Indholdsfortegnelse for March 1983 i Hot Rod

Electronic Motors Since Ford would like to see their new aluminum 429 become a contender in Pro Stock and Fuel racing, they have begun a development program utilizing an all electronic fuel management system. An important spin-off of this technology will be the performance “chip” concept which will permit the driver to select performance or fuel economy with an on-board black box. The same box would service 4, 6, and 8-cylinder engines and control a variety of functions including rpm limiting and precise ignition curve tuning. OCIR Reprieve Once again the fate of the Orange County International Raceway was snatched from the jaws of death at the last minute when the Irvine Company agreed to extend the lease for one more year. This isn’t the first time it’s gone down…

What would you pay for a car that had the following: fully independent front and rear suspension with mostly aluminum components, 13:1 rack-and-pinion power steering, four-wheel disc brakes with aluminum calipers, speed-rated radial tires with a trick directional tread pattern and 16-inch aluminum wheels, tilt “clamshell” hood, halogen driving lights, 4-speed manual trans (backed by an electric 2-speed overdrive) or 4-speed automatic overdrive trans, aluminum differential with aluminum propshaft and halfshafts, digital/tape display instrumentation with computer diagnostic callouts, six-way adjustable electric driving seat, high-tech stereo system, 140 mph top speed, and .95 G cornering ability as delivered from the factory? $50,000? $75,000? $100,000? After all, the description sounds like a Ferrari, Lamborghini, or perhaps a Porsche, and they’re all priced way up there. We all know only foreign cars have…

Understanding the Q-Jet for Fun and Horsepower Among the 4-barrel hall-of-famers, there is an absolute master of numbers; a carburetor that has been used on more V8s than any other; a carburetor that has defied standards and retains the capability for adjustment in the midst of others that cannot be tampered with … that shining star is the Rochester Quadrajet. “Q-Jet?” you say. Well, they’re not pretty, but they can be made to work under an astonishing variety of conditions, due to the basic design. The Q-Jet is indeed adjustable, and that’s been part of the problem over the years—the extremely large assortment of metering rods, jets, power piston springs, cams, and other paraphernalia Rochester offers to service the little monster. There are about 90 pieces in the ordinary Q-Jet,…

Rick Mattie’s ’71 Z28 began its new life when it was rescued from a salvage yard with heavy front end damage. As a GM electrical specialist at Ostrom Chevrolet, Rick had access to all the tools he needed to replace the squashed sheetmetal. He drove the car until deciding to make it a mountain flyer (a canyon racer for you local Californians). The result is the gleamer you see here. From the Erson-cammed 350 to the Jackson/Hilborn injection set up by Craig Railsback at Blower Drive Service in Whittier, California, the ponies come on strong and quick in the revised Camaro. To make a better handler out of a good one to begin with, Rick enlisted the help of Bryan Nelson and Kenny Williamson to install Trans Am springs and…

Blown T-buckets are street rodding’s answer to drag racing’s Fuel Altereds. The bucket’s light weight, short wheelbase, and conventional suspension make it a handful under acceleration. Obviously, Denny Wilson’s (Indianapolis, Indiana) ’23 ’glass replica—urged through the atmosphere by 327 inches of Carter-carbureted, Isky-driven, 6-71 stuffed Chevy—epitomizes the name “Fast-T.” Ol’ Fast-T features a black with orange and red flamed Cal Auto body channeled over a 2x3-inch mild steel frame, a one-piece tube axle, hairpin-style split wishbones, a ’57 Chevy rearend fitted with coil-overs and traction bars, plus both Hurst/Airheart disc and Chevy drum brakes. No doubt about it, Denny’s “brickyard” bucket is strictly for getting sideways.…

