Innehållsförteckning för March 2021 från Hot Rod

Editor-in-Chief @john.mcgann After securing both the drivers’ and team Championships at Laguna Seca, Corvette Racing finally claimed the Manufacturer’s Championship for Chevrolet in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship series at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the last race of the season. The Corvette C8.R has been a dominant force in the GT Le Mans Class (GTLM) in 2020, claiming six victories, seven pole positions, and the fastest race lap at five venues. Chevrolet fields two C8.R race cars in GTLM, the No. 3 car, driven by Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor, and the No. 4 car, driven by Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. Nicky Catsburg and Marcel Fässler join the No. 3 and 4 teams, respectively, as extra drivers in the long endurance races. With their second-place finish at…

Inspiration. Or impact, encouragement, guidance—any way you define it, the lives we lead and the paths we take can be thoroughly directed by the people responsible for bringing us into this world. Our parents are usually our first and foremost leaders in life, starting at birth and typically continuing even after they’ve left us. They look over us and care for us, and it’s their daily directive that helps shape our lives. That’s why many of us follow our parents in so many ways, including our chosen careers and also our favorite daily diversions. Love of the automotive hobby is one of those qualities that’s commonly passed down from parent to child, and it’s typical to see sons and daughters follow their parents into the garage and learn from them…

When you set out to build a car, arriving at that happy place usually means budgets and goals have to come together. For Jeff Cleary, his 1970 Nova project started out with a very specific set of goals that he envisioned culminating in what he defines as an “in-between car.” He explains, “I was racing an LS7-powered 1967 Corvette and was in the process of building a 1965 Corvette coupe. Knowing that the coupe was going to take longer to build, I decided to take a standard-platform car and throw everything from the Detroit Speed Inc. catalog at it. My goal was to speed up the build process but not do anything else to it. I was going to put a rollcage in it, use as much of the powertrain…

With the gentrification of old cars that began in the 1980s and continues today, many vehicles that were considered junk before are now—because of their affordability—are seeing the performance spotlight. So, while one might expect a 1970 ’Cuda to be a good candidate for a disc brake upgrade, it might not be so obvious for a more utilitarian car like a same-year, Slant Six Duster. Does your Mopar need a complete four-wheel disc brake conversion? That depends. For those who prize originality or rarity, an expensive disc brake conversion or upgrade package may have the effect of lowering the value of a car. That said, restoring a vintage brake system to acceptable operation with all NOS parts may not be easy, cheap, or fun. And even if you don’t mind…

Car battery specs conform to standards developed by the Battery Council International (BCI) and the SAE. Many of the specs appear on the battery label as well as in battery manufacturers’ published literature. For car guys, the most important specs are: • Cold Cranking Amps (CCA): The discharge load in amperes that a new, fully charged battery can deliver at 0 degrees F for 30 seconds while maintaining a voltage of 1.20 volts/cell or higher. This measures the battery’s ability to start (crank) an engine under low-temperature conditions where the chemical reaction inside the battery slows down: A battery puts out 100 percent of its rated power at 80 degrees F, 65 percent at 32 degrees, and only 40 percent at 0 degrees. CCA is great for comparing battery performance…

Straight from the factory, a 1941 Willys coupe was a sexy thing with curvaceous lines reminiscent of a larger 1940 Ford. But under the hood, it was not what men of the future would be looking for. The Gasser Wars came, and a host of old cars with lightweight bodies would find themselves drafted. From 1933 models until the early 1940s, the bulk of Willys automobiles found themselves slaving at a drag strip. The story of Dennis Mariani’s 1941 Willys was that of a car plundered for its body to labor long nights on the strip, but its destiny would be unlike that of its peers. Dennis worked out a deal with Don Orosco to take possession of the former drag car, then enlisted Roy Brizio Street Rods to restore…

It takes a lot to build a car in a week: a lot of planning, a lot of parts on hand, and a lot of teamwork and cooperation. Adding to an already complex set of circumstances was COVID-19 and the necessary safety precautions it necessitated. Nevertheless, we all masked up and got to work. Sources American Legend Wheels; 855.924.3100; americanlegendwheels.com AutoRad Radiators; 770.983-1345; autoradradiators.com Bowler Performance Transmissions; 618.943.4856; bowlertransmissions.com Classic Performance Products; 714.522.2000; classicperform.com Dakota Digital; 605.332.6513; dakotadigital.com Duralast Auto Parts; duralastparts.com E3 Spark Plugs; 904.567.5994; e3sparkplugs.com E-Stopp Corporation; 888.688.6348; estopp.com Falken Tires; falkentire.com FiTech Fuel Injection; 951.340.2624; fitechefi.com Holley; 866.464.6553; holley.com Lokar Performance Products; 877.469.7440; lokar.com Quick Time Performance; 866.464.6553; holley.com Scott Shop Towels; Kimberly-Clark Brands; scottbrand.com Spec Clutch; 800.828.4379; specclutch.com Tremec; 800.401.9866; tremec.com United Pacific Industries; 866.327.5288; upauto.com…

