Indholdsfortegnelse for November 1995 i Hot Rod

IT’S NOT HIS No, it’s hers. Sandi Trudo of San Diego, California, doesn’t ride shotgun in this ’68 Camaro, nor did she have someone else build it for her. Sandi did all the sanding, stripping, degreasing and building of the car. The side marker lights were shaped into Bow-Ties, the seams were filled, and the antenna was flush-mounted. Sandi designed the paint scheme but deferred to a pro when it came time to spray it. The interior is custom, and the engine is detailed. Sandi tells us she also has a 10-second, four-speed ’67 Camaro that she races, which begs the question, “Are you married?” WAUPACA WAYNE AND HIS WONDERFUL DEUCE Wayne Scheier of Waupaca, Wisconsin, has owned this ’32 three-window since 1975, and over the years it has seen…

Fans of the hit Tim Allen sitcom Home Improvement are well aware that Allen’s character, Tim Taylor, sold the blue ’33 roadster he “built” during the 1994 season. (The car, actually built by Magoo’s, now resides in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.) Tool Man Tim’s latest project is a fat fender ’46 Ford ragtop. In one of those “isn t it a small world?” occurrences, automotive illustrator/designer Thom Taylor’s wife is an entertainment reporter, Lisa Hallett, who recently interviewed Allen about the show. When Taylor (Thom, not the TV Tim) learned of the assignment, he sketched what he thought would be an excellent addition to the Tool Man’s stable, and Hallett presented it to the actor during the interview. So far Taylor has heard nothing back from the…

A year ago we showed you photos of a prototype Firebird that was equipped with a new cold-air induction system (“Inside Pontiat’s Toy Chest,” Roddin, November ’94) that included an SLP Firehawk-like twin-nostril hoodscoap. Well, guess what? That system is now available on ’96 Firebird Trans Am and Formula coupes. As part of the Ram Air WS6 Performance and Handling package, the induction system boosts the LTl’s power output to 305 horsepower and 335 Ibs-ft of torque. (The power ratings for the standard LT1 in the Firebird and Camaro are up 10 horsepower to 285 this year, thanks in part to a new dual-cat exhaust svstem.) As the name implies, the WS6 package is not limited to underhood improvement. The suspension is tweaked with a larger front antisway bar, higher…

“Six girls, three hot rods and 5000 miles.” That’s how Liz Kitzul described the 1995 Lipstick Run, a cross-country adventure undertaken by Canadian women hot rodders who were touring the United States—westbound—while we were on our eastbound Power Tour. (We showed you the group, as our paths crossed in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, in September’s Roddin column.) Liz filled us in on the rest of the run, which stretched from Manitoba, Canada, to the NSRA Western Nats in Bakersfield, California, and back. The team consisted of Liz and her ’23 T-bucket, Barb Balanyk and her ’34 Ford pickup, Kathy Milne with her ’38 Chevy sedan, Margaret Hartley, Lee Johnson and Avril Kousof. After hitting monsoonlike rain and unseasonal snow traveling through the Dakotas, the weather improved considerably in Colorado. Among the…

Some of you may remember Bruce Kimmen’s ’69 Camaro RS in our March ’94 issue. The car was a deep blue color then, sported a 555 motor with Chevy C-port heads and turned 8.50s at 162 mph. The Camaro was built as a back-halved car and was patterned after the Camaros belonging to Rick Dyer, Danny Scott and Jim Treppa—three very streetable cars that ran incredible e.t.’s and formed the basis for our Fastest Street Car shootouts. Kimmen’s car, like the other Camaros, used as many stock parts as possible and was only upgraded where necessary. That’s the way Fastest Street Cars should be built, and that is why we chose Kimmen’s car as an example of what a back-halved street/strip car should look like. Kimmen won the Fastest Street…

