Indholdsfortegnelse for September 1990 i Hot Rod

CRAGAR TEAMS UP WITH CODDINGTON In a move to widen the scope of Coddington-style wheels, Boyd Coddington (right) and Joe Hrudka (Cragar’s CEO) have recently announced the introduction of a new line of wheels, which will be called "Boyd by Cragar.” These two-piece rollers—featuring steel rims fitted with aluminum centers that have been designed for all the popular bolt patterns, styles, and offsets—will be available at your local wheel shops or speed emporiums by the time you read this. GM’s New 24-valve 3.4L V6 GM’s new 24-valve 60-degree V6 will have a ’91 introduction in the Pontiac Grand Prix, Chevrolet Lumina, and Olds Cutlass Supreme. The new four-valve-per-cylinder 3.4L V6 is based on the earlier 3.1 L short-block, with various revisions for the four-valve application. While it’s not an entirely…

The idea of a road trip in CadZZilla started simply enough. ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons had a belief that CadZZilla was a true road car, not a useless garage queen. From that feeling came his desire to pass some highways beneath it Billy really wanted to make the drive himself. Unfortunately, he was busy recording ZZ Top’s new album, which is expected to have a Fall ’90 release. To set the wheels in motion, Billy contacted Boyd Coddington and HOT ROD’S publisher, Harry Hibler, and soon the journey began. After much deliberation, it was decided that HOT ROD’S newest staffers, Rob Kinnan and I, would drive this magnificent beast all the way to Canfield, Ohio, in time to attend the Hot Rod Super Nationals. Before you could say “Delirious,” we…

What constitutes a magazine quality car? Be it an event or over the phone, that’s the $64 question that’s easier asked than answered. On second thought, as this story is strung together, maybe George Poteet’s ’35 three-window will serve as a partial reply. First, it sits right. We call it stance, which we delineate as rear-to-front rake. George achieved this by sticking a set of 14x6 Center Lines (shod with 185-14 Michelins) on a dropped Super Bell front axle. Then he added a pair of 15x8 Center Lines and 23515 Michelins to the 9-inch Ford rear axle assembly. The idea behind using 14s land 15s that the sidewall depth between the twd tire looks alike. But that’s only part of it. Note how’ the front and’rear wheels and tires fit…

Dear HRM: I’m putting a Chevy 454 into my ’53 Hudson. Who makes headers for this swap? S. Hue HornerGreat Bend, Kansas Dear Hue:You do! HRMHollyweird, California All kidding aside, the above inquiry is typical of readers with one-off custom combinations. Unfortunately, it’s just not profitable for the big header companies to offer headers for every possible combination, let alone unique custom swaps. Even if an off-the-shelf header is available for a particular combination, it may be a design compromise that delivers less than optimum performance for a given engine. In these Circumstances, a custom header must be built by a small specialty shop (very expensive) or—in hot rodding’s finest tradition—you can do it yourself. Home-building headers isn’t as difficult as you might think, as major header companies today offer…

The readers who are always moaning about the lack of low-buck cars in HRM must have had David Parish in mind. You see, Dave, a native of Ed-dyville, Kentucky, where he works as a foreman for GAF Corporation, purchased his ’64 SS Chevelle six years ago for a grand sum of 75 bucks. Now that’s a little bit of all right. However, Dave allows, “My Chevelle has been in a continual stage of improvement since I bought it because I’ve done all the bodywork, engine building, frame construction, and tin bending myself.” That means that o? Dave ordered up 2x3-inch rectangular tubing to narrow the rear portion of the frame so he could tub and tire (33x17.5-15 Firestones on 15x15 Center Lines) his double-S Chevy. It was Dave who added…

If you hadn’t noticed, Mike Adams builds some pretty neat cars. He produced the “Neon Nova” (HRM November ’89), Larry Williams’ cover Willys (HRM February ’89), and most recently, Rick Martin’s ’37 “Top Flight Fat-ty” Ford (HRM July ’90). These beauties join savage beauty and raw power with a style all their own. While no two are alike, every one’s a winner! We recently visited Adams’ Rod Shop at its new location in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was a treat, indeed! In his shop, numerous unusual hot rods were at various levels of completion. While each can be considered radical, most will put the rubber to the road. Mike feels the first consideration in building a hot rod is driveability: “After all, they are cars!” During our visit, we…

