V.P. MARKETING/CUSTOMER RELATIONS..........TRISH BIRO trish@rpm-mag.com E-MAGAZINE ASSOCIATE EDITOR.................TOBY BROOKS toby.brooks@rpm-mag.com EVENT MEDIA DIRECTOR...........................RAYMOND KNIGHT events@rpm-mag.com EVENT SUBSCRIPTIONS COORDINATOR.....SHERRIE WEBER sherrie@rpm-mag.com SPECIAL PROJECTS DIRECTOR...........................TOBY BROOKS toby.brooks@rpm-mag.com Photographic Contributions: TONY WEBER, TIM LEWIS, PETE “BOOMER” ORES, MARK goDragRacing.org, TARA BOWKER, GEORGE PICH, TOBY BROOKS, MATT WOODS, TABITHA SIZEMORE, LOUIS FRONKIER, and WILL McDOUGLE. Editorial Contributions: TIM LEWIS, CHUCK SCOTT, MARK goDragRacing.org, RAYMOND KNIGHT, TOBY BROOKS, BRIAN WOOD, TABITHA SIZEMORE, JAMES WILLIAMS, TIM BIRO, STAN SMITH, JT, and GEORGE PICH. Technical Writing Contribution: CHUCK SCOTT, SHANE TECKLENBURG, TOBY BROOKS, and TIM BIRO.
ADVERTISING SALES For advertising information contact
MEET THE RPM TEAM
EDITOR IN CHIEF.........................................................CHRIS BIRO editor@rpm-mag.com
RPM Magazine is a REGISTERED TRADEMARK of Revolution Publishing & Media Inc. RPM Magazine is a worldwide motorsports publication distributed in 34 countries and can be found on popular newsstands in the USA, Canada and select newsstands in the UK. If you cannot find a copy near you please call 519-752-3705 or email circulation@rpm-mag.com To subscribe to RPM go to www.rpm-mag.com or email Trish Biro at trish@rpmmag.com, or call 519-752-3705. The focus of RPM is to bring a diverse mix of high performance street and race automobiles to life within its pages including race cars, musclecars, hot rods and street legal machines with an emphasis on the “EXTREME,” including fast doorslammer and outlaw forms of drag racing. Not familiar with these types of cars? They are considered to be the top-shelf of the industry and are on the edge with regard to design, performance, and power! RPM Magazine does not sell its mailing list or share any of the confidential information regarding its subscribers.
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RPM Magazine has been a world leader in motorsports publishing for 18 years and has support locations in Ontario, Canada, Alabama, Texas, and Virginia, along with contributing writers and photojournalists worldwide. If you have a story that may fit within the focus and scope of RPM Magazine’s coverage, please email our Editor In Chief at editor@ rpm-mag.com. Submission of an article does not guarantee that it will be published. Revolution Publishing & Media Inc. (RPM) / RPM Magazine IS NOT Responsible for errors or omissions in ANY advertisement or article. Advertisements may be rearranged or altered at the sole discretion of RPM to allow the ad to fit in the space purchased by the advertiser. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE ANY ADVERTISING WHICH WE CONSIDER TO CONTAIN MISLEADING, OFFENSIVE OR FALSE INFORMATION. REPRODUCTION OF ANY INFORMATION HEREIN IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT.
Publication Return/Address Change Information USA RPM MAGAZINE (USPS Periodical #023474) is published monthly 12 times per year by USA Publisher’s Agent, 10387 Main Street, Suite 300, Fairfax, VA 22030.
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EDITOR’S RANT
by
Chris Biro
ADVERTISER INDEX
HARD CORE...
TO THE BONE!
W
e’re not bragging, but at RPM we don’t hire unpaid interns to save a buck or just anyone off the street. We want to make sure that our customers are dealing with people who know their stuff, especially when it comes to our content. It’s important to us that you the reader, our advertisers and supporters, and even those whose vehicles we feature in the pages of RPM enjoy the experience of being part of it. You have to have a certain level of “street cred” to be in the RPM mix of staff, and it is very important to us to treat everyone we work with the very best we can. We’re still a family-run company and we feel that gives us a hands-down advantage on keeping in touch with our readership on a far more personal level than the conglomerate mags of today. Our staff and their families depend on our family, and we will not them down. We don’t pretend to know it all and hope to learn something new everyday. Some of our staff are learning as they work, and that’s ok, too. We encourage them to
stick around with RPM for as long as
STAFF RID ES
they like, and most stay for a long time. As we all know, the balance of work, family, and fun is a delicate one and we all need little pickme-ups along the way to help us forge on towards the next challenge life throws at us. At RPM we’re proud of those we work with and we brag about them whenever we can, but we’re about to take that a step further; welcome to RPM STAFF RIDES. Randomly, over the next year we will be including vehicles of those who work with RPM, starting this issue with Tabitha Sizemore’s wicked turbo’d LS Fox body Mustang. You will see some of the cars that have been built in the pages of RPM and some that haven’t, but hopefully, it will provide you with insight of those behind the pages of what we feel is the world’s best car mag... RPM.
COMING NEXT MONTH:
Work that Body................................................................... With the chassis work complete, the guys at Braddy Custom Paint finally get their shot at prepping the Horse for paint and spraying some Axalta color!
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THIS AND MORE IN THE NEXT RPM! september2017 | RPM Magazine
ACC Performance................... 80 Accufab Inc............................ 33 Aeromotive......................... 111 AFCO..................................... 31 Alan Johnson Performance (AJPE)................................. 49 Alston Race Cars.................... 96 Applied Racing Components (ARC).................................. 20 ATI Performance Products..... 32 Auburn Gear.......................... 44 Autoglym............................ 102 AVAK/Ridgegate Tools........... 39 Baer Brakes......................17, 24 Bear’s Performance............. 101 Be Cool.................................. 87 BES Racing Engines................. 9 Bill Mitchell Products.......12, 36 Blower Shop............................ 5 Borla................................... 112 BTE Racing............................ 50 C&C MotorSports................. 111 Calvert Racing Suspensions... 86 Canton Racing Products...... 104 CFE Racing Products.............. 92 Chassis Engineering...........8, 17 CN Blocks.............................. 88 CNC Motorsports................. 105 Coan Engineering.................. 62 Competition Products........... 47 Crane Cams........................... 91 Crower.................................. 21 CVR Products......................... 78 DART..................................... 18 Design Engineering............... 98 Diamond Pistons................... 42 DIY Auto Tune/MS3-Pro EFI... 45 Drive Train Specialists (DTS)... 13 DRIVEN Racing Oil................. 28 Dynocologists........................ 23 Dynomite Dynamometer...... 13 Dynotech Engineering......... 110 Ed Quay Race Cars................. 26 Edelbrock.............................. 48 Energy Suspension................ 19 G Force Racing Transmissions.46 Granatelli Motorsports.......... 45 GZ Motorsports..................... 46 Harland Sharp....................... 23 Harwood............................... 97 HoleShot Wheels................... 84 Holley...............................76, 95 Howard’s Cams...................... 89 Hughes Performance............... 7 Induction Solutions............... 93 Indy Cylinder Head................ 66 Innovate Motorsports............ 67 JE Pistons.........................35, 94 Jesel...................................... 14 JW Perform. Transmissions.... 30 Kinsler Fuel Injection............. 77 LenTech Automatics.............. 85 Lokar Perf. Products............ 108 LUCAS Oil Products.................. 2
MagnaFuel............................ 60 Magnuson Superchargers...... 25 MAHLE Clevite Inc................. 64 Manton Pushrods.................. 92 Meziere Precision Mfg............. 8 Mickey Thompson Tires....7, 106 Miska Trailers........................ 90 MSD Ignition......................... 26 Neal Chance Converters....27, 65 New Century Performance.... 11 Nitrous Pro Flow.................... 20 Nitrous Supply...................... 83 Parts Pro Perf Centers.......... 116 Performance Improvements.. 24 Perf. Plus Connection.......25, 58 Philadelphia Racing Products (PRP)........................... 63,100 Powermaster Performance.... 58 Precision Turbo...................... 53 ProCharger.......................... 113 Proform Parts........................ 99 Proformance Racing Trans....... 9 Pro Systems Carburetors... 15,80 PTC........................................ 43 Quick Fuel Technology........... 36 Quik-Latch Products............ 110 Racecraft............................... 37 Racepak................................ 38 Racequip............................... 81 RAM Clutches........................ 29 Renegade Racing Fuels......... 52 Rhodes Race Cars.................. 41 Ross Racing Pistons.......... 5,106 Royal Purple/Karbelt............. 22 RPM Magazine Subscribe!.114 S&W Race Cars.................... 109 Scorpion Racing Prods........... 30 Shafiroff Racing Engines..11, 40 Shameless Season 7............ 100 Sharp Trailers........................ 43 Smith Racecraft..................... 82 Steve Morris Racing Engines. 61 Strange Engineering............. 16 Summit Racing Equip..... 22,115 Taylor Cable Products............ 88 TCI Automotive.................... 101 Ti64....................................... 94 Tom’s Upholstery................... 14 Trick Flow.............................. 51 TRZ Motorsports.................... 12 Tuned By Shane T.................. 18 VP Racing Fuels.............. 34,107 Weinle Motorsports.............. 84 World Products..................... 85
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september2017
Be sure to check out our Performance Directory on page 68!
HOT
Often Imitated, Never Duplicated—For 18 STRAIGHT YEARS RPM Magazine has been the ORIGINAL Voice Of Wild Street Machines and Extreme Drag Cars WORLDWIDE! Don’t Settle For Less! We DELIVER Insane Fast Cars and Bring You NO POLITICS... JUST ACTION! Your ONLY “Real Time” “Real World” Car Mag...PERIOD!
EVENTS
THE SO Much Horsepower Packed Into One Place... That Place IS RPM Magazine!
RIDES Fast Cars, Canadian Hospitality, and Poutine......
New Ride...Old School................... 54
Brandon Lewis’ killer ’57 Chevy is a cutting-edge throwback to the roots of pro mod
STAFF RID ES
Second Chance....................................................22 Jim Heron admits that he sold his first 1969 Chevelle for the wrong reasons,
Boomhauer.......................................................................8 Just a girl and her car!
even though it didn’t seem that way at the time.
THE
PROJECTS & TECH Shop Talk: The Grass May Be Greener..................... 36 ...on the other side of the track!
TIG-tastic...............................................................100 We upgrade to a Miller Electric Syncrowave 210 multi-process welder
Acadian Revival Update......................................103
Still the One............................................................... 42
Through every step in life’s journey, it’s always been this gold Cutlass for Tim Heusinger
We prep the LS powerplant and order the Hughes transmission for our street/strip Canadian Nova
Inch by Inch..........................................................108 Chassis fab is complete at Yates Performance and our completed chassis gets powder coat from Denco Powder Coating Services
READ COMPLETE ISSUES OF RPM MAG ONLINE AT WWW.RPM-MAG.COM 6
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The inaugural SMACKDOWN 1 provides a little something for everyone at Ontario’s St. Thomas Raceway Park
september2017 | RPM Magazine
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
7
story and photos by
Tabitha Sizemore Chassis Engineering’s Outlaw “TRIPLE” Adjustable Ladder Bars The ultimate ladder bar for heavy, high horsepower race cars. 360 degree housing brackets w/integrated shock mounts. Chromoly construction for strength and lightweight. Includes all rod ends, hardware and brackets.
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M
y name is Tabitha Sizemore and this is my car, Boomhauer, and this is our tale. I’ve never had the opportunity to write a full piece from a first-person perspective, so this is a first for me. But like our editor said in this month’s Opening Rant, at RPM we’re all hardcore horsepower fanatics just like you and we’re pretty stoked to be able
STAFF RID ES
to show off our own iron, too. And in this case, it’s important for readers to know that there is a horsepower lovin’, race car drivin’ gal behind the lens and keyboard of the articles they see in RPM. Around 2008 to 2009, I had the opportunity to purchase what I considered my first ‘quick’ car, a Nissan 350Z. I had always wanted one and considered it
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
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BOOMHAUER
my dream car. Now, I know better though, and despite eventually realizing that it was pretty slow in the grand scheme of things, the car offered me a good education. It was the first car I ever raced, the first stick car I ever owned, and it opened the door to the photography world for me. Now, you may be asking; what does photography have to do with it? Well, let me explain. While I was learning to bang gears with a ‘man-pedal’, I picked up a camera, too. Craig Boone of London Dragway was made aware of the photos I had taken of some of the regular weekend bracket cars and invited
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me to be the official track photographer. Picking up that gig exposed me to my first Outlaw 8.5 race. I was hooked on this style of racing and when I laid my eyes on the most stunning satin black Fox body Mustang I’d ever seen, I knew that I wanted one. And on top of that, there was also a girl driving one of the Outlaw cars! She was tough as nails and seeing a gal kick it with the boys was fantastic. At this point, I did what any girl would do: I approached my husband with my wishes, and he agreed to help me. He had been out of the scene for a while, but with my interest piqued,
september 2017 | RPM Magazine
WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHES The best pass to date in 2016 was 5.52 @ 128 miles per hour, on only 13-pounds of boost. “With an injector change, we’ll be turning up the wick this year, but I can’t tell what the new numbers are! Shhhhhh!”
Bill Sizemore photo
STREET OR STRIP? YES.... If the car isn’t at the track, it sees regular cruising around town and on the back roads during the week.
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
11
BOOMHAUER he was willing to start fresh. At first I thought about finding a Nova or Chevelle, and my goals at the time were simple: build a mid-7-second (eighth-mile) footbrake car. Nothing fancy. Eventually, we settled on a half-primered ’91 Mustang we found on Craigslist in Lexington, Kentucky for the main reason that my husband had a history of building Mustangs. It made sense, so we ran with it. Plus, our hunt for a bowtie wasn’t going all that well, anyhow. We set about to do a mild build—a 347-inch small block Ford with aftermarket heads and small cam. It was still very driveable and I did drive it—back and forth to the track, to work, around town, you name it. I eventually went an 11.75 in the quarter-mile with that car.
By this time a buzz was going around that we were out to build an Outlaw 8.5 car, which couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Other than the car being the ever popular Fox body, there were zero similarities. We actually had one gentleman approach us and tell us that we didn’t know what we were getting into, those cars were fast and that we needed to stick with those little imports. There’s a lesson here: don’t tell a woman she can’t do something! On the inside I told myself, buddy, don’t tell me what I shouldn’t be doing. I’ll have one, one day, no matter what it takes. For some reason, I knew the day we drove the ’91 home from its’ previous owner that at some point my husband
LESS IS MORE The aggressive Outlaw look of 2016 (seen in the inset photo) was dropped in favor of a more ‘stockish’ street car appearance. The Outlaw bumper was tossed for this stock piece, and the raised hood ditched for a flat Harwood hood. The rear wing is also gone, but the fiberglass deck lid remains.
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september 2017 | RPM Magazine
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
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BOOMHAUER
would wind up with it (just call it a woman’s intuition). And he did, but it worked out in my favor. When he took the ’91 for himself, he replaced it with a barebones roller Mustang that I immediately named Boomhauer. I had never been more excited. We had a long road ahead of us to build that car, but I steered him into the
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september 2017 | RPM Magazine
shop that first day in 2011 with a wrench for a steering wheel, no interior, no glass, no electronics, no nothing, and you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The new goal was a 6.50 Index car. For approximately the next year, we drove from Richmond to Somerset almost every weekend and every vacation day to build Boomhauer. The set-up
now was to be a nice lil’ all-motor 408 cubic inch small block Ford, good suspension, full interior, and still be a street car. We finished the car in the summer/fall of 2012 and struggled. Oh my, how we struggled! We were trying to use an old programmable management system and from weekend to weekend, the car acted different every time. It
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
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BOOMHAUER
wasn’t enjoyable to drive, or race, but it was pretty to look at. I did eventually get a best of 6.75 at 100 miles per hour with the car in that configuration. My husband’s car, (my former ’91), was ready to go at this point, so I learned to start racing a turbo car in it, and we decided to go a different
route with Boomhauer. We picked up a supercharger and new Haltech tuning system and other supporting mods but never got to the track with that setup. It sure sounded good rolling around the neighborhood, though! After driving my husband’s turbo car and going 5-seconds with it
in the eighth, I wanted one. We headed to Ohio to pick up some parts from a buddy, Chris Tino, and when we arrived at his house—almost as if it were fate—he had a nice sleek turbo kit laid out on a blanket. I wanted it, and before we made it out of his neighborhood on the way home, I sent him a
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message agreeing to come back and buy it the following weekend. Women, we are never satisfied! The swap was made and we headed to ShorTuning for a tune-up and got ourselves ready for the track. With the 408, 9:1 compression, and a 76mm turbo, the car made 740whp on about
14-pounds of boost, BUT, we struggled again! Every time we went to the track, the car got slower and slower. It wouldn’t get through a burnout, wouldn’t go on the transbrake, we pushed water, it was just one headache after another. I was at my wits’ end. Everybody I knew was
TABITHA SIZEMORE’S STREET/ STRIP 1989 FORD MUSTANG
NOT GUTTED Contrary to what some might think, this is not a gutted race car. Most interior components are still intact, with the exception of the rear seat. The car still has turn signals, a phone charger, lights, even a rear view mirror. All the door reinforcements are still in place, as well. It’s 100% street legal—licensed, tagged, and insured!
