Innehållsförteckning för September 1985 från Hot Rod

We wanted to be the first to bring you the forecast for the outcome the ’86 Camaro/Mustang battle of the 30-year Ford/Chevy war. It would be erroneous to call it a road test, as the cars we drove were most likely ’84s or ’85s outfitted with ’86 changes. The 1986 new car production would not even begin for about five months. Besides, we got to spend only a half day with each car; to completely evaluate a new vehicle you need to live with it for at least a couple of weeks. So what you’ll get out of this is not an evaluation of “fit and finish” or a critique of six-way power seats. Instead, we offer a crystal-ball look at the performance leaders of Chevy and Ford for ’86—and…

The camshaft is simply the “brain” of your engine. It decides the personality of your engine by establishing certain traits—like the power band, idle quality, and cylinder pressure—regardless of compression ratio. It can make your engine undriveable or one of the most responsive around. A camshaft can compensate for other limiting factors in your engine like a poor exhaust port design, where a little additional cam timing on the exhaust will help. And, as evidenced by this cam test, a “still streetable” cam can provide a power increase in excess of 100 horsepower. At the same time it is one of the least expensive modifications you can make to your engine, although it is difficult to install. The biggest problem with camshafts is selecting the right one. There are four…

THE RACE IS JUST THE FINAL ACT The Indy 500 is it! It’s simply the largest, most prestigious auto race in the world. It is also the only major race the racers and fans spend a whole month preparing for—which in itself is the real story of Indy. Come race day it is up to the driver and race team to rise to the occasion and win; but for most of the drivers and teams their fate has been determined during the preceding “month of May.” If you’ve never been to Indy for practice, qualifying, or the race, it would be hard to picture what gasoline alley is like. Rows of old wooden garages house the very sophisticated race cars, while a line of concrete-block garages behind the pitwall grandstands…

Ron Majors’ Tucson, Arizona, round brown ‘36 five-window isn’t what we would call a large charge; it’s more like a small skirmish in the overall nature of Fat Attacks. One might say that Ron is working his way up to a major conflict because he originally tried a flathead and found it to be “a disapointment.” So Ron decided to pitch the flat-motor in favor of a “10-to-one” 350 Chevy/350 Turbo combo attached to a ’68 Mustang rearend and reworked the ’36’s suspension by employing a set of P&J’s tube shocks, a 2½-inch dropped axle, and one of Super Bell’s disc-brake conversion kits. But Ron still took the orange steel wheel and brown body approach, which adds a bit of class to Majors’ minor skirmish. “My Union Oil orange ’38…

DRAG RACING Sept. 3—NHRA Winston World Series U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis, Indiana Sept. 6-8—IHRA U.S. Open Nationals, Rockingham, North Carolina Sept. 13-15—NHRA Keystone Nationals, Reading, Pennsylvania Sept. 14-15—AMA Dragbike Series, Yankee Finals, Lancaster. New York Sept. 20-22—IHRA/WCYB TV5 Fall Nationals, Bristol. Tennessee Sept. 28-29—AMA Dragbike Series. Razor-back Nationals II, Prescott, Arkansas ROAD RACING Sept. 1—PPG Indy Car Escort Radar Warning 200, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, Ohio Sept. 8—IMSA Camel GT, Kelly American, Champion Spark Plug, Pocono International Speedway, Mt. Pocono, Pennsylvania Sept. 8-PPG Indy Car Molson Indy, Sanair Super Speedway, St. Pie, Quebec, Canada Sept. 22—PPG Indy Car Detroit News 200, Michigan international Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan Sept. 29—IMSA Camel GT, Kelly American, Watkins Glen Circuit, Watkins Glen, New York NASCAR GRAND NATIONALS Sept. 1—Southern 500, Darlington, South Carolina Sept. 8—Wrangler…

When you build a highly modified car from the ground up, the question always looms: Will it turn out right? Even when you do it the right way—with artist renderings or a composite photo and plenty of planning—things can turn out differently on the actual car. As the Super Shops’ Datsun took shape we knew we had a winner; however, we just didn’t know to what extent. You can see from the photos in this final installment that visually, the car is a knockout. It’s amazing that although the body changes are subtle, many people still ask us what kind of car it is. Most often it is mistaken for a Porsche or a Ferrari—and that was the intent. What we didn’t realize is how strong a performer the 240Z28…

One of the fastest production street machines you can buy on the open market today is the turbocharged V6-powered Buick Regal T-type or Grand National. The carbureted V6 was eliminated in 1984, and all new sequential port fuel-injection was implemented with additional electronic monitoring and control, a change that made a world of difference in the way these cars drive and perform. As it stands now, the turbocharged V6 ’84-’85 Regal will run right with your average Z28 and stay close enough to a Mustang GT to make him pay attention. The cars have virtually no turbo lag, and the onset of boost will set you back in the seat hard enough to create new-found respect for a 231-cubic-inch motor that runs like one twice its size. The Reqal’s quarter-mile…

Chrysler’s Hemi engines are magic. In addition to incredible visual effect under the hood, their real charm lies in the performance potential offered by the chamber shape—a shape which has been in existence since before Weslake’s time and one that remains today inside the world’s fastest Top Fuelers, Funny Gars, and some Pro Stocks. From its introduction in the early Fifties, the Chrysler Hemi has been a controversial piece of work. Like most engineering triumphs, however, the Hemi has two peculiarities: it burns a lot of oil and it makes a lot of valvetrain noise. Like the bionic man, today we can approach these problems with the attitude: “We can fix it; we have the technology!” Actually, Dick Landy, long the Pro Stock Hemi guru to dozens of winning efforts…

