Indholdsfortegnelse for June 1972 i Hot Rod

The first sorties of the season have come to pass, and fine adjustments on new cars as well as old ones are hastily being made. Man and machine alike must be in perfect readiness. The big run is demanding. “GO DETROIT!” West Coasters are justifiably unhappy over the distance they have had to travel these past three years to attend the Street Rod Nationals. And Nationals officials themselves wholeheartedly sympathize with the view commonly shared by the westerners, particularly in the case of this year’s Detroit, Michigan-based bash: “It’s too damn far!” Here’s why: A trip that could theoretically rack up close to six thousand big ones on the odometer, depending on the route taken, is certainly not a venture to embark upon without weighing facts. Such a distance, under…

PICK A PROMOTER We are in need of some professional work in the area of race car presentations and promotion for potential sponsorships and press kits for publicity purposes. Could you tell us who we might contact for assistance in this matter? Suzy Zarubica El Monte, California The two best that we know in the Southern California area are John Jodauga and Kenny Youngblood, both of Long Beach. They’ve done work for the likes of Bill Jenkins, Gary Gabelich, Parnelli Jones, Craig Breedlove and others. They can be contacted at 1047 Pine Avenue, Long Beach, California 90813. — Editor WHO’S ON FIRST? Several months ago my son Scott, age 9, subscribed to your monthly circular representing the automotive engineering fraternities’ contribution to selfpreservation. Some of your authors make their articles…

The first Street Rod Nationals, held in a remote cornfield near Peoria, Illinois, produced some 600 participating cars. That was three years ago. In 1972, the initial response to the event suggests that the number will be increased threefold. Impressive? You bet it is. Imagine cruising through the Michigan State Fairgrounds for a look at literally hundreds of super-great pre-’48 rods that will make up the field. A sight to behold. And that’s where the fun starts. Dozens of in-car events, contests and activities are being finalized—tailormade for the funfest. One activity that promises to “up” the general car enthusiast turnout from local and national sources is the four-day swap meet which is to be held from morning to dusk each day of the big bash. Swappers/buyers from all over…

If you’re cruising the streets of Detroit and you pull up beside a’72 Camaro with trick gold paint and small script proclaiming “Turbo Camaro,” beware! It’s a six-banger. “No sweat,” you say. “Six in row just won’t go.” But don’t be fooled, this six runs like a 350-cubic-inch V8 with a four-barrel. It’s Chevrolet Engineering’s latest experiment with turbocharging, and while there are no plans to market such a vehicle, this Camaro and a twin-turbocharged Nova, reviewed in the March issue of our sidekick publication, Car Craft, are being used to evaluate the virtues and drawbacks of turbocharging in relation to performance emissions, reliability and economy. The real beauty of the six-cylinder adaptation is that it is a bolt-on installation, with the single exception of brazing a fitting into the…

In recent months Chevrolet has begun to offer some rather unique crankshafts in their parts catalog. These crankshafts are forged units, designed for high-performance applications. The unique thing about these cranks is that they are only semi-finished; that is, Chevrolet has rough-ground the main journals, the crank snout and the flywheel flange, leaving the connecting rod journals untouched in their raw forged state. These cranks are offered in two versions for the small-block motors. One is the 302-cubic-inch engine version, parts No. 3965727, which normally uses a 3-inch stroke, and the other is a 350-cubic inch engine version, parts No. 3997748, which normally uses a 3.48-inch stroke. The reason Chevrolet began to offer such units was to allow the independent crankshaft grinders to finish these cranks with variations in stroke…

Every automotive enthusiast must begin somewhere, and the beginning is usually with the family sedan. Before you expect to build and fine-tune a racing engine, it’s necessary to learn the ABCs of a reciprocating engine (refer to our Auto Shop Series) and, even more important, how to troubleshoot problem areas. Studying an engine manual or even the more general popular manuals will give the reader a wealth of information. From time to time, we all resort to a manual of some type when an engine problem must be sorted out and rectified. Keeping your street wheels running smooth and strong should be the first place to start learning what automotive mechanics is all about. It’s important to remember that a plan of attack is necessary when you are attempting to…