Chassis Type & Mods: Mild steel 12-point Competition Engineering roll cage. Subframe connectors. Suspension: FRONT: Flaming River manual steering rack. AJE K-member and A-arms. AFCO coilovers with Racecraft drop spindles. REAR: AFCO Big Gun coilover shocks. TRZ Motorsports double adjustable uppers and lowers. Anti-roll bar. Body & Paint: World Rally Blue paint. Harwood fiberglass hood. Innovative Racecraft dzus rails. Harwood fiberglass trunk. All factory glass. Engine: Robert’s Precision Machine LS2 6.0L. Diamond pistons. Comp Star rods. Stock crank. AFR 210cc cylinder heads. Lil’ John Motorsports stage 3 cam. Meziere water pump. Dual AFCO radiators with SPAL fans. Custom overflow built by Jessie’s Garage. Induction & Power Adder: BBK 100mm throttle body with Wilson Manifolds elbow. Holley Performance intake. Holley fuel rails. Bosch 210-pound injectors tuned on E85. Fuelab pump, filter, and regulator. S485 billet turbo from Forced Inductions. Tial wastegate & blow off valve. Chisled Performance water-to-air intercooler and ice tank. Electronics & Ignition: Haltech Elite ECU. Haltech Can Hub. Haltech IQ3 Racepak. Haltech wiring harness. Leash boost controller. JOES Racing Products switch panel. Tuned by James Short of ShorTuning. Exhaust: Custom headers by Jessie Coulter of Jessie’s Garage. Transmission: Extreme Automatics 2-speed TH400. PTC converter. B&M Stealth Pro Rachet shifter. SLP Performance line lock. Differential: Ford 8.8-inch rear with spool and Moser 33-spline axles with 9-inch housing ends. Tires & Wheels: Weld Racing V-Series 17 x 4.5 front. Weld Racing V-Series 15 x 12 Rear with Weld Racing beadlocks for 275/60 Mickey Thompson Pro drag radials and 15 x 10 for 8.5-inch slicks. Performance: 5.52 at 128 miles per hour in fall 2016 on 13 psi. New changes in 2017, keeping those numbers hush, hush!
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BOOMHAUER CORN FED AND TWIN COOLED Boomhauer is tuned on E-85. A Fuelab Prodigy pump, filter and regulator feed the flex fuel to a set of Holley fuel rails and Bosch 210-pound injectors. And yes, that’s two radiators! Dual aluminum AFCO units with SPAL fans keep things nice and cool at the track and while cruising around country roads.
throwing junkyard, stock bottom end LS engines in their cars and going 5s with little effort. So after our last miserable outing in the fall of 2015, I threw the towel in and we parted ways with everything that had to do with the small block Ford. By the time we made it home from the track I had my sale list ready, and
I went LS-powered. My advice to some though, is to think hard about the decision to cross breed a Mustang. I lost friends, have been called nasty names, and, believe it or not, I was told that some people hoped I wrecked my car. The bottom line is, though, I had a budget and a goal, so I did what I could do
within my means to achieve my goals… simple as that. I don’t really think that makes me a bad person, but some purists will disagree. As for the car’s name…it came out of nowhere really. It just popped into my head on our way to pick him up. Some people reference the show King Of The Hill, and I just go
along with it because it’s funny, but I don’t have a real reason behind it, it was like a light bulb went off in my head that day, and Boomhauer it was! With some help from good friends, we made a lot of changes. Boom now has a Robert’s Precision Machine built 6.0L with a Forced Inductions 85mm
billet turbo. On the inside he’s swingin’ Diamond pistons, Comp Star rods and a stock crank. Jessie Coulter worked his magic on a set of custom headers for the car as well as other goodies. We get the power to the ground with an Extreme Automatics bullet-proof 2-speed TH400, AFCO coilovers and TRZ
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BOOMHAUER TABITHA THANKS.... “First and foremost, my husband, Bill Sizemore. He has supported my dream of having a car from the beginning and through every stage of the game. He’s my crew man, my mechanic, my car hauler, my biggest fan, and everything in between. Without him, none of this would be possible. I also would like to thank James Short of ShorTuning, Jessie Coulter of Jessie’s Garage, Justin Cox and Lonnie Diers of Extreme Automatics, Eric Saffell at AFCO, John Bewley at LJMS. Eric, Michael, and the gang at Haltech, Doug Cook at Motion Raceworks, Robert Newsome at Robert’s Precision Machine, Josh Davis at Fuelab, Roy Farley for his welding skills, Michael Judd for all the advice, Dusty Bradford for his help on the converter, and last but not least, Craig Boone at London Dragway. Motorsports uppers and lowers. James at ShorTuning has tuned the car with a Haltech onboard, and in the fall of 2016 I managed a 5.52 at 128 miles per hour, with a semi-lazy 1.27 60-foot (with only 13-pounds of boost). We also ran out of injector at that point, and with the season over I never got a chance to turn up the wick. He’s got a whole lot left in him, though, but from this writing forward I won’t be releasing any more numbers as I have my sights set on the 26” No-Time class. Let’s just say that we’re headed in the right direction!
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BUILDING BOOMHAUER The very first day the Mustang arrived home. We did everything on the car ourselves in the beginning except the cage work and the paint/body work. Bill has done most of the fab work and the majority of the build, but I have done my fair share as well! I welded up some holes in the floor. We’ve had a lot of people that don’t think I do anything with the car: work on it, drive it, etc. So we have to take photos of me working on it, videos of me from the inside racing it to prove I actually do what I say I do.
september 2017 | RPM Magazine
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Tia Elizabeth photos by
George Pich story by
“I
’ve always been a gearhead and car guy. Pretty much anything with a motor caught my attention” said Jim Heron of Thamesford, Ontario, Canada. “One of my sisters said the only way I would be attracted
to a woman is if she put motor oil behind her ear instead of perfume.” Starting out at a young age in the early ’70s, Heron would pick up old lawnmowers and stationary motors on trash days, bring them home, and get them working again. That naturally lead to mini bikes, go-karts,
snowmobiles and dirt bikes. But his very first car was a 1967 Mustang Fastback, 289, 3-speed manual. The car was found at a nearby dealer sitting behind the shop with a seized motor. “We knew it was seized, so we pulled it behind the service truck and when I popped the
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september2017 | RPM Magazine
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SECOND CHANCE NOT A DELOREAN...ALTHOUGH IT IS SILVER Seeing Jim Heron’s Chevelle inside the E.L.T.A. (East London Timing Association) clubhouse is like stepping back in time.
Check out the Chevelle in action at http://bit.ly/2vkqeoM or use the QR code reader on your smart phone
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FACTORY FRESH The Chevelle retains a stock steel body and all of the original-style trim. clutch, the motor broke free and away it went!” After the Mustang was the victim of an accident, Jim swapped brands to a 1968 Camaro, V8 automatic, and it was just a short time later that he found the car he knew he had to have: a 1969 Chevelle SS. The Camaro was offed in favor of the SS even though it was little more than a rolling chassis with no motor and trans. Green on green with a black vinyl top, the classic Chevy had a bunch of cool SS options which only sweetened the pot for Heron.
“I found an original 427 big block in a farmer’s dry shed, snapped it up, and rebuilt it in my parents’ basement,” told Heron. He wanted the car running so badly that he paid for the motor with his unemployment insurance money over the winter. Soon after, he found a Muncie 4-speed and managed to put together a solid street machine to cruise in during the warm Canadian summers. And that is where the story of this Chevelle begins. “I sold that Chevelle to buy an engagement ring…I should have
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SECOND CHANCE MOTORHEAD MUSEUM There’s no shortage of drag race memorabilia and nostalgia—not to mention horsepower—at our shoot location.
BIG BUNS & CHROME BARS kept the car because I’m no longer married!” As time passed, it was always the intention to replace the Chevelle, and in 2006 not being married at that point in his life was the perfect excuse to get back in the driver’s seat of one. Jim found this car on Ebay and the asking price was $5,800. “I had butterflies in my stomach when I
called because I had never bought anything over the phone before,” admitted Heron. Trying to make his money go further south of the border, Heron offered $5,000, but the owner declined and would only go down to $5,500 as he was already getting some serious action on the car. “I got off the phone thinking to myself, $500 difference is nothing…just
go for it! So I did.” The Chevelle, like so many others, was an abandoned pro street project having been tubbed and left to sit. One saving grace was that the seller agreed that if Jim made the 12-hour-plus hour drive and didn’t like the car that he would refund his $1,000 deposit less only the amount to repost the ad.
The 33-inch Mickey Thomspon Sportsman SR Radials make the stance on this tubbed Chevelle just plain bad. Wheelie bars reminiscent of the Pro Street 1.0 movement are set high for street driving, but if Jim decided to up the boost and heat those massive meats, he may just need to drop them down or else head skyward. It’s not uncommon for Jim to come out of a store and find complete strangers under the back of his car figuring out how big those tires really are.
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SECOND CHANCE
NO SLOUCH The Chevelle is packin’ 632 inches of built blown Chevy big block. With no high-priced custom sheet metal work, the Chevelle’s engine compartment is pretty much stock, but the bling of all that polished aluminum and chrome is cause for wearing shades! It’s hard to believe Jim street drives this car, a lot! Twin Race Demon carbs provide the lifeblood for the blown big block. “I went down to pick it up with a friend of mine and his trailer. After looking at the car, I agreed to take it. It needed lots of work, but the basics were all there and the balk-half tub work done looked professional.” About 2 ½ years later, the Chevelle rolled out of Jim’s garage complete, but not completely
finished. During the build, rear quarter panels and front fenders were replaced along with most of the trim. It was never Jim’s intention to build a race car, but rather a nice pro streeter. One thing though, Heron wasn’t interested in building a car that simply looked the part—he wanted to build the power to back it up.
But that didn’t happen overnight. The car was driven for a few years with a fresh 427, but that was just not doing it for Heron—he wanted more. Eventually, a crate 632-inch big block was installed. The Chevelle took on a whole new personality and would fry the big Mickey Thompson street tires at will,
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JIM HERON’S 1969 CHEVROLET CHEVELLE PRO STREET Chassis Type & Mods: Original GM front frame with custom backhalf, tubs and 6 point cage. Suspension & Brakes: FRONT: GM factory big block springs, Prothane urethane suspension bushings, solid motor mounts, and aftermarket stabilizer bar and bushings. REAR: Ladder bar rear suspension, QA1 rear coilovers, Competition Engineering wheelie bars. Body & Paint: Steel body. Base coat/clear coat 2013 Chrysler Metallic silver with darker gray stripes. Engine & Rotating Assembly: 632 crate with Dart Big M Block. Eagle rotating assembly (H-beam connecting rods, steel crank shaft), JE pistons 4.60 bore (8:1 compression). Dart Pro 1 aluminum cylinder heads-open chamber/rectangular port, 119 chamber size, intake valve 2.350/exhaust valve 1.880, 7/16 push rods and Scorpion 1.7 rockers. Comp Cam .647 lift, duration isintake262/exhaust 270. Melling high volume oil pump M77HV. Billet double roller timing set, Milodon 7-quart oil pan. Induction & Power Adder: 8/71 Weiand polished supercharger (13% overdrive) with twin Demon 750 race carburetors. Quick Fuel electric fuel pump with regulator. Electronics & Ignition: MSD 85501 distributor, MSD 6AL ignition module, MSD start saver (initial engine retarder) for starting, MSD Blaster SS ignition coil. Exhaust: DNA 3-inch exhaust with PYPES X pipe and electric dumps, 2 1/2-inch tailpipes. Transmission & Converter: Built turbo 400 by Rex Enterprises with 3500 stall converter, B&M Pro Stick shifter with line lock. . Differential: Narrowed Chevy 12 bolt with 3.73 Richmond gears, Moser 30-spine axles, Perfect Launch differential cover w/bearing cap supports. Tires & Wheels: REAR: 33x22.00-15 Mickey Thompson Sportsman SR radials on polished 15x15 Weld Drag Light wheels. FRONT: 26x6-15 MT Sportsman SR radial tires on 15x4 Weld Drag Light wheels. Special Thanks: “I have had a lot of people help along the way with the Chevelle. I would like to thank good friend Stu Gomes for help with the original installs of the 427 and 632 motors. Bob Leyland, a neighbor and longtime bodyman who spent numerous hours helping me in my garage finessing the bodywork. Dave Banks, a local carb and blower guru who helped with setting up the top end fuel wise. There is also our local speed shop in London, Ontario, Performance Improvements (Barry Trapp and Dan)—a big thanks to them.”
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SECOND CHANCE
but it still wasn’t quite the final vision Jim had for the car. Problems with that original 632 led to more change. “I took the motor out and had Answer Machine in London Ontario go through it all, and in the process we decided to change things up and add an 8/71 Rootsstyle blower to the package.”
Jim had no intention of being an underpowered fairgrounds cruiser. He wanted the real deal. Starting with a Dart Big M block, the big Bowtie was treated to an Eagle rotating assembly with JE slugs that would set base compression at 8:1, perfect for the planned huffer. A COMP .647
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SECOND CHANCE
lift cam was used to control the 2.350 intake and 1.88 exhaust valves installed in the Dart Pro 1 aluminum cylinder heads with Scorpion 1.7 roller rockers. A polished Weiand 8/71 supercharger with twin 750 Demon race carbs is currently running tame at 13% overdrive making 5 pounds of boost. While the naturally aspirated 632 was a handful… the new supercharged setup is two fistfuls of pure fun! A tricked-out Turbo 400 with 3500 stall converter was built by Rex Enterprises and a shortened 12-bolt rearend houses 3.73 Richmond gears
and Moser 30-spine axles. A Perfect Launch differential cover with bearing supports helps keep things in place when the going gets tough. The all-steel body was covered with a slick coat of 2013 Chrysler metallic silver base coat/clear coat with darker gray ghosted twin stripes applied and smoothed out to a flawless transition. As a member of the, East London Timing Association (E.L.T.A.)— AKA “The disciples of speed,”— Jim is able to share his passion for power
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SECOND CHANCE with others of like mind. And the extremely cool E.L.T.A. clubhouse was actually the location of our photoshoot. “We have members all over Ontario and beyond,” added Heron. “This is a great brotherhood of people of all ages and from different backgrounds who all have a common interest in preserving drag racing, nostalgia racing, memorabilia, and cool cars.” “Each and every time I go out in the car, it’s a treat,” said Jim. “It turns heads. Both men and women give me the thumbs up every time I drive it and when I come out of a store it’s
not uncommon to see a few people checking it out. A few times they have been on the ground under the back checking out just how big those rear tires actually are.” As if the blower with twin Demons and bug catcher scoop aren’t enough, the 632 emblems on what’s left of the cowl hood are a clear indication that this muscle car shouldn’t be taken lightly. Right or wrong in selling that first Chevelle to buy a wedding ring, Jim Heron is just happy to have his second chance at cruising the streets in this wicked blown Chevelle.
‘TIL DEATH DO THEM PART While he wishes he never sold his first Chevelle, Jim Heron is completely satisfied with his second chance at owning one...and plans to hang onto this one this time!
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september2017 | RPM Magazine
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SHOP TALK
THE GRASS MAY JT
story and photos by
I
n our wonderful, ultra-modern society, everything is identified by a label. Simple things such as the way we dress, the style of our hair, the cars we drive and even the
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foods we eat all attach a specific label to us. In my mind, prejudice is purely ignorance. White, Black, Asian, Mexican, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, long hair, short hair, health nut, fast-food junkie—can’t we all
just get along? This past weekend I took my Pro-Street Camaro (which I have raced regularly since building) on its maiden voyage to the Menards Chevy Show at Maple Grove Raceway
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september 2017 | RPM Magazine
in Pennsylvania. Maple Grove is just over two hours from my home, so I loaded Big Red up in the hauler along with everything I would need for four days of fun with my newly completed beast.
