Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2001 i Hot Rod

A DAY WITH SPEEDY BILL One of the best perks of this job is meeting the heroes of the industry, and I’m no less thrilled than you would be when I get a chance to know one of the guys who started it all. I’ve had the honor to meet the likes of Wally Parks, Alex Xydias, Eric Rickman, and Smokey Yunick—all from a generation of men who, in many cases, went to war and came home as entrepreneurs who turned their hobby into our great industry. My respect for those guys is not blind, starstruck awe, but appreciation for the work they’ve accomplished and the guts they’ve invested in it. Such was the case a few weeks ago when 1 had the opportunity to meet Speedy Bill Smith and…

We Drive Ford’s Baby, Crammed Full of V-6 Power Quite unexpectedly, Ford’s master of all the neat cars (SVE’s John Coletti) sent us an unusual Focus designed to mess with… everybody. Chili Pepper, a Tabasco-hued squirt, is a German-spec model fitted with 18-inch Goodyear Fiorano rubber on 7-inch TSW rims and an upgraded suspension package, but the real kicker is the extraordinary 200hp SVT Contour V-6 whirring beneath that clamshell of a hood, attached to an ordinary MTX-75 manual (3.60:1 Low gear). Bring the revs up, dump the clutch, and use up the space in front of you faster than you can imagine. Where you should be going 70, you’ll be whizzing along at 90 before you know it. Not that your transgression will go unnoticed. The idea of a…

In this first installment of HOT ROD Compare, we’ll take a look at what’s new in the world of valve cover gaskets. We’ve come a long way since the old days of leak-prone low-density cork gaskets, and much of this can be attributed to new sealant technologies developed for use on new cars. Integrated silicone, metal-core construction, and high-density composites are a few of the major advances that have recently begun to trickle down from Detroit assembly lines to the world of hot rodding. FEL PRO BLUE STRIPE CONSTRUCTION: Cork/rubber composite laminated to 1/32-inch expanded steel core THICKNESS: 5/16 inch COMPRESSED THICKNESS: ¼ inch SEALABILITY: Exceptional ability to contorm to minor surface irregularities REUSABILITY: Fel-Pro recommends cementing the gasket to the valve cover. If installed to the head dry, gasket…

The book and the cover. The sheep and the wolf. The restored Mustang. All are tales of deception and trickery, ripe for easy dismissal at first glance. Looks like a nice little Mustang fastback, yes? Red with white faux Shelby stripes, 14-inch Magnums… looks like something that ought to run in Mustang Monthly. Look closer. See? There, in the grille? There is the story between the covers. There is the glint of the wolf wearing white wool. There is the Mustang that runs 120-mph trap speeds on 215-section white-letter BFGs. The simple answer is that it’s a twin-turbo, five-speed machine, but there’s far more to it than that. Often, cars are not built with a specific performance goal in mind: It’s a question of what you can afford, and what…

Wet Paint Mothers Inc. You have the best paint job ever, but you still look at your car and think, wow, it sure looks dull, It’s all in the wax, and that’s what Mothers Ultimate Wax System is for. First, remove the oxidation and general dullness with the Pre-Wax Cleaner. Next, use the Sealer and Glaze to fill in scratches and take out minor imperfections to expose the true depth of your paint. To finish, lay on some Natural Formula Pure Carnauba Wax for a deep, wet-look finish that’s sure to bounce more sunlight than a solar panel, or something like that. Information: Mothers, Dept. HR1I, 5456 Industrial Dr., Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1519; 714/891-3364; FAX 714/893-1827; www.mothers.com. Gentle Steel SK Hand Tool Corporation Avoid rounding off damaged fastener heads with…

V-8 Spirit Swap I have an ‘80 AMC Spirit with the 258 straight-six and automatic transmission. I want to drop in a V-8 but am not sure if a GM, Ford, or Chrysler would be the right choice. Will my front suspension need any modifications? I want to keep my column-mounted shifter, and I’ve been told a small-block Chrysler will bolt up to my transmission. Is this correct? Walter BrownWestfield, NY The AMC Spirit (and eartier Gremlin models) are great small-block V-8 swap candidates thanks to generous engine-bay dimensions, moderate vehicle mass, and easy-to-hook leaf spring rear suspensions. But before you go through all the trouble, why not build the 258? Clifford Performance (909/734-3310) has a variety of hop-up goodies ranging from simple cam and intake upgrades to a wild…

I clearly remember Wally Parks—the founder of the National Hot Rod Association, HOT ROD magazine’s first editor, and former secretary of the Southern California Timing Association—warning the SCTA’s brass about the pitfalls of awarding prize money. “Once you begin doing that, “ he intoned, “you’ll destroy Speed Week. “ Hot Rodding’s Moses had spoken. We listened and followed his sage advice, and in doing so, preserved land speed racing: what I like to call “The Last Great Amateur Race.” I’m not going to tell the readers how Bonneville Speed Week is conducted, except that it’s like making love: There’s a, beginning, a during, and an end. The end is simply a timeslip and that’s all. There’s no TV crew interviewing you. There’s no sponsor rewarding you. No queen to kiss,…

