Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i Street Machine

IF YOU’RE a lover of LS engines, then we have good news for you! The ninth edition of Street Machine LSX Tuner magazine is hot off the presses, and as per usual it’s filled to the brim with sweet LS-powered rides and tech tips that will have any LS fanatic foaming at the mouth. Headlining LSX Tuner #9 is Mark Attard’s stunning VE Maloo. Powered by a Dart LS Next block fed by a 88mm Comp turbo, this orange beast should be well and truly capable of over 1500hp, and has show-stopping stance to match. We’ve got the full lowdown on the boost-loving range of iron-block LS donks, including how to tell the difference between an LQ4 and an LM7 (and everything in between), and all the nitty-gritty specs to…

THERE are a few key factors necessary for a tough car build: Stance, power, wheels, colour – actually, let’s nutshell this in one word: presence. Nail all of these elements and your street presence will be a given. Get one or more wrong and it can leave your pride and joy looking ‘meh’. But if there was ever a poster child for the perfect hot-car build with timeless presence, it would be Mick Curren’s HQ GTS Monaro (SM, Apr-May ’86), forever remembered as The Terminator. Were you always just a ‘natural’ car guy, or were there experiences that pointed you down this path? A few things got me into cars. An early memory was being in awe as I watched my dad change a clutch in an XM Falcon up…

IT’S HARD to walk past Jamie Galea’s drop-dead-gorgeous XW Falcon – it just has a presence about it. Sure, it ticks the big three – paint, wheels and stance – but it’s much more than that. As it draws you in, you start to notice all the little things, like the meticulous attention to detail. It all adds up to create a subtle yet droolworthy ride. Surprisingly, this is Jamie’s first full-on build – and his first Ford! “My son Jayden made me buy the car,” he says. “I’ve got a pro street LH Torana; it’s already molested and will be a big job to finish. So, I was looking for an LJ to do up in the meantime. Then Jayden came across the XW and insisted we go have…

IN EARLY March, Albany in Western Australia once again welcomed the fastest cars in the land for Racewars 2019. It was the third time the picturesque coastal town had hosted the event, with a weekend of 400m and 800m rolling-start races and a 1000m standing-start VMax event on Albany Airport’s 1.8km runway, as well as a hillclimb sprint on the Monday public holiday. Always looking to improve the event, the organisers made a few changes to the schedule this year, relocating the Monday hillclimb from an industrial estate on Albany’s outskirts to Middleton Beach, a beautiful spot not far from the centre of town. IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A TIGHTROPE WALK BETWEEN BOOST, POWER AND TRACTION, AND THIS TIME, TRACTION LOST With last year’s champion Eddy Tassone sporting…

WHEN the April sun is shining, there isn’t a cloud in the sky, and the Heathcote Park Raceway pits are filled to the brim with some of GM’s best and baddest cars, you know the Holden Nationals are back in town. Now in its fourth consecutive year, the Tuff Mounts Holden Nationals has become one of the greatest single-make car events in the country, and the 2019 outing broke records both on and off track. Todd Foley is the Holden Nats mastermind and, after selling out all 175 entries in just five days, he knew it was going to be a cracker. “I knew we’d get plenty of support, as people were busting my balls for the entry for ages,” he said. “We opened entries on a Monday and they…

IT’S the question I most often get asked: “What engine size can I run?” I’m sure many of you would like to know how to work out the maximum allowable engine size for your own car. It’s covered in the National Code of Practice for Light Motor Vehicles, which has been called Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 (VSB14). But although VSB14 has been accepted nationally, some states allow engineers to approve combinations outside this at their discretion, so for absolute certainty you need to contact your local Department of Transport. Nevertheless, this month we’ll try and distil the key bits. Now we’re not talking about factory-option engine fitment here. An engine that was originally an option from the manufacturer can be freely fitted to a vehicle from that manufacturer, even if…

KEELY Bown has her dad Nick to thank (or blame!) for her motorsport passion. Since she was just 10 years of age, the young South Australian has been raising dust with the Port Pirie Dirt Circuit Association, and for the past four years she has participated at the DLRA Speed Week at Lake Gairdner in a distinctive black Subaru WRX. Now in her late teens and out of school, she has her sights set on a career as a motor mechanic. Cars and girls: not seen together as much as we’d like! How did you get into this? Dad is the one who got me into cars. He’s been involved in drag racing and burnouts, so I’ve grown up around them. I’ve wanted to drive ever since I could touch…

