RPM Magazine February Issue 2013 by RPMMAG

Meet Your RPM Magazine Team EDITOR IN CHIEF: CHRIS BIRO, editor@rpm-mag.com V.P. MARKETING/CUSTOMER RELATIONS: TRISH BIRO, trish@rpm-mag.com DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING: BRIAN HANSEN, brian@rpm-mag.com SENIOR DRAG RACE EDITOR - IAN RAE ian@rpm-mag.com EVENT MEDIA DIRECTOR - TONY WEBER tony@rpm-mag.com

WANT YOUR CAR IN RPM? RPM Magazine has been a world leader in motorsports publishing for 14 years and has support locations in Ontario, Canada, Alabama, Wisconsin & 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

EVENT SUBSCRIPTIONS COORDINATOR - SHERRIE WEBER sherrie@rpm-mag.com Photographic Contribution: IAN RAE, JANIS RAE, TONY WEBER, SCOTT SINGLETON, TIM LEWIS, BRIAN HANSEN, PETE “BOOMER” ORES, PAUL SCHMITZ,

Submission of an article does not guarantee that it will be published.

DALE BOERU, LOGAN WEBER, MARK goDragRacing.org, TOMMY LEE BYRD, www.DragStory.com, TOM OWENSBY, BRIAN TYLER Editorial Contribution: IAN RAE, SCOTT SINGLETON, TONY WEBER, TIM LEWIS, CHUCK SCOTT, TOMMY LEE BYRD, BRIAN HANSEN, ROBERT WEATHERS, BEN STRADER, MARK goDragRacing.org, RAY KNIGHT, BRIAN TYLER Technical Writing Contributions: CHUCK SCOTT, BEN STRADER, SHANE TECKLENBURG, ROBERT WEATHERS, TOMMY LEE BYRD

Advertising Sales: For advertising information contact: BRIAN HANSEN: 262-325-3926 brian@rpm-mag.com

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www.rpm-mag.com RPM Magazine is a REGISTERED TRADEMARK of RPM Classifieds Inc. RPM Magazine is a worldwide motorsports publication distributed in 33 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 subscirbe to RPM go to www.rpm-mag.com or email Trish Biro at trish@rpm-mag.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 regards to design and power! RPM Magazine does not sell its mailing list or share any of the confidential information regarding its subscribers.

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EDITOR’S RANT -- WELCOME TO 2013! Got A Performance or Race Related Business? Have a Free Copy Of RPM On Us! In our continuing effort to support the automotive performance and race industries, we’re once again offering a chance for related companies to take advantage of our “Industry Distribution Program” which sees FREE copies of RPM Magazine sent to Performance & Racing related businesses in the USA and Canada. So, if you own, operate, or manage any type of performance or race industry business (ie: Speed Shop, Race or Chassis Shop, Manufacturing firm, Installation facility, Warehouse etc), you need to sign up for your FREE copy today! Simply complete this form and send it in along with your business card and you’ll start getting your complimentary copy of RPM, right to your business door each and every month! Because MORE RPM is ALWAYS better, we also offer an enhanced program which enables you to order MORE copies of RPM for an incredibly low price to either give away free to your best customers, or sell on your magazine rack. Industry Distribution Program info can also be found at www.rpm-mag.com and completed online! Or by simply emailing trish@rpm-mag.com

ADVERTISER INDEX Advertiser Name Page # Accufab Inc. 33 AFCO Racing 30 AJPE - Alan Johnson Perf. 41 ARC - Applied Racing Components 76 ATI Performance Products 83 Bad Attitude Engines 48 Baer Brakes 34, 73 BES Racing Engines 61 Blower Shop 12 Boniferro Speed and Custom 8 Browell Bellhousing 47 BTE Racing 66 BTR Performance 29 Calvert Racing Suspensions 60 Chiseled Performance 49 Coan Engineering 28 CN Blocks 13 Comp Cams 65 Crower 69 Cynergy Composites 50 DART 11 Demon Carburetion 80 Design Engineering 15 DIY Auto Tune 49 D.U.I. Performance Distributors 62 Dynotech Engineering 10 Ed Quay Race Cars 45 EFI University 17 Engine Research & Development ERD 36 Fast Eddie Racewear 74 FastMotorsports 9 FORD Racing 27 FONSE Performance 62 4

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Frankenstein Racing Heads GZ Motorsports Harland Sharp Heartthrob Exhaust Holcomb Motorsports HoleShot Wheels Holley Ultra Dominator Holley Ultra Double Pumper Holley Ultra Street Avenger JB’s Power Centre JEFFco Transmissions JE Pistons Jesel JET Performance K1 Racegear KOOKS Exhaust Leash Electronics Lokar Performance Products LUCAS Oil Products Mahle Clevite Inc. Manton Pushrods Megaspeed Car & Truck Show Meziere Precision Manufacturing Mickey Thompson Tires Midwest Converters MSD Iginition Neal Chance Converters NEOPMA 2012 Champions New Century Performance Nick Arias Jr. NOS - Nitrous Oxide Systems OASIS by Corlor Ohsweken Speedway Parts Pro Performance Centers

64 64 8 76 14 45 78 16 71 70 22 77 16 72 24 28 31 44 2 9 78 38 80 7 72 19 18, 37 81 49 46 63 48 21 84

Performance2Way Racing Communications Performance Plus Connection Phoenix Race Tires Powermaster Performance ProCharger Supercharger Systems Proformance Racing Transmissions PROLITE Batteries PRO Race Fuels Pro Systems Carburetors Pro-Werks PTC Converters Racequip Racing Radios Randy’s Ring & Pinion RH Racecars RJ Pro Fab Ross Racing Pistons Rossler Transmissions RPM MAGAZINE SUBSCRIBE NOW! Scotty’s Racing Engines Shafiroff Racing Engines Smith Racecraft Speedwire Systems Steve Morris Engines Summit Racing Equipment Ti64 Trailer-Alarms.com Trend Performance Unlimited Products Valvoline VP Racing Fuels WC Enterprises Weinle Motorsports

79 29 31 73 5 36 34 75 23 24 50 61 7 26 10 71 5 40 82 22 25 68 15 39 35 13 79 51 20 67 46 70 26

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With more than 40 National Championships in the last six years, more ProCharger-equipped racers have raced their way to national titles and event wins than any other power-adder. Period. All over North America, more and more racers count on ProCharger power to get them across the stripe first. In fact, the 80 quickest racers with centrifugal superchargers are ALL powered by ProCharger. Call us today when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re ready to take your racing and winning to the next level. Dealer Opportunities Available

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Who’s In This Issue of Often Imitated, Never Duplicated-- RPM Mag IS The ORIGINAL Voice Of Extreme Drag Racing & Wild Street Machines 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! February 2013

So Much Horsepower Packed Into One Place... That Place IS RPM Magazine!

WEBSTER’S COMET

pg 42

Discovered May of 2012 in the United Kingdom, WEBSTER’S COMET may not spell the end for mankind, but it will have the guy in the other lane heading for higher ground in 2013!

WARSHIP

pg 8

Mark Woodruff ’s 1967 Corvette... “Wrap Your A$$ In Fiberglass”, then hang on for the ride of your life! It’s only fitting that a high power machine like this be named after a warship.

Not Your Average “Compact” pg 28 “I’d Like To Order The Black Chevy II, And Could You Add On The Ralph Hardesty Option Package To That Please... I Wanna Go Over 200 mph!”

SHOW and GO!

pg 68

Never judge a book by it’s cover. A wolf in sheeps clothing. It’s a “sleeper”. You get the idea. Robert Killian’s ’33 Ford Coupe is not your everyday run of the mill street rod.

PLUS:

Read COMPLeTe RPM MaGaZINe baCk Issues O N L I N e F R e e a T www.RPM-MaG.COM 6

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Mrs. Handy’s Fastmont Outlaw 10.5 To The Lanes Project THUG - Lightening Bolts ROCK SOLID

pg 22 pg 36 pg 60 pg 74

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WARSHIP Mark Woodruff’s 1967 Corvette

“Wrap Your A$$ In Fiberglass”, then hang on for the ride of your life! Larry Vienneau would rather keep his 1978 Chevy Malibu just the way it is. After all, the car is legendary in the world of the fastest street car drag racing! Story by George Pich

Photos by Brian Smith, additional photos courtesy Pizza Boys Racing

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Mark Woodruff’s 1967 Corvette “Wrap You’re A$$ in Fiberglass” Story By BRIAN HANSEN Photos By Pete Ores

orvettes, at least the real production models anyways, are a pretty rare sight in the world of door car drag racing these days… especially the “Mid-Year” models produced between 1963-1967. Highly prized by collectors worldwide these classics usually end up living a pretty easy life of being paraded around at car shows and endless polishing by their loving owners. This however, is not the life that Mark Woodruff’s 1967 Corvette lives. Having been a drag car for most of its life, this Corvette is more at home on the drag strip than sitting idle at any car show! Chevy history runs deep Mark Woodruff’s affliction with drag racing Chevrolet’s started at an early age. His parents were 17 years old when he was born and his Dad drove a 1969 SS396 El Camino (with the 375hp engine option/4-speed transmission) and his Mom drove 1969 Chevelle

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The classic lines of this “Mid-year” Corvette date back to 1963 when Chevrolet debuted the Stingray body design. The Marina Blue paint job was laid down at Performance Auto Body in neighboring Imperial Missouri.

Super Sport with a 325hp hydraulic cam 396 big-block. As Mark commented, “my dad always had Chevrolet high performance cars when I was growing up and I guess that is where my passion for fast cars started. Then when I was 7 years old, my uncle (John Clark) took me to the US Nationals in Indy. This really got me interested in the sport of drag racing.” Mark continued, “in high school there was a machine shop next to our school in Arnold Missouri that was owned by a gentleman by the name of Rich Thomas Sr. I would regularly skip football practice and hang out at the shop so that I could learn about building racing engines. Once I was old enough to drive, Rich helped me build a 406 SBC for a 1969 Nova that I had bought to replace my first car (a Ford Escort). After that small block, Rich helped me build a stout 468 BBC that ran 11.50’s on motor. We added a nitrous system to that 468 and it has just snow-balled out of control from that point on!”

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At first glance inside of this Warship there is little doubt you are looking at a classic Corvette. The dash lines are a dead giveaway, but that is pretty much where classic ends and hardcore street/strip warrior begins.

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The cage is extensive, to meet SFI certification, and meticulous in design and construction. There is enough carbon fiber to build another whole car. A shifter, parachute lever, Racepak dash, plus a few extra switches make up the rest of the rather thrifty assortment of equipment in plain sight. Two thumbs up for having two seats, after all, this is a street car and the only thing better than driving it, would be taking up the real estate in that second seat for a while!

In a world of gutted out, chopped up, feather-weight race cars it’s nice to see a factory frame still under this classic Chevy. Matheis Race Cars built the chassis for the Corvette. At the time that this article was written Mark believes that his Corvette to be the fastest “torque arm” car in the world.

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The current twin-turbo 522 cubic inch engine is making 5.36/hp per cubic inch of displacement… now that is an efficient combination! The foundation of Mark’s current twin turbo combination is a 5” bore billet aluminum block from CN Blocks. This block is stronger than cast aluminum blocks and weighs-in at 20-30 pounds less. Popular for large cubic inch displacement engine combinations, the CN block performs as good as it looks!

