Innehållsförteckning för September 2017 från Hot Rod

Do you love your car as much as you should? Answer the following questions to see if your project-car passion burns true. 1. Park your car and walk away. Do you want to look back? How many times? Do you find yourself walking backward so you can keep looking at it? 2. Do you find yourself parking your car in spots where you can see it from the window of wherever you’re going? 3. If someone takes a photo of an attractive person with your car in the background, do you zoom in to look at your car instead of the model? 4. If you see a car that looks like your car, will you drive around the block to see it again? More than once? 5. If the song…

THE COMBO Carl Arentz bought his 1964 Chevelle two years ago, well-used but running. “I’m well aware that it’s an old dog that should have been put down,” he says, “but I can’t bear to see these cars go to the junk pile.” He’s been restifying it ever since. Upgrading and refreshing the car’s tired drivetrain, he had the car’s M22 Muncie four-speed rebuilt, installed a new clutch, and swapped out the car’s weary small-block for a mild GM 350 crate motor. The end goal was a reliable cruiser. THE PROBLEM The new engine never ran right. Several different mechanics unsuccessfully tried to tune it, trying different-size carbs and messing with the ignition advance. Nothing really seemed to help. When Arentz’s latest carb—GM’s recommended 670-cfm Holley Street Avenger “spec unit”—still…

When last we spoke, I was choosing tunes for a road trip. I’ve now survived that trip, the Tire Rack One Lap of America. This event was spawned from the Cannonball Baker Sea-To- Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, an outlaw cross-country race created by Brock Yates of Car & Driver in 1971. It inspired the movies Cannonball (1976) and The Cannonball Run (1981). The event became the One Lap of America in 1984 and transmogrified into a marathon highway loop interrupted by competition at racetracks along the way. The 2017 thrash was 3,500-plus miles and 19 events at eight different locations as far south as Sebring International Raceway in Florida and as far north as GingerMan Raceway in Michigan. It stretched west to Memphis and east to…

+ www.ccwheel.com + (386) 258-0083 + www.weldwheels.com + (800) 788-9353 + CCW Daytona DS101 DIAMETER: 18, 19, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 18x7 to 20x15 FINISHES: Over 20 Custom Finishes Available BOLT PATTERNS: 5x115, 5x120, 5x4.5, 5x4.75 APPLICATIONS: High-performance pro-touring classic and modern muscle cars and heavily modified vintage sports cars WHEEL TYPE: Two Piece + CCW Daytona DS500 DIAMETER: 18, 19, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 18x7 to 20x15 FINISHES: Over 20 Custom Finishes Available BOLT PATTERNS: 5x115, 5x120, 5x4.5, 5x4.75 APPLICATIONS: High-performance pro-touring classic and modern muscle cars and heavily modified vintage sports cars WHEEL TYPE: Two Piece + WELD Racing GT-S Riverside DIAMETER: 17, 18, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 17x7 to 20x11 FINISHES: Black and Polished, Gunmetal and Polished, Full Polished BOLT PATTERNS: 5x115, 5x120, 5x4.5, 5x4.75 APPLICATIONS: Specifically…

+ www.discounttiredirect.com + (888) 855-9066 + Ambush DIAMETER: 17, 18, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 17x8.5 to 20x9 FINISHES: Gloss Black with Milled Accents, Gunmetal with Milled Accents BOLT PATTERNS: 5x127, 5x139.7, 5x150, 6x135, 6x139.7, 8x165.1, 8x170, 8x180 APPLICATIONS: Truck and SUV WHEEL TYPE: One piece + Bounty DIAMETER: 17, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 17x9 to 20x9 FINISHES: Matte Black BOLT PATTERNS: 5x114.3, 5x127, 5x139.7, 5x150, 6x135, 6x139.7, 8x165.1, 8x170 APPLICATIONS: Truck and SUV WHEEL TYPE: One piece + Buckshot DIAMETER: 16, 17, 18, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 16x8 to 20x9 FINISHES: Matte Black, Black Machined Face BOLT PATTERNS: 5x114.3, 5x127, 5x135, 5x139.7, 5x150, 6x114.3, 6x135, 6x139.7, 8x165.1, 8x170, 8x180 APPLICATIONS: Truck and SUV WHEEL TYPE: One piece + Lawman DIAMETER: 17, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 17x9 to 20x9 FINISHES:…

