Innehållsförteckning för March 1991 från Hot Rod

Hot rodders are great dreamers. They have to be in order to envision a gleaming street rod out of a pile of rusty parts. I have a friend who has always been into cars. He grew up in Southern California, has a beautiful wife, two children, and a garage full of projects, just like me. He was in the middle of an El Camino buildup when he traded the car for a ’34 Ford chassis. Now, there’s a gennie, uncut, all-steel ’34 Ford body sitting on top of this frame. To an outsider, it looks like a rusty hulk sitting on a bare-bones frame—a nightmare to the uninitiated. But to Jim, it’s something he’s wanted for years: that unfulfilled fantasy. My problem is, I encourage dreams that can’t be fulfilled.…

Nostalgia Supercars Bill Porterfield’s Nostalgia Supercars is finalizing the 1991 touring schedule for its one-of-a-kind ’69 ZL-1 Camaros. Included on the tour is the original (No. 1) ZL-1 Camaro that was campaigned as the Gibb/Harrell Super Stock Camaro by top Chevrolet racing dealer Fred Gibb and driver Dick Harrell. This original race car appears and performs as it did more than 20 years ago. The second car is the original, unrestored, and perfectly preserved (No. 3) ZL-1 that has already been featured in HRM (“Endangered Species,’’ March ’83). Both cars are available for shows and exhibition match races. They’ll be joined by the Gibb/Harrell ’701/2 Super Stock Camaro and a blown, injected ’69 Camaro Fuel Funny Car once their restorations are completed. To find out if they’ll be performing near…

Unlike the mechanical end of things automotive, bodywork is more an art than a science, combining the skills of painting and sculpture. And just as a painter needs a brush and palette and a sculptor requires a hammer and chisel, there are certain basic tools the home bodyman needs to get his car in shape. Of course, as you get serious and tackle more elaborate repairs, there are a lot of nice extras that will make the job go easier and faster. Like everything else, it basically boils down to what you need versus what you can afford. Here, we’ll look at tools from the metal-shaping and-forming aspect of bodywork, as painting equipment is covered elsewhere in this issue. The tools illustrated here are all made by Snap-On, which deservedly…

It was back in 1986 when Keith Eickert came to a sad conclusion. His brand-new Monte Carlo was one Stove that didn’t bolt. Three months of driving his new Monte “car-slow” was all the punishment the president of Lightning Performance Products., Inc.—a firm located in Flagler Beach, Florida, that specializes in building thundering offshore racing-boat engines—could take. Fortunately, Eickert’s pal Larry Williams came to the rescue. Williams, whose ’41 Willys graced the cover of HRM’s February ’88 issue, recommended that Eickert place his mortifying “Monte” in the mitts of Mike Adams, the guy who did Williams’ Willys. Initially, multifaceted Adams was under the impression that a simple shave and haircut would suffice. “Keith didn’t like the factory paint, so it really started as a paint job,” Adams recalled, “but then…

Even with another potential oil crisis staring us in the face, bigblock Chevy V8s are still the preferred powerplant for virtually every kind of max-torque street performance application. Not because we steadfastly refuse to recognize the need to conserve and preserve environmental resources, but because big, dumb torque motors are still the most efficient means of motivating trucks, other heavy-duty vehicles, and killer street cars. If a 3.4L V6 could pull twelve to twenty thousand pounds up a typical highway grade at anything more than a crawl, we would be perfectly happy to use its energy-saving capabilities. Unfortunately, it still takes genuine grunt to move serious mass, and big-block engines are the only game in town. This being the case, Chevy has done its part to make the big-block a…

In today’s Dare to be Different world, it’s difficult to stand apart; yet Bud and Debbi Dice’s car does just that With a wild blend of jungle graphics accenting the white exterior and magenta-colored engine, this ’37 Ford can really draw a crowd. The stock frame rails are joined by round-tube center cross-members and 2x3-inch rectangular tubing in back, with numerous milled brackets from Bob Wellbaum. A 9-inch Ford nodular rear-end with positraction connects Aldan shocks and custom control arms to apply power to 33x19.5-15 Mickey Thompsons. At the opposite end, a Mustang II independent front suspension with aluminum lower and tubular upper arms uses Opel rack and pinion steering and GM disc brakes to keep the 165/70-15 Michelin-mounted Boyds milled billet wheels under control. Beneath the hood, a George…

