Indholdsfortegnelse for March 1972 i Hot Rod

Isolated as I was from the real world late in 1963 when I began advanced Navy flight training at Corpus Christi, I devoured literally anything that had to do with my favorite sport. And in those days, the latest, hottest word on drag racing was in Drag News. One day, as I was savoring the latest issue, I came across a new column, “New Jersey News,” written by someone named Terry Cook. Because it was witty and entertaining and informative, and because a few years earlier I had been a strip reporter for the same paper, I wrote to Terry and told him to hang in there. He wrote back and we began a loose, comic correspondence. It was a little less than a year later that we actually met.…

The Illustrator … HARRY BRADLEY…

Ford recently held their midyear announcement and introduced a Pinto station wagon, engineering changes for the Pinto, a mini-pickup and a variety of trim packages for the Pinto, Maverick and the Mustang. Standard equipment for the Pinto wagon includes the 2000cc four-cylinder OHC engine, four-speed transmission and front disc brakes. Also standard is a fold-down rear seat which permits 60 cubic feet of cargo area for a 900-pound load. The wagon will tow an 800-pound trailer with a 100-pound tongue weight. Other changes to the Pinto line, which are immediately incorporated into the wagon, includes an “NVH” (noise, vibration and harshness) package and higher capacity five-leaf rear springs. We drove both the Pinto Runabout and the wagon, noticing a most significant decrease in road noise and resonance in the critical…

Our original goal was to design “the ultimate street roadster,” the super-trick machine of all time, but after much serious consideration of the events and developments currently taking place, we realized that such an endeavor would have little real value to anyone. Thus we decided instead to explore the feasibility of building a roadster that would be able to meet emissions and safety regulations while maintaining its essential unfettered character and air of excitement. This is the challenge all rod builders will soon be facing, regardless of whether they like it or believe it The basic form is that of the classic highboy ’32 Ford roadster. Body is a reinforced fiberglass replica of the Deuce with fiberglass replica ’32 frame side rails covering exposed portions of the tubular steel space…

The widespread availability of vibration-proof fasteners during the past few years has been a great aid to the auto enthusiast, permitting him to keep things together with greater reliability. There are, however, some applications where the plastic types of anti-vibration measures, such as nylon lock nuts or Loctite, aren’t particularly suited because of high temperatures. Such a place might be on exhaust headers, and indeed, anyone who has installed headers knows how easy it is to lose a few header bolts. For such an application, there is no substitute for the aircraft mechanic’s old standby, safety wiring. With this inexpensive method of keeping things together, stainless steel wire is twisted around and through the parts to mate them mechanically and prevent the rotation and loosening of fasteners. Safety wiring has…

HOT ROD Magazine’s first excursion into the wild world of West Coast Vans several months ago was followed by an avalanche of mail with requests for more information on these far-out vehicles. When our own Chevy Van stirred up another explosion of interest, we were convinced of the correctness of our belief that the Van phenomenon is not just another automotive fad. A van reflects the feelings and outlooks of its owners. Everything from the color and style of the exterior paint to the type of carpet on the interior floor can be individually chosen to express the exact sentiments of the man behind the wheel. The conversion can be made functional—for hauling bikes—or it can be a small-scale replica of a motor home, for the person desiring a maximum…

The thought of replacing the early Ford Econoline van’s workhorse 170-inch 6 with a V8 has undoubtedly crossed the mind of anyone who has crawled up a grade or pushed a headwind with the stock and standard van. Around town, the small 6 gets the job done; but out on the highway, it has to scream to maintain cruising speed, and it falls far short on performance at the slightest sign of a hill. A small-block V8 Ford swap will change all that, and it is easier and less expensive than you might imagine. A 260-or 289-cubic-inch Ford small-block V8 is a natural for several reasons: Both are compact enough to require only a minimum of sheet metal work on the engine cowling, both have enough muscle, even with a…

We receive lots of letters, but Blaine Anderson’s really caught our attention. It said, “My 340 Duster three-speed cost less than $3200 out the door, the modifications cost less than $300 and the car runs in the 12s.” The car has been equipped with a set of Jardine headers, a Crower blueprinted cam and a Lakewood bellhousing. Dick Thomas of Garden Grove, California, recurved the distributor (initial advance comes in at 1000 rpm with maximum advance of 12 degrees in at 2200 rpm) and gave the engine a supertune. A set of 4.30 gears and J.C. Penney slicks rounded out the package. We asked Blaine to meet us at OCIR so we could check out his claim. Our strip session proved Blaine correct. A best run of 12.98 at 106.75…

