Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2002 i Hot Rod

There’s no good way to put it: Gray Baskerville is gone, stolen by cancer. We’re as angry about it as we are sad and hollow. From a public point of view, Gray was the essence of hot rodding—a gearhead zealot who told it like was and made up his own lingo along the way. Baskerville was at the core of HOT ROD and Rod & Custom for 35 years, virtually inventing the tone of modern gearhead journalism. For many readers, he is HOT ROD and R&C. From a more personal view, Gray added zing and perspective not only to the pages, but to myriad staff underlings and overlings over the years. He quickly separated the weenies from the good guys at levels of both greenhorn and manager (he saw plenty…

If the sun shines on our sorry lives, we’ll get our B/Gas Coupe ready in time to blow stuff up at Bonneville. But even if we don’t, you can bet we’ll be lurking at both El Mirage and B’Ville throughout the season—maybe even Maxton, North Carolina, with the East Coast Timing Association. You should, too, so here are the 2002 land-speed-racing dates. For more information, see the Southern California Timing Association Web site at www.scta-bni.org, the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association site at www.saltflats.com, or the East Coast Timing Association at www.ecta-lsr.com.…

Back in the Dec. ’01 issue, Baskerville’s story “HOT ROD’s 20 Fastest Cars Ever” casually slung the bomb that the HOT ROD Top Time trophy would hence be available only to vehicles propelled by piston engines. Big deal? Lots missed the relevance, but the truth to land-speed racing insiders and the racers who have won this coveted trophy—awarded since the first Bonneville Nationals in ’49—is that it is the hugest of deals. Simply put, the HOT ROD trophy was visualized by Wally Parks as the honor for the fastest one-way time at Speed Week. No caveats, and no record or backup run necessary. Winning this perennial bronze has remained critical to salt-scrounging land speeders. However, in his final days, Baskerville felt strongly that the heritage of the magazine and the…

Frank Currie has survived several Great Races, a couple of Power Tour Long Hauls, the Pan American Road Race, and a nasty dance with 1 he Big C a few years ago. He loves to compete for the fun of it. He loves to be behind the wheel of a special car, and he thinks that everything he builds to race should also driveable on the street. Currently, that would include his 706ci ’32 Ford street roadster that ripped a 205 at Bonneville a few years ago, and this road race Mustang, a car that did the Power Tour Long Haul last year without a hiccup or a fart. Most of the time, Frank had that sucker on kill and there was more than one eyewitness report of velocity in…

When we tore out our ’96 Mustang’s original suspension three years ago, the fresh implants included Koni “D” Sport struts (PN 8741 1300) and shocks (PN 8041 1186), HP Motor-sport caster/camber plates, and 1.5-inch lowering springs (450/570 lb-in front; 200/250 lb-in rear). A sharp wheel alignment (-1 degree camber, 5 degrees caster, 1/16-inch toe-in) brought everything into the proper perspective, and we completed the transformation with an Eibach pinion snubber that was 2 inches shorter than the original. We left the standard antisway bars, bushing material, and the upper and lower rear control arms intact. While all these products represent excellent performance in their own right, they were not designed to work with one another, nor did they account for the specific application. In the months that followed, we never…

TESTING STOCK A-ARMS: Our test Camaro had plenty of power and was neutral enough to be driven to the edge and back. The ancient BFG tires were rock hard but predictable. which was good since slalom testing eats soft-compound tires. The best times resulted from maintaining a constant speed throughout the course. TESTING DSE A-ARMS: It took a while to adjust, as the car really digs in when it rotates around each cone: the caster gain and resulting increase in cross-weight stuck the outside rear tire for excellent drive-off characteristics. It didn’t feel as wobbly as before: turn the wheel and the car reacts immediately. A minimal increase in steering effort was detected, but it actually made the car feel more stuck to the pavement. The best times required entering…