Bob McDonald built his 41 Ford knowing that looks aren’t enough. A rod has to run quick and look good doing it. Judging by Bob’s claimed 11.70 at 118 mph with a 355-inch Chevy small-block, the ’41 is a quick hot rod! The heart of Bob’s fatty is a 305H Competition Cams bumpstick with Crane lifters and roller rockers flowing through aluminum Bow-Tie heads with Manley 2.05-intake/1.60-exhaust stainless-steel valves. The owner-built motor features a Holley Z/28-style manifold with a Holley 750 double-pumper carburetor. The carb feeds the MSDsparked fire, which is harnessed by Manley 12.1 forged pistons swinging on forged steel rods and a forged crankshaft. Stainless-steel headers exhaust the gases. Behind the motor is an aluminum Chevy Powerglide with a 3000-rpm-stall converter, a Hayden cooler, and a Gennie shifter.…

MORE PICKUP NEEDED Q In an attempt to increase my ’89 Dodge Shelby’s performance, I installed the “Shelby 30-hp kit,” which consists of a larger 360 throttle body, new high-performance computer, and low-restriction muffler. I want to build a 340 to replace the 318 and retain the engine-management electronics. Here’s the game plan: a ’73 340 cast-crank short-block with a stock 340 cam advanced four degrees; ’68 340 heads with 2.02-intake/1.60-exhaust valves; a late-model 360 TBI intake, port matched; stock 318 exhaust manifolds modified for increased flow; and retention of the current serpentine-belt-type accessories and accessory drives. Will the current high-perf-engine computer work with this setup? How can I change the shift points on the trans? Fletcher JonesVidalia, Georgia A Overall engine displacement is the key—any computer designed for a…

A SLICE OF AMERICA I've been reading HOT ROD since ’79, and I’m now stationed with the 101st Airborne Division in Saudi Arabia. Your September ’90 issue with “CadZZilla Stomps America” made it over here, and it was great. Just seeing those cars made in the USA are a boost to our morale, and I must say, the two fine girls on the cover are the best-looking any of us have seen in many months. All the girls here are covered from head to toe in black. Thanks for delivering some of our homelife and our dreams over here. I hope someday we’ll all be home, and then I can subscribe. You never know how much you miss things until they are taken away from you. The Unknown SoldierSaudi Arabia…

The last time HRM featured a car/boat combination was 14 years ago when Harris Kern’s flamed SS Chevelle served as a tow car for his equally flamed ski boat. Now it’s Keith Eickert’s turn in the barrel. Eickert traces his career from the day he started working for Mercury Marine in 1969. One thing led to another, and he eventually wound up in Florida building engines, crew “chief-ing,” and then managing a number of high-profile offshore racing-boat teams, including the one owned by restaurateur Rocky Aoki. During the same year that Eickert bought his SS Monte Carlo, he opened the doors of Lightning Performance Products, Inc., which is housed in a brilliant-blue building in the surreal surroundings of an abandoned concrete plant. The original plant once supplied the hard stuff…

While ZZ Top’s CadZZilla may have been the first full-on Cadillac custo in years, it certainly isn’t the only one of its kind. Paul and Donna Glavaris had been building this one for over a year when they first saw ’ZZilla, and they almost went into shock! In the months that followed, the Glavaris’ ’48 fastback came to life. The original body was completely reworked, as was the spacious interior. The engine was replaced with a ’61 390 Caddy and a Turbo 400 transmission, and since it handled well enough in stock form, the chassis was left as is, with the exception of Boyds billet wheels. The skilled workers at Jim Gomez Welding were employed to reshape the exterior. The top was chopped 31/2 inches, and the B pillars were…

