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’34 FORD ARDUN FLATHEAD ROADSTER

★★★★

★

2021

I L E S M 0 0 ★ 1 , 2 S Y A V E D I F ★ S R AC K T R F O U

T S E T E R U T R TO

NESAT I H C A M ND AVE SCHROEDER WINS WITH A 6.73 A S R E V I D E DR G A F R E O V A T H P S M E 8 19 ET T A M I T L THE U BU LIVES

’65 MALI D LIFE A PAMP★ER★E★ ★ ★

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR A/C SYSTEM

PROJECT TRUCK NORRIS IS UP & RUNNING

F-CAR PRO TOURING SUBFRAME INSTALL

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Contents HOTROD.COM EVERYDAY

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8

04

Starting Line with John McGann

08

HOT ROD Archives 20, 40, and 60 Years Ago

10

Where It All Began Blood Letters and Badmen

12

HOT ROD Drag Week 2021 Fast Cars, Freaks and Swedes

26

Muscle Cars on Track UMI's 2021 Autocross Challenge

32

Hand-Me-Down Dart Family Owned for Three Generations

40

Blown LS-Swapped Malibu This 1965 Performs as Good as it Looks

46

46

62

Camaro Crawl!

Touring Hawks Motorsports

66

Drag Racing Overdrive Why Gear Vendors Overdrive is so Popular at Drag Week 2021

70

Icons Reunited Ardun-Powered ’34 Ford Roadster

Super Performer Pro Touring Subframe Install For Your LS-Swap Camaro

54

76

Dry Lake Memories Southern California Prewar Dry Lake Racing

Chill Out! Mistakes to Avoid When Installing Aftermarket A/C

82

Mopar Makeover How to Intall a Mopar Suspension That Performs

90

Stump Puller!

Procharged 489-Inch Big-Block for Your Boat

92

Project Car Update: Our ’67 C10 is Up and Running

96

Weekend Overhaul V8 Swap for a Clean ’72 Mustang Convertible

106

Finish Line With Steven Rupp

Q ON THE COVER: Hot rods in small-town America. Photo by Wes Allison

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STARTING LINE

By John Keep It Simple McGann Editor-in-Chief @john.mcgann

❱I spent the day today traveling the aisles of the PRI Show at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Of the two trade shows we typically attend, SEMA and PRI, I prefer the latter, because it is a smaller and more targeted show. PRI stands for Performance Racing Industry, and as you’d expect from that name, there’s no fluff here. The companies in attendance make performance parts. There are no gigantic chrome wheels, no neon underglow; instead, you’ve got engine parts, transmissions, chassis and suspension companies, and brakes, wheels, and tires. In other words, it’s awesome. It’s like taking a virtual walk through the Summit Racing catalog.

In only the first day of the show, I was stopped by several people who asked about my project cars: Truck Norris, my ’67 C10; and Project Jake, the ’93 GMC C1500. Both are functional vehicles that I could drive just about anywhere at this point, which I’m happy to report, but

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the road to get there has been long and arduous, as anyone reading this could understand. The GMC has been relatively trouble-free since I’ve owned it, but I’ve changed a lot of stuff on the C10, and it’s experienced more downtime than I would have liked because of it.

Each of these readers I spoke with at the PRI Show were frustrated with their own personal builds: frustrated with a lack of parts availability, frustrated with the cost of the build, and frustrated at the amount of time it was taking. I hear ya! At the very beginning of my career with the magazines, a friend dispensed two very solid pieces of advice: Keep the work simple and do something to the car every day. For the most part, I’ve

4 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

followed his sage advice, and I, in turn, have recommended others do the same whenever I’m in this situation.

When working on a project car, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of mission creep.

“Your eyes were bigger than your stomach” is a phrase we all probably heard as kids after heaping food on a plate that we never had the capacity to completely consume. The same thing holds true with building a car and many other things in life, honestly. It’s a good thing to push your limits and skills a bit, but not to the point where it becomes overwhelming.

The expression “you have to walk before you run”, is part of our vernacular because it is true. Know your limits, whether they are financial, or practical skills, and work within them. I’ve painted a couple cars in my time with the magazines, but I wouldn’t attempt a show-quality restoration because I’m not that good with a spray gun (among other things). By the same token, I wouldn’t attempt to build a 9-second drag race car because I don’t have the money, and I’d want to be better at welding than I am right now. I can build a nice street car, however, and that’s a good spot to work from.

My C10, for example, is about four different colors, currently. One of my goals for 2022 is to make it nicer: tighten up the panel gaps, redo some of my old rust repair, add carpet, upgrade the upholstery, install better gauges, and eliminate as many rattles as possible in a 55-year-old pickup. I may even paint it. If so, it will be a readily available color that I can repair it if it gets dinged or scratched, and it won’t be so nice that I’d have a coronary if something like that happens in the first place. For now, I’m thrilled it’s back on the road again. Since I’ve gotten it running, I’ve been addressing some of these smaller issues, always with the bigger goal in mind.

Even when you’re staying on-mission, it’s easy to get frustrated with the work or the time involved. That’s where the second piece of advice applies. Doing something to the car every day, even if it’s just dusting it off or cleaning the windows, keeps your focus on the car.

Doing mundane things can often trigger a spark of inspiration when you’re stuck on a problem, and at a basic level, interacting with the project as often as possible will remind you why you took on the project in the first place.

The last piece of advice that I would add is that if the project doesn’t inspire passion anymore, get rid of it and move on. There’s really no point in letting something languish if you don’t have the desire or the means to keep moving forward. Pass it on to someone who can.

Yes, that would mean we’d have fewer “barn find” stories to run online and in the magazine, but I wouldn’t miss them if it meant more cars were being put back on the road.

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WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

The HOT ROD Archives 20 Years Ago March 2002, 116 pages, $3.99 Monster Torque certainly grabs your attention at the newsstand, and it’s the same force that shoves you back into the driver seat as you bury the accelerator, so yeah, that’s a good thing in both instances. How do you get monster torque out of a small-block Chevy? That’s easy, give it more displacement and more efficient airflow. David Freiburger laid out the formula “in 6 easy steps,” by starting with a HT383 crate engine from Chevrolet Performance, which was advertised as a truck engine that made 325 hp and 415 lb-ft of torque. With that as a modest baseline, DF experimented with headers, a better oil pan and windage tray, Edelbrock’s RPM Air Gap dual plane intake, 1.6:1 rocker arms, and finally Comp’s XE282HR hydraulic roller cam with specs of 230/236 degrees of duration and 0.540/0.555 lift (with the 1.6:1 rocker arms), and a 110-degree lobe separation angle. That, plus a valvespring upgrade yielded 463 hp and 502 lb-ft of torque—still using the crate engine’s cast iron heads. Drop that in a sleeper and you’d embarrass more than a few folks still today. Tech Editor Steve Magnante followed that up with a nitrous install that doubled the torque of a 2002 Mustang. He also documented the step-by-step process of installing roller cam bearings in a small-block Chevy. Later, David penned a piece on how to add stroke to any engine and how compression ratio affects engine power.

2002

40 Years Ago March 1982: 96 pages, $1.50 From the ’80s to today, the Chevrolet Nova remains a tremendous value in the muscle car market. Even the disco era fourth-generation Novas have come into their own right. Some might say the third-generation Novas (1968 to 1974) are among the best looking of the bunch and remain affordable even today. Let the March 1982 issue serve as a harbinger of that sentiment. “More Muscle Per Dollar” still rings true. Author Jeff Tann wrote a retrospective on the Nova and Chevy II, as the earlier generations were called, chronicling its humble origins as a compact economy car that gained performance prowess through the years until the smog era killed that notion. I’ve never had a desire to set a time machine back to 1982, but this sentence from Tann may change my mind, “There is still an abundance of early Novas on the street, and many of the earlier years can be purchased for under $1,000, and some under $500.” Also in this issue, Tech Editor Marlan Davis made a trip to Valley Head Service to continue his series on blueprinting an engine, and Al Kirschenbaum detailed the various types of hoodscoops used in racing and on factory performance models. Another standout piece was the article on Gale Banks newly developed twin-turbo kit for small-block Chevys. HRM covered an engine build and dyno test a year prior, so this issue had a drag strip test of that same engine installed in a 1969 Corvette. At Orange County Raceway, the 3,600 pound street car ran 10.95 still spinning the Firestone slicks off the line. “Who could imagine a Vette as stock-looking and stock-sounding as this could turn 10-second quarter-mile times? This car disobeys the laws of physics,” author Jeff Tann proclaimed.

