Innehållsförteckning för April 2016 från Hot Rod

It’s risky to mess with hot rod nostalgia. Our memories of past loves are always more polished and powerful than the reality that really was. And when the nostalgia you’re trying to recreate is shared by a group as passionate as ponycar lovers, those challenges become more daunting. So when Motor Trend announced the new Camaro SS was its Car of The Year for 2016—a rare moment when HOT ROD agrees with our younger brother—I’ve got to hand it to Chevy. Reimagining a car as popular as the first-gen Camaro into a modern success isn’t easy, especially when the only spec Chevy could carry over was the customers’ passion. How did Chevy do it? It brought together a team of first-gen Camaro owners and lovers. Chief amongst them Al Oppenheiser,…

“It is a rare opportunity to be part of a team that defies the laws of gravity and puts the aircraft in the air.” — Andy Bernhard, Chief Engineer, CH-53K Program FISHING FOR SEA MINES? It sounds insane, but one of tasks the Sikorsky MH-53 Sea Dragon (similar to the CH-53K) helicopters was designed for is to find and detonate explosive sea mines to protect aircraft carriers and open strategic waterways around the globe. To do so, these helicopters drag a 9,750-pound MK-105 magnetic influence minesweeping boat up to 28 mph from a 450-foot cable attached to the aircraft. Imagine a 200-mph helicopter that can hold as many passengers as a school bus, is heavier than a fully loaded semitruck, and goes fishing for sea mines with a turbine-powered catamaran…

When the Ford Y-block overhead-valve engine came on the scene in 1954, it was the replacement for the long-running and beloved Ford flathead V8. With its odd vertically stacked intake ports, shaft-rocker system, and deeply skirted crankcase, the new engine was quite a departure from its predecessor and unconventional by the standards of the day. This engine series lasted through a 10-year product cycle before being discontinued in 1964, as the FE and small-block took over the reins, but it endures through a cult-like following of dedicated enthusiasts. One of those enthusiasts, well known in the Y-block Ford world, is Ted Eaton of Eaton Balancing. When Eaton caught wind of the Vintage class competition at HOT ROD’s 2015 AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge, he realized this represented an ideal opportunity to…

The School of Automotive Machine (SAM) team has built an enviable reputation for building power with GM’s LS-series engines. The LS class of competition this year began with complete Chevrolet Performance LS3 crate engines. The object here is for a competitor to bring a complement of highperformance parts to create a power package that works with the stock, untouched GM shortblock. This opens the door to cam, valvetrain, cylinder-head, induction, and exhaust mods— along with aftermarket EFI. The kicker is the parts must work with the stock bottom-end, and the parts need to be assembled to the engine onsite during the competition. The SAM team went with the works, starting with the airflow system. The backbone is its own CNC-ported version of the CID Pro-Port LS7 castings, topped by a…

Chris Thomas from John Kaase Racing Engines put together a 415ci Cleveland using a set of ported Edelbrock heads that were milled to give the Edelbrock intake a better shot into the intake ports. Taking 0.125 inch off the heads resulted in a 40cc chamber that necessitated a dished piston to meet the class-required compression ratio, although it seems the plan worked, as the engine pulled hard and made more than 500 lb-ft of torque from the initial recording at 3,500 rpm and kept it above that mark all the way to 6,000 rpm. That flat torque curve also meant a nice 1,600-rpm band between the torque peak of 554 lb-ft at 4,500 rpm and the 576hp peak at 6,100 rpm. That impressive performance put the Cleveland on top of…

The first conversation we had with Jeff Lutz came after he blew the tires away on his first run. “Did you floor it off the line?” he asked as he came back into staging. “Oh, god, no,” we answered. “Put the throttle down gently. Like you’re handing a baby to someone.” Then he took our advice and beat us. The jerk. We didn’t know how good the 2016 Chevy Camaro was when we invited professional drag racer Lutz to help us dragstrip test it at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona. In fact, we were worried that Lutz wouldn’t have a good time. After all, he builds drag cars for a living and spends most of the year at racetracks, either supporting customers or behind the wheel of…

Every year HOT ROD treks to see the sea of sights at the SEMA Show, but once we see certain components, tricks or colors repeating, we bring it to you for your chance to agree or disagree on the staffs’ observations from the show. Some of these trends have been around for a while, but have been marinating while designers and builders embrace them—or dump them in the grease. Overall, we’d say there seems to be a release from the constraints of the past. Builders are trying different combos and colors that we wouldn’t have seen even two or three years ago. There is less inhibition and more flamboyance and creativity popping up—which can be good or bad, depending on how well it’s executed and whether it’s actually cool or…

This year’s introduction of a Vintage Engine Class (pre-1955 American V8 engines) to the 2015 AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge was sure to bring out some unusual iron, but we never expected to see an all-iron Packard enter the ring. Lynn Peterson and the Kustom Kemps team figured the 363ci Packard V8 was an ideal choice for the Vintage class, not an unreasonable opinion based on Peterson’s decades of experience with the make. The engine was pulled from a Bonneville landspeed race car and freshened up for the AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge. The tale of the tape certainly shows this engine’s heavyweight credentials, with a monstrous 5.00-inch bore spacing, 750 pounds of high-nickel-content iron cast in Warren, Ohio, and an internal structure resembling the Brooklyn Bridge. So it’s heavy duty, and…