There’s a reason the ’55-’57 Chevy endures as a classic. One look at the Pro Street ’56 Dennis Terzich and his dad, Dennis Sr., have built tells the whole story. This shoebox started out as a 30,000-mile original, and with some subtle exterior changes and well-chosen chassis mods, the crew of Terzich & Terzich built a winner. After rolling the sedan into their one-car garage and cutting the floor to back-half the car, team Terzich discovered that the car had to be jacked up a few feet just to get the tires in the garage. Talk about a homebuilt! Both father and son worked together at night lowering the car, using Fat Man spindles to help drop the front 5 inches and Chassis Engineering coil-overs to bring down the rear…

It was tucked away in the South Forty of the Montgomery Wards parking lot in Merrillville, Illinois, the sixth stop on the HOT ROD Power Tour. The HOT ROD staff was cruising the lot shooting photos and meeting people, and we strolled past Dave Lubkeman’s 71 Nova without giving it much more than a sideways glance. “Clean Nova. Looks pretty stock though.” Coming down the next row put us behind the car, however, and when we noticed a set of slicks and two big braided hoses coming out of the tank, we figured a closer look was in order. That’s when we noticed the arrow-straight body panels, the green paint deeper than the Pacific, a very healthy-looking Rat motor under the fiberglass hood, and about a dozen neat little custom…

For most genuine street cars, traction is the most difficult part of getting the car down the track. Information is abundant to help increase power, and contemplating transmission or differential changes is easy for most people. But pinpointing what really helps traction isn’t so simple. To find some answers, we took a car to the race track and applied a plan that we generated with John Hotchkis and Chris Alvarez at Hotchkis Performance. The modifications we planned would enhance both traction and driveability. What turned into three days of work and 30-plus dragstrip passes is summed up here in a chart containing the most representative time for each upgrade and a few photos that should help steer you in the right direction with your daily driver. BASELINE We tested a…

Of the many tasks required when building a hot rod, one that can be confusing and frustrating is plumbing hard line (especially for inexperienced builders). Few home builders know what parts are required, what tools are needed, how to use the tools, how the system should be laid out and how to avoid common problems. This story will answer these questions, allowing you to bend up hard line with confidence on your next project. The photos show a brake line system being installed on a Total Cost Involved ’31 Model A frame, but the tips listed here work for almost all hard line plumbing situations. SOURCES Total Cost Involved, Inc. Dept. HR11 1416 W. Brooks St Ontario. CA 91762 909/984-1773 Ridge Tool Company Dept. HRll 400 Clark St. Elvria. OH…

There are many truisms in street rodding, two of which are ’Fifties are nifty” and “wood is good.” Bob Juliano of Juliano’s Interior Products combined both when he recently produced the “Nitty-One Ford SVO,” this ultraslick and smooth ’51 Fold station wagon. Juliano’s 44-year-old woodie. from one of the last years that Ford offered real wood and not a fiberglass applique, represents what is currently going down in street rod construction—namely upgrading our first modem, postwar passenger cars with ’90s-style front and rear suspension, steering, brakes, rolling stock and drivetrain components, then mildly customizing its exterior. In the case of Bob’s splendid splinter, that meant a body-off upgrade, including a Fat Man Mustang II front clip, a Currie 9-inch Ford kit. ECI four-wheel disc brakes, a 302-inch EFI-equipped Ford V8/tranny…

Bag it! That may be the best way to store your car for the winter. Since hot rods usually don’t fly south for the winter, hibernating in a closed garage is the next best thing. Few rodders have the cash to spring for a hermetically-sealed, temperature-controlled room—but maybe you don’t have to. The Auto-Shield is the closest you can get to a bank vault for winter storage. In essence, the indoors version of the Auto-Shield is like a giant plastic bag for your car that is a transparent, 8-mil thick, reusable and nonpermeable barrier that will keep all forms of dirt, dust and water away from your car. Included with the bag is nine pounds of high-quality desiccant that will maintain the humidity inside the sealed bag at roughly 30…