1982

60 Years Ago March may have been a month for Novas in HOT ROD, as evidenced by the skyline blurb highlighted in yellow on the cover. Inside, author Ray Brock describes a kit available at your local Chevrolet dealership that will enable you to easily install a small-block in place of the Inline-4 or -6 that came with the 1962 Chevy II. Working with Bill Thomas, who would develop the Cobra-fighting Cheetah, Brock covered the install of a Fuelie 327 into a Chevy II. The dealership parts included in the conversion were comprehensive and included motor mounts, a complete exhaust system, radius rods to reinforce the leaf springs, a larger radiator and new hoses, a front sway bar, and bigger brake drums with heavy-duty shoes. After driving the car, Brock wrote, “As you might expect, the V8-powered Chevy II has fantastic acceleration in all gears, and with its limited-slip differential, will paint a pair of black strips on the pavement just as far as the driver wishes.” That article was followed up with an in-depth look at drag racing slicks, which were still relatively new to the market. Author Griff Borgeson looked at different rubber formulations designed for better traction at the drag strip. The cover car was the Highland Plating Special, a reworking of a 1925 Model T originally built by Dick Kraft. Brothers Richard and Gary Seiden found the car and revamped it with a ’34 Ford front axle, handmade aluminum grille and shell, and a supercharged ’46 Mercury 321-inch flathead that would propel the car to a 12.41 at 114 mph at the drag strip.

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1962

HOT ROD Archives

March 1962: 126 pages, 50¢

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WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

BLOOD LETTERS AND BADMEN ❱In the early ’60s, drag racing became a theater of the fantastic. Funny Cars still held very close to the original form, completely recognizable as the street machines from whence they came. Indeed, the normally aspirated pioneers engendered the deception. Though they might have appeared unmolested, leading technology seethed beneath a mild-mannered exterior. But that changed irrevocably when the hammer went down, the pipes burned red, and the still-exploding nitro spewing from them overpowered the senses and seized the lungs. That was the physical phenomenon.

Was anything ever the same after experiencing this primal scream?

In the fall of 1966, at his metal works in Floydada, Texas, (1) Don Hardy built two 1967 body-in-white Camaros, the first one for Kelly “The Professor” Chadwick and the other for Dick “Mr. Chevrolet” Harrell. Dick’s car was finished in time for an initial outing in late March or early April under the Yenko Chevrolet banner, a partnership that was instrumental in Harrell’s early success.

Hardy based the build on a 2x3-inch rectangular tube chassis. He retained the production rear clip, moved the wheels forward 8 inches, and extended the front end by approximately 15 inches to yield a wheelbase of 115 inches. The doors and trunklid were ’glass and with an iron big-block Chevrolet engine, a Turbo 400 transmission, and an Olds/Pontiac axle, it weighed about 2,300 pounds. Though a standard at AHRA events, the Camaro raced nationwide and was the car that brought Dick’s name to prominence in the racing

community, as trademarked by its tarpaper roof, short injector stacks and long wheelbase. It ran in the AHRA X/S class.

Farmer Arnie, not Don Gay, at the 1966 Winternationals. (2) Promoters loved his GTO because it was a voracious GM product in the time of no GM racing. In the face of Mopar and Ford factory support, Arnie was the underdog and one of the few competitive GM cars on the match-race circuit. In the search for reliable and repeatable torque transfer, Beswick first put a four-speed B&M Hydramatic behind the supercharged 421 Super Duty, but it would often slip and consequently over-rev the motor. This prompted a switch to GM’s new Turbo 400, but it had weakness in the sprags and clutch packs. Inevitably, the overweight (3,450 pounds) Mystery Tornado became obsolete, but as usual, Beswick countered successfully—with the Tameless Tiger Tempest.

Indy Car and off-road racing tough guy Parnelli Jones (3) once celebrated a partnership with Vel Miletich’s Ford dealership. PJ bought Big John Mazmanian’s slick ’Cuda and put Danny Ongais in the driver seat, Danny was coming off a sensational season in Mickey’s blue Mustang. After the ’Cuda’s ’glass got singed in 1974, Vel and PJ switched to the Mustang overcoat, ostensibly for use as a Firestone (a longtime Jones supporter) test car. Danny “On the Gas” drove it. When he left the straight-line life for Indy racing later that year, PJ

BY RO MCGONEGAL PHOTOGRAPHY HOT ROD ARCHIVES

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05

and Vel parked the ’Stang. By the following year, it was obsolete and became a curb-side attraction at a Firestone dealership in Huntington Beach, California.

Blame it on those double-knit pants, dudes.

(4) North Carolina textile magnate Barry Setzer was right on top of that phenomenon in the early 1970s. He loved drag racing and had a war chest bigger than a Madagascar cockroach. His blue-and-red Vegas marched hard and became the most feared Funny Cars in the nation, built and driven (mostly) by Pat Foster with an Ed Pink Hemi bellowing between his knees. Since the sun is out at The County, this iteration is likely getting some shakedown time as Patty pins the pedal.

In the formative Funny Car years, the Northwest was aptly represented by many name drivers, (5) with stand-up guys Kenney Goodell (Wynn’s Stormer Duster #604) and Twig Ziegler (Pizza Haven–sponsored Duster #605) among them. Ziegler’s car was founded on pipe that had burned to the floorboards in the Whipple & McCulloch trailer. It ran a 6.72 at the 1971 OCIR Manufacturers Meet. Goodell ran the hardest in 1973-1974, winning the Stardust National Open in Las Vegas and the Northwest National Open in Seattle. As a kid, Kenney was notorious for hot rodding his cars around town. The cops knew him well. Though this image looks ominous, the Action Man bailed out unscathed.

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HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH 11

FASTEST STREET C Fast Cars, Freaks, and Swedes from HOT ROD Drag Week eBay Motors Powers HOT ROD Drag Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive. ooking at the map, the 2021 HOT ROD Drag Week route looked a lot like the Bermuda triangle. The staging and starting point was U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, followed by a shot over to Summit Motorsports Park, in Norwalk, Ohio, then down to Lucas Oil Raceway, in Indianapolis, and back up to Byron Dragway in Byron, Illinois. A sane person on the freeway could make the trip in about 12 hours and cover about 800 miles if they didn’t disappear into a triangle myth forever.

There is nothing sane about Drag Week contenders. Instead of the direct route, they all volunteered to drive their race cars along four circuitous routes that added up to 1,200 miles total—each hidden 12 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

from them until the day of the drive. Those new to Drag Week or drag racing in general need to understand these are hot, noisy, homemade vintage vehicles with about five times the power of the average street commuter. It’s an exercise in physical and mental endurance.

To win Drag Week overall, you must have a fast car. That may be a giant oversimplification considering last year’s winner, Tom Bailey’s Camaro, covered the quarter-mile in 5.99 seconds at 250 mph. To add a little perspective, the average drivable street rod or muscle car would be about 10 seconds slower, a lifetime in motorsports of any kind. Bailey couldn’t make the call for 2021 allowing long-time Drag Week competitor Dave Schroeder to step in with his new Corvette and win the overall event with a 6.73 at 198 mph average.

CAR IN AMERICA HOT ROD STAFF

DAVE SCHROEDER’S 2019 CORVETTE ❱Dave Schroeder and his cousin John Ens have been racing on Drag Week since 2010. The first car was a red and white 1955 Chevy that ran 8.90s at more than 150 mph in the Modified Power Adder class. In 2012, Schroeder debuted a 1966 Chevy Corvette with a nitrous-assisted 872-inch Reher Morrison engine.

Schroeder and Ens took some losses, DNFs, and even a crash before winning the Unlimited Class in 2017.

The next year, Tom Bailey appeared with a Camaro and put them on the trailer in 2018 and 2019 while running the first 5-second pass in Drag Week history.

WES ALLISON, RENZ DIMAANDAL

DRAG WEEK Starting early in 2021, Schroeder began to put together a chassis to handle all the power to compete. “Originally we were looking for a C1,” says Schroeder. “But the aero was bad.” The C7 has a slicker shape and can hold a 36.0x17.0-16 Hoosier slick. The Pro Mod chassis is from Jerry Bickel with a 25.1 certification that allows the car to run at the top of any Drag Week class. The body is from Cynergy, painted in the original Corvette Grand Sport livery. There is nothing off the shelf about the shell. The hood needed to be removable to service the car, the nose needed OE headlamps to see during the nighttime drives and the car needed taillights and mirrors to be legal for the race. The Pro Mod wing was carefully trimmed to fit the body and the car is one foot narrower overall than a C7 Z06.