Arnold McKee’s ’69 Z28 is one of the hardest running, small-block powered bracket cars on the West Coast. His Camaro is remarkably consistent for a stick shift car, and its wheels-up starts are a real crowd pleaser at the tracks he frequents. Arnold insists he’s no expert, but then 3000-pound Camaros don’t run mid-10s at more than 130 mph if they’ve been assembled by nincompoops—perhaps he knows more than he’s telling. McKee believes race cars should have small-block Chevy engines, manual transmissions, and look like real cars; a door-slammer devotee for sure. During a three-year period he steadily improved the car’s performance with hard work, determination, and a lot of help from family and friends. Previous experience with some early Chevys, two ’69 Camaros, and a ’65 Chevelle gave him…

Mixed with the cries of “Steel Is Real,” “’Glass Is Class,” and “Wood Is Good” is the slogan “Tin Is In.” It’s in all right, as in interiors and inside engine compartments and trunks in the form of wheel tubs, gas tanks, and battery boxes because “tin,” a nickname for both sheet steel and sheet aluminum, has suddenly replaced ’Hyde and ’hair as coverings. Consequently, we decided it was time to have Steve Davis, tin man extraordinary, show us how to wallpaper an interior with sheetmetal.…

SUZUKI GSLLOOE “Name the 10 best motorcycles in the world” “Well, they’d have to be big-bore meat-eaters because maximum horsepower is what you want for maximum motorcycling. Let’s see, there’s Honda’s CB1100F, the Kawasaki GPz1100, the new Yamaha 900 Seca, Suzuki’s spaceship Katana, the Suzuki 1100ES with the fairing, perhaps the Kawasaki Eddie Lawson Replica, maybe even a couple of 750s—Honda’s Interceptor and the Kawie GPz. If you wanted a cruiser, there’d be a big Harley or the Honda V65 Magna.…” “Hey, you forgot the Suzuki GS1100—you know, the standard ‘E’ model.” “My gosh, that’s a great bike—how could I forget the ‘E’?” Happens all the time. This machine never received the notoriety of some of the others—if a magazine wanted a big burnout on the cover, they picked a…

Tool Crib This month we’ve got something for those of you who like to be organized on race day. You know the type, the guy who never gets dirty no matter what … he can pull the pan on his Powerglide while wearing a tuxedo. Alston Engineering’s new tool caddy, cleverly named the “Pit Manager,” sits on top of your engine (just like the big guys!) and holds all your tuning stuff and two sets of plugs. It’s large enough to hold any jet board, a timing light, a few wrenches, and the usual assortment of points, power valves, springs, and the other gadgets that you’ll need between rounds at the track. It’s made of aluminum, powder-coated with a red finish that seems impervious to fuel and most kinds of…

Warranted Modules Auto Electronics, Inc., is the first to introduce a lifetime warranty on all Ford electronic ignition modules. These performance application modules are easily distinguished from their standard line by the utilization of emerald green potting material. AEI/Auto Electronic, Inc., Dept. HR-3, 14803 49th St. N., Clearwater, FL 33520, (813) 530-1684. New Line In Town Lunati Racing Cams has just unveiled a complete line of “High Efficiency” camshafts for street machines. Available in either hydraulic or flat-tappet grinds, the all-new High Efficiency cams are engineered to improve both fuel economy and performance. The complete Lunati Products Catalog can be obtained for $3. Lunati Racing Cams, Dept. HR-3, 3871 Watman Ave., Memphis, TN 38118, (901) 865-0950. Power Line Powerflex is the first selection of ready-to-in-stall brakeline kits available for most…

We’re not exactly talking about the Belmont Stakes or the Kentucky Derby here, but our 20 tips are every bit as important to the serious bracket racer as the latest odds are to the trackside bookie. There are a variety of things that are fundamental to getting a race car down the track quickly and consistently, and we’ve assembled some of them for you here. Some things need to be repeated every time you go to the track and others are safety related, but they’re all basic to the ultimate concern of winning races. Apply them to your own racing effort and reward yourself with fewer headaches, a safer and faster race car, and probably a trophy or two if you really have your act together. Reverse Lockout To meet…

