12 minute read
LJ TORANA 9-sec LS-powered Pro-Street OG
& RATS, TATTS Pin-Up’s
Situated on the Princess Highway at Corio, on the outskirts of Geelong, the Gateway Hotel opened up its doors for the Rats, Tatts and Pinups event in June.
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I’ve always said that the Victorian car scene is one of the best in the country, and this event proves that fact. Even though the Gateway Hotel is around an hour south of Melbourne, the venue was still overflowing with all kinds of Pre ’78 cars and bikes on display. Kingpin Kuztums head-honcho, Rob Belio told us that during the day, more than 800 cars had made their way to the Hotel’s expansive carparking area putting on quite the show for the massive crowd that ensued.
Rob and his team have been staging events for what seems like an eternity and have built up a huge reputation amongst the Hot Rod, Custom, Muscle Car and Bike scene, so it comes as no surprise to see so many cars and bikes on display. Along with the entered vehicles, the event also attracted live music from Itchy Fingers along with Jess and the Mighty Kings; no less than 9 Food trucks on site (with the Hotel also offering an all you can eat buffet), and a variety of retro market stalls and man cave traders offering all kinds of goodies!
Check out the cool photos by Chad Silvey and you’ll see why the Rat, Tatts and Pinups event are so popular. The variety of cars is second to none and when you combine that with the carnival like atmosphere, you can soon understand why car and bike owners attend their events in droves. There’s no time to rest though for the Kingpin Kuztums team, with plans already in place to stage lots more cool events in the very near future. To find out more about Kingpin Kuztums events, click on their cool logo!
https://www.facebook.com/kingpin.kuztums
KILLERRides Rides at the LEBA BOUNASSIF TWIN-TURBO 383CI CHEV POWERED MAZDA RX3
Words / Pics - - Paul Beck Race Pics - Grant Stephens strip
After building a full-tilt show car, Leba Bounassif decided it was time to try his hand at drag racing…
Anyone that has been around car shows for quite a few years will remember Leba’s Gemini. It was bright yellow, detailed to the max and sported 4SHOW numberplates. It earned its creator quite a number of trophies and was how I first met Leba and his mates who all lived the modified car lifestyle. That was quite a few years ago, long before family and business became his main focus. After starting a family and launching a mechanical workshop, it was time for Leba to get back into the car scene in something special, and that’s when this RX3 presented itself. It had previously been raced with a twin-turbo V8 combo, but had seen better days. When Leba took on the project, the car had been neglected and was in desperate need of a makeover. Seeing the potential, Leba knew he was up to the task. With the RX3 stripped down to a bare shell, plenty of hours were spent on the body to get it ready for a coat or two of colour, with another shade of bright red expertly added by Charlie Aflak after he finished up on the body work. The colour extends from the body, the removeable one-piece nose, dash and roll cage. The body has been fitted with the adjustable alloy rear wing, tubs and scoops in the front end to shove cold air straight into each turbocharger.
As you’d expect in a purpose-built quarter-mile racer, the interior is full of everything you need to get the job done as quickly and as safely as possible. It’s all about weight saving, so it makes no sense to have things here that serve no purpose at all. In amongst the mass of roll cage you’ll find just the driver’s seat, lots of polished alloy tinwork, an onboard firesystem and enough gauges to keep you informed of what’s happening for that short amount of time that matters. With very little room in the engine compartment, the entire ignition system and Haltech ECU has been mounted just inside the passenger footwell.
Thanks to: A Special thank you to my wife Janet and our beautiful kids Angelina, Jayden and Mary-Jo. Joe from Hi Comp Performance Engines and his staff. Steve from SS Auto Electrics. Charlie Aflak for the body and paint. My crew at the track – George Bounassif, Charlie Bounassif, Steve Camileri, Steve Stefano and Chris Dinos. My extend family, friends and anyone else that has helped with the build.