There are some additional tricks to get the car down the highway.

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There is a small fuel tank that attaches to a custom hitch behind the differential. For the drives, the car can run on premium pump gas when switched from the main tank in the front to the auxiliary tank in the rear. On the track, the car runs on methanol. The front brakes use carbon-fiber discs to handle the heat from the road and are a combination of an Anglia spindle with 5-lug hubs from a Chevy G-body. The radiator has its own water pump welded to the tank and is used for both the street and track. The oil pump bolts to a billet oil pan for strength on bumpy roads and long drives.

The engine has four kits of Monte Smith nitrous oxide that can deliver 1,000 hp on top of the estimated 1,750 hp the engine makes N/A. To get this kind of power they started with a Dart block with 5.30-inch bore centers and added a set of big Dart heads. To get it all to live on the street, Ed Iskenderian pitched in with a cam grind that

didn’t beat the valvetrain to death. After that, it’s all about fuel and temperature management. The transmission is a Rossler TH400 with a Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive in front of a 10-inch fabricated differential with a 4.56:1 gear. Nothing too exotic. To keep it cool, they used a giga-trick Laminova cooler that doubles as an engine oil cooler and filter.

Another trick that no one seemed to notice is that the intake manifold is mounted backward. “I am fortunate that Warren Johnson answers the phone when I call,” said Ens. “I started to ask him about where to pick up the air and he finished my sentence for me.” The intake was reversed, and the hood was raised to take advantage of the high-pressure area around the cowl. Much like a 1970 Chevelle, the Corvette uses cool intake air from the base of the windshield instead of picking up hot air off the ground like a modern Pro Stock car.

HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 15

DRAG WEEK

ALEX TAYLOR’S 1955 CHEVY ❱Alex Taylor is best known for Badmaro, her 8-second 1968 Camaro that she has been competing with in Drag Week since 2013. In 2021, she brought a 1955 Chevrolet 210 to compete in the Unlimited class.

“I had raced Badmaro for seven years.

I was ready to go faster. I have been for a couple years now,” said Taylor. “Badmaro is super streetable, but only certified to 8.50.

We could upgrade the cage and make a few upgrades, and I believe it would run a 7. But I didn’t want to take away the streetable-ness of it,” she said.

The plan was to build the ’55 in four months. After stripping the 210 down to the usable metal, it was time to get to work on structural repairs and the chassis. More than a month of work went into the design and fabrication of the chromoly tube chassis and the 6.0-second capable Funny Car ’cage.

Alex says they’re only going to certify the car for 6.50 because she doesn’t want to have to deal with the annual red tag renewal of 6.0-second certification.

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Alex and her father Dennis had to consider that “Quest for the Sixes 55” (the blue 210’s official name) would be riding on street tires for the 1,000 miles between the four Drag Week venues, which are 1-inch shorter in diameter than the slicks they’re running at the tracks. The rear portion of the chassis had to be able to allow enough travel in the four-link rear suspension for the different sized street and track tires, and enough room in the tubs for the drag slicks to grow during burnouts and passes, accommodate a trailer hitch receiver and wheelie

bars, and fit the handmade aluminum fuel tank—all under a stock-appearing fiberglass rear decklid.

The Swiss-cheese metal bumpers, doors, and front clip had to go as well—and being experts at making tri-five fiberglass—Alex, Dennis, and Debbie (mom), all hand-laid the remaining panels needed to complete the exterior. Weight is the enemy of speed and the Taylors used carbon fiber in the door skins and front clip, making the assemblies stronger and lighter than the solid fiberglass parts Dennis built his name on.

DRAG WEEK Working with carbon fiber was a first for the Taylors, but just like everything they do, they made it look easy, finishing the interior of Alex’s 6-second 210 with carbon-fiber door cards, rear bulkhead, and wheel tubs.

Alex wanted to keep as much of the original patina as possible, and we applaud the decision to duplicate the patina on the new portions of the car. Normally, we can’t abide fake patina just for the sake of fake patina. It didn’t make sense to have pristine paint on half the car with all the hard-earned character on the other half, and the detail that went into making a cohesive look for the 210 is spectacular.

The engine is a 525ci Dart tall deck iron block backed up by a Turbo 400. The big-block is stuffed with a Crower Crank and BME pistons with 8.5:1 compression. Dennis custom fabricated a billet one-piece girdle and dowel pin caps for the mains.

Twin Precision Pro Mod 88mm turbos feed the AFR singleplane intake through a 105mm throttle body with 24 (count ’em, 24) injectors—two for each cylinder when running on pump gas at various engine speeds and one set for running pure methanol at the track. Engine management is taken care of by a Holley Dominator ECU and MSD Pro 600 ignition coupled with two Holley injector modules, eight EGT sensors and tons of other sensor and data collectors. Dennis tells us this potent mill should be easily dialed up to nearly 3,000 hp.

A QA1 carbon-fiber driveshaft connects the Turbo 400 to the custom-fabricated, full-floating Ford 9-inch with 3.89:1 gear ratio.

Alex tells us that gearing, paired with the Gear Vendors overdrive unit, lets her 210 cruise comfortably at 70 mph at 2,200 rpm—perfect for eating up the miles between venues on HOT ROD Drag Week.

A Spartan race car interior finishes out Alex Taylor’s 1955 Chevrolet, incorporating a digital instrument panel, racing seats,

and plain steel floors. Alex and Dennis use headsets to both protect their hearing and communicate with each other in the uninsulated interior.

Alex had two personal-best runs on HOT ROD Drag Week 2021. At U.S. 131 Motorsports Park, she ran her best elapsed time and mph ever at 7.69 at 185.4 mph, then beat her mph best the following day at Summit Motorsport Park with a 7.79 at 185.6 mph. We’re sure Alex will achieve her goal of running 6s, then she’ll come back with something bigger and better, and you can bet HOT ROD will be there to tell you all about it.

BRYANT GOLDSTONE CRASHES ❱Bryant Goldstone was back at HOT ROD Drag Week 2021 in his 1973 big-block powered AMC Javelin. He has battled Unlimited competitors in the past, finishing a close second and third to Tom Bailey’s Camaro and Dave Schroeder’s 1966 Corvette. This year, it was looking good as the car ran a lightning-fast 6.78 against leader Schroeder’s 6.74 at Indy.

The Javelin has a couple of modifications to the framerail for safety and longevity plus a small engine setback. Otherwise, it has the same 572-inch twin 88mm turbo-boosted Chevy big-block and chassis combo as it did in previous years. He is also running the same Rossler TH400 transmission and Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive.

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We caught up to Goldstone at Summit Motorsports Park where he had his transmission and overdrive out of the car and spread out across the pits. He got the car back together and on the road before most of the other competitors had finished changing tires.

To win the Unlimited Class and the overall event, Goldstone was trying to push his car into the 6.50s and have it hold together, and hope Schroeder failed to maintain that pace but sadly got loose at the top end of the track and rolled in the lights. Goldstone was uninjured in the crash, and we are hoping to see him again at Drag Week.

JASON SACK’S 1969 CHEVY NOVA ❱Between Schroeder’s Corvette and Alex Taylor’s new ’55 was Jason Sack in his 1969 Nova. Sack’s car runs dead reliable 7.30s and .40s, good for Second place in the Unlimited class. He has been on Drag Week twice before: Once as a co-driver and once in his Nova where he placed Fourth overall in the Unlimited Class. On HOT ROD Drag Week 2021, he had a personal best e.t. of 7.29 at 185 mph.

DRAG WEEK Sack’s Nova could easily win a car show if that’s what he was into. The paint is a deep pool of Hugger Orange and everything under the hood is high-polish stainless and aluminum. The engine combo is standard for 7-second race cars these days. It has an LS-based 427-inch Dart block, MAST Motorsports heads, with about 30 pounds of boost from the 102mm turbo. It runs a Holley Hi Ram with a Dominator EFI system.

Behind that is a Rossler TH400 and a Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive and a 9-inch diff with a 4.10:1 gear ratio.

The chassis is certed to 6.0 from Skinny Kid Race Cars. The body has a steel roof and quarters and a carbon-fiber front end.