Travel Plans Power Tour® 2017 is just around the corner. Last year we saw a street-legal COPO Camaro, a barn-find Tri-Five turned drag racer, and a motorized picnic table. What will 2017 have in store? Real-World Relevance In this issue, we tested thin versus thick piston rings and their affect on horsepower. It was a lot of fun, and we certainly learned a thing or two. Wait till you see what we test next! Chevy Jokes It’s funny, Ford guys harp on Chevy for putting the distributor at the back of the engine, yet my Ranchero’s distributor hold-down bolt is the most difficult to get to of any car I’ve owned. It will take a custom tool to snake between the large-cap distributor, A/C compressor, and assorted tubes just to…

UNLIMITED ARCHIVE ACCESS! Every page of every issue since Volume One, Number One (Jan. 1948) can be viewed online by Platinumlevel members of the HOT ROD Club. Sign up at Club.HotRod.com. 20 YEARS AGO September 1997 (136 pages, $3.50): Three decades into an uncommonly long editorial job, Gray Baskerville returned from Power Tour® gushing like a rookie reporter—and inventing lingo like no one else ever could. His sidebar entitled “Riding Shotgun For 2,000 Miles” described hopping among 10 hot rods and street machines to gather material for monthly HOT ROD Road Tests. A relaxed Robert E. Petersen, who’d recently sold his publishing empire, and wife Margie also went top-down, driving the “BoydAir” 1957 Chevy on a first leg that launched from L.A.’s Petersen Automotive Museum. 40 YEARS AGO September 1977…

Ignition timing is easily the single most important tuning adjustment on an internal-combustion engine, yet the concept of ignition curves continues to be elusive for many enthusiasts. All it takes to improve torque, horsepower, and driveability is a simple timing light and an informed tuning process. Think of this as “free” horsepower, because it costs very little to optimize timing as long as you know the tricks. The plan behind optimized ignition timing hasn’t changed since Nikolaus Otto began fooling around with four-stroke, internalcombustion engines in the 1870s. The idea is to light the charge in the cylinder with enough lead time (advance) to create maximum cylinder pressure at the ideal point after top dead center (ATDC) to push the piston down, exerting leverage on the crank. It’s generally acknowledged…

For some car companies always on the brink in the 1950s and 1960s, being clever with designs paid dividends. Getting more with less tooling was one way to economize car manufacturing. Companies like Checker designed its car bodies so all four doors were made from one single stamping, with holes for hinges and door handles requiring a secondary stamping process making them either left or right doors. So if you were designing for economy, this was one very big way to get more with less. AMC’s Design VP Richard Teague went even further to help spread the company’s ever-shrinking development budgets. As the Wall Street Journal put it, “Teague’s specialty is styling on a shoestring.” A veteran of Packard, GM, and Chrysler, he’s shown here with his 1965 Cavalier concept…

Q:Lately, on several of the Corvette forums, the “experts” have been saying that tube headers on an engine are a waste of money. They say they only make the engine louder. I always read that headers are good for at least a 10-percent increase in horsepower. I’m the original owner of a 1968 Corvette with a 327 L79 engine with Hedman headers. Have I been wasting my money keeping headers on the car? A:Full-length, long-tube headers nearly always improve torque and power over stock, cast-iron exhaust manifolds. But you can’t necessarily put a specific hard number or a percentage on it. The more radical the engine in terms of its cylinderhead flow and camshaft, the greater the amount of power increase you’ll see with headers. With headers, expect to see…

+ www.advantiwheel.com + (877) 591-1001 + HYDRA DIAMETER: 18, 19, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 18x8 to 20x10 FINISHES: Titanium Mirror, Matte Black Machined Face Bronze Clear & Matte Black Machined Face BOLT PATTERNS: 5x100, 5x108, 5X110, 5x112, 5x114.3, 5x120 APPLICATIONS: Sports-Luxury and Performance Vehicles WHEEL TYPE: One piece + TURBINA DIAMETER: 17, 18, 19, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 17x8 to 20x8.5 FINISHES: Matte Black Machined Face Bronze Clear & Silver Machined Face BOLT PATTERNS: 5x100, 5x108, 5x112, 5x114.3, 5x120 APPLICATIONS: Sports-Luxury and Performance Wheels WHEEL TYPE: One piece + DIVISO DIAMETER: 18, 19 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 18x8 to 19x8.5 FINISHES: Matte Gunmetal Gloss Black, Silver Machined Face & Matte Black Machined Face BOLT PATTERNS: 5x100, 5x108, 5x112, 5x114.3, 5x120 APPLICATIONS: Sports-Luxury and Performance Wheels WHEEL TYPE: One piece + DIECI…

