Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2000 i Hot Rod

It is with great sadness that we report the loss of a friend and colleague. Don Schroeder, 35, technical editor for Car and Driver magazine, died February 11 when an automobile he was testing crashed and caught fire during a highspeed pass at the Bridgestone/Firestone Test Center, a 7.7-mile oval track near Fort Stockton, Texas. Driving a highly modified and privately owned Mercedes-Benz CLK, Schroeder was traveling at about 165 mph at the time of the accident, according to Deputy Chief Cliff Harris or the Pecos County Sheriff’s Department. Harris said Schroeder was pronounced dead at the scene. A native of Syracuse, New York, Schroeder is survived by his parents and by his life partner, Michael Vaughn.…

Everyone uses WD-40 for things other than its intended uses. What do you use it for? Bumper cleaner? Floor wax? Dessert topping? It started out as a corrosion preventative for the aerospace industry when it was introduced by the Rocket Chemical Company in 1953, but today it’s used by millions to loosen rusty parts, stop squeaks, and more. Come up with a clever use, and you could win $10,000 in WD-40 company stock, a WD-40 T-shirt or hat, or even a WD-40 can radio! You can enter online at www.wd40.com, or you can print your response for WD-40 plus your name, mailing address, age, phone number, and e-mail address on an 8½x11 sheet of paper and send it to WD-40 “2000 Uses” Sweepstakes, Dept. HR05, P.O. Box 6041, Sherman Oaks,…

www.hotrodarchives.com Maybe your dads car appeared in HOT ROD in the ’50s, and you can’t find the issue. Maybe you lost a favorite tech story that will help fix your automotive woes. Now you don’t have to call us anymore, just check out www.hotrodarchives.com to find a trove of articles from years and eras past. Want to read about the complete history of Project Cheap Thrills? Check out the Project Car section. How many stories has Gray Baskerville written over the years? Find out for sure! Use the site as an index to find those stories you thought you lost. Or download a story to your own printer for just $1.99! Or buy five stories for just $7.96! Such a deal! More than 12,300 articles are available at your fingertips…

The penultimate Power Tour stop this year will be at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame Museum in Talladega, Alabama—a site that is loaded with racing history of all kinds. (We will not be spending the night in Montgomery, despite what was in the March issue. Sorry for the confusion.) See you in Talladega on the 8th of June! Attention All Chrysler PT Cruiser Owners! Chrysler’s new PT Cruiser is going to be quite the sensation. Does that PT really stand for Power Tour? We invite all PT Cruiser owners to come join us as we traverse the nation. If you own a PT, you are eligible for free registration on Power Tour, compliments of the PT cruiser folks! In addition, there will be a PT Cruiser-only parking areas. Check…

You’re sitting at a stoplight in your Friday night fun car, and up pulls another street freak, out for his share of nocturnal fun. You do your best to weigh the odds before the light blinks green and instantly transforms you into champ… or chump. These days the stakes are higher than ever. Cars that look and sound like turds can blow you away before you even have time to grunt. Ah, this is the Age of Power Adders, those magical enablers that cram more oxygen into the cylinders so more fuel can be burned. Each of our gathering employs one of the four popular methods to hyper-pack cylinders in ways Detroit never envisioned. For a pinch of bench-racing fodder, we strapped each one to the Dynojet 248-C “horsepower polygraph”…

If you read the first installment of this series in the February issue, you got a pretty good flavor of what it takes to get a mail-order project car up and running. But at the time I finished the story, my ’83 Trans Am had just got its oats, and I didn’t realize that this was just the first part of a long, though mirth-filled, and challenging journey. What follows is pretty much what anyone can expect when they do the shakedown stuff. So if you missed Part 1, don’t feel like you’ve come in at the middle of a movie. After the wheels turned under the engine’s power (all 385 ci worth!), it seemed prudent to get the car licensed and legal. This meant a trip to the smog…

You’ve had a great year. The small business you started not so long ago has blossomed into a very profitable operation, and the loan officer was blown away when you paid off your seed money debt three years early. You owe yourself a new toy, and the stylish 2000 Dakota Quad Cab looks to be just the ticket. With a compact but fully work-ready bed, it’ll be set for whatever task awaits on Monday morning. And those four big doors open up wide to a spacious interior that would do a fullsize passenger car justice. Excited at the prospect, you head to the Dodge store for a look-see. As you enter, the salesmen clamor for your attention. They know about your rags to riches story and recognize you as a…