“Mountain” Mike Harper, the Count of Crestline, California, machines motorcycle parts by day, but cow-trails one of the country’s nicest ’33 three-window coupes by night … or whenever the boogie mood strikes him. From a chronological standpoint, Harper’s “ferry” started the day when Jim Jacobs sold a leftover portion of his ancient “hammer-rod” project to Mike, knowing that partner Pete Chapouris would help Harper do the rest. Well, the rest ultimately included the expenditure of 40 months’ worth of time and $43,000 worth of legal tender—not to mention the amount of energy associated with a ground-up reconstruction project. As the reader might have guessed by now, with Pete & Jake involved, Mike’s chassis is a P&J-style roller featuring their four-bar underpinnings in classical solid-axle configuration. In fact, the only obvious…

BRACE YOURSELF Q I have a 1979 Z28 Camaro and am slowly upping the horsepower. The first bolt-on hop-up product to be installed on my car is a set of headers. To install them I had to remove two small, sturdy braces between the lower A-arm mounts and the subframe. The braces don’t fit anymore because they hit the sides of the headers, and the car now doesn’t handle the way it used to. My Z28 Camaro appears to be suffering from suspension deflection. Any ideas? Richard BiaginiWhite Plains, New York A GM has used two differing brace designs. Most ’77½ and up Chevy Z28’s used a long brace that runs from frame to arm, and then continues towards the front of the car. Most Trans Am’s use a shorter…

6.32/216 UNBLOWN! Whoever he has teamed up with over the years—Adams-McKewen, Adams-Wayre, Adams-Enriquez—Gene Adams has always injected a certain mechanical magic that has instantly catapulted the team to the top. Most recently it was the Dennis King “Asian Flew” injected Arias Bantam which broke the NHRA A/Altered record its second time out, and then won the Gator-nationals. Now it’s Adams-McDonald that is blasting records. At the iegendary Bakersfield Fuel & Gas Championships last May, the team was the talk of the meet on its first outing. With Jimmy Scott driving, they set low e.t. for Pro Comp (Top Aicohol Dragsters and Funny Cars—including Brad Anderson) at 6,32 seconds and 216 mph on the car’s very first run. That’s .01-second under the current TAD record. The amazing part is that it’s…

“HOT RODDERS ARE EATING, SLEEPING, AND DREAMING MODIFIED FORDS. THEY KNOW FORD PARTS FROM STEM TO STERN BETTER THAN THE FORD PEOPLE THEMSELVES.”—Zora Arkus-Duntov, 1953 The 30-year performance war between Ford and Chevrolet remains a favorite topic among bench racers and musclecar aficionados who continue to debate the merits of various Ford and Chevrolet performance cars. Three full decades have passed since the first lightweight performance powerplants began turning ordinary sedans into factory-built hot rods that captured the imagination of hot rodders everywhere. And the fires are still fueled by unceasing media attention, hot rodding tradition, and the dragstrip announcer’s familiar query, “All right, race fans, how many of you out there favor the Chevy? And how many are rooting for the Ford?” And just about that time a Mopar…

If we had any doubts that hot rodding was thriving at high school campuses around the country—and we did—all we had to do was attend the High School Drags at Bandimere Speedway to have those doubts allayed. Picture this: It’s Memorial Day weekend, the first holiday of the summer, school is out for the year, and it’s a beautiful, hot sunny day. We might expect the high school crowd to be surfing at the beach, skiing in the mountains, dirt-biking in the desert, water skiing at the river, or rockin’ at a concert. In Colorado it’s springtime in the Rockies. There’s still good snow on the slopes. If you threw a high school drag race, would you expect anybody to come? We were curious. We had heard about various high…

Block sanding. It may not be the only thing that sets a custom lacquer paint job apart from the rest, but it is the most important. Surprisingly, it is one element seldom mentioned in “How to Paint” articles or books. Perhaps that is because there really isn’t a lot to say about it, other than do it! Then do it again. Then do it some more. We have already discussed body straightening, dent filling, spot primering, and basic sanding of the car in preparation for paint. You don’t have to block-sand a car before you paint it (as we showed last month); blocking it out is going the extra yard to make the job perfect. How close to perfect you get (or want to get) depends largely on how much…

As owner of the largest performance-oriented Chevy dealer on the West Coast (if not the entire U.S.A.), Joe MacPherson needed something more besides the usual barge to take honored guests to lunch in—namely, this unique 454 Chevy-powered 79 Seville. Art Chrisman (C.A.R.S.) was responsible for pulling off the swap. The engine itself was built by Bob McKray, and features ported heads, an Edelbrock Performer topped by a Q-jet, and Blackjack headers. The stock Chevy oil pan was modified slightly for clearance. Backing up the motor is a stout Turbo 400 automatic, with Art Carr-supplied converter and trans cooler. Naturally, all luxury options are retained, including the air conditioning. Outside, the C.A.R.S. crew removed the vinyl top, rain gutter, and emblems. All remaining chrome was powder-coated semi-gloss black by Orange County…

Recognize this face? Probably not, unless you’re a hardcore drag racing’fan with an excellent memory. This is Bert Straus, ex-Pro Stock drag racer of a Pontiac Astre from Ontario, Canada, which made a number of forays into the States for national event competition. Now, however, Bert is a full-time crew member/mechanic on the Jacques Villenueve-driven Canadian Tire CART Indy car. He’s not the only drag racer who’s gone roundy-round racing. Everyone knows of the exploits of ex-Mickey Thompson Funny Car driver Danny Ongais, but what’s not as well known are the current activities of a couple of other ex-Pro Stock racers! Joe Varde is currently one of Chrysler’s team drivers in the highly competitive Champion Spark Plug Challenge series sponsored by IMSA, where Joe’s Dodge Daytona wins regularly. Paul Gentilozzi,…