Before I go on with the rest of this story, I remember a time… yes, it was the glorious ’80s, when cars were simply cars. You either kept it stock, or “souped it up” with bigger tires out back, ladder bars, air
1
1: Big Red is finally complete and on her way to be judged at the Menards Chevy Show
2
2: Being new to the show car world I was hoping that the judges would notice the planning, blood, sweat, tears, and hours that went into designing the complete drivetrain, or would they focus on the exterior and overall look of the car? We would soon find out!
shocks for the ultimate ’80s “jacked up” look, and a few stickers on the window to make it look like your favorite Pro Stock car. It didn’t matter if you raced it, showed it, or cruised it. Most of us did all of those things with our cars back then. I know I did! So here we are back at Maple Grove Raceway. Since my freshly built Camaro is only a virgin once, I decided to enter her into the prestigious Menards Chevy Show and see what the rest of the world thinks of it. Allow me to paint a picture for you to help set the mood. The entire
complex is quite scenic. It is surrounded by farms and the rolling hills of Pennsylvania on all sides. Like most tracks, there is a spectator side and a pit side. For this event they set the car show up on the spectator side and of course the drag racing was held on the pit side. Little did I know this was just the beginning of the gearhead judgement wars. I pulled my hauler into the pit side and set up camp alongside my drag racing friends from our local track in New Jersey. Once everyone found out I was going to enter my car
in the show and not drag it, I became the red-headed stepchild that no-one wanted to hang out with. Oh well, I have thick skin and simply enjoyed doing what I love and soaked in the sounds and smells of the dragstrip. Numerous people walked by my pit that first day and had many nice things to say about my car until they found out it was entered in the show class. Then nothing but sarcasm and ridicule took over. What is strange to me is that most of these people had ratty looking drag cars that had no attention
to detail whatsoever. So what I surmised is that it is okay to have a great looking drag car but not a great looking show car. On the other hand, it is also acceptable to have a ratty looking drag car as well. A bit confused and a bit disturbed, I started my 572 big block and turned every head in an ear shot while I drove my Camaro to the show side.
THERE’S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
3 3: I was introduced to a whole new world during those four days at the Menards Chevy Show. It is ironic that at a car show where everyone is being judged, the only people doing that are the judges themselves. The car owners were refreshingly friendly and supportive to each other. It warmed my heart to be welcomed so genuinely. The event itself was super organized. Brian and the guys at Northeast Carshows did a fantastic job making sure every car was judged and for keeping the schedule right on time.
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SHOP TALK
ACCURATE GROUND SPEED REGARDLESS OF WHEEL SPIN OR WHEEL STAND
4 4: The dragstrip was divided into two separate events that weekend. The pit side focused on the drag racing while the spectator side focused on the huge car show. It was an action packed weekend for all to enjoy. Fast cars, beautiful cars, fast-beautiful cars, old cars, new cars, trucks, rat rods, all were on display to tickle our passion for the motorsports.
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I’ve NEVER competed in a car show in my life and was terrified that if my own drag racing brethren turned their backs on me, how much worse would the show car group treat me. As I drove down the main entrance it was as if I farted in church. Everyone that was dusting and polishing their cars along the road stopped and watched me rumble into the Pro Street area. I have to admit it felt pretty good to get so much attention all at one time. Just to make sure I put an exclamation mark at the end of this sentence, I did my best to clear the carb before shutting all of that violent combustion down. Before leaving the solitude of my rollcage, I took a deep breath and made sure all systems were put to sleep. My confidence in the engine, tranny, differential, suspension, fuel system, and electrical system was
5 5: Friends I am here to tell you to ignore the haters! You have to understand that not everyone is going to celebrate in your triumphs and accomplishments (especially those that know you). Jealousy is a horrible thing that gets in the way of friendship. Don’t give in to the haters mentality or forget the common courtesies such as courtesy, respect, and compassion. Please try to compliment instead of criticize and do your best to remember that someone sacrificed a lot to get where they are or for the car they built. Whatever the case may be, there are way too many haters in the world, so I urge you to bring a smile to someone instead of bringing heartache. soaring through the roof. There is NOTHING but the BEST of parts in this car, and everything is painted and color-coded to meet my anal attention to detail. Despite my car being wet sanded and buffed to an all-time high luster, the overall paint on my car is poor. The interior was my first attempt at doing things myself, 100%—the design, wiring, painting, carpeting and piping. I was able to pull off what I think is an “elegant racecar.” There is no leather, no radio, no USB ports, no heat or air, no adjustable seats, and no power anything. What there is, though, is a full line of gauges that patrol every possible function of the car and a data logger that records the very same vitals. There are also dual matching 5-point safety harnesses, a quick-release steering wheel with a functioning horn, a pair of lightweight aluminum
racing seats, a freshly painted rollcage with accent LED lighting that matches the exterior, a CO2 bottle that chills the incoming air and fuel mixture, and lastly, a fire extinguisher just in case anything goes wrong. Would these car show people even notice my drivetrain or would they focus on the paint? The story will soon unfold.
MAKING NEW FRIENDS
Within minutes of getting out of my car, people began to gather around it and waited for me to open the hood and release the Kracken. I’m generally a happy and jolly guy that loves to talk about cars, so I graciously welcomed everyone to our area and answered every question fired my way. This side of the track REALLY liked my car and shouted numerous explicits as they walked towards it. Something to
刀椀瘀攀琀 ⬀ 刀椀瘀攀琀 一甀琀 ⬀ 刀椀瘀攀琀 匀琀甀搀
6
䴀甀氀琀椀ⴀ䘀甀渀挀琀椀漀渀愀氀 唀渀氀椀洀椀琀攀搀 倀漀猀猀椀戀椀氀椀琀椀攀猀
6 & 7: I am happy and proud to say that Big Red was well received and left that weekend with her first two awards. Someone recognized the sleepless nights, the busted knuckles, and the passion that poured out into building her.
䄀嘀䄀䬀 䴀愀砀䐀甀琀礀 䘀氀攀砀 吀漀漀氀 䬀椀琀
7
∠ ㌀ⴀ椀渀ⴀ㨀 刀椀瘀攀琀Ⰰ 刀椀瘀攀琀 一甀琀 ⬀ 刀椀瘀攀琀 匀琀甀搀 ∠ 䘀氀攀砀椀戀氀攀 栀愀渀搀氀攀猀 昀漀爀 攀愀猀礀 猀琀漀爀愀最攀 眀椀琀栀漀甀琀 氀漀漀猀椀渀最 愀渀礀 氀攀瘀攀爀愀最攀⸀ ∠ 唀渀椀焀甀攀 儀甀椀挀欀匀眀椀琀挀栀 昀攀愀琀甀爀攀 昀漀爀 爀愀瀀椀搀 昀甀渀挀琀椀漀渀愀氀 挀栀愀渀最攀 ∠ 䠀攀愀瘀礀 搀甀琀礀 猀甀瀀瀀漀爀琀椀渀最 猀琀愀椀渀氀攀猀猀 昀愀猀 昀愀猀琀攀渀攀爀猀 愀渀搀 猀琀爀甀挀琀甀爀愀氀 昀愀猀琀攀渀攀爀猀
刀椀瘀攀琀 ⼀㐀ᴠ ⠀㘀⸀㐀洀洀⤀ 刀椀瘀攀琀 一甀琀 ⼀㈀ᴠ ⼀ 䴀㈀ the sound of… “OMG, this blanking thing is blanking vicious!” There were many others that I was happy to hear but will not repeat out of respect to the way my parents raised me. I was asked many questions and then the inevitable “are you racing it this weekend?” came. Unlike the drag racing side, when I told them that my car is only a virgin once and this was a great time to show it off in its pristine condition, everyone completely understood and wished me well. Hmmm? This was a huge event. I made it a point to introduce myself to everyone within walking distance to my car. There were gearheads like me who put every nut and bolt together with their own hands. There were rich people who loved cars and bought their show car completely finished. There were people who had their cars built. I am happy to say that 98% of the people were extremely awesome to talk with and loved not only sharing their story, but hearing mine as well. The remaining two percent were broken down into insecure/jeal-
ous people and complete ego maniac a-holes. I happened to be parked next to an absolutely stunning ’66 Chevelle. This car took its owner and family 12 years to build and was beautiful and detailed from front to back. On the other side of me was an even more stunning ’70 Chevelle that was one of 14 cars owned and not built by its owner. Both of these cars’ exteriors made mine look even worse than I thought it was. But my engine and drivetrain were in a league far above both of them. I quickly reminded my inner voice this was not a drag race and wondered how the judges would receive my car. The show car people quickly and graciously welcomed me into their group. New to this side of the track, I did not bring a tent or even spray wax or tire cleaner with me. My new friends had me seek shelter from the sun under their tent and gave me a thorough lesson in auto detailing. My car was soon looking better than ever thanks to some great tips. Meanwhile back on the drag racing side, my hauler has a fully en-
closed 12x20 ft. custom canopy. I have every tool you could possibly need and a small auto parts store of spare parts at my disposal. I was out of my element over here but was being treated like a human being and not a second-rate citizen.
A REWARDING EXPERIENCE
Needless to say, I enjoyed my two days of sun and fun showing off my car and meeting hundreds of people. I was completely surprised and elated that not only did the spectators love my car, but the judges did as well, rewarding it with an Outstanding Class Entry and a Top Ten award. The highlight of the accolades came from none other than TV celebrity Brian Lohnes. I absolutely love his coverage of the Pro-Mod series and all of his many car show spots. I had the pleasure of talking with him about my car, and we shared our passion together. He congratulated me on an outstanding build and said he loved the overall stance and look of Big Red.
I was able to put a few miles on her that weekend, driving my daughter and her friend around the complex and anyone else who dared to sit in the passenger seat. During my seat time driving around the pits, I was waved into many different camps that wanted to see my car up close. It’s funny—the drag racers who didn’t know me had nothing but compliments to share. I realize that not everyone will celebrate in all of your triumphs and victories, but I met some incredible people that weekend who warmed my heart and gave me faith in the human spirit again.
刀椀瘀攀琀 匀琀甀搀 㔀⼀㘀ᴠ ⼀ 䴀㠀
刀椀瘀攀琀⼀刀椀瘀攀琀 一甀琀 䐀爀椀氀氀 䄀搀愀瀀琀攀爀猀
䔀û漀爀琀氀攀猀猀 愀渀搀 䔀ϻ挀椀攀渀琀 䜀攀琀 琀栀攀 樀漀戀 搀漀渀攀 昀愀猀琀 䄀嘀䄀䬀 刀嘀䐀 愀渀搀 刀一䐀 䐀爀椀氀氀 䄀搀愀瀀琀攀爀猀 ∠ 䰀攀瘀攀爀愀最攀 琀栀攀 瀀漀眀攀爀 漀昀 瀀漀眀攀爀 琀漀漀氀 昀漀爀 攀û漀爀琀氀攀猀猀 爀椀瘀攀琀椀渀最 ∠ 唀瀀 琀漀 ㈀砀 愀猀 昀愀猀琀 愀猀 洀愀渀甀愀氀 琀漀漀氀猀 ∠ 匀洀愀氀氀 瀀爀漀漀氀攀 昀漀爀 攀砀琀爀攀洀攀 瀀漀爀琀愀戀椀氀椀琀礀 ∠ 唀猀攀 礀漀甀爀 搀爀椀氀氀 昀漀爀 搀爀椀氀氀椀渀最 愀渀搀 爀椀瘀攀琀椀渀最⸀ 一漀琀 漀渀攀 漀爀 琀栀攀 漀琀栀攀爀⸀ 䴀漀搀攀氀猀
刀嘀䐀ⴀ 㨀 唀瀀 琀漀 ⼀㐀ᴠ 爀椀瘀攀琀猀 刀一䐀ⴀ ⴀ嬀匀⼀䴀崀㨀 唀瀀 琀漀 ㌀⼀㠀ᴠ 漀爀 䴀 爀椀瘀攀琀 渀甀琀猀
HATERS: TUNE THEM OUT!
It really is a shame, though, that people have to be jealous and embrace the hater mentality instead of being happy for someone. I met these two brothers who built the most detailed, beautiful monster truck I have ever seen. They were very humble people who had nothing but a dream. They built their dream not in a fancy shop or a home garage, but in a rented storage
刀一䐀ⴀ
刀嘀䐀ⴀ
圀圀圀⸀刀䤀䐀䜀䔀䜀䄀吀䔀吀伀伀䰀匀⸀䌀伀䴀
刀䤀䐀䜀䔀䜀䄀吀䔀 吀伀伀䰀匀 ☀ 吀䔀䌀䠀
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
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SHOP TALK 8
8: This truck was so beautiful it made me want to hear its story. Two brothers spent years building this in a rented storage unit! They had no budget and sacrificed many things during this build. They were immediately taken out of the Truck Class and put into the Gold Class with all of the other elite vehicles in the show. I was so happy for them when they won an award that I gave them a standing ovation at the awards ceremony. (awkward moment—apparently this is not a common thing) This truck represented the true heart and passion that got me hooked into this lifestyle we love so much. unit! Every inch of the truck was painted, chromed, or plated. It was breathtaking to say the least. The truck was immediately pulled out of the Truck Class and was moved to the Gold Class near our Pro Street section. I watched an older man have a hissy fit because his car was going to be competing with this truck. Instead of being happy the two brothers were awarded the privilege of being in the elite class, he soured the day for everyone in that area with his poor attitude. I was so happy when the truck won an award that I stood up and gave them a standing ovation. There are too many haters in the world, and I am doing my best to tune them out and bring a smile wherever I go.
HONOR THY SUPPORTERS
On another note, I had an epiphany about sponsorships, and how I could better serve the ones I am so fortunate to have relationships with. Let’s say that
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september 2017 | RPM Magazine
I use nothing but Aeromotive products in the fuel system of my car (which I do), and I lay down a solid pass. There are no stickers on my car for anyone to notice, or most non-professional cars for that matter, during that short period of time. The only way someone will ever know the products I use is if they stop by my pit and ask questions. On the other side of the track however, my car was on public display from 7:00 AM3:30 PM, Saturday and Sunday. Hundreds of people stopped by and took pictures, asked questions, and checked every inch of it. I handed out business cards and decals from every company that believed in me before I had a finished product to show them. While the bleachers in the drag racing section were nearly empty, the show car side was alive and busy with people and families spending an afternoon together admiring what we all love so much.
HAPPY BUT CONFLICTED
So my friends, I left the track that weekend extremely happy and extremely conflicted. I truly enjoyed myself on the other side of the track and never shifted my car into 3rd gear once. Heck, the only time I got the RPMs past 4000 was when I cleared the carb before shutting her down that first day. Could I possibly be happy jumping ships and showing my car on the weekends and taking her on the occasional cruise? I would of course continue my love for heads-up grudge racing and an occasional track rental with a great group of people, but would that be enough? Only time will tell, but from my experience last weekend, the grass may be greener on the other side of the track. Until next month, keep wrenching!
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24 Hour, Lemons Cages ...... from 324.95
Available in Mild Steel, DOM and Chromoly. Most Cages ship within 1-2 business days.