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The engine in Mark’s Corvette is not for the weak of heart. Packing 522 cubic inches the hemispherical headed monster has pounded out 2,800 horsepower on the dyno (in part thanks to a pair of Precision Pro-Mod 94mm Turbo’s). The crown jewel of the engine is a 5 Inch Bore billet-aluminum block from CN Blocks (Rockwall Texas). With reliability and durability a priority, only the best would do so a Sonny Bryant crank, Diamond pistons and GRP connecting rods were chosen for the rotating assembly. Up top is a fabricated sheet metal intake that is fed by an army of Moran 500 fuel injectors. Exhaust duties are handled by jumbo 2 1/4“ stainless steel headers built by Matheis Race Cars. To transfer the power to the ground, the transmission of choice is one of Mark Micke’s 2-speed Turbo 400’s and a ProTorque converter. Mark built the transmission to stand up to lots of abuse (knowing that it was going to be subjected to some serious power) so they included one of ATI Performance Products new T400 Super Cases. Woodruff’s Corvette was the first car to use the ATI Super Case and it has performed flawlessly. Featuring a heavy-duty 356-T6 aluminum case this transmission can handle whatever is thrown at it!

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Mark’s Corvette wows onlookers at the 2012 RPM Magazine Extreme Event last summer. The entire car was engineered around retaining the flat factory hood. Even though it would have been much easier for the guys at Matheis Race Cars to mount the turbos up high so that they poked out of the hood, Mark wanted the Corvette to be as stock appearing as possible.

Corvettes were built to do battle... to race! Named after a famous class of warship, the Corvette may never have come to be if not for the war. With steel in short supply, designers were looking for a new idea and fiberglass, a tough new material that could be molded and shaped relatively easily, was just the ticket. Early Corvettes were hand made and underpowered but they would later see assembly line production and some serious ponies under the hood. Some people may ask, “why would you do this to a ‘67 Corvette?” According to Mark, his Corvette had been a race car for many years prior to him purchasing it back in 2004, but it still needed quite a bit of work to get it to its current condition. Looking back at the Corvette’s evolution through the years, its racing heritage has been very influential in the design changes that brought us the coveted “Sting Ray” model of the sixties. With styling cues from Bill Mitchell’s racing Stingray designs from 1957, the new body style introduced in 1963 was an immediate hit with auto enthusiasts worldwide! Initially powered by a number of high-performance small blocks (including the 365 hp fuel injected 327) the Corvette became a world-class performance car. By 1967 there was an arsenal of big block engine options available

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RPM Quick Tech Sheet 1967 Corvette Street/Strip Owner/Driver: Mark Woodruff (Arnold, Missouri) Engine: 522 cubic inch Chevrolet Hemi (BBC with Hemispherical cylinder heads), CN Billet Aluminum Block, Diamond pistons, Sonny Bryant crank, GRP connecting rods Fuel: VP Racing Fuels M1 Methanol Induction: Custom sheet metal with Moran 500 Fuel Injectors Power Adder: Precision 94mm Pro Mod Turbo’s (two of them)

Like the saying goes, “if you can’t run with the big dogs stay on the porch.” Mark’s Corvette is definitely a “Big Dog” with its 2,800 horsepower on tap! And it definitely does not like to stay on the porch. As you can see it is nothing for the Corvette to make a leisurely drive, day or night.

Ignition: MSD Mag 44 with GRID, Racepak V300, Big Stuff 3 Transmission/Converter: M&M Transmissions 2-speed Turbo 400 and a ProTorque converter Car Builder: Matheis Racecars (High Ridge, MO) Exhaust: Stainless Steel 2 ½” headers and “bull horns” built by Matheis Race Cars Tires/Wheels: Mickey Thompson (33x10.5W slicks or 315 Drag Radials)/ Weld Racing Wheels Weight: 3,259 pounds with driver Best ET and MPH: eighth-mile 4.32 @ 180 mph (Holly Springs Dragway in 2012)

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This car flat out hauls! Having run a best of 4.32 seconds at 180 mph in the 1/8th -mile, Mark’s Corvette is a rocket on four wheels! Whether running 10.5” slicks, or 315 Drag Radials, the tire of choice is Mickey Thompson. With 60’ times in the 1.15 second range there is no question that these tires get it done! A factory bodied Corvette is a rare sight, just as much as a true factory bodied Vette racecar is rare in todays carbon fibre, lightweight world of track stars.

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Seen here is Mark in his younger years standing in front of his parents two cars in the 1970’s. Mark’s Dad used to take him out cruising around with him in his 1969 SS396 El Camino and on occasion do a long smoky burnouts to Marks delight. It’s no wonder he turned out to be a drag racer! The SS396 Chevelle on the right is the car that his Mom drove! Below: The 1967 Camaro owned by legendary St. Louis drag racer Rich Thompson Sr. back in the late 1960’s. Rich owned a machine shop next to Mark’s high school back in the early 1980’s and was instrumental in teaching him how to build drag race engines. Although Rich is no longer with us, he lives on in spirit every time that Mark goes down the track.

including the legendary L88 427 big block that was under rated at 430hp (at only 5,200rpm). Actual horsepower of a properly tuned L88 was rumored to be closer to 600hp, but even that seems rather mild when compared to the 2,800hp that Mark’s twin-turbo monster produced on the dyno! Special Thanks Mark’s busy racing schedule requires quite a support team consisting of family, friends and sponsors. As Mark stated, “without my Parents (Mark & Janice Woodruff) and Wife Denine’s encouragement to pursue my interest in cars, I would never be racing at the level that I’m at today. My uncle John Clark also fueled my fire to go racing with our annual visits to the US Nationals in Indy when I was growing up.” Mark continued, “special thanks goes out to my crew: Brent Sansoucie, Kevin & Matt Giblin, Brian Ermeling and Adam Battreal. Without you guys there is no way that I could have ever reached the performance levels that we have with the Corvette. And last but not least thanks to all of my sponsors: VP Racing Fuels, M&M Transmission, Hyperaktive Performance Solutions, Car-O-Liner and Matheis Race Cars.” RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE

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The 2012 Performance Racing Industry Trade Show No better way to end the year!

t seems like only a few weeks ago I was writing the recap for the 2011 PRI show and here we are again with another year gone by. Every year’s end we find ourselves in Orlando surrounded by the who’s who of the industry and thousands of cool parts, tools, machinery and other performance and racing paraphernalia. We look back on the year past and wonder what the following year will unveil in the world of motorsports. Every year has it’s latest greatest development in performance, new baddest man on 4 wheels, and new blazing fast ET in every class that is the beginning of the end or at the edge of what is physically possible. But the PRI show is the official end of the racing year.

Story By CHUCK SCOTT Photos By TONY WEBER & Courtesy Manufacturers

napolis at the Indiana Convention Center. Folks in the last few years had the decision to make between the new IMIS show in Indy, PRI in Orlando, or trying to pull off both events. With a slow economy and limited time, most businesses had to pick between the two and hope they make the right choice to reach their target customers. When SEMA recently acquired IMIS, meaning they now owned both racing trade shows, the decision to combine them for a single larger show made a lot of sense for both exhibitors and attendees. The official word came down the pipes via a special press release November 19th, 2012, just over a week prior to the PRI show: “...The IMIS will be consolidated with the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show, which returns to Indianapolis for 2013 and beyond. The 2013 PRI Trade Show will occupy the entire Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, with Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Show days, December 12-14, 2013. The acquisition unifies the racing industry’s two trade shows into one, creating the opportunity for exhibitors and buyers to do business in a single location...”

There is excitement in the air as you pull onto International Drive and see the hustle and bustle of gear-heads making their way to hotels and the nearby restaurants. The best part is stepping onto the escalators going down to the exhibition floor and laying eyes on the massive spread of manufacturer’s booths with all the gleaming parts. My first experience coming down that escalator ended with me not being able to simply wait for the moving stairs to get me there. It is the closest thing to that feeling of waking up on Christmas morning as a kid and rushing to the Christmas tree. For those of us not blessed with year round warm weather, PRI in Orlando has been a break from the cold that we really look forward to. The announcement has been made that our yearly Florida getaway has come to an end though, with the PRI show moving back to India-

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Lucas Oil always has a massive exhibit with lots of cool stuff to check out besides bottles of lubricants, additives and cleaners. Lucas has a huge line up of proven products to protect and get the maximum performance from anything with a motor.

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The 2012 PRI show estimated 37,500 racing industry professionals from 72 countries made it to Orlando, and an even larger turnout is expected for the Indiana Convention Center. “We stuck with PRI,” explains RPM Editor In Chief Chris Biro. “We always believed in the power that the PRI brand had to get the job done. Our readers, advertisers and supporters all knew we would be there and expected to be able to spend some time with us there, so for us the choice was obvious. PRI has always been a very successful show for RPM Magazine and we plan to keep it that way. That being said, we’ve been to PRI in Indy as well, and let me tell the show AND the entire community it is truly abuzz with performance and racing. It will blow your mind! I’m not sure what set’s it apart, but maybe it’s because Indy = motorsports! Everyone at RPM Magazine hopes to see you there, December 12-14, 2013 in Indy!” If you can drive down the highway and not see a dozen or more vehicles with a 4.6L Ford Modular engine in the first five minutes you must be out during a blizzard or tornado and should probably seek shelter. There has been a pile of these engines produced since 1991 in everything from Thunderbirds, Econoline vans to Terminator Cobras in both the 2 valve and 4 valve varieties. With such abundance and cheap used prices, these little V8s are a natural for hot roding. Ross Racing Pistons has taken notice to the popularity of stroking these Mod motors with 3.750” crankshafts Sherrie Weber and Trish Biro get in early to prepare for the day ahead. Of course you know RPM Mag and is offering a nice shelf piston for these applicais always at PRI with free copies of RPM for attendees and to meet readers from around the world. tions ready to take juice or boost.

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DIY Auto Tune (DIYAutoTune.com) has supplied the “do it yourself” EFI crowd with MegaSquirt EFI components for years and can put together a system for any internal combustion engine from chain saws to airplanes. If you have a little mechanical aptitude, patience and desire, DIY can hook you up with the parts and knowledge base to build your own EFI computer from scratch to save a pile of money and provide a very rewarding experience. How about the racer who doesn’t feel comfortable soldering and building their own unit or doesn’t have time to devote to the task? DIY has those folks covered too, with ready to use plug and play EFI units for many different applications. Now DIY has released the long awaited MS3-Pro to fill the top spot in the DIY lineup for hardcore race car engine management. This feature-packed unit does everything you could dream an EFI unit could do including ignition control and data acquisition. Oh yeah and they are “weather resistant”. RPM’s vote for coolest display of the show? DIY had one of the new MS3-Pro units throwing sparks and spraying fuel from the bottom of a fish tank! Kooks Headers has released the first ever EPA certified racing/performance catalytic converter. Pass a strict state inspection and forget about getting fined for running your late model musclecar on the highway without a cat, or living with choked up performance of the OEM corks. These Green Revolution Catalytic Converters are made with a stainless steel case in sizes 2 1/2” and up to match your other high-end Kooks exhaust system parts.

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It doesn’t get any better than this! S&W Race Cars unveiled their 1st Gen. Camaro /68-74 Nova Bolt-In Front Frame, at the Performance Racing Industry Show. The stout bolt-in front frame kit will easily install into any 1st Gen. Camaro or 68-74 Nova. Features include: Body Mounts, Radiator Support Mounts, Big & Small Block Chevy Front Motor Plate Mounts, OEM Motor Mounts, Transmission Crossmember for Powerglide, Turbo 350 or Turbo 400, Tubular A-Arms, Mustang II Spindles, Mustang II Rack & Pinion Mounts, Coil Over Shocks and 23X 33X .1203 Wall Frame Rails. Note: Dynatech brand headers must be used with this kit to achieve proper clearance. “The demand for bolt-on performance components continues to grow,” said S&W’s Jill Canuso. “Our bolt-on race and rod parts are designed for the ‘Do-It-Yourselfer’ who desires weld-on performance without the weld-on challenges. Currently, we offer a very extensive line of high performance bolt-on components for Camaros to Mustangs, and everything in between. Look for more to be released, in 2013, including a line of Gen. 5 Camaro components.” The PRI show isn’t just parts and racing equipment. There are always a bunch of bad rides on hand. PRI is the place to debut a new race car or announce a new partnership. Todd Tutterow and Galot Motorsports announced their new partnership and displayed their new Pro Turbo ‘67 Shelby GT500 sporting PTE turbos.

