Innehållsförteckning för July 2015 från Hot Rod

Detroit automakers can compete on price, on warranty, on fashion, and on fuel economy, but when the Motor City is engaged in the throes of a horsepower war—we all win. Why? Car companies need goals, goals that drive them to do what others can’t (or won’t) to win. Goals that demand bold expansion and growth to do stuff that hasn’t been done. To paraphrase another Kennedy, “[a goal that will] serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” Tere’s one goal that drives car companies more than any other— and that’s a horsepower war. I’m convinced engineers and…

We first saw Mike Lopez’s photos when we were searching for Rambler photos on Instagram: #rambler. It pulled up a sweet shot of a station wagon stuffed full of surfboards, and further investigation led us to @sanonofre_photo. Mike’s main focus is action on the waves, something he’s done since he was a kid, shooting surf shots of his friends with a waterproof Minolta Weathermatic. “They didn’t surf very well, but I didn’t shoot pictures that well either,” Mike told us. He certainly shoots well now, although he says it’s still just something he does for fun, beachbumming during his free time, and working for the Orange County Probation Department to pay the bills. Proving that you don’t have to be a gearhead to have a feel for a good car…

Desert travelers are always pleased to see palm trees, as their flora fireworks generally signify water, a life-giving respite from the misery of the endless sand and sun. A large grove of palms along 62nd Avenue in Thermal, California, signals an oasis of a different sort. Behind a tall, wooden fence is 4.5 miles of beautifully paved racetrack with three different courses, plus kart and autocross courses. BMW recently signed a multi-year lease to hold its driving schools there, and if you’ve got a couple (triple, quadruple) hundred grand just gathering dust in the corner, you can spend your days playing Dan Gurney on the private racetrack as a member of the Thermal Club. Building a personal racecourse is pretty high up on our fantasy list, but how does one…

PERFORMANCE AS TESTED Rear-Wheel Horsepower: 392 at 6,200 rpm Rear-Wheel Torque: 343 at 5,100 rpm Time on HOT ROD Road Course: 1:38.14 420-Foot Slalom: 41.03 mph Skidpad: 0.83 g Quarter-Mile: 13.26 seconds at 105.60 mph HRM STAFF AVERAGE RANKING ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10, 10 BEING BEST: Competence vs. Purpose: It was built as a daily driver capable of some fun runs, and Creations N’ Chrome had it at three different tracks over three days and didn’t even have to tighten a bolt. Seems competent to us. Ranking: 9 Performance vs. Potential: The performance is totally respectable, but there’s definitely potential for so much more. Engine builder Jerry Hovet put together a friendly, mildmannered, basically stock LS1, so there’s plenty left in it for the next rebuild. Ranking:…

It was just like any other day at the office, that is, if your office boasted paved acres of destruction and your job was to put two Dodge Hellcats and a Viper on the rev limiters until you wore through three sets of rubber. We called it “testing.” We aren’t sure what Dodge will call it when Episode 38 of Roadkill drops and it finds $200,000 worth of the most powerful factory-built muscle cars ever built covered in dirt and Pirelli dust. We had two days, a limited budget, heavy right feet, and no legit testing facility at our disposal to learn what we deemed most important about these three hellions on wheels. Other car mags have already extracted the top speed, braking, handling, and dragstrip prowess of each car—that’s…

Whether it’s for a gasser or a road racer, stack injection brings a sound, a look, and definitely a performance feel that’s hard to replicate. Aside from the obvious clearance issues that come from their height, the major hurdle to bolting on one of these beauties is the cost. Depending on the application, stack injection can be several thousand dollars more expensive than a single-throttle-body fuel-injection manifold, although some models are much less. We spoke to Andrew Starr at Hilborn EFI-R and Steve Sbelgio at Eclipse Engineering, experts in individualrunner fuel injection, and they both offered similar advice: before you go shopping, check new prices. New mechanical-injection manifolds might be cheaper than you’d think, but if you plan to convert to EFI, once you purchase a usable manifold and farm…