708-754-7223 82-92 CAMARO - FIREBIRD 93-02 CAMARO - FIREBIRD 10-13 CAMARO 04-09 GTO 05-09 COBALT 37 COUPE 39 SEDAN 47 NASH SUPER 600 & 47 CHEVY COUP 49-54 CHEVY SEDAN 55-57 CHEVY 59 EL CAMINO 61-64 IMPALA 70-80 IMPALA 62-67 CHEVY II - NOVA 63 TEMPEST 64-67 GTO SKYLARK 442 CHEVELLE 65-69 CORVAIR 65-69 IMPALA 68-72 GTO SKYLARK 442 CHEVELLE 68-73 OPEL GT 68-78 NOVA VENTURA 70-72 MONTE CARLO 73-77 CHEVELLE MONTE CARLO TEMPEST CUTLASS 78-83 MALIBU 78-88 MONTE CARLO & GM G BODY 82 SKYLARK 82-87 CAVALIER
6 Points ...... from 184.95
HERE IS A LIST OF APPLICATIONS WE CURRENTLY OFFER:
84-88 CELEBRITY 2 DOOR 87-96 BERETTA 88-94 CAVALIER 94-97 CUTLASS 95-05 CAVALIER 95-96 MONTE CARLO CHEVETTE VEGA MONZA
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GENERAL MOTORS TRUCKS
05 TIBURON
06 HUMMER H3 54 PICK UP 67-72 PICK UP - BLAZER 73-87 PICK UP, 73-91 BLAZERSUBURBAN 82-93 S-10 PICK UP EXT CAB 82-93 S-10 PICK UP STD CAB 82-93 S-10 BLAZER 88-97 PICK UP 94-02 BLAZER 94-02 S-10 PICK UP EXT CAB 94-02 S-10 PICK UP STD CAB LUV PICK-UP
GEO STORM
HONDA
03-07 ACCORD 88-91 CIVIC
HYUNDAI LEXUS 00-05 IS300 92-97 SC400
MAZDA 69 R-100 77-85 GLC 79-85 RX-7 86-92 RX-7 90-98 MIATA 93-02 RX-7 MX6
MITSUBISHI 03-04 LANCER 90-94 ECLIPSE 94-96 3000GT 95-99 ECLIPSE
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63-65 BELVEDERE/CORONET (B-BODY)
63-65 POLARA-330 (C-BODY) 63-66 DART 64-66 BARRACUDA-VALIANT 66-67 CORONET-SATELLITE-CHARGER 67-69 BARRACUDA 67-76 DART-SCAMP-SWINGER 68-70 AMX & JAVELIN 68-70 CORONET-CHARGERROAD RUNNER 70 HORNET 70-74 CHALLENGER - BARRACUDA 70-76 DUSTER-DEMON-DART SPORT 70-78 AMC GREMLIN 71-72 BELVEDERE-CHARGERROAD RUNNER-CORONET 71-74 JAVELIN & AMX 73-75 CHARGER-SUPER BEECORONET-SATELLITE 79 AMC SPIRIT 90-94 EAGLE TALON 94 EAGLE SUMMIT 94-01 NEON 2-DOOR 94-04 NEON SRT 94-96 STEALTH 95-2000 SEBRING - AVENGER 95-99 EAGLE TALON F BODY G BODY - DAYTONA L BODY 2 DOOR ONLY (OMNI HORIZON) ARROW
08-13 CHALLENGER
MOPAR TRUCKS PT CRUISER 01-05 LIBERTY 02-05 RAM PICKUP 81-87 PICKUP 95-01 RAM PICKUP 97-04 DAKOTA PICKUP CHEROKEE CJ5 CJ7 COMMANDO JEEPSTER WRANGLER YJ
NISSAN
03-08 350Z 84-89 300ZX 89-94 240SX 89-94 240SX CONVERTIBLE 89-94 SKYLINE 90-96 300ZX 95-98 240SX
OTHER DOMESTICS 33 WILLYS COUPE - CHOPPED 40 WILLYS HENRY J 47 INTERNATIONAL TRUCK
SUBARU 02-06 IMPREZA 93-01 IMPREZA
TOYOTA CARS 74-81 COROLLA 80-83 COROLLA 84-87 COROLLA 86 - 92 SUPRA 91-95 MR2 93-98 SUPRA STARLET
TOYOTA TRUCKS 2007 FJ 88 PICKUP 97-04 TACOMA PICKUP
VOLKSWAGEN 82-88 SCORROCO 85-92 GOLF GTI 2-DOOR 87-92 JETTA 87-93 FOX 93-98 JETTA BEETLE (OLD STYLE) CORRADO RABBIT
VOLVO 740 SERIES
PRICING DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY APPLICABLE SHIPPING CHARGES. PLEASE CONTACT ONE OF OUR SALES REPRESENTATIVES FOR A SHIPPING QUOTE.
SUSPENSION & CHASSIS Welded 4 Link Round Tube Frame Kits
24-0010 - Mild Steel ....From $649.95 24-00011 - Chromoly ...From $899.95 PARACHUTE MOUNTS
Sportsman 23-0200...Mild Steel ...................124.95 23-0200-CM...Chromoly .................199.95 Pro Series 23-0201...Single ......................................124.95 23-0202...Dual .............................................199.95 ANTI-ROLL BAR KITS
19-0001...Sportsman .............199.95 19-0002...Pro Series ..................299.95 19-0003...Elite Series ....................599.95 19-0004...Elite HD Series ...............899.95 4-LINK SUSPENSION KITS
24-0109...Sportsman ................249.95 24-0110...Pro Series ......................274.95 24-0111...Elite Series ...........................799.95 Swing Out Door Bar Kits
– Clevis Style Pro Series ......................................$74.95 Elite Series .........................................$124.95 WHEELIE BARS
Chromoly 32-0000 ...Sportsman 70” .......324.95 32-0001 ...Pro Series 80” ........549.95 32-0002 ...Elite Series 96” .......849.95 WISHBONES KITS
29-0001...Sportsman Bolt On ...149.95 29-0002...Sportsman Weld On ....149.95 29-0003...Pro Series ......................249.95 29-0004...Elite Series .....................299.95 DIAGONAL LINKS
29-0010 Sportsman Series ..$99.95 29-0011 Pro Series ............$149.95
SUSPENSION & CHASSIS REAR COIL OVER MOUNTING KITS
15-0001...7 1/2” Bracket 2X3” Back Brace ..........................124.95 15-0002...5 1/2” Bracket - 2X3” Back Brace ..............................................................124.95 15-0003...5 1/2” Bracket - 3” Axle Tube ..............................................................124.95 15-0004...Coil Over Mounting Kit 7 1/2” Bracket - 3” Axle Tube..............124.95
Add +400 for Strange Engineering Single Adjustable Shocks and Hypercoil Springs Add +650 for Strange Engineering Double Adjustable Shocks and Hypercoil Springs
PLATE CHROMOLY PLATE
Thickness 6”X12” 6”X36” 12”X12” 24”X24” 0.032.............$6.50 ............ $15.00 ...............$12.50 .......... $50.00 0.040.............$7.50 ............ $17.50 ...............$15.00 .......... $60.00 0.050.............$8.00 ............ $18.00 ...............$16.00 .......... $64.00 0.063.............$9.00 ............ $20.00 ...............$18.00 .......... $72.00 0.090.............$11.00 .......... $25.00 ...............$22.00 .......... $88.00 0.125.............$15.00 .......... $34.00 ...............$30.00 .......... $120.00 0.190.............$22.50 .......... $55.00 ...............$45.00 .......... $180.00 0.250.............$30.00 .......... $70.00 ...............$60.00 .......... $240.00
TUBING
FUEL CELLS
4130 CHROMOLY TUBING Pricing is per foot
SUMPED SERIES
18-0103... 3 Gallon .................$129.95 18-0105... 5 Gallon .....................$154.95 18-0110... 10 Gallon.......................$194.95 18-0115... 15 Gallon..............................$209.95 18-0120 ... 20 Gallon ...............................$214.95 FLAT BOTTOM
18-0104... 4 Gallon .................$144.95 18-0111... 10 Gallon ...................$214.95 18-0116... 15 Gallon.......................$229.95 18-0121... 20 Gallon..............................$234.95 PRO SERIES – 12AN & 10AN Feeds
18-0103-PS... 3 Gallon............$149.95 18-0105-PS... 5 Gallon ...............$174.95 18-0110-PS... 10 Gallon .................$254.95 18-0115-PS... 15 Gallon ........................$269.95 18-0120-PS... 20 Gallon ...........................$274.95 STREET SERIES
18-2121... 12 Gallon .................219.95 18-2161... 15 Gallon ....................234.95 18-2162... 15 Gallon.........................234.95 18-2171... 17 Gallon ...............................279.95 18-2172...17 Gallon ...................................279.95 18-2191... 19 Gallon ......................................284.95 ACCESSORIES
Mounting Kits ....................From 34.95 Filler Necks ...........................From 49.95 Roll Over Valves ........................From 24.95 Sending Units...................................From 39.95 Anti Slosh Foam .................................From 14.99
27-0200 ...3/8 OD .049 Wall ......$3.78 27-0211 ...1 1/4 OD .049 Wall ...$5.48 27-0201 ...1/2 OD .035 Wall ......$3.98 27-0212 ...1 1/4 OD .065 Wall ...$5.68 27-0202 ...1/2 OD .049 Wall ......$4.26 27-0213 ...1 1/4 OD .095 Wall ...$7.05 27-0203 ...5/8 OD .049 Wall ......$4.46 27-0214 ...1 1/4 OD .120 Wall ...$7.48 27-0204 ...3/4 OD .049 Wall ......$4.66 27-0215 ...1 3/8 OD .095 Wall ...$7.58 27-0205 ...3/4 OD .058 Wall ......$4.74 27-0216 ...1 1/2 OD .065 Wall ...$6.36 27-0206 ...1 OD .058 Wall..........$4.86 27-0217 ...1 1/2 OD .095 Wall ...$8.25 27-0207 ...1 OD .065 Wall..........$5.25 27-0218 ...1 1/2 OD .120 Wall ...$8.76 27-0208 ...1 OD .083 Wall..........$5.88 27-0219 ...1 1/2 OD .188 Wall .$11.35 27-0209 ...1 OD .188 Wall..........$8.36 27-0220 ...1 5/8 OD .083 Wall ...$7.85 27-0210 ...1 1/8 OD .058 Wall ...$5.18 27-0221 ...1 3/4 OD .083 Wall ...$7.92 DOM TUBING Pricing is per foot 27-0100 ...1 1/2 OD .120 Wall ...$6.72 27-0102 ...1 3/4 OD .120 Wal ....$6.98 27-0101 ...1 5/8 OD .120 Wall ...$6.87 ERW TUBING Mild Steel Tubing. Pricing is per foot 27-0001 ...1 5/8 OD .134 Wall ...$3.40 27-0002 ...11 3/4 OD .134 Wall ...$3.45 $3.45
WATER TANKS 5 Gallon Tanks 21-0105 ..... 1” NPT Fittings ..................................................$199.95 $199.95 21-0106 ..... 1” NPT Fittings – Rule 2000 Pump ....................$324.95 21-0107 ..... 1” ¼ NPT Fittings ..............................................$199.95 21-0108 ..... 1 1/4” NPT Fittings – Rule 3700 Pump ..............$399.95 10 Gallon Water/Fuel Combo Tanks 21-0109 ..... 1” NPT Fittings .................................................$399.95 21-011010 . 1” NPT Fittings – Rule 2000 Pump ....................$524.95 21-0111 ..... NPT Fittings.......................................................$399.95 21-0112 ..... 1 1/4” NPT Fittings – Rule 3700 Pump ..............$599.95 7 1/2 Gallon Tanks 21-0113 ..... 1” NPT Fittings ..................................................$224.95 21-0114 ..... 1” NPT Fittings – Rule 2000 Pump ....................$349.95 21-0115 ..... 1” ¼ NPT Fittings ..............................................$224.95 21-0116 ..... 1 1/4” NPT Fittings – Rule 3700 Pump ..............$424.95
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
All sheet, plate, and tubing costs do not include any applicable shipping charges. Please contact one of our sales representatives for a shipping quote. Due to flucuations in material costs, pricing may vary without notice. ALL PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
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With Pro Line Racing Engines and Diamond pistons, Q80 Racing team resets quarter-mile doorslammer record at 5.46 seconds and 272mph “Diamond’s contributions have been invaluable.” Doug Patton, Pro Line Racing Engines
Diamond’s turbo pistons make big power and combat heat and pressure. • Forged from 2618 aluminum with Herculean pin bosses that accomodate tough TP-1 or H13 tool steel piston pins • Lower skirt rigidity maintained by full-circumference designs that boast the strongest-known stiffening ribs • Hard-coat anodizing, ceramic crowns, and moly skirt coatings available • Fastest turnaround time on custom pistons Questions? Knowledgeable Tech Support: M-F, 9AM-5PM EST
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september2017 | RPM Magazine
Call today: 586.792.6620 or visit diamondracing.net
L
story by
Toby Brooks
photos by
Mary Neffke
ike many of our beloved RPM readership, retired New York State Corrections officer Tim Heusinger has been a gearhead from the very beginning. However, unlike most of us who cycle through one ride to the next, the current resident of Spring Hill, Florida has stood by the side of his classic 1967 Olds Cutlass—both literally and figuratively—for nearly half a century. It all started at the tender age of 8. “Back In the winter of 1966, my family and I went to a ‘new
car’ show in Buffalo, NY. My mom was interested in looking at convertible cars and as we were walking around the show she spotted a 1967 Olds 442 in yellow,” Heusinger recalled. Immediately in love, Tim’s mother told his dad that she really liked it, but it would be absolutely perfect in gold. Idea firmly planted, Heusinger’s father told his mom that he “saw a friend” at the show and left to go to the dealer’s booth to see if he could order one in gold. “The dealer told dad to go to the local dealership
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
43
STILL THE ONE
to order the car, so my dad went and ordered a base-model Cutlass convertible in gold with a 330 ci 2-barrel 2-speed transmission with bench seats and a black interior,” he said. “My dad’s intentions were to get the car and give it to my mom for her birthday in
44
HOLY COW! When we stumbled across a few pics of this incredible 1967 Cutlass convertible on the web, we knew we needed more info, as it isn’t every day you see a drop top with an alcohol funny car mill poking through the hood and zoomie headers. With huge meats out back and a killer rake, it looks like a retro funny car... except with a rag top and a license plate!
July 1967. The night before her birthday, dad had a friend bring the car to the house and place a large red bow on the car,” he added. The next day, her birthday, Heusinger’s mother looked out into the driveway and saw the car. Awestruck, she looked at my dad and said,”
september2017 | RPM Magazine
Are you kidding me? That’s for me?” Nodding intently with a big grin, the elder Heusinger acknowledged that it was and that he had surprised his bride with her dream car. The thing was, it wasn’t just mom’s dream car. It was Tim’s too.
ACTUALLY, IT WAS HIS MOM’S The classic ad campaign claimed “This isn’t your father’s Oldsmobile,” but Heusinger actually purchased his from his mother for $1.07 in 1977. Rest assured that it didn’t exactly look like this, though.
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STILL THE ONE
“In 1977—the year I graduated from high school— my mom sold me her car for a $1.07. I asked mom why the $1.07 and she said she had to charge me the NYS sales tax,” he said with a chuckle. Shortly after, Heusinger’s older brother (and fellow gearhead) Chuck took him with graduation money in hand to JC Penney to buy a
46
set of Superior steel slotted rims, Scat Trac 60 tires, and air shocks for the iconic ’70s muscle car look. It would only be the start of a 50-year-long project. Not even service to Country could deter the young New Yorker from improving his beloved Oldsmobile. “In 1978, I joined the Army. While on active
duty, I decided to send money home to be used towards the car for minor upgrades,” he said. While stationed abroad, Heusinger had a neighbor work on the car for him. “When my tour of duty was up in 1981 and I returned home, I couldn’t wait to see my car. My friend was waiting for me at my house and when we pulled
september2017 | RPM Magazine
RAT IN THE ‘GLASS The punishing 1,800+ horsepower blown-n-injected alcohol-burning 540 ci big block runs a 14-71 huffer and mechanical fuel injection under (and through) the custom pin-on fiberglass hood.
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
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STILL THE ONE
A GREAT COMBO 1,081 HP & 841 ft-lbs. Torque
Matt Woodard built a powerhouse big-block Chevy for Super Comp class racing with an Edelbrock Super Victor II intake #2897 and Victor 24° cylinder heads. These components were prepped by Shaut Racing Heads and the block features a 4.625" bore and 4.50" stroke for 605 cubic inches. Testing was performed at Edelbrock’s R&D dyno facility in Torrance, California. “Making 1,080+ horsepower with conventional aluminum cylinder heads is really amazing.” — Matt Woodard
FOLLOW US ON:
FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT EDELBROCK.COM FREE CATALOGS: 800-386-8326 • TECH LINE: 800-416-8628, 7am-5pm PST. M-F.
©2016 EDELBROCK, LLC
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september2017 | RPM Magazine
ALL PARTS FOR USE ON RACING VEHICLES ONLY.