We are fortunate to live in an era where there are lots of reproduction parts available for our favorite cars. In a few cases, you can buy an entire reproduction body! However, there still are some items for some cars that are not reproduced yet. What do you do if you need a part that isn’t available in the aftermarket and finding a useable replacement proves difficult? Muscle Car Restorations, in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, was in such a situation. No amount of searching (new or used) could produce a taillight panel for this ’68 Dodge Coronet. Yes, it’s a B-body and much of the sheetmetal is the same as the other models, but there are a few distinguishing features, and the tail panel is one of them. It also doesn’t…

Q: I have a 1992 Olds Achieva SCX with a W41 Quad 4 engine built for 250 to 270 hp with 11:1 forged pistons (a point over stock), forged rods, and a cryotreated crank. I have the ability to get a ZEX [nitrous oxide] kit, so I can drop a 200-hp shot on top of it. A: I was able to advance the timing 4 degrees over the OEM 20-degree total, for a current setting of 24 degrees on 93-octane pump gas. The problem is: For the 200-hp shot nitrous, ZEX wants the timing dialed back 6 degrees, which would be 14-degrees [sic] total. The Quad 4 engine is similar to the old second Gen 426 Hemi, and other modern dual-cam four-valve, four-cylinder engines: It does not like retarding the…

This 1961 Impala SS was something special. Its owner, Dan Gurney, had it modified to go “Jaguar hunting on the weekends,” said writer OCee Ritch in the July 1961 issue of Sports Car Graphic magazine. At the time, Gurney was in the thick of his Formula 1 career. He believed that the Impala SS, with just a few choice modifications, could successfully take on the Jaguar sedans competing in British saloon races of the time—saloon being the British word for sedan and not some pub crawl. This was the first year Chevrolet offered the 409 in the Impala; it was rated at 360 hp and 409 lb-ft of torque using a single four-barrel carburetor. In Dan’s car, the engine was mostly left alone. Local high-performance guru Bill Thomas and Bill…

Frank Arone’s 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 is the latest in a group of nearly two dozen muscle car restorations that he has done. He owns a restoration shop that, while it is a business, “is not highly profitable for me,” he admits. “It’s a labor of love.” Frank restored many of these muscle cars prior to opening this restoration facility, which goes back to the year 2000. He was a muscle car enthusiast first. Frank has been painting cars since he was 12 years old. His interests have covered Corvettes to sport trucks, four-wheel-drives to SUVs, and now at 62, his interests have circled back to muscle cars, which are what he really likes. Over the years, he’s amassed some noteworthy models, including a 1969 COPO Camaro, a 1969 Z/28,…

Our classics are typically a balancing act between form and function, and though many factory parts work just fine in our modified cars, sometimes we crave something that just, to be blunt, looks better. Pedals and pedal covers would fall into this category, and for the most part, fall under want way more than need. Although installing aftermarket pedals is an aesthetic choice, there’s also some science involved with determining the correct pedal ratio. As stated, there’s nothing wrong with the functionality of the factory pedals, but if you’ve updated the look of your interior, they can appear a bit dated. Also, because our Camaro has an electronic throttle pedal (LS Swap) the pedals match in terms of style. One functional issue we did have was that the throttle pedal…

High mileage or a high-performance camshaft swap: Those are the top two reported reasons for LS rocker-arm failure. The symptoms are a miss with a ticking sound coming from the valve cover or needle bearings in the motor oil, or both. The problem is caused by uncaged bearings that spill out of the side of the arm when they fail from wear, or when the lift of the new cam exceeds the design of the bearing cap, pushing it out of the rocker-arm body. Rather than risk this on our LS3, we installed an LS rocker-arm bearing upgrade kit from Summit Racing Equipment that replaces the factory bearing and trunnions and adds the safety of snap rings to keep it all in place. Sources OEM Tools; 888.453.5148; toolsid.com Summit Racing;…

Roadkill @davidfreiburger Ed Iskenderian is credited with inventing the branded T-shirt, handing them out to promote Isky cams in the ’50s. I guess I should send him some thanks, or a royalty check, because I have a decent side hustle selling my own shirts and hoodies. That got me thinking about the T-shirts that impacted my life, because in the gearhead world, that’s an actual thing. The first shirt I coveted at an unreasonable level was a hand-me-down from my brother, a green shirt with the now-classic, then-current Suzuki S logo. I wasn’t into dirt bikes, but my bro was, so therefore the shirt was cool. I wore it until it was loaded with holes and nearly transparent. I never had a real Ed Roth monster shirt, but poured over…