No matter how old you are, think back and try to remember when you first heard of A.J. Foyt. Was it when he won the Indy 500 in’67 or’64 or’61? Or was it when he and Dan Gurney took a Ford GT-40 to a win at Le Mans in’67? Maybe you first heard of him when he won the NASCAR Firecracker 400 at Daytona in’64 or when he did it again in’65. Was it when he won the USAC Championship in’60?’61?’63?’64? Or maybe in’67? Maybe you first heard of A.J. when he won the USAC stock division in’68 or when he won one (or more) of his more than 40 USAC championship division wins. How about the Motor Trend/Riverside 500 that he won in’71? Or when A.J. went over Riverside’s…

There is a little sign on the corner of a race car’s trunk lid that says: “Made in Level Cross,” and they aren’t just kidding. The Petty family has been building racewinning cars since the late forties, when Lee, Richard’s father, started sweeping the dirt tracks in the Carolina backwoods. Today, the Pettys’ impressive shops in the little town of Level Cross are among the best equipped and most productive in the world. When the Pettys build a race car, it is built to the letter of NASCAR rules. The body is moved back on the chassis the maximum permissible one inch, and the engine is moved back in the chassis. The vehicle is built from the ground up, out of body panels. That is, rather than starting out with…

The cooling system on today’s car is pretty reliable; but when it fails, it will happen just when you need it most. While most systems are adequate from the factory, air-conditioned or modified cars sometimes put just a little extra strain on the works, and you might find that every time you stop the car, coolant squirts out of the overflow tube from the radiator. This results in having to constantly add coolant and sometimes, after a long run, finding that you are down several quarts of the precious liquid that keeps your engine cool. In many cases, those inexpensive (under $3) coolant recovery kits will save the day on cars which don’t already have them as factory equipment. They operate on a principle of allowing the hot expanded liquid…

As long as you guys keep building different kinds of street rods, we’ll keep passing along different ideas for pointing the front wheels. Years ago there were but a couple of suitable steering boxes for hot rods. Today it seems that every five minutes the phone rings and a new super-easy idea is presented. The latest one we’ve seen really does lead the pack for ease of installation, being nearly a bolt-in operation. The unit is from the VW Microbus,’69 or earlier. Not only do the box and bracket bolt quickly to a square or rectangular section frame, the steering column is infinitely adjustable to any desired angle. The weight of the VW bus should give you an idea of the type of rod this box is suited for. Andy…

After several months of necessary preplanning, we are commencing with the first installment of our Project Street Rod. This is the vehicle which was originally spoken of in the February Car Craft Point of View, and was mentioned again in the April Hot Rod Editorially Speaking column. It should not be confused with the Street Roadster of the Future which was announced in the March Hot Rod. Our intent with the Project Street Rod is to show, in a complete step-by-step format, how to scratch-build a full-fendered’26 T, using as many commercially available aftermarket products as possible, hopefully avoiding the use of any original equipment. The idea is to build what would come close to a “mail order” rod, although the construction methods will be detailed throughout for those of…

Weber Speed Equipment has introduced a new line of budget-priced clutches that are designed for both street and strip applications. Called the Road Grabber, the new clutch assembly includes a low-cost pressure plate and a sprung-hub clutch disc. The new Weber line meets SEMA specs and is available in both 10 ½-and 11-inch sizes. To keep the price down, the pressure plate has a painted finish rather than a cadmium plate as does Weber’s top-line clutch assemblies. There are no rollers, and the clutch release levers are the open type instead of the more expensive solid design. Heavy-duty eye bolts are retained for increased dependability, with the unit set to 2800 pounds with 12 high-quality springs. The clutch disc has no aluminum backing, which cuts the cost somewhat, but does…