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Mrs. Handy’s Fastmont By Chuck Scott

photos by Brad Rakes

on’t get confused thinking heads-up doorslammer drag racing is a man’s world. Down in the mid south Real Street has its share of fast ladies behind the wheels of small tire racecars! Lisa Handy has campaigned her teal Fairmont since the very beginning of the class and held the class record back in 2011. But this isn’t just

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another one of those “hey look, a girl that races” stories. This one has some real roots with Lisa’s 25-year journey with her family member now known as “Fastmont”. Lisa was probably hoping for a new sporty car back in 1988 when her Mom and Dad gave her the car at 16. She actually cried and

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said she would never drive it when she first saw it, all decked out with its rusty wire hubcaps and interior full of trash. Her brother Johnny Akines (The Hotrod Shop) calmed her down telling her he would help her hook it up. Lisa and Johnny lowered it, threw on some pink stripes and gave it the name Sweet & Low. You have to remember, the late 80s and early 90s were all about low riders and boomin’ systems, even I went down that road in those days. Lisa drove ole Sweet & Low to school until graduation rockin’ the 200ci 6cyl, but when she got back from senior week at Myrtle Beach she had a surprise waiting for her back home. Her dad had built her first V8 for the Fairmont, a 302 small block Ford, and bought her a set of Centerline wheels. Sweet & Low was slowly changing to Fastmont, although it would be a couple decades before the transformation would be complete. The Fastmont has come a long ways from when it Lisa started dating her husband Dale Handy (Handy Racing Engines & insane 1/ found it’s owner back in 1988. The Mac-Fab beadlocks 8th-mile wheelies guy) in August of 1990. They cruised and dated in Sweet & Low. In 1993 look pretty gangsta on the murdered-out Draglites. Lisa decided it was time for a paint job so she and Johnny did the bodywork then Johnny laid on the dip. They eliminated the side parking lights, door handles and antenna on the fender. They switched the OEM Fairmont grill with a Mercury Zephyr grill, changed the bumpers to get rid of the Starsky & Hutch bumper guards and added a Harwood hood scoop. Years later Lisa would drive Dale Handy Jr. to school in the Fairmont and pick him up at school dances. Sweet and Low was still just an average nice street ride though, until a few more years passed by. Finally, in 2007, nineteen years after her parents brought home the Fairmont, Lisa’s husband Dale built her a 410ci Windsor and threw a C4 transmission and some 28x12.50 ET Streets under Fastmont. Her first time out with the new power, Lisa rolled out a 6.60 @ 105mph in the eighth-mile. Dale had her get used to the car for a while on the motor before turning her loose on the jug. Lisa’s Real Street racing got serious in 2011 with her

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Yes it does have a radio. Actually it has a CD player and an EQ too. What else would you expect from an actual street driven machine? But it also has a full compliment of Autometer hardware to tell Lisa exactly what is happening... and we did notice 4,987 miles on the odometer! It might have rear coilovers, Mickey Thompson ET Street Radial Pros and double beadlocks, but Fastmont is still wearing the stock differential cover. An Aeromotive pump feeds the 427ci nitrous sipping small block Ford.

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finishing 3rd in season points with NDRRA and 4th with King of the Streets. Fastmont held the Real Street record for a good while in 2011 with a 5.51, and is still one of the quickest nitrous cars in the class. In the short off season leading up to 2012, Fastmont was upgraded to a new Handy Racing Engines 427 small block Ford using the Canfield heads from her 410 along with a Powerglide and Ultimate Converter. By the end of 2012, Fastmont had been as quick as 5.34 in Ultimate Street trim & 5.41 in Real Street trim. You might just see this brightly colored Ford heading out for groceries one night or taking a cruise Sunday afternoon, but if not, it is sure to be found at small tire drag race events as rarely does Mrs. Handy miss an opportunity to race her Fastmont, something she plans to do for about 25 more years! Lisa would like to thank her crew: husband Big Dale Handy for all the tuning & engine work, brother Johnny Akines for the bodywork, suspension and support throughout the years, Mom and Dad, Ringo, Wayno, Moneypit, Penny, Alvarez and all who helped along the way, her sponsors, Handy Racing Engines, the HOTROD Shop, Akines Logging, Frogtown Trucking, Ultimate Converter Concepts, Mac-Fab Performance Beadlocks, Allison Machine Shop, Harry Trans and Ink & Stitches. Photos: Top - Lisa gettin’ busy at the Holcomb Civil Wars in Ultimate Converter Concepts Real Street. I don’t think Fastmont has ever blown the tires off on 275 radials. Just nice controlled 3” wheelies and it rides out like a Pro Stock car. Engine - Fastmont is powered by a Canfield headed 427ci SBF with an SVO block, 4” stroke Eagle crank, Diamond pistons, an HRE custom bump stick, Super Victor manifold, Holley HP 4150 carburetor and a custom HRE plate nitrous system.

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“...I’d Like To Order The Black Chevy II, And Could You Add On The Ralph Hardesty O p t i o n Package To T h a t Please... I Wanna Go Over 200 mph!” Story & Photos By Tim Lewis

Not Your Average “Compact” I

n 1960 Chevrolet designer Clare MacKican was called upon to build a new compact model for the brand. A no frills economy car. One that the common man or woman could afford. A compact car that would get you to work and play with a price everyone could handle. Just 18 months later the first Chevy II was ready to roll off the Willow Run, Michigan assembly line in August of 1961. This car was GM’s answer to the Ford Falcon, which outsold the Chevy Corvair in 1960. With all of the so called “new car bugs” worked out, the little compact bowtie was ready for it’s September 29th introduction. I must say, that is something I miss with the car companies these days. When I was a kid, all the new cars came out in September, but now it seems like the new models for the following year are out in the summer. Things change though, and we just learn to go with the flow I guess. The first generation Chevy II’s ran from 1962 through 1965. The 62 came in 3 series’ including the 100, 300 and 400. The sportiest of the lot was the 400 convertible with a price tag of a whopping $2,475! The second generation cars have become very much loved by collectors and

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performance buffs alike. The 66-67 model years are some of the best looking cars to come to life from GM’s drawing boards. For just $159 on top of the sticker price you could have yourself a Super Sport model! That’s right $159 more for an SS! A 327 small block making 350HP was the top of the line engine for the new generation Chevy II. Car Life magazine tested the L79 in 1966 and it went 0-60 in 7.2 seconds, and did the ¼ mile in 15.1 seconds @ 93 mph. About 10,589 were sold with L79 327’s in 1966, and just a handful in 1967. No matter what the trim though, the Chevy II became a favorite among drag racers and street freaks, and Upper Marlboro, Maryland’s Ralph Hardesty is one of them! Hardesty is the owner of Superior Automotive and has been into drag racing for 20 years. Like many of us, Ralph started out racing on the street and then moved over to where racing should be done, at the drag strip. His first race car was a 1969 Camaro that he beefed-up with a 350 small block along with a turbo 400 transmission and 12 bolt rear diff with 3.73 gears. Ralph built and installed a 6-point roll bar and frame connectors, and painted the car hugger orange with white stripes to go along with the stock white interior. The best pass was 12.92 in the quarter-mile for the street/race cruiser.

On a cold Sunday afternoon in November 2012 Ralph pulls to the starting line at MIR for the World Cup Finals race. Ralph would make it to the 2nd round where he was put out by Canadian racer Carl Brunet’s 6.46 to Hardesty’s 6.89. BELOW: Testing is key to Hardesty’s success. The car leaves hard but the power really starts coming on down the track around the 330-foot mark. Wheels-up runs are something this car is known for and the ProCharged 632 sounds wicked powering its way down the track.

“When I was growing up my father was a mechanic with a wild side and loved hot rods,” Hardesty says of what got him started in fast cars. “I started helping him work on cars when I was 12 and thought it was great to ride around with him in his fast loud ma-

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Yep, those tags are good til 2014! The car sees some street cruising from time to time, and that is pretty cool. The last few years we are starting to see more and more cars like this one show up on the streets. Hmmmm, maybe a Larson vs Hardesty match-race can be set up! In the trunk area, surprisingly you see no lightweight carbon trunk pan or wheel tubs. Look close at the trunk lid and you can see where the inner panel has been hole sawed to save a little weight.

chines. As I became a teenager I was always tweaking on my own car and I spent half of my time at Speed Unlimited buying parts to make it look and go faster. I got off the street racing thing because I knew it was the wrong way to go, and I then started bracket racing at Capitol Raceway.â&#x20AC;? Now, Hardesty has one of the most talked about cars on the popular drag race website Yellowbullet.com, and it is easy to see why. Ralph purchased the 1967 Deuce as a rolling chassis in 2004, built by Paul Sullivan of Sudden Impact and painted by Jason Stilling of Performance Collision. Soon after, a 565 big block Chevy was installed along with a few needed upgrades which included; rewiring the complete car front to back, fabricating new inner fender wells, installing a tilt steering wheel, and the complete fuel system was upgraded substantially. With this setup Ralphâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quickest quarter-mile pass was a very stout 8.13 seconds. Once the go-fast bug hits though, it never goes away! Ralph knew it was time to step on it a little harder and the next hammer he swung was a 632 cubic inch mill with two nitrous systems. But with continuously burning up pistons, that plan needed to be re-evaluated. Enter Terry

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Samakow Racing Engines of Maryland who was given the call to get another 632 going, and this time it would be done right. Steve Johnson would supply the nitrous and this thing was using three systems! With this new 632 and some fine tuning the car would go a best of 7.42 @ 189 mph. Still, Ralph says, “even though the car went quicker and faster I felt I was on a path to destruction as we were unable to get the right combinations to keep the engine together and get the car down the track consistently”. As for rear differential and suspension, the Chevy II used a Fab 9 rear with 3.89 gears and a ladder bar set-up. Yes ladder bars. For those in the know in Street Car and Outlaw drag racing, think about how long it has been since someone raced a ladder bar car in Outlaw 10.5! Mark Williams axles take the hit on the starting line along with Mickey Thompson 33x10.5W rear tires. The new engine was also built by Terry Samakow. A 4.600 bore space and a stroke of 4.750 make a wild 632 cubes of big block Chevy power. A Callies crank along with rods from GRP are used inIt is pretty straight forward and no frills under the back of the car as well. Just like the factory wanted, only the Hardesty version comes with a backhalf chassis and ladder bars hooked to a Fab 9 rear differential. We don’t think those 33inch tires would fit under the factory “compact car”. Judging by the launches we’d say they did the job right!

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side the Ed Donovan block with Diamond pistons along for the ride. When it came time to do the heads, Big Dukes with a head flow of 455cfm were used along with T&D 1.9 intake and 1.75 exhaust valves. Tommy Kirk Custom Cams got the call to build what Ralph calls “a big inch lift cam”. The intake is topped with a monster Accufab 105mm throttle body. Ralph built the custom headers and exhaust in-house. This time though, the big difference is that the Chevy II now has a ProCharger sitting up front for the duty of adding extra power to the already formidable engine combination. An F3R ProCharger to be exact. A Wayne Rogers built 2 speed turbo-glide and PTC bolt-together converter round out the transmission.