On race day, Sack packs the intercooler with ice, tunes the car for C16 race fuel, and bolts on the 33.0x17.0-16 Hoosier slicks.

On the street, it runs on 91 octane with 35x12.50R15LT BFG All Terrain T/A light truck tires. If you look closely, you will see the single nitrous injector plumbed into the cold side. This should be worth a bump of about 50 hp and 100 lb-ft of torque when he needs it. Look for him in the top three in the Unlimited class.

BREAKAGE ON THE ROAD ❱You can’t have Drag Week without carnage. We watched David Armentrout rip off a mid-7-second quarter-mile run with nearly 200 mph in the traps in his 1967 Nova during Day 1 of HOT ROD Drag Week 2021.

On Armentrout’s next run, we got a top-end smoke show as something let go and oiled down the headers at 189 mph. We carted to the pits to see what was left of the passenger-side turbo laying in a pool of its own frothy oil. With a wave of his hand, co-driver and mechanic Paul Powell explained that he was going to bypass the turbo, pick up a new turbo somewhere on the route, and change the entire thing in the parking lot at the hotel. Epic, sir.

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DRAG WEEK The Nova is a regular at HOT ROD Drag Week, running low-7s with a twin 94mm turbocharged 427-inch LS on 30 pounds of boost. It’s a simple combination in front of a TH400 and 9-inch with a 3.70:1 gear. The car itself is steel and normally competes in the Ultimate Iron class until they switched to methanol and were forced into the Unlimited class. The hood, bumpers, and trunk are carbon fiber. The entire car weighs 3,180 pounds. The next day, the car was back on the track with a slightly different turbo on one bank. It made the trip but sadly dropped out of the race.

THE MILK TRUCK FREAK ❱You don’t have to make a lot of money to compete in HOT ROD Drag Week. Nick Cryer is a great example of a guy who built a fun drag car to take the trip with his dad, Mark. Starting with a 5x7-inch print posted on a cork board at a swap meet, the two recovered and assembled what has become known as the Milk Truck, a wheel standing 10-second delivery van running in the Street Machine Eliminator class.

After recovering the 1963 Divco delivery van from the seller, Nick and Mark pulled the body off the frame and chucked most of the stock stuff in the dumpster. Starting from the front of the car, they installed a complete clip from a 1995 Chevy 1500 pickup truck then built the rest of the frame using 2x3 steel and a ladder bar rear suspension.

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Having never built a turbo anything before, Nick bought an eBay turbo kit for a big-block Chevy and plumbed it into a 496inch Chev marine-based big-block. Using a set of Edelbrock RPM heads and a Holley Super Sniper intake, the combo made 815 hp at the flywheel on 1 bar of boost. Behind the big-block is a TH400 transmission, a Gear Vendors overdrive, and a Ford 9-inch with a 3.73:1 gear ratio.

Inside are remnants from a house Nick had remodeled. The floors are tongue-andgroove hardware of the finest quality, and the walls are FRP board. The seats are from a Dodge Caravan and the steering column is a street rod kit from Speedway Motors. Aside from the Autometer white face gauges, there isn’t a lot going on in terms of technology.

The wheels are Billet Specialties 15x8 and 15x12 with 26x7.50-15 drag radials. It hooks hard and wheelies but without a rollbar or other safety equipment, it is limited to 11.50s or slower even though it’s likely a low 10-second combination. Nick was running mid-pack in Street Machine Eliminator for all of Drag Week.

SWEDES, NO AUSSIES ❱We half expected to be meeting Swedes when we saw this Volvo wagon lift a wheel and run a 7.16 at 189 mph on the first day. Racers from Scandinavia and Australia have a long history of attending Drag Week with ultra-fast and interesting Opels and other funky European hardware. We knew that international borders were closed to fun, and we also knew that no one had heard of any Swedes or Aussies making the trip this year, making us cautiously optimistic when we headed for their pits.

DRAG WEEK Owner Mikael Borggren and his co-pilot are undoubtedly Swedish. The accents, the shocking speed, the weird chocolate; it was all there. They live and work in Detroit which explains how they managed to make the race when the rest of the world was locked down. The Volvo is lightning in a Grolsch. It has a 388-inch LS-based smallblock with mystery racer heads and cam and a 98mm turbo doing all the work. There is nothing too exotic about the drivetrain, it has a TH400 and a 9-inch, the fuel is a mix of pump E85 and methanol. Borggren and the crew won the Modified Power Adder class with an average of 7.25 at 192.

SPIRIT OF DRAG WEEK AWARD SHARED ❱The most important award given out every year at HOT ROD Drag Week is the Spirit of Drag Week. Treated like the Stanley Cup, the Spirit of Drag Week is given to the racer who most exemplifies the spirit of camaraderie, community, and competition.

The racing community at HOT ROD Drag Week is unique; the grueling competition quickly forges life-long friendships as perfect strangers often go above and beyond to help fellow competitors get through the week. The motorsport community is tight-knit across every genre, but nothing is like Drag Week when it comes to lending a neighbor a tool, or scouring the local area for replacement parts, or a place to get some welding done; even pulling all-nighters to get another racer back on the road. It doesn’t matter how fast a participant’s car is when it comes to the Spirit of Drag Week award, all that matters is how determined they are to get themselves and the rest of the community through the torture test that is HOT ROD Drag Week.

Happening only once before in the history of the event, the 2021 Spirit of Drag Week award is being shared by two racers: Mike Murray and “Pepsi Joe” Unverzagt, both racing in the Gasser B/Gas and both in home-built cars. Both racers have a flair for style, Pepsi Joe’s nickname being obvious after seeing his “Pepsi Express” 1959 Volkswagen Beetle. Murray took a bit more of an eclectic approach building his beautifully patina’ d 1965 Chevy II Nova, replete with unique and handmade touches throughout the car (that hood ornament!), but both builds are perfect examples of awesome street freaks.

Same class, same style of build, but neither racers had competed in Drag Week or a similar type of event before 2021 (Murray never raced before), and both competed for the same reason—to do it before they lost the ability. Murray and Unverzagt have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and both wanted to prove to themselves that they could make it through one of drag racing’s most grueling competitions before it became a physical impossibility.

Both racers exuded joy at making it out to participate in HOT ROD Drag Week 2021 and both participants were instant celebrities around the pits during Sunday’s tech inspection and registration. HOT ROD Drag Week always has its share of interesting vehicles, and the gassers attracted so much attention on tech day that their shared story of overcoming Parkinson’s to race had spread like wildfire throughout the participants and staff.

Above: Mike Murray accepting the Spirit of Drag Week Award from Keith Turk. Above right: Joe Unverzagt accepting the Spirit of Drag Week Award from Tonya Turk.

Pepsi Joe had some engine issues before making it to this year’s event as well, telling us he went through two 408ci engines before the 385-inch stroker motor went in, built by his cousin Lance Dillinger. Otherwise, Pepsi Express— Joe’s Gasser Bug—seemed to have a bulletproof setup: the 385 is fed by an Offenhauser tunnel-ram intake topped by a Holley 750 double pumper, backed by a Turbo 350 with a 10-bolt rear axle from an S10 filled with Yukon 3.42 gears.

QMike made all the unique detail pieces on his 1965 Chevy Nova Gasser himself. The bang-shifting snail hood ornament made of a rocker arm, nails, and a gear is our favorite, but just one of many cool touches.

Q“Pepsi Joe” Unverzagt hand-made the custom chassis underneath his 1959 Volkswagen Beetle Gasser. If you dig through the HOT ROD Power Tour 2021 coverage, you can spot Joe shaking down his Gasser Bug on Day 3 at Lucas Oil Raceway.

Neither competitor could have made it to HOT ROD Drag Week 2021 without the love and support of family and friends. Mike Murray told us that as little as a month out from the start of Drag Week, no one believed he was going to make it because of overheating issues in the 454 Chevy powering his Nova, dubbed “On Shaky Ground.” As a first-time builder, Mike literally had to beg people for help to get his car built and running reliably to make it to Drag Week on time. His son, Sean, even learned to TIG weld just so they could run a chromoly rollcage.

Murray kept telling himself every time a problem would arise, “I’m a car guy, I’m smart, I can do this, I just need to figure it out.” And figure it out he did. At U.S. 131 Motorsports Park on the last day of HOT ROD Drag Week 2021, Murray told us he ran great all week. The pin in his parking brake broke, he might have a lifter issue, the steering box isn’t happy, but Murray considers those issues nothing compared to what it took to get to Drag Week 2021.