In our kickoff “class” in the Auto Shop Series on Engine Basics (HRM, Sept. ’71), we defined the connecting rod or “rod” as the part of an engine which “transmits and converts up-and-down (reciprocating) motion of the pistons to rotary motion at the crankshaft.” In simpler terms, this means that when energy is released in each cylinder, it must be “collected” and made available to do work in the most useful form. That form is rotary motion, and the common link to all cylinders to achieve this is the connecting rod, one for each cylinder, connected to the crankshaft of the engine. Rods are the most overworked parts in an engine. A big statement, but true. Historically, more engines have been lost due to a rod failure than for any…

• “One thing we’ve got to do is to work on the automatic so it’ll shift by itself at 6000. Right now it drops over at 3700, and this car wants to run six grand easily.” So said Joe Gran-atelli, the president of Paxton Products, as we were tooling down the freeway. The two of us were testing out a Paxton-blown Dodge Demon, a car available from Mr. Norm’s Grand Spaulding Dodge dealership in Chicago for less than $3500. The base (and original) Mr. Norm GSS Demon was covered in our May ’71 issue (pp. 118-120), and while it did run sub-14-second quarter-mile times, the supercharged GSS has the earlier model well covered. And the ’72 model has 8.5:1 compression ratio, while the ’71 model had 10.5:1. Joe, the elder…

Midwestern racers are lucky, particularly those who race with the United Drag Racers Association. The weather forces them inside during the winter months for occasions like the UDRA Awards Banquet. The banquet, celebrating the 1971 awards and points winners, was held in December at the Playboy Club Hotel in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. For the first time, Hot Rod Magazine joined with UDRA in presenting awards to those racers who ran the full season. We gave fourteen separate awards, one for the Best Engineered Car and one for the Best Appearing Car and Crew in each of the six UDRA divisions, plus awards for Rookie of the Year and Mechanic of the Year. Hot Rod’s Feature Editor, Steve Kelly, presented the awards. Other presentations made at the December banquet included the…

This sport has its dreamers. I’m one of them. Include yourself, friend; seems it’s an unescapable fact of life for all hot rodders. Most of us would be destitute, defunct auto-hobbyists were we not able to engage occasionally in imaginative car building. Even though shrinks would be apt to label our whimsical ideology as pure fantasy fare, I view it, nonetheless, as a healthy pastime function and one that saves dollars as well as marriages. Many a hot rod bank account has suffered from the overfunding of devil-may-care second, third and fourth car building activities. I find it necessary to maintain some reserves for roadster upkeep improvement spending and, by doing so, continually find it difficult to get serious about other cars, much less the scrounging of parts. So ……

All through the history of hot rodding, building and driving roadsters has remained one of the most satisfying ways a car enthusiast can express himself. No single vehicle is more typically a hot rod than the roadster. Maybe it’s because the very soul of the sport is personified in the cut-down, perhaps fenderless, ’29 or ’32 lakes highboy. Hot rodding was born on the dry lakes. Back before the war, when Friday night rolled around the fenders were pulled off the daily transporter (most often a Ford roadster), the generator and street carburetion were yanked and replaced with a three-jug manifold and perhaps higher compression heads, and off they went to Harpers or El Mirage, equipped with sleeping bags, end-wrenches and a slew of “97” jets. And Sunday night it…

How’d you like to make a furious 160-mph pass down the Illinois turnpike in a mid-engine, blown-Chrysler-powered machine and still have 40 mph left under your right boot! Sound like a great way to spend a Saturday night? No, it’s not a Can-Am or a Funny Car, nor is it one of the new rear motor diggers. It’s a street roadster, hide-boiler fans — a simple, ridiculously fast, completely homebuilt street roadster, engineered for the boulevard, with a potential top speed of over 200 mph! Builder Cotton Werksman, often referred to as the Madman from Barrington (Illinois), is a very unusual street rodder. Using as collateral an extensive hot rodding background studded with many flathead-and Ardun-powered rods of all types, Cotton started with a clean sheet of paper to answer,…

owner: Harold Olsson Lawndale, California car: ’28 Roadster Pickup owner: Jerry Cosce Sonoma, California car: ’32 Bantam Roadster owner: Don Ciriello San Leandro, California car: ’23 T’ Roadster owner: Ray Worth Independence, Missouri car: ’23 ’T’ Roadster…