It’s a sign of the times, gang… and it goes like this. Three weeks before the 1990 14th Annual Summit Racing Equipment Street Machine Nationals, Angela Snyder tired of magenta and decided that her and her husband Rod’s ’88 Fiero needed to be repainted ’91 Camaro Teal. Why? Because the hot, new look of the ’90s is cool metallic. Rod, a machine shop owner from Springfield, Illinois, said, “While Angela and our pals Greg Lewis and Rick Schmidt stripped the old paint, I went through the engine.” The engine is a fat Rat, displacing 440 cubic inches. It’s filled with products from TRW, GM, and Competition Cams, and it’s fleshed out by Hampton, Hooker, MSD, and Enderle pieces. Five Star Engine Service in Springfield put it all together. “It started,”…

Automotive sound systems have become as big a part of hot rodding as carburetors and headers, and if you spend much time in your car, chances are you listen to the stereo more than you do the engine. So, why not make the most of the sounds around you? To show you how easy it is, we looked to Isaac Goron at Sounds Good Stereo & Security in Canoga Park, California, for a few tips on installing a moderately priced stereo system. Our equipment of choice was a Clarion 9731 RT AM/FM/cassette receiver with Magi-Tune FM reception, a 1000A amplifier with 60 watts per channel into four ohms, and three pairs of SE speakers. The entire package was placed in an ’85 Mustang that was up on power, but down…

If you’ve ever seen Canadians Al and Dee Hinds’ ’89 Beretta, there’s little doubt you will forget it. Its exotic blend of vivid colors blasts your eyeballs like a nuclear rainbow! The real beauty of this car can be found beneath the exterior. Al helped the crew at Forrest & Forrest Racing of Kitchener, Ontario, build the frame from scratch, using 2x3-inch tubing for the main frame, with round-tube reinforcement and a double roll cage consisting of 48 bends. Even the radiator overflow is housed within the frame, and a coat of neon-blue paint covers it all! A Dana 60 rearend is joined by Koni coil-over shocks, a gold-plated four-link, and a Panhard rod. In front, a pair of Strange struts is directed by an ’86 Chevette rack and pinion,…

NEW WRINKLE IN SPLICES The newest wrinkle in electrical solderless butt connectors and ring terminals is the environmentally resistant type featuring integral shrink tubing. After they are crimped, heat is applied, and the insulation shrinks and releases its inner hot-melt adhesive, permanently bonding itself to the wire. It’s available from Newark Electronics (main branch: 4801 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL 60640-4496, 312/784-5100), Waytek, Inc. (P.O. Box 690, Chanhassen, MN 553170690; U.S. 800/328-2724, MN 800/642-0690, Minneapolis/St. Paul 612/949-0765), and other major electrical supply houses.…

CARS & TRUCKS ’87 BUICK REGAL T-TYPE. Silver/Burgundy. Kenne-Bell equipped. Extras include Bilsteins, SplitFires, Turbosaver, Auto Meter gauges, etc. Original owner. Garaged. Best offer over $18,000. 26,000 miles. John W. Capille, 9525 S.W. 72nd Ct., Ocala, FL 32676, (904) 854-7834. ’34 MASTER CHEVROLET CONVERTIBLE. Hand built one-of-a-kind fiberglass replica, featured February ’91 HOT ROD, 355-cid small-block, Bow-Tie heads, Clay Smith camshaft, Mooneyham 6-71, B&M Turbo 400, Griffin radiator, Cragar Drag Stars on BFGoodrich rubber, custom interior with best of everything. $59,995. Mike Johnson, (818) 363-7994 Pacific time. ’66 CHEVROLET NOVA SEDAN. Solid body, started conversion to hot street/strip car. Call for details. Asking $4500. Jim Pierce, St. Charles, Missouri, (314) 928-9418. ’70 CHEVROLET NOVA SS PRO STREET. Just the one you’ve been looking for. Small-block, 4-speed. Car has been running…

Carb Coloration? The Carburetor Shop introduces a new restoration process for Holley and Rochester Quadrajet carburetors. Along with your choice of rebuild, The Carburetor Shop applies its exclusive ColoRestore color restoration, which returns carbs to a like-new finish. Trim parts that aren’t colorized are glass beaded for a new-looking shine. For more information, contact The Carburetor Shop, Dept. HR-03, 1457 Philadelphia Unit 24, Ontario, CA 91761, (714) 947-7744. Quicky Clean GoTowels is a heavy-duty premoistened clean-up towelette for the automotive enthusiast. GoTowels was developed for people who pump their own fuel and desire a fast and effective way of removing fuel residue from their hands. GoTowels is available at your favorite auto supply and parts store. EEESy Exhaust Desert Driveline has released its newly patented Exhaust Efficiency Enhancement System (EEES)…