Mathew Swiat ’54 CHEVY BEL AIR MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ OWNER’S OCCUPATION: Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic ENGINE: Chevy 454ci ENGINE MODS: Bored 0.030, 10.5:1 compression. solid-lifter Crane Cam stick with 0 580/0 600 lift DYNO-PROVEN POWER: Nope TRANSMISSION: TH400 REAREND: Ford 9-inch, 4.11:1, stock Ford Trac-Lok WHEEL TYPE AND SIZE: Weld Draglite 15x5 front, Centerline Auto Drag 15x8½ rear TIRE TYPE AND SIZE: Mickey Thompson Sportsman 28x7.5x15 front, M&H Racemaster 265x55B15 rear PAINT COLOR: Aztec Green Pearl Metallic BODY MODIFICATIONS: Inner engine fenderwalls shaved for better airflow APPROXIMATE TOTAL INVESTMENT: $12,000 WHAT’S THE BEST MODIFICATION YOU’VE MADE?: Redesigned the radiator support for a Griffin Radiator WHAT’S THE BIGGEST PROBLEM YOU’VE HAD?: “Steering arm contact with driver-side header” HOW LONG HAVE YOU OWNED IT?: 16 years (bought it for $50) HOW MANY…

Last month we gave you the details of the 2002 Power Tour, to be held May 24th through June 2nd, following backroads from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Canfield, Ohio, and the HOT ROD Supernationals. Next issue we’ll have a complete guide to the Tour and introduction to all your sponsors. In the meantime, here’s the latest: chassis dyno every night! Find out your real-world, real-wheel horsepower by mounting the Werx Performance dyno at each cruise night along the Power Tour route. Also, Comp Cams has signed up to be the Official Camshaft of Power Tour, with a complete line of reliable rollers to take you for the Long Haul. Look for more details next month, or sign up for Tour now by calling 877/413-6515 or hittingwww.hotrod.com orwww.familyevents.com.…

If you’re reading this story, chances are you’ll really enjoy Larry Davis’ new book Super Stock: Drag Racing the Family Sedan. It’s the best, best, best single work I’ve ever encountered on a subject so dear to my heart. It’s jam packed with 300 b&w and 30 color photos, many of which were taken by the author personally. While there is no way to confirm the accuracy of Davis’ extremely detailed blow-by-blow race coverage some 35-plus years after the fact, his discussion of the cars and stars of the Super Stock era holds plenty of water despite a few minor bloopers here and there. Get this one-it’s awesome. Contact: CarTech Books at 800/551-4754 or www.cartechbooks.com.…

If you dig the distinctive sound of your Flowmaster mufflers, you can probably thank its R&D team for that. Those souls spend a lot of time taking the raw, rough-hewn data of the experiments and turning them into viable, high-demand products. Kevin McClelland is one of those souls. He’s lived a race car life since the day he was born. He had no choice, really. His father, Dave McClelland, is the guy whose full, mellifluous tones have been the hallmark of NHRA events for decades. This is the same McClelland who raced a Top Fueler in the ’60s and who operated dragstrips in Louisiana (Shreveport) and Texas (Dallas International Speedway). Kevin was born in Shreveport and lived there until 1969 when his father quit doing radio and TV to manage…

Put a Hemi in it. It’s the answer to any question that begins, “How do I make it cool?” or “How do I make it fast?" Dodge has known it for years, transmogulating the early Hemi into the so-called “late-model” 426 in 1964 to create the engine that’s won the world over. Winged Daytonas. Super Stock Darts. Garlits’ Fuelers. All pinnacles of the world’s most recognized engine—one that, more often than you may think, has ended up in a truck. Yep, a truck, The initial such concoction was the new-for-’64 Dodge A-100 cabover, a failed factory experimental racer turned wheelstander and marketing coup by Chrysler’s Frank Wylie and now known forever as the Little Red Wagon. Dodge was out to hype its latest pickup even if it took a nitro-burning…

Back in the winter of 1966, Flossmoor, Illinois, native John Tinberg was leafing through the March issue of HOT ROD when he happened upon an article by Jim McFarland entitled “A Novel Nova.” The story featured a new “Instant Funny Car” kit from the now-defunct Bill Thomas Race Cars in Anaheim, California. At the time, match race madness was sweeping the country, and Thomas’ mail-order kit aimed to make it easier for Chevy stalwarts to build Rat-powered ’62-’67 Nova match racers to engage the factory-backed Ford and Mopar Hemi cars and maybe even things up a bit. Available separately or complete, the Bill Thomas kit replaced everything from the firewall forward and included a leaf-sprung straight axle, a unitized round tube subframe, and to cover it all up, a thin…

