November 2022 - RPM Magazine

HIGH PERFORMANCE MINERAL DRAG RACING OIL

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JW-PERFORMANCE

Story: George Pich

Eddie Maloney

Ok, we get it, most of the 35-plus year old RPM readers got hooked on speed (the horsepower kind of speed) behind the wheel of a Fox Body Mustang.

Te Fox Stang is arguably one of the best platforms to build a street or strip car with – there are a ton of parts available for every area of the car, they’re light and even cut the air pretty darn good, too – so we agree! And that’s why you will see 1979 to 1993 Mus tangs with every engine offering from Ford in them, not to men tion a selection of GM mills, and yes, even the odd Mopar under the hood. But that’s not at all what we are dealing with here,

this my friends is an ole school hot rod that puts down the num bers!

“I have wanted to race since I could walk!” Exclaimed Dome nic Friguglietti, Jr. “I used to go to races with my dad who helped a guy that ran Super Stock and also helped on an ARCA car… I just always loved cars.”

Of course, once Domenic was ready and legal to get behind the wheel he realized that he liked to go fast, too. It wasn’t long before he built a number of street cars and amassed a lot of tickets to go along with them, and admitted ly even lost his driver’s license a time or two!

It only takes one quick look at this 67 Mustang to realize it is anything but a regular street cruiser. With a wicked intake poking through the hood, a sizable turbo taking up real es tate in the front grille and ’chute hanging off the back, it’s a safe bet that this Crazy Horse can hang with the big guns

Domenic’s of his own garage was a nitroused evelle that he Extreme Street. trying to run and he found plishment with going broke. out of the car, contributing outs of building Ten life stepped back on his return

first real race car, built out garage in the early 2000s, nitroused small block 1965 Ch he tried running in NMCA Street. Unfortunately though, run with the pack was tough found that his biggest accom with the Chevelle was almost He did however get 8.90’s car, but credits it mostly with to learning the ins and building and running a drag car. happened and Dominic back from cars for a while, but return to the sport he built a

2000 F Body Camaro that was powered by a 400-inch ProCharged combina tion. Trying his hand at Extreme Street once again, Domenic was able to get the car into the 7-second zone, actual ly going 7.95 @ 180mph with the fresh build right off the trailer. “ Te Camaro had a lot more lef in it, but I never got a chance to get things really going. I have no doubt it would have been very com petitive, but when life problems struck again, along with putting my daughter through college, I had to quit racing again,” he added.

With a mostly original steel body and paint, except for a composite hood and trunk lid, the 67 gives off a seriously cool factory vibe while at the same time warning of its capabilities on the strip.

Trick Flow by Wiseco PowerPort Forged Piston Sets

Track Max® Camshafts

Roller Rocker Arms

Tis time, when Domenic was ready and able to get back into to the fast car mix, he went a different route. He found a ’67 Mustang street car online in Indiana and interestingly, it belonged to one of John Force’s As sistant Crew Chiefs. “I picked up the car at Force’s shop which was pretty cool as they also gave me a tour of the place.”

Tings started off pretty good al ready for the Mustang, but during a Saturday night messing around on the street, Domenic blew the motor up, and that’s when the project be gan. His initial intention was to build a Drive and Drag type of setup, but he ended up with a wicked Ultra Street legal car.

One look at the Mustang and it’s pretty obvious it means business, I mean, hey, it’s not like the turbo is hiding under the hood. Instead, Do menic saw that it was mounted front and center, in plain view and that the front grille was cut to allow unre

Domenic Friguglietti launches hard and like a pro with this incredible pass!

Domenic kept as much of the factory interior parts as possible while installing the necessi ties for success in rac ing which include race seats and harnesses, a Holley dash and the Burkhart Chassis 25.3cert cage. The original AM FM Tape Deck and retro gold flake steering wheel are a definite bo nus.

Despite being just a mini tub car, the backseat has been removed for weight, but fear not, there’s space for a passenger should there be a volunteer. Te Burkhart Chassis 25.3 multi-point cage snakes its way through the interi or and factory gauges are complemented by the Hol ley EFI digital interactive display and a retro goldflake steering wheel. Underneath the Mus

tang hides some pretty trick stuff, namely a most ly Fox Body suspension up front including an afer market k-member, spin dles, caster camber plates and struts. Handling the hook out back are Calvert leaf springs with Tin Sol diers mounts and Smith

Racecraf Assassin bars. A Fab 9 rearend by Burkhart Chassis is equipped with afermarket axles and third member with spool.