Pepsi Joe may not have had car issues, but he was surprised by something at the award ceremony, other than being co-winner of the 2021 Spirit of Drag Week Winner award. Ungverzagt is a proud veteran of the United States Armed Forces and when his fellow veterans on Drag Week 2021 heard his story they started planning. As an additional honor, the other veterans presented him with a flag of the United States, signed by every member of the United States Armed Forces in attendance and some of the HOT ROD Drag Week community at large.

Mike Murray and Joe Unverzagt might have very similar stories, but they had never met before coming to HOT ROD Drag Week 2021. Mike came all the way from Washington, while Joe was more local, starting in Illinois. It’s pure coincidence that they both built a race car to compete in Drag Week for the first time and for the same reason—checking off a bucket-list item before Parkinson’s can take over.

Mike and Joe’s optimism for life and now-or-never attitude was an inspiration to everyone at HOT ROD Drag Week 2021. We hope that sharing the Spirit of Drag Week award made their experience that much better and that they’ll be able to make it to HOT ROD Drag Week 2022. Those dates will be annouced soon. For that and full race results from Drag Week 2021, visit HOTROD.com HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 25

MUSCLE CARS ON TRACK UMI’s 2021 Autocross Challenge brought fast cars, both new and classic, to battle it out. hen you’re a suspension company, you have a vested interest in getting people excited about driving their cars as God intended—hard! UMI Performance knows this, and it figured the best way to get people involved would be to host an event. Now, the company has done its UMI King of the Mountain race (with its $25,001 in prizes and $15,000 of that for the winner), sponsored by Air Flow Research (AFR), but it wanted to up how many events it was hosting at its motorsports park, so UMI hooked up with Optima Batteries to put on this DriveAutoX autocross event.

STEVEN RUPP

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JOHN MACHAQUEIRO

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Autocrossing, as opposed to road racing, is a much easier way for newbies to get into the sport. The speeds are a bit slower, and a proper autocross track will have far more runoff room compared to most road courses. This means a mistake is unlikely to put you into a K-rail or other nasty track hazard. The event, sponsored

by Ron Francis Wiring, was held at UMI Motorsports Park in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, and even though it was an autocross, it still had some very fast sections.

//////////

MUSCLE CARS

In addition to the on-track action, there was a charity bakery and “swear bucket” set up to benefit the Emily Whitehead Foundation, which supports childhood cancer treatments. How did they do? Well, nearly $11,000 was raised for the foundation and for Danny Popp, a fellow racer who recently suffered a stroke. So we had hot racing that benefited good causes—what else could be better? Well, Falken Tire gave away at least five sets of tires at the event. You only had to win your class to get fresh, sticky rubber for your ride.

The event had five classes—GT, GTV, GTU, SCB, SCN—plus a nolimit Outlaw class for the really crazy stuff. The rules are simple, and most 200-treadwear tires (or higher) are eligible to win. Friday times were combined with Saturday run times and when the smoke cleared 1,531 timed runs were made!

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MUSCLE CARS

Aside from winning their classes, and the free Falken tires, everyone was also trying to win an invite to the King of the Mountain event and a chance at $25,001.

Even though the competition on the track was fierce, the friendship in the pits is what really made this event special. In the end, trophies and prizes were handed out, charities got checks, and some lucky racers took home tires. Ultimately, everyone at the event won since they got to hang out with fellow gearheads, swap lies, and enjoy their hot rods the right way, fast and covered in little bits of rubber. For more info on upcoming events visit UMI Performance on the web at www.umiperformance.com.

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HAND-ME-D

STEVE HINCKLEY RESTORED THIS 1965 DART THAT HAS BEEN IN HIS

P

eople often say that there are certain things in life that you can’t put a price on. While we can’t always know what material things will be bestowed with that significance, automobiles often end up in that category, and Steve Hinckley’s 1965 Dodge Dart embodies that sentiment. However, it took a long and crooked path to reach that status. His story started in 1965, when his grandmother, Lois Hinckley drove her 1957 Dodge Lancer to the ironically-named Hinckley Dodge to trade it in on a brand new 1965 Dodge Dart. Purchased as basic transportation, the Dart was decked out with a white exterior and white and gold interior and had a 273 small-block backed by a 904 three-speed automatic. It was used as a daily driver, and it served that purpose well until 1969, when she decided that a new replacement was in order.

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DOWN DART

S FAMILY FOR THREE GENERATIONS

JOHN MACHAQUEIRO

HAND-ME-DOWN DART She once again went to the same dealer to buy another daily driver, which unsurprisingly ended up being another Dart. It was a GT model—also in white with a gold interior. Unlike the Lancer, the 1965 Dart was not used as a trade-in. It was instead given to Steve’s mother, Jean, to use as her daily transportation.

Shortly after changing hands, Steve’s father, Michael, took a liking to his wife’s car and installed a dual exhaust system with glasspack mufflers, which didn’t exactly go over too well with Jean. Loud mufflers aside, she endured its noisy rumble for almost 10 years until the time came to pass it along as well.

The Dart was eventually handed over to Steve, but by then it was worn out. He recalls, “By the time I hit high school, the car had a vibration, and it wasn’t fun to drive.” As is the case with most teens, unhindered optimism often clouds reality, and in Steve’s case, that manifested itself with a focused determination to fix the Dart’s issues. “I took it apart just to fix a few things, and it was most things that a 16-year-old shouldn’t do,” explains. What he ended up doing was taking the car almost completely apart, including the engine. As a result of that lack of judgment, it was a non-runner for most of his high school years.

As part of his effort to get the car back on the road, Steve soon started with the rebuild of the 273. Drawing inspiration from the factory D/Stock lightweight 1966 Darts, he set out to duplicate the engine build specs used in those cars. This, unfortunately, resulted in a bunch of mismatched parts and a cam that was too big for the combination. By his own admission, Steve says, “I could never get it to run well.” That rebuild was fueled by a need for some daily transportation, so he put the rest of the Dart back together, applied a less than stellar coat of black paint on the body, and eventually got it back on the road. “I drove it for a couple of years,” he says. “It looked sad, but it worked.”

34 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 35

HAND-ME-DOWN DART Marriage and family set another Dart chapter in motion. With the purchase of a house, and the need for some cash, he sold the car to his friend Stacy Odle in 1991. Its new home was a storage bunker at an old Army depot, where it sat for 15 years. Shortly after selling it, Steve began to have regrets. “We negotiated back and forth for the next 15 years for me to get it back,” he recalls. He did eventually buy the car back, and once removed from its bunker lair, Steve’s view of the Dart’s significance changed considerably. The idea of its sentimental value really took hold, and Steve was determined to get it roadworthy. Guided by a more mature perspective, his intentions called for more than a quick fix to get it running again.

36 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

One of his biggest tasks was to go back into the engine to fix what he was never able to get right in his earlier years. Faced with the option of keeping the original 273 as a starting point or do something different, he opted for the latter. Using a 1979 318-block as the foundation, Steve built the bottom end with stock internals and added a set of Keith Black 10.0:1 hypereutectic pistons. On the top end, he wanted to keep the original 273 heads and Edelbrock D4B aluminum intake that had been on the car previously, so the heads were given a refresh with some mild porting then mounted on the block. The new mill was topped off with a Holley 570 cfm carburetor. Like the engine, the shifting duties also required some decisions to be made. The

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HAND-ME-DOWN DART Dart was originally equipped with a 904, but one of the changes that Steve made to the car during his high school years was to swap out the automatic with an A-833 four-speed. In the end the four-speed stayed in place, but another item that had long been removed found its way back. Steve explains, “My attitude back then was who needs air? Luckily, I kept all of the air conditioning parts that I took off back when I was in high school.” As he worked his way through the car, he also gave the suspension a refresh, added SSBC discs at all four corners, and installed American Racing Torq Thrust wheels wrapped in Firestone rubber. He debated returning the car back to its original white or to keep it black, which was the option that won out in the end. For that, he had Castle Country Auto, in Huntington, Utah, apply the two-stage Martin Senour Pitch Black paint. When it came to tackling the interior, a color change was also considered. The original white and gold had given way to black at some point, but Steve wasn’t feeling any love for that color scheme anymore, so he decided on red seats, carpet, and trim from Legendary Auto Interiors.