IF YOU spotted Giles Mortimer’s XR Falcon on the street, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a neat cruiser, probably powered by a mild 302 Windsor with barely enough grunt to pull the skin off a delicious rice pud. And you’d be very wrong. Beneath the unmodified bonnet of this unassuming resto sits a 408-cube Clevo built to handle the rigours of burnout comps. “I was after an XW or XY, but a bloke in Waroona sent me some pictures of an XR he had,” says the West Australian. “I showed a friend and he told me to grab my money, get in the car and go buy it!” Giles handed over the folding stuff and returned with this mint XR in tow. The original six-banger and related driveline…

SCOTT ELVIDGE 1970 LC TORANA “MY TORANA was bog-stock when I bought it from a friend for $1000 in 2007. It was used as a daily driver for two years before being stripped for a ‘quick’ freshen-up of the white paint and an engine swap. The job blew out and the car ended up stripped to bare metal after I was easily persuaded by a friend with a flap disc and grinder. The LC has had a few different combos, from a naturally aspirated 186 to a draw-through carby turbo with a Trimatic, and now it runs an EFI turbo 202 with a Powerglide and nine-inch, with a 2JZ set to replace it in the near future. Lots of friends have helped with the car over the years getting…

A CRATE motor is an awesome no-mess, no-fuss way to power your project, and for LS-loving gearheads they don’t come much more desirable than Chevrolet Performance’s LSX454. The iron-block brute runs a bore/stroke of 4.185in/4.125in, with 11:1 compression, 4340 forged-steel rotating assembly, a 236/246 hydraulic-roller cam, and monster six-bolt LSX-LS7 rectangle-port heads. In crate-fresh spec, the big-inch LS makes 625hp, which is plenty when you factor in the meaty powerband, and this attracted South Australia’s Gary McRae to one. He stuffed his LSX454 into his epic VR HSV Senator a few years ago to build a super-stout street machine, but soon realised something was wrong. “The fuel injectors supplied with my intake manifold didn’t suit street driving and ended up washing the bores, which led to me pulling the motor…

UNLESS your home is a rock and you never hop out from under it, you’d know that the late-70s/early-80s panel van scene was the seed of the street machine movement. Vans were there at the start, representing art without purpose and power without poise, with almost zero concessions to sport or racing. They were simply there to look cool, carry surfboards and root in. The annual Van Nationals has been celebrating these creations for a solid 44 years now – that’s a fair chunk more than the grand old Summernats. Charters Towers played host to the Van Nats for 2019, attracting the best sin-bins to the northern Queensland town over the Easter long weekend. Falcons, Escorts, Kingers and yes, even Commodores fronted up. Organisers Raylea and Brad Thomson own the…

17-19 MAY, ALBURY, NSW US Muscle On The Murray, Albury. Visit 60samcc.com/ events3 18-19 MAY, TAMWORTH, NSW Tamworth Motor Show, Tamworth Regional Entertainment & Conference Centre. Visit tamworthmotorshow.com. 18 MAY, WAMBOIN, ACT Wheels Of Wamboin, Wamboin Hall. Visit wamboincommunity.asn.au. 19 MAY, JERILDERIE, NSW Ned Kelly Show ’n’ Shine, Powell St. Call Colin 0427 861 070. 19 MAY, SANDOWN, VIC Rockabilly Rats, Tatts N’ Pinups, Sandown Park Hotel. Search Facebook for more. 19 MAY, BUNDOORA, VIC Sakura Picnic 2019, Japanese Car & Bike Show, Bundoora Park. Email toyota.car.club. australia@gmail.com. 19 MAY, ALBION PARK, NSW Mt Terry School Show ’n’ Shine, Mt Terry Public School. Email mountterrypandc@ hotmail.com. 25 MAY, COBURG, VIC Downshift May 2019 Meet, Village Cinemas Drive-In Coburg. Visit downshiftaus.com. 25 MAY, RAYWOOD, VIC Raywood Hot Rod Classic Car &…

BARRA BEGONE! I’M A long-time reader and have a very open mind about whatever people drive. I have to ask though: Why not AU XR8 vs the V8 Holden for your latest Carnage series? More old VCT Barra loving? We’ve already seen how they go well with the Turbo Taxi and Territory series. And why are you doing up a Chrysler small-block? Who runs those these days? Hell, I’d rather see you buy a Barra block and hot that up with go-fast bits. An Edelbrock 318 was cool in 1984. Where’s the LSX love? Jump on YouTube and see all the other really cool 600hp naturally aspirated LS builds. If you put a cool LS build on YouTube you’d potentially have millions of views from across the world and sponsors…