Paul Gommi, a former Top Fueler whose background includes stints with Carroll Shelby and Keith Black, took the big plunge. He decided to build a full-tilt resto rod loaded to the hilt with all the gennie accessories which restorers live and die by. Aside from the ’34 Ford’s late-model equipped undercarriage—fitted with a fully detailed buggy spring front suspension, a Gulstrand-modified Corvette IRS, both disc and drum binders, and a 289-inch “Hank” that cranks into a C-4 tranny—the pert convert is simply neat ol’ stuff. For instance, there is no filler in the rare all-metal worked steel body and fenders; all the brightwork, from the grille shell to the taillight buckets, is original; and its interior features such rarities as dual heat-gas and amp-oil gauges, an original ash tray radio,…

Like old wine, fine cigars, and ancient fiddles, the conventional buggy spring suspension continues to get better with age. And that’s ironic. The buggy spring suspension is as old as horse-drawn buggies, from which it was named, yet it continues to act as the basic suspension system found under 85 percent of today’s street rods, not to mention our current crop of trucks. If you were with us last month (Feb. ’83). you will recall just what a buggy spring suspension consists of. If you weren’t with us (and shame on you if that’s the case), a buggy spring suspension is generally composed of a solid axle, spring(s), shock absorbers, and control arms. And this holds true whether the suspension is in the front or rear of the rod. Since…

There are any number of ways to get down the racetrack fast, and Larry Tores knows most of them. He’s been stepping in and out of record-holding race cars for years, and you can’t do that consistently with gimmicks. Tores follows a more scientific approach—one where mechanical relationships are governed by sound physical principles…not necessarily etched in granite, but reasonably dependable given normal circumstances. Larry isn’t the sort of guy who jumps to put tab A into slot B, but he is always willing to consider the possibilities and maybe even give them a try if the equations and karma are right. More often than not he can be found tending his busy machine shop while subconsciously formulating new ways to cheat the laws of physics on the dragstrip. For…

When “Frantic” Fred Badberg, an ex-drag racing, rod-building native of Nebraska, decided to whip together a “repro” rod for his wife, Lu, to drive to work, he did what every old Ford-loving farm boy would do. He bolted to gether an “A” hauler. If his truck has a familiar look to it its’s because we used it as Santa’s “sleigh” in our big Christmas Buyer’s Guide (Dec. ’82). We thought you’d like a closer look at Fred’s latest jewel. A repro rod like this can be fashioned from over-the-counter reproduction parts. Consequently, Frantic’s six-month, $10,000, ’29 “A” roadster picup is based on a TCI manufactured frame to which is attached a Super Bell axle, 4-link radius rods, both TCI tube and Aldan adjustable coil-over shocks, and a ’67 Mustang rearend.…

Address all questions to Talking Tech, HOT ROD Magazine, 8490 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069. Please restrict inquiries to one question per letter. All letters must be signed and contain a return address. Due to the large number of questions received each month, personal replies are not possible. Questions will be answered only in this column, so please, no tech questions by phone. Tech Tips Correction In the January ’83 “Tech Tips,” a formula was given for determining the piston-to-crank clearance in a non-stock combination. We incorrectly stated that if D (the amount of separation between the piston bottom and crank counterweight) is greater than zero, the piston would hit the crank. The correct statement is, “If D is less than zero, you are colliding.” This was correctly illustrated…

Readers who would like to see their wives, girlfriends, or sweethearts in next year’s English Leather Calendar are encouraged to submit current swimsuit photos of their favorite ladies for HOT ROD’s Super Nats Photo Contest. Female readers may submit their own photos if they wish. The editors will be selecting a dozen lovely winners who will be invited to compete in an English Leather Regional Calendar Girl Contest to be held at the HOT ROD Super Nats this June. Winners will have to find their own way to Berea, Ohio, for the contest, but HOT ROD will pick up the tab for their rooms during their stay. The winner selected at this event will automatically become a finalist with an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas for the finals in November.…