GARLITS RUNS 6.158,243.90 Gainesville, Florida — At the third annual edition of the NHRA Gatornationals, Don Garlits, and Ed “The Ace” McCulloch emerged as Top Fuel and Funny Car champions respectively. Garlits faced a serious threat from Mississippi’s Clayton Harris in Jack MacKay’s New Dimension fueler, the same car that had recorded an unbelievable 6.16 run recently on the West Coast. MacKay sported a new decal that proclaimed in large letters, “Big Daddy Who?” By the end of the weekend, he knew. Garlits worked his way meticulously to the top and along the way established himself as drag racing’s quickest and fastest driver ever. In the semi-final round against Bakersfield winner Tom McEwen, Garlits captured the unofficial e.t. record with a 6.158-second blast, and in the final he defeated Harris’…

Never before—and we’ve been in this business since 1904—has anyone offered the flexibility, the flair and the functionalism of automotive instrumentation. Our newly developed modular gauge housings let you design instrument clusters of any configuration. And we mean any your imagination can dream up. Mount them above, below or beside the dash. In horizontal or vertical stacks. On the hump. Anywhere there is room for a mounting foot or two, each about the size of a half-dollar… Brand new Stewart-Warner instruments are now available in Stage 3, Stage 2, and Stage 1, in addition to a complete line for the professional racer. Tach housings match gauge modules for a mix or match flexibility and complete compatibility. You can make future additions at anytime with no design sacrifice. See our exciting…

First you lay out a whole lot of bread for a set of wheels… that’s for openers. Then you start tricking it up… that means more bread for headers, manifolds, cams, lifters, pistons and other goodies. All so there’s no mistake… ifs your machine. Right? OK. So now you’re ready to get all that power where it’ll do the most good…on the ground. That’s where we come in. Formula Super Stock Tires. We’re big and tough. And now we re something else too. Listen. We had this independent tire testing company in Texas run some tests for us. We’ve said we’ve got a great tire. Well, this lab proved it. According to these tests, our tire, the Formula Super Stock, wore 80% longer* and sticks with the best of them…

The Vega 140-cubic inch engine is a completely new design that was specifically developed for Chevy’s new little car. The original design parameters for the engine were good performance, adequate fuel economy, dependability and easy maintenance. Although the basic engine design is fresh when compared to other American production engines, the aluminum Vega engine has been very well accepted by the mini car-buying public. Refreshing engineering approaches include a die-cast aluminum cylinder block with five main bearing bulkheads, which make the assembly exceptionally strong, and a cast-iron overhead cam head. The engine is of long stroke configuration with a 3.625-inch stroke, compared to the smaller 3.5-inch bore diameter. Compression ratio for the standard 90 hp and optional 110-hp engines is 8.00:1. Chevy claims that the net brake horsepower of this…

Any Chevy engine, if it’s well-modified or just slightly warmed-over, requires a good set of valve seals. Originally, a small rubber O-ring, fitted in the second valve stem groove, served as the only means of restricting oil flow down the valve guides. Some heads were later outfitted with a rubber wiper seal which fit over machined valve guide bosses. Engine builders attempted to go even further, and they machined the guides to accept even more efficient seals, such as the all-Teflon Perfect Circle seals or the Associated Spring-Raymond steel/Teflon design. High-combustion efficiency puts even more of a demand on valve seals, which is the reason for going to the Teflon-type seals. Some engine builders install these units only on the intake valves, as they believe the seals create a friction,…

By Tom Senter The big news in the world of street rodding today is the use of the Jaguar and Corvette independent rear suspensions. IRS has captured everyone’s fancy, and more than one rodder currently tooling down the boulevard (perhaps comfortably, even with Ford cross-leaves) is drawing plans in his mind’s eye to adapt an XKE or Corvette rearend to his’29 roadster, T-bucket or deuce sedan delivery. There are few modifications which can be made to a street rod that require as much expert engineering and proper installation as the IRS does. Hand in hand with the IRS comes the problem of mismatched braking systems and some nasty handling dilemmas that can occur if the job is botched. We’re going to take a look at two popular IRS systems and…

