Indholdsfortegnelse for February 1997 i Hot Rod

Carski Russia. The word brings to mind huddled masses standing in bread lines during blizzards, military types with AK-47 machine guns just as willing to kill you as to acknowledge you, and nothing but two-wheeled transportation along with the occasional government Zil limousine. But the end of the Cold War has replaced these old stereotypes with new images of public elections, sunshine, and hot rods. Hot rods? In Russia? We recently received a few copies of Autopilot and Motor magazines from Deputy Editor Michael Galkin. A few months back, Galkin interviewed us about the basics of hot rods, and the interview appears in one of these issues (we can’t read Russian, but we think it’s the February issue). Hot rods are pretty much unheard of in Russia, but Galkin tells…

Craig Breedlove’s Spirit of America finally made it to Black Rock in the stark, northern Nevada desert. The Dynamic Duo was on a near-ballistic pass when air got under the car and lifted it onto its side. It slid for days. Breedlove walked away, but the car won’t be able to attack Richard Noble’s land speed record of 633 mph until sometime this spring. The GE J-79 jet-engined vehicle was flashing an estimated 675 mph when it tried to auger in. We’ll keep you posted as the Breedlove/Noble Sport of Speed continues.…

Believe it or not, the German Luftwaffe used nitrous oxide on its fighter planes in World War II. While researching our nitrous section at 4Wheel Racing Engines in North Hills, California, we discovered this 50-pound nitrous cannister. Nitrous bottles have to be validated every five years, and stamped with an inspection date. This bottle was from the Lindy Air Company, and was first stamped in May 1937, complete with swastika. Creepy, right? We had to show you.…

In the winner’s circle flap after a NASCAR race, the driver thanks all his sponsors and gets to wear a boxload of hats, no two from the same company. That’s because sponsors are what make it possible to have a good team, and the Power Tour wouldn’t be nearly as cool for all of you without our sponsors. These folks are the ones who pay for the cruise nights (and your dinner and entertainment) and provide cool trinkets in the goodie bags. They are vital to the success and the continuation of the Tour. At press time, our sponsors include Auto Custom Carpets, Baer Racing, BFGoodrich, Chevrolet, JET Performance Products, Kicker, Mothers, MSD, Octane Boost, SplitFire, Summit, Vintage Air, and Walker/Dyno-Max. There are more to come, so keep checking Power…

Editor’s Note: We’ll make it easy for you to find the tracks we’re racing at in 1997 by providing all the information you need to get there and have fun. This month’s venue is Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach, Florida. In case you didn’t see last month’s Heads Up News, the total amount of money up for grabs in the HOT ROD World’s Quickest Street Car Drag Racing Series for 1997 is $263,200! Of that, $20,400 will be awarded at each event for the top eight Pro, Super, Hot, and Real Street finishers in eliminations, and $100,000 will be distributed from the HOT ROD & Mr. Gasket points fund at the end of the year for the top 10 finishers in each class.…

Nitrous oxide is one of the great “inventions” of the hot rod world. When it first came on the scene, only a few people really knew how to make it work, so dumpsters outside of shops all over the country were full of burned pistons and broken cranks. But 20 years have passed since then and we have a better understanding of how to finesse the stuff, and nitrous companies have complete kits that make it easy to “spray” your ride. These kits come with the proper instructions, but there’s much more to it than that. Without some ancillary systems and further knowledge, there’s still a chance of catastrophic engine damage. You must arrange your thoughts beyond the box of shiny new nitrous system stuff. Whenever you increase power on…

There is the matter of power, and then there is the matter of putting that power to work most efficiently. Without a well-designed chassis and suspension, all the power in the world doesn’t mean diddly and the car will never realize its potential. It 11 do a great burnout, yeah, but it’ll also do a great burnout when you’d rather be three car-lengths ahead of the other guy. Without a properly prepared suspension system, all that expensive grunt is wasted. The good news is that you can coerce those simple leaf springs of yours into doing the same job as a four-link and coilovers to stick the tires to the tarmac. Weight Transfer And Suspension Dynamics You’re certainly familiar with the term “weight transfer.” When the car launches, the front…

Caller: I want to build or buy a street rod, so where do I start? What should I do? Who should I talk to? Ol’ Dad: What kind of a street rod do you want to build or buy? High- or low-tech? Open or closed? What year? Do you have a manufacturer in mind? So what’s your plan—do you want to drive it or leave it on a trailer? When I get such a call, I usually end the conversation with three suggestions: Start looking at rod mags. Go to car shows. Be sure to take a camera. Let’s use Pigeon Forge, located near Knoxville, Tennessee, to illustrate my intent. The Shades Of The Past car club’s 10th annual “September Surprise” attracted more than 3,000 examples of rodder’s art. Hopefully,…