There is more to driving safely than simply following the rudimentary rules of the road that your driver’s ed teacher hammered into your head. The key to driving safely is control; control in abrupt, emergency situations, such as when a biker darts into your path; control in light traction conditions, such as rain or snow; and even control after you think you’ve lost all control. There’s more you can do to control your car than simply turning into the direction of the skid and easing off the throttle—much more. But you need a supervised area in which to practice these new skills. Because of this need, many race-oriented driving schools have begun to offer “teenage” driving courses: courses specially designed to teach drivers the necessary reflexes and driving skills to…

No matter how much money you throw at a project, it all comes down to one thinq: The quality of the car depends on the quality of the people involved. As far as Baby ’Bolt is concerned, it’s top quality in every respect. “This car,” said Scott Sullivan, “is too good to give away. Can I have it?” Obviously, Scott is very pleased with his work. And whoever is lucky enough to win it will have one heck of slick Streeter—one that dozens of first-rate people had a hand in bringing to life (see “Project Baby ’Bolt,” HRM, April, May, and June ’90 for details). However, there are a few heroes we need to mention in this, the final chapter of Baby ’Bolt. Joe McCormick is the as yet unsung…

We can make him faster, stronger. We have the technology.” What was true of the “Six Million Dollar Man” is also true of the electronic control modules (ECMs) that currently manage the fuel and spark functions of most production engines. While engineers in Detroit wrestle with CAFE standards, exhaust emissions levels, and driveability considerations, companies plying the seas of the performance aftermarket have a different set of priorities. Put these priorities together, and they spell “power.” Clearly, before high-performance engines and computerized controls can expand their budding relationship, some means has to be developed to allow the ECM to break free of its reliance on a fixed set of control codes; air/fuel ratio and ignition curves must be easily alterable to accommodate a wide variety of engine modifications. Doug Wallis…

I’ve gotta recall game for you. Betcha can’t remember what you were doing on August 29, 1989. I can’t… and I’ll bet my fellow gearheads, who cluster around HOT ROD’S ancient offices, haven’t the haziest recollection of what happened to them 365 days ago, either. But Troy Trepanier (pronounced “Tray-pan-yer”) can. On that day, the 20-year-old automotive technician and one of his pals were headed north on a 12-hour, 1000mile return run from Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, to their home in Manteno, Illinois. The white antelope in which they were ensconced was Troy’s newly acquired '60 impala. Say what? A ’60 Chevy Impala? Yes, a real, live, Uncle Daniel, two-door Sport Coupe with only 40,000 miles showing on its 30-year-old speedo, and it was Troy’s for the princely sum of $6000.…

Milestone MUSCLECARS Anyone witnessing the strip-shaking performances of today’s 275-mph 5-second AA/Funny Cars will find it difficult to connect those thundering acceleration machines with the purely pedestrian daily drivers found in a typical new-car dealer’s showroom. But by winding back the timers to the mid-’60s, the relationship between these contemporary competition cars and yesterday’s store-bought “grocery getters” can be seen more clearly. As we discussed in our recent reviews of the Ford 427s (“Galactic Journeys,” HRM July ’90) and Chevrolet’s “Ought Nines” (“Still Real Fine,” HRM September ’89), Detroit automakers were cranking out hardware upgrades for their hottest models on what seemed like a daily basis. To accommodate all those hightech improvements without affecting the production-car flavor of National Hot Rod Association Super Stock (S/S) drag racing, the NHRA maintained…

The Sportster has been around, it seems, forever. It all started in ’57, when Harley put the first overhead valve heads on the bottom end of the venerable flathead K. The rumbling pushrod V-twin overtook the imaginations of riders everywhere, and suddenly the Sportster was the bike to have if you wanted to come across as a high-performance, macho kind of guy. The latest incarnation of the “Sporty” hit the streets in ’85, with an allnew, all-aluminum Evolution engine and much improved performance, reliability, and oil retention. And the price was right. Even now, you can get a bare-bones 883cc Sporty for $4250 or in some cases, for less than a comparable V-twin cruiser from Japan. Harleys are “in” these days—the factory can’t make ’em fast enough to keep its…

UNCOOL Back in the late ’20s, when Roots-type supercharging became popular at the Brickyard, a guy by the name of Frank Lockhart devised what is now called an intercooler. What intercoolers do is remove detonation-causing heat from the incoming fuel charge. Since then, intercoolers have been used on every type of supercharged racing engine, including the Chevy that Kirk Kuhns (HRM May ’89) runs in his ’55 T-Bird. Not so, now. The NHRA-in another burst of paranoia-felt that Kirk’s “kooler” could be used to squirt nitrous or alky or some other kind of fuel additive into the charge that would give him a distinct advantage over his contemporaries in Competition Eliminator. Never mind that Buddy Ingersoll used intercoolers on his turbo Buick V6 or that the AA/A class index could…

