Innehållsförteckning för September 2010 från Hot Rod

NEW VS OLD I always thought it was funny that Gray Baskerville’s definition of a late-model car was anything built after 1954. And this was in 1994. Back then, a Fox-body Mustang was still considered a used but nearly new car. Sixteen years later, I finally understand what he meant. On page 64 is the buildup of Summit Racing/Trick Flow’s ’98 Camaro Z28 that the company got to run 11s on a fairly realistic budget. That car is now 12 years old, and the good thing about it is that you can get a decent fourth-gen LS-powered Camaro or Firebird (or mod-motored Mustang) for an affordable price, and everything works. The A/C blows cold, the stereo cranks, the interior is clean and comfy, the power windows go up and down…

Going quick and doing it cheaply is a time-honored rodder’s mantra, and Trick Flow Specialties’ ’98 Camaro Z28 proves the concept is still valid. You can drive it to the track, run 11-second e.t.’s all day, and get 25 miles per gallon on the way home with the A/C on Arctic and the power seat set to full Detroit Lean. And that’s with no blower, no nitrous, nothin’ but motor. Total cost for the Stage One version: a smidgen less than $14,000, and that includes the purchase price of the car. Stages Two and Three got more serious and far more expensive in a quest to go faster, but you don’t have to do that if it’s too much. This is a very realistic build for the average guy, since…

Ahh, this is way better. If you read our “Rehashed Hemi” story last month, you endured whining about how only 599 hp and 578 lb-ft from our Hemi just wasn’t that great. Now our whimpering is vindicated. In this story we’ll kick the torque curve in the shorts, gaining 200 lb-ft at 3,600 rpm compared with the original setup. OK, so it was really an improvement of 192 lb-ft, but it’s so stupidly better that who’s gonna argue? It’s like tossing in more than an extra Toyota Matrix engine, but the resulting acceleration will be purely intentional. THE BACKGROUNDER If you’re late to the story, here’s a recap. In 1996, HOT ROD covered the buildup of a 484ci, 10.25:1-compression, pump-gas Hemi at Dick Landy Industries, and that engine was stuffed…

I JUST DON’T GET IT I don’t know everything about cars. Not by a long shot. That’s a truth I’ve had to endure for quite some time, because editors of broad-based car magazines end up knowing a little about a lot. And I do. But there are certain things I don’t know at all, and I don’t even know who to ask. I’m counting on you. 1) Why is it that you can hose down your garbage parts car with brake fluid and it never hurts the paint, but if you have a car with a killer paintjob, all you have to do is walk past it while thinking of brake fluid and the paint wrinkles up? 2) Everyone knows that tires wear out as the rubber scrubs off after…

Welcome to the Hot Rods section of the mag, where all the car features live. Know of a great ride that should be here? Got killer photos of cars in action along with details about them? Tip us off: email HOTROD@hotrod.com or mail to HOT ROD Hot Rods, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245. Those of us who make our living in the automotive performance aftermarket all know Bill Holland. Bill has been around the industry since the mid’60s, first in the glory days of NHRA drag racing with involvements in everything from Modified Production cars to Top Fuel dragsters, and he was hired by Wally Parks to be the editor of National Dragster in 1969. After five years at the helm of the NHRAs house organ, Bill…

It’s no mere cliché to say that drag racing will never be the same without Don Prudhomme. For half a century, all he had to do was show up to influence the outcome of any event. Only his opponents know for sure how many foul starts, crossed centerlines, and exploded engines were inspired by seeing his dragster or Funny Car in the other lane. Pity the fool who met the icy stare of those big, blue eyes. Only Don Garlits maintained such extreme intensity for so many racing seasons. Big Daddy may be the greatest fuel car racer ever, but nobody drove fuel cars better than Prudhomme. The Snake himself is the first to give engine builder Keith Black credit for the sustained success of the Greer, Black & Prudhomme…