All Top Fuel and Funny Car racers know of Leonard Abbott and Lenco Racing Transmissions; his underdrive and two-speed units have helped power the quickest and fastest cars in the country. You early three-speed Junior Stock racers will also remember the Lenco name, since Leonard developed the doubletough synchros that so many three-speed builders use. Leonard is just one of those special racers who have a feeling for others’ racing problems and do something about them. The most recent addition to the impressive Lenco transmission product line-up is by far the most exciting, because it offers a gearing solution for both hard-core and weekend racer. The new Lenco Driveline Quick-Change (list price $250) allows the use of stock, street gearing for everyday driving but offers seven additional ratios that can…

Los Angeles-based Graymark Enterprises has been manufacturing and selling electronic project kits to schools for several years. Recently they introduced a tachometer kit which has become one of their best sellers. We requested a sample of their $18.95 mail order kit, in order to evaluate ease of assembly and quality of the final product. In general, we were quite delighted with the kit. The instruction manual was divided into two sections, the first a “textbook” section including experiments to explain the theory and operation of the components and the second a section containing complete, detailed directions for assembling the tach. The instructions, complete with diagrams, made assembly a snap. Our unit was put together in less than two hours by someone who had never assembled an electronics kit before. No…

It all started about the time I began working on the West Coast Vans story that appeared in the August 1971 issue. I had been looking for a vehicle which would not only transport all the things that I get involved with — like bits and pieces for project cars, photo gear, dirt bikes and camping equipment — but would also be fun to drive and have room for friends. Being as deeply involved as I am in the world of wheels, I absolutely shuddered at the thought of owning something mundane and utilitarian. My awareness of vans quickly grew into unbounded enthusiasm as I continued my investigation of the West Coast van scene. It wasn’t long before I realized that a van fulfilled all my requirements and I became…

6.17s BY SNAKE, WIEBE Prudhomme wins quickest race ever Long Beach, California — The Top Fuel final of NHRA’s Grand Premiere Meet at Lions Drag Strip was a classic drag racing confrontation: front-engined dragster versus rear-motor model; a Donovan 417 all-aluminum early-model hemi versus a Keith Black castiron late-model hemi; “Kansas John” Wiebe versus Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. Both men staged carefully, momentarily restraining their 1500-horsepower engines. The light turned green and the race was on. When the smoke had cleared, the winner of the quickest drag race in history was Don Prudhomme, recording an e.t. of 6.174 seconds at 235 mph, while loser Wiebe stopped the clocks in 6.175 seconds at 236 mph. Lions regulars attribute the fantastic performance to the dense ocean air that once in a great…

In keeping with the sophistication of today’s racing, the specialty equipment piston manufacturers have incorporated some very interesting approaches toward piston designs. New dome configurations, exotic coatings, efficient ring combinations and stronger skirt designs have been employed in an effort to further aid the racers in reaching even more fantastic performance levels. Down through the years, cylinder sealing and compression ratios have been important factors for an optimum-horsepower-producing engine. In addition, complete combustion has been an area where many enthusiasts have been involved but kept their findings a closely guarded secret. Piston-dome configurations for modified-type engines have been varied greatly in an effort to obtain better flame propagation, and many well-read racers have carried this point even further by coordinating piston-dome and combustion chamber designs. The two go hand in…

Everyone celebrates anniversaries of one sort or another. But after a few come and go, you usually don’t pay much attention to them. Some you may forget entirely. However, those which are true milestones demand special recognition. The Silver Anniversary, which marks the passage of 25 years, is one of these. That’s a quarter of a century! If you have been paying attention to “Hot Rod” Magazine’s contents page, you have no doubt noticed that we are into Volume 25, and you’re probably thinking that we let our Silver Anniversary slip by us. Not so. Unlike people, who celebrate the first anniversary one year after they’re born, married, etc., magazines begin life with Volume One. So Volume 26, No. 1, will mark the beginning of our 25th year (January 1973).…

The word is out! After many months of planning by some of the country’s most dedicated and enthusiastic street rodders, Detroit, Michigan, has been chosen as the site of the 1972 Street Rod Nationals. And, the new sponsor is none other than Hot Rod Magazine. Although this will only be the third annual assembly of the “Street Is Neat” ranks, the event is already one of the most exciting events on the automotive calendar — and now that Hot Rod is sponsoring the event, the ’72 meet is assured of being the most out-standing yet. Last year’s Street Rod Nationals, or the “Nats” as they are known as, saw over 1200 pre-1948 street rod entries converge on Memphis. Polished brass radiators, glistening chrome and flawless paint formed an endless parade…