When I was approached on the ‘98 Power Tour by a well-known car-builder with a project he wanted to do for HOT ROD, I flat refused. It wasn’t easy to say no, either to him or to car owner Vic Edel-brock, but I’d seen enough miserable ‘57 Chevys to last the rest of my life. They took it in stride and never mentioned it to me again. The next thing I know, it’s ‘01 and that very car, this stunningly subtle rendition, is haunting me the entire Power Tour—and Vic’s driving it! When I told him I thought the job Ken Fenical at Posie’s did on it was very slick, his eyes crinkled the way they do when he smiles, and he thanked me. A month or so later, I…

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the 2003 Mercury Marauder. It’s a simple enough recipe: big engine, rear-drive platform, room for real human beings inside, doesn’t break the bank. Chevy rediscovered this formula with the now-leg-endary Impala SS, only to snuff the flame after three brightly burning seasons. And now, Mercury introduces the car that everyone knew the Ford Motor Company could build and wondered why the hell it didn’t. Enough shoulda-woulda-coulda-did-or-didn’t. What will you get for your Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of $29,500? Beneath that broad black hood, you have the same modular 4.6L four-valve engine that’s been around for about a decade now, seeing duty in everything from Lincoln Mk VIII to Mustang Cobra. It’s tuned to produce more than 300 hp at 5,750 rpm, and 310-plus lb-ft at…

There are lots of theories, but the prevailing fact is that sealant should not be required if the valve cover and cylinder head mating surfaces are thoroughly cleaned of oil and dirt, devoid of scratches, and the fasteners are tightened properly (in a crisscross pattern). Some misguided line mechanics apply liberal amounts of sealant as an added precaution (they don’t get paid if the car comes back with a leak), but you don’t have to. Here are the basic rules of sealant: Never use RTV (silicone) on any type of (one-piece) valve cover gasket because it will act as a lubricant during torquing and cause the gasket to squirm out of its proper position, opening a leak path. On some OHC engines with multipiece valve cover gaskets, a small blob…

We first met Tom Fless-ner on the 1997 HOT ROD Power Tour. His car was an oxymoron—a handling Fury?—but one that was certainly in line with our get-out-and-drive-it philosophy. When Flessner finally realized that four-wheel-drums and 4,100 pounds in the LA rush-hour slog was madness itself, he installed four-wheel disc brakes, which we covered in the June ‘00 issue (“What’s Stopping You?”). We chose him for our first Test Ride installment because the Fury’s a driver, Flessner was local and willing, and also because he dared to be different. Watch for this new series every month, starting now.…

The deadline for vacating the HOT ROD/Car Craft shop loomed like an acid flashback. More than a dozen years of sorry accumulation was tucked in corners, hiding under benches and behind reefs of Dri-Sweep, long forgotten in a cabinet or soggy’ cardboard box. Obsolete. Stuff that worked and stuff that didn’t. Still there. Why? Myriad greasy, oily chunks of projects long dead (or by some miracle completed) or ones in aching progress. So much crap, so little time. Like it or not, 1 was bound to stick the Biscayne’s halves together. No matter how I tried, my mind’s eye had a hard time focusing on its defenseless carcass flexing on the rotisserie on the back of a flatbed as it rolled precariously down the freeway. Roughly a year after it…

Dream cars. Hot rods. Two different animals entirely, though both rely heavily upon style for their stock in trade. Beyond that, what’s the connection? Joe Bortz, owner of a Chicagoland restaurant and nightclub chain and curator of the Bortz Collection of dream cars, explains: “Lots of engineers back in the early ‘50s were hot rodders, or at least knew about hot rodding. The stylists did, too. But the engineers were frustrated that the emphasis was on styling, and not on advancing mechanical ideas. So they put in the biggest engines they could. The Wildcat has Buick’s new V-8 in there. All of the Chrysler showcars had Hemis—the Diablo has a ‘57 Chrysler Hemi with three deuces. The Banshee has a Pontiac V-8 with a Muncie four-speed—on a 90-inch wheelbase! “As…

Slapped, Clapped & Ready to Scrap Proudly displaying his distaste for practicality, Mark Evans of Austin, Texas, went and got himself a mess of a ‘31 Ford, and can’t really think of a good reason why. He tells us “I paid way too much for this clapped-out and rusted 31 coupe”—even buying the thing knowing he’d have to fab up a new decklid for it himself. Mark also had to find a way to give the ‘31a completely new homemade frame, channe! the body over it, strap on shock and headlight towers from a ‘52 Merc, and equip it with a few fenders from a ‘36 Ford, but he still can’t figure out what else it needs to be finished. Perhaps a firewall? Some lights, maybe? It looks kinda cool…