Close to 1000 classic and modified vehicles from six states converged on the Cal Expo fairgrounds in Sacramento, California, for the 11th annual California Street Machine and Sport Truck Expo. The highlight of this year’s show was the jet car burn-down. The fire and noise of a J-34 Westinghouse fighter-plane engine filled the fairgrounds on Saturday and Sunday as the audience watched Rick Quercio chain a car to a ’57 Chevy jet car named “Blast from the Past” and burn it down with the jet’s flaming exhaust. After the burning hulk was cleared away, the stage was set for a “freestyle” burnout contest. In the past, competitors would sit in place and try to literally bum the tires off the wheels. This year, a large area was set up and…

This sleek Grabber Blue 70 Mustang fastback belongs to 23-year-old Andre Carey, who says the car has undergone two makeovers since he’s owned it. “This one is the best,” he believes, and we’d tend Io agree. Andre did all the bodywork on the car before laying on the color, and to accentuate the Mustang’s styling, he slammed it to the ground and added Weld Pro Star wheels. Under the hood is the car’s original, 227,000-mile 302—which we hope is due for a serious overhaul, if not a big-block transplant! If you’re a rodder under 25 and you’d like Ken “Posie” Fenical to see your car, send clear photos (with no people please) and a short description of what you did to the car to Posie’s Pick, Dept. HR11,217 N. Duke…

The Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Columbus, Ohio, has become an exhibition that rivals the SEMA show for the hard-core race parts enthusiast. ’Phis year PRI will add a new dimension when it produces “A Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Introduction of the Chevrolet Small-Block Engine—A Tribute To The Engineers.” While the title may be tedious, the plan is to assemble a distinguished group of the surviving members of the GM engineering team that designed the original ’55 smallblock Chevy. The celebration will include a press conference, an evening cocktail party with museum-quality displays of engines, aftermarket parts and race cars, and a banquet featuring notable industry speakers. The event will be held in conjunction with the PRI trade show at the Columbus Convention Center, December…

Brock Yates is at it again. His latest version of the One Lap of America now consists of street-legal cars driving 4100 miles to 14 different race tracks, and competing on those tracks, in seven days. Think of this as sort of a cross-country/road race/endurance version of Fastest Street Car in America. This year a factory-backed, all-wheel-drive, twin-turbocharged Porsche 911 driven by Dave Murry took the overall win. But right behind this German effort was a 383ci Firebird built by John Lingenfelter and driven by road racer and TDM Technologies Vice President Doug Goad, with help from Lingenfelter project engineer Jason Haines and Enkei America Assistant General Manager Richard Lee. The Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) ’95 Firebird was outfitted with an emissions-legal LPE 383 LT1 small-block making 440 horsepower, the…

Pay attention to the second word in the designation Pro Street. It’s not Race and it’s not Show, it’s Street. Therefore, a car that truly deserves the moniker Pro Street must be capable of operating in that environment, no matter how foul the surface and how deep the potholes. But therein lies the problem: What do you call the tubbed race or show cars that are registered, have license plates and occasionally exit the protective cocoon of their enclosed trailers to drive two miles down the road to the burger stand? These cars are still labeled Pro Streeters, but as far as HOT ROD is concerned they skirt the boundaries of the true meaning of the term. Labeling them Pro Street Race or Pro Show Street is too bulky, so…

What’s a proven way to win a truckload of show trophies? Stuff the biggest, wildest motor you can build into an alternative body style, add a stereo with enough oomph to knock birds out of the air, then detail it all to the max. Chances are you’ll get more tall trophies and accolades than you’ll know what to do with. Unfortunately, a Pro Streeter built along these lines is normally too temperamental to drive or race and is relegated to show-only status. That’s the price you pay for the glory of the trophy podium. At present Rick Kirk’s ’62 Falcon sedan delivery certainly fits into the show-car category, but future plans call for more than just the show circuit. The first order of business was to get the backbone of…