+ Boost DRW SF DIAMETER: 20, 22, 22.5, 24, 26, 28 WIDTH: 8.25 FINISHES: Polish & Custom Powdercoating BOLT PATTERNS: 8x165, 8x170, 8x200, 8x210 APPLICATIONS: GM 3500; Dodge 3500, 4500, 5500; Ford F-350, F-450, F-550 WHEEL TYPE: 1-Piece Forged + Code DRW SF DIAMETER: 20, 22, 22.5, 24, 26, 28 WIDTH: 8.25 FINISHES: Polish & Custom Powdercoating BOLT PATTERNS: 8x165, 8x170, 8x200, 8x210 APPLICATIONS: GM 3500; Dodge 3500, 4500, 5500; Ford F-350, F-450, F-550 WHEEL TYPE: 1-Piece Forged + Gauge DRW SF DIAMETER: 20, 22, 24, 24.5, 26, 28 WIDTH: 8.25 FINISHES: Polish & Custom Powdercoating BOLT PATTERNS: 8x165, 8x170, 8x200, 8x210 APPLICATIONS: GM 3500; Dodge 3500, 4500, 5500; Ford F-350, F-450, F-550 WHEEL TYPE: 1-Piece Forged + Realm DRW SF DIAMETER: 20, 22, 22.5, 24, 26, 28 WIDTH: 8.25…

+ www.continentaltire.com + (800) 321-7575 + ExtremeContact™ Sport CATEGORY: Passenger Cars and Performance TIRE SIZES: 225-50-15 to 335-25-20 DIRECTIONAL: No DESCRIPTION: This dynamic, ultra-high performance street tire is built for car enthusiasts and engineered for extreme grip in dry and wet conditions. SportPlusTM Technology provides precise handling; security on wet, slippery roads; and excellent tread life. + ContiSportContact™ 5P CATEGORY: Passenger Cars and Performance TIRE SIZES: 225-50-17 to 325-35-22 DIRECTIONAL: No DESCRIPTION: A combination of responsive handling and improved grip, allowing for additional steering response, faster cornering, shorter braking distances, and better wet grip. + ExtremeContact™ DWS06 CATEGORY: Passenger Cars and Performance TIRE SIZES: 205-55-16 to 295-25-22 DIRECTIONAL: No DESCRIPTION: This ultimate UHP, all-season tire maintains excellent snow traction while improvements in wet traction, dry handling, and tread life have…

He’s one of the closest things we have to royalty. “The King” Richard Petty has won seven NASCAR championships and a record 200 NASCAR races, but you already know that. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, HOT ROD had an opportunity to sit down with him and talk about his family’s Petty Foundation for giving something back, the Petty Garage, but also about racing—both then and now—with some insight into how he won those record 127 poles and more than 700 top-10 finishes. Bright and casual, with his signature dark glasses and hat that make him look ageless, Petty seems at ease with his stature, but never cocky or impressed with it. When asked how many interviews he’s done, he said so many he wouldn’t even take a guess.…

hIn the golden age of drag racing, the variety of surrealistic machines was challenged only by one’s ability to process the cornucopia of crazy contraptions and beautiful blitzers unleashed on the quarter-mile. It was a mind game for builders, but also for fans. Of all the crazy configurations and ideas flirted with and doubled down on across dragstrips nationwide, the sidewinder dragster seemed like an incredible idea that could revolutionize quarter-mile racing. With a mid-engine location, but placed sideways in the frame, the engine’s natural torque increased traction rather than pulling to one side. With both rear tires equally loaded, there would conceivably be less control problems. It also eliminated driveshaft failures because there wasn’t one, and you could build a dragster more compact to lessen weight. It was also…