Getting a story together about how to install performance-enhancing components is challenging enough, but on these pages we’ve gone one better. This story is about installing and testing some all-new control arms from Detroit Speed Engineering (DSE). These tubular upper A-arms are designed for first-generation Camaros (as well as first-gen Firebirds and ’68-’72 Novas), and the test car is a relatively stock ’68 Camaro. Take a look as we find out whether these parts really make a difference in performance. Double A-Armed Before getting into the installation and test details, it’s good to understand how aftermarket upper A-arms can improve performance. The front suspension of the cars in question is comprised of unequal-length locating arms—commonly called A-arms because their shape resembles an “A”—holding a spindle. A coil spring and a…

Pat McGowan’s beautiful ’68 Chevrolet Camaro is more than just a hot rod to him. He built it 20-plus years ago, but sold it when his two daughters were very young. Then he stumbled across the same car during the ’95 HOT ROD Power Tour, bought it back, and rebuilt it to resemble how it was when he sold it. This included locating the original 302ci engine, which was sitting exactly where he placed it when sold it to a local rodder 10 years ago. After all that, Pat had the guts to loan it to us to wring it out for some back-to-back test numbers. In a true show of respect, we didn’t back down after seeing the pretty blue paint, slick Richmond five-speed trans, and clean Year One…

When most of us think of tram brakes, Super Comp dragsters and other race-only quarter-milers come to mind. But if your street-and-strip ride has a traction surplus, a tram brake may be what you need. The age-old practice of foot-braking the torque converter by applying the brakes while increasing throttle is only marginally effective. Eventually engine torque overcomes the ability of the wheel brakes to resist axleshaft rotation, and the tires either break traction and spin or the car creeps forward before you want it to. Either way, foil stall speed is not reached. When the light turns green, the engine is farther from peak torque than it could be, and performance suffers. Trans brakes handily address this problem by uncovering every last bit of stall the converter has to…

It didn’t take long for the sweat to race down his forehead, or his palms to get clammy. His body began to shake in anticipation upon seeing the new 2003 Mercury Marauder, the new era American muscle-sedan. You remember… rear-drive, V-8 power, room for five. I’m talking about former HRM Staff Editor Jeff Koch who was privileged to be one of the first journalists Mercury invited to preview this 302hp gem (Nov. ’01). Oh, you’d sweat, too. And you still might: It could be that you are announced as the winner of a customized 2003 Marauder in “The VIP 2003 Mercury Marauder sweepstakes.” HOT ROD magazine is proud to turn up the heat and team with the Mercury folks for this exciting promotion. To register for the sweepstakes, log onto…

Hot on the tail of the full-blown Stage III, Roush Performance threads the needle once again with the delightfully de-contented 360R. Like the Stage III, the 360R includes the supercharged and inter-cooled 360hp single-cam 4.6L engine, Tremec five-speed, 13-inch Roush/Alcon brakes, the Stage III fascia and rear spoiler, and the white-face instruments. The 8-inch Bullitt wheels carry 245/45ZR17 rubber. Suspension changes are up to you. Unlike the Stage III, which was available in any Ford color, the slippery 360R is limited to white with blue stripes or red with white stripes. Manufacturer’s suggested retail price is below $40,000 (the Stage III can seep beyond $48,000). Add the rolling stock of choice (we dig the Bullitt hoops, though), tweak the suspension, and punch out a Porsche.…

At the 50th anniversary celebration of the vaunted Road Kings car club of Burbank, California, the stories were all true—and none of the names were changed to protect the innocent, because no one was. Guys like TV Tommy Ivo, Don Prudhomme, Don “Beachcomber” Johnson, Kenny Safford and Don Gaide of the Sour Sisters Olds Fueler, Tom McCourry, Bob “Freight Train” Muravez (Elem a Cyc! Lippencott Jr.), Jim “Magic Muffler” Miles, the Cedarquist brothers, Wade Zimmerman, Tom Jandt, Roy Fjastad—they are all Road Kings alumni. We heard the one about TV Tom dumping eight quarts of oil on Snake’s head, plus the tale of which King was able to date the most carhops at the Bob’s Big Boy in Toluca Lake. Then there was the time club members dumped Muravez into…