The rear seat is long gone with only the mini tubs and tin work visible. Up front, a passenger seat was kept and electronics are arranged neatly on a carbon panel between cage bars in the passenger side door area.

You’d think that with all Dome nic’s previous builds being Chevy that an LS mill might be lurking beneath the hood, but that would be incorrect. Tis Ford is all Ford and power comes from a 356inch 8.2 deck small block Ford.

Te afermarket block was filled with a Callies billet steel crank swinging MGP rods pinned to Diamond pistons. One of the most famous cylinder heads for the small block Ford, TFS High Ports, were worked over by Jon Carls and equipped with Jesel rockers afer being studded in place. Te killer Holley Hi-Ram intake with 417 Motorsports in tercooler lid, Holley injectors and Motion Raceworks throttle body commands serious attention, and adding the extra hit to the mix is a Forced Inductions 76 mm tur bo. An M&M 3-speed 400 trans with one of their boost-prepped converters backs the capable small block.

...this‘stang nophony

‘stangain’t phonypony...

The Crazy Horse Mustang of Domenic Friguglietti takes another win light!

The 76mm turbo has been installed front and center with the front grille modified to accept it.

It’s safe to say that the rear diff in the Mustang is near bullet proof! Parts from Calvert, Santhuff, Tin Soldiers and Smith Racecraft handle the hook, along with a pair of 275/60/15 Mickey Thompson radials.

When it comes to the first few genera tions of Mustangs, it seems that most peo ple opt for a Fastback over a Coupe, but Do menic preferred the Coupe and brought out it’s wicked looks with a slick set of gold accented fats and skinnies, boast ing double beadlock Weld Magnums with Mickey Tompson

275/60/15 GT Street R radials on the rear. When all is said and done, the total pack age is good for solid 4.80 eighth-mile hits to date, with more to come as Domenic gets a better feel for things. So while it’s not a Fox, this wild turbocharged small block ’67 Coupe is one crazy horse!

Story & Photos: Eddie Maloney

Having a family member who worked for one of the “Big 3” vehicle manufactures is as good reason as any to grow up as a gearhead, and that’s Oklahoma native Tater Vaughn’s story.

His grandfather worked decades for General Motors and undoubtedly had a collection of stories to share with Tater, which may or may not include some grudge races right outside the California plant. Nonetheless, the apple did not fall far from the tree and Tater had

the passion for GM cars at a very early age. Once he reached driving age, Vaughn picked up a 2015 Chev rolet Camaro and began to modify it ever so slightly. Getting used to having a daily driver with some power was an easy transition for Tater, however, that first Ca maro would meet its fate when a teenager t-boned him just a few miles from home.

Te Camaro is Chevrolet’s staple muscle car/pony car designed to directly compete with the Ford Mus tang. With slumping sales in 2002, however, produc tion ceased and was revived for 2009. Now, once again, it looks as though we’ll be bidding the Camaro farewell in 2024…but that won’t stop Tater Vaughn from con tinuing to make his 2017 model all that it can be, and more.

Afer the wreck, Tater stayed away from the scene for about year or so, but the high-performance itch never really lef him and he soon picked up his current hot rod completely out of the blue, and as you can imagine, it wouldn’t stay stock for very long.

Te minor bolt-ons started immediately and Tater, with the help of a friend, eventu ally swapped out the cam shaf and the convertor, but the vehicle just wasn’t right. Afer more than his share of

struggles with the car, Tater reached out to Brett at Prey Performance in North Caro lina who did everything pos sible to help get to the bottom of the problems. “Eventu ally I decide to do a rebuild on the Camaro motor and Brett, along with Trevor with Tricky Performance in Mus tang, Oklahoma worked to gether to make my dream a reality, and honestly, racing completely changed for me from that point on,” Vaughn explained.

The sleek, defined, almost futuristic look of the Camaro is a winner among street and race enthusiasts alike. What’s not to like about a cool Chevy with some hardware poking out of the hood?

“Trevor and Brett worked together to create a completely different monster and caused ‘Salty’ to be born,” he added.