The rejuvenation spanned just over five years, and was finished just in time to take part in the 2015 running of the HOT ROD Power Tour. Along the way, it did have a few hiccups, but overall, it performed well for an old car. Having learned his lesson, Steve has grown to appreciate and embrace the sentimental gift that Lois Hinckley purchased in 1965.

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IT GETS PRIMO PARKING BLOWN LS-SWAPPED 1965 MALIBU PERFORMS AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS

40 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

T

here’s a running joke about America’s priorities. Since the development of the automobile just barely lags our development as a nation, the automobile pretty much defines our lives. Forget the day we can exercise our right to vote; we can’t wait for our privilege to drive. In fact, we’ll drive if it’s farther than a block away and even shorter distances if the weather doesn’t suit us. You could say we sort of have to, because nearly everything built within the past 100 years is automobile scale, it’s damn near impossible to walk to anywhere with any kind of significance anymore.

We don’t have to look any further than where we live to see proof of our priorities.

By and large, we’ll sacrifice the looks of our most expensive investments, our houses, by erecting imposing shrines for our cars. But, irony of all ironies, we won’t park them in there. No, we’ll let our valuable cars sit on the driveway in the cold and wet for the privilege of packing those giant, blighted rooms with worthless old junk.

Pat Stauner can testify. “I had many new and nice vehicles over the years that sat outside so this car could keep its spot in the garage,” he says. Of course, judging by the way it looks now, it’s justified; it’s simply stunning. But until a few years ago his now LS-swapped 1965 Malibu was hardly more enviable than the plastic Christmas trees, tattered couches, and last season’s fashions that most people pack their garages with.

STEVEN RUPP

CHRIS SHELTON

HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 41

IT GETS PRIMO PARKING The story about his car says something kinder about our priorities as car people.

The $3,500 that his boss at the gas station wanted for his ’65 Malibu sounds like a song today, but to a kid in 1981, it was borderline highway robbery. Today that’s like spending $10,500 for something from 2005. Undeterred, he leveraged a motorcycle and money he borrowed from his older brother to secure the deal. “After I bought the car, I knew I had to have a 427,” he adds. A year later he had that, too, also on a pump-jockey’s salary. In fact, so dedicated was Pat to his Chevelle that he warned the cops eating at the diner next to the station that he’d have to drive by with open headers because the mufflers he ordered didn’t come in on time. “I’ll give you a five minute head start,” he recalled one officer saying. “When I backed it out of the shop, he just shook his head and went back to eating.” Still, Pat took the long way home. “Nothing sounds like a big-block with open headers,” he mused.

“NOTHING SOUNDS LIKE A BIG-

42 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

A funny thing happened over the years: Pat grew up. Armed with the resources to make his love look like the car in his head, he asked his car-building neighbor, Korey Huenink, when he could take on another project. “I told him I’d be ready after he tore it down,” Korey said. “I just didn’t expect him to show up with it the next day!” Korey and Dustin Smith started with the bones. They fortified the factory crossmember with additional tubes, and Korey segmented the center section to make it drop out for transmission access. They then welded and ground the chassis seams and prepped it for a PPG urethane finish worthy of the car’s topside.

The front suspension consists of Global West tubular control arms and coils, QA1 double-adjustable dampers, ATS steering knuckles, and a Detroit Speed anti-roll bar. Pat replaced the slow and sloppy steering box with a fast-ratio Lee Manufacturing unit. Currie Enterprises built the Fab 9 rear axle. It boasts a 9-inch

-BLOCK WITH OPEN HEADERS”

HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 43

IT GETS PRIMO PARKING Ford-style gear case with a Detroit helical-style Truetrac limited-slip carrier and 3.25 gears.

Another set of Global West rear suspension parts pins it to the chassis. As with the front, the rear rides on Detroit Speed coils and double-adjustable QA1 dampers.

Bolted to each axle is a Boze Force wheel, the front bearing 18x8 wheels along with Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 235/40ZR18s, and 18x9.5 wheels with 275/40ZR18 rubber in the rear. The big diameter accommodates something Pat said he deemed necessary: Baer 14-inch drilled and slotted rotors and six-piston calipers.

His inspiration and motivation is a Turn Key Engine Supply GM LS3, but this one’s exceptional, if there’s such a thing as an ordinary LS3, for it boasts Race Tech pistons, aftermarket rods, and an extra-special cam to make the most of the artificial atmosphere the Kenne Bell supercharger creates. Korey Huenink fabricated the intake duct that draws cool air through a screen in the driver-side wheelwell. The engine’s deep breathing inspired a set of 13⁄4-inch Eddie Whipple Motorsports headers. Those in turn feed 3-inch stainless pipes and 50-series Flowmaster mufflers that Brad and Rich Gortsema fit to the car. Those pipes flank a Tremec TKO600 five-speed transmission. Inland Empire built the 4-inch-diameter aluminum driveshaft that it feeds. It’s obvious that Pat spent more on his old clunker than it’d cost to buy a new Corvette, but it wouldn’t be the same, something which he knows firsthand—he has a Z06, too.

As you’d expect, he still has his priorities in order: The Malibu gets a spot in the garage.

Only this garage has space for the Corvette and then some. Because he had the foresight to buy a patch far from the big city, he has plenty of excuses to go for a drive. Hey, there’s no way he could just walk the dozen or so miles to the nearest market!

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Icons Reunited The Scotty’s Muffler roadster ran a Hemi at Bonneville in the ’70s.

Next time, it will be with the famous Tom Senter Ardun.

TIM BERNSAU

WES ALLISON

46 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

Point your phone camera here to see the Scotty’s Muffler Top Fuel dragster.

HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 47

ICONS REUNITED he Scotty’s Muffler 1934 Ford roadster was well known on the Southern California dry lakes and on the Bonneville Salt Flats for more than a quarter century. Now it’s in Massachusetts, part of Dave Simard’s collection. Running a Chrysler Hemi in its heyday, the historic hot rod is now powered by the Ford flathead that just might be the most famous Ardun engine ever built.

For the last few months, we’ve been hanging out with you—virtually, of course—at East Coast Custom in Leominster, Massachusetts, David’s Boston-area shop, and the barn that houses his impressive corral of traditional hot rods. We’ve previously featured a few of David’s carefully preserved cars—the resurrected Hemi-powered belly tank racer, his lost-for-decades preserved ’50s era 1933 Ford roadster, and his survivor 1955 Ford Thunderbird. This ’34 roadster is another rare gem from David’s treasure chest, and like all the others, it comes accompanied by a long history and a slew of stories.

Charles Scott, a.k.a. Scotty, was an original member of the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) when it was formed in 1937. In 1946, he opened Scotty’s Muffler in San Bernardino, California. By the early ’50s, Scotty’s Muffler was racing an Ardun-powered belly tank at Santa Ana Drags and at Bonneville. Other cars followed, including a 1923 Ford Model T roadster, also with an Ardun engine (and eight exhaust pipes), and a front-engine Top Fuel dragster with a blown Chevy small-block.

T

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HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 49

ICONS REUNITED

“…destined for tremendous racing success and lasting popularity, unmatched by anything produced in the Golden Years after the war: the famous Ardun.”

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According to David, Scotty’s Muffler ran this ’34 roadster at the lakes and on the salt from the 1970s through 2000. To be precise, the car raced as an unchopped three-window coupe before the sheetmetal surgery that transformed it into a roadster. Charles Scott’s son Billy, who had a varied career as a racer, drove the roadster at El Mirage dry lake in 1997, where he set a record in the AA/BFR class at 245 mph. A few years later, the roadster ran close to 300 mph at Bonneville. The car was deemed unsafe for that speed and was retired in 2000.

In 2005, David saw the Scotty’s Muffler roadster, minus its Keith Black Hemi engine, advertised in an auto classifieds paper. It belonged to someone who had purchased it with plans to race it but never got around to it. After buying the roadster, David met with Charles and Billy Scott and bought the Hemi that had been in the car (the Scotts referred to the Hemi as a “late Ardun”). He also bought photos, timing tags, and other memorabilia from the car’s racing career. Charles Scott passed away later that year. David took the roadster back to Bonneville a few years later. With a flathead and ’39 Ford

transmission, it ran 150 mph in the Gas Roadster class. His plans for the roadster were not to put the Keith Black “late Ardun” Hemi back in the car, but to pack it with a genuine Ardun engine—possibly the most famous one.