The amount of air pressure over normal atmospheric pressure a supercharger develops is called “boost.” Spinning the same beltdriven blower faster at a given rpm generates more boost. This is accomplished by changing the ratio between the crank pulley and the drive pulley. Up to a point, the higher the boost, the higher the engine’s power potential. Eventually, the combo reaches its max practical boost level, as constrained by blower size and design, overall blower and engine efficiency, available fuel-octane rating versus engine compression ratio, and overall air/fuel charge temperature. As the blower compresses the air/fuel charge, the charge temperature increases until it reaches a point where heat buildup offsets the power generated by increasing boost. Also, the faster a beltdriven blower spins, the more power it takes to make…

Jesel LS7-Style Pedestal Rockers Jesel // 732.901.1800 // Jesel.com For NHRA Factory Stock competition, Jesel’s new 4340 billet-steel pedestal rockers use 0.312-inch needle bearings on the shaft with 0.250-inch-wide by 0.520-inch needle roller tips. Though designed for LS7-style heads in classes that require stock-style valvetrains, they’ll happily pop valves for any high-powered combo you need. Price: Call for pricing Mallory’s Budget HyFire Ignition Mallory // 888.258.3835 MSDPerformance.com Mallory is reviving its HyFire series with the new 690 ignition box. The vintage-appearing HyFire 690 uses multiple-spark discharge below 3,000 rpm, with an adjustable high-rpm rev limiter (using built-in dial switches instead of removable chips). Price: $174.95 Custom- Engraved Billet Switches and Buttons Billet Automotive Buttons +61.043.904.9403 BilletAutomotiveButtons.com From Down Under to your garage, Nelson has you covered with custom-engraved billet buttons…

WANT A WHEEL THAT DOESN’T EXIST? TRY RACELINE’S BESPOKE BILLET DIVISION. THEY CAN MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE. If you’re a fan of Barrett-Jackson and frequent their auctions (or watch their television show), then you just may have spotted this ’62 Lincoln Continental that was up for grabs a few months back. Even before the sale, the sheer sight of the Lincoln created quite a commotion and it piqued the interest of many car customizers. While the site of a clean ’62 Lincoln is already rare, the main focal point of this particular build happened to be the wheels. Oversized, clean, and well refined, the wheels became a central point of the vehicle and in turn created a gaggle of Internet chatter with people trying to figure out where exactly…

+ www.discounttiredirect.com + (888) 855-9066 + DR-37 DIAMETER: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 15x7 to 20x10 FINISHES: Flat Black, Flat Black Machined Face, Gloss Black Machined Lip, Silver, Silver Machined Lip, Gunmetal Machined, Virtual Chrome, Hyper Black, Hyper Silver, BOLT PATTERNS: 4x100, 5x112, 5x114.3, 5x115, 5x120 APPLICATIONS: Import, Domestic, and European Passenger Cars WHEEL TYPE: One Piece + DR-67 DIAMETER: 17, 18 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 17x7.5 to 20x8.5 FINISHES: Flat Black, Platinum Silver, Charcoal Gray Machined Face BOLT PATTERNS: 5x108, 5x112, 5x114.3, 5x115, 5x120 APPLICATIONS: Import, Domestic, and European Passenger Cars WHEEL TYPE: One Piece + DR-70 DIAMETER: 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 DIAMETER X WIDTH: 16x7 to 20x10 FINISHES: Silver Machined Face BOLT PATTERNS: 5x100, 5x108, 5X110, 5x112, 5x114.3, 5x115, 5x120 APPLICATIONS: Import, Domestic, and…

WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THE FIRST WHEEL? According to the Smithsonian Institution, evidence shows that wheels were NOT originally used as a form of transportation. If fact, the first wheel was created around 3500 B.C. in Mesopotamia and used as a pottery wheel—that was 300 years before chariots used them as wheels for transportation. SPACE SHUTTLE TIRES CAN HOLD WHAT? A space shuttle tire is not much larger than a truck tire, but a main landing gear tire can carry three times the load of a Boeing 747 tire or the entire starting lineup of a NASCAR race—40 race cars—all hitting the pavement at up to 250 mph. 318,000,000 The amount of tires pushed out annually by Lego. Yes, Lego. The toy company produces tires 24 hours a day/365…