When it comes to a hot rod engine, there’s one thing we’re all ’ after. Whether acquired through a bigger cam, hotter spark, nitrous injection or all of the above, the end goal is still the same: horsepower! Instead of focusing on a single component, this guide covers several areas where potential horsepower can be found. From high-flow heads to killer valve covers (well, at least the engine looks more powerful), we’ve tried to cover all the performance bases. If you don’t see exactly what you’re looking for, call the companies and tell ’em what you need. And remember, if you feel as if your engine might already be making too much power, you’re almost there! AIR FLOW RESEARCH Air Flow Research announces a new option for its aluminum smallblock…

A high-performance automobile is a complex blend of several systems. Creating a balanced combination of those systems that results in a car that runs hard, stops quick and effortlessly carves up comers is the ultimate hot rod. Most enthusiasts concentrate on going fast and spend far less effort on stopping or negotiating comers. But regardless of your personal performance preferences, all cars can benefit from a proper front end alignment. Most of us leave alignment to the guy at the local tire store, where we may be at the mercy of someone who is not all that skilled. The best way to achieve a proper alignment is to do it yourself, especially if you have a car with special requirements. To make the job easier, a few aftermarket companies offer…

Smack in the middle of the worst spell of hot weather the Midwest had seen in years—literally a killer heatwave—the Bearing Burners Auto Club hosted a day-long cruise that took over most of the town of Mount Clemens, Michigan. The heat and humidity took their toll in terms of attendance, as the numbers of cars and people were below what the Bearing Burners usually expect for one of their summertime cruises. But as you can see from the photos, not every hot rodder in the Detroit area decided to stay in front of the swamp cooler at home. In fact, these car owners proved to be a pretty hardy bunch. A late-afternoon thunderstorm brought a downpour and all sorts of pyrotechnics to the skies over Mount Clemens, yet almost every…

Back in the ’60s rod runs were just that: guys who met some place to drive their ’20s, ’30s and ’40s Streeters despite the fact that rodding was becoming increasingly late-model and geared toward drag racing. Runs were predicated on rods that ran and dedicated to the rodders who built and drove them. Tain’t so today. Those same participants are 30 years older, their cars reflect a concours-like quality, and their original participants-only rod runs have degenerated into spectator-attracting rod parks. In other words, rod go’s have become rod shows. Three years ago Rod & Custom, HOT ROD’S sister publication, decided to reverse the trend. The idea was to revisit the ’60s and again put the “go” before and after the show. The magazine’s multi-tour, multiregional drive, aptly named “Americruise,”…

It’s not uncommon for a person to start a project and get carried away with it. It’s also not uncommon for a project to look as if the owner got carried away with it But that’s not the case with Gary Mizuhara’s ’94 Softail. He set out to build a fast bike for, in his words, “First-, Second- and Third-gear burnouts on Melrose.” But once he started building the bike, he just couldn’t stop, and he finished with a bike that goes as good as it looks. Gary’s primary’ concern was performance, so he spent most of his efforts on the engine. The stock ’94 Evo motor was punched out to 98ci; the cylinder a. heads are from S&D and are fitted with Manley Hgk. valves; and the cylinders and…

GO WITH THE FLOW IN CONTROL The Flow Control air cleaner is the latest in air cleaner technology from K&N. The unique air cleaner shape combines reductions in air turbulence with the exceptional airflow capabilities of the K&N filter design for impressive gains in power. According to K&N, the filter can increase airflow by as much as 30 to 40 cfm. For more information, contact K&N Engineering, Inc., Dept. HR11, P.O. Box 1329, Riverside, CA 92502, 909/684-9762. COILED AND READY ULTRA SPARK Jacobs Electronics introduces a step up in voltage capabilities. The Jacobs Ultra Coil is capable of more spark voltage at cooler temperatures and can operate in street, race or towing applications. For more information, contact Jacobs Electronics, 500 N. Baird St., Midland, TX 79701,800/627-8800. GEAR TO GO GEARS…