By February 2021 the car was ready to go and Tater, along with now fiancé Miranda, Trevor and his brother Tyler headed off to Ennis, Tex as to one of TJ Baileys private track rentals at the Texas Motorplex. Tis would be the first time that Tater raced his Camaro since the re build and the very first pass off the trailer the Camaro went 10.67; a new personal best for Vaughn! Armed with early success, he contin ued to grind away with improvements to the car, and at each level he would eventually find the weak link and go to work to eliminate it through more upgrades. Not everything was simple in the process, which included scat tering a very expensive transmission, but the Camaro was never down for very long and im provements were made along the way.

Harnessing the Competitive Edge

VANESSA FLANAGAN

OUTLAW RACING

LUG NUT KITS

Make no mistake,

Fast forward to January 2022, Tater hauled the Camaro back down to the Texas Motorplex and ran a new personal best of 9.96 at 134 MPH, and has contin ued with various mods over the course of the year.

Make no mistake, this is not a trailer queen or show pony, it’s a legit, driven street car; Salty is still licensed, registered and in sured with all functioning street equipment. Although they may appear very subtle, the upgrades are there. Arguably, the first thing you’ll notice is the impressive Holley Hi Ram intake warmed over by Pray Performance. Tater has spared no expense making his 6.2 liter functional and reli able at the same time.

mistake, this is no trailer queen...

The factory 6.2-li ter engine produces 455 horsepower off the showroom floor; Tater’s version is mak ing well over 700 with out any power adders. The towering Holley Hi-Ram exits the hood line providing some in dication that this is no ordinary Chevy. Pray Performance ported it and added a whole list of goodies during their rebuild.

He added a 103mm throttle body, had the cam swapped out, and the heads are CNC and hand ported and equipped with Titanium LT4 in take valves, Man ley stainless steel exhaust valves, LS7 rockers, Comp springs, titanium retainers and brass guides. Johnson 2116 LSR-K linked lifers and Comp XD-A 7.950-8.182 adjustable pushrods were also used.

Vaughn went in a different direction with the transmis

sion setup for his 2017, though, going away from the facto ry 8-speed automat ic. Obviously, with cars running in the 7-second zone with an 8L90, the trans is tough enough, so why the swap? He explained; “One day while doing a photo shoot for Ul tra Blue Traction Compound, I was making my second hit and by the end of the it I ended up having 8 neutrals, which made for a 100-mile round trip to go get a trailer.”

Watch Tater Vaughn showcase a wicked burnout !

The mostly stock interior is complemented by race seats and harnesses, a roll bar, a few aftermarket gauges and a Hurst shifter. Plans are to install a full 8.50 certified roll cage in the near future.

As far as Vaughn knows, his is the only 6th gen. Camaro in the state of Oklahoma with a turbo 400 transmission, but unfortunately, he’s on his sec ond one. Since the third times a charm, Tater involved RC Boggs in the rebuild and also added a new Neal Chance steel Pro 10” bolt-together converter, so rest assured, this one is built to han dle lots of power as the build

progresses (be sure to check out the Camaro Tech Sheet for the full rundown on the news trans).

Te front suspension on the car remains largely stock except for the upgraded drag brakes from Aerospace Components. Outback, Tater replaced the fac tory parts with BMR upper and lower control arms and Viking double adjustable rear shocks.

The car leaves the line well and

thanks to BMR

and

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rear

Racing sponsored

on

entered both the

Inside, the Camaro is made up of mostly factory parts, however, NRG Prisma race seats with 5-point harness es and a Cipher roll bar have been added, with plans to improve on things by adding a legal 8.50 roll cage as the car runs towards the 8-second zone in the quarter.

maro can be driven to the track, bust out respectable ETs and driven home, now that the transmission is right, that is. His goals are to continue to improve on the car but keep it a street car, as there’s nothing like hitting the open road with a potent Chevy that’s all natural…

1946 Ford Truck Billy Bowman

CalTracs

Calvert Split Mono Leafsprings

Story: George Pich

Photos: Annette Bauer

Tese cars were built to look like Pro Stock and Pro Mod drag cars of the day and enthusiasts, including street cruis ers, street racers and drag racers were going big wheeltubs, massive tires, big wings and awesome power. Even the show scene jumped in with exotic, less practical applica

tions of power to simply have the baddest “looking” Pro Street ride. Soon, promoters, magazines and tracks jumped onboard with street car shootout events, two of the most famous being the Flowmaster/Hot Rod Fastest Street Car Shootouts in Memphis, and of course, the father of fast street drag events, Carl Weisinger and his wildly famous Orlando World Street Nationals (we still consider Carl’s contribution to this sport the most influential). Other events and promoters followed suit and here we are today where you can hit pretty much any track and find street car drags filled with big and small tire warriors of all shapes and sizes. Tere really hasn’t been anything since to com pare to the sheer size of this “happening” worldwide.