HOT ROD EXCLUSIVE! Chevy SSR will be 5.3L V-8-powered HOT ROD has learned exclusively that the upcoming retro-styled Chevy SSR pickup will be running a 5.3L allaluminum V-8 between those chunky, separate retro-style fenders. This will be an allaluminum version of the 5.3L that appears in cast-iron form in the Silverado/Sierra pickups; the SSR engine will be introduced in the upcoming stretched Envoy/Trailblazer chassis in mid-2002. Though electronics will remain an obstacle for the time being, the 5.3L shares physical architecture with the LSI family in all of its displacements (4.8, 5.3, 5.7, and 6.0), and so swapping in already-developed components for greater performance should be a snap (as should swapping in a 405-horse LS6—see last month’s issue for details). Horsepower is said to be well below the 30Ohp mark,…

Ever wonder what SEMA’s like: the crowds, the cars, the cool new rides? Wonder no more. You’re going to this year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas, October 30 through November 2, 2001. Log onto www.hotrod.com, and you’ll be directed to a special SEMA 2001 Web site. There the world of SEMA unfolds: the sights, the sounds, the excitement. Witness more than 620,000 square-feet of floor space and a thousand vendors at the largest trade-only show for the automotive aftermarket. The action includes vehicle launches, tricked-out project cars and trucks, and the hottest new high-performance parts. Log on before SEMA for a schedule of events, preview information, and to see which companies we’ll be spotlighting. Once the show begins, we’ll rake you directly to the show floor with coverage including video…

Everything for your classic ’67-’69 Camaro! Rick’s offers the “best of the best,” including the finest officially licensed GM Restoration Parts from the world’s leading manufacturers. Rick’s First Generation Camaro, 420 Athena Dr., Athens, GA 30601; 800/359-7717; www.firstgen.com; firstgen@negia.net. Order your free Proform catalog today! Seize the racer’s an advantage with the popular ME Oa. Proform line which includes more than 600 high-quality, race-proven performance parts, including GM SPO licensed chrome parts, plus tachometers, carburetor main bodies, Counts.” pushrods, rocker arms, enginea builder tools, fans, harmonic balancers, and 100-percent new See er ea (not rebuilt) starters, alternators, and distributors. Specialty Auto Parts U.S.A. Inc., P.O. Box 306, Roseville, MI 48066; 586/774-2500; FAX 586/778-7775; www.proformparts.com. Driving Impressions Physically, Tom’s ‘71 Sport Fury GT bears the scars of a daily driver: primarily…

Surely we jest. Prowler? Thunderbird? You must admit it’s a slightly more congruous comparison than the Corvette and Lightning we did a year and a half ago, but still, what are these posers doing in HOT ROD? The two simply sound alike. Rear-drive, 250 hp through automatic overdrive trannies, look-at-me retro styling that turns every head, soft tops, price tags pushing north of $40,000, previewed as show cars that were whisked to production more or less unchanged… both fit the profile. And there will be plenty of fans of both who swear that neither car is a poseur, then swear at us for even suggesting such a thing. The no-option orange Prowler seen here clocked in at a nice round $45,000; the ‘Bird starts at $36K, but add up the…

So it’s a clean white Chev-elle. So what? So it’s a dream that has materialized, proof that a vision can simmer in a chicken coop for years and still come out looking and smelling pretty good. It took all of Clarence Harding’s will (and a good chunk of jing) to make something as nice as it can be. But it wasn’t always like that. It says here on the tech sheet notes he wrote that “I ran across my ‘69 Chevelle in a local paper. I really wasn’t looking for a car at the time, since I had this crazy notion that I should buy my high school sweetheart an engagement ring, and had some money saved for that. Common sense kicked in and I purchased the car instead.” High…

HIGH-PERFORMANCE CAREER STARTS AT UTI Jaime Correa, Jeremy Thornley, and Robert Watson are among the students enrolled in Power & Performance at the Universal Technical Institute’s campus in Glendale Heights, Illinois. Under instructors Michael Dunteman, Jon Yaus, and Stephen Liss, they built an engine that will put out 452.5 hp and 496.1 lb-ft of torque. This engine started out with only 240 hp and 320 lb-ft. It was equipped with a Holley 750 double-pumper carburetor, competition 306 duration 0.555-inch-lift camshaft, World S/R dart cylinder heads, Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake manifold, and a l50hp shot of NOS. Afterwards, the engine was dropped into a T-bucket and run on a Dyno Jet for testing. UTI exclusively offers the Power & Performance Series as part of a complete automotive technician program. Campuses are…