At HOT ROD, we hear stuff. Lately we’ve been hearing about hot rodders’ love/hate relationship with their sealed, leakproof batteries. You adore their ability to take punishment and their paint-friendly nature, but they have developed a reputation for refusing to take a charge once they have gone dead. Here’s how to bring them back to life. First, some background. While the spill-proof batteries currently on the market are often referred to as gel batteries, most are AGM batteries—short for absorbed glass mat. Optima and Odyssey batteries are common examples. Unlike a gel battery, in which a silica agent is added to the electrolyte to form a semisolid, an AGM battery uses an ordinary sulfuric acid solution like any standard automotive battery (about 60/40 water and acid at full charge). However,…

Would you believe there are bulletproof rearends that bolt up to your stock suspension, ready to ship in as little as two business days? This is no fantasy: Aftermarket specialists have made it nearly as easy to spec a rearend assembly for delivery right to your doorstep as ordering Chinese takeout. No more scouring the wrecking yard for hard-to-find-cores and rare performance gears and Posi options. Today’s ready-to-roll gears are made using all-new parts and are available for just about any vehicle out there. Thanks to its separate, dropout third-member and stamped or fabricated housing that make it easy to add custom suspension brackets for cross-manufacturer swaps, the stellar 9-inch Ford has by far the widest application reach, with a mind-boggling array of internal beef-up parts and gear ratios offered…

SEND STUFF IN:EMAIL: HOTROD@HOTROD.com MAIL: HOT ROD, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 PHOTO REQUIREMENTS: Minimum size 1,600 x 1,200 pixels MESSAGE BOARD: HOTROD.com DETROIT GOES HOLLYWOOD It’s no secret that the Motor City’s fiscal derailment was particularly devastating when the great economic train fell off the tracks back in 2008. Two years later, there are encouraging signs of automotive recovery, yet Detroit itself is still a long way from prosperity. To try and speed things along, the Michigan political machine began offering incentives to attract television and movie production to the state, and as a result, the area has recently become a sort of Hollywood Midwest. Why should we care about the film industry? Because of resulting cars like the FireBreather, that’s why. Initially designed and built…

It’s a question we get all the time. “What happened to (pick any car] you guys featured in the (name any issue]?” Most of the time our answer is “We have no idea.” Well, we’ve run across some old feature cars and cover models (the cars, not the girls) and compiled them all in this special Where Are They Now? section. Here you’ll find a handful of cars you may remember, some you may have obsessed over many years ago, and some you probably don’t recall at all. Because we’ve found so many, this is Part One—come back next month for Part Two. Will there be a Part Three? That’s where we need your help. Most of what we’ve found so far is from the ’70s and we’d really like…

This is one of those articles in which we don’t really expect many of you to read what we call the body copy If you look at the pictures and read the captions, you’ll get the gist of it. These hot rods, on display at the ’66 and ’67 Oakland Roadster Shows, look like a giant bowl of candy, all painted in Popsicle and Kool-Aid colors. Unfortunately, this era was short-lived. It wasn’t pervasive and was even somewhat regional. To see this wild display of chromed, open-wheel hot rods in a luscious panoply of colors, you had to attend a major car show or drag race sometime between about 1963 and 1967. You weren’t going to see these cars on the street, and there were no rod runs or big…

MORE HOTRODTV The ’10 season of HOT ROD Television continues each Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern on Speed Channel, sponsored by Lincoln Technical Institute, Coker Tire, and Raybestos. Join in the weekly celebration of performance with the longest-running network television show dedicated to hot rods. New in 2010, the episode chronicling Darkside Motoring’s Kenny Fong and his team will take it to the hot rod level as Hot Rod TV documents the restoration of a ’66 Mustang fastback for actor Brian Austin Green. Will this be the beginning of Kenny Fong, muscle car builder? Find out only on Hot Rod TV. Get the latest news and schedule at HOTROD.com. Exclusively on INSTANT CAMARO It’s only days away from Power Tour(r), and the guys at FiveAxis in Huntington Beach, California,…