Way back in the late 80s through the 90s there was a massive movement in the world of fast cars; Pro Street.

By the way, Carl is also responsible for making street car drag races a “happening”!

Fast forward many years and, although cer tain magazines and per sonalities declared Pro Street “dead”, they were completely wrong. Per haps in their minds it was, but that was sure ly to promote their new next best thing. Te hardcore Pro Streeters kept true to their roots and continued to build, race, show and cruise their rides, and we kept featuring them, and even

officially recognized Pro Street 2.0 first right here in RPM MAG.

Phil and Debbie Quinn’s 1955 Chev rolet Pro Street 210 Sedan is about pay ing tribute to how this all started…, big tires, healthy pow er and drop dead gorgeous looks. So you might say, they took something from all the different areas of Pro Street builds – street, race and show – and combined them into one killer creation!

1955 Chevy Pro Street build. From all angles it is a stunning tribute to all things Pro Street….and it looks fast even while standing still!

CHAMPIONS CHOOSE

Dave Connolly KB Racing Crew Chief & Drag Racing Champion

“After 30-40 runs, the VP Pro Grade

still looks like new. Coming from the Pro

I’m huge on data

so I monitor every

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in, I noticed that the vacuum went up a half inch compared to the oil I had been using previously. The vacuum got better and the ET’s got lower. I’ve got an

Once I put VP Pro Grade

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Dave Connolly

“While in high school I was able to learn a lot of skills through classes I took for welding, auto repair and ma chine shop during my junior and se nior years and I worked in a machine shop for 16 years. Tat taught me a lot of valuable skills and with the help of some very talented friends, I got further into fixing up cars,” Phil explained.

Enter “Smoke Show” 1.0. As it turns out, afer wrecking his pickup truck, some friends convinced Phil to grab an older ride to fix up and he found a 1956 Chevy Stepside. Te Chevy was driveable, but the so called “re built” motor was soon billowing blue smoke like a chimney…thus the name “Smoke Show” for that first build.

Afer the motor gave up, it was game on for Quinn and he built a stout 454 Chevy to drop between the rails, and those same friends helped him convert the front end to a Cama ro design, backhalf it and build a sol id Pro Street truck, one that became pretty well known, too.

you didn’t have the oppor tunity to experience the orig inal Pro Street movement firsthand, do yourself a favour and search it on the web. This build has it all; backhalved chassis, low stance, massive rear tires, wing, chute and some serous ponies under the hood. Not to mention, it is what most of those first street shootout cars were, a real street machine!

“I fell in love with and to this day still love Pro Street builds. Te truck took me 3 ½ years to build, was in several magazines and was actually a Final Four competitor in the very first Good Guys Street Machine of the Year in 1993 when it was held in Pleasanton, CA.”

Next for Phil was a full chassis Pro Mod ’37 Chevy build, but once he real ized he had bit off more than he could chew, he traded it off. “One good thing that happened during the process of the 37 build was that I met a very tal ented fabricator, Dan Crisp from Wa terford Ca. who is now one of my best friends.”

Once Phil was in the hunt for a new car he found out that Dan had a ’55 Chevy in his shop for a cage, and co incidentally Phil just happened to be looking for one. Afer negotiating the deal, Quinn picked it up for $6,500 in 2005.

Right from the onset, Quinn knew exactly how he wanted to build the Shoebox Chevy – a big tire Pro Street ride as a tribute to not only the move ment itself, but also to racers like Mon ty Berney and his Big Bertha II.

Like most of us though, one main thing got in the way of getting the build done, money! Phil did what he could when he could afford it and eventu ally, with help from Dan, the car was balkhalved with a 4-link, had a Mus tang II front suspension, and a Sha firoff 598 big block with 14:1 compres sion was fitted in the chassis. Another buddy, Jim Berg, who actually built Monty Berney’s rear wing, made an ex act copy for Phil, and soon the car had a Glasstek hood and was set up for full exhaust with dumps. By 2010 the ’55 was progressing well, however, when the company Phil worked for shut down, progress halted on the Chevy for the next 4 years.

