Innehållsförteckning för April 2020 från Hot Rod

If you were asked to repaint the Mona Lisa, could you do it? If we contracted you to renovate Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright, would you be up to the task? And if you were entrusted to reimagine one of the most significant automotive shapes of all time, would that frighten you? Most of the time, questions like this are hypothetical. Let’s face it, the Mona Lisa is priceless, and Fallingwater is an architectural wonder, so it’s doubtful anyone is going to make a run at those anytime soon. But what about that last question—the one about the car … I look at its shape now in disbelief, 51 years after its reveal, and wonder what the public must have thought when they first laid eyes on it. There are…

The case for ethanol-enriched fuel has been highly contested within the car community. Some people love E85, and some people wish that 100-percent gasoline was still the norm. The corn-based fuel component offers several advantages, such as a much higher octane rating, but the tuning aspect has frightened a lot of folks away from making the switch. Ryan Truax experienced this firsthand. He converted his car to E85 and went through the process of a custom tune, only to find that the car was inconsistent. Sometimes it would be rich, and sometimes it would be lean, so he dug a little deeper and found that the fuel from his local E85 pump did not always have the same ethanol content. This discovery led him to create Advanced Fuel Dynamics, a…

Roadkill@davidfreiburger There’s that moment when you realize the sickness is terminal. For me, the lead-up began on April 15, 1983, when—at 15 years old—I bought my 1970 Dodge Super Bee. It was loaded with a hopped-up 383 B engine that wasn’t a numbers-matching casting for the car, but it was a big-block nonetheless. It did a lot of burnouts, and that was all I needed. The 383 was the first engine I ever rebuilt, and I did the work in auto shop as a junior in high school under the direction of Mr. Quentin Swan, a Central Casting figure of a ’50s reserve cop and straight-laced auto mechanic. One day I was all set to fire up that freshly dingle-balled and ring-‘n’-bearing’d 383 when we decided to start it and…

Network Content Director @douglas.glad I have no clue where I first saw the word Duralast. It was likely dangling from a string in the center isle of a chain parts store where I was buying a drain pan or a bottle of antifreeze. As a rule, I avoid parts stores for the simple reason that most of my cars aren’t stock and the supply-chain systems are designed for factory hardware and part numbers. Parts stores are usually handy for late-night breakdowns and a bag of peanut M&Ms. There are cars in the fleet that are stock. When they need repairs, I fall into the bracket of DIY guy in the strictest since of the word. I don’t send the daily drivers to local mom-and-pop shops, and despite being on the…

What’s not to love about an automobile that fixes itself and can dispense some justice to your enemies? If that brings a specific car to mind, then you’re probably thinking about the demonic 1958 Plymouth Fury used in Christine, John Carpenter’s cult-classic horror movie based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. While King’s novel was a huge success, the movie didn’t get the same kind of love. It opened on December 9, 1983, to lackluster reviews and poor attendance at the box office. It has gone on to be one of the most iconic horror and car films ever produced, however. Cast with relatively unknown actors, and what King described as a “forgotten car,” it cemented the 1958 Plymouth Fury forever on the automotive landscape with a…

We all know how well the LS engine family responds to bolt-ons. We also know how well they respond to boost, so the obvious question, then, is how well do they respond to both? While the answer may seem obvious, there is much more to it. Suppose you upgrade your LS engine with a performance camshaft, aftermarket cylinder heads, or an intake manifold—or better yet: all three, like we did to our test engine. Will the power gains offered on the normally aspirated engine carry over once you add boost? What if the camshaft is tailored more toward forced induction, or not? The same could be asked of the intake or cylinder heads. We didn’t know the answers to these questions going into this project, but we sure knew how…

Popularized by Pontiac back in the 1960s, the term “Ram Air” (as used by its space cadets—aka advertising staff) for a sealed induction system that receives cooler outside ambient air instead of really hot underhood air is a misnomer—at least when applied to road vehicles traveling at legal highway speeds. The correct term—although a lot less sexy—is “cold air induction system.” There is a difference; let’s break it down. For engineers, true “ram air” occurs when air entering directly into the fuel metering system travels fast enough that a mild supercharging effect occurs—a boost gauge would show a few pounds of positive air pressure on a normally-aspirated engine if it actually experiences a ram-air effect. The operative term here is “fast enough”: Ram air only becomes effective at high speed,…

HOT ROD’s objective has always been to cover what’s happening in the hot rodding world—the people, the trends, the races, the culture, the cars, the builds, and so on. But sometimes we’re about spotlighting what’s not happening, and at one point, it had to do with speed parts. Sure, we’d been featuring them on the pages for 60 years, since the Jan. ’48 issue’s “Parts with Appeal” showcased a fuel pump. The problem as we saw it was that, to date, there had been no hall of fame for the aftermarket parts that helped to build an industry. HOFs did exist, such as the Automotive Hall of Fame and Motorsports Hall of Fame, but there was nothing for speed parts. That prompted the Speed Parts Hall of Fame, which first…

If you thought the Transformers were only in the movies, then you’ve never been to Lake Havasu City on the California-Arizona border. The Colorado River cuts through the desert tourist spot, but up on the north end of town, an airport hangar holds what looks like Optimus Prime’s bigger and more bad-ass older brother: Thor24. Dreamt up by Southern California land developer Mike Harrah, and built over a seven-year period by Mike with Tim Spinks and Paul Abram, the truck has so much going on it’s hard to focus on just one facet. It’s safe to say, however, each one is as equally impressive as the other, right down the line. Big Mike, as he’s called, stands 6 feet, 5 inches and has a larger-than-life personality that is personified in…

Here we go with part two of the coilover suspension conversion on our 1967 Chevy C10 project, Truck Norris. This time around, we finish the job by installing TCI’s rear suspension components and make the truck a roller once again. The work was straightforward, and we performed it all at home with the vehicle on jackstands. Our air hammer sure got a workout, though. Let’s see how it all went down. Sources ALDAN AMERICAN; 310.834.7478, AldanAmerican.com CLASSIC PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS; 714.522.2000; ClassicPerform.com TOTAL COST INVOLVED ENGINEERING; 800.984.6259; TotalCostInvolved.com…

Hydraulic Clutch Conversion Kit Modern Driveline // 208.453.9800 // moderndriveline.com Winner of the Best Engineered New Product award at the 2019 SEMA Show was the ’94-’04 Ford Mustang hydraulic clutch master cylinder conversion kit from Modern Driveline. It converts the factory clutch cable to hydraulic by way of the stock pedal assembly and clutch cable mounting location, giving you a smooth, modern feel. Included is the master cylinder with an integral reservoir, plus pedal linkage and more; no drilling is needed for installation. You can choose either the SOHC or DOHC mod motor so clearance won’t be an issue. Price: $495 GM G-Body Transmission Kit American Powertrain // 931.646.4836 // americanpowertrain.com The new ProFit five- and six-speed system for the ’78–’88 GM G-body is now available and is ideal if…