TIM HEUSINGER’S 1967 OLDS CUTLASS CONVERTIBLE Chassis: Full tube chromoly chassis by Vito Antonicelli. Suspension & Brakes: FRONT: Strange struts with Strange 4-piston disc brakes. REAR: Custom chromoly 4-link with Strange double-adjustable shocks. Strange disc brakes. Body & Paint: Custom fiberglass hood, deck lid, doors, bumpers, and front fenders by WS Racing. Full Lexan windows. Gold metallic basecoat/clearcoat paint with black metal flake “fool’s gold” racing stripes. Engine: 540 ci BBC built by Mike Janis/Jan-Cen Racing. Dart Big M aluminum block with Lunati 4.250 stroke crankshaft, GRP aluminum connecting rods, and JE 10:1 compression pistons. COMP Cams custom Jan-Cen grind roller cam with COMP roller lifters. Dart 360 race aluminum cylinder heads. Induction & Fuel Delivery: Kobelco 14-71 blower with Enderle polished Big-n-Ugly injection scoop. Enderle mechanical pump with mechanical injection system. Exhaust: Black Jet Hot-coated 2 ¼-inch zoomies by Vito Antonicelli. Ignition: MSD Pro Mag magneto. Transmission: GM TH-400 with manual valve body by R&R Transmission. BME 5,500-rpm stall converter. JW SFI-rated 139-tooth flexplate. Differential: Fabricated 9-inch rearend with 40-spline Moser axles and 4.29 Moser gears. Tires & Wheels: FRONT: 15x3.5 Centerline Convo Pro wheels with Hoosier 26x7.5-15 tires. REAR: 15x15 Centerline Convo Pro wheels with Hoosier 33x16-15 tires. Performance: 1,800+ hp.
in the driveway he opened the garage door and there was my car—repainted gold, and looking great,” he added. Not only had the car been treated to fresh paint, but also an engine rebuild in gratitude for his service. Updates and modifications would persist over time, seeing a progression from a single 4-barrel, to dual quads on a tunnel ram, and eventually a 6-71 blower with 4-port Hilborn injection. With a Jim Oddy tune up, the 355 cranked out 850 hp on
the dyno. However, in 2005, Heusinger decided to go all-in on a full race build. Vito Antonicelli was called into action to construct a full chromoly tube chassis. Up front, a pair of Strange struts and 4-piston calipers smooth the bumps and slow the roll, respectively. Out back, a custom-fabricated 9-inch rear was constructed, then stuffed with Moser Engineering 40-spline axles and Moser 4.29 gears. Strange double-adjustable shocks were again partnered with
Strange disc brakes to make for a matched set on all four corners. While Antonicelli was busy with chassis mods to add rigidity, increase safety, and reduce weight, Heusinger had already began his quest to get the big Olds down on pounds. With the factory steel decklid, doors, bumpers, front fenders, and hood all in tow, Heusinger went to WS Racing where custom molds were made and one-off fiberglass pieces were crafted. All factory glass was also removed and replaced with Lexan compo-
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
49
STILL THE ONE nents. If television’s “Biggest Loser” had a muscle car edition, it’s safe to say that the Cutlass would have been a serious contender. The final step in the car’s transformation was an all-out fire-breating and alcohol-burning blown and injected big block. Mike Janis/MJR in Elma, New York was chosen to assemble the monster, starting with an all-aluminum Dart Big M block. At 540 ci, the spacious rat was stuffed with a Lunati crank, GRP
SAFE & SECURE
aluminum rods, and 10:1 compression JE pistons. A COMP custom-grind roller cam was partnered with a set of COMP roller lifters, while Dart 360 race cylinder heads were massaged before being torqued into place. Induction consists of a massive Kobelco 1471 huffer with Enderle mechanical injection. An Enderle mechanical fuel pump keeps the thirsty mill adequately supplied with alcohol, and the polished Big-n-Ugly scoop controls just how much atmosphere is sucked out of the nearby
Heusinger rides with confidence inside the Vito Antonicelli-caged full chromoly tube chassis. The retired former New York State corrections officer has recently relocated to Florida and is looking forward to running his “Fool’s Gold” in the Sunshine State.
800-626-1828 www.bteracing.com Bill Taylor Enterprises 2 Memphis Avenue • Mt. Pleasant, MS 38649 Some Parts Not Legal for Sale or Use on Pollution-Controlled Vehicles
ASSEMBLED POWERGLIDE TRANSMISSIONS re Signatuoduct r Racing P
Top Sportsman / Top Dragster FEATURES: New BTE Magnum SFI Approved Case, Ringless Vasco Turbo Spline Input Shaft, Mega Racing Band, Two Ring Servo, Performance Servo Spring, Coated Deep Aluminum Pan, BTE Straight Cut Gear set (Available in 1.80, 1.98, and 1.69 ratios), Roller Tail housing/Rear Cover, New BTE High Volume Pump, Roller Governor Support, 10 clutch drum, BTE Top Sportsman High Pressure Transbrake Valve body, Dyno-tested.
$359599 Bracket Powerglide FEATURES: 1.76 Gear set with 4340 forged output shaft and housing, Steel Clutch Hub w/ 5 clutch pack, Rebuilt Pump, Two ring servo, BTE Bracket Transbrake Valve body, Kevlar lined Band, Dyno-tested.
$84995
50
september2017 | RPM Magazine
Win Big.
Trick Flow’s PowerPort ® 365 aluminum cylinder heads were designed and built for you to win races. These extreme performance race heads for big block Chevy engines flow a massive 424 cfm @ .900" lift. The high-strength castings can withstand enormous amounts of compression and RPM. Rectangular-shaped 365cc CNC Competition Ported runners, 119cc heart-shaped chambers, CNC bowl blended valve seat transitions, 24° intake valve angles with 4° side cants, and the highest quality valvetrain components help make PowerPort 365 heads the best choice for your car. Use PowerPort 365 heads on your engine and turn your goal of winning into reality! Dyno Results PowerPort 365
Test Engine: 13.86:1 compression 572 c.i.d. with Trick Flow PowerPort® 365 cylinder heads (TFS-4141T804-C02), solid roller camshaft (285°/298° duration @ .050"; .900"/.828" lift; 114° lobe separation), 1.8/1.7 ratio shaft mount roller rocker arms, Trick Flow R-Series intake manifold (TFS-41400111), Holley Gen 3 Ultra Dominator 1,425 cfm carburetor, Trick Flow by Stainless Works headers (TFS-DBBC238250), 3½" dual exhaust with Flowmaster mufflers, Q16 racing fuel.
1709RPCT
www.rpm-mag.com | september 2017
51
Some parts are not legal for sale or use on any pollution-controlled motor vehicles.
STILL THE ONE
Tim Heusinger with his ’67 Cutlass.
vicinity while looking darn cool doing it. Ignition duties have been assigned to an MSD Pro Mag 44-amp magneto, while Antonicelli-fabbed and Jet Hot-coated 2 ¼-inch zoomies handle the short and deafening exhaust chores. Backing the mill is an R&R Transmissions TH-400 trans with a manual valve body and a BME 5,500 rpm stall converter. The interior of the Cutlass is no nonsense, with the Antonicelli-fabbed cage and tinwork taking center stage. Autometer instrumentation fills the factory dash, while a Hurst billet pistol grip Quarter Stick manages the gear changes. A Grant GT wheel has been fitted with a
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september2017 | RPM Magazine
quick release hub, while full harnesses and other safety equipment add form and function to the race-ready cockpit. By Heusinger’s own admission, he couldn’t have completed the build without some help, particularly Mike Janis and Vito Antonicelli. And while he’s happy with the “finished” product (“It will never really be finished,” he said), “If I had to pick something, I guess I would have gone with a nitro motor rather than alcohol,” he said with a laugh. Either way, we’re the first to admit it, Tim: this is the finest, meanest, nastiest car we’ve probably ever seen that was purchased for $1.07.
www.rpm-mag.com | may2017
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story by
Toby B rooks
photos by
Patrick W illiams and T ara B owker
NEW RIDE...
Tara Bowker photo
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september 2017 | RPM Magazine
Patrick William
s photo
Tara Bowker ph
A
lthough the true history of the pro mod or top sportsman class is a somewhat twisted and convoluted tale, most drag racing enthusiasts would point to the late 1980s as the true cradle of what has undoubtedly become the sports’ wildest and most diverse doorslammer class. Free from the near spec-car restrictions of their pro stock brethren, pro mod brought diversity and ingenuity back at a time when nearly every other class entry sheet was filled with sometimes mind-numbing levels of me-too homogeneity. While the pro stock camp seemed stuck spending thou-
oto
sands of hours trying to squeeze out an extra hp or save an additional one-thousandth of a second of ET out of their highly regulated naturally aspirated powerplants, the trail blazing pro mod gang kept bolting on more blowers or nitrous kits. But perhaps even more critical to the class’s early success was the broad array of diverse fiberglass (and eventually carbon fiber) replica bodies. From Richard Earle’s “Christine” Plymouth Fury, to Scotty Cannon’s wild Willys, to Norm Wizner’s 1955 “Mega Ford,” and Charles Carpenter’s wild ’55 Chevy, racers were coupling familiar hot rod styling with cutting-edge power and safety. One of the foremost of those
AWESOME RIGHT OUT OF THE (SHOE)BOX It isn’t often that a brand-spankin’-new race car goes A to B right off the trailer, but Lewis’ new pro mod did just that in March at the car’s first event, the Throwdown in T-Town at Tulsa Raceway Park. Tuning ace Jeff Pierce had the Hemipowered Chevy on rails, clocking off nearly a dozen runs with the slowest at 3.71 seconds in the eighth.
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...OLD SCHOOL
WRAP GAME ON POINT The wild graphics are thanks to Chris Davis at Kryptonite Kustomz. The multi-hued tribal-look scallops wrap and lick around faux factory trim, and the end result is a stunning and attention-commanding overall look. The fully wrapped stacker toter is equally impressive, too. -Patrick Williams photos
early pioneers was undoubtedly Robby Vandergriff’s iconic bright yellow Soff Seal ’57 Chevy. And while the forefront of the pro mod movement often relegated this fun-loving bunch of drag racing outlaws to booked-in Quick 8 events at Super Chevy shows rather than full fields at national events, the genre still proved popular enough to result in a number of Revell model kits and a near-cult-like following among rabid fans hungry for more. One such fan was Broken Arrow, Oklahoma native Brandon Lewis. The owner and operator of Squeaky Klean Auto Detailing was but a pup
during those formative years of pro mod. However, those indelible images of classically-styled hot rods blasting down the drag strip at near funny car speeds was enough to convince him that some day he might have one of his own. “My dad (Dave) used to drive pro mod cars, and I had a junior dragster growing up,” Lewis recalled. “When I turned 16, he had a blown AA/ FA built for me that I drove for two years. When I turned 18, he gave me the opportunity to drive his pro mod and let’s just say that things didn’t go according to plan on the first pass,” he said with a chuckle.
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NEW RIDE...
Patrick Williams photo
was where we headed,” Lewis said. But unlike the world of me-too dragsters, Lewis needed to decide on what to drive. “We bought and drove a few different cars between purchasing a 1957 Bel Air in 2011,” he said. The Lewis gang liked the car enough that when it started getting long in the tooth, they decided to stick with the ’57 styling on an all-new build. “We
Tara Bowker photo
Deciding that a high-horsepower car with a suspension wasn’t the best idea at the time, the younger Lewis opted to compete in the alcohol funny car ranks for a few years. Before switching to an A-fuel dragster, ultimately winning a championship in 2009. “Although it was fun, we decided that it was time to get back to our roots, so pro mod racing
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Lewis is no stranger to high-horespower drag cars, running an alcohol funny car and an A-fuel dragster for several years before making the switch to pro mod in 2011. His newest bullet is an all aluminum 526 ci Chrysler Hemi built by Miner Brothers Racing. The “Attitude Adjuster� routinely cranks out 4,000+ horsepower. The massive and intimidating carbon fiber injector scoop towers above the hood (and roof!) line as it grabs massive amounts of air that is promptly forced into the cylinders thanks to the equally huge PSI 14-71 screw blower that generates 60 psi (!) of boost.
Tara Bowker photo
THE ELEPHANT COMETH
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AERO PACKAGE Jeffers Race Cars managed to make the car sleek while still retaining the timeless ’57 Chevy look. -Patrick Williams photo
...OLD SCHOOL
BRANDON LEWIS’ 1957 CHEVY BEL AIR PRO MOD Chassis Type & Mods: Full tube chromoly chassis by Larry Jeffers Race Cars. Suspension & Brakes: FRONT: Santhuff struts with Mark Williams disc brakes. REAR: Custom chromoly 4-link with Santhuff doubleadjustable shocks. Mark Williams disc brakes. Body & Wrap: Custom carbon fiber 1957 Chevy pro mod body by Larry Jeffers Race Cars prepped by Garry Wheeler. Multi-color custom vinyl wrap by Chris Davis at Kryptonite Kustomz. Engine: 526 ci Chrysler Hemi built by Bob Miner of Miner Brothers Racing. Bryant crankshaft with GRP billet rods and Aries 10:1 pistons. Miner Brothers aluminum cylinder heads with Miner Brothers aluminum blower intake. Induction & Power Adders: PSI C-Rotor 14-71 screw blower pushing 60 psi of boost. Carbon fiber injection scoop. Fuel Delivery: Enderle mechanical pump with mechanical injection system using Lahey timers for high-speed lean-out. Electronics & Ignition: MSD Pro Mag 44-amp magneto. Racepak data acquisition system and Racepak digital dash. Exhaust: Custom fabricated 2 5/8-inch zoomie headers. Transmission & Driveline: Bruno converter drive automatic transmission with Neal Chance converter and Lenco 2-speed. Differential: Modular Mark Williams 9-inch differential with 40-spline axles and Mark Williams gears. Tires & Wheels: FRONT: 15x3.5 Weld Racing spindle mount Aluma Star wheels with Mickey Thompson 26x7.5-15 tires. REAR: 16x16 Weld Racing double beadlocked Delta V wheels with Hoosier 36x17-16 tires. Performance (eighth-mile): 3.65 @211 mph. 4,000 hp @ 9400 rpm.
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loved the car enough that we had Larry Jeffers Race cars build us a new 2017 chassis with a carbon fiber body,” he added. “You rarely see the big-bodied, old-school type pro mods anymore, we wanted a car that stuck out of the crowd. This car definitely does that—it’s not another Camaro in the crowd, if you know what I mean,” he added. The classic Chevystyled rocket is on
the bigger side, but Jeffers and his crew worked diligently to help the factory brick aero package slice through the air in full race trim. The orange powder coated Jeffers chassis is a thing of beauty. “I love when the pro mods look like show cars and are just as clean looking as they are fast,” Lewis said. Fit and finish on the scratch-built chassis are incredible, with carbon fiber and quick-release panels
found throughout. The full chromoly SFI 25.1-spec skeleton has been equipped with Santhuff struts up front with Santhuff double-adjustable shocks in back. A custom chromoly 4-link suspends the modular 9-inch rear differential that has been fitted with 40-spline axles and a Mark Williams gearset. Tires and wheels for the Chevy consist of a pair of 15x3.5inch black powder
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NEW RIDE...
coated spindle mount Aluma Stars with Mickey Thompson 26x7.5/15 tires up front with massive 16x16 double beadlocked black anodized Delta V’s with 33x16-16 Hoosier slicks. Lewis’ AFuel
roots shine through under (and through) the hood, where a blown and injected 526 ci Chrysler Hemi pushes out over 4,000 horses. The Miner Brothers mill features an aluminum block with a Bryant crank,
GRP billet rods, and Aries 10:1 pistons. A custom ground roller cam conducts the valve train, where commands are routed northward to a pair of CNC ported aluminum heads with roller shaft mount rockers.