The Shelby Cobra, one of the most famous sports cars of all time, celebrated its 40th Anniversary at the Petersen Museum February 1, 2002. Event director Lynn Park assembled 23 of the most collectible genuine Shelby Cobras from all over the country to accomplish this tribute. In attendance were cars like Dick Smith’s #198, the fastest and winningest big-block Shelby Cobra of all time. Also in the lineup was Mike Shelby’s 289 roadster, one of two 289 automatic cars built. Rick Mason’s one-of-a-kind “427 Fliptop” Cobra and Carroll Shelby’s personal 289 Cobra Daytona coupe were there, and Phil Gallahand rolled out #2301, a 289 F.I.A., along with the ex-Don Roberts #2473, the winningest 289 Cobra in history, now owned by Don Lee. Also part of the festivities was a special…

“I looked around and realized that no one made a carburetor specifically for these guys who want big power on pump gas, or the racers who need a low-cost racing carburetor without all the stuff they don’t know how to tune anyway. So I took out the features they didn’t need, tuned the booster for better response on lower-compression engines, and priced it better than anything you can buy from my competition.” Basically, that’s what Barry Grant told us about his latest carb line, the Mighty Demons. The reign of Demons begins with the entry-level Road Demon, then steps up in cost and features to the Speed Demon, the Mighty Demon, the Race Demon, the removable-sleeve Race Demon, then the King Demon. Basically, the new Mighty Demon carbs are Race…

File this one under giving ourselves more credit than we deserve, but it’s curious just the same. See the illustration? It’s our very first concept of the 02 Ram project; the idea included new-Viper styling cues, a new V-10, and a six-speed. That was around May of 2001, and we even met with the Viper team leader to see if DaimlerChrysler could build the truck in house. Our design got the thumbs-up. but a few months later Mopar switched gears, downplayed the V-10, and decided they’d like to see another Hemi-powered project. So we do it. Then comes February 2002 and the announcement of the Ram SRT-10, a—guess what?—Viper-powered truck built by the new DaimlerChrysler PVO team including-guess who?—some of the people we had met with months earlier. We later…

The engine stand is every hot rodder’s silent partner. It’s by your side during the excitement and anticipation of the assembly process, and it’s there during the sullen, sour business of a teardown to repair broken parts. Either way, the right engine stand goes a long way toward helping you do your best work. In this installment of HOT ROD Comparo, we rounded up six engine stands from all walks of life. Then we put ’em to the test by throwing on a 502 Rat motor and performing the following evaluations. Loaded three-point turn: a gauge of mobility in cramped quarters; skid test: will a penny prevent rolling?; footprint area: a measure of each stand’s ability to resist tipping over; head adjustability: does the mounting hardware have enough range of…

SNEAK PEEK 1 Tribute to Gray Baskerville You’ve read the sad news that B’ville passed away just as we were going to press. Go to www.hotrod.com to lend your own tribute to The Dad, or see the link at the bottom of page 113 for a preview of the full tribute that will appear in the June ’02 issue. SNEAK PEEK 2 Road Test of the Evil Hemi Ram This month’s ink told you the tale of our 528ci Hemi-power Dodge Ram truck being assembled at So-Cal Speed Shop. Curious as to what it’s like to throttle this monster? Just type in the preview link to see McGonegal’s driving impression now. SNEAK PEEK 3 Air Filter Shootout OK—Car Craft will beat us to the press with this one, but our…

Technical troubles got you down? Gimme a shout and I’ll try to help. HOT ROD Pit Stop 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048 or e-mail: hotrod@primediacmmg.com Diesel Blower for Corvette? I am working on building up a big-block Chevy tor my ’72 Vetre. I’ve heard that a 6-71 blower can be salvaged from an 18wheeler rig. What does it take to modify the pump to fit a 454 Chevy? Frank FongVia hotrod.com I applaud your urge to get something for nothing, but in this case (pun intended) you may get in over your head if you’re new to the used blower game. Norma Iskenderian at Blower Drive Service (562/693-4302) tells us the first step is to identify whether the 6-71 in question is from an inline diesel or a…