An automobile race that A.J. Foyt hasn’t raced in and won might be a race not worth entering. And the car-building, quick-as-a-flash pit servicing Wood Brothers of Stuart, Virginia, enjoy the same reputation. A more likely combination of talent is hard to imagine, yet it was only a little over one year ago that the two factions got together on the Grand National NASCAR circuit. The famed No. 21 has represented a great number of drivers over the past years. When Cale Yarborough decided to go USAC Championship racing in 1971, the “ride” in the Wood-built Mercury was open. A most logical candidate in the person of USAC driver A.J. Foyt was nominated, and he immediately set forth to almost win (save for a crimped gas filler tube) the’71 Daytona…

owner: Steve Broadus New Albany, Indiana car:’31 Chevrolet…

If the thought of working on your own car scares you, don’t worry; you’re not alone. A lot of people would rather pay a bunch of money to someone else to do the work than risk the possibility of fouling it up themselves, particularly when the job involves electrical wiring. When it came time to install a stereo unit in our Toyota Project Car, we plunged ahead full of monstrous anxieties, knowing that if we messed it up the whole world would see it when the Toyota story was published. The unit we selected was a Kraco FM Multiplex 8-track tape player (KS-666), along with a pair of Kraco five-inch flush-mount speakers (SST-101F) from Kraco Products in Compton, California. We soon found, however, that this outfit was incredibly easy to…

Street rods require at least three plumbing systems before they roll out of the shop into the light of day. They are the fuel system, the cooling system, and the brakes. The first and last are crucial because failure of one of these can have catastrophic consequences. We’ll concentrate on the brake lines here and discuss the others at a later date. Plumbing your own brake lines is not a difficult task but one which should be handled with a certain amount of respect. The proper tools and knowledge of technique will result in a job properly done. The same thing holds for any street rod task. Use either 3/16-inch or quarter-inch brake lines. Early Fords used quarter-inch (post 1940) but most late-model systems use 3/16. It really doesn’t matter…

How ya gonna keep’em down on the farm, after they’ve stuffed a blown 427 Rat in their altered-wheelbase John Deere tractor? That seemed to be the gist of the National Tractor Pull held recently in Louisville, Kentucky, as over 18,000 people jammed into Freedom Hall at the National Farm Machinery Show each of the three nights of competition to see more than 150 tractors of all shapes and descriptions have at it. Exactly how these tractors compete requires a bit of explanation. Essentially, a special sled has been designed by the National Tractor Pullers Association (NTPA) for use at all their sanctioned events. Each entrant pulls the same sled, and at a fixed rate; the farther they pull the sled, a greater percentage of the weight of the sled is…

Henry Ford made a pretty good little coupe in 1940, and that was good enough for Glen Krapff. He’s owned his for ten years. He bought it at the age of 14 from the original owner for $50. Concurrently, Glen bought an early Olds sedan and pilfered the running gear. The Forty Standard was back on the highway in time for Glen’s sixteenth birthday, whereupon it gave faithful service in school duties and youthful hot rodding pursuits. By 1965, time and money were more plentiful and the’56 Olds engine was asking for more suds. While George Sievers Custom Engines massaged the motor, Glen procured a fresh B&M Hydro-Stick trans and a’59 Olds rearend, and married the two to the chassis. By 1971 Glen had added new chrome, new interior, a…

If you’ve ever been to the races and needed to drill a hole or cut a piece of heavy-gauge steel, you would appreciate a power converter. Designed to utilize an automotive electrical generating system for a convenient tool power supply, a power converter can be a very worthwhile addition to any tow rig. These converters have been around for a number of years; however, during that time many prospective owners were scared away due to rumored electrical failures. While it’s true there have been many development problems, and some units have been released that just weren’t capable of doing the job, power converters can be very dependable if installed and checked properly. There are many different makes on the market, some good, some not so good, and prices range from…