When he got back on the build, Phil picked smaller projects that he could afford until it was ready for body and paint. While it was at Brent’s Custom Paint in Merced, Ca. for body, Phil had the chassis powder coated and motor and trans painted, and Dan installed carbon tubs and fabbed a set of wheelie bars. By now, the traditional ’55 Chevy two tone paint scheme was chosen and it was back to Brent’s shop.

Next, Curt’s Custom Auto Repair in Waterford , Ca. created an electrical system that not only took care of all the performance aspects of the car, but also included full street equipment.

Hot Rod Hall of Famer Howdy Ledbetter started off inside floors and firewall then got after it with a traditional style kick panels, made a custom console with cup holders of off with some square weave carpet. The factory style dash have been expertly inset into the dash face.

inside the Chevy Shoebox by using Dynamat on the style headliner and worked his magic on the door and course, along with carbon fiber inlays and finished dash and controls remain and aftermarket gauges

“Once it was allwired up, for the first time in 16 years I got to drive the 55’ under its own power, and it was a memorable day to say the least,” Quinn recalled.

For the next year Phil worked on getting the Chevy completed and had an old acquain tance, Hot Rod Hall of Famer Howdy Led better, do the interior work. “I first met How dy when he upholstered my ‘56 Pro Street Chevy pick up, and we just clicked, feeding off each other’s ideas and this time was no different. Howdy is known for his sculptured panels and inlays and at 78yrs young he still gets it done.” From there, Tim Dalton of “ Te Shinning” (Riverbank, Ca) polished all the stainless steel trim to perfection and Carl Pearce of Carl’s Auto Glass (Modesto Ca.) put in the smoke grey tinted glass.

Just finishing the car in June this year, an excited Quinn has been putting street and show miles on it as ofen as possible, and as far as the drag strip goes, he’s hoping for deep 9-second runs in the ¼. In full street trim the ’55 weighs just shy of 3,500 pounds, so it’s full figured, but then again Phil wasn’t shoot ing for an all-out drag car, instead he wanted all those elements of Pro Street that he loved combined in one build, and we’d say he hit this one out of the park!

and Debbie Quinn’s 1955 Chevrolet Pro Street 210 Sedan

This build is essentially full race car quality parts and work packed into a 10 out of 10 ap pearance package! Just browse the Tech Sheet parts list and you’ll quickly realize that Quinn created the ’55 using parts ca pable of handling anything he could throw at them.

Phil Quinn shows

“I would have never thought it would have taken 17 years to complete this build, but I am extremely satisfied and glad I was stubborn enough and had the perseverance to see it through to completion,” Quinn

added with a smile. And, from that oil burning ’56 Chevy Stepside to this, we’d have to say that the name “Smoke Show” has a whole new mean ing now!

Story & Photos: Eddie Maloney

The Texas Motor -plex in July is an amazing ex perience and the T&E Promotions Street Car Showdown saw a solid selection of wicked hot rods fill the lanes.

Leading into the event we selected a number of feature cars and came across one particular 7-second Mus tang owned by Nick Fosnaugh; and his Royal Crimson 2018 Ford Mus tang GT certainly did not disappoint in appearance or performance.

“I have always been a car guy and have owned numerous Mustangs, most recently a 2003 Cobra, 2007 GT500, and a 2020 GT500. My first car was a 1966 Mustang 289, 4 on the floor that I bought when I was 15 years old. It wasn’t perfect but it start ed my passion for all things Ford. I followed that car with an 89 Saleen replica, a 90 Coupe, and many other Fox Bodies,” Nick explained. So it’s safe to say that not only does Nick’s blood run Ford Blue, but he has a definite thing for Mustangs, too.

Aside from wheels, parachute and the carbon hood, Nick Fosnaugh’s 2018 Mustang looks stock.

From the time he got his li cense to about 20 years old, Nick engaged in quite a bit of street racing and really enjoyed attending Fun Ford Weekend events. For whatever reasons though, around 2000 he lost in terest in racing cars and started racing mountain bikes, did tri

athlons, and of course got mar ried and had kids. In 2015 the new S550 body style came out and really caught Nicks atten tion, and a few years later, when the 10-speed automatic trans mission was released in 2018, he knew it was time to get back into the Ford racing scene.