The engine is show car clean! With so many painted and polished parts its hard not to stop and spend some time looking over all the details. Whenever the hood is up, people are always admiring the work here. RIGHT: Lurking behind the front bumper is a F3R 136 gear drive ProCharger. The fact that the stock front bumper was used and that the only thing fiberglass on the car is the hood, are rare but very cool features of this Outlaw 10.5 contender. BELOW: A look inside shows that things are pretty much as basic as they come. A Racepak dash helps Ralph keep a close eye on what the engine is doing during a run. No double frame rail chassis or everything finished in carbon fibre inside the car like many others in the class, which puts this Chevy II in a class of its own!

This result of all this time and money is one of the nicest looking Chevy II race cars you will find on the track, or street. Long burnouts and wheels-up at the 330-foot mark is what makes it one of the most talked about cars whenever it is at the track. While racing at MIR for the World Cup Finals Import vs. Domestic race, Ralph made his first ¼ mile pass with the new set up and it turned on the score boards with a nasty 6.88 at a whopping 208 mph! After that run even the import racers on the starting line had to give a round of applause, knowing that this 3,350lb Chevy would take its place on the list of the quickest and fastest ladder bar cars in the world. Ralph’s best time to date in the 1/8th-mile is 4.52 with a speed of 169 mph. When it comes to winning, well Ralph has done some of that along the way too. Wins come from the Pinks All Out Quick 8 event and several wins and runner-ups in the Wounded Warrior race series. A semi finalist at the 2012 Shakedown was a huge accomplishment with a car like this considering some started calling the class “Pro Mod 10.5”. The 2012 Yellow Bullet Nationals also picked the Chevy II as the “Best Appearing Car”, and Ralph was also a participant on Speed Channel’s Pass Time drag racing game show.

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With all the things Ralph has done, he says family always comes first and like many others in the sport of drag racing it has become a family loved sport. “We are a racing family! We can be found at the track almost every weekend from April ‘til November. Not only do I race, but my daughter Britni has been racing junior dragster since she was 11, and that is something I take great pride in! When we are not racing at the track we can be found watching and helping friends. Even though my wife and other daughter Hailey do not race they are there for us almost every time we go out to race. I would like to thank them for all their encouragement through all of the trials and errors, and their praise for all of our accomplishments.” Trials and errors indeed, but after racing this season with the new ProCharged combination, getting things worked out and running the quickest and fastest the car has ever gone, we think Ralph has had a great 2012! “Even though I can say that the 2012 season was a complete success, I could not always say that in the past,” explains Ralph. “Due to my ‘need for speed’, I have made many changes to the car over the years and not all of them have been for the better. I have blown up several engines, fried pistons, chewed up transmissions, rear ends and drive shafts. The car would go faster each time but I continued to break things up. I finally realized that I needed to make the change over to a boosted combo and EFI. With the help of many people we were able to make 2012 our best season racing yet” What makes this car cool is that it still looks like a real street car! No “snowplow” front air dam and no Pro Mod wing. Nothing sticking out of the hood, and actually the car has the looks like it could take first

place at any car show. Ralph is looking to go even quicker and faster in 2013. Will we see some 6.70’s and 210 mph hits from the Hardesty version of GM’s economy minded Chevy II? I’m a gambler, and I say yes! Ralph would like to thank these great people for all the help getting the car where it is today. “My family first of course, along with my crew members; Britni Hardesty, Billy Underwood, Billy Carpenter, Dillon Carpenter, Sherwood Gray. All the help from Terry Samakow (Samakow Racing Engines), Joe Oplawski (Hyperaktive), Dave W (ProCharger), Wayne Rogers (Rogers Automotive), John Meaney (Big Stuff 3), Lane (PTC) and Buddy Legath (Mickey Thompson) for all their technical support in making this a successful racing season! Thanks, Thanks, Thanks!” Keep an eye out for the Hardesty team to possibly add a new driver later in 2013. Daughter Britni is stepping up into a 275 Radial Chevy II if things work out and maybe, just maybe, a few passes in dad’s hot rod!

From left to right: Billy Underwood, Dillon Carpenter, Billy Carpenter, Ralph Hardesty, Britni Hardesty, Sherwood Gray.

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Outlaw 10.5 To The Lanes! The return of small tire, BIG power drag racing to Southern Ontario By Brian Tyler Tony “Presto” will be coming out guns blazing in 2013 with his Al Billes powered ’67 Chevy II. Although Team Presto considered a move to Pro-Modified racing, his passion for 10.5 tire drag racing led to the launch of the Outlaw 10.5 Association with help from Nick Agostino.

Given the current state of 10.5” tire drag racing in the United States, fans north of the border have had much to be envious about. With a once thriving 10.5-tire drag race following, based on early Super Street and then the ever-evolving (and very tough to compete in) Outlaw 10.5 classes, at one point Canadians were even seeing their American friends cross the border for a “different” experience. Over the past few years though, the class had all but completely disappeared. It is almost as if the “Outlaw” format itself was forcing it from existence, or at least down to a shell of its former self. As anyone who knows anything about motorsports knows, the term “Outlaw” in a race series can quickly equate into shrinking car counts and eventual class extinction, but for many reasons with one-off events it seems to thrive. Faced with this challenge, not to mention having one tenth of the population of the United States (and thus one tenth of the Outlaw 10.5 cars available), a group of eager racers have set out to change the face of Outlaw 10.5”-tire drag racing in Canada.

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The 2012 YellowBullet.com Nationals Outlaw 10.5 class had 37 cars from as far south as Miami, Florida and up north to as far as King City, Ontario looking to qualify in the 32 car field that featured a bump spot of 4.568 seconds. And now, for the 2013 race season, Canadian racers and race fans may once again have something to brag about thanks to two dedicated drivers. “I attended my first drag race with my older brother at the age of 14 and from that day forward, it has been an addiction,” says driver, crew member and drag racing enthusiast Tony “Presto” Basso. Years later, at the age of 35, Tony would make his first hit on a “ten and a half inch tire”, a used but good set of scuffs from friend and fellow racer Rocky DiLecce. Since making his Super Street debut in 2007 Tony has enjoyed a host of successes on the 1320; as a wheel man, winning the OSCA Super Street championship in 2010 and running his ’67 Chevy II out the back door to his first 6 second pass in 2011; as a crew member being a part of Rocky DiLecce’s first 5 second pass in his Pro Mod ’68 Camaro.

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Presto also has the honor of being a Co-Winner in the final installment of the legendary Shakedown Nationals @ E-Town in the ‘Heavy Street’ class this past fall. RPM Magazine has been fortunate enough to sit down with the man they call “Presto” and get the inside scoop on the resurrection of small tire Outlaw racing to southern Ontario. RPM: Tony, you have run the Super Street class in the Ontario Street Car Association (OSCA) for a number of years now. When and how did the idea of branching out and creating an independent drag racing organization come about? Presto: At the end of the 2012 season, when the class turnout was slim to none, a few of us racers got together and decided something needed to be done.

Veteran driver John Carinci will be back with his wild WS6 Trans Am. twin front mounted Precision Turbos keep the clean factory look while making enough steam to put Carinci deep in the 4.30’s in the eighth-mile. Mike Papadakis warms the skins as TMP Track Manager Neale Armstrong looks on. Papadakis will be a force to be reckoned with in his clean, mean Mustang coupe.

RPM: When you spoke with the powers that be at the OSCA about your intentions to branch out on your own, how did they react? Presto: Many of the racers thought the OSCA would be upset, but that really was not the case at all. Mike Bennett and Mike Ski were initially very supportive of the idea and have continued to back it. They have embraced the rule set and format we have been looking at, have offered to back us from both marketing and financial stand point, but also to offer some really generous incentives for any of the racers who commit to racing with us in the 2013 season. RPM: For Team Presto, was there ever any chance that you were going to let the Super Street class remain a part of your history, and prepare for 2013 with a new combo for a new class?

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Aside from some of the financial impact of changing classes, why was it so important to work to bring back this class, instead of moving on to run elsewhere? Presto: We had done some thinking, and truth be told, my team was fully prepared to pull the plug on the 10.5/Super Street program and build a Pro Mod car. Our engine and transmission combo is the same as all those Pro Mod guys are running now, so from a service standpoint, as well as the financial end, there is not much difference. Across the country Pro Mod racing is alive and well, its time for us to blow the dust off these 10.5 cars Although not confirmed for the 2013 season, many fans would love to see Mike Yedgarian that have been sitting for a few years and get them back to racing. and his silver bullet Camaro make his return to the strip.

The classic lines of Frank and Ernie Pompilio’s Mustang fastback features show-car quality craftsmanship with an insane twin turbo powerplant that will make the team a serious contender in 2013.

Enter fellow driver and car owner Nick Agostino. “When Nick found out I was interested in calling this meeting, he got on me and never let up until we set a date”. Presto, along with fellow competitor Nick Agostino are working together to bring local racers together using an already successful rule set based on those used by Cecil County Dragway and widely accepted at the sport’s biggest races. “We chose the Cecil County rules because they seem to be accepted as the ‘norm’ at all of the big races across North America. With this rule set, Canadian racers will be able to test and run at class legal weights and not have to make any changes if they want to go compete for some of the big payout events in the USA. Another benefit is that it opens our series up to any U.S racers who may want to come back across the border”. “When we set the date for this meeting, we had a list of 22 potential cars that we hoped would be represented at the

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meeting. 18 of those showed up and within 5 minutes we had agreed on the rule set and had a large majority of those 18 willing to commit to the series financially. I really have to give Nick a lot of credit for pushing to get this thing going”. As for sponsors, the upstart organization already has some big names who are looking to get behind them: Roxy from ‘Parts Connection’ with partnership with Mickey Thompson Tires has come aboard as a title sponsor for the series, throwing support behind the group of dedicated racers. The ‘Black Cat Pub’ will also be a contributing sponsorship for the series events at Toronto Motorsports Park. The organization is looking to gain as much exposure as possible for the 2013 season and has been working with established racing groups such as the PMRA (Pro Modified Racing Association), OSCA, and with heads up legend Joe Da Silva, promoter of the annual Canadian Street Car Nationals to set up the series for a 4-event battle for supremacy. “A friend once told me ‘you gotta treat this (drag racing) like a circus’, as in it can’t always have the show in the same city. We want as many fans as possible to know who we are, and acknowledge the quality of the cars and racing we will be bringing to these venues”. The group will be trying to spread the events around for the first year, hoping to include a trip to the new ‘King of the North’ facility in North Bay, Ontario alongside existing tracks in the southern and south western Ontario region. Renowned tuner Rob Zarcone has signed on and will be running his ProCharged big block Chevrolet, and you can bet when the light goes green, he will be coming hard through the beams. Moving from his stunning split bumper Camaro into this Mustang LX, Noel Borg hopes to continue his success from OSCA EZ-Street into the inaugural O/L 10.5 season in his bad, black ProCharger powered coupe.

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Nick Agostino will be ditching his single turbo small block for a nasty alcohol burning twin turbo powerplant for his 2000 Camaro. Watch for a feature on Nick’s transformation from EZ-Street to Outlaw 10.5 in a future issue of RPM!

One of the fastest in the country on ten-fives in his previous car, Jerry Mitrovic debuted his Yenko-themed Camaro in late 2011. A boosted big block Chevy, along with a slick aerodynamic package and a lot of R&D make Mitrovic a contender. No stranger to Super Street drag racing, Ray Sanchez will be back out in full force in 2013 to make a run for the championship title in his fourth-gen Camaro.