Super Fly As our requisite beater/wild creation of the month, we present Goshen, Indiana’s Jon Robinson and his, uh, “car.” Robinson created his machine by shortening and narrowing an old Honda body, then draping it over a fabricated chassis with a straight axle front end and a pumped-up Pinto drivetrain. He painted it all flat black before hitting the road and has never looked back. Robinson says that he used to race Super Modifieds and that this car feels like one. Considering its looks, you can almost hear him telling a cop, “As a matter of fact, I am Batman! Special Delivery Larry flaylor of West Jordan, Utah, started with a ’57 Chevy sedan delivery junkyard refugee. He replaced a bunch of sheetmetal, then swapped in a 350 and four-speed…

For the third summer in a row, participants and spectators were blessed with perfect weather for the 3rd Annual GM Restoration Parts Newport Cruizin’ Nationals, held at Glen Farm Estates in Portsmouth, Rhode Island (August 10-11). The event drew an estimated 700 cars from the East Coast, all of them pre-’72 restos, rods, customs, street machines, and musclecars. Fred Warren’s Smoothster even made the haps, perching under a sun-avoiding tent for all to see. The show was hosted by two area clubs, Bristol County Street Rods and Bay State Street Machines, while Dick Royer, a local promoter and hot rod builder, was the producer. The gala also boasted a model car expo, a swap meet, poker runs, and cruises into Newport, making it much more than a park-and-watch deal.…

To provide you with the most entertainment for your money, HOT ROD magazine introduces HOT ROD TV, an exciting and colorful expansion of our monthly print coverage. Beginning Saturday, January 4, the half-hour show will air every Saturday and Sunday thereafter on The Nashville Network (TNN). Subject matter highlights everything from technical stories to special events and full coverage of HOT ROD’S Power Tour, and includes driving impressions, basic how-tos and new product introductions. The producers have outdone themselves on this one, dear readers, so don’t miss it. HOT ROD TV Air Times On TNN: SATURDAYS 1:30 p.m. EST SUNDAYS 4:00 p.m. EST…

The HOT ROD Power Tour is only three months away! The kickoff party at the Petersen Automotive Museum is on the evening of May 8, and we’ll be rollin’ down the pike the morning of May 9. In case you’re new to HOT ROD, the Power Tour is our annual pilgrimage into the American heartland. It runs from Los Angeles to Mt. Clemens, Michigan, and is open to everyone, free of charge. Join at any point. Drive as long as you want. Bring anything you want (but no Toyota Camrys—unless it’s got Chrysler Hemi in it). We want you out there with us. The following is to whet your road trip appetite. Check the 1997 Power Tour route and where the layovers are. As of this writing, not all cruise…

Got a hot rod to take on the Tour? Let’s see it, then! Shoot some photos (no Polaroids) and enclose a letter describing the vehicle’ and anything special done to it for the Tour, and we may just publish it here. Please refrain from photos in which the car is engaged in acts of obvious illegality, animal cruelty, satanic rituals, pornography (actually, we’d like to see the porn shots, but we can’t publish them), and that sort of gristle. Only one requirement: If you say you’re going and we show your car in the magazine, you have to go. Remember, we know where you live……

Event: HOT ROD Power Festival ’97 Date of event: March 1-2,1997 What it is: A spring break spectacular of hot rods, show cars, and eighth-mile drag racing Track: Moroso Motorsports Park Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (20 minutes northwest of West Palm Beach) Directions: Travelling north or south on Interstate 95 or the Turnpike, exit west on PGA Boulevard. Take PGA until it deadends at State Road 710, then make a right and proceed 8.2 miles to Moroso Motorsports Park Typical March weather: Sunny with temperatures in the 70s Altitude: Sea level Other info you should know: This is the peak of the tourist season for the area, so make reservations now! Local entertainment: West Palm Beach 20 minutes away, or approximately 150 miles northwest to Orlando (Disney World, Race…

Nitrous oxide is the Great Alternative. An inexpensive bolt-on nitrous plate can pump 125 to 300 horsepower into virtually any engine. When used properly, nitrous is the quickest ticket to horsepower heaven, but play stupid with this stuff and good parts can become ashes in seconds. To learn the secrets of safe nitrous use means knowing the right moves and where the land mines are buried. We’ve outlined much of the “what to do” material in our “Bottle Basics” story that prefaces this report. Once you know the rudiments, you can profit from the mistakes of others. The “rules” that follow are based on the experiences of racers an engine builders who have broken pile of parts learning how to play the game Remember, the life you save may be…

The front half of the car can do wonders for the back half’s ability to hook up and get moving. A savvy hot rodder throws no parts at the engine without first considering the transmission and rearend. In a like manner of thinking, a quick launcher doesn’t accommodate the rear suspension setup to the exclusion of the front. When a car comes off the line, the front end often lifts enough to pull the tires off the ground. That’s good to a point because it puts the weight of the car on the rear tires. But once the front suspension runs out of travel or pulls the tires off the ground, lifting it any higher is only so much wasted motion. Because the rear wheels are already weighted at this…