Added Boost NOS The Pro Race Fogger system features valves, solenoids, and nozzles to provide optimum power and precise cylinder-to-cylinder consistency. There’s much more, of course, like 150 to 500 additional horsepower. Information: NOS, Dept. HR05, 2970 Airway Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; 714/546-0592. How Cool Are You? Vintage Air Vintage Air introduces the Space Saver Evo Evaporator, which features a larger coil capacity and a redesigned case that improves airflow and accessibility. Its compact layout (7.5-inch deep, 8.5-inch tall, 24-inch wide) allows for installation under the dashboard. The SSE comes complete with mounting brackets, drain kit, and more. Information: Vintage Air, Dept. HR05, 10305 I.H. 35 N., San Antonio, TX 78233; 800/TO-COOL-U; www.vintageair.com. Speed Racer Holley The Annihilator Race Cell Battery (PN 880-100) is designed for severe conditions. Therefore,…

Stroked and Stoked I loved “Stroke in the Desert” by Steve Green! It is so cool to see some “real life” rodding and to hear about the trials and tribulations of fellow rodders! The budget was real, the project was real, and the problems were real. Not everyone has the time, money, or inclination to find vintage tin and gold-plate every last inch of it. Please do not make these articles sporadic… keep ’em coming! Ray Green(no relation to Steve)Winnipeg, Manitoba,Canada I own an ’82 Firebird, for which I paid $250, plus a $50 350 Chevy. I think a person can build a car just like ours for less money. Who cares about A/C? That’s what windows are for. As for the stroker, Powerhouse has the answer for $708 plus…

The Hellacopters Payin’ the Dues Articles on the Hellacopters invariably compare them to Detroit’s Big Three of hard rock: the Stooges, the MC5, and Ted Nugent. They recreate ’70s metal more accurately than any contemporary band-none of the mopiness or irony that grunge brought into the mix. The music seems particularly of very early ’70s vintage, just after bands like Steppenwolf began cranking the Who’s music up a notch, but before the whole thing devolved to Spinal Tappish silliness. Is it too early to submit nominations for best guitar solos of the new millennium? The Hellacopters have the sort of air-guitar-worthy riffs that make you wish you hadn’t wasted all your best cliches like “ear-bleeding” on less deserving bands. But, as the infomercials say, that’s not all. This release of…

And they say no one ever wins these things! Out of the tens of thousands of entries from people who saw us on the Power Tours and folks who dropped by one of our Power Fest events, we have chosen a winner for our Grand Prize and our First Prize. Grand Prize, you’ll recall, was the Gumout-sponsored “Project 66” Chevy El Camino featured in the March issue. It is now owned by a very proud Jason Wagner (near left) of Atlanta, Texas. And Billy’s Bullet, the 610hp Ford small-block built at Billy Glidden’s place in Indiana, is now nestled in the framerails of a dragster owned by Tommy Burns (far left) of Hope, H Arkansas. Congratulations to both, and thanks to everyone who entered.…

Having trouble getting the most out of your modular 4.6L Mustang GT? Hang on, Sloopy: The dry performance spell of hopping up your modular Mustang GT may be nearly over. Ford and the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) are getting together “to facilitate vehicle information and technology transfer to the benefit of SEMA-member companies.” In English, that means that Ford is giving detailed information on the 4.6 modular motor (like the all of the OBD-II codes) and all other critical dimensions to all the aftermarket performance companies who matter, in an effort to wring more performance out of the notoriously sluggish 4.6. Everything from dimensions and tolerances to powertrain and electrical drawings will be available (for a small fee) to any SEMA-member company who wants it—even OEMs. The Mustang GT…

The first 3,000 people to register for Power Tour and show up to claim their registration packet will get a limited-edition Hot Wheels car! Remember, you can register ahead of time at 323/782-2830, but if you don’t show up at the event, you can’t claim your Hot Wheels car! The car will be the one pictured here, the gold ’67 Pontiac GTO that says “HOT ROD Test Car” on the doors. It features a black vinyl roof, five-spoke wheels and redline tires, and amazing detailing throughout. They’ve traded for as high as $200 on eBay.com, the computerized auction site. Only 4,000 were made, and this will be your best bet to get your hands on this sure-fire collector’s item! It’s just $50 to join the ultimate 10-day family adventure. To…