For the 2013 season, 3 events have already been confirmed for the Outlaw 10.5 Association including; June 15-16th with the OSCA series, as well as the Nitro Nationals at Toronto Motorsports Park from July 12-14th and the Canadian Street Car Nationals running August 23-25th. A fourth and final race date will be announced shortly. With the green light on this upstart series coming before the first snowflakes of a great Canadian winter, you can bet it is going to be a long off-season for all involved, both racers and fans alike. Rest assured though, when the track is prepped and the smell of race fuel fills the air, a pair of 33 x 10.5’s heating up in the burnout box will make sure everybody knows that Outlaw racing is back with a vengeance! To get updates on the growing series you can find them on Facebook under the ‘Outlaw 10.5 Association’, and on their website at www.outlaw10five.com RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE

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WEBSTER’S COMET Date Discovered: May 11th, 2012 Location: United Kingdom Status: Creating Impending Doom

By GEORGE PICH Photos By Matt Woods www.mattwoodsphotography.com

Jon Webster’s Comet may not spell the end for mankind, but it will have the guy in the other lane heading for higher ground!

WEBSTER’S COMET

n 1964, the Mercury Comet was redesigned from the earlier rounded styling to a squared, more intimidating appearance, having a “tall” commanding front end and a grill similar to that of the Lincoln Continental. Although the performance version was the Cyclone, the Caliente was next on this list, however we don’t think that the engineers ever envisioned anything even close to the creation of Jon Webster and his company, Webster Race Engineering. Even the 50 ultra-high performance lightweight Comet Cyclones produced in 1964 couldn’t hold a candle to the get-up-andgo of Webster’s Comet. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 31,000 2-door Caliente hardtop coupes were produced in 1964, so exactly how did one of them end up thousands of miles from home in Rushden, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom? Jon tells us that he came upon it somewhat by accident. The car was actually found in Arizona as a stock daily driver by someone other than Jon. It was equipped with a 289 and a C4 transmission, and imported

to the UK in January 2011. The fellow who bought it planned to race in the FIA’s historic saloon circuit racing, but he had some difficulty getting FIA homologation for the car, so he sold it to Jon and the transformation began. Jon started building the car in October 2011 and finished-up in May of 2012. And, even with a late start to the 2012 season, he still managed to take the Comet to third place in the national championship. “I’ve been a self-employed freelance car designer and chassis builder since 1988,” explains Jon. “Building championship winning cars such as Tim Cook’s Pro Mod 7/8 scaled ‘55 Chevy in 1990, and Dave Mingay’s Pro Mod Calibra which won the championship in the early 90’s, and of course Steve Pateman’s Vauxhall Calibra.” Interestingly, in 1995 Jon was due to immigrate to Indianapolis Indiana to work, but the work visa fell through at the last minute. As he had already sold off his small business, JMW Performance Construction, he was stuck in limbo. Well known racecar builder Geoff Hauser then called him to help with a heavy workload, and Jon stayed with Hauser for seven years, building numerous high profile cars such as Wayne Saunder’s RWD four cylinder Cosworth powered 1999 Ford Focus. This was a world record four cylinder car, which was campaigned at Palmdale, Texas Motorplex, Bakersfield, Phoenix and Pomona. Jon set up Webster Race Engineering in 2002 and got more involved with the Street Eliminator series cars, building what is now Richard Billing’s 2004

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Photos, above: Cruising in the Comet is always fun, however, it comes with a pretty lofty price tag. Above right, Jon stops for “petrol” during the cruise portion of a UK Street Eliminator event late in 2012. Have a look at the price on the Shell station sign. Now, keep in mind that the price is in British pounds per litre, not US dollars per gallon. Currently, 1.39 pounds would equal somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.26 USD. And since there are 3.78 litres in an American gallon, YIKES, that would mean these guys are paying $8.54 US dollars for a gallon of gas... and we think we have it bad! Lower right: Keeping with Ford’s “headlight air intake” theme used in their lightweight race cars is cool. To keep small animals from falling victim to the 116mm Holset turbo Jon has installed stainless steel screen. This is a legitimate street legal ride as evidenced by the United Kingdom “Tax Disc” sticker affixed to the front windshield that expires May 31, 2013.

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Mustang, Brian Payne’s 2004 Mustang, John Hale’s ‘56 Chevy, Stuart William’s Toyota Supra, Andy Bond’s ‘97 Mustang and of course, his own Comet. In the early days of WRE Jon wasn’t running his own car due to business commitments, “I had a spell of driving Top Fuel in the FIA championship with some success,” explains Jon. “A couple of years were even spent competing for Kawasaki in 9.50 bike, again with some success, with winner and runner-up positions and finishing in the top four of the National Championship in 2009. The most recent high profile projects I’ve been involved with are Andy Frost’s Red Victor 3 street legal (and world record holder) Pro Mod, and Mark Todd’s Street Eliminator 1965 GTO.” Getting Jon to open up any further about what he does, aside from the obvious evidence produced by the Comet, was a challenge, so we went to some of his customers. “I remember the first time Jon helped us at the track. It was 2002 and Red Victor 2 was struggling to get down the track on M/T Sportsman Pro street tires,” commented Andy “Frosty The Go Man” Frost. “No matter what we did to the car, it didn’t help. Jon watched the car on the starting line, told me to raise the car one inch, and it would work. I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical, not knowing him well then, but sure as apples the car went down the track properly for the first time ever! From that day on Jon has been our chassis man, and one of the major reasons why we’ve won races and set records for the last 10 years, culminating in him building the rolling chassis for the world record breaking Red Victor 3!” Andy continues, “Jon always seems to astound myself and my crew with his ability to watch a car on the starting line, be able to see what is happening to the car, then make adjustments based on just watching! I don’t know anyone

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Different is good, and this Comet is incredible! Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not only the fact that it is powered by a small block (not big block), a single turbo (instead of twins), but the car itself is just so incredibly clean, straight and well detailed that it is hard to believe. From all of the chrome and trim work, to just the right mix of factory equipment inside and out, not to mention the obvious absence of an unending amount of switches and gadgetry to get the car down a race track, or highway for that matter.

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who can do that, and that is part of his skill. In my opinion there isn’t a better chassis man anywhere.” Alan “Cooky” Cook of the Billings/Cook UK Street Eliminator record setting 2004 Mustang (featured in the Dec. 2012 issue of RPM) added, “It has been our pleasure to work with Webster Race Engineering for many years, but in particular more recently with our record setting twin turbo Mustang. Jon’s chassis design has played a huge part in what we have been able to achieve. WRE have an enviable and proven track record building ground-up turbo street legal cars and turbo Pro Mod cars, while also being heavily involved in the building of Top Fuel cars, Funny Cars, blown alcohol Pro Mods and countless championship winning bracket cars. Not to mention over the last couple of years they have also built some show stopping world class musclecars and hot rods, along with Jon’s own Comet (in his spare time). It’s fair to say he is a very busy man. Our team is very proud to be part of the WRE stable, they are a class act.” In 27 years of racing and building Jon’s accomplishments include an impressive list of show awards, wins, etc. But on top of building numerous championship cars, including the top four Street Eliminator cars of 2012, he was also Super Comp national champion in 1999, collected numerous wins in Super Gas and Street Eliminator, was Top Fuel runner-up in the 2005 FIA Main Event, Top Fuel Champion at the Euro Finals 2009, Championship runnerup in Super Pro 2000, Championship runner-up for Street Eliminator 2002, National championship 3rd place in Street Like we said, it’s a small block Ford, somewhere around 400 cubic inches (but we like the 427 fender badges!), with Yates C3L heads that have flow numbers as top secret as the camshaft, both of which are registered with Her Majesty’s Secret Service to ensure they never become public knowledge. The turbo is so big Jon almost lost his favorite coffee cup one morning after wrenching all night. It’s injected, and MoTeC runs the show. The front end comes off for servicing, and the splash of carbon fiber up here rounds off the total package. Out back, the fuel cell ain’t no Nancy drag race deal either, it is big and made for cruise duty.

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Eliminator for 2012 and Santa Pod championship runner-up in 2012. Webster’s Comet’s power comes from a 400 cubic inch small block Ford, (that’s right, a small block motivates this 7-second quarter-mile monster), using a Fontana dry sump block, Yates C3L aluminum cylinder heads, a custom intake with a Holley 105mm diameter throttle body and single 116mm Holset turbocharger that runs approximately 20psi of boost. 1 7/8" tube headers were fabricated as was a WRE custom charge cooler. A tricked-out 2-speed Andy Frost powerglide transmission (with Neal Chance converter) was built for the task of backing up the power. Jon chose a MoTeC M800ECU EFI system, CDI, PDM, knock control and MoTeC dash and MSD 8232 Blaster coils were used for the “coil per cylinder” ignition set-up. The car itself was an original steel body Comet and still retains its OEM steel body structure and doors. A carbon fibre removable front end was made and the WRE chrome moly chassis is 25.1 SFI certified and uses a ladder bar/4-link adaptable rear suspension system. The car’s overall wheelbase was shortened by 7". Strange GT struts are positioned up front with Penski shocks out back. To offset weight to the back, twin dry cell batteries are trunk mounted along with the large fuel cell, after all, this car has to be able to street cruise!

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To date, the Comet’s best quarter-mile performance is 7.77 seconds at 177 mph. If Jon is a betting man he’d best go out and get a lottery ticket with lots of 7’s in it before he runs faster in 2013 as his goal is to “win the Street Eliminator championship as soon as possible and run sub 7.50s”. Jon says that the future for the business is to continue to develop and build, to provide top of the range cars. As for the Comet and racing it, he added, “I hope to compete in the 2013 Street Eliminator Championship with the Comet. We are working with ICE Automotive Racing Engines this season to help further develop the turbo power. With a full season for 2013 our hopes are to do better than our 2012 third place finish, but there is no doubt that the competition will be tough. I love the competitive nature though, the community, the constant need for research and development, and of course, the speed!” 1964 Mercury Comet Street/Strip Sponsors: Webster Race Engineering (WRE) Crew: Jeanette & Shelby Webster. Dave Rowe of EPS. People to thank: Darren Scannel (Paint) Dale Edmonds (Composite work) Chris Vining (Trimming) Alan Williamson (Carpets)

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Project 4 Lug Thug By Chuck Scott

Lightening Bolts My Bolts Lost Weight So I Don’t Have To!

ver the last few months I have had the opportunity to help out Chris Raeder of Ti64 Titanium on his project of developing a new product line of car specific bolt kits for the Ford Mustang utilizing Ti64’s race proven highend titanium bolts. Chris wanted to take the trial and error of getting the right size and thread pitch out of the picture for racers, making weight saving a simple “order and switch out” job. So the project began by taking the common larger bolts from a Fox Mustang out one at a time and measuring the necessary length, shaft diameter and thread pitch if necessary. I found that many factory bolts were much longer than needed so we could benefit from shorter bolts as well as switching to titanium. I know, I know, some of you are thinking that this is not a part of the build that is friendly to our Thug budget, however, if you are as serious about building a quality car and shaving weight wherever possible as we are, then you will do as we have done and save money where necessary in order to spend a bit “extra” when and where necessary. And after doing our homework, then actually being part of the production of this kit, and then installing it on the Thug, we are even more “converted” on the benefits of having quality hardware in as many places as possible. With the Fox Mustang platform being so popular among both racers and street machine enthusiasts, we knew there

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Bagged and tagged, here is our final Ti64 bolt kit for the Fox Mustang. Keep in mind that we used the titanium bolts for our beadlock wheel beadlocks and centers as well (176 bolts for just the wheels). The weight savings was just too much for us to ignore.

would be a demand for ultra-high quality hardware that would benefit the total package build Titanium isn’t just a pop song, it is a wonder-metal that has tensile strength equivalent to some steel alloys but lighter by about 45%. Titanium is also about two times stronger than aluminum. Titanium bolts are quite expensive compared to their steel equivalents but for racers looking for an edge, or even street guys looking for the best of the best, Ti64 is a great place to look for it. I was able to find great savings in some pretty important places like wheel center bolts on our Holeshot wheels, all 96 beadlock bolts and even front wheel studs! It’s not just overall weight reduction that matters, weight reduction in key locations is where the true value of titanium lies.

