Of course…

This month’s photo is an outtake from Eric Rickman’s coverage of Bonneville in 1970. The kids in the groovy threads (we’d love a pair of those Moon-Equipped sneakers) were students from Southern California’s Chaffey College actually earning school credits by racing on the Salt. Chaffey offered a race-car ’ technology course, and one of the class projects was a ’69 Mustang that the students built into a landspeed race car. It looks like an engine swap is going on in the photo, and a caption from Rick’s Nov. ’70 story explains why: “Ak Miller tooled the Chaffey College Mustang to records in both C and D Production using 351-and 302-inch Ford engines respectively.We’d say the class graduated ’Magna Cum Loud.’” Miller, a pioneering hot rodder and longtime Bonneville racer, no…

MODERN RED RAM Portland, Oregon’s Matt Markstaller is in the middle of this homebuilt ’32 roadster project. The Lone Star body will have an old-timey airplane theme with red scallops over a Mirra-chrome (looks like polished aluminum) treatment and Red Ram graphics on the side. That refers to the engine, though this one’s not a ’50s baby Hemi but rather an ’05 Dodge 5.7L Hemi with a fabricated intake for the factory fuel-injection setup. The traditional-looking suspension is actually all independent and uses an adapted dune buggy steering rack. —Rob Kinnan THE MSD-V On last year’s Power TourTM, MSD brought out its old-school, back-halved ’55 Chevy to wow the crowds, and this year the company’s going upscale. Starting with an already potent ’05 Cadillac CTS-V, the MSD-V will have a…

The prices of real ’30s steel Ford bodies long ago moved into a realm that’s a bit steep for most garage builders, and that’s a shame considering those cars are the basis from which hot rodding grew. We routinely hear from guys who say they’d love to just build a basic roadster, but they can’t justify the prices that vintage, and even after-market, bodies and frames are bringing. And the attention that’s focused on high-dollar cars has made it easy to develop the mindset that car building is a rich man’s game. But, for those of you sick of cars awash in a sea of billet and fiberglass costing as much as your first home, there is still an alternative — and we don’t mean driving around a rust-bucket beater…

“A lot of people don’t think you can foot-brake a 1.28-second 60-foot, but I don’t have a transbrake and don’t plan on putting one in.” -Ben Moore Right around the time the Buffalo Bills were appearing in a record four consecutive Super Bowls, Chevrolet introduced the LT1 V-8. Not coincidentally, the two events shared uncanny similarities. Despite a devastating, no-huddle offense that routinely put seven points on the scoreboard in less than a minute, the Bills of the early ’90s were known for never once bringing home the Vince Lombardi trophy. ’Tis a harsh fate for a team that was, in reality, second best in the NFL during that stretch. Likewise, from a technical standpoint, the LT1 is arguably the second-best small-block Chevy ever built. However, due to the overwhelming…

Unless your project car has been hammered out of virgin sheetmetal, the first thing to do when considering new paint is figure out how to handle the paint that’s already there. In some cases, the decision is pretty straightforward. Many painters consider a car’s original finish to be one of the best foundations you can have for fresh paint, provided what’s still on the car isn’t cracking, lifting, or showing other signs of wear or damage. As John Sloane of Eastwood put it, a car’s original finish “was applied with perfect prep and under ideal conditions, so it’s tough to beat.” If that’s the case with your project car, you can feel pretty secure about scuffing the original finish, then priming and shooting right over it. Then again, how many…

“In an ongoing attempt to keep emissions as low as possible, manufacturers have been putting tighter and tighter limits on how much phosphorous and zinc additive can be in the motor oil.—Mark Ferner, Quaker State For the last several years, many engine builders and individual hot rodders have experienced a raft of seemingly unexplained flat-tappet camshaft lobe failures. As one engine builder puts it, “I’ve failed more cams in the last three years than I have in the last 30.” There are several theories as to the primary causes of these failures, and with all the usual finger pointing and blame game such unfortunate episodes inevitably generate, the result has been a muddying of the waters that’s left average hot rodders confused and uncertain as to the best course of…

Days are getting longer and temperatures are rising. Time to get your rod out of hibernation and burn some rubber. But if it’s your car that’s in meltdown and not the pavement, get ahold of the Emergency Motor Service techs here at HOT ROD’s Pit Stop: Send in your problems and questions and I’ll triage as many patients as we have space for in these pages. When e-mailing, don’t forget to include “Pit Stop” in the subject line, as well as your real, full name and hometown or military unit, base, or ship in the message. Quality digital photos of the car or problem are also nice — if they’re at least 300 dpi at 4x4 inches or larger in size. —Marlan Davis 305 TPI ON A 350 I have…