Built by Hi Comp Performance Engines, the Mazda obviously isn’t powered by a Rotary. In a move that is likely to upset the Mazda purists, the engine of choice is a 383-cube, old-school iron block Chev making around 800rwhp – with a lot more in it still to come. The dominating feature of this engine combo is of course the top end that features two GT 35/40 Garrett turbo chargers, a custom fabricated intake manifold with twin throttle bodies and no less than 16 staged injectors all getting the nod from the Haltech 2500 Elite ECU. Reaching the long engine, you’ll find a pair of alloy AFR 220 heads that have been CNCported and fitted with Comp Cam roller rockers and AFR rocker guides, before being attached to the built bottom end. Speaking of which, the iron block has been filled with Top Shelf gear including a Scat stroker crank, H-Beam rods and forged SRP pistons. The cam is a solid roller and is perfect for this engine combination. The heavily modified sump completes the engine package.
Remember when I said Leba cut his teeth in the Show Car scene? Well he has applied that thinking to this engine too – it looks as good as it performs. Backing the engine is a Powerglide auto built by Pro-Trans, fronted with a Dominator converter with a 4000rpm stall speed. Gear selections are made via an air-shifted Pro-Stick. Down the back under those big tubs sits a fabricated 9-inch diff with a full-spool 4.5-geared centre, Mark Williams axles and Strange Engineering rear brakes inside those fat Weld Wheels and Hoosier slicks. The diff is located via a four-link setup in the rear clip. Up front, it’s all custom fabricated with coil over shocks, custom disc brakes and 15x3.5-inch Weld Wheels.
Since the Mazda has been completed, Leba and his team have been testing the car, making sure things are doing what they should before they turn the wick up a notch or two. Interestingly, Leba has yet to sit in the driver’s seat for a pass at noise. He wants to make sure the setup is right before jumping behind the wheel to make a pass. For now, the driving duties have been left up to Joe at Hi-Comp Performance. That’s not to say Leba isn’t jumping out of his boots to get amongst it, he just knows these things take time. You get a feeling too, that time isn’t too far off!
KILLERRides Rides on the JOEL SYKES1100HP, BLOWN INJECTED 408CI HK HOLDEN
Words / Pics - - Paul Beck pad Back before it was a common practice to fabricated a purpose-built burnout car, most of the competitors lining up to put on a massive smoke show, would take their street car, throw on some standard issue rear wheels and drop in a 500hp engine that would more often than not, serve as a regular driver once the smoke had cleared and the spectators had gone home. That was a long time ago. The burnout scene has progressed in leaps and bounds, with many stand-alone burnout events offering huge prize money to those who can not only cover the venue in smoke, but can do it in style. And by style, I mean driving on the ragged edge, the tach sitting well into the red zone and the 1000plus hp blown engine screaming for mercy! That’s what brings the crowds to their feet and that’s what gets the adrenaline going for guys like our man Joel.
In the world of burnouts, they say “if you’re not blown, you’re not known!” Joel Sykes and his wild HK Holden are gaining quite the reputation!
His humble HK Holden sedan may look a little plain in its factory white paint compared to some, but that’s OK with Joel, it’s not a car show for him, it’s about creating a smoke show and when you do, occasionally things go just a little too far and there might be a tap on the wall here and some melted paint across the back from a spectacular methanol fire. Being white, means touch-ups are easy. Especially when the ’68 model Holden still retains all of the factory-spec metal, with the exception of a chopped-up bonnet for the blower and hat and the extended panels around the rear wheel arches to combat rubber and flames.
When it came time for a new driveline, Joel looked around at many options, but after hearing great things about Pro-Flo Performance, he decided to get Paul to piece together one tough small block that was capable of not just destroying the rear tyres at will, but to do it consistently without the need for pulling it down after each meet. Paul ticked all the boxes with this 408-cube small block that, internally, has the right gear to handle any punishment Joel can throw at it. And let me tell you, that’s plenty. Thanks to the big blower and injector hat connected to the stout small block, there’s 1100-plus horsepower being sent through the one-time stock HK. The engine sits on top of a RodTech front end that has Astra electric power steering fitted, making moving around the pad more effortless. Taking the grunt from the engine is a tough Turbo 400 that sends the power rearward through a chromemoly tailshaft to a narrowed 9-inch diff that’s more than capable to getting the at hand done with ease. The rest of the HK’s underside is pretty much as you’d expect for a burnout car. Big diametre Intro Vista wheel fill the front wheel arch with the Wilwood slotted and drilled discs and calipers in full view. More often than not, there’s a pair of stock wheels with new tyres just waiting to be blown to pieces in front of an appreciative crowd.
