Indholdsfortegnelse for February 1993 i Hot Rod

If you’ve been reading this column for any length of time, then you know I am not an extremist. You are also probably aware of HOT ROD’s stance on environmentally intelligent performance cars and all the other environmentally conscious editorial we’ve written in the last few years. Staying constantly aware of our effect on our environment just makes sense. Any other attitude is wrong. That’s why I’m so incensed over a book I’ve just finished entitled The Holes In The Ozone Scare by Rogelio A. Maduro and Ralf Schauerhammer. The book was sent to me by friend and engineer Paul Sheridan who has been following this situation for a number of years. The topic deals with the ozone hole that occurs over the South Pole that environmentalists claim exists because…

AMERICAN MUSCLE CRATE MOTORS New aluminum intake manifold, flow-checked heads, Hypereutectic pistons, performance cam, and a Holley carburetor are just some of the quality components American Street Performance uses to produce its full line of small-block Chevy crate motors. The engines are available in five different combinations, ranging from a 320hp 355ci engine to a 426hp 406. For more information, contact American Street Performance Special, Inc., Dept. HR02, 1801 W. Irvington Pl., Denver, CO 80223, 303/733-1971. WHEN YOU’RE HOT COATINGS Jet Hot coating by Metallic Ceramic Coatings, Inc. (MCCI) may be the hottest coating available for exhaust parts as well as any other metal, cast iron, stainless steel, or aluminum parts on your car. The coating is a combination of aluminum and ceramics and outperforms chrome and paint in rust…

It was a muggy Memphis Sunday, September 1992; the previous day offered an awesome display of hard launching and parts lunching as the country’s most brutal street cars jockeyed for a position on the ladder. The event: HOT ROD’S Fastest Street Car in America Shootout. Torque wrenches clicked anxiously in the staging lanes during the first round of eliminations as a Technicolor ’Vette pulled into the bleach box. Speed-jaded automotive journalists near the starting line lifted lens to eye, expecting a good show from Rod Saboury in his ’57 flyer. Rod’s Saturday performance was good for an 8.52/155.97, making him low qualifier and recipient of the first bye run. Nikon crosshairs pulled the ’Vette into focus as the Tree came down, but shutter fingers relaxed in disappointment as Rod seemed…

To compare bottle-power to throttle-power, we’ve graphed the numbers from the 454 NOS motor—both on and off nitrous—and the Lingenfelter 502 from last month’s “Maximum Rat” story. The Lingenfelter combo is a Mark V 502 with ported stock oval-port heads, a. 700-inch lift 296 roller cam, 9.2:1 compression, a 1050 Dominator on a Dart single-plane, 2-inch dyno headers—and no nitrous. Now it’s decision time, but don’t let the weak non-nitrous numbers deter you. The tame nature of the 454 makes for driveability and 8.6:1 compression allows lots of nitrous for big power. Higher compression and more cam would reduce driveability and limit the amount of nitrous you could use on this stock motor. You might reach the trade-off point of less power with more compression and less nitrous than with…

Sometimes we all need a little change in our lives. The same could be said for that camshaft that pumps the valves open and closed in your street engine. What was once state of the art is now obsolete. The bump and grind has changed, and knowledgeable hot rodders are now taking a closer look at their camshafts in search of more power. Because a street engine must be able to make good power and perform well during the boulevard ballet, compromise is the name of the game. With respect to camshafts, compromises are required to achieve the optimum tradeoff between low-speed torque and high-rpm horsepower. During the cam selection process, lift and duration specifications are the most commonly used criteria for determining a camshaft’s suitability for a particular application.…

STANCE IS EVERYTHING For some people, good enough isn’t. Of course, Paul “Peanuts” Paxton didn’t tell himself that in those exact words when he started on his Forty. He thought of it as a family project: he and his son, Brian, would do most of the work and his wife, Jan, would write the checks. As it turned out, all three, along with their friends, put in considerable time on the car. To start with. Bill Hart shortened a Ford 9-inch to accommodate the 31x18.50 Mickey Thompsons. Next, Oscar Loya in Oxnard, California, smoothed out the vintage sheetmetal and squirted it ’90 Ferrari red. Peanuts left the majority of the body stock, even leaving the trim and stock door handles in place for sim-plicity and a classic look. This, combined…