E-MAIL: HOTROD@PRIMEDIA.COM • MAIL: HOT ROD BENCH RACING, 6420 WILSHIRE BLVD., LOS ANGELES, CA 90048 • FAX: 323/782-2223 • MESSAGE BOARD: HOTROD.COM During grade school, high school, and college, I read every car magazine I could, studying every word as closely as my roommates studied their engineering textbooks. I was informed, entertained, and sometimes confused, and there were several instances where I was absolutely outraged and wanted to fire off a scathing missive to the editor responsible. And yet, I never did write a single letter to an editor. But today’s ease of releasing mental aggression through e-mail (so much quicker than writing something on paper, stuffing it in an envelope, and buying a stamp) means a lot of people write to us. You should too. Have we said something…

R.I.P. GTO AND GT General Motors and Ford have announced that they will be discontinuing the GTO and the GT, respectively. GM reportedly told Pontiac dealers that this model year is the last for the GTO, and they’ll make the final deliveries to dealers at the end of September. Total ’06 GTO production will come in somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 cars, compared with 11,950 in 2005 and 13,569 in 2004. The original yearly sales projections for the car were 18,000, so sales were never up to expectations. Part of the blame can be laid on the fact that the car looked like just another rental car, and it was priced higher than initially hoped for. That’s all too bad, because if you can look past the bland styling, the…

FINALLY, AN AMERICAN IN F1 The future of F1 in America is tumultuous at best, especially after last year’s U.S. Grand Prix disaster where more than half the field pitted and refused to race. For years, pundits have claimed that Americans just don’t care because there are no American drivers to root for, and we shall soon see if that’s the case with Scott Speed. He will be the first American to compete in F1 in more than a decade and will race with Scuderia Toro Rosso, the team formerly known as Minardi, now owned by Red Bull Racing. The team itself is a long way from a front runner, so he stands almost no chance of actually winning a race this season. But the team has served as a…

“Everybody says there are no more hot rods left, and there are no more stories about old cars found in garages. Well, I don’t believe it because I just keep finding them!— George Antoline With the surge in popularity of retro-styled hot rods, a lot of guys are building brand-new cars to look as if they are original, from-back-in-the-day hotties, complete with faux patina paint and intentional wear and tear. Then there are the legit old-timers, such as George Antoline’s ’34 Ford coupe. Talk about a hidden treasure. George’s car is a flattie coupe with a good chop, built like they used to do it: all rough-cut and stick-welded with a heavily louvered decklid and channeled ready for the dry lakes. The car looks like it’s going 200 mph sitting…

“What we make is factual automotive entertainment.” —Pinksproducer Stephen Pullin “Humans determine everything. Eyes, ears, and hearts determine everything on Pinks. The lights take the human factor out.” — Rich Christensen on why the show doesn’t use lights to start races or determine winners. We’re not going to just describe an episode of Pinks here. Promise. Speedworld Raceway Park is stuck in the middle of the Arizona desert about 30 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix. It’s not glamorous. It’s not beautiful. And in the summer, it’s brutally hot. But it has a dragstrip, and in January the weather is pretty nice. So Speed Channel’s successful Pinks picked Speedworld as a venue for taping its second season of winner-takes-both-cars match races. The Speed Channel isn’t on every cable system in the…

The HOT ROD Power TourTM is all about involvement. From day one, the magazine staff organized it to get our own project cars out on the road and in use —basically practicing what we were preaching. We stood on a soapbox and shouted to the world that real hot rods are meant to be driven, and it’s a stance we have tried not to waver from since. In the 11 years since that first Power TourTM, the event has absolutely exploded in popularity, and the get-out-there-and-do-it nature of the event has permeated many other areas of the hot-rodding world. That’s cool. But as much as Power TourTM is about getting your hot rod on the road, it’s also about seeing what others are doing and getting into the inner circle…

Last month we presented part one of our buildup of the World’s Baddest Magazine Project Car, the HOT ROD Solstice. Doing the modern equivalent of the V-8 swap, we decided to stick a big engine in the four-cylinder Pontiac Solstice to make it a hot rod in the purest sense. No common V-8 would suffice, of course. GM’s recent horsepower bonanza known as the LS7, the 505hp monster powering the spectacular Z06 Corvette, is now available as a crate engine, so when deciding which engine to stuff in the little Pontiac, we eschewed more commonplace choices and went straight for the jackpot. And to up the ante even more, we added a Hot cam from GM Performance Parts (GMPP) and tri-Y headers to allow the engine to blast out roughly…

IT’S NOT FAKE! Ever since Photoshop began to be used for magazine work, art directors have often used the handy little program to make dramatic photos out of bland ones. A car would be shot with the front frame horns on jackstands, wheels 2 feet off the ground, and cranked at an aggressive angle, and the art director would go into Photoshop and remove the jackstands, making it look like the photographer risked his life to get the wheels-up shot. That’s probably what you’re thinking we did with the lead photo of Ben Moore’s Camaro on page 92, but as these photos show, that was a legit wheelie. Photographer Wes Allison risked about $10,000 worth of camera equipment when he attached his Canon to the quarter-panel of Moore’s Camaro and…