SEE THE VIDEO! Search YouTube for “Randy Grubb Garage Rocket III” to see what we’re talking about. Artist/fabricator Randy Grubb and sculptor Tim Cotterill teamed up to bring a unique 430hp vision to life. Cotterill is best known as Frogman due to his work creating glass representations of animals—particularly frogs. He’s also almost as well know for driving around Southern California on outlandish trikes and quads, including a Hemipowered monster called Rocket II. For his latest ride, Tim worked with Randy, whose fabrication talents were perfectly suited for this build that’s appropriately dubbed Rocket III. Randy has been building hot rods on a large scale—not in volume, but in size—for decades, so this massive quad was definitely in his wheelhouse. Randy has worked with aluminum body panels and billet-aluminum chassis…

HOT ROD readers contact me all the time about unique cars sitting in barns. This month the barn in question was in my family’s Wisconsin hometown, on a route I’ve taken many times. Tucked in the corner was a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro convertible. Optioned with both the SS and RS packages, this car also had the Indy 500 package. It wasn’t the rare 396ci version—this car was built with a 350—but it’s still 1 of 3,675 produced. This particular ’69 had been partially taken apart, but was still straight and clean. Alongside the Camaro was a unique two-seater. It looked like a ¾-scale Model T and was powered by a Wisconsin two-cylinder engine. The owner put it away in a safe spot, behind a Chevy Corvair Rampside truck. Chevrolet Corvair…

The 2014 Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) Show ushered in a new trend in high-end Pro Touring cars, and Chris McPhie’s Recoil Chevelle—built by Ringbrothers—is the epitome. Te hallmarks of the new Pro Touring trend are custom bodywork and intricately fabricated details throughout, with an overall look that is far from fashy. It’s not all that subtle, though, because it still managed to broadcast its craftsmanship to anyone who set eyes on it; the closer this 1966 Chevelle is inspected, the more custom details it reveals. Te build began in 2012 when the car’s 1966 sheetmetal got a thorough stripping. While a good portion of the sheetmetal was solid, sizable portions of the quarter-panels and floor had to go. Tat was fine because part of the plan was to widen…

DOUBLE INJECTION Some Gen V LT1 direct-injection engines with aftermarket forced induction rely on port-fuel injection to provide sufficient fuel when the power levels exceed the factory fuelinjection pump’s capabilities. Next Month: Crank Position Sensors…

Sheetmetal LS Oil Pan Tilden Motorsports // 408.600.0122 // TildenMotorsports.com General Motor’s LS-engine oil pans leave a lot to be desired. They’re big, ugly, and surprisingly delicate—not ideal for most LS swaps. Tilden Motorsports offers its LSx sheetmetal oil pans with all steel construction, performance baffling, oil pickup tube, oil control doors, and machined billet aluminum oil-filter block standard on every pan. Its Pro Series oil pan offers an extra level of protection with a 1⁄8-inch integrated skidplate and weighted oil control doors that ensure fast door open and closure, keeping oil in the sump even during high-speed cornering or of-camber situations. Price: Starting at $465 Vintage-Look Bolstered Buckets Distinctive Industries 800.421.9777 DistinctiveIndustries.com Touring II reclining buckets mimic the original look of factory buckets with improved comfort and bolstering that…

I’ve been thinking about my relationship with Mustangs lately. Those cars seem to have a shape-shifting image that’s hard to put a finger on: they are chick cars, mullet-mobiles, sports cars, muscle cars, collectible cars, throwaway cars, modern cars, and classic cars—all at once. Obviously, a recipe for endurance. I’ve seen a little of each character in my personal experience with ’em. In my first years of driving, the 19641⁄2–1966 models were 20 years old, cheap, and ubiquitous as the car for every sister, girlfriend, or daughter. I helped a friend’s sister buy a 1965 coupe with an inliner and a three-speed, and it was the second stick car I’d ever driven. Around the same time, two friends had 1967 coupes that were hand-me-downs from the…

This is the Chrisman-Cannon Hustler I a month before winning “Best Engineered” at the 1958 NHRA Nationals, with NHRA President and former HOT ROD Editor Wally Parks at the front and body fabricator Red Rose in back at the Chrisman and Son’s Garage on El Segundo Boulevard in Lynwood, California. Though it became one of the most iconic early dragsters, originally it was built to win a bet. After the Chrisman brothers built a flyin’ 392-based, 454ci Chrysler Hemi for Frank Cannon’s 1955 T-bird, it became a record-setter. Mickey Tompson, track manager for the recently built Lions Drag Strip, bet Cannon $300 that if he put the unblown engine in a dragster it couldn’t go 150 mph on gas in the quartermile. Cannon went back to the Chrisman brothers relaying…