The moon over Memphis was invisible, hidden not by the clouds of autumn, but blindfolded by a dense and different form of whiteness that rolled off the smoldering tires of the nastiest street cars on the planet. The National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) held the final round of its drag racing series at Memphis Motorsports Park the weekend of October 4-6, and everyone had their combinations set on “kill.” Some did the biting, some got whacked, and a few received a healthy dose of both. Memphis represents much more than the final race of the series. In 1991, HOT ROD magazine and the NMCA joined forces and issued the challenge to anyone who thought they had the fastest car in the land: Come to Memphis on a certain September weekend…

Tach It Up ACCEL Rev Limiter If you want a rev limiter that can store multiple limits, trigger an external device (such as a shift light, nitrous, etc.), and is easy to set, then you need ACCEL’s new three-stage rev limiter. Rev limits can be set in 100-rpm increments on four-, six-, or eight cylinder engines, and can be triggered by external switches (line lock, trans brake, clutch-pedal, or manual switches). Information: ACCEL/Mr. Gasket Performance Group, Dept. HR02, 8700 Brookpark Rd., Cleveland, OH 44129, 216/398-8300. Braided Help Dover Aviation Jig Assembly of double-nipple AN fittings into braided stainless hose has always been difficult. But now this handy jig from Dover Aviation can simplify that process with no back-out. Information: Dover Aviation, Dept. HR02, 1854 Tiffany Dr., Idaho Falls, ID 83404,…

The Nascar Look Q I was deeply and profoundly affected by the August ‘96 HOT ROD article “Bullet In Black” about the 190-mph Charger. I would like to replicate Engle/Nowaczek’s wheel and tire combination on my ‘69 440 Charger. Could you tell me the wheel backspacing, tire width and height, and any required modifications to make them fit? You stated that next time they will run NASCAR-type 9.5-inch wheels with a safety inner liner. Will these wheels fit the front of a ‘68-’70 B-body Mopar? MLPYakima, WA A You weren’t the only one “deeply and profoundly affected” by that car. The Bassett wheels (Bassett, Dept. RC02, P.O. Box 55, Bassett, WI 53101, 414/877-3312) used on Engle and Nowaczek’s killer Mopar measure 15x8 in front (4.5-inch backspacing) and 15x10 in the…

Mucho thanks for the “best of” recognition in the December ’96 issue on my Cool 200 Studebaker. However, if you ask me, we rodders should give an award for “Best Effort” to you, the HOT ROD staffers, for bustin’ ass to put on great events like the Power Tour. You guys were working on a couple hours’ sleep every night just to make that event go as well as it did, and I want everyone to know it. We had a great time on HOT ROD Magazine’s Power Tour ’96 and the recognition is just icing on the cake. Thanks. Jack Chisenhall San Antonio, TX…

In 1995, Firestone returned to IndyCar racing after logging more than 12,000 test miles on 13 different race tracks. More than just a marketing ploy, the effort was aimed at creating a stronger line of performance radials. The first performance tire to evolve out of this racing venture is Firestone’s new Firehawk SZ50 radial. Firestone invited us to the tire’s debut at the famed Road America track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, to evaluate the tire in both wet- and dry-traction applications. In a wet-traction test that used new Mustangs as the test bed, the new Firehawk exhibited surprising traction and stability. A noise test also demonstrated the SZ50’s quietness, but the most surprising event was a brutal torture test featuring both journalists and professional road course drivers abusing the new…

Posie’s Pick is meant to recognize the efforts of hot rodders under the age of 25. This month’s Pick is no exception: Keith Anthony of New Philadelphia, Ohio, is 14. Though too young for a driver’s license, he motors around and terrorizes the south 40 with his hot rod garden tractor. Keith built the ‘61 Cub Cadet at the age of 12, and was responsible for all of the disassembly and sandblasting, some of the painting, most of the welding, and all of the reassembly. An 18hp Briggs & Stratton with ported, polished, filled, and milled heads, an Onan crank-trigger ignition, and a Crane cam churns the Dick Cepec 26x12x12 Giant Pullers through a modified trans and spool-equipped rearend.…

OK, here’s the latest gossip floating around the HOT ROD offices about who’s going on Power Tour, and who we hope will go. We’re still six months away from Tour time as we write this, so these are just rumors. But maybe if we grind hard enough we’ll get some of these folks to commit to carrying our camera-laden butts across this fine country of ours. Nick Scavo is almost ready to bring his awesome, 8-second ’65 Impala on the Tour. The HOT ROD Top 10 winner will probably get a slightly detuned engine, but Nick says it will still run deep into the 10a, and maybe even high 9s. Dave Engle and Steve Nowaczek are thinking about bringing the other black Top 10 car, their 191-mph ’68 Charger. The…

Ever since I was old enough to want a car, I’ve wanted to cruise a hot rod across the country. The first time I read about the Power Tour, I knew I’d found what I was looking for. Now, all I have to do is come up with a car suitable for such a trip. Beaters are cool, but I’ve challenged myself to build a good-looking ’64 Buick LeSabre four-door. My $400 beater should be in primer and Center Lines not too long after 1 return from Saudi Arabia. I do have a few questions: I’ll be driving out to L.A. and going the entire distance—how much will that cost for hotels and gas? And how far in advance should reservations be made? I know it won’t be cheap, but…