Tony Allison was a hard-core Chevy lover until that day seven years ago when he bought a new Jimmy pickup. Before that fateful change in transportation, the 31-year-old owner of Allison Polishing in Xenia, Ohio, relied on a herd of stove-bolters, which included a 70 Nova, a ’69 Chevelle, and a ’66 Impala. But when he made the move in 1986, it was with the intention that the GMC pickup would never be the same. The “James” was lowered with only 50 miles showing on its odometer and then completely disassembled 500 miles later. Its reconstruction would follow time-honored procedures. First, Allison removed the frame with help from his pa] Keith Vogler. The changes they made included moving the A-arms and front crossmember up 3 inches and Z-ing (stepping the…

When Robert E. Petersen first labeled a hot rod as any vehicle modified for increased performance or better appearance, little did he know that our world would soon be consumed by blown, Pro Street ’69 Camaros. In a sport where creativity is applauded, the dreaded F-body still has the strongest foothold. That’s why it’s refreshing when we come across a car like Mt. Vernon, Illinois-resident Scott Dillingham’s ’78 Mustang II. In the world of hot rods, the Mustang II is normally held in the same regard as the Gremlin, Vega, and everything ever made by Renault. The few exceptions of Mustang II notoriety happen only when the car has been stripped of its import-like parts, then Pro Streeted and stuffed with a nitrous-inhaling, mega-cube, blown big-block. But check out I…

UNDER PRESSURE Oil is an engine’s lifeblood, and when an engine loses pressure, it can produce catastrophic results, especially during any kind of racing where you are stressing the engine to its limits and are not always able to check your gauges. This is why the difficult-to-miss Auto Meter Pro-lites are popular. However, if you are not quick enough to react and shut off the engine or miss the light somehow, damage can occur quickly. For this reason, Mark Hamilton of M.A.D. Enterprises (Dept. HR02, 15180 Raymer St., Van Nuys, CA 91405, 818/786-5725) has designed a simple circuit that will shut off the engine automatically when the oil pressure falls below a predetermined level. The circuit uses an AC-Delco relay (part No. 15-8169 from AC-Delco or part No. 3989214 from…

Valvesprings play a crucial role in an engine’s power production. If they’re too weak, the lifter can’t adequately follow the camshaft lobe and the valves will float at high rpm, a phenomenon that has the dangerous tendency of smacking valves against pistons—very expensive. If spring pressure is too stiff, you’ll lose power through parasitic friction, round off a cam lobe or two, or both. Stiff springs also have the tendency to wear out quicker than softer springs. Thankfully, choosing the correct springs is easy. Stock springs will work fine with a stock cam, and aftermarket cam grinders eliminate the guesswork by offering either spring recommendations or complete spring packages tailored to the cam you’ve chosen. You should change springs if you’re replacing the stock cam in your engine with a…

THE BIG SLEEP By now you must have received a lot of complaint letters over your “Clash of the Crate Motors” article (October ’92). Well, don’t listen to them. You made the comparison as fair as humanly possible. This was a test of crate motors, not of different body styles and chassis tuning, and I think the trap speeds tell a greater story. That story is that these engines are very close in power; every manufacturer makes a great engine that shouldn’t be looked down upon. Still, I’m glad the Mopar won. If you guys are ever in the area, you may use my car for a test. It’s a ’63 Acadian wagon that runs 13.6 at 102 mph with a mild 383, 3.55 gears, stock converter, full exhaust, and…

STYLING TRANSPOSITION Although hot rod styling hos always been heavily influenced by racing, I personally think today’s Pro Streel look lacks a certain amount of “sav-war-flair.” A couple of years ago, Dan “metal finish” Fink told me that he was thinking about transforming a late-’60s/early-’70s Mustang fastback into a lookalike but streel-docile Trans Am. On my way back to Indy with Boyd, I again voiced my opinion that a Trans Am Mustang clone—featuring the Trans Am look, but the mechanicals gleaned from a late-model, 5.0L ’Stang—would be a high/low-profile winner. So Boyd had Chip Foose draw up a concept vehicle complete with knock-offs and a candy blue and pearl white paint job. What’s more, fellow hoi rodders, is that Chevy, Chrysler, and AMC raced these pony cars, too. So I…

