Indholdsfortegnelse for October 1998 i Hot Rod

After all, the reason for HOT ROD is to inform and entertain, to be fun, to poke and be poked, and more than anything else, to bring likeminded people together in a common cause. The idea is do the best you can with what you’ve got and to follow what you feel in your heart Surely, hot rodding is a state of mind, but no two minds are alike, and no two minds will ever agree completely. If you asked me, I’d say hot rodding was about dreaming and then I’d tell you that we don’t dream enough and that maybe we take our hobby much too seriously. Naturally, wherever there is a good dream happening, there will arise the need to capitalize upon it—for its preservation, you see. A…

Everyone does a new car issue talking about what’s new for ’99. HOT ROD tells you what’s coming for 2001 and beyond … GM Goes OHG Across the Board! Emissions Force the Move; Pushrods Evolve as Crate Motors Overhead cams will replace the venerable pushrod configuration at General Motors early in the 21st century. Trucks and performance cars will get a choice of SOHC and DOHC setups. This does not mean, however, that the recently introduced, packed-with-potential LS1 will go the way of the dodo. The new OHC cylinder heads will be based on the LS1 design, so most of the stout internals (along with its technological leaps) will remain. The reason for the switch lies in more stringent emissions regulations, which will be coming on-line from 2001-2005. The General’s…

Various Artists “Hey daddy-O, make that Type O!” So yelped Nervous Norvus in his ’56 rocker ’Transfusion,” a tune whose narrator suffers repeated high-speed car wrecks and repeated trips to the emergency room for plasma refills. Punctuated with tire screeches, explosions, and screams, Norvus’ lackadaisical narration (“Slip the blood to me, bud” and “Pass a gallon to me, Alan”) got “Transfusion” banned from ABC, NBC, CBS, and the entire British protectorate. It sold 500,000 copies within two weeks. Such was the crazed world of Dot Records, which began in 1948 as a tiny record bin in founder Randy Woods’ Tennessee appliance store, and ended up, nine years later, a hip Hollywood label worth a cool $3 million to buyer Paramount Pictures. Dot Rock ‘N’ Roll, a 28-track compilation of the…

Almost a year ago, we brought you a story entitled “Multivalves For The Masses” (Dec. ’97) which described the exciting new four-valve per cylinder small-block Chevy head from Dominion Performance. The piece investigated the hows and whys of these aluminum castings, but we were not able to bring you any first-hand data on how well they work on a running engine. Independent flow bench testing conducted by Nelson Racing Engines showed the Dominion heads to have a distinct advantage over popular aftermarket aluminum racing heads at low- to midrange lift (.600-inch and below),…but people don’t race flow benches, and zingy flow numbers don’t win races. To address the unanswered question of power, we visited John Baechtel’s Westech Performance Group for some dyno time. Rather than plop a Dominion-equipped 406 on…

There’s nothing new about injecting nitrous oxide into a combustion engine to increase its output. Sure, the technology has been refined over the years, but the concept has been viable for more than two decades. What is new is GM’s LS1 engine, currently used in Corvettes, Camaros, Firebirds, and the all-new C/K fullsize trucks. It was only a matter of time before someone “sprayed” one with a healthy dose of laughing gas. Pat Musi is widely known for his Pro Street exploits in the NMCA/Comp Cams World’s Fastest Street Car series, as well as his race-engine business and his experience with race-tuning nitrous-oxide systems. But one thing not typically associated with the Musi moniker is late-model, fuel-injected, computer-controlled performance. Musi has entered the tuner wars with a ’98 LS1 Pontiac…

It’s been 25 years since Sonny Francisco—one of Petersen’s first full-time employees and the wife of Don Francisco, HOT ROD’s first technical editor—removed the protective cardboard shields from the sides of her ‘57 Thunderbird, drove away from our parking lot, and locked it up in a Pasadena, California, garage. Still, her T-bird has become a part of hot rod history. It was, according to Bob and Don Spar, the “transplant” recipient that made B&M famous. In 1959, Don Francisco acquired the ’57 from a friend’s girlfriend for $2,500. By 1962, the Y-block under its baby-blue hood had passed the 67,000-mile mark and needed help. Francisco needed a motor for a HOT ROD blueprint how-to, and Mickey Thompson donated a 389 Pontiac to the cause, while the boys at B&M donated…