Shortly after the Second World War, brothers Zora and Yura Arkus-Duntov immigrated from Germany to the United States to start an engineering R&D company. They named their company Ardun Manufacturing, a contraction of their last name. Working with designer George Kudash in New York, the Arkus-Duntov brothers created an overhead valve conversion kit for the Ford flathead engine. The Ardun’s heat-treated cast-aluminum heads feature hemispherical combustion chambers and equally spaced exhaust ports. Reception to these conversion kits was initially lukewarm and Ardun Manufacturing closed its doors in 1949, having sold between 200 and 250 pairs of heads.

Efforts to produce more successful Ardun heads continued, however.

Zora Arkus-Duntov went to England, where he worked for Allard Motor Company, which offered Ardun engines in its aluminumHOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 51

ICONS REUNITED bodied J2 sports cars. In the U.S., engine builders and racers continued to develop and improve Ardun heads, remedying some of the problems with the originals. Successful Ardun-powered cars include Alex Xydias’ famous So-Cal Speed Shop coupe and the Scotty’s Muffler belly tank, the first open-wheeled car to go 200 mph. Zora Arkus-Duntov returned to the U.S. and achieved fame at GM for his role in the creation of the Chevy small-block engine and the Corvette.

It didn’t take long for HOT ROD and other automotive magazines to take notice of the Ardun. In 1971, racer, engine builder, and journalist Tom Senter wrote a comprehensive (and now famous) threepart series for Rod & Custom magazine titled “Ardun White Paper,” exploring the history, successes, and technical details of Ardun heads. “One conversion kit was destined for tremendous racing success and lasting popularity, unmatched by anything produced in the golden years after the war: the famous Ardun,” Senter wrote. R&C 52 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

called the series “the most comprehensive work on the subject ever compiled.” Senter raced his own supercharged Stromberg-carbureted Ardun engine in a ’32 Ford coupe on the Bonneville salt. R&C featured Senter’s engine as the cover image of its June 1971 issue.

Mark Dees was a Bonneville racer and writer like Tom Senter, and a car collector like David Simard. Dees used Senter’s Ardun engine in his ’32 Ford roadster at Bonneville and later in a Camaro. After Senter’s passing in the ’70s, Dees came to own the blown Ardun.

When Dees passed away in 1996, David Simard bought this famous engine. Nine years after that, he bought the Scotty’s Muffler roadster.

“It only made sense to honor both Senter and Scotty by joining these two together,” he told us. HOT ROD contributing photographer Wes Allison was at East Coast Custom when the Ardun was dropped into place in the Scotty’s Muffler roadster. We want to be there when the historic car and the historic engine get back to the salt.

Anatomy of the David Simard’s 1934 Ford “Scotty’s Roadster” Body & Paint · 1934 Ford roadster body, modified from a three-window coupe · Custom hood · Modified 1934 Ford grille · Louvered decklid · White and candy red paint Chassis/Suspension · 1934 Ford frame, boxed · Custom crossmembers · Stock I-beam front axle · Stock spindles · Corvair aluminum steering box · Stock transverse front springs

· Schroeder front anti-roll bar · Custom front Panhard bar · Custom rear four-link · Custom rear Panhard bar · Ford 9-inch rearend, 3.08:1 ratio with limited slip · Rear coilovers · Ford 12-inch rear drum brakes, no front brakes · Tilton master cylinder · Tilton pedal assembly Wheels & Tires · Ford steel 16x4 front wheels · Taylor steel 18x5 rear wheels

· Firestone Deluxe Champion Bonneville tires, 6x16 front, 8x18 rear Engine & Transmission · 1950 Ford flathead, 305ci V8 with Ardun OHV conversion kit · Ardun aluminum cylinder heads · C-T Automotive crankshaft · Scat rods · Ross forged pistons, 9:1 compression · Clevite bearings · Iskenderian roller camshaft · GMC supercharger · Custom intake manifold by Tom Beatty · Stromberg 97 carburetors, 3x2

· Custom open headers · 1948 Ford water pump · Vertex ignition · Muncie four-speed transmission · Weber clutch, flywheel, disc Interior · Aluminum panel dash · Stewart-Warner gauges · Single race bucket seat · Mountney steering wheel · Custom 1 5⁄8-inch rollcage by East Coast Custom · Vinyl upholstery · M&R race harness HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 53

Dry Lake M V I N T A G E

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H O T

R O D

A N D

R A C I N G

P H O T O S

Memories F R O M

P R E W A R

S O U T H E R N

C A L I F O R N I A

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ART MALE COLLECTION

O

n November 26, 1937, representatives from five amateur racing clubs gathered together and organized the present Southern California Timing Association. In almost a year of operation, it has experienced many ups and downs and plenty of hard knocks. This type of automobile racing, as sponsored by the Association, means nothing from the standpoint of profit to any individual whatsoever. Many long hours of hard work have gone into the preparations for these races, and the results have been very satisfactory.

—Wally Parks, Editor, SCTA Racing News program, October 2, 1938 ■ Left: Hank Funk’s Cragar, May 25, 1941. “I was in the service then. I was able to get a couple of days off.

That’s Frank Morimoto in uniform, Hank, and myself.

Hank was one of my best friends,” Art says. “He had a gas station on Glendale Avenue in Glendale. We would work on our cars and hold our club meeting there.”

That statement marked the beginning of amateur hot rod racing, when Wally Parks and hundreds like him with their “hot irons” became one under the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) banner. Their individual efforts were printed in the SCTA Racing News program, which one could purchase for 5 cents. They turned their energies into breaking records, not the law. Of course, street racing didn’t go away, but running for timing tags at the dry lakes— instead of speeding tickets on the boulevard— provided a more heralded desire.

It is fair to say that every hop-up that ventured across nature’s race courses before the war had a part in the history of hot rodding that will never be duplicated. A few went on to become legends during that time—like Ernie McAfee (responsible for earning more points than any other competitor in 1939), Karl Orr, Bob Rufi, and the Spalding brothers.

Yet, a remarkable 122 average-Joe racers entered the SCTA event at Harper Dry Lake

HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 55

DRY LAKE MEMORIES (located near Barstow) on September 10, 1939. The well-known Ernie McAfee with the Road Runners was listed at the top of the entrants list in the program, and Glendale Ramblers member Arthur Male Jr. was listed last.

■“That was March 18, 1940, Easter weekend at Balboa Island.

We rented that house,” Art points out, recalling a tradition with Southern California teenagers dating back to the early ’30s.

“What a time we had.” And no wonder, the Rendezvous Ballroom on the Balboa Peninsula was the magnet with its 64-foot-long soda fountain and dance floor, where big bands like Harry James and Benny Goodman performed for 1,500 couples.

■ This black beauty may look like it’s on the way to a Goodguys or NSRA car show, but this photo was taken in November 1943. Art says, “I put nine coats of black lacquer on that car after I ran it. I had three younger brothers. As they got picked off to go into the service, my car was handed down to the next one. After I got out, I got it back. In 1950 I sold it, and it ended up in Bakersfield. The guy never registered it, and I kept getting his speeding tickets. I wish I still had it.”

Sadly, time has faded the majority of those early racers from our memory. However, while Art Male only ran once in 1939 and teamed up with a fellow club member in 1940 to run again, his experiences can be shared. Thanks to Mr. Male for preserving a priceless pictorial record during the late ’30s and early ’40s. “I was the oldest of seven kids,” Art says. Born in 1918 in Hollywood, California, he says, “I took all of the shop classes that I could in high school. Glendale High had a machine shop where I attended night school. I could work on an engine, plane the head for more compression and such. I liked automobiles, especially how they were made and how to hop them up. Then I went to trade school to learn about carburetion and ignition.” That training would be of benefit to Art after the war. He worked for his best friend Hank Funk part-time, rebuilding aircraft generators and starters for the Douglas DC-3s.

■ That’s SCTA Racing News editor Wally Parks walking with camera in hand, probably to photograph Bob Rufi’s cutting-edge Streamliner, August 18, 1940. There wasn’t a better training ground for Wally to prepare him to become the future editor of HOT ROD magazine and founder of the NHRA. Rufi broke ranks, opting for a Chevy four-banger with a three-port Olds head, which got the attention of Wally and Art.

“I joined SCTA in 1938, and Wally Parks was running it,” Art, president of the Ramblers, notes. “The clubs each worked on setting up the rules and regulations for SCTA. We met once a month at Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles. That’s the first time I met Wally. We would get together for SCTA meetings, which Wally conducted. I was a member of the Kings Men, and we later changed our name to Glendale Ramblers. When I was able to afford a car, I had a ’29 Model A soft-top coupe,” Art continues. “I purchased a Riley Two Port head, and put it on the reworked Model A engine.