WITH a thumping 500hp stroked XW ute to thrash around in, life for Aaron Taylor was pretty good. However, in true Street Machine tradition, Aaron had an itch for something more: a car the whole family could enjoy. “This car had to be a one I could share with my wife Fiona and two kids Rye and Eve,” explains Aaron. “A blown and injected Fairlane dumped down to the weeds – that should do it!” WITH A VERY HEALTHY THIRST FOR E85, THE BIG FAIRLANE’S RANGE IS NOT VERY GOOD. “IT’S DEFINITELY NOT A PRUIS,” AARON LAUGHS Why a hulking, big ZF Fairlane 500 though? “I’ve been reading Street Machine since I was five or six – now my kids are reading it – and I’ve never seen a ZF…

IF YOU polled a bunch of red-blooded Kiwi petrolheads on what would be at the top of their must-do event list on New Zealand’s shaky isles, the Repco Beach Hop would likely win out. That much seems obvious based on the attendance at the 19th running of the always-popular event. WHAT I FIND SO UNIQUE ABOUT BEACH HOP IS THE WAY IT HIGHLIGHTS THE SHEER VARIETY OF CARS TUCKED AWAY IN KIWI SHEDS Nestled on the sandy shores of Coromandel’s eastern seaboard, Whangamata played host to Beach Hop once again in late March. It’s clear to see why the event has grown and thrived over the years in this environment. Ringleader Noddy Watts has built good relationships with the sponsors, registered entrants, locals and the public in general, as well…

YOU’RE looking at one of Melbourne’s toughest street cars, Paul ‘Patto’ Paterson’s epic ’67 Camaro. The fat-tyred,3800lb, 548ci fat-block F-body has run 9.40@146mph aspirated, with another 300hp worth of giggle-gas up its sleeve spare! And to think it wasn’t even the car Paul intended to buy. “I went up to Queensland to have a look at a pro street ’57 Chev, but it wasn’t any good,” says the auto sparky. Instead, he came home with this ’67 Camaro after falling head over heels in lust with it. “A mate of mine had one years ago and I love the lines, especially those rear quarters, which are just awesome,” says Patto. “I’ve actually had it 10 or 11 years as I tend to hang onto stuff. I just wanted to build…

SOME people may say that Daniel Axisa took the easy way out, purchasing a car that was already done and adding a few of his own personal touches, but I’d argue it was the clever option, not the easy one. If you knew the car from before you might think not much has changed; it still wears the same Heron White paintjob and American Racing VN500 rims, even the same driveline, but Daniel has fine-tuned the car’s styling and put a bunch of time and effort into detailing – especially in the engine bay. “The car was originally built by Steve Strick from Ballarat, then someone bought it and got it all sorted for registration here in Perth, then I got it from him,” Daniel begins. “I’d been looking for…

IN THE early years of last century, Alice Anderson had a pioneering vision: to turn the mechanics trade into an accepted and aspirational career choice for women. MY AMBITION IS TO TURN A TRADE INTO A PROFESSION FOR WOMEN, AND IT IS WELL WITHIN THE GRASP OF THOSE WHO HAVE INITIATIVE AND GRIT Born in 1897 in Melbourne, by age 20 Alice was working as a chauffeur and began running an auto workshop from the back of a house in Kew. Two years later, Alice established the country’s first all-female workshop, the personally designed, Art Deco-fronted Kew Garage. All of this at a mere 22 years of age! Although her workload greatly increased as proprietor of Kew Garage, Alice continued her chauffer role and in turn created the ‘Radi-waiter’, a…

LAST issue we brought you a full feature on our first adventure to Tassie Nats, and while we expected to find a few odd things down there, Benny Burk’s VK Commodore was definitely unusual. The VK HDT Brock replica burnout car doesn’t house a humble 202, 308 or even an LS. Nope, under the bonnet is a completely standard Barra motor from a BA Falcon. Naturally, we had to share this on our Facebook page; here’s what you had to say about Benny’s treasonous concoction. Jarrod Wilkinson – Some things should be left alone. Rick Both – It’s not treason, it’s a great move! Barra the world. Matthew Holmes – Barra and Brock should not be used in the same sentence. Dean Agland – It’s no different to everyone who…

I’M LOVING the current movement of shoehorning crazy horsepower into a factory-appearing car, backed by mega-fat rears – all while being 100 per cent street-legal. And Nick Piotto’s ’69 HT Premier is a textbook example, with factory integrity coupled with an off-tap 598ci big-block Chev stuffed between the rails and backed by 12-inch rear wheels – it’s a look that’ll forever be tough. NICK’S ’69 PREMIER COMBINES FACTORY INTEGRITY WITH AN OFF-TAP 598CI BIG-BLOCK CHEV STUFFED BETWEEN THE RAILS Back in 2012, 20-year-old Nick locally sourced a bog-stock Sea Mist Green HT Prem, with a freshly built 186-cuber and three-on-the-tree. “The body was nice enough, so I was going to leave it stock,” Nick says. “I also have an HK Prem which is rougher, so I was going to modify…