Who is the man on the June 1948cover and why is he smiling? You’d smile too if you had been playing with cars since you were 14, you were a world-famous cam grinder, and your name was Iskenderian. While attending Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, Ed spent his time building radios and tinkering with cars. The Month for June’48 wasEd’s homebuilt’24 T roadster, dubbed “La Cucaracha” by a colorful Mexican sheriff during a trip south in 1940. It is powered by a 21-stud’32 Ford block fitted with a Maxi overhead conversion kit that Ed modified for better performance. I say “is” because he still owns the old timer, once clocked at 120 mph during WW II. This issue featured an open letter from Associate Editors and Publishers Robert E.…

“The parts contained in this list are available through I Chevrolet Parts and Service Departments for updating I engines for maximum performance.” So reads the heading on Chevy’s latest listing of their heavy-duty and high-performance parts. In an effort to keep you up to date on Chevrolet’s performance offerings, we’ve compiled a number of the newest and most important parts numbers for the following listing. Not only are these parts currently available, they also represent one of the most complete listings of Chevrolet service parts ever to be published. Some of these parts numbers are appearing for the first time in any automotive publication, and no doubt many parts dealers will try to tell you they have no listing for some of these pieces. If you encounter such a situation,…

Drag racing is not a team sport. It never has been and it was not designed as such. The basic premise of the sport is that anyone can play as long as he has a car and can drive it down the quarter-mile. During the past few years, however, as the competition has grown stiffer and the costs of racing have increased tremendously, a number of multi-car teams have appeared on the drag racing scene to show that there may indeed be strength in numbers. It’s not surprising, then, to see a multitude of teams cropping up for this’72 season, all claiming to be the greatest thing since Chrondek timers. Based on the previous performances by its members, one new group stands head and shoulders above the others, the Gianino…

Early Chevy small-block heads had pressed-in rocker arm studs. This method of installing studs was inexpensive and did the job for the stockers. However, when the cam is replaced and heavier valve springs are used, these pressed-in studs become marginal. Stud pinning kits have been available for many years, and these kits work well, until it comes time to replace a broken or worn-out stud. Because studs are treated with a very hard finish, it’s common for the threads to peel off, rendering the studs useless. When this happens, the stud or studs require replacing. Late-model Chevy heads come from the factory with screw-in studs: however, this isn’t new. Racers have been using screw-in studs on Chevy heads for years. There are a variety of studs available that will work…

In today’s market of middleweight road machines there’s an infinite array of complex motorcycles to choose from. In the 500cc class there are twins, triples and fours in either two-or four-stroke-engine varieties. In this respect, the BSA Gold Star stands alone in both engine design and performance. The British Birmingham Small Arms motorcycle division has retained the “obsolete” OHV thumper engine, seemingly as its patriarch to stand up against the mighty Japanese multis. In its obsolesence it is also the most unique machine available among the ranks of the midi-size superbikes. The Gold Star is an experience to today’s motorcyclist in every form. If you haven’t ridden one of these one-lungers, you are missing a treat. The styling of the Gold Star has been Americanized but remains unusually simple. There’s…

Junior Johnson’s Chevrolet lineage can be traced back more than a decade. Junior won the 1960 Daytona 500 in a brand-new Impala, and in 1963, he debuted the “Mystery ZU” (forerunner of the current bigblock Chevrolet engine) at Daytona and, in so doing, established a then somewhat awe-inspiring Chevrolet record of 163.681 mph. Ironically, that’63 Grand National car was prepared by Ray Fox, one of Junior’s best car-building competitors in recent years. Junior’s Chevy wasn’t the fastest at Daytona in’63, but it was the first-to-be-the-fastest, and thereby gained him a good starting spot. Unofficially, Junior’s Chevy did run 168 in practice, so it was the most feared car on the track. It didn’t win that race, and since 1963, Chevrolet hasn’t been the name of the car that has won…