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CAGED BEAST The Jeffers Race Cars SFI-certified chassis is a work of art. The bright orange powder coat finish really pops with the copious amounts of carbon fiber. -Patrick Williams photos
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IN, AROUND, AND UNDER As seen here, Lewis isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty in the pits. The custom twin-rail chromoly chassis has been equipped with Sathuff shocks on all four corners, while the bulletproof modular Mark Williams rear differential is up to the challenge of putting the 4,000+ horsepower to the pavement. -Tara Bowker photos
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...OLD SCHOOL A huge 14-71 Kobelco screw blower sits atop a Miner Brothers aluminum intake and has been dialed in to produce 60 pounds of boost. A custom mechanical injection system is fed via an Enderle mechanical pump and has been topped with a gargantuan carbon fiber hat. An MSD Power Grid ignition has been paired with a 44-amp MSD Pro Mag that can provide enough power to weld mild steel together if necessary, but is instead har-
nessed to ignite the massive amounts of fuel. Spent gases exit via a pair of custom-fabricated 2 5/8-inch zoomies. Backing the nasty elephant motor is a Bruno converter drive automatic trans with a Neal Chance converter and a Lenco 2-speed. A full quartet of disc brakes help slow the Chevy after another 200+ mph pass, but not without the assistance of a pair of Stroud drag chutes. The lightweight carbon fiber shell can be completely continued on page 76
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Page 68
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removed in a matter of minutes. Garry Wheeler and A-1 Auto Body in Broken Arrow handled the heavy lifting on panel prep, while Chris Davis of Kryptonite Kustomz handled the wild multi-color vinyl wrap. The car’s interior is all business, highlighted primarily by the vast expanse of powder coated Jeffers-fabricated tubing and tinwork. Elsewhere, a Racepak dash conveys all the critical quantitative information, while a Stroud har-
ness, trans blanket, and window netting ensure safety, as does the on-board DJ Safety Cold Fire fire suppression system. The team debuted the car in March, 2017 winning the Tulsa Raceway Park’s “Throwdown in T-Town” event while making it look easy. “Jeff Pierce tunes the car and he had it on a rail all weekend,” Lewis said “We tested Thursday before the race and we made a total of nine passes that weekend in a
brand new car with nothing slower than a 3.71, so I would say that’s impressive in my book,” he concluded. With pro mod racing is his blood Brandon Lewis has proven that building a winning modern car doesn’t have to mean doing it in cookie-cutter style, as his wild new Chevy can haul home the hardware today while making you wonder if it is the golden era of drag racing all over again!
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HOT EVENTS 2
1
FAST CARS, story by
CANADIAN HOSPITALITY...
Stan Smith photos courtesy of
T
he plan, say SMACKDOWN event promoters, was to look at an Outlaw Drag Race event in Canada from a differ-
>>The inaugural SMACKDOWN 1 provides a little something for everyone at Ontario’s St. Thomas Raceway Park
J udd K ennedy, A ndrew R adiotis , J essie S harp, and Tia E lizabeth ent perspective. The fact that Canada has 1/10th the population of the United States is a disadvantage right out of the gates, but rest assured, the love of fast cars runs just
as deep in the blood of our friends to the north. Armed with a completely new outlook, organizers called on individual organizations rather
than follow the format of hosting several event-run classes. This would allow the event promoters to focus more on running the event itself and at the same time allow each
responsibility to them. Racer and sponsor reaction to the plan was fantastic, as four separate organizations were enlisted; Ontario Grudge Wars would host the Small Tire
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individual organization to be a part of something big, yet maintain their individuality—they would essentially become a larger event without additional cost and
september 2017 | RPM Magazine
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4
3
5
AND POUTINE!
* 1: Stef Mallais yanks the wheels in Ontario Grudge Wars street action. His window decal says it all!.
*poutine optional and likely not desired by any red-blooded American with nostrils and functional tastebuds, but you Canadians eat up, eh?
2: Now here’s something you don’t see every day…or ever! Check out Mike Coppolino’s ’67 Dart with a 514 ci Mopar and twin 75mm turbos running in Ontario Street Outlaws List class.
5: French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy? In the States it might be called a hot mess, but in Quebec where the dish was first made popular, they call it poutine (which isn’t far from the French origins of the name!).
3: In Plate Nitrous, Jeff Williamson laid the SMACKDOWN!
7
6
6 & 7: Dave Schroeder came to match race Tom Bailey but instead was challenged to a race from the West Brothers with Bailey helping him tune the ‘66 Vette.
Shootout, Ontario Street Outlaws would bring their List and Unlimited classes along with grudges, Ken Green would bring his Plate Nitrous class and PTRA would add in their Index and Pro Tree bracket classes to round things out. An “Ultimate Doorslammer” was needed to amp-up the hype, and Tom Bailey
graciously agreed to make an appearance with SICK 2.0 (his only appearance ever in Canada). A bounty was added to the package for anyone who could take Tom out, and leading into the event Tom even went so far as to challenge anyone willing to take him on...first to go out for a cruise, then head to the track for a race.
4: How about this wicked TASCA Comet 427 wagon taking on a wild wheelstanding GTO…just another day in Pro Tree Racing Association action! Unfortunately, just days prior to the event, the internet (and organizers cell phones) lit up with news that Bailey had tagged the wall in testing. Tom was physically fine but pretty torn up about the mishap and not being able to make the show. Nonetheless, he came out in person to support the event. The Canadians had planned
a special surprise for Bailey, though. Canada’s own David Schroeder (also a Drag Week competitor) was coming with his 1966 872-inch nitrous injected Corvette to show Tom some Canadian hospitality firsthand. While Bailey’s SICK 2.0 Camaro had the Vette outpowered, the plan was that if Schroeder could get a read on the older St.
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SMACKDOWN 8
9: Smackdown announcer, co-event director and RPM Editor Chris Biro starts off a driver’s meeting at the tower. Hey Lloyd, (foreground) are you listening?
9
10: Drivers gather at the base of the tower for the Saturday morning meeting.
11 8: Ontario Street Outlaws frontman Paul Norris shows Tom Bailey (center) and his son the OSO Lists. Thomas race surface, he might just be able to make a strong run on the shorter eighth-mile format —not giving Bailey’s turbos the opportunity to build mega boost as is typical on the longer quarter-mile format. Schroeder wrenched
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for two full weeks leading up to the SMACKDOWN and drove the 20-plus hour hit from Manitoba, Canada (where the car was being put back together) to make the show. In the end, Schroeder was able to make hits all weekend
with Tom Bailey helping to dial in the fresh build. Schroeder was also called out by RPM friends and well-known local racers, the West Brothers (Tim and Ted) who challenged the street-legal Vette to a no-time grudge race
september 2017 | RPM Magazine
with their beautiful ’68 Camaro drag car. The Wests have just redone the car and equipped it with an Induction Solution nitrous system, as well. The race went down, but nerves got the best of Tim as he redlit and let Schroeder take
11: Look twins, but not turbos this time. The West Brothers, Tim and Ted challenged Schroeder to a grudge match.
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12: Co-announcer, co-event director and co-founder of the PTRA Kelly Cooper welcomes everyone. the win Although it was a no-time race, we can tell you that at the end of the eighth-mile there was less than one one-hundredth of second between the two cars. It was that incredible side-by-side race that just wasn’t meant to be. Thanks to both David Schroeder and the West brothers for doing what they do and supporting the sport in any way they can. Both track and event staff also invited Randy Cadell and his Chevy II Nostalgia Nitro Funny Car to come join in the fun along with a grudge match of two Pro Outlaw Sleds— the world’s quickest/fastest sleds (or as they say in
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14 13: Randy Cadell’s Nostalgia Nitro Funny car made some hits on Saturday.
Alaska “snow machines”), capable of running 4-second eighth-mile hits! The SMACKDOWN event would like thank RPM Magazine and presenting sponsors Karbelt Speed & Custom, VP Racing Fuels and Parts Pro Performance Centres. Organizers would also like to thank Ross Racing Pistons, Pro Systems Carburetors, and Holley EFI. Harland Sharp, sponsors of both Friday night Test & Tune and The Ontario Street Outlaws Unlimited class, and Canada’s own Miska Trailer Factory for supporting the List class. Nitrous Supply, LenTech Automatics and Induction
september 2017 | RPM Magazine
14: Two Pro Outlaw sleds capable of 4-second 1/8th-mile hits grudge raced Saturday. These things are wild!
Solutions for their support of Plate Nitrous, and Quick Time Bellhousings for the Pro Stick class. Thanks also to event associate sponsors Clearshot Customs, RaceQuip, Wiseco and Proform.
CANADIAN HOSPITALITY, EH!
Canadians are known for their hospitality, particularly in smaller communities, so seeing the SMACKDOWN 1 take place at St. Thomas Raceway Park, near both Sparta and St. Thomas Ontario, was a sure bet
that visitors would get the full Canadian experience, and they did. The track has been operating continuously for 55 years and, under the command of Jay and Michelle Morse, shows no signs of slowing up anytime soon.
So what the heck is poutine? Thought to have originated in rural Quebec, poutine is now made, sold, and very popular across Canada and northern USA. Made with French fries and cheese curds topped with a light-brown gravy, Poutine is delicious. It’s certainly not health food, but giving it a try won’t kill you (even our Editor took
a large sized plate). So go ahead, life is too short not to try new things, especially when they taste this good!
THE SMACKDOWN
Ontario Grudge Wars (OGW) was the first organization to join forces on the SMACKDOWN and promised two classes, “Street” and “Outlaw”, of grudge-based, no time, heads-up race action in the Small Tire Shootout. Started by Canada’s pioneer of grudge no-time drag racing, Matthew Tamburro and his Sparta Small Tire Shootout, the movement
SMACKDOWN special thanks to the following
ONTARIO GRUDGE WARS SPONSORS
was continued and rebranded as Ontario Grudge Wars. Basically, the Street class is 275 radials (28x10.5 slick) no wheelie bars and street trim and Outlaw allows 315’s or 29x10.5 and no wheelie bars.
THE SET UP
Going into the SMACKDOWN 1 for the OGW, Jeff Bloem and his Lunatic
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Fringe ’88 Mustang were the favorite to win in the Street class. Bloem just came off a big win in Florida and has done extremely well with the OSO (Ontario Street Outlaws). Not be counted out were Jeff Elder in his ’93 Mustang and Eric Webber, who in his Green Bastard twin turbo LS swap Fox body has been hurting some feelings lately. In Outlaw, there is little
doubt that the Blain Bros 2002 twin turbo Mustang was the one to lay money on. They have won so many SSTS, no prep and outlaw races that we’ve lost count. But when the extremely feared Ed McGuinn Grim Reaper Firebird out of Rochester NY entered the grounds, things changed dramatically. McGuinn has been racing this type of action long before any
of these events were event thought of. Bottom line, the Grim Reaper came to take the money with his big inch nitrous big block back to NY. Then add in Turbo Tom Smith, who thrashed to get his insane twin-turbo 2001 Trans Am ready for the SMACKDOWN, and you got a whole new ball game! The lanes filled with Clear Shot Customs Outlaws gunning for the $13,000
purse, with a cool $7000 of that going to the class Champion, and the Finish Line Niagara Street class $7000 purse, with $4000 set aside for the winner. After a hat draw for round one, which had each competitor picking a chip from a hat with their run order and lane on them, action got under way. Outlaw first round saw Ron Fountain and his super
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SMACKDOWN clean 1968 Camaro take on Ed McGuinn’s Grim Reaper. Ron blew the tires off at the launch while Ed looked like he was on his way to victory. At about 300 feet out Ed’s car hazed the tires and got sideways and couldn’t get straightened back up. He crossed the center line, hit the guard rail and ended up on his lid outside of the racing surface. Ed was able to climb out of the car and was in good shape, but the Reaper will not be seeing the race track again anytime soon. Both the Warlock 1969 Camaro and Chris Corrado’s killer looking S10 made it to the next round on a bye. The fourth pairing saw Jeff Vance and his 2000 Camaro take out Andrew Lennon’s ’87 Mustang. Next up Nick Kokkas with the wheels-up took out a spinning Billy Foutoriz and his beautiful red 2001 Corvette. The last pass for round one in Outlaw saw the Blain Brothers’ 2002 Mustang on this rounds bye run lay down a another killer run…as they are known to do from time to time! Round two….after their bye run the Blain Brothers’ Mustang was added to the top of the round ladder, they drew Chris Corrado and his wicked S10. The Blains had him covered to 8th! Next, Nick Kokkas would take out Ron Fountain and to complete the round Jeff Vance made another impressive hit, winning over the ’69 Warlock Camaro! In round three Jeff Vance showing his consistency took
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15: Aside from the rear tires, Billy Foutoriz 2001 OGW Outlaw Corvette looks factory stock, but we know better. 16: Chris Tourloukis’ Warlock ’69 Camaro was in the house for OGW Outlaw.
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17: They don’t come any cleaner than Ron Fountain’s incredible OGW Outlaw 1968 Camaro. A definite future RPM feature car. 18: With his incredible consistency, Jeff Vance made winning OGW Outlaw look easy, when it was anything but. 19: Nick Kokkas put on a wild show making it to the finals in OGW Outlaw, and lost to Vance by literally just inches.
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20: Ed and Michelle McGuinn brought the Grim Reaper Firebird out to take the money back to NY, despite laying down the gauntlet during test passes (shown here), this first round run ended in a dramatic crash. Ed is ok but the Reaper will need a complete overhaul.
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21: Ian Hill (Camaro) takes on Mark Hutchinson. Ian took the OGW Street class win but Mark drove his badass Ford Galaxie home… after going to the semifinals.
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22 out the big hittin’ Blain Brothers and their 2002 Mustang and Nick Kokkas’ and his nitrous powered small block Ford ’82 Stang drew the bye run. The finals would see Vance’s tried and true, well tested and did I say fast, yes…so fast, beautiful nitrous powered 2000 Camaro against Nick Kokkas, a many time small tire finalist himself. At the launch it was all Kokkas as Vance hazed the tires. We have no idea just how
close it was, but the video in Kokkas’s car confirms that if the racing surface was two feet shorter the outcome may have been different as Vance slowly reeled Nick in to take the win by about an inch or so! WOW…what a final! The Street class was equally exciting. Round one saw Brian Howard’s very sharp purple ’95 Mustang making a clean smooth pass to take out the Lunatic Fringe Stang of Jeff Bloem as Jeff blew the
tires off at the hit. Jeff Elder took the win over Chris Thompson’s Buick Regal as our second pairing. Next up was Ian Hill’s Grey Area ’68 Camaro over Eric Webber in the twin turbo Green Bastard ’85 Mustang. Jay Gallant rounded off our round one with the bye run in his gorgeous black and flamed ’83 Mustang. The Street class first pairing of round two was one of the closest passes of the round as Mark
22: Chris Thompson shows that there are more than just Mustangs and Camaros in the OGW mix.
Hutchinson drove the wheels off his ’72 Galaxie to beat the spinning Jay Gallant. The second pairing was dominated by Jeff Elders’ Mustang over Brian Howard, while the final pair saw the Grey Area supercharged small block Chevy take out Stef Mallais’ nitrous ’88 Mustang. Mark Hutchinson drew Ian Hill and Jeff Elder pulled the bye run for round three. Ian drove the Camaro to take the win over Mark in the big
Galaxie. It has to be said that shortly thereafter we witnessed Mark driving his car back home—the only Street class car that was driven to the track, beat on like the rest of them, and then driven home. Well done Mark! Favorite Jeff Elder and his super quick turbo powered ’93 Mustang once again made it to the finals to run off against Ian Hill’s newly built Grey Area ProCharged SBC ’68 Camaro.
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SMACKDOWN
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24: OSO Unlimited Champ and guy who won pretty much everything all weekend long, Stan Mazur in his ProCharged BB “Troublemaker” Camaro.
23: OSO Unlimited competitor Guy Lamontage made the long haul from Quebec, and brought an old RPM MAG friend, Steve Argiropoulos, to help crew. It looked like Grey Area treed Elder and ran away with it from there. All the while, the Mustang was reeling Ian in, though, but the eighth-mile stripe comes early and the black Camaro lead by a half car, as Jeff just needed more track to get the job done. A big congratulations to class champions Jeff Vance and Ian Hill and to finalists
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Nick Kokkas and Jeff Elder.
ONTARIO STREET OUTLAWS
The Ontario Street Outlaws (OSO) led by Paul Norris brought a fresh and sometimes controversial form of action to the SMACKDOWN with their no-time Miska
Trailer Factory List and Harland Sharp Unlimited classes and the SMACKDOWN welcomed them with open arms. Plus, the put-your-moneywhere-your-mouth-is grudge racing among them was a fantastic added bonus. Here is the way their program works: racers get two test hits then four rounds of racing. After the test
september 2017 | RPM Magazine
hits, racers are called back to the OSO tent to see where they are on the list from the previous race. Then the call-outs start. The goal is to work your way to the top of your area code list. You can only call out the person ahead of you but the twist is that you need to get to the tent as soon as possible to call out the racer above you or run the risk of
the person behind you calling you out! You must accept the call out or it is considered blocking and you lose one spot on the list. To keep it fair for everyone, Norris added a rule that if you are on the list and cannot make it to the track with your car but can show up to support the OSO, then you stay on the list but lose one spot per round. If you
do not come out at all then you are off the list and must start at the bottom next race. For the Miska Trailer Factory List classes, going into the SMACKDOWN, Bryon Terveld in his 598inch Shafiroff-built nitroused big block Chevy ’83 Olds Cutlass was gunning for the number one spot on the 905 list but Jason White was able to
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26 & 27: Ontario Street Outlaws List and Unlimited Awards with cold hard cash! Canadian money is plastic. Did you know that?