YOU have to admire a bloke that’s in it for the long run. A bloke that’s held on to his first car, purchased before he even got his driver’s licence, then rebuilt – several times – and improved upon it until it turns into a 1000hp-plus monster capable of eight-second timeslips. That’s the story of Nick Ierino’s HZ and it’s been a long and sometimes winding road, so we might as well start at the very beginning, back in 1992. I HAD MY DRIVER’S LICENCE TEST AND WHEN I GOT HOME THE CAR WAS THERE WAITING; DAD MUST HAVE KNOWN I WAS GOING TO PASS “I got it from a guy in Maddington, one owner, he worked for my old man in the Water Corporation,” Nick says. “It was Atlantis…

I’VE never understood why the VC Valiant is often overlooked as street machine material. They’re as handsome as any other mid-60s offering from GM and Ford, and they even came with a V8 from the factory. Admittedly, they weren’t anywhere near as handsome as Rob Barbiero’s VC Regal – and they didn’t pack over 600hp under the bonnet like his, either – but I think people are starting to cotton on to the VC and we’ll be seeing a few more in the pages of SM in the future. Rob’s story with this VC starts around 25 years ago, when he picked up the car from a friend of his. “It was damaged. My friend had taken it into a workshop and it was halfway up on a two-post hoist…

SOME of the best ideas were born in sheds over a few beers, and this one was no different. With a characterful but completely rooted XP coupe shell and a perfectly functional EL Falcon at my disposal, my mates and I decided that two would become one over this year’s Easter long weekend. Here’s how it went down. THE well-worn XP two-door (above) was found on a nearby farm, and had been used as a parts car to save another coupe. The 54-year-old Falcon sat in a state of disrepair, covered in dust on the dirt floor of a hayshed, and it was ready for the scrappers. Everything about the old girl was rough – real rough – and realistically she was not overly good for anything. Still, I had…

THE 70S IS WHAT I’M INTO; THE MUSIC I LISTEN TO, HOW I DRESS. I CALLED MY VAN ‘SWEET EMOTION’ AFTER THE AEROSMITH SONG L-PLATER Jack Swansson strides into his carport, his long blond hair looking like he’s dropped straight out of Dazed and Confused. He’s bounced out of his job flipping burgers to chat to us about his passion for the 70s: the music, the clothes, the cars, and of course, the shagpile. Ever get the feeling you were born about 50 years too late? Definitely; the 70s is what I’m into; the music I listen to, how I dress and everything. I called my van ‘Sweet Emotion’ after the Aerosmith song; it’s playing during the intro of Dazed and Confused. When that Judge pulls around the corner –…

01 WHEEL O’ FORTUNE THE 2019 Bullitt Mustang is a timeless car, and a key part of that signature look is its five-spoke wheels. The Carroll Shelby Wheel Company certainly seems to agree, having released a new CS11 alloy wheel for the new-gen Mustangs. Made from cast aluminium, they measure 20x9.5 and 20x11, giving your Mustang the ideal stance it deserves. Grab some now at summitracing.com. 02 ALL THE VITALS THE Racepak RP250-DS-IQ3S Street Dash allows you to have all the datalogging technology, information and warnings you need, while still keeping the basic rpm, speed and temperature readouts found on OEM dashboards. The dashes are compatible with over 20 aftermarket EFI systems, as well as OBD 2 or up to 32 individual sensors, depending on your needs. It’s an easy…

SYDNEY DRAGWAY 18 MAY ATURA Championships 22 MAY Race 4 Real 01 JUN Test ’n’ Tune 12 JUN Race 4 Real 16 JUN Street Meet 19 JUN Race 4 Real 26 JUN Race 4 Real 30 JUN Street Meet sydneydragway.com.au Phone (02) 9421 0700 PERTH MOTORPLEX 22 MAY Diesel Night 29 MAY Hour of Power motorplex.com.au CALDER PARK 24 MAY Fast Friday 16 JUN Sunday Funday calderpark.com.au Phone (03) 9091 0777 WILLOWBANK 18 MAY Street Series 22 MAY Test ’n’ Tune 25 MAY Test ’n’ Tune 01-02 JUN Winternationals 06-09 JUN Winternationals 22 JUN Street Series willowbankraceway.com.au Phone (07) 5461 5461 WARWICK DRAGWAY 25 MAY Bracket Meeting warwickdragway.com SPRINGMOUNTRACEWAY 01 JUN Race Ya Mates 29 JUN Track Championship springmountraceway.com BENARABY RACEWAY 24 MAY Off Street Meet 25 MAY CQDRA/Kenda 660…