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2. Before we started replacing our OEM bolts with the trick new Ti64 titanium bolt kit, I weighed each kit. As they are switched out, I put the old bolts in the same zip bag to be weighed for our comparison. 3. One argument I’ve heard for not getting beadlocked rear wheels is the added weight. A big part of the added weight is the 24 bolts per beadlock ring. If you have double beadlock rear wheels that is 96 bolts in total. Switching to Ti64 bolts saved 1.676 pounds for 2 double beadlock rear wheels! If you have Holeshot 3 piece wheels you can switch out the wheel center’s 20 nuts and bolts for an additional 0.6 pounds for a total rear wheel drop of 2.276 pounds! Not to mention that they look a lot better with the scalloped-out bolt heads and killer titanium finish. 4. I had sent Chris a picture of the Aerospace wheel stud configuration and he replied with “how about those rotor bolts? Those need to be titanium too”. Here you can see the Ti64 replacement at the 12 o-clock position in comparison to the gold grade 8 bolt that comes with the brakes. Even though they are small bolts, they are un-sprung weight, and front-end weight. 5. Who needs spindle mount wheels? Take a nice chunk of heavy metal off your hubs with Ti64 long studs and shank lug nuts. The common set of 5 tips the scales at a scant 0.658 pounds. Ole 4-Lug gets away with even less. Both sides only totaled 1.056 pounds.

6. Holeshot Wheels are known to be some of the lightest strongest wheels made for drag racing. You can get them even lighter by switching the wheel’s center bolts with the Ti64 Holeshot kit. They feature the same countersunk design bolts and flanged nuts. Our Holeshots came with the optional stainless bolt upgrade option but they normally come with black oxide bolts. The Ti64 kit is a nice upgrade for looks with a much nicer finish and the added benefit of titanium’s corrosion resistance.

7. Our front wheels are lookin’ sharp with the 20 new titanium wheel center bolts and nuts along with titanium long wheel studs and shank lug nuts. If you add up the savings from the wheel center bolts, lug nuts, wheel studs and rotor bolts, we get a reduction of 1.589 pounds of front rotating weight. Add the strut to spindle bolts to that and you loose 2.629 pounds of front-end un-sprung weight!

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Lightening Bolts

8. The big weight loss from the strut to spindle bolts is due to their huge size as we are using a shorter titanium replacement. The strut bolt kit doesn’t come with a titanium nut but instead uses a short reduced wrench area steel lock nut and titanium washers. I could probably get rid of a couple more pounds by trimming a little more off that spindle. 9. The nice thick titanium washers that come with the Ti64 steering rack bolt kit won’t bend up like the large fender washers I had used before to sandwich the rack bushings.

10, 11, 12 & 13. Ti64’s header adapter bolt kit can be used for the typical bolt pattern adapters used to fit larger tube headers on stock bolt pattern heads or in our case exhaust port extensions. It is optimal to provide your bolts to your head porter so they can be cut on the head while being ported. If you are replacing bolts like us, you can’t exactly go grinding on them while on your motor. I simply torqued them all down, marked the port side of the bolt head with a short sharpie marker, then took them out one at a time, trimmed them with a die grinder and put them back in the same holes.

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Lightening Bolts

14 & 15. The rear control arm bolt kit provides stock diameter titanium bolts, titanium reduced material lock nuts and washers. It is common practice to replace the control arm bolts in high HP cars with larger bolts to reduce the chance of bending the stock ones. To do this, you not only have to change out eight rod-ends but you also have to drill out the bracket holes to accept the larger bolts. This may still be necessary for some cars but the Ti64 kit corrects some of the flaws that can allow the stock bolts to bend under hard launches. Notice the OEM bolt actually tapers down smaller in the center, the threads go a lot further up the bolt than necessary and the threads are course and deep. The Ti64 replacement has a shaft that is as big as the outside diameter of the threads the entire length and the threads donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go past the control arm brackets. By switching to fine thread pitch, the threads arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t rolled as deep so it stays stronger in the threaded section. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d bet a hamburger and onion rings these will take some heavy abuse compared to the old stockers.

16. Check out all the Ti64 bolts in our undercarriage. Our total weight savings ahead of the firewall came to 5.1 pounds with just a few bolts. We will save weight up front, at the heavier end of the car, in any way we can!

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Lightening Bolts

How to make titanium bolts.

17 & 18. Ti64 starts with 2000lb ingots and qualifies each one to verify chemical composition (Titanium + 6% Aluminum + 4% Vanadium + trace elements). After the ingot is chemically qualified, it is extruded and rolled to the desired diameter (similar to the bolt diameter). Tensile strength is verified using a dogbone sample machined from 1/2" bolt stock and pulled to failure. 19. To manufacture bolts, Ti64 cuts the rod to near bolt length and “warm forge” a head. Sockets are stamped or hexes are machined from the forged head. The bolts are then lathe finished and a slightly reduced diameter is machined in the area where threads are to be rolled. Post thread rolling, the bolts are polished. Thread pitch diameter is measured using a 3wire gauge on a sample from each batch to verify that the thread rolling process is in spec. Ahead of firewall weight loss = Unsprung weight loss = Rear wheels weight loss = Rotating mass weight loss = Overall Ti64 project vehicle weight loss = Sources:

Ti64 Titanium ti64.com (201) 733-9111

5.100lb 6.151lb 2.276lb 4.62lb 10.076lb

Ti64 project breakdown

Stock - Ti64

= Weight Saved $Price

A-Arms (4 bolts & nuts) K Member (8 bolts) Strut lower (4 bolts, washers & nuts) Steering Rack (2 bolts, washers & nuts)

2.296 1.620 1.714 0.780

1.122 0.884 0.674 0.518

= = = =

1.174lb 0.736lb 1.040lb 0.262lb

$99.99 $121.96 $59.99 $39.99

Carb Studs (4 bolts & nuts) Distributor (1 stud & nut) Header (16 bolts) Header Adapter (16 countersunk bolts) Starter (2 bolts) JW Powerglide Bell (7 Bolts) Block to Transmission (6 bolts) Powerglide Pan (14 bolts) 8.8 Ring Gear (10 bolts) Rear Control Arms (8 bolts & nuts)

0.318 0.061 0.458 0.589 0.132 0.427 0.505 0.424 0.531 2.120

0.200 0.032 0.240 0.340 0.074 0.238 0.278 0.250 0.292 1.138

= = = = = = = = = =

0.118lb 0.029lb 0.218lb 0.249lb 0.058lb 0.189lb 0.227lb 0.174lb 0.239lb 0.982lb

$32.99 $12.99 $99.99 $99.99 $13.99 $39.99 $44.99 $49.99 $59.99 $149.99

Front Wheel Studs (8 studs / 4 lug) Front Lug Nuts (8 shank nuts) Aerospace Front Rotor (10 bolts) Rear 5/8” Lug Nuts (8 nuts) Beadlock bolts (96 bolts, double beadlocks) Wheel Centers (80 countersunk bolts & nuts) Total cost of titanium bolt conversion

1.096 0.800 0.370 1.004 3.786 2.936

0.616 0.440 0.194 0.488 2.110 1.736

= = = = = =

0.453lb 0.360lb 0.176lb 0.516lb 1.676lb 1.200lb

$63.92 $89.98 (10 count) $59.99 $79.98 (10 count) $319.96 $319.96 $1860.62

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$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.

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Robert Killian’s ’33 Ford Coupe Is NOT Your Average Street Rod

n our travels, we run across thousands of great drag cars and “extreme” street machines every year, but we also see a number of nicely finished show cars. Most readers know that we stay true to the American built iron with a focus on the “musclecars” of the past, present and future. We do however add in a pinch of “different” now and then. With that in mind, it’s rare to find a car, let alone a street rod, that perfectly embodies both sides of the show & go spectrum, and one that handles both tasks very well. This 1933 Ford three-window coupe is not your average drag car, but also isn’t your average street

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Story & Photography by Tommy Lee Byrd

rod, even though it has the looks of a car that is all show and no go... but as the old saying goes “never judge a book by it’s cover”. The street rod community rarely takes advantage of the lightweight vehicles they typically build, so they generally end up with wimpy engine and transmission combinations. Blending a street rod with the drag racing world is a tough task, but this car is perfectly suited for double duty as a killer street car and an impressively-fast street rod on the strip.

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This beautiful red coupe belongs to long-time drag racer, Robert Killian, of Canton, Georgia. Robert is accustomed to sliding behind the wheel of a drag car, as he campaigned an IHRA Pro Stock car for a few years, and has owned a number of other nice racecars. He currently has a few other machines in his collection, including an incredible Model A sedan with an IHRA Pro Stock-spec Jon Kaase Ford Hemi! Unlike his other projects, this ’33 Ford is actually a car that he bought complete, only making a few minor changes, such as the tires. His intentions are to continue thrashing on it, and driving it to local car shows in the mean time. Robert said, “I’ve owned this car for a while now and I’ve never actually taken the hood off…and I’m very pleased with the way it runs!” Though the car looks like a typical street rod with its billet aluminum Halibrand wheels, chopped top and scoop sticking out of the hood, it’s actually built upon a well-equipped chassis. Robert bought the car from Ken Webber, a fabricator and chassis builder from Pawcatuck, Connecticut. Ken built this car from the ground up, and he did it with performance and reliability in mind. Unfortunately, Ken was diagnosed with cancer in early 2011, and passed away shortly thereafter. He certainly had skills when it came to building hot rods and drag cars, and is greatly missed in the racing community. When Ken built the car, he used a pair of standard ’33 Ford frame rails, but he boxed them for strength and added several tubular crossmembers to increase rigidity. Keeping with the street rod theme, he installed a fully chromeplated front suspension set-up, consisting of a dropped round-tube axle, transverse leaf spring and hairpin-style radius rods. The front shocks are standard tube shocks that are commonplace on street rods, but surprisingly they do not hinder the car when it’s on the track. Rear suspension highlights include a four-link attached to a Mark Williams modular rear end assembly (a dead giveaway for those in the know when it comes to horsepower), which features an aluminum third member. Inside the rear end is all business as Richmond 3.73 gears, a spool and 40-spline axles provide a bulletproof backbone Photos, from top: The coupe’s tire combination gives it an aggressive stance, and the polished Halibrand wheels are a great touch. Out back is a pair of Mickey Thompson ET Street 31x14.50-15 tires, mounted to 15x14 wheels. Robert is a longtime racer, who dabbled in the IHRA Pro Stock field a few years ago. He has a fleet of high-end hot rods and drag cars, and this ’33 Ford is one of the few that he bought in complete form.