CLEAN GREEN MACHINE WINNER We hated to let it go, but we’ve given up the keys to our Clean Green Machine ’55 Chevy to lucky John Niland of (appropriately enough) Mechanicsville, New York. John first saw the car at the Street Rod Nats in York, Pennsylvania, but didn’t enter the drawing, thinking that there was no chance of winning. The second Clean Green sighting was at the Nats in Kentucky, where John’s wife finally convinced him to go ahead and drop in the lucky entry form. Yes, he’s thanked her “about a thousand times!” John has owned an estimated 250 cars in his life-time (he got the first one when only eight years old), but this is his first ’55. Thankfully, John says he won’t stick the car in a…

The phone rang with unusual intensity. We hung up with a scribbled address. Somewhere in between we’d been accosted by one H. Rodney McNasty who told us that we were going learn how a car should be built: BAD. The next day found us in a dark garage with McNasty knee-deep in an obscene Willys. McNasty: Kid, lernrne start by sayin’ that I’ve seen your Fastest Street Car deal and I ain’t impressed. Late models got no style. HRM: What’s wrong with big-inch Rat motors? McNasty: Nothing an injected Hemi can’t fix! You just gotta park the Rat in a decent body. When you’re done with me you’ll be speakin’ Willys and three-windows, Kilborns and Chryslers. Hand me that 9/16…. HRM: So that’s your idea of bad? McNasty: Bad is…

“It’s not how fast you go, it’s how you go fast.” Saboury figures that anyone Lan stuff o bunch of nitrous past a couple Dominators. Rod prefers the style points of a streetable single-quad with no squeeze—yet still runs “INTHE8S.” We spoke with Charlie Garrett all Garrett’s Racing Engines in Hanover, Pennsylvania, to get the lowdown on running fast with a non-juiced single-four-barrel. He prefers natural aspiration for greater reliability and consistency at the cost of more critical tuning for weather conditions. It’s a matter of cubic inches, cubic feet per minute, and cubic dollars. Charlie runs a 6.98-second, 731 ci IHRA Pro Stocker, so he’s experienced with all three. He says the first challenge is to build cubic inches while limiting the bugaboos of greater friction and a heavier…

Nitrous Oxide Systems (NOS) has dished out a new item on the power options menu: the 300-plus-horse-power Big Shot plate. NOS realized that not all of us can swallow a three-course plumb-job, so we wanted more power out of a simple bolt-on system like the Cheater plate. When we heard about the Big Shot we asked, “Does it make more power through efficient use of the same amount of nitrous or by allowing you to use more nitrous?” The answer was, “Yes,” so we went to the NOS dyno room to see how they cooked this up. TEST ENGINE SPECS Type: Chevrolet Mark IV big-block Displacement: 454ci Crankshaft: Stock forged steel, four-bolt main caps Connecting rods: Stock forged steel Pistons: Forged aluminum Compression ratio: 8.6:1 Cylinder heads: Stock rectangle-port with…

You can build a small-block that idles smoothly and makes 500 horsepower. Your bud-dies all call on you when it comes time to spray the paint on their cars. The last upholstery job you did ended. up in a magazine. But you’re lost when talk turns to ohms, amps, and volts, and absolutely terrified when it comes to diagnosing electrical problems. The last time you spliced a wire was the fifth time that wire had been spliced, and you have more twisted together, taped connections under your dash than Jabba the Hut has chins. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. For many rodders, the electrical system in a car, be it the charging, lighting, or ignition sys-tem, is the most intimidating and confusing part of the vehicle. While we don’t have…

One of the most appealing things about manual transmissions is the brute feel of power you get slamming through the gears at wide-open throttle. Sure, an automatic can bark the tires and torque the car a little, but a stick will put the entire car into chassis wrap and spit out more drivetrain parts than a month’s pay-check can put back. And that’s what we love about them. Of course, working on your clutch and tranny takes a little effort. We have a few tips that should help make that work easier. In many respects, working on a manual transmission is easier than an automatic. Most are lighter than automatics, with only factory six-speeds and aftermarket manuals weighing over 100 pounds. They also offer simplicity. Nearly anyone can look at…