With his renewed interest in fast cars, Nick had a wife that he wanted to involve in the next decision; “My wife can’t drive a stick so I sold her on it being a fun car that we would both be able to drive. Within

the first 1000 miles, I installed a ProCharger on it and she never drove it again claiming ‘it was my car’.”

Tat 2018 started with a Pro Charger D1x and was swapped to an F1a-94 and finally a Su

per Cobra Jet Gen 5 Whipple 3 liter blower. Before he knew it, the car turned into a full build with cage, built engine and all the supporting mods.

“At the end of 2020 I was ap proached by a local grudge

racer who knew the car and a deal was struck to sell it.” Once again, it seemed Nick was out of racing, or so he thought!

A few months afer selling that car, regret set in and Nick began to get that itch again and

contemplated either building one from stock or possibly considering one with some of the work complet ed already. “Afer adding up all the costs, I realized it would be much more economical to buy something already built, but, afer owning the 2018, it had to be something that was up to my standards.” When he pur chased his original S550 Nick joined Mustang and began following some builds, one of which was a Royal Crimson (only offered for one year by Ford) 2018 owned by Christopher Bowman that was nearly identical to his. He conversed with Bowman over the years to follow and when he heard he was moving to Alaska with out the car, he reconnected with him.

“When I first saw it posted for sale, I made an offer, but it was already be ing listed at an online auction. I reg istered for the auction and was the high bidder, however it did not meet the reserve price. Afer several more conversations and the move nearing, we finally settled on a price and the car was mine. My new car was now on a transport from Minnesota to Texas and I couldn’t wait.”

Royal Crimson Mustangs were made in 2018 only and they are few and far between.

Once he received the car, Nick began to evalu ate what parts he had and mapped out the rest of the build. Te car came with a mixture of parts including a k-member and suspension pieces from several manufac turers but everything was swapped to a full com plement of Steeda parts, including drag springs,

rear sway bar, end link, and bushings, and ful ly adjustable coil overs and shocks were sourced from Viking.

Te engine that came in the car was a bone stock unsealed unit from Ford, but Nick quickly replaced it with a sol id used piece originally built by Livernois Motor sports.

Given the most recent personal best ET, Nick plans to upgrade his 8.50 cage to an SFI 25.3D spec (6.50-7.49).

Te Gen 3 block is sleeved and filled with custom pistons, I-beam rods, a stock crank, and full ARP hardware. Te CNC ported heads work with a set of Comp blower cams and air is fed through a cus tom Plazmaman intake manifold. Fuel is delivered via a complete triple pump system and pushed through ID2600 injectors. Once

combustion is complete the gases are expelled through 2” Stainless Works headers and into a custom fabricated exhaust system exiting at the rear axles. Te extra punch comes from a ProCharger F1a-94 centrifugal supercharger pushing air thru the custom built air to water intercooler.

Nicks ProCharged Coyote is producing nearly 1700 horsepower, which has blasted his car into the 7 second zone.

What’s Old Is New if you haven’t read it yet!

Over the coming months we will be hosting some of our past issues of RPM Magazine in this section. If you haven’t read them yet, they are new to you! If you have, maybe there’s a favourite car/story you want to read again….here they are!

The Mustang transfers, squats and carries the front on its way to those 7-second ¼-mile hits. You can find Nick cam paigning his Mustang at several major events through out Texas and surrounding areas such as TX2K and T&E Promotions Streetcar Showdown.

Water is cooled using a PNR ice tank ad EMP pump. An 8 rib Griptec up per pulley was used as well as a ProCharger Race Bell mouth and twin Q50 blow off valves.

Transferring the power to the ground is an ATI TH400 transmission with custom spec torque con verter and gears are select ed using a Hurst shifer. A JPC Racing trans swap kit was used with a JPC alumi num driveshaf.

Te cockpit of the Mus tang is largely stock, aside from the 8.50 cert cage (soon to be upgraded), shifer, race seats and rear seat delete. Te trunk area of the potent pony has

been put to good use with the battery and a cooler ice tank that fits neatly into the spare tire cavity.

From the front of the car, if you look closely, you can just make out something aluminum mounted be hind the grill, but if Nick removed the dead-give away ProCharger decal on the front bumper cover, this stock bodied Mustang would look like a slick driv er with drag pack wheel combo and carbon hood. And of course that would be as far from the truth as possible as to date Fos naugh has clocked 7.80 ETs in the ¼-mile, qualifying this as one deadly Crimson Mustang.