Get Yer Goat I was impressed and delighted by your fine article on Outlaw Streeters in the July ’98 issue. I was awestruck by Lynwood Wood’s super-bad-ass GTO! However, it seems such a shame he chose to gut out a rare American musclecar for race use. There are so many other bodies out there that could have been used for the same purpose. Dave GordonLake Havasu City, AZ We reckon building a racer out of it is better than letting it sit in the boneyard where it was found. O Boy So who was the bigger wuss, Ro, you or O? O was arrogant and ignorant, perhaps even stupid. You knew better but abandoned a friend on the field of battle. That’s as bad as it gets. Both you and…

Besides the Dodge and Chrysler versions of the new ponycar due in 2001, there is now talk that Plymouth may join the ranks. A version with modified styling, including a blacked-out taillight panel and ’Cuda badging, has been spotted; disguised prototype vehicles are living under Avenger and/or Sebring sheetmetal. Despite (our) previous talk to the contrary, Mopar may revive the ’Cuda and Challenger names to bank on nostalgia. Bringing back old names seems to be working for Chrysler (witness the new 300 and the ’50s-era TV ads), Ford (with its new two-seat T-bird coming soon) and GM (Impala SS, Monte Carlo, Malibu, and so on) With talk of the Viper going away in a few years, and a super-slow Prowler ramp-up, the ponycar may take the Viper’s place on the…

There was one little tidbit we left out in our “Francisco’s Flyer” copy this month. Sonny’s T-bird wasn’t alone. Next to her ’57 was Don’s ’55. Both ’Birds had been in suspended animation since the early ’70s, sealed behind a drywall partition at the rear of his mother’s Pasadena garage. About a year ago, Dennis LeBonge, Don and Sonny’s nephew, managed to secure and restore his aunt’s ’57. Don’s ’55, originally built by Emil Costantino (HRM, May ’57) in ’56, remained in limbo until last June when Bob Morse, a collector from Santa Barbara, California, finally heard the words he had been eagerly awaiting since famed rodder/fabricator Doane Spencer told him that ’Cisco owned a hot ’55 too. After 10 years of “It’s not time yet,” he heard, “Come get…

In a single-cylinder engine, the ability to homogenize and maintain the fuel-air blend prior to and during the burn is a classic combustion-engine problem. Add additional cylinders, and introduce communication between them (via the intake manifold), and the complexity increases. Of late, the geography of fuel introduction has turned toward direct entry to the cylinders, as per multiport fuel injection (MPFI). While this method has certainly improved combustion efficiency, we’re not there yet. One of the paradoxes in the high-performance and race-engine building community is the means by which mechanical compression ratio (CR) is “built.” Since combustion chambers are of a fixed volume, the traditional approach to higher cylinder pressure is the use of pistons with domes. The dome bumps up the CR, but it obstructs the path of chamber-surfing…

Alan Budnik purchased this ’94 C1500 as a company car to feature some of his newer, wheel designs, but he quickly realized that the slabside could be transformed into something much better. Hence, the Chevy is a subtle study in smooth lines and sexy curves. Headlights, windshield wipers, door handles, and other exterior corners were rounded to give the truck the look and feel of a concept vehicle. Budnik redid the front end to create the appearance of a one-piece fascia without any modifications to the bumper or the hood. The center of the aluminum grille insert protrudes slightly to form a peak, while the upper grill features custom headlights with retractable covers. Functional ram-air intakes feed the engine, and the airscoops are located in the custom-built metal cowl that…

Change is in the air. Can you feel it? Technology spiraling out-of-control, constant refining threatening to take the spice out of everything from food to cars to music in order to find a wide mass appeal, an ever-quickening blur of media, commerce, and electronics infiltrating, infesting our lives. We can barely stand still and enjoy where we are without being whisked away to see the “Next Big Thing.” Moving forward means you’re just maintaining the status quo; anyone who stops to smell the roses is accused of being retro, of denying today’s exhilarating reality in favor of a past that never was. Is it the new millennium that has everyone in a frenzy? Is it a self-perpetuating media compelling us to do, do, and buy, buy, unthinkingly, unblinkingly, all in…