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for this cool coupe. QA1 coilovers allow for adjustability between racing and regular driving. Mark Williams disc brakes ride on all four corners, and they’re hidden by a set of beautifully-polished Halibrand Sprint wheels. The tires are DOT-approved, and Robert generally keeps the drag tires on the rear simply because it looks cool. The rears are Mickey Thompson ET Street 31x14.50-15, mounted to the 15x14-inch wheels. Aesthetically, the ’33 Ford three-window coupe is flawless, and offers the textbook looks of a street rod. The highboy configuration (no fenders) and aggressive stance is perfectly matched with a chopped top and bright red paint. Inside, you’ll find that it looks like a standard street rod build, with Corvette bucket seats, tan leather upholstery and a Grant steering wheel. The car does have a four-point roll bar, which is the only race-inspired component inside. This particular Lokar shifter isn’t ideal for drag racing, so Robert just puts it in drive, and lets the TH400 transmission shift on its own at 5,800rpm. With the relatively light weight of the fiberglass-bodied Ford coupe, it doesn’t need a full-on race engine to go fast. Racers would certainly consider it a mild combination, but the big block performs exceptionally well, and proves to be very street-friendly. The engine is based on a 502ci big block Chevy, but it’s not simply a crate engine with a blower bolted to it. The bottom end is all forged, and now has a

Opening the suicide door reveals a plush leather interior, with modified Corvette seats and custom door panels. A set of Classic Instruments gauges, a Vintage Air A/C unit and a JBL stereo offer creature comforts, while the 868-horse big block provides endless thrills.

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Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not uncommon to see a supercharger on a street rod, but this one actually gets put to use! The engine is a 502ci big block with aluminum heads, and its all topped off with a Littlefield 8-71 blower and dual Demon carburetors. You might ask, why a photo of the engine with the hood still on? Robert explained that he has driven and raced the car for a few years now but never actually took the hood off, and in all honesty it did look like a major hassle to do so. This is a luxury rarely, if ever, experienced in the world of either drag racing or fast street cars! So far, Robert has only made a few passes with the car, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s run a best of 6.87 at 116mph in the eighth mile. The blown big block runs on 93-octane pump gas and sees plenty of street miles.

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RPM Quick Tech Sheet 1933 Ford Highboy Coupe

rgia Owner: Robert Killian, Canton, Geo ed rotatEngine: 502ci big block Chevy, forg s, cushead tie Bow inum alum , mbly asse ing on fuel Weld ion, ignit tom-grind camshaft, MSD pump superInduction: Polished Littlefield 8-71 ors uret carb on Dem fm 750c dual charger, 3,500 stall Transmission: TH400 automatic, d spee Weight: 2,750 pounds on with Suspension: 4-link rear suspensi QA1 end, rear h 9-inc ular Mod ams Willi Mark es brak coilovers, Mark Williams mpson Tires/Wheels: 145R15, Mickey Tho nt Spri rand Halib ET Street 31x14.50-15/ ph Best ET/MPH: 1/8-Mile: 6.87 @ 116m Robert’s ’33 Ford highboy is beautifully finished, and gets lots of attention with its aggressive stance, blown big block and bright red paint job. It’s not often you find a show car-quality street rod that runs 6’s in the eighth-mile!

set of dish-top forged pistons to allow the blower to do its thing without killing parts. The cylinder heads are aluminum Bowtie castings, and the camshaft is a custom-grind, designed specifically for a roots-blown application. The power adder of choice is a polished Littlefield 8-71 supercharger, topped with a pair of Barry Grant 750cfm carburetors. The fuel tank is standard street rod equipment, but a Weldon fuel pump keeps up with the thirsty big block. An MSD ignition system lights the fire, while a set of ceramic-coated block-hugger headers send the spent gasses into a stainless steel exhaust system. An aluminum radiator keeps the big block cool, and a Vintage Air A/C system keeps Robert cool inside the leather-wrapped interior. Oh, by the way, this car made 868hp to the rear wheels on 93-octane pump gas!

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So far, Robert has only run the coupe at a few nostalgia drag racing events, and he admits that he hasn’t tuned or adjusted anything. We spotted it at historic Paradise Drag Strip in Calhoun, Georgia, where he ran a new best of 6.87 at 116mph in the eighth-mile. The car had a severe hiccup at the hit of the throttle, and you can tell by the trap speed, this hot rod has a lot more E.T. in it. You can bet Robert will tweak the carburetors and get it in the mid-6’s. For now, he’s happy with the car’s driveability, and the fact that it holds its own at the drag strip. The coupe definitely has street rod looks, and never fails to turn heads at the track, thanks to the common misconception that all show cars are slow!

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“ROCK SOLID”

By GEORGE PICH

Looking for a garage floor coating that will take most anything you can literally throw at it? So were we!

ne thing on our “to do” list here at RPM for 2012 was to search for a floor coating for our newest installation facility. We had put down an industrial clear coat epoxy product when the building was completed a year ago, but despite curing our concrete for 30 days, washing, sweeping and blowing the dust off of it prior to application, we were not satisfied with it at all. Sure, for a warehouse or a busy repair shop it would have been fine, however, we wanted something that would not only hold up to traffic, but would also take on heavy impacts, water, oil and other liquids without staining, oh yeah, and it also had to look great! Our epoxy did none of the above, or at least did not do any of them very well. The first thing we dropped on the epoxy coated floor, just one month in, was a 20lb trailer hitch draw bar, and you guessed it, we lost a chunk of concrete. The worst thing was the appearance of the floor overall though and the fact that it stained regardless of what type of liquid came in contact with it. We needed something that was durable and looked slick, after all, this floor would be showing up in photos and videos for many years to come... what we needed was a RockSolid floor! Let me be clear right from the start, this was no small task, but here at RPM we have this saying; “…a job worth doing is a job worth doing right!” And despite the many hours of brutally intense, boring and often frustrating labor in removing the old floor coating, we feel that we did this job right! We’ll walk you through our experience from start to finish, give you do’s and don’ts along with hopefully everything you will need, and need to know, to get your floor to be the envy of the neighborhood. The RockSolid Floors company claims their polyurea floor coating product to be 20 times stronger than epoxy, plus it is a do-it-yourself project. This was the signal for us to jump in with both feet. Curious as ever, when we first got our boxes of Mocha RockSolid Garage Coat, we dumped some coating onto a board, you know, just so we could check it out. Interestingly, it expanded slightly, almost as if to “puff up” to create a shockabsorbing tough-as-nails surface when fully cured. This floor is also foot traffic ready in

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We are just starting to grind our existing epoxy floor coating off... what a job! It was only applied a year ago but as you can see this stuff not only looked terrible, but it didn’t hold up to much of anything. Not to mention that it was stained by most any type of liquid that came in contact with it. We chose grinding over chemical stripping as we felt that the dust was a better alternative to the mess and extensive clean-up with stripping. Plus, often times a chemical or “natural” stripping product must be applied several times to get the results that we were looking for. Sure, during the many hours it took to grind the floor we had more than enough time for our mind to wander and daydream about how ” the grass would be greener” if we had only chosen to strip the floor instead. However, once we were done grinding, then cleaned the dust up and out relatively easily, we knew we had made the right choice.

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PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS: “ROCK SOLID”

4-8 hours, and vehicle traffic ready in 24 hours, so disruption to any work going on is minimal. THE PRODUCT: 1. Garage Coat Polyurea Floor Coating. We chose the “Mocha” colored Garage Floor Coating from RockSolid. This first step in the coating process comes with the following in the box: 1 resealable bag of polyurea floor coating to cover 250 square feet. 1 can of Mocha Color Tint 1 small bag of ¼” Gunflint decorative chip 1 sponge roller 1 jug of Safe-Etch Solution concentrate Written instructions Instructional DVD and your RockSolid decals NOTE: Since we were dealing with freshly ground concrete we did not need the Safe-Etch solution. With new smooth concrete or older uncoated floors you will need to properly prepare them by etching (and stain treatment or removal) and you can find details regarding this at the RockSolid Floors website: www.rocksolidfloors.com 2. Gunflint Decorative Chip We wanted a surface that would look cool but be virtually non slip, so we added in extra Decorative Chip to give us what is referred to as a “Heavy Broadcast System”. This is simply adding more decorative chips as you spread them on top of the wet floor coating. We ordered several extra boxes of Gunflint color Decorative Chip. It is just a larger version of what comes in the Garage Coat box and is also good for 250 square feet. 3.Clear Top Coat To “top” things off we decided that we wanted a somewhat shiny floor, so the final step would be to apply RockSolid Floors’ Clear Top Coat... and man is this stuff is trick! It is a polyurea clear coat that is as tough as it gets, plus it really gives you that finished look. When going with the Heavy Broadcast System you must use the Clear Top Coat, but keep in mind that with this system your floor will not be “babys bottom smooth”, instead, the high density of chips gives a more rugged, non-slip, shiny finish.

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On the left of the photo, from our first Garage Coat box (shown open), is a jug of Safe-Etch Solution concentrate, a small bag of ¼” Gunflint decorative chip, a can of Mocha Color Tint and one resealable bag of polyurea floor coating. In front of that (also contained in the first box) is our sponge roller, RockSolid decals, written instructions, and instructional DVD. Each kit is designed to cover 250 square feet. In the center is a small box that contained the bag of extra Gunflint Decorative Chip that we ordered (which is sold separately). In the sealed box to the far right is our Clear Top Coat, which is also sold separately as an optional application, but we’ll talk more about the Top Coat in a bit.

In this box, along with your application instructions, is a large silver bag that has two separate sealed areas within it. To mix the two together you simply roll one side into the other then mix it up further by kneading and shaking it. A word to the wise; open it and use it immediately or, unlike the floor coat, the clear coat will dry in the bag once it is mixed. And will dry even quicker once opened. PRODUCT SUPPORT We are not pros at this by any stretch of the imagination, and in fact, we had never coated a garage floor ourselves before. That is where the RockSolid support staff came into play. We had a lot of questions and they answered each one quickly and efficiently. We even had them analyze photos of our existing floor to determine the best method of stripping the epoxy. To contact RockSolid they offer either a “1-866” number or email.

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Our first concrete grinder (pictured left) was gas powered. It was agressive, taking too much concrete material off once it penetrated the epoxy floor coating. After brainstorming with everyone possible, our friends at United Rentals hooked us up with an electric dual head diamond grinder, and it was definitely the way to go. As you can see, even RPM Magazine’s V.P. Of Marketing and Customer Relations, Trish Biro, had to give it a whirl! For grinding along the walls, where we already had trim installed that could not be removed, we used a few high speed hand grinders equipped with different types of grinding discs. The epoxy does tend to “gum up” the discs, so using a very coarse grit disc helps (we used 24 grit). Also, don’t forget your safety equipment!

HERE WE GO! Removing The Existing Floor Coating Have you ever bought something that came recommended, used it, didn’t get the desired results, and knowing it was too late to do anything about it you said to yourself, ”lesson learned”? We did. We had a dislike for our epoxy floor coating from the day after we put it down and noticed it was not at all what we expected appearance wise. A dislike that only grew as water stained it, stuff we dropped broke through it, things that we dragged across it scratched through it, and it just seemed to get that much more ugly as time went by. So why the heck was this stuff so hard to get off the concrete?!! Grinding The Floor: The support staff at RockSolid was clear, “you need to get that old coating off or the new coating will not adhere properly.” And being in the car biz for many years and involved in all sorts of coatings, we knew this going into it. And as expected, removing the old coating was without a doubt the toughest part of this project... over 20 hours tough! Be sure you have ALL of the right equipment and apparel to do this job safely and effectively. We took this photo (right) after we had finished the first few sections of our floor as we new at that point we had EVERYTHING we would need. Our instructions gave us an outline of what we’d need, but we added a bunch of extras as we got fully into the job.

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Everything from the obvious roller extension pole, to scrapers, knives, two different types of tape, and a whole bunch more little things that simply make the task go a lot smoother. When it came to gloves, we first tried a pair of standard thin rubber gloves. Then, once our hands were covered in coating that is 10 times tougher to remove than oil base paint, we stole some heavy duty dish gloves from home, and wore the wimpy rubber gloves under them!