25: Big money OSO List class winner Jason white in the “Silver Bullet” nitrous small block ’73 Nova.
hold off the hard charging Terveld who also entered the Plate Nitrous class with his flawless G-Body. Ron Charlton in the “Red Rocket” stroked small block Chevy 383 twin turbo Pinto, a favorite in the OSO, had engine problems
and was unable to get his 519 are code spot back, and the Sampson Brothers took it. In the Harland Sharp Unlimited class, Stan Mazur in his ’68 Camaro was in the number one spot but Dave Jackson in his big block Ford nitrous The Joker
Fairmont was all the talk to give Mazur a run for the money. Jackson’s car is a completely different animal now and ready to take on Unlimited. Unfortunately though, mechanical problems kept him from continuing his quest for the Unlimited top spot.
List area code standings following the SMACKDOWN are: 905: Jason White 1973 Silver Bullet nitrous 408 SBC Nova running on E85. 519: Eric/Phil Sampson 1968 Blue Brute 496-inch iron headed big block nitrous Camaro
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SMACKDOWN 28 28: The OSO callout tent fills up quick!
29: Brian Murphy (left) and Mark Roberts doing a coin toss for lane choice in OSO.
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30 30: Dave Kalakaylo runs his awesome nitrous Fox body in the 905 List.
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31: Paul Thornton (shown) in his wild 615-inch street Vette takes on Stan Mazur in a grudge race with RPM Editor Chris Biro doing the drop.
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special thanks to the following
ONTARIO STREET OUTLAWS SPONSORS • VP Race Fuels
• D’Sousa Performance
• SPI Tuning
• Paul Silva Performance
• Misener Motorsports
• Bent by Kent
• Dasilva Motorsports
• Leaf Racewear
• Securiix
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• Ultimate Car and Truck Refinishing
• CCPerformance
• B&I Complete Truck
• Hutch’s Transmissions
• Discount Towing
• Interstate Batteries • JJ Towing
• Zacks Classic Contracting
• Webber Chassis
• Clearshot Customs
705: Jeff Bloem in the Lunatic Fringe 1990 Mustang powered by a PSP 331 SBF with 84mm turbo tuned by Maximum Performance 416: Timo Poulus 1988 Mustang stroked 351W-based 410 ProCharged Ford 226: Trevor Martin Disturbed 5.3 LS swap nitrous Mustang For the Unlimited class, Stan Mazur and the Troublemaker ’68 Camaro remain number one.
GRUDGE S
With added sponsor support for the SMACKDOWN, the OSO added some big money racing into the mix. There were two $1,000 prizes to the baddest List and Unlimited car on the property. Jason White and the Silver Bullet took the List money after trailering Trevor Martin and Sampson in the final (after Sampson took out Jeff Bloem). In Unlimited,
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Stan Mazur not only held on to the top spot but took three out of three grudges! First, Mazur took on and took out Larry Williams. Then in an armdrop race with our own Editor-In-Chief doing the drop, Mazur raced List competitor Chuck Thornton in his killer 615 big block fuel injected street car Corvette. Mazur gave the rear tire and the hit to Thornton and still squeaked out the win. Finally, Mazur had the cash run against Jason
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32: Trevor Martin in the Winner’s Circle, Martin sits at the top of the 226 List.
33: Jeff Bloem is a feared competitor and ran both OSO and OGW at the SMACKDOWN.
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SMACKDOWN White in his Silver Bullet Nova and Stan won again, and pulled the chutes just to let White know it. “I just push the pedal down and she knows what to do,” said Mazur of his 546-inch big block ProCharged combo with AFR heads and Quick Fuel blow-thru carb. With all this
action for Mazur and the Troublemaker Camaro, in addition to having the target on his back in Unlimited, it’s only a matter of time before one of the List cars comes out with a little surprise for him. To follow the Ontario Street Outlaws check them out on Facebook.
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34: An Ontario Street Outlaws favorite, the “Red Rocket” SBC twin turbo Pinto, was having problems getting down the track at the SMACKDOWN.
35: The Sampson Bros. took #1 spot on the 519 List. 36: Dave Jackson was looking to take the #1 spot (and the $1,000 cash) in Unlimited with his BBF nitrous Fairmont but was sidelined with mechanical issues.
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SMACKDOWN PLATE NITROUS
Nitrous Supply Plate Nitrous presented by LenTech Automatics and Induction Solutions brought a regulated plate-only heads-up no-time class to the Smackdown. It was as close to Outlaw heads-up drag racing on a budget as you could get. Street equipment had to be in place and there were weights along with minor limits on tire and engine in an effort to level the playing field. Many thanks to SMACKDOWN event sponsor Proform for supplying the class scales. Despite months of internet talk and controversy, it all boiled down to “if you are a racer, just come race.” Going into the event,
Jeff Williamson was favored to go the distance in his small block Ford Induction Solutions plate kit-equipped 1982 Mustang, and he did— but not without some tough competition! The semifinals would see veteran street car racer Louie Braccio in his killer big block Chevy NOS Big Shot plate equipped 1979 Camaro take on Williamson. Despite Braccio’s best efforts and a wild wheels-up launch, Williamson threw the glove down early and took the win. The other side of the hat draw would see Greg Zack wheeling Ian Hill’s (the same Ian Hill from the OGW Street class) 1980 Malibu small block with a Nitrous Express plate running on Mickey Thompson 275
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38: Louie Braccio leaves hard in the semifinals in his NOS plate Camaro.
39: Last minute Plate Nitrous entry Bryon Terveld’s Shafiroff powered Olds is absolutely stunning!
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37: Greg Zack hangs the wheels and went to the finals in Ian Hill’s NX plate equipped Malibu.
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special thanks to the following
PLATE NITROUS SPONSORS • Nitrous Supply
• LenTech Automatics
• Induction Solutions 41: Plate class frontman Ken Green presents Williamson with the goods and the cash.
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40: The man to beat, Jeff Williamson running an Induction Solutions plate takes the win in Plate Nitrous.
41 Radials. Greg would face last minute entry Bryon Terveld’s (yep, the same guy running in the Ontario Street Outlaws) Shafiroff BBC 1983 Olds Cutlass. To the satisfaction of tech staff, Terveld had to disconnect one of his stages for each round of Plate action. The Chevy took out the Olds and set up a Chevy versus Ford matchup in the final. Williamson’s SBF Fox body Stang would face the heavier SBC Malibu, and the final was nothing short of
awesome. Both cars left the line hard, the Stang with a slight holeshot, but the Malibu had the tuneup in it, hangin’ the hoops high knowing what the Mustang brought to the fight. At the end of the eighth Williamson took the 2.5k win purse, sponsor prizes and Champion jacket home. The winner of the Induction Solutions Saturday Night Special Plate kit hat draw for pre-registered racers was Ian Hill.
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SMACKDOWN PRO TREE RACING
The PTRA (Pro Tree Racing Association) brings a unique from of bracket and index racing to the SMACKDOWN mix in that each class is run on a Pro Tree rather than the typical staggered tree. PTRA started the day off Saturday with Index qualifying, 7.50, 7.00 and 6.35, and raced eliminations on Sunday. Saturday night ended with Peter Tolis in his ’88 Mustang being #1 qualifier in 7.50. 7.00 was Glenn Tovey in his gorgeous ’68 Chevelle SS and Dave Cooper with his 1976 flamed Corvette in 6.35. The PTRA bracket classes run
an entire event on Saturday and a whole new race day on Sunday. In Saturday’s action Pro Comp would see Rob Rock ride his ’08 Kawasaki to the #1 qualifier spot and the final round where he was defeated by Derrick DeBoer in the Rambunctious D-50 pickup. Derrick’s .007 light and 5.93 on his 5.91 took home all the money, trophy, shirt and title of Smackdown 1 Pro Comp Winner. Open Comp was just as hot with Rick Tovey’s ’68 Chevelle taking #1 qualifier position. Tovey was ousted in the semis by the ’81 Monte Carlo of Jay Lightheart, who met up with John Green
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42: In PTRA action, Jay Lightheart and his super clean Monte take on Rick Tovey in his dad’s beautiful Chevelle. Rick was also piloting one of our Pro Outlaw 4-second sleds at the SMACKDOWN.
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43: Charlie Chase running the SMACKDOWN decal “I don’t run stickers,” says Charlie, but he made an exception just this once…thanks Charlie!
JE_BBC_RPM_2015_Layout 1 8/11/15 2:29 PM Page 1
44: Anything but rotary. Fred Nugteren built this SBC Mazda with the kids in his in auto shop class and took #1 qualifier in PTRA 7.00 index with a 7.00 and went to the finals on Sunday.
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in the Dirty Bird ’75 Firebird in the finals. John’s skill on the tree were evident with .009 light, but luck was also on his side, as Jay went red handing Green the win. Pro Stick Comp was exhilarating as always. The sound of screaming rpm and manual shifted hot rods is very intense. Paul Forrest and his ’65 Chevy advanced his way into the final round where Jay Misener was waiting for him. Jay’s screaming Coyote-powered Fox body worked its way through the bottom half of the ladder and ended up as the Smackdown 1 Pro Stick Champion. Trophy Comp action saw Dwayne Hicks sitting in the #1 spot in the Fox body Mustang but it was Tyler Stoneham who stood victorious over the full
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field of foot brake racers. Tyler’s 11-second Mustang was consistent enough to get the job done and become the Smackdown 1 Trophy Comp Champion. Sunday wasn’t as much of a Smackdown as it was a soft slap. The sun was shining again and we were grateful for a nice breeze downtrack. The day started with the last round of qualifying for the Index classes. Doug Kiehn stood out on top with his ’68 Mustang in the 7.50 class. Fred Nugteren in his ’85 Mazda RX7 waited to the last qualifier to laydown a 7.00 to be #1. #1 qualifier in 6.35 never changed with Dave Cooper getting the first round bye. 6.35 Index was a battle of the Coopers: Sue Cooper in her turbo Firebird would meet Dave Cooper in the
45: Dave Cooper (far lane) takes on the Centerfold Camaro. Cooper took the win in 6.35 Index action. 46: The long distance award goes to Terry Denomme from Canadian Hot Rods Magazine who drove from Nanaimo British Columbia Canada…it’s only a 4-hour ferry ride to the mainland and then another 48-hour drive from there.
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SMACKDOWN 47: TOO-FER! Tyler Stoneham takes the title of Smackdown 1 PTRA Trophy class Champion two days in a row…meet your future Pro Mod hired gun AKA “The Stone Man.”
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48 49: PTRA holds a new awards ceremony after each raceday.
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Vette in the finals. During the morning qualifying session, the Corvette lost its steering and almost stuffed itself into the wall. With teamwork and racer comradery, Dave was able to use a reaction time
advantage to turn on the win light and take the money from Fat Dog. 7.00 Index was the biggest field and the racing was just as big. Fred Nugteren in the bright orange Mazda raced his way into the finals, taking down anyone who stood in is way. On the other half of ladder was
48: Doug Kiehn and his 68 ragtop Mustang took the PTRA 7.50 index.
Jay Lightheart. Jay proved the day before that he knows how to get to the finals, but in the 7.00 class he would not be beat. He used his reaction time advantage to take the cash from RPM Magazine, the win and the title of 7.00 Smackdown 1 Champ. 7.50 Index was brought to you by Tim Orser Lift
Service and Canadian Tire of Ancaster. Doug Kiehn and his 1968 Mustang convertible used his momentum from snagging the #1 spot to race to the finals, where he met up with Craig DeGouw in his ’78 Malibu. The final race was over at the tree, Craig went red and gave the race to Doug.
8 & 9: Ok, what do you do as an encore after raising a Roush Mustang 15 feet in the air in 2015? Simple, go big or go home! Once again, PowerFest sponsor Ken’s Towing flexed their towing and recovery prowess as they raised this massive cement mixer truck to the delight of all. -Brian Milne photos
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SMACKDOWN special thanks to the following
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PTRA SPONSORS • R&L Racing • Ian Hill Racing
• Boomer & Deb Duquette
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• Forrest & Forrest Racing
• Drew’s Autobody
• Provincial Waste
• Bear’s Performance
• OTPC
• RPM Magazine
• TriboDyn
• Silver Bird Towing
• Performance Unlimited
• West side Performance
• Belmont Automotive
• Otis & Kristy Symon
• Hutch’s Transmission
• Tim Orser Lift Service
• Misener Motorsports • CT Auto Collision
• Canadian Tire of Ancaster
• T5 Specialities
• Nerd Pickle
• The Dynocologists
• Fat Dog
50: Pro Stick class racer Paul Forrest sports the SMACKDOWN colors on his ’65 Deuce. Forrest raced to the finals in Saturday’s action where he was bested by Jay Misener.
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On Sunday Jr. Dragster offered next generation racers a chance to strut their stuff. Brodie Brown put himself in the #1 qualifier spot with his killer .011 reaction. Brodie was working his way to finals until he met up with Ryan Williams. Brodie had Ryan on the tree but couldn’t run the number. Ben Anderson worked his way through the bottom half of the ladder to meet Ryan in the finals. Ben used his
reaction time advantage to turn on the win light and claim the title of Smackdown 1 Jr Dragster Champ. Sundays Bracket class action results in Trophy Comp saw Tyler Stoneham take the title of Smackdown 1 Champion, again! Pro Stick was the class of carnage on Sunday with Gary Leek in his blue Mustang rising as the Smackdown 1 Pro Stick “Day 2” Champ. In Open Comp John
51: Misener took the Pro Stick class win on Saturday in his stock Coyote powered Fox Mustang. Talk Saturday night was that Misener had both Varsol and lightning bolts on his side (applied to various parts of his body) to bang the gears the way he was in the Mustang. Green and the Dirty Bird were the undisputed Smackdown 1 Open Comp Champion. Sunday’s Pro Comp action would see Doug Hoffman in his 1973 Vega seal the deal as Sunday’s Pro Comp Winner. After all was said and done the PTRA handed out over $10,000 in cash and prizes, bringint the event total to just shy of $50,000. “None of this would have been
possible without the great support of our sponsors,” said the PTRA’s Kelly Cooper. “I would like to give a shout out to all our volunteers who assisted us on the weekend. Laura and Casey Lightheart, David Kuz and Frank Dunton, your assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks to all the racers and fans who came out to support the SMACKDOWN event and make it a huge success.”
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RPM COOL TOOLS
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TIG-Tastic 2
>>We upgrade to a Miller Electric Syncrowave 210 multi-process welder by
Toby Brooks
L
earning any skill is an exciting and sometimes maddening process for a perfectionist like me. Yours truly hates not being good at something, but the truth is we usually learn more from mistakes than early successes. Such has certainly been the case as I have struggled to learn to TIG weld.
Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) or tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding has been around since the 1940s and originated in the aerospace industry, but its application in automotive fabrication was recognized early. The process allows welding of many metals commonplace in race car fabrication, including (among others) mild steel, chromoly, aluminum, titanium,
and magnesium. In the hands of a skilled operator, TIG beads can look absolutely beautiful and truly separate the true fabricators from the wanna-be’s. Having been a wanna-be fabricator for much of my life, I started to learn both MIG and TIG processes in 2015. I struggled mightily, but I gravitated to TIG right away. It requires less heat, more fine motor control, produces less spatter,
and to me at least is a more elegant skill. My first machine was a Miller Electric Diversion 180. Considered an entry-level unit, the Diversion served me well. With both AC mode for welding aluminum and DC mode for welding mild steel and chromoly, it was a versatile unit. However, as I gained experience, I knew I wanted a unit with more features. Enter the Miller Synchrowave 210.
A true multi-process welder, the Synchrowave 210 comes with Miller’s Multi-Voltage Plug (MVP) allowing it to run off traditional 110volt household current for small jobs and 220 for everything else. We ordered the Synchrowave 210 TIG/MIG Spoolmate package, and with the included accessories you can weld AC or DC TIG, MIG, or stick. What we really liked compared
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1: Our Diversion 180 had been a great machine to learn on, but we were ready to upgrade to some additional power and features. 2: The Synchrowave 210 TIG MIG Spoolmate 150 package comes complete with a spoolgun for true multiprocess capability.