OBD II requires that a vehicle’s computer system indicate when components have failed, resulting in the emission of pollutants at 1.5 times the accepted level. Another requirement of OBD II is that the vehicle be able to indicate if emissions-related components are beginning to fail. If a problem is detected, the computer will illuminate the “check engine” light to alert the driver. The computer also stores information about the glitch, which includes a code and some operating conditions at the time the code is set. This information is available for a service technician to view at a later time to help diagnose the cause of the malfunction. The proposed specification for OBD III lakes this notification process a step further. The goal of On Board Diagnostics in the past was…

Zen philosophy states that there is an interconnection of all things physical and spiritual, that there is a unity at a profound level, and that our actions have infinite repercussions. In the mid-1960s, this discipline was integral to the machinations of an offbeat trio of nitro bums from the west side of Los Angeles: Bob Skinner, Tom Jobe, and Mike Sorokin, aka “The Surfers.” It defined their approach to the application of nitromethane vis-à-vis compression ratios and blower speeds. Further, it defined who they were as individuals. This is the story of how these three stood the world of drag racing on its ear via their theoretical approach to life as applied to a Top Fuel dragster. It is the parable of two abstract yet linear thinkers, Skinner and Jobe,…

In previous installments of the Magnum Manifesto series (Aug./Sept. ’98), we introduced Chrysler Jeep-Truck Engineering’s Magnum V-8s. We reviewed the major features of the 360-cubic inch (5.9L) small-block and compared it with earlier powerplants in Chrysler’s A-engine family line. We also discussed the interchangeability between Magnums and pre-Magnums, and we took a peek at Magnum power in Mopar Performance’s crate-motor versions of the 5.9. This month we bolted a 380 hp crate motor into a ’65 Plymouth Valiant and ran it at the drags. Mounting Points Tabs on the flanks of the block accept steel motor-mount brackets which, in turn, hold the rubber insulators that fasten the engine to the K-frame. All (1964-99) A-engine blocks share common right-side mounting tabs, but the tabs on the left side of 340/360 blocks…

Hot rodding, which began as a strictly backyard, do-it-yourself activity, is no longer. Sure, shadetree mechanics still thrive, and most rods are still conceived and built by their owners, but the level of skill needed to build a safe and sane daily driver has led to an interesting situation: the advent of the one-stop-shop warehousing operation. These joints can literally supply a rodder with every part needed to complete a thorough rebuild and a specialty shop which can, with few exceptions, bolt these pieces together. Now, let’s add another element to this equation—the guy who has always wanted a Streeter but never acquired the skills or the tools to successfully modernize an aging passenger car or light truck. Imagine yourself after living in an apartment and then acquiring a “fixer-upper”…

Delaying Detonation Q It seems there is a conflict between gasoline quality and high compression, which is where we performance people like to make horsepower. It would help if I understood what detonation is and things that affect it. Greg PetersChatsworth, CA A As the air fuel charge is ignited, the burning charge and unburned charge in the combustion space experience a rise in temperature and pressure. Toward the end of the burn, the remaining charge may reach its self-ignition temperature. This usually occurs in a location remote from the spark plug. Because the conditions of this remaining charge allow spontaneous combustion, there is no flame front associated with the sudden application of high pressure to all surfaces and components included in the combustion process. This phenomenon is generally defined…

It’s way past midnight. You tool up and down the boulevard looking for a little action with your late-model musclecar when all of a sudden you notice a sloppy feeling in the seat of your pants. It’s not the fish taco you just ate but a rear tire gone flat instead. You pop the hatch, remove the cover panel, and retrieve the spare from stowage. But you’re hardcore, and even with the skinny space saver spare out back, you cruise another hour before heading home. The next day you fix the flat and put it on your car. But when you nail the gas, only the right rear tire spins. Whoops! What happened? Unfortunately, you wore out your posi unit by cruising with the ultrashort, temporary spare tire on one…