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Just like when you paint a car or the walls inside your home, preparation means everything. What you neglect here will haunt your finished product, and by that time it is too late. So, once our grinding was done, we blew every inch of the shop out with compressed air top to bottom. We then cleaned out our saw cuts and vacuumed the floor... twice! If, like us, you have trim installed you must tape the the perimeter with painters grade 2” wide masking tape. It will save a bunch of clean-up should you get any coating on the trim. You also need to tape along door openings etc. RockSolid recommends duct tape, but for us it peeled off the concrete as fast as we put it on. Our trusty stick-to-anything red construction tape (AKA Sheathing Tape) on the other hand, made taping the openings a cinch!

The Right Tool For The Right Job— Grinding versus Stripping? Ok, we have 1,600 square feet. Not huge, but not a small space either. We knew we had two options: 1. Grinding the old coating off the floor or 2. Using chemical or “natural” strippers to remove it. There are pros and cons to each. The worst part of grinding is that it creates dust, lots of dust. On the other hand, strippers are more time consuming to apply and reapply if they do not penetrate the first time around. And scraping is tedious, back-breaking work to say the least. Then you need to thoroughly rinse them off at least once, and then get the water completely off and out of the concrete (and out of the shop) before applying anything to it. Since we had almost totally emptied out our shop either method would work. We chose grinding though and mostly because of the “less mess” and “less time” factors. Also, this shop is drywalled, so power washing or hosing down floors would be a tricky task! Like we said, RockSolid had their tech people look at our photos and agreed, grinding was the best method, and they advised us to rent a diamond grinder for the job. So we went to see the folks at United Rentals who hooked us up with an EDCO single head TG-10 11HP gas powered grinder with diamond grinding head. While this did work to grind off the epoxy, it did take a considerable amount time to penetrate it, and then took a lot of concrete material off if you were not extra careful. We pretty much had to do each section twice. Once to remove

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the epoxy, and a second time to “true” the floor back up (Note: we did both the grinding and coating in “sections” or “squares” that followed our original saw cuts on the floor. This allowed us to do our project over the period of a week and still use the shop as necessary). Thinking there had to be a better way, we called the guys at United Rentals back for some direction. They hooked us up with a new grinding disc and we had another go it. Still, the machine seemed to be too aggressive on the concrete once the epoxy was broken through. Another call to our friends at United. This time they contacted the grinding machine manufacturer who recommended we try their EDCO two head 2EC-1.5HP electric grinder with Dymasert diamond grinding heads. I don’t know why, but we were all skeptical of the effectiveness of using an electric grinding machine. But since this bad boy had two heads as opposed to one (and two heads are always better than one) we gave it a shot. United made the switch at our location and we were off to the races once again. This electric machine was definitely the answer! It operated at a slower rpm, was more easily controlled, had two diamond cutting heads, and slowly “scratched” the epoxy coating off. It really only lightly scratched our concrete once it got through the epoxy, leaving the ultimate surface for our RockSolid floor to bond to! We used hand grinders to do along the edges of our walls, door openings and around cabinets etc. A word to the wise here is to get a lot of

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PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS: “ROCK SOLID”

very coarse grinding discs for this job (we used 24 grit discs) as epoxy and most other coatings will gum them up quick if you are not careful. Before we got down to the business of applying the RockSolid Floors product, we were sure to clean up the dust thoroughly by air blowing everything from the ceiling down, then sweeping and then vacuuming every square foot of the shop… twice, just for good measure! We thought of it as prepping a car for paint… “the final product is only as good as your prep work”. APPLYING the RockSolid Polyurea Garage Floor Coat Pretty simple stuff really, that is if you can operate a paint roller. If you can’t, I’ll be honest, don’t even bother starting this project. A few pointers… read the supplied instructions and watch the video! Yes fellow motorheads, I said to read the instructions. Let’s face it, far too often we skip this process but this time it is worth reading them. Then read them a few more times, mostly because the info, tips and FAQ’s will save you a lot of time, and probably a few calls to tech support. It is important to tape off areas along walls, door openings and around cabinets where you do not want your floor coating to be. We used 2-inch painters masking tape to protect our trick looking checker-plate aluminum wall trim and around our cabinets etc. As not many adhesive tapes stick to concrete, for door openings RockSolid recommends duct tape. We tried it and were not happy with the way it stuck to our floor, so we tried our ultra sticky red “construction” tape. It is designed for use in taping vapor barrier, sheathing etc and is 10 times stickier than anything else on the planet. Yep, it’s 6 bucks a roll, but well worth it when you don’t have to mess with other tapes lifting and your floor coating seeping under them. Now it’s time to mix it up and get going on our new floor! All you have to do is first shake, then cut open the silver polyurea coating pouch supplied in the Garage Floor Coat box. Next, shake and then carefully open the can of Color Tint, and then add it to the opened silver pouch. Now reseal the pouch and give it a good shake, kneading it around the edges to make sure all your product is well mixed. It is important to be sure the pouch is properly zipped shut when shaking. On our first try it wasn’t… and that made for a bit of a mess! Like we said earlier, be sure to have ALL of the right safety equipment and apparel to this job safely and effectively, and that includes the proper breathing mask for the job. While

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there are “ultra low” VOCs in the RockSolid product, it still gives off enough odor that it can harm you if unprotected. We also ventilated the area well during our application. Using the supplied foam roller with your own roller handle and extension, you are ready to Rock! Before rolling we did our edges with a brush (in our case we used a lot of inexpensive brushes. We used a new one once they dried to a point of not working well, which was generally after each square of our floor was done). We simply followed the instructions for product application and adapted to our comfort level by rolling in strips across each of our sections, but only going about 3.5 to 4 feet deep at a time. Honestly, our ego kicked in at the start and we did a 5 foot deep strip which really made spreading the decorative chips over the wet coating tough, unless your arm was 5 feet long that is! We noted right away that, as the instructions say, a little product does go a long way. Also be careful as you dump the liquid floor coating from the pouch onto the floor, being sure to use thin ribbons of product along

We laid down a thin ribbon of floor coating and rolled it on evenly. Like the instructions say, “a little goes a long way”. Once comfortable with the process, and especially with adding in the decorative chips, we did a section approximately 4 feet deep across each of our floor sections.

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PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS: “ROCK SOLID” The decorative chip step is tougher than it looks. Here is where going too deep with your strip of coating (over our 4 feet deep) will come back and bite you. We learned this the hard way as our arms were not long enough to reach some areas on the first section of floor that we coated. Once we got a few strips of coating under belt we got the hang of it though. Note that we leave a section with little or no chips on it around the edges of where we stop and start. This prevents having areas with heavier chip concentration where you start/stop the floor coat application.

the desired length rather than large puddles which are far more difficult to roll-out. We were able to cover two of our floor sections with each box or “kit” of product. This was just under the 250 square feet that each kit is supposed to cover, so our coverage results were fantastic.

We tossed the chips in the air when doing along the walls, and let them shake through our fingers when doing the rest of the area. Then, at the end of each flooring square, we had a look and added chips by tossing very small amounts in the air over areas where needed.

Ah yes, spreading the decorative chips. It’s kind of like feeding the livestock at the farm, only different! I thought it would be a cinch to get a nice even distribution of chips throughout the floor, but it wasn’t. You really need to pay attention to spreading out the decorative chips. When tossing the chips onto the wet floor coating not only did the size of our coating strip play a factor in physically being able to reach areas, but you also have to deal with releasing equal amounts of chips on every toss. The lighting in your room and all those tiny little chips staring up at you also plays games with your eyes, at times making it tough to judge the density and consistency of chips. Also, remember to leave an allowance for where you stopped one strip and start the next strip of floor coating so as not to “double-up” on decorative chips and have noticeably heavier areas of them. We struggled a bit with this part of the job on our first section of floor and then decided we’d measure the amount of chips for each section and use a specific technique for releasing them from our hand. We stole a large measuring container from home to give us a rough idea as to how many chips per section of flooring we were going to add (note, you will never be able to use your measuring jug for cooking again so go buy the wife a new one now).

One more thing to note with the Decorative Chip application. Once you near the end of each bag (or in our case measuring cup) of chips, the chips are in much smaller pieces, and even tiny granules when you get to the very bottom. This may cause some areas to have smaller chips than others. This happened on the first few sections of floor during our application, until we noticed and adjusted our procedures by taking the fine granules at the end and dusting them over the entire section of floor we had just completed. This gave a more even appearance rather than having the small particles heavy along each edge, or bunched-up throughout the floor.

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TOP COAT So you’ve rolled on your floor coating and spread the chips with your best impression of feeding the chickens on Saturday morning. You have had time to “ooo” and “ahhh” over your new floor, but if you are going to apply the RockSolid Top Coat, you better do it now! Two rules apply here; you have to wait until the floor coat is “set-up” and will not be hurt by foot traffic, but yet you cannot wait too long or the clear coat will not properly adhere to the floor coating. Sounds complicated but it

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The RockSolid Floors Clear Top Coat is amazing! The two chemicals to be mixed come in one bag that has a temporary center seal. All you do is follow the instructions and roll one side into the other and mix well. But be quick about it, we had about 20 minutes before the Top Coat became tacky, which was just enough time to finish two of our floor sections (just shy of 250 square feet). Just like the instructions say, use a quality roller for the Top Coat, it does make a difference. Check out our progress, not bad! On the right is a good comparison to the same area shown partially finished on page 78.

really is not. Every section of our shop floor took 3 to 5 hours to be foot traffic safe, and our instructions told us that the Top Coat must be applied within 6 – 8 hours after you apply the floor coating. We did ours right around 6 hours each and had great results. A few valuable pointers here. Work carefully but very quickly. As we mentioned earlier, unlike the floor coating (which will last a long time with the bag open, and indefinitely with the bag sealed), the top coat will not. Once you have followed the mixing directions, cut it open and use it! You have about 20 minutes to do your 250 square foot area and use up the contents of the bag. If you do not use it quick enough, it will thicken and start to blotch and string-up on the roller. Another hint is to buy a quality roller for the clear coat. We tried both a cheapy and a good

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one, and yes there was a noticeable difference in the finish. There was only one thing we could not figure out during our application of the clear coat (Top Coat). On the last two sections of our shop floor the clear coat started to almost “fisheye” or “bubble” as it dried, despite doing everything exactly as before. The only variables were obviously that we were using different boxes of clear coat, and that the ambient temperature (outside of building) had cooled about 10 degrees, down to around 45 degrees F. Here is the kicker though, our shop has hydronic in-floor heating set at 55 degrees, so we didn’t feel that was the problem and the RockSolid support staff couldn’t pin point it either. No big deal though as it is not noticeable unless you are six to eight inches from the floor, so nobody but us will ever see it.

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PRODUCTS & INNOVATIONS: “ROCK SOLID”

SO WHAT DO WE THINK? This floor coating definitely passes the RPM Mag “is it cool or is it BS” test! We’ve dropped heavy things on it, leaked all sorts of liquids on it, scraped stuff across it and a done a whole bunch more bad things to this floor since we finished it, and yes, it has stood up to everything we have thrown at or on it so far. It really is rock solid! Plus, everyone that drops in to visit (even those who aren’t into cars) immediately compliments our RockSolid floor, and that is very cool! THE BOTTOM LINE? If you are looking for a garage or shop floor to be tough yet offer the bling factor to wow your buddies, do yourself a favor and visit www.rocksolidfloors.com or call (866).765.4474.

While we were moving our equipment and toys back in we took some time to snap a few final shots. As you can tell, we’re pretty pumped about this floor. It does everything we wanted it to and more, and so far everyone that has stopped by has been blown away by it. We almost don’t want to work on cars in here! The photo on the right shows the final texture and finish of our RockSoild floor. The color is exactly what we wanted, it has a great shine but is textured enough to provide a non-slip surface when wet or dry, and man is it tough!