DrySumpvs. WetSump

LubricationSystems

by Bill Holland

The majority of vehicles manufactured around the world come with wet sump lubrication systems where the oil is contained in the pan and is circulated by an internal pump —generally driven off the camshaft. Some engines, like the Chevrolet LS, feature a crank-driven oil pump.

A large number of race cars and high performance street machines feature dry sump lubrication sys tems where the oil is contained in a remote sump tank and circulated with an externally-mounted pump that’s belt-driven.

And then there’s a “hybrid” setup that uses a remote oil sump tank, an externally mounted pump to evacu ate the lubricant from the pan, and the OEM oil pump to supply the pressure. Tis is a popular way to overcome the shortcomings of the factory LS lubrication system.

For input on this critical “life blood” of an engine we turned to John Schwarz of Aviaid Oil Systems in Chatsworth, California.

Aviaid was founded in 1961 and the supplier to Carroll Shelby for the lu brication systems on his Cobras and Le Mans-winning Ford GT40.

For some applica tions you can choose between Aviaid’s CNC-machined billet aluminum, cast alu minum and fabricated aluminum pans, as well as fabricated steel. Their low profile design facilitates lower engine placement.

Later, the company collaborated with Bruce McLaren to introduce dry sump technology into motor sports with his all-conquering CanAm cars of the late ‘60s.

According to John, “ Tere are a number of key advantages to a dry sump system. Tey include increas ing power through elimination of windage in the pan, assuring an am ple supply of lubricant under hard acceleration, cornering or braking, and having cooler, cleaner oil.” He added, “Other advantages of the dry sump are that the pan profile is very low, which allows placement of the engine lower in the chassis, and ex ternal pressure regulators can be ad justed to your needs.”

You will note that dry sump pumps come with a variety of sections, ranging from a dual-section pump with one devoted to evacuating the pan and the other to supply pressure all the way to six and seven-section pumps. In some applications addi tional sections are employed for pro viding circulation of power steering, fuel and other liquids —as well as evacuating oil from valve cover ar eas, etc.

Extra sections can be added to dry sump pumps to provide increased system capacity. They also can be employed to provide fuel and power steering pressure.

Aviaid take it a step farther by of fering two styles of pumps; its orig inal Series 1 pump that features positive displacement gears in all sections and the Series 2 pumps with Roots-type rotors in all the scavenge sections. Rotors are more efficient, which translates into being able to use a shorter pump if space consid erations are an issue. By way of ex ample, Aviaid’s Series 2 pumps have been employed in George Poteet’s re cord-setting 400+ MPH “Speed De mon” Bonneville streamliner, which has serious space considerations.

For sure, a large number of Avi aid’s lubrication systems go into Pro Street, Pro Touring, Track Attack and Dri company has put together packages that contain all the required compo nents —except the “plumbing,” giv en the variations in where to mount the sump tank. Engines included are small and big block Chevy and Fords, LS, Ford Modular and Coy ote, Chrysler wedge and 426 Hemi, plus Gen III Hemi and several pop ular Sport Compact applications. Additionally, Aviaid has dozens of different mounting brackets (includ ing “universal” types) that facilitate equipping virtually any 4-6-8-10 or 12-cylinder engine with a dry sump system.

External wet sump oil pumps can be employed, as shown this 426 Hemi. Dry sump systems are also available.

Highly efficient dry sump oil systems are available for “legacy” engines, such as the FE Ford.

pumps on

One of Aviaid’s more popular setups for LS engines combines an external scavenge pump and the OEM unit for pressure. It mounts to the cylinder head.

The Aviaid “LS-C” pack age features a 3-section pump (two scavenge, one pressure) which mounts to the block and employs a special ATI Super Damper with an HTD drive hub.

Configuring A Dry Sump System

The newer for addedA typical dry sump system is comprised of a special oil pan, pump, sump tank, pressure regulator, oil filter, cooler and block adapter.

Aviaid’s

Aviaid’s Series 1 pumps feature gears in all sections, and a proven “workhorse” for some 50-plus years.

newer Aviaid Series 2 pumps feature rotors in the scavenge sections added efficiency. Accordingly, they can be smaller in length.

The aerated oil is pumped into the top of the tank, where it passes downward through baffles to remove the air “bubbles.” Tanks are available in a variety of widths and heights.