Roger Penske is well-known for his appearance as a polished professional. It is an appearance which was won, not granted. Penske was originally an engineer and a part-time amateur racer. He quickly graduated to being an exceedingly good racer and then to an imaginative constructor and, finally, a businessman and team manager. Teaming with Mark Donohue for the driving chores, the Penske organization dominated’68 and’69 Trans-Am competition with their Camaros, despite an exceedingly strong Ford factory effort. In 1970, the sedan racing efforts of the Penske organization were acquired by American Motors to campaign a Javelin in the Trans-Am wars. After a reasonably successful first year, the Trans-Am championship was brought to AM in 1970—a year when there was no other factory effort. Looking for other fields to conquer, AM…

What’s purple, made of fiberglass and goes 220 mph? No, not SuperGrape, but the new Trojan Horse of Doheny & Fullerton, one of the fastest and most colorful of the’72 Funny Cars. The car itself is similar to many other new FCs: Buttera 116-inch-wheelbase chassis, Pink 448 Hemi, Crower clutch, Lenco 2-speed, Halibrand rear, Goodyear tires and a Kirby body with Youngblood lettering. Here ends the similarity. All the body and chassis aluminum is purple anodized, the Kirby paint is a glistening combination of black and blue/marana pearl, and the back window features a Youngblood mural of the original Trojan Horse from Greek myth. The backgrounds of Kevin Doheny and Larry Fullerton are equally colorful, with Kevin descended from a family of California oil magnates after whom Doheny Drive in…

The air was charged with electric tension. The drivers were poised on their tippytoes awaiting the signal for the Le Mans-type start. The loudest noise that could be heard was someone giggling in the background. Then, after a wait of at least four seconds, the “tweet-warble-warble-warble” of the referee’s plastic whistle interrupted the placid calm and 20 of the nation’s fastest (and slowest) drivers pitter-pattered across the slippery polished steel plate floor and attempted to find a vehicle that someone else hadn’t gotten to first. After another 20 or 30 seconds, when everyone had found an unoccupied car and managed to lurch away from the starting area, the First Annual Hot Rod Magazine Bumpercar Nationals began. Before we continue this breathtaking account of group insanity, perhaps a bit of background…

Ford Goes Drag RacingNew 5-Speed Racing TransWhisnant’s Race Car Shop PROPOSED MINI PRO RULES Santa Ana, California — Dean Lowry is well-known to many of you VW enthusiasts, as he is the guy who built the modified VW into what it is today. Well, Dean is at it again, only this time he’s pulling for a heads-up Mini Pro bracket. He has gone to the extent of proposing a set of plans to NHRA for their evaluation, and we would like to present them to you for your comments. Whatever your feelings, drop NHRA a note and let them know just how you feel about the idea. The proposal calls for a ten-pound-per-cubic-inch class break. CLASS REQUIREMENTS Ballast: Permitted. Maximum of 120 pounds. Battery: Trunk installation permitted. Two maximum. Total…

Ansen Automotive Engineering, of Gardena, California, has just released its Coil Ground Grabber, a super-duty street and strip traction bar for all cars with rear coil springs except the Vega. These bars feature fully adjustable stop bolts to allow the rear suspension to be effectively locked up for strip operation, thus enabling you to put your power to the ground. For street operation, the stop bolts are simply backed on to permit normal movement of the rear suspension. In addition, the stop bolts allow biasing of the suspension for weight control to provide equal traction from both rear wheels. In design and construction, the Coil Ground Grabbers excel over stock suspension components, offering rugged box frame construction, solid steel bushings with grease fittings and, most important, a relocated lower pivot…

HOT ROD MART Requirements: 25-word limit per ad, not including name and address. We reserve right to edit copy or refuse ads. While not responsible for accuracy of description, we will reject misleading statements. No ads from commercial firms. Only one car may be listed in any one ad; this limitation not to apply to parts or equipment, however. Please state preference for street or competition listing. $10 per ad must accompany each insertion. When photo is included, the rate is increased to $15 per insertion. Due to normal publication schedule, allow at least two months from time ad is received until it is printed. STREET MACHINES SELL — 1932 Ford roadster, Olds-powered, Chevy 4-speed and driveline, S-W, tape, 20 coats Candy Apple Red Metalflake, M/T mags and tires, excellent…