The RB Vintage Y-block entry at the 2015 AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge is not the same breed as other Ford versions. The engine featured here is a Lincoln Y-block, which was an entirely different animal, and a much larger engine, sometimes referred to as the “big-block” Y-block. The Lincoln engine was introduced in 1952, and production ran through 1957 in passenger cars and 1963 in medium-duty trucks. Displacement ranged from 279 to 368 ci. The main disadvantage when trying to squeeze more power from Lincoln’s version of the Y-block is that there is and was virtually no aftermarket support. Ever. If there’s an advantage, it’s that the heads don’t have stacked ports like the Ford, which should give the Lincoln an edge in the breathing department. That is, unless you…

A Buick may seem like an unusual choice for the Spec. Small-Block class of HOT ROD’s 2015 AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge, but with the factory 400 dimensions, it was possible to meet the bore-and-stroke maximum of 4.060x4.00 required in the competition. Spec. Small-Block class engines were required to run a specific Edelbrock cylinder-head casting, as well as an Edelbrock manifold. While the Buick cylinder head certainly had the potential to compete with the best of the other engine types, the Buick was handicapped by being the only engine for which the Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap intake manifold is not available. That meant the CP-Carrillo team was required to run the standard Edelbrock Performer intake. Bryce Mulvey and Ric Panneton built a custom bottom-end combination using a stock crank offset ground to…

The first thing you have to know about the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and GT350R is that they’re not just Mustangs run through the performance-parts bin. Like Ford’s successful 2010–2014 F-150 Raptor program (an off-road truck based on the F-150 with desertracing-bred shocks, tires, seats, and unique bodywork), the 2015 Mustang GT350 and GT350R are practically all-new cars simply based on the 2015 Mustang GT architecture. According to the Chief Engineer of Ford Performance Jamal Hameedi, the GT350 and GT350R are a collection of “bespoke parts specifically combined to make a balanced vehicle.” Hameedi would know, he was—by no coincidence—the driving force behind Ford’s extremely successful F-150 Raptor program. Some readers may be disappointed to learn it’ll be nearly impossible to build a 2015 Ford Mustang GT into a GT350…

Ah, the 1980s. It was a rough patch for American automotive design. All you have to do is look at the 1980 Pontiac Grand Prix to see that. What was so bad about the GP? If you look at where the fender, hood, and front meet, there’s a corner. A sharp corner. It’s a styled car with no transitioning of surfaces, no finessing of forms—just four actual corners bonked onto each, well, each corner. GM had been hitting long balls with its swoopy, high-styled Firebirds, Camaros, and colonnade offerings through the 1970s. It was the leader in design for at least a few decades. But when Volkswagen came out with its replacement for the venerated Bug, the 1974 Rabbit—with its Giorgetto Giugiaro– designed fantastical folded-paper design language—all of the American…

Many common electrical difficulties in high-currentdraw electrical circuits like the starting or charging circuits can be diagnosed via a voltage-drop test performed using a common digital multimeter. This test permits breaking down a complex circuit into individual components to home in on the real problem. A voltage-drop test must be “dynamic,” meaning voltage drop can only be measured when a load is applied to the circuit, such as when the engine is cranking. To perform a voltage-drop test, set the meter on “volts” and place one lead on the battery’s positive post and the other lead on the terminal or connection you want to check. Ground the coil wire to prevent the engine from starting. Crank the engine no more than 15 seconds to prevent the starter from overheating. The…

Oil-Filter Relocation Kit Hamburger’s Performance Products // 562.921.0404 HamburgersPerformance.com Make oil changes quick and easy with Hamburger’s Performance’s new billet oil-filter relocation kit. These kits come with all the required equipment to mount your oil filter in a more accessible area. Kits are available for modern and classic cars, trucks, and SUVs and with single and dual filter bases. Included in each kit are a billet oil-filter bypass adapter, remote filter base, aluminum AN fittings and high-pressure/high-temperature Gates oil lines. Price: $90.21 for single, $114.84 for dual-filter bases Avert Slipping and Broken Belts VMP // 321.206.9369 VMPtuning.com Slipping and broken belts can be a thing of the past with VMP’s new heavy-duty tensioners. These tensioners are available for 2007–2014 Shelby 5.4L/5.8L and 2011–2015 Mustang GTs with TVS superchargers. For optimal…

Today it’s hard to imagine not having access to a dynamometer to determine true horsepower and whether your engine will hold up before jaunting 1,000 miles to Bonneville, only to blow it up on the first pass. When HOT ROD started in 1948, dynos were very exotic. It only took four issues (April 1948) before HOT ROD was filling readers in and singing the praises of dyno testing. In an article by Kenneth Harmon, better known as Kenny Harmon of Harmon and Collins fame, he spread the word on the merits of dyno testing. That included sage advice like, “Attempting to develop or tune an engine without a dynamometer is time consuming and not too conclusive,” and, “Three days on the dynamometer is worth three years at the Lakes.” Harmon…