Saleen pulled the wraps off its range-topping Black Label 302 Mustang in Los Angeles on March 20. Beginning with a 5.0L Mustang GT, Saleen builds on the already stout 5.0L by adding a twin-screw supercharger that increases output to a whopping 730 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque on 91-octane gasoline. The suspension uses the full catalog of Saleen parts, including S4 springs, shocks, sway bars, and bushings to balance performance on the track and street. Unique Saleen 20-inch, five-spoke wheels use 275/35R20 tires in the front and 275/40R20 tires in the rear, and they’re not just for looks. The 20-inch wheels make way for giant, 15-inch dimpled brake rotors. Hiding all of the impressive powertrain and suspension engineering is a full complement of carbon-fiber body panels meant to reduce…

You know you’ve built a clean machine when the dyno operator who is strapping it down for a pull stops cranking on the tie-downs to compliment you on the undercarriage. Gary Watson from Creations N’ Chrome (CNC) is probably used to it by now. From Mustangs to pickup trucks, his shop is known for tidy builds that are ready to run, or at least, almost ready to run. When we asked him to bring his latest for some track testing, he met us at Westech Performance in Mira Loma, California, and unloaded a two-tone silvery gray 1969 Chevy C10. “I’m so glad you guys are starting with the dyno,” he told us. “We just finished this, so it doesn’t even have a tune in it yet.” After some expert work…

[Sometimes great cars just happen, other times they evolve as one’s influences, skills, family, friends, finances, and place in time collide to create a car that no one will ever know took so much to bring together. Gene Hetland’s 1932 roadster might look like one of those cars that just happened, but there’s an Arthurian legend behind its build. Back in the 1980s, Gene Hetland owned a car that some would say was similar to his current roadster—and it was in broad terms. Built by Don Thelan, it was black, with the distinctive Du Vall boat windshield, pinched frame, removable metal top, and a couple of truly distinctive features: a Gurney-Weslake Ford engine and nickel-plated components at a time when everything was either chrome or hard-edged billet aluminum. Hetland enjoyed…

Is your project stalled, sitting in the corner of your garage collecting dust because you’ve hit a roadblock? We have our share of projects that are making sluggish progress, but on the other hand, we’ve seen what successful car builders (both professional and amateur) do to get the job done. Here are some of the methods that we’ve gleaned, organized from the practices you can pick up for free to the larger investments that require space and a budget. Hopefully, all of these ideas help you on the path to project completion. 1. FREE BE SURE TO DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY Make it a habit to fiddle with something every day. Even if it’s just cleaning up a piece of trim or replacing a lightbulb, being out there will help…

In 1998 Tom Clark’s 1933 Ford roadster built by Louisville, Tennessee’s, Bobby Alloway burned up in a shop fire from a lightning strike. Larry Olson from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, always wanted a roadster similar to the torched roadster of Clark’s, and 15 years after that fire, he convinced Alloway to build another one. Building the 2015 Grand National Roadster Show’s America’s Most Beautiful Roadster took more than four years. The all-metal roadster has become the third 1933–1934 Ford roadster to win the title in the last five years. Alloway has perfected the art of building 1933 and 1934 Fords by moving a lot of the sheetmetal around to give the illusion he just took Henry Ford’s roadster, slammed it, and put a late-model engine in it. You’ll see from…

Have you ever thought about what compels you to lust after whatever heap inhabits your garage? Do you like its styling? Is it because it’s a beautiful car, or beautiful to you? Or do you like how it looks because you remember one just like it blitzing the hometown quarter-mile? Or maybe it’s because your dad drove one to work when you were a kid? Here’s a test: These three Chevy II cars all started out looking the same, with two being transformed into something very removed from their origins, and for completely different reasons. Can you articulate which one looks better, and why? Sometimes the answer can be like your favorite ice cream flavor; you know you like it, you just can’t say why.…

Q: My 1965 El Camino has been in storage for more than 15 years. After an ugly divorce, moving countless times, and the kids grown and gone, I finally have a place and the time to take up where I left off. For now, I just want to get it running and will tear into the motor later. It’s a 327ci factory replacement engine with a lot of miles on it. It was running when it was put away, so I was wondering what I should do before starting it up without having to dismantle it just yet. Fresh gas and oil, for sure, but beyond that, what else? Or should I just fire it up and hope for the best? A: The way to do this right is—to the…