Turbo Wrap Thermo-Tec is offering Turbo-Kit, a do-it-yourself kit for insulating turbos. By insulating your turbo, you can reduce “lag,” have a cooler engine compartment, and see an increase in power. For more info, see your parts dealer, call (800) 274-8437, or write to Thermo-Tec, Dept. HR-09, P.O. Box 946, Berea, OH 44017. Flash-Proof Welding Shield The Speedglas electronic welding shield allows you to constantly see what you're doing. The patented shield turns to a moderate "sunglass green” when switched on, until you strike up the arc. Then, in 1/500 second, it changes to a protective dark green. Speedglas features adjustable sensitivity for low MIG and TIG welding and complete ultraviolet and infrared protection (even in an unfiltered state). The shield and APC helmet weigh in at only 16 ounces.…

Over the weekend of June 1-3, 1990, the Canfield Fairgrounds in Ohio was overrun with some of the hottest street iron in the states for the 12th-annual running of the Hot Rod Super Nationals. The event was part of the General Tire/Special Events Performance Series and was sponsored by Motorcraft Quality Parts, The Penn-Ohio Ford Dealers, and Worldwide Auto Parts. Despite the uncertain weather patterns, the event took place in comfortable temperatures, with a few showers to cool things off both on and off the street. “You couldn’t ask for better weather,” said one participant, “but I just finished washing my car when it started to rain.” The Saturday afternoon showers were short and sweet and didn’t appear to dampen anyone’s spirits; from our vantage point, it didn’t appear that…

This is the decade when hot rodders and computers will finally arrive at a meaningful interface. The automotive industry is fully computerized, and many aftermarket manufacturers have embraced personal-computer (PC) technology to enhance productivity and to further research and develop programs that foster compatible products for the new generation of computerized cars. Computers have become a necessity in modern business, and with the advent of low-cost PCs, they can now make hot rodding more fun than ever. Why? Because computers allow you to brainstorm new performance combinations and try them out before you spring for the new parts that you hope will work. This has all become possible because computers are now available to everyone at extremely reasonable prices. The most prolific of these are the IBM clones that are…

Christopher Kielb, 20, of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, got a quick education in the fine art of race car construction when his father, Kaz, presented him with this ’73 Mach 1 that had been stolen and totaled in an accident. Chris originally began to restore it, but the project gradually evolved into a Pro Street effort, and then a full-fledged race car. With plenty of help from his dad’s welding business, a custom 2x3-inch primary frame was constructed and tied together with a full Funny Car-style roll cage. A Mark Williams 9-inch Ford rearend was hung using Koni coil-overs, while Strange Engineering front struts were used up front along with Stiletto rack and pinion steering and JFZ brakes. The car was fitted with Center Lines, front and rear, and it rolls on…

Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to have a great paint job. You can park on the outer fringes of the supermarket parking lot, with no other cars in sight, and sure enough, when you come out, there’s a rusty Pacer parked right on your door handles. You know the outcome even before seeing the car—a majorleague paint chip caused when the inconsiderate brain donor threw his door open. Other than the total frustration, the worst part about this is that it’s very difficult to hide the chip through conventional touchup techniques. A brush can be used, but the result is often less than perfect. The best solution is an airbrush, but this also has its limitations—namely price, the added necessity of an air compressor, and a reasonable level of skill…

Having painted numerous rods over the years, it was time George Gray had one for himself. His ’33 roadster began with a chassis by Magoo’s featuring stretched and boxed frame rails kicked up four inches in back to accommodate the narrowed 9-inch Ford rearend with drum brakes. This was set in place using four-link locators, an antiroll bar, and Aldan coil-over shocks. In front, a Super Bell dropped-tube axle and spindles join with a four-bar, a Posie leaf spring, and Aldan tube shocks. A Kelsey-Hayes proportioning valve passes fluids in stainless braided lines that are used throughout the car. The Vega steering was combined with a Chevy van tilt column and topped with a Nardi steering wheel. An ’86 Chevy 350 sits between the rails and features numerous updates including…

For most of his life, Eric S. Clippinger has had a fondness for ’55 Ford Thunderbirds, yet when he first saw this ’Bird under a tree in St Augustine, Florida, he walked away. One year later, he happened by the same location, and it was still there, no worse than before except for a bit more dirt. He approached the owner, and after a lengthy discussion, a deal was struck. Once in his garage, Eric must have wondered if the car was worth saving at all; his family and friends sure did! Literally every body panel had rusted, some worse than others, and all would require many hours of work before paint could be applied. The chassis also needed a rebuild, and Eric added a ’69 Ford 302 and Ford…