Haul-elujah,” brothers and sisters, gem-colored metal lies are back and safer than ever. Lovers of heavy hues take heed. Forget the pastels, and “glow” easy on the neons. They’re too intense; they don’t wear well; and they have no depth. They don’t reflect sunlight or describe the shape of the car, and most of all, they lump all same-colored cars together. In other words, fad-style pastels and neons are as dead as carburetors on late Corvettes. From the day Henry Ford told his customers they could buy any T so long as it was black, people have wanted to paint their cars anything but black. The T’s in the ’20s were coated—yes, gang, the basic function of paint is to keep airborne elements from attacking the host surface—with nitrocellulose lacquer.…

The pursuit of something different, something unique, something that works and satisfies the senses is the driving force of hot rodding. While some daring and talented hot rodders can bend the shape of cars to their chosing, most of us are left with the option of working with the color, texture, and lines within the shape to satisfy our urge to create. At first, you may think this puts limits on creativity. However, much can be done with color and texture to “guide the eye” so that a sense of movement, purpose, power, or beauty can be achieved. Obviously, some artists have a special feel or talent for finding what works. Painters such as Scott Sullivan and Pete Santini have created designs that first struck a chord with a few…

They say rust never sleeps. Rust, the cancer of cars, is an insidious substance that moves silently and undetected until it has done its damage. Given enough time and left untreated, demon rust will consume your hot rod little by little, one molecule at a time. Fortunately, you can fight back. If you possess a moderate level of skill, you can foil the rust monster, reclaim damaged areas, and prevent further encroachment. Rust may never sleep, but you can induce it to nap. To get the straight scoop on how to reclaim rust-damaged areas of a hot rod, we stopped by Howard’s Car Craft in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Proprietor John Howard talked us through a rust repair he was performing and gave us some solid ideas on how to prevent…

The backbone of Keith Eickert’s business is building super-stout marine engines—such as the 572-inch stroker that resides in his “monster” Carlo’s engine bay and plays the dyno to the tune of 741.9 lbs.-ft. of torque at 4500 rpm and 751.9 hp at 5750 rpm or the twin 496-inch, 810-hp rump pullers that power such offshore standouts as Joe Mach’s Dirty Laurftiry (Mach owns a total of 26 dry-cleaning establishments in St. Louis, Missouri). The difference between a marine application and the more familiar drag race- or street hero-style powerplant is a boat motor operates for hours in an environment in which a throttleman, in this case W. Harold “Smitty” Smith, controls the rpm by hand. From a conceptual standpoint, these Chevy-clone motors—which were developed because of availability of Bow-Tie-based components…

Old ’69 Camaros never die; they simply rise to a higher level of hot rodder consciousness as enthusiasts claim each and every one of them for street machine projects. Such is the case with Randy and Kathy Fryback’s Corvette Yellow Pearl ’69 Z/28, which resurfaced as a fully functional Pro Street-style street machine. Randy and Kathy purchased the car in 1980 and restored it to stock condition. Then they slowly upgraded the Camaro until 1987 when it was disassembled and completely rebuilt to its current form. This ongoing labor of love was the result of prudent detailing and a thoughtful mix of hi-po hardware, which together make a performance statement. During the chassis restoration, Randy ground down all the welds, filled them in, and painted them with black Imron. He…

Until recently, most hot rodders with computer-controlled late-model street machines were at the mercy of dealerships and repair shops when it came to trouble-shooting onboard computer-related problems or suspected trouble with various sensors and components. General Motors technical manuals are generally clear and comprehensive regarding diagnostic procedures and codes, but to determine the trouble code affecting a car, backyard mechanics could only rely on the standby method of shorting out the two proper Assembly Line Diagnostic Link (ALDL) terminals under the dash and counting the number of times the “check-engine” light blinked. Further, there was no convenient way for hot rodders to access the computer and observe its operation while the car was running. This method is tedious and slow, but now, Rinda Technologies has introduced its Diacom software package…