The official records show that Tokyo’s Nobuhiro Tajimo, driving a twin-engine Suzuki, made the fastest pass up Pikes Peak during this year’s Chevrolet Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb. But Mother Nature made the most news as wintery conditions at the Peak’s 14,000-foot summit forced race officials to move the finish line downhill ond shorten the 12.5-mile course by about four miles. Tajima beot Rod Millen, last year’s winner and holder of the Peak’s overall record, by a scant .7 second (7:53.0 to 7:53.7). The Unser family was ogain well-represented on the mountain, with Robby Unser winning the Super Stock Truck division in a Chevy S-10 prepped by desert-racing star Roger Mears.…

It’s rare to find something truly new and innovative in today’s marketplace. That’s one reason we stared in awe at the Apache Warrior motorcycle designed and built by Next World Design (Dept. HRU, 6159 Rodekin Rd., Columbus, OH 43232, 614/866-9662). The Apache Warrior was built after considerable research and is designed to look like a living and breathing animal. Its stance is evocative of a running horse. The motorcycle also incorporates what Next World Design calls “Design Intrigue,” meaning that the design, which marries form and function, rewards you with more the longer and deeper you examine it. It also uses several visual techniques to create a pleasing appearance, such as a radical-looking front fork that is actually raked only 32 degrees. The beauty of this bike is more than…

I lied. These super-rugged, hand-carved, carefully constructed replicas of a roots-blown (naturally) ’32 Ford coupe are really shaped from premium California redwood. Produced by Good Communications (Dept. HR11, P.O. Box 249, West Point, CA 95255-0249), GC’s “Little Deuce Coupe” (Model 1002) is 8 inches long, 4 inches wide, 33/4 inches tall, weighs 11 ½ ounces and costs $18.95 plus $3.50 for shipping and handling. Best of all, GC’s Spruce Deuce is guaranteed to haul ash.…

Since hitting the hot rod scene more than 20 years ago, Pro Street has been pronounced “dead” many times in the magazines, only to resurrect itself and forge onward in some new yet recognizable form. As the ’90s march on, the questions asked about Pro Street are, Where is it going? and What will Pro Street be in this age of specialization? Whereas “Pro Street” used to define a car completely, the lines between Pro Street driver, Pro Street racer and Pro Street show car have become more and more distinct. To understand what is happening to Pro Street, HOT ROD polled the builders of some of the most influential Pro Streeters. While we all have a different idea of what a Pro Street car should look like, essentially any…

Grabbin’ your own gears is cool. The violence of a hard-shifting stick car combined with the ability to glide smoothly from a stop with the same transmission is the envy of every street or strip automatic. This makes the car more streetable without compromising performance, and depending on which transmissions you are comparing, a manual tranny usually requires less power to turn than an automatic, which means more power to the rear wheels. When discussing clutch-type trannies and the type of Pro Street cars that are made to run really hard at the track, there comes a certain time when you need a Lenco transmission. Talk about controversy, though; just mention using a Lenco in a street car and half the population screams, “Race-only transmission, big bucks!” while the other…

The word is out: Chevrolet is poised to introduce an all-new small-block V8 engine with the all-new Corvette in the 1997 model year. Little is known about what has been nicknamed the “Gen III” engine, except that Chevrolet has dropped major hints regarding plans to stick with the tried-and-true pushrod engine design. If that’s the case, Chevy’s overhead cam development will cease with the ZR-l’s LT5 engine, and it will leave OHC technology to the higher-line GM brands—Cadillac and Oldsmobile—and to Ford. So while we wait for the new car and its new engine, Chevrolet is making sure we stay interested in its current Corvette by introducing two new models and a high-performance version of the LT1 engine. Also available in the next model year is a new Camaro that’s…