PRO LOOK An advantage to using alternative body styles is that the body is usually cheap to obtain. For example, Carmine Loverchis snatched up this ’79 Malibu for the minimal sum of $300. Not only did he drive it home, but he used it for transportation for three months before he started the transformation from Pro Slug to Pro Street. A Pro Stock hoodscoop was molded onto the steel hood, the door handles fell off, and a coat of Wintermint Green was applied to the body. Next, Gene Steel Fabrications went to work building a custom “back-half” chassis to locate the narrowed Ford 9-inch and 33x19.50 Mickey Thompsons. To finish off the full-race look, Carmine added a Pro Mod wing and parachute. PRO GO Under the hood, the true intent…

New meat rumbles into the parking lot. He picks a spot a little too close to the front for your taste, so you swagger over to his car, laugh to yourself about its sorry condition, and then proceed to find out what he’s all about. “Run it or get outta here.” “C’mon, it’s my sister’s car! It’s got a pegleg rearend, highway gears, and stock manifolds. I don’t even know what the motor is. What noise? Oh, that’s just a hole in the muffler. I just came to watch, man. Give me two cars and the leave and I’ll run.” No problem. Surely this primer-splotched road blight can’t match your awesome machine. After all, you’ve got all the latest speed shop chrome goodies, the guy who built your motor told…

BELL TECH’S TWO-WHEEL-DRIVE BLAZER Rumors abound that after a year of begging “ and pleading by customers and magazines alike, Chevrolet is finally going to offer its redesigned Blazer in a two-wheel-drive version for the ’94 model year. Beating them to the punch, however, are the slammed street-crazies at Bell Tech (Dept. HR02, 2822 E. California Ave., Fresno, CA 93721, 209/445-1602). Bell Tech bought this Blazer new as a 4x4 and replaced the entire front clip (frame and all) with 2WD Suburban parts. Of course, it wouldn’t be Bell Tech’s truck if it wasn’t slammed, smoothed, and shod with Boyds billets. All of the parts are bolt-ons, including a billet grille, bumper mask, roll pan, and all the other goodies Bell Tech is famous for. Pete Santini applied the traffic-halting…

Within every hot rodder beats the heart of a scrounge. The scrounge’s soul is focused on one goal—metalmorphosizing junk into gems. The happy hunting grounds for a scrounge are old boneyards that contain the rusty remains of long-forgotten cars. What’s more, they’re considered so ugly that even their mothers wouldn’t love them. Now all these maternal rejects share one thing in common…they can be bought cheap! Denver, Colorado’s Raul De La Torre’s five-bills ’50 Cadillac 6200 personifies that frugal find. While the peddler of Mexican food was casually trolling though a local junkyard, he discovered to his heartfelt joy an ugly, orphan Caddy, the quintessential “El Cheapo Grande.” “The Caddy,” continued De La Torre, “had occupied the same spot for 15 years and literally buried itself in the dirt. I…

Model T-based street rods, most notably the T-buckets, have always had the reputation of being crude and inexpensive, but wildly fun machines. They were the entry-level hot rod for most of the post-war, pre-psychedelic generation, and like most everyone’s first car, they were unpolished. High-tech is wasted on such a simplistic car. Total Performance, Inc., Mickey Lauria’s Wallingford, Connecticut-based street rod emporium, has gone to great measures to change the T’s image, and Total’s latest creation is sure to bring the tasteful T the recognition it deserves. Herb Beck, of Sparks, Nevada, originally purchased one of Total’s ’27 Ts in kit form, with the intention of squeezing a big-block between the framerails. Clearances between the Rat motor and firewall were too cozy for comfort, and Herb’s shoehorn wasn’t big enough…