When you think of a Chrysler 318, you may think of one of the millions of gentle smallblock Chryslers built from the late-1960s well into the 21st century. Looking back into the geology, these familiar powerplants, known as the LA-Series, trace their lineage to the earlier Chrysler A-Series Polysphericalhead small-block that debuted in 1955. The shared gene pool is clearly demonstrated by the many internal components that interchange between these engines. Where the engines are distinctly different is in the head layout. The LA engine features ordinary inline valves in a wedge chamber. In contrast, the Poly engine used an opposedvalve layout, not unlike the Gen III Hemi, with the valvetrain operated by a single-shaft rocker system. It takes a trained eye to recognize the potential of the neglected Mopar…

When legendary AMSOIL Engine Masters participant Jon Kaase considered the new Vintage V8 class for the 2015 Challenge, he contemplated engine possibilities with the cold pragmatism of a serious competitor. One of the key requirements from Kaase’s perspective was the availability of an aluminum cylinder head. As Kaase explains, “An aluminum head allows almost unlimited modifications, and in an unlimited class like this year’s Vintage category, we wanted a head that can be machined and welded or modified.” Modify they did, with more than 10 pounds of welding rod reconfiguring the head to eliminate its most troublesome characteristic: stacked ports. Yes, rather than having sideby-side intake ports (like nearly every other American V8), the Ford Y-block head has its ports stacked in pairs. Kaase completely reconfigured the head to give…

With extensive experience and development time on the LS engine platform to their credit, the School of Automotive Machinists (SAM) was eager to fill an additional available spot on the roster in our LS class. Some of the parts of the school’s two entries were similar, including the MSD intake manifold and ignition components, but the two LS entries couldn’t have been more different. This engine featured a much larger PRC LS7-style head with larger ports, valves, and increased cross-sectional area. Working with the bigger head, the specifications on the camshaft were dialed back. The end result is less cam and more head to do the same job as the school’s other entry. Through the course of the competition session, the engine performed flawlessly, as the disciplined SAM team worked…

To show you how crazy HOT ROD’s AMSOIL Engine Masters Engine Challenge can be, Randy Malik has competed in all of them and says it’s his “vacation, but not fun.” He takes one week off every year building engines at his RM Competition in Roseville, Michigan, and spends it competing in the Challenge. This year he brought a smallblock Ford to compete. “Building engines is what I do, and this is the culmination of all that I do,” he says. “You don’t deal with transmissions, or tires—the car is not involved, it’s just the engine and I’m an engine builder.” But the weird thing is he says he doesn’t have fun doing this. Say what? “It is stressful, but it’s the most enjoyable week of the year for me,” Malik…

Not since the westward expansion had such a brave band of pioneers set off through the desert of the Southwest. Mechanized horses rather than oxen powered this wagon train. While the likelihood of death by starvation was low, there was still the possibility of being stranded in the wilderness should your steed suffer a fatal engine failure, or, you know, run out of gas. If you follow HOT ROD’s Drag Week™, then let’s just say that Drag Weekend, presented by Gear Vendors and with Baer Brakes as the event’s official brakes, had the same format but shortened to three days instead of five. If you’re new to our streetlegal race events, here’s how Drag Weekend worked: For three days, competitors in streetregistered cars raced down the dragstrip going for the…

Chevrolet Performance’s 350ci ZZ-series crate engines have been around in one form or another since 1989, but through 2014 all versions stuck with the mid-1980s’-vintage L98 Corvette aluminum heads. Bluntly, by 21st-century standards, those heads are long obsolete and have limited potential compared with today’s entry-level aftermarket offerings. Recognizing this, starting with the ZZ5 in late 2014, GM upgraded the package to its modern Third Design Fast Burn heads that meld Vortec and Gen II LT4 technology to produce a fairly decent cylinder head. In our opinion, that’s a crucial improvement, because in theory it should let this crate motor better utilize the potential of modern aftermarket bolt-ons. Realistically, most customers aren’t going to run out and install new heads on a brand-new complete engine—that defeats the whole purpose of…

Breakin’ the Law. Or the Ladder. I’m really interested to see how the walls of traditional drag-racing formats are getting wreckin’-balled these days. The drags offer a simple concept: two cars leave the starting line and the one that gets to the finish line first wins. This has been warped quite a bit along the way. Perhaps the most well understood variation is the handicapped bracket-racing format invented by Byron Dragway’s Ron Leek in the mid-1970s, and the most misunderstood are the various contortions of class indexing and handicapping within the NHRA Sportsman ranks. Outside of the big-time sanctioning bodies, common variants have included index racing (example: the racer closest to 12.00 seconds wins) and Open Comp (protree bracket racing with a fixed dial-in). Variations to the traditional competition…