Situation: A certain Chevelle lover wants to build a new car, but all he has to work with is Grandma’s ’69 four-door sedan. Solution: Get rid of two doors. (It helps if you’re a body and fender man like Dennis Van Dyke.) Result: After untold hours of work, a unique custom creation that turns heads in Oakdale, California—especially when “Shorty” pulls the front wheels off the ground with its potent 13:1 454, backed by a full manual valve body Turbo 400 and 9-inch Lincoln rearend. Would you believe 11.40s @ 125 mph? (Those wheelie bars are definitely needed!) Dennis cut things down to size by removing the front doors and the surrounding frame, then welding the whole thing together, reinforcing and fishplating the frame in the process. By the way,…

The very suggestion of cast connecting rods is usually enough to send knowledgeable racing mechanics scurrying for cover. So why are many of them turning with a surprising degree of confidence to a new cast rod? You can bet that if there weren’t significant advantages, topname racers wouldn’t touch these rods with a 10-foot torque wrench. Could it be that the new Competition Rods from Competition Cams (2806 Hangar Rd., Memphis, TN 38118, 901/795-2400) offer all the advantages of forged steel connecting rods and maybe just a little bit more? Indeed, and what’s more they’re only about half the cost of commonly used forged rods. Sound too good to be true? Well, take a closer look. The key ingredient of any connecting rod is fatigue strength, a quality governed by…

The ’69 ZL-1 Camaro was born in the days when men were men and wimps drove just a car. Its singular purpose was to drive over, under, around, and through anything with fenders, and it was amply equipped to do so—all engine and a place to sit. You might say it was the automotive equivalent to the SR-71 spy plane: a Mach 3 + product of Lockheed’s famed Skunk Works design shop. Chevrolet’s version of the Skunk Works is called Product Promotion, and when they put their mind to it, they can conceive some pretty nasty equipment. The ZL-1 Camaro was one of their masterpieces; a four-wheeled sledge hammer with plenty of muscle to wield it. Somehow Bill Porterfield knew this was a car worth having at any price. He…

There may be a lot of you out there who think Ford Pintos are a joke, but rest assured that the old saying, “He who laughs last, laughs best” is still valid. You see, since Fullerton, California’s Dan Bayard’s fully blueprinted 351 Windsor-powered Pinto is backed up with a Lazer Stage II nitrous oxide system (to the tune of 1 1.72 @ 115), the joke’s on the competition. Of course, all that power in a lightweight car is no laughing matter—you need a C-4 trans (complete with Art Carr 10-inch converter and Trans-Go reprogramming kit) to feed the power back to a massive stock-length 9-inch Ford with 4.56 gears. The motor itself was shoe-horned in using a Hooker kit. Cooling is handled by a modified Vega radiator.…

Bill Gray’s Indian Red, 3700-pounder ’51 Pontiac is a sight for your eyes…Underneath the flawless, original sheetmetal there lies a long list of modern go-fast pieces, rolling on a narrowed Dana with Summers Brothers insides in the rear and mostly stock components in the front. The big push comes from a very heavily massaged 1969 455 Pontiac mill that’s been blueprinted and balanced, O-ringed to handle the Arias pistons, and stuffed with an Armor Steel 428 crank. Valve action comes from a Competition Cams roller through big block pushrods and roller rockers to the Ram Air IV tulip-shaped valves. Valley Head Service in Los Angeles assembled the heads with crane triple springs. The handmade tunnel ram was built by Bill with Sal Lopez of Sacramento, California. Inspiration comes from a…

I wanted to get back into drag racing so my teenage sons could get involved,” Mel Marrs explained. So Marrs—along with Phil Lukens (owner of Blair’s Speed Shop, where the BB/Altered was built) and Dave Wear (who supplied most of the labor)—did what came naturally and put together one of the most beautiful “hot rod” roadsters in the country. We say hot because the rod ran an 8.3 sec. @ 162 mph, or .21 second under the NHRA index the first time out. And as for its beauty, just check out its visuals. Marrs’ mauler is motorvated by 301 inches of Moldex-cranked, Arias-slugged, Barnes-cammed, Webster-headed, and Hampton-wheezed ’56 Chrysler Hemi. The classy chassis, formed from 4130 chrome-moly, is supported by a tube front axle, Konis on all four corners, a…