Getting a car to launch hard and run straight down the dragstrip is definitely an art. As with any art, a good way to start learning is to get the basics from the experts. So after talking with racers and chassis tuners, we present some basics on tuning your hot rod’s chassis for some 14-mile fun. The first point all the pros brought up was the fact that many hot rodders get ahead of themselves when they want to run fast down the dragstrip, and that is usually where the problems start. So to avoid this problem, you should know the basics of modifying your car for improved dragstrip performance: Put a baseline setup on your car before you get to the track and dial it in for the current…

Any serious drag racer will tell you that what’s beneath the car is every bit as important as what’s under the hood. Horsepower means nothing if you can’t put it to the ground and keep the car pointed straight. It’s not surprising, then, that professional chassis builders are in high demand. Chassis shops aren’t just for mega-buck professional race teams, either. Even if you are running in the street ranks, a properly set-up chassis can work wonders for consistency and durability. Chassis work is a specialty and, like engine building, requires all the little tricks and fine-tuning touches to make the most of the hardware at hand. Jeg’s High Performance Center in Columbus, Ohio, is a prime example of just how much a professional chassis builder can offer. In business…

It is ironic that Jim Davis, one of drag racing’s most colorful characters and hardest chargers, died while riding his motorcycle rather than behind the wheel of his Top Fuel dragster. For seven years the powers that be in nostalgia drag racing have honored his passing with an annual event entitled the Jim Davis Memorial drag race. This year’s event was dominated by Pete Kaiser, a former Davis wrench and now a winner in his own right. Kaiser not only won Top Fuel but also set the meet’s low e.t. (6.30) and fast time (234), which became a new Goodguys record. Other winners included Kin “Junior Fuel” Bates driving his Barry Kaplan-prepared Hemi, and Wayne “A/Gas Supercharged” Harry pulling gears in his ’41 Willys. Most of haul, 6000 spectators were…

Building a street rod from the ground up requires the complete dedication of your time and effort, but the enjoyment and the sense of satisfaction you’ll get when it’s done are well worth all the work and money. Assembling the chassis and insuring that all the systems—the suspension, drivetrain, fuel, cooling, steering, brakes and so on—work together efficiently are difficult, time-consuming chores. But once you have your chassis together, your hot rod will quickly start to take shape. This story will give you many tips on how to detail your chassis once you have it roughed in. The details of this chassis can be done in anyone’s driveway because spray cans were used to apply every drop of paint. It all looks and works great because the time was spent…

How fitting that in this special Pro Street issue we feature a bike built along the same lines. The meaning of Pro Street in the realm of custom Harleys is similar to the automotive world: a bike dominated by wide rear rubber and a performance-minded engine and chassis. Duane Anderson’s Pro Streeter is his first bike but certainly not his last. Working out of Cycle Works in Louisville, Kentucky, Duane spent a mere two months building this bike from scratch, getting it ready in time for Daytona Bike Week. A new Kenny Boyce Pro Street frame with a Boyce swing arm and Works shocks is the foundation onto which all the high-performance equipment was built. The front end is all sport-bike stuff, with KYB upside-down forks from Kayaba mounted with…

KEEP YOUR COOL Q I have a .030-inch over 350 with 10:1 forged pistons, 1.94/1.50 heads from a 327 Corvette, an Edelbrock Performer intake, an Edelbrock electric choke, 600-cfm carb and stock exhaust manifolds. My problem is that during the summer months my car runs between 230 and 240 degrees Fahrenheit in a matter of 10 minutes of driving. I have added an electric fan and have thought of replacing the original two-core radiator in favor of a four-core and a fan shroud. My only problem is space. The 355 sits in my ’66 Chevy II and the engine bay is very, very small. Would a four-core radiator and a fan shroud fit in the car without any major modifications? Cory CochranCastle Rock, Colorado A We’ll bet you don’t have…