When Cliff Jones, president of Vintage Racing and organizer of the Silver State Classic Challenge, invited me to a weekend vintage road race, I jumped into my Bell Racing driving suit as quickly as a cricket and was ready to bug out. However, upon submission of the story idea, Editor Jeff quickly put on his tough tech-inspector hat and asked, “What kind of cars participate in that event?” I imagine he envisioned a parade of prissy Porsche factory pilots, driving-glove-clad dapper Dans with cigarette holders, and small foreign cars with 1.5-liter 4-bangers screaming at 10,000 rpm and appreciating faster than the speed of sound at the next auction. I could tell by the amount of top spin Jeff put on the phrase “kind of cars” that he was really asking,…

If you follow the show-car circuit, you will no doubt run across Clarion’s new Isuzu Spacecab pickup, it’s filled with Clarion’s hottest high-tech audio equipment, including its 5631 compact disc player, two 3200A amplifiers with 320 watts of power, and two 20EX two-way electronic crossover units. The crossover units feed power to four 10-inch cross-carbon woofers, two 61/2-inch mid-woofers, two 51/4-inch mid-ranges, four 11/2-inch titanium dome tweeters, and two 4-inch coaxial speakers in the dashboard. With this much power, who needs an engine? Just open up the back window and blast your way from “hear” to there!’…

There’s an old axiom that says, “You can’t have too much ignition system.” And that’s especially true when it comes to high-rpm, high-cylinder-pressure-generating applications. Whether professional ultra-high-compression engines, nitrous oxide, supercharging, or turbocharging, there’s no question that high-output ignitions are the way to go. But this high-end, high-output hardware is also high-buck! Most of us don’t have such trickery. What’s needed for our “real-world” 300-horsepower 5500-rpm street-engine applications? There’s only one way to find out for sure which ignition system is “best.” You guessed it—test ’em! We contacted the talented technicians at McFarland & Associates, one of the West Coast’s premier internal-combustion-engine analysis centers. The “mule motor” chosen for the distributor test was HOT ROD’S GM 5.7L Mr. Goodwrench 350-inch small-block, hopped with late Corvette aluminum cylinder heads (for a…

Karl Roberts thinks today’s crop of street roadsters is “taking on an art-form status.” The fact that Karl and his Colorado cohorts—fabricator Jack Preese, metalman Lee Bamgardner, painter Joe Qualls, trimmer Ron Nelson, and wirer Ron Francis-spent 7000 hours converting his ex-chicken-coop-resident ’34 cabriolet into an all-steel winner strikes us as a study in piece-mixing, parts-saving perseverance. The piece-mixing part is easy to describe. Jack notched the Just-A-Hobby frame’s front crossmember to get a lower ride from the Kugel-"konstructed” IFS; then he slid in a Winters-reworked, Carrera-shocked 9-inch Ford rearend and added JFZ disc binders on four comers. Budnick 14x6 front and 15x9 rear wheels support Michelin rollers. As is the case with most of today’s Streeters, the powerplant has been left essentially TPI-HEI-’89-’Vette-350-inch-V8 stock. The art part is in…

HOT AND HUMOROUS The term “Funny Car” was coined during the mid-’60s to better describe match race stockers; those then-emerging eclectic enterprises that consisted of ill-handling, wheel-standing, and odd-appearing put-ons. Funnies were intended to be quarter-mile Q-ships; stock in appearance, yet dragsterlike in performance. However, the rules governing their appearance were “loosey goosey.” So unlike their current, clonelike counterparts, some of the more adventuresome owners/builders took the “funny” name seriously and gave the class its own sense of humor. It took a modicum of imagination to field a facsimile Jeep, VW Beetle, or Corvair, let alone twin-motor ’Vettes, rear-motor compacts, and side-motor ’Stangs. Thanks to a thing called product identification, that’s all changed now. But don’t despair. We can still fire up PPC’s photographic archives and unfreeze the time when…