TEST 1: Baseline of 454 (see “Test Engine Specs”) with 38 degrees total ignition timing and 106 octane race gas. TEST 2: Same as Test 1 with Cheater plate, 93/102 nitrous and fuel jets, Cheater solenoids,-4 AN nitrous feed line, 106-octane race gas, 5 psi fuel pressure, and 36 degrees total ignition timing. The nitrous was engaged at 3500 rpm. TEST 3: Same as Test 2 but with NOS Big Shot plate instead of the Cheater plate. No other changes. TEST 4: Same as Test 3 but with 120/116 nitrous and fuel jets, Pro Shot nitrous solenoid,-6 AN nitrous feed line, 118-octane Sunoco NOS gas, and 32 degrees total ignition timing.…

In 1776, our forefathers saw it necessary to send the English packing in order to operate the country in a smoother fashion. Through this move toward independence, a revolution was begun that would take years to end—and we all know the outcome. There is a similar trend in the hot rod industry to switch from the antiquated solid front axle suspension to independent fronts. Just like our forefathers, the need exists to separate one side from the other so that each may operate in a better and (for the most part) isolated fashion. The only difference is that no one needs to start shooting to adapt independent front suspension (IFS) components to their hot rod. There are a multitude of IFS kits available as well as a couple of salvage-yard…

Believe it or not, the majority of street miles are accomplished on the idle circuit of your carburetor! Unless you drive at max-throttle all the time, the majority of street driving is controlled by the idle circuit, whether you own a Holley, a Q-jet, or a Carter carburetor. Especially with hot rods with deep gears, the first 10 to 15 percent of throttle opening (in other words almost all highway cruising) is controlled almost exclusively by the idle circuit. With that in mind, aiittle closer control of the idle circuit should reward you with a better running hot rod along with improved emissions and better gas mileage. In this story, we’ll look mainly at the Rochester Q-jet and the simple changes that will allow you to better control the idle…

Ford’s “better idea” incandescent bulb and Gary Newton’s collection of heavy lightweights share one commonality: they’re both turn-ons. But that figures. Newton, the 48-year-old owner of an aircraft X-ray lab, has been turned on to cars since the ’60s and has bought, sold, owned, raced, reworked, restored, sponsored, and collected everything from wheel-standing Henry Js, blown elephant-energized Mustangs, and fuel Funny Cars to a Cammer-powered ’27 T roadster and prancing-horse Ferraris. Moreover, Newton’s middle name isn’t Fig but Ford…as in Ford Newton. Since 1987 Newton has been on a mission to equate FE with Ford Excess. So return with Newton on a journey back into the mid-’60s when Detroit went drag racing and Ford’s better ideas were lavished on a series of limited-production Fairlanes and Galaxies that embodied the term…

BEEP BEEP Q I have a ’69 Road Runner that came with a 383 high-performance engine. I am wondering if it is the original engine. The number I found was 2468130-8, which was under the exhaust manifold on the left side of the engine. I can’t seem to find any information or anyone who knows anything about this. Timothy Robinson Barton, New York A Chrysler B and RB engines had the last six digits of the cars VIN stamped on a machined pad located near the oil pan rail between the two front freeze plugs on the passenger side (A in the photo). Also, the date the block was made is cast into the driver’s side of the block, just behind the motor mount (B in the photo). To tell…

CARS & TRUCKS ’64 Buick Riviera. 465 Wildcat engine. Complete, original, California car, restorable. $2800. Joe DeBilio, 605 E. Commenai St., Anaheim, CA 92801, 714/773-9323 (days). ’87 Buick Grand National. All options: sunroof, digital dash. Garaged, mint condition. 3600 miles. $18,000. 215/453-0166 (evenings). ’87 Buick Grand National. LS6 454, full-manual TH400, 9-inch Ford, two chucks, twin-stage NOS, 3-inch aluminized exhaust. Weld Pro Stars with BFGs and second set with M&H DOT tires. Mallory-sumped fuel system, all MSI) ignition. $41,000 in receipts, $30,000/obo. 707/451-2677. ’57 Chevy 210 sedan. Six cylinders, good body, needs interior work, daily driver. $4000. ’31 Model A pickup disassembled. All steel body. $2500. Eugene Fritsche, 314/431-6930. ’65 Chevy ½-ton fleetside pickup. 283 engine, s’ock. three-speed, original family owners. 82,000 miles. Photos available. $9500. Frank Goodman, 303/242-3156. ’34…