Most systems include a 3-stage pump, mounting bracket, drive pul leys, belt, special oil pan and the sump tank. Variables include the pan (for some applications Aviaid offers fabricated steel and aluminum pans, plus cast and billet aluminum) and the sump tank, which come in 6”, 7.5” and 9” wide cylinders of vary ing heights to accommodate up to 5 gallons of oil. Te tanks are baffled, which assures there is always oil to feed the engine, regardless of kinetic forces.

Installing a system on a late model Mustang, for example, involves at taching an adapter to the OEM Coy ote filter mount, installing a remote filter mounting bracket, affixing the pump to the engine, adding a pulley to the front of the balancer (Aviaid has kits that include an ATI Super Damper), installing the dry sump tank, and running braided stainless steel lines as required (AN-12).

Additional information can be obtained by visiting the company’s website at www.Aviaid.com, sending an e-mail to aviaidHP@Gmail.com or calling 1-818-998-8991.

Ron Bookman’s 1969 Dodge Dart

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It’slow, loud, and downright mean. One glimpse and an unsuspecting onlooker is irresistibly drawn as if by some shif in the planet’s gravita tional field. And sporting unmistakable classic pro street styling cues with sci ence fiction-era high technology, it has enough “nasty” to entrance generations both young and old.

But like every good villain, Ron Book man’s 1969 Dodge Dart wasn’t always this evil. And just like the heavy-breath ing shiny-domed former Jedi, “Dart Vader’s” story is filled with twists and turns and triumphs and heartbreaks.

“I got the car in 1981,” said Bookman. “I went to a drag race and fell in love with the boxy Mopar A-bodies,” he re called. Afer a quick local search, the then-high-schooler from Hampton, VA found a solid foundation for a street/ strip bruiser.

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“My loving wife of 17 years, Sherri Lynn Bookman, was instrumental in building the car,” Ron said somberly. “She loved all things drag racing and it was her dream to see the Dart finished,” he added. Unfortunately, Sherri passed on Valentine’s Day in 2013 after a valiant five-year battle with cancer.

Photos: Louis Fronkier, Art Louis Photography

Dart Vader’s evil interior. VRC’s of-the art recessed Upholstery in features every features of the

As the build pro gressed, it came time to prep for paint. Donald Williams of VRC sug gested painting the car black, and Bookman liked the idea, but want ed a more muted satin black finish as opposed to a high-gloss sheen. Body mods were kept to a minimum, but fiberglass artist Garry Harris mod ified the front bumper for the trick intercooler inlet and also tweaked the rear bumper, as well.

Bobby Starcher from VRC finished up the sheet metal and carbon fiber work before VRC then mounted up a pair of lightweight Glasstech fenders. Tim’s Custom Painting in Newport News, VA laid down the laser-straight black suede topcoat. Vader hel met black powder coat was added to all trim and a subtle gloss black tail stripe was added as a wicked-cool finishing touch.

Larry’s Engine and Marine in Tucson, AZ was tapped to put together a bulletproof 528 CI Mopar Wedge engine. An Indy Maxx aluminum block was fitted with a Callies Magnum Crank, Oliver billet rods, and JE pistons. A COMP Cams solid roller cam was selected to command the valvetrain, while a pair of Indy 440-1 aluminum heads fitted with T&D shaft rockers were torqued into place, as well. An Indy 400-2 aluminum intake topped with a C&S Special ties aerosol billet booster blow-thru carburetor was selected to complement the big F2 ProCharger. A Moroso vacuum pump and Powermaster alternator were added before the gang at VRC fabbed up the custom piping to the Bell custom air-to-air inter cooler and supercharger head.

evil goes all the way to the core, and the wicked powertrain and chassis needed an equally nasty custom carbon fiber tubs and tinwork is most obvious, but other sinister touches like a staterecessed Racepak dash with Smartwire system and headliner and carpet by Keith Olsen of Kirks Hampton, VA are added for show and go. The entire car was wired without a single relay and every data acquisition sensor available. Bookman says the high-tech wiring is one of his favorite the build.

Despite its clear theme as a dark and sinister villain, the car was debuted to a he ro’s welcome at several area shows. Bookman planned to hit the drag strip and ful ly expected the car’s light weight and copious power on tap to post mid to high seven-second time slips. He was not disappointed.

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