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3 3: The included Weldcraft aircooled torch is comfortable to hold. We added a gas lens and noticed an immediate improvement in our weld quality.
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to the Diversion is the low amp capability (5 amp), allowing you to weld thinner materials. So far we have really enjoyed the upgrade and are looking forward to seeing what we can build with it. In addition to chromoly chassis work, we have a number of projects we’re planning to weld up in mild steel as well as some aluminum work, too.
4: A Spoolmate 150 spool gun allows you to MIG weld, too. We are still using our trusty MillerMatic 211 for those tasks, but will give this a try soon. 5: The control panel is clean and user-friendly. The SD card slot (circled) allows feature updates and upgrades like frequency and DC pulse settings that can be downloaded from the Miller Electric website to keep your machine current with all the latest features.
With time, practice, and a combination of well-sharpened tungsten, filler rod, and a bottle of argon, we will be well on our way to being able to handle tasks in-house that we used to farm out. The Synchrowave 210 has rapidly become the cornerstone of our fabrication shop!
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RPM PROJECT CAR 1
1: The Acadian did make the SMACKDOWN event, but it was part of Hitman Hotrods’ display as opposed to running in the Plate Nitrous class. It gave people a chance to see the car in progress firsthand, and Forbes a chance to unwind and enjoy an event as a spectator for a change.
ACADIAN REVIVAL >>We prep the LS powerplant and order the Hughes transmission for our street/ strip Canadian Nova
A
s you might have guessed, Project Acadian Revival missed the call to the lanes at the SMACKDOWN 1 Plate Nitrous class just a few weeks back (July 28 & 29th). We first covered the return of the Acadian to duty in the July issue of RPM and the plan was to have it compete in
the most budget friendly heads-up class at the event. We’ve said many times before, when we cover a build in RPM we show you the good, the bad AND the ugly of what you can expect in completing your own project. We caught back up with Scott Forbes of Hitman Hotrods a week prior to the SMACKDOWN and
UPDATE
although he and his hearty band of motorheads had spent many many long days and sleepless nights after work wrenching on the Acadian, it just wasn’t meant to be. “We were making solid progress,” says Forbes, “but were stopped in our tracks by a number of small challenges that we just couldn’t get past and be confident the
car would be right, and it has to be right!” All those little things meant that the more substantial work that was required was also falling behind. The team put the brakes on in favor of continuing without the pressure of ‘making the race’. A smart move as that usually ends bad. Someone once told us, race day is meant for racing…so test
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3: Here is the block after a full spa treatment— hot tank, shot peening, 0.030-inch bore and hone completed with toque plates, line bored, and decked 0.010inch.
2: The LQ4 LS core. They have been known to handle 4-digit power numbers in the condition seen here. We opted to stroke it and add a set of GM L92 heads. A .030” overbore, line hone and a light decking and this dilapidated mess will be good to go.
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RPM PROJECT CAR before race day! Advice Forbes and his guys are taking to heart. When last we met with our “Revival” project in the pages of RPM, we set the stage for the build and saw substantial chassis work completed, some trick custom parts being made (because they can), and a basis for the engine start to come together. Forbes had acquired an aluminum 6.0L back in 2011 with low miles but when the decision to go street/ strip with a plate nitrous kit was made, it was a conversation with Matt at Induction Solutions that made him realize the aluminum block was not going to hold the power. (That conversation ended with the order of a Saturday Night Special nitrous plate system good for 300hp and wet flowed prior to shipping, but we’ll discuss all of that in a future issue). The aluminum motor sold quickly and Forbes scored that junkyard LQ4 iron 6.0L block we showed you
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in July to build on and promptly contacted Eagle with regards to a stroker kit for 408-inches that would enable him to use the LS3 heads on the LS2 block. Now that’s cool! “We turned to Eagle for a rotating assembly,” said Forbes. “We wanted to keep this engine simple by using as many OEM-type parts as possible, or as close to bolt-on as we could. The L92 head swap is a common upgrade for making power. Right out of the wrecking yard you get stock head flow numbers that far outflow really good SBC numbers, so how can you go wrong?” Eagle Specialty Products, Inc. makes a direct swap rotating assembly for the 6.0L L92 Swap. With a 0.005-inch over piston size, it is a no brainer to add some cubes. Forbes opted for .030inch over to ensure a good ring seal on his high-miler block. An L92 head has a large 2.16-inch intake valve and only comes on a 6.2L with a 4.06 bore. Being able to put these
4
on a 4.00 bore and have valve clearance with a big cam is why this kit is unique. Kit number 12946 will increase this motor’s CID to 408. The kit includes Eagle 4340 forged steel crankshaft, Eagle forged 4340 steel H-Beam rods with 7/16-inch ARP 8740 rod bolts, forged Mahle pistons with performance ring set, and premium rod and main bearings. The rotating kit is unbalanced but Forbes opted for Eagle to balance the assembly at the factory. 4: The right tools for the job are essential—that, and the knowledge With LS3/L92 to properly assemble a street/strip engine. Like we said in our first cylinder heads the article…do what you can to save money for what you can’t do. compression ratio will be 11.1:1. So perfectly streetable. 5: Doing The block was things right sent to Forrest involves and Forrest Racing for some TLC. checking “We opted for the clearances, full spa treatment: then double hot tank, shot checking peen, 0.030”over just to be bore, line bore the mains, and 0.01” sure. off the deck,” tells Forbes. The TLC wasn’t limited to one trip to the
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6 & 7: Parts, parts and more parts. Do your homework and don’t be afraid to ask around and call manufacturers of parts you are considering using. The good ones will be more than willing to help. Quality parts help with reliability.
machine shop, though. “The block has made a couple visits back as we are blueprinting and verifying all the clearances on this mill,” he added. “The first dry fit entailed measuring the main and rod bearing clearance using both Plastic Gauge and dial bore gauges. Plastic Gauge is a good indicator of consistency but not necessarily accurate. We found that the measurements were about 0.0005-inch looser when using the micrometer and bore gauge to check the same clearances.” Next Forbes file-fit the rings and lastly checked deck height and corrected it to 0.050-inch with the gasket installed. Intake valves were upgraded to GM LS3 valves that are both lighter and stronger. The last piece of the short block puzzle is the Texas Speed & Performance camshaft Forbes chose. “I’m keeping the specs secret though,” he laughed. “We aim to make 600 hp naturally aspirated. I have been told it should make more, but I would be happy at 600.” With the engine build well in hand, part two of our Arcadian Revival this month is how we intend to harness that power. When Forbes decided to go with a stroked, nitrous-fed LS, he quickly realized that his transmission program was lacking. “Back in 2010 we ran a Powerglide, transbrake, 4,500 stall and a stock case with a blanket,” he said. “We got away with murder. But that same trans with a stock 1.76 planetary is still living in a 9-sec-
ond car today!” Basically, that homebuilt Glide was at its outer limits. Could the same build work for the Acadian’s new lifestyle? Most likely, but not for very long, and with Forbes’ plans to add more power and play with different poweradders on the LS down the road, it was just not the responsible decision to make, plain and simple. Of course, with bigger and better there is more cost, but sit down and do the math on a few transmission rebuilds and it quickly becomes a cash drain, far over and above what you will spend on a tougher transmission built to last at higher power levels. “We were going to build it once and build it right,” said Scott. “So we contacted Hughes Performance in Arizona. Everyone knows a good plan is always the best way to start a project and the folks at Hughes took the time to ask us what our plans were to make sure we got the right parts for this point in our build’s life and well down the road as we add power, which will end up being in excess of 1000 WHP with street driving and strip duty.” You don’t have to look very far to see amazing reviews on Hughes Performance online and in the real word. Plus, we’ve witnessed their prowess on both the street and strip many times, including Rob Parsons’ 8-second 4,000-plus pound Ford Lightning. So we were stoked to see Scott choose them for his transmission. As always, a solid foundation
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RPM PROJECT CAR to build on was job one and Hughes recommended using a Reid Racing case. “One quick call to Reid and we were including their SFI 1-piece Superglide roller transmission case in the build,” explained Forbes. Next, the internals that would stand up to the abuse of a high horsepower street car were ordered. The plate nitrous combination will be in the area of 800 to 950 horses on the spray, but plans down the road could see as much as 1500 wheel horsepower. “Repeated 4500rpm launches at 3200lbs on drag radials on a well glued track are merciless on parts. I just can’t see spending the money twice or three times so we took resources budgeted from other areas of the car and put it towards this transmission – it is just such a critical component, one that you (and we) don’t want to be pulling out to work on all the time.” Hughes added straight cut 1.8 ratio planetary gears, Vasco input shaft, billet drums and a transbrake to the package and since Scott had decided to tour the Acadian, as well, a Gear Vendor Overdrive would give the best of both worlds, streetability and performance. From here, with the engine machining complete and all the components in, Forbes will move forward with assembling the LS himself. Plans are to hopefully dyno the engine prior
RULE THE
8 10: Forbes unpacks the Eagle 4340 crank for fit and checks bearing clearances before test assembly.
8 & 9: File fitting rings for the Mahle flat top pistons.
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11 & 12: The Acadian’s Hughes transmission complete with Reid case and Gear Vendors unit, ready for shipping. This trans should last the life of the car. It is overkill for the plate combination being assembled now, but in about two years it will prove to be invaluable when rear wheel horsepower levels exceed 1200. “Built it once and build it right.” to installing it but if that doesn’t work out, the total package will be chassis dynoed and tuned on the dyno well before race day. The tricked out Hughes Performance transmission is built
and on its way, so it’s only a matter of time before engine meets transmission in the Acadian. Watch the pages of upcoming issues of RPM as we give an overview of plumbing
the Acadian Revival for fuel, nitrous and a cooling system that will ensure the hearty LS stroker will live long and prosper.
SOURCES
Eagle Specialty Products, Inc.
Hughes Performance
662.796.7373 eaglerod.com
602.257.9591 hughesperformance.com
Reid Racing 925.257.3025 reidracing.biz
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RPM PROJECT CAR
1: It may have been a long time coming, but man did it turn out NICE! After Steve Yates finished up the last bit of chassis fabrication, the completed chromoly skeleton was delivered to Denco Powder Coating Services in Herculaneum, MO where Dennis Russell and staff expertly finished the whole thing in Stealth Charcoal powder coat and another coat of protective clear.
PART 39
INCH BY INCH
>>Chassis fab is complete at Yates Performance and our completed chassis gets powder coat from Denco Powder Coating Services
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story by
S
ometimes things just have a way of working out. Take this month’s progress, for instance. As chassis fabrication neared completion, we were taken
september2017 | RPM Magazine
on a roller coaster ride of emotions when our best laid plans went squarely out the window. The plan was simple: once Steve finished up the last few tasks, the car was to be loaded up and delivered to Braddy’s
Custom Paint, where ace body and paint man Tim Braddy and his crew were going to pull the body and deliver the chassis to a nearby powder coater. Unfortunately, the day before the car was ready to go,
Toby Brooks
we got word that the business we had spoken with had sadly shuttered the doors. Now we were looking for somewhere else to go on short notice with little luck initially. Compounding the problem was the fact
2 & 3: Before we were ready for powder coat, Yates had a number of small items left to weld in. First up was the mount for our Tim McAmis dual chute lever and Morse cable mounts. The billet lever was mounted to the X-brace just ahead of the funny car cages and the cables were routed rearward.
that our completed chassis is over 19 feet long, meaning several places that we called were interested but lacked a big enough oven to fit the whole thing inside. We called Denco Powder Coating Services in Herculaneum, Missouri
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and spoke with owner Dennis Russell and we knew we had found our place. Dennis said he’d be happy to help out, so plans changed quickly. Denco is a full-service commercial and industrial powder coater and has done chassis from big name builders, so we knew our stuff would be in good hands.
4 & 5: The knob for the DJ Safety Coldfire onboard fire suppression system was mounted to a small scalloped chromoly bracket welded between the his-n-hers funny car cages. The dual cages are a tribute to pro street legend Al Hinds who did the same in his classic pro street builds.
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RPM PROJECT CAR Instead of delivering the car to Braddy’s to have the body pulled and the chassis finished, Yates and his team stripped the chassis down, pulled the Mustang shell, and delivered the 25.3-spec chromoly skeleton westward to Denco. However, before delivery, a number of tasks remained. First
up, Yates installed the billet Tim McAmis parachute lever as well as a small mount to route the parachute cables back to their mounts. At the same time, he installed a cool scalloped mount for the DJ Safety fire bottle knob. Elsewhere, while all the fabrication and fit up was complete,
the chassis needed to be fully welded. Steve first welded the new front control arm mounts and basically everything ahead of the firewall. In sum, a total of 17 additional bars were added to fortify the twin rail design. While the SFI specifications are very clear and highly pre-
scriptive, the design of any chassis ahead of the firewall is not subject to scrutiny when the chassis is inspected for certification. Our chassis was woefully under-designed by the previous shop, so Yates made sure that our ride would be fully prepared for whatever duties we threw at it. Although
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6 & 7: As we shared with you in our last installment, Steve had to basically completely rebuild the chassis from the firewall forward. Here, he completed all the welding in preparation for powder coating.
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8 & 9: In addition to 17 additional bars, Yates also added countless tabs and brackets to mount the radiator, oil accumlator, brake lines, fire suppression nozzles, and pretty much everything else. It is details like this that separate cars that have been fully planned out and those that haven’t.
you can get away with a lighter design with fewer bars, the fact that our car will see mostly street duty meant that
the added rigidity was well worth the added weight. After completing all welding on the front clip, it
9
was time to yank the Ford shell off and finish up the remainder of welding. Most notably, the 25.3 chassis spec requires a welded steel floor pan on the driver’s side. While such would be a real pain to install without a lift,
with the body off, Yates simply flipped the chassis over and welded in the tinwork we had banged out and beadrolled months ago. At the same time, with the body off, Steve was also able to look over every inch of the
chassis to ensure each joint had been completely welded. We’re glad he did, because he identified nearly two dozen joints that hadn’t been completely welded all the way around by the shop who had done the work previously.
10
11 10 & 11: With our plans changed, Steve and crew pulled the body off using the shop A-frame and an engine hoist. With the body removed, he assessed all the chassis that was not easily seen with it in place and continued welding.
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RPM PROJECT CAR 12
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12, 13, & 14: With the body off, Steve was able to fully inspect the chassis and finish up all welding. He also welded in the beadrolled steel floorpan on the driver’s side per the SFI specifications.
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15: Brake line tabs ensure our Fragola plumbing will be fully integrated and secured.
24
16 & 17: Loaded up and ready to head to Denco Powder Coating, the completed chassis is FINALLY ready for color!
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RPM PROJECT CAR 18
19
18 & 19: How’s that for service? Our chassis was prepped and in the coating bay within a few hours of delivery, then fully coated with color and clear less than 24 hours later. The finish line is in sight!
SOURCES Yates Performance Chassis 618.292.9712
Denco Powder Coating Services 636.933.0899
Fortunately, at this stage of the game before coating, such was no big deal. He finished everything up and hit the chassis with a quick, light sandblast to prep for coating and save some time. It was at long last time to load up. We managed to get the chassis to Denco after lunch on Friday
afternoon. By Saturday morning, we had photos blowing up our phone. The chassis and all the tinwork were coated in Prismatic Powders Stealth Charcoal. Neal from Denco also coated everything with an additional coat of gloss clear for added beauty and durability. Any other components that bolted to
the chassis (control arms, 4-link bars, etc.) were left to be coated on Monday in a cool chrome powder coat for a touch of bling without overdoing it (pics next month). It was as if a tremendous weight had finally been lifted. This thing really IS going to be completed someday—likely sooner
e rear suspension is all Calvert Racing and even includes their etary 9-way adjustable CR series rear shocks (not shown).
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rather than later! Tune in next month when we get the body back on for the last time, reinstall the suspension components, and get the car on down the road to Braddy Custom Paint. With a little luck, we should be seeing some color in a few weeks! Stick with us...it is finally getting fun!
Braddy Custom Paint 618.937.1936
DJ Safety www.djsafety.com 323.221.0000
Tim McAmis Performance Parts www.timmcamis.com 636.338.4912
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