The foundation for John Gourd’s showpiece ’23 ’T’ is an Andy’s Instant T chassis fashioned out of mild steel tubing. Engine is a 327 Chevy using a trio of Rochester 2-bbl carbs. Transmission is a late-vintage Turbo-Hydro. The late Chevy rear-end housing is coil-suspended and chrome-plated. The chroming, representing several thousand of John’s dollars, was accomplished by C&M plating. The front tube axle has Hallcraft wire wheels and disc brakes at each end, and the steering gear is an aluminum housing unit pirated from an early Corvair. Rear wheels are Ansen Sprint. Paint work and lettering were applied by Art Himsl, and the car’s wiring was laid in by Bob Burton. The natural-leather-colored upholstery, including the top with the “Nauga” face rear window, came out of the A-Action shop near…

In general terms, the performance potential of any carburetor is determined by the amount of air and fuel it can pass. But one of the biggest drawbacks of high-performance carbs, especially on the street, is that low-and mid-range response tend to suffer as flow capacity increases. The problem is caused by the drop in the speed of the air flowing through the carburetor, brought on by the same increase in capacity that lets the engine run stronger on the top end. One of the ways this problem has been handled on production carburetors is through the use of an air valve. Most commonly taking the form of a spring-loaded trap door mounted above the secondary throttle plates of certain four-barrels, the air valve is essentially a means of admitting only…

Edelbrock’s new Torker intake manifold looks just like the Tarantula introduced last year. Appearance is one of the few things the manifolds have in common. The Torker is a street-oriented, single four-barrel manifold, and right now it is available only for small-block Chevys. Units for other engines requiring low-end torque will be offered later in 1972. The Torker is a derivative of the Tarantula, a manifold meant more for mid-and high-rpm engine speeds, thus making it well-suited for racing. While the Tarantula can be use on street-operated cars, its true benefit isn’t realized then, due to the normally low operating range of the street engine. That’s why the Torker was developed. It improves low-end torque by speeding up low-rpm intake flow. When compared to the Tarantula, low-speed air flow is…

The growing interest in off-road activity, combined with rapidly climbing sales figures for sports/utility vehicles, prompted us to undertake a short road test of a Chevy Blazer. Veteran off-road racer and accessory manufacturer Vic Hickey lent us a test vehicle which was outfitted with just about everything in his catalog. The base vehicle was a two-wheel-drive model, which at first might seem somewhat illogical, but there are several good reasons. The two-wheel-drive Blazer has independent front suspension and a link-coil rear suspension. Thus it affords a superior ride over its solid-axle-and-leaf-spring-all around four-wheel-drive counterpart. It is also free of four wheel-drive “steering wander.” Equipping the vehicle with Scinch-wide Superior wheels and L60-15 Goodyear Polyglas tires gives excellent highway manners (with no off-road tire “singing”) and still accomplishes the task of…

If you’ve been following our Duster race car project over the past two issues, we’ve taken you through the procedures of building the chassis (first installment) and building the engine (second installment). For our’ final segment, we’d like to cover some of the problems we encountered while sorting out the car at the strip. To begin, our basic combination consists of a Racer Brown 71-R cam that was ground on 105° lobe centers, an Edelbrock TR-5 tunnel-ram manifold with Holley 660-cfm (4224) carbs, a Spaulding BDI ignition (set at 37° total advance), Champion N-63 Y spark plugs (usable heat range from N-57 to N-65 Y), Cyclone adjustable headers, 5.87 and 6.17 rear gears, and 10.5-inch (28.5-inch-diameter) Firestone tires. The Racer cam was installed at 104° intake centerline for our initial…

BILL FRANCE STEPS DOWN Daytona Beach, Florida — Bill France has resigned as president of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. William C. France, his son, has been appointed the new president of NASCAR. The 62-year-old France has served as president of NASCAR since its formation on December 14, 1947. Big Bill has taken the association from a group of little-known amateur racers to a highly professional league of racing which saw more than six million dollars in purses paid out in 1971 for the six NASCAR divisions. Bill France, Sr., will remain as chairman of the board and president of the International Speedway Corporation. ISC is the operating company for both Daytona International Speedway and the Alabama International Motor Speedway at Talladega, Alabama. He cited one of…

Selected letters to Shop Talk will be answered only in this monthly column. DO NOT send stamped, self-addressed envelopes with your question. It is impossible to send out personal replies. DOUBLE-BARREL KILLER We run an unusual combination. It’s a 400 Pontiac with a two-barrel carb. We run the car in AHRA competition in their Formula 3 Stock class. Currently, we are using Holley’s 500-cfm two-barrel, but we would like to know if there is a larger, or possibly better, two-barrel that we could try. We are going in the low twelves now but are about at our limit. Randy and Wayne Jackson Kansas City, Missouri We have heard of some four-barrel carbs being cut in half and used as a single two-barrel, and as far as AHRA is concerned,…