A conventional internal combustion engine represents a slew of compromises. Though each component is intended to integrate with companion parts, it often winds up being counterproductive to optimum power. In the OHV V8, rocker arms represent one such compromise simply because they have fixed ratios (typically 1.5:1 to 1.75:1). Over the past decade, there have been various approaches to varying valve motion, the current Honda VTEC system among them—a dual-intake lobe arrangement that incorporates separate inlet passages tuned to the different rpm of the intake cam. Early on, long-duration camshafts had their timing patterns reduced or shortened through the use of bleed-down lifters. These lifters increase internal oil retention and allow for improved torque as engine speed increases, thus longer duration valve timing becomes effective. If nothing else, this method…

We’d conjured up a 351 Windsor Ford engine to serve as a follow-up to the Chevy effort that originated the Junkyard Jewel series (January and August ’99). Using the same formula, we assembled another freshened-up used engine outfitted with some upgraded items and a dash of modern technology. The Ford had mustered a best of 332 hp and 364 lb-ft of torque, and for the money we spent, it felt like a positive experience. We could have moved on, leaving well enough alone, but a nagging in the back of our collective minds persisted: The Chevy Jewel had squeezed out nearly 400 hp and 400 lb-ft, so perhaps this chapter wasn’t over after all. A quick review of the previous Windsor sessions brought the short-block under closer scrutiny. The cylinder…

Want to win a free ride to Universal Technical Institute? HOT ROD and UTI are co-sponsoring an essay contest, and top prize is a scholarship to UTI’s ASE Master Certified automotive technology program as well as UTI’s Hot Rod U Power and Performance Series—training valued at more than $15,000. Candidates must submit a 150-word essay titled “Why I Want to be an Automotive Technician.” Deadline for submissions is July 31, 2000. All entries must be typed and double-spaced, and must include name, permanent address, and a phone number. Also, you must be prepared to enroll no later than December 2001. All entries must be e-mailed to tmillersteinke@uticorp.com, or be mailed to Tina Miller-Steinke, Public Relations Manager, Universal Technical Institute Inc., 10851 N. Black Canyon Hwy., Ste. 600, Phoenix, AZ 85029.…

Be sure not to miss HOT ROD Magazine TV this month… or any other month, for that matter! This time we’re off to West Palm Beach, Florida, for complete coverage of the first NMCA World’s Fastest Street Car Drag Racing Series event! we’ll bring you the latest from all your favorite classes, talk to the racers, steal food and drinks from the Pro Street guys with all the money, and even check out the rods in the Power Festival car show. Later in the show, we’ll take a look at some cars and celebs in upcoming films and TV movies. We’re more interested in the cars than the celebs, but they kinda go together. Be sure to tune in and see what behind-the-scenes trouble we get into. We can’t really…

Driving Me Wild By Leah Kerr Juno Books Driving Me Wild is a romp through hot-rod culture from the perspective of a diehard drag racing fan and card-carrying member of the if-it-has-wheels-l-like-it club. Packed with essays on some of the most important-and often least appreciated—people and aspects of drag racing and hot rodding, DMW also houses in its 175 pages one of the best photo collections ever gathered in one place. Author Leah Kerr may be familiar to readers of the late, great Drag Racing Monthly. She wrote several notable stories including an amazing in-depth history of the Bean Bandits racing team that is reprinted here. In addition to profiling racers and race teams, Kerr devotes chapters to the artists who express their love of roddin’ ‘n’ racin’ through paintings,…

Bakersfield “For the rest of the year, we kept experimenting with the overdrive—but that ended when we blew the blower off the car and ruined the body. Red (Rose) fixed it just in time for the first fuel and gas championship at Bakersfield in 1959. We had run 181 on the previous Sunday, but there were 64 fuelers at Famoso, and the competition was stout.” But not stout enough—your old dad was there, too, and I watched Chrisman win the first Bakersfield March Meet. Even with a broken crank, he beat a crossed-up Tony Waters driving his modified roadster. Chrisman had the flag start down pat. “1 was ready mentally to race when I pulled up to the line. But I preferred that he would point the flag at me…

Forget everything you think you know about bolt-on overdrive units. The Gear Vendors under/overdrive system basically rewrites that book. The concept of overdrive has always been closely linked with penny pinching and maximized fuel economy through a reduction in the overall final drive ratio, but until recently, few viewed it as the perfect performance enhancement. The Gear Vendors (GV) under/overdrive unit is unique in that it bolts to an existing manual or automatic transmission with a sturdy aluminum adapter that replaces the stock extension housing. Thanks to the unique gear-splitting capability of its reaction planetary system, it doubles the number of pre-existing forward gear ranges with the flick of a switch, while greatly improving vehicle response at any throttle position from idle to WFO. When better fuel economy is desired,…