I went to Glendale High School, which had a machine shop with a milling machine. I shaved 1⁄16 inch off the head to raise the compression, and I had to change the combustion chamber to accommodate the larger exhaust valves with a large (Dremel) Moto-Tool.”

“I was in auto shop in junior high and high school,” Art says. “One of my theme papers, I wrote about the Ford Motor Co. I went to L.A. Trade Tech and took courses in carburetion and electrical at night.

I went to Mr. Riley, who made the Two Port head (the Riley utilized 56 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

three valves per cylinder—two intake valves in the head, the exhaust valve in the stock location in the block) to grind a cam for it. Riley was a lot older, probably in his 60s or 70s. He had old equipment, but he knew what he was doing. I put in bigger pistons and rods and got a big Winfield carburetor. I ran the car in August 1939 at Harper Dry Lake, and that was the first time I went through the traps. We didn’t have a speed shop, per se, to go to in my area. We went to Bettery’s Garage on Colorado Boulevard in Glendale. We’d go there and hang out. It was like a muffler shop and such,” Art continued.

■ The grime and fatigue shows on Bob Rufi’s face when Art snapped this photo from the dust-filled dry lake. Rufi was one of the early legends before the war.

“Then I put the engine in a ’32 Ford roadster,” Art adds. “The ’32 was owned by Mickey Rooney. Mickey threw a rod in it and parked the car in a vacant lot next to his home. The car got scavenged overnight. They took the engine, transmission, radiator, grille, and hood.

My friend told me that I had better get it before it gets completely stripped. Somehow, I got the pink slip (proof of ownership) through an intermediary. I paid about $75 for the car. The fenders were still there, and it had leather seats. I took the fenders off of it and stripped it down. I pulled the body off the frame and started from scratch— fixed it up. I ended up with a nice car.”

“Things were tight,” Art continues, “so as soon as I got out of Glendale High School, I went to work for the Union Ice Co. I could throw 150 pounds of ice on my back. I delivered ice because that was before electric refrigerators. I delivered to homes and markets on my route six days a week—mostly running. I did this until I went into the service. It was a good job, six days a week running carrying the ice. In January ’41 I went into the service. When I got into the service and took basic training, it was a snap for me.”

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DRY LAKE MEMORIES ■ That’s an oil filter. While the first filter was invented in 1923, they were still a rarity in 1938. “Right after I got out of high school, I spent a few months making those oil filters,” Art says. “Actually, they were made for trucks initially.”

Street Racing Realities Wally Parks wrote in the August 1940 SCTA Racing News: “The original and present idea behind these meets has been that in affording the members a safe course on which to test their cars there would be less inspiration for illegal highway racing.”

Parks was adamant about safety and legitimizing the performance modifications of automobiles. However, it would be another decade before local dragstrips were created to satisfy the passion to race often. The here and now was the street, and Art was no exception.

“When it came to street racing, that’s about all I did,” Art says with a laugh. “I did a lot in different places. We’d go to Foothill Boulevard in Pasadena and Glenoaks Boulevard in the Valley. Usually, it was with someone in another club like the Pasadena Night Flyers or the Sidewinders in Glendale. We’d go to the Village Inn in Glendale and hang out. It was a drive-in, and they had carhops. That’s where we’d line up drag races. We actually used the word ‘drag.’ Some said it wasn’t used until after the war, but we used it then. About my only competition were some of the hot motorcycles. When I went to Sepulveda Boulevard, some of the members of the Ramblers were setting up races for me because I had the fastest car. I was racing alongside one of the Night Flyers one night when we came around a curve. There was nothing but red lights all across the street, and all of the guys had assembled to watch who won the race. I backed out of it, threw my car into a slide, pulled a U-turn, and got out of there,” Art recalls.

“I’d been street racing when I broke a crankshaft down by where Tom Mix (Western film star) lived. I was waiting to get towed when Tom Mix, as I understand, called the police on me.

The cops threw the book at me. No windshield, plus the exhaust was too loud. I had to be towed by a chain. After that, I reworked the four-cylinder engine, and I put a V8 in the ’32. I got a Merc short-block and built it up. I had Ed Winfield grind the cam for me. Ed didn’t open the door of his shop so I could go in. He’d open the door halfway; I’d give him a new cam to grind, and when I went to go get it, the same way. I just saw half his face,” Art says. “I had what they called Denver High Altitude Heads. They were higher compression. That was what I was using when I was patrolling different meets.”

■ From bare-bones racer to stunning four-passenger commuter vehicle.

Art on the way to Fort Ord, California, (five miles north of Monterey) with a load of Army buddies to complete his training before heading overseas.

Art had the only car in his unit while stationed at Fort Ord, which made for a full house every time he left the facility.

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Prewar Dry Lakes Editor Wally Parks wrote in the September 10, 1939, Racing News program, “Today’s races will mark the third in a series of scheduled events sponsored by the Southern California Timing Association in 1939. Our first meet this year was held at Harper Lake on May 26th and the second at Rosamond Dry on July 23rd.

Now we are again at the Harper, which we believe affords the best possible course conditions at this time of the year.”

The records show that in total, there were four SCTA events in 1939: two at Harper and two at Rosamond north of Lancaster. “We drove up to Harper the day before,” says Art. “We camped on the edge of the dry lake. We went in as a group and camped as a group.

We slept on the ground in sleeping bags. It was very cold, but being young, it didn’t seem to bother us. They didn’t have Jiffy Johns per se, so we had to find a bush and carry a small shovel. We got stopped by the police going home because none of us had mufflers.”

■“Ernie McAfee was kinda my hero when I first started running at the lakes,” Art says. “The speeds he could go and the records he set. He could take a quarter of a turn of the crank, and it would fire and idle and still run at 130 mph.” In the first newsletter, McAfee was listed as the fastest qualifier at Harper at 137.41 mph.

The Echoes of WWII The clouds of WWII were looming on that 10th day in September 1939. The Germans had invaded Poland on the 1st of September.

Going off to war was the furthest thing from the minds of racers like Art on that day, but soon their lives would change forever.

Teaming up with his friend Dick Snyder, Art returned to the lakes with Snyder using Art’s engine in his roadster. But after the September 10th meet, Art simply couldn’t devote his daily driver to racing any longer. Why did Art only run his roadster one time, you might ask? Times were still difficult before the war for most Americans still in the midst of the Great Depression. Art worked six days a week and gave a sizable portion of his paycheck to his parents. His roadster was his sole transportation, and Harper was a long way from home if he broke it. He remarked that he was surprised that he had enough money left over to even run his Ford during those times.

Art was drafted in January 1941 and survived four major battles in the Pacific. Lt. Male, a machine gun platoon leader, was 10 feet behind the Japanese lines when a grenade was lobbed toward him.

While his helmet and arm took the brunt of the shrapnel, his injuries were such that he received the Purple Heart as well as a Silver Star. He was discharged in September 1945, and married Janice in December of that year. Art, like many other ex-GIs, got on with the business of earning a living and raising a family.

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DRY LAKE MEMORIES

■ Here is Art pushing his friend Dick Snyder’s A to the start line: He sent his application in early enough to have his name printed in the program under “Ramblers” that day, September 10, 1939. Look below Art’s name, and you’ll see Snyder had his number 223 penciled in by an unknown scorekeeper.

■ It was just a scrap of paper that could have easily been lost or discarded over the years, but Art has cherished this yellowed and faded qualifying document as much as the medals he received for his heroism fighting in WWII.

Art Male, tired of getting the cold shoulder when he carried ice before the war, became, of all things, a mail carrier. He retired in 1975 as assistant postmaster, left the Los Angeles area, and moved to Santa Maria, California, in Santa Barbara County. Art’s SCTA roots are being nourished once more, as Art became a member of the Gold Coast Racing Club in nearby Buellton, California.

Art and so many of the early competitors at the lakes were exceptional Americans. They grew up through the worst of economic times, yet with so little, realized so much. Considered hooligans for their street racing, the public soon realized many like Art Male would become heroes. When the country needed them to be men, they went off to faraway lands to fight for our freedom.

■ When the hoodlums stripped Mickey Rooney’s roadster, its fenders weren’t on their want list. They were a dime a dozen back then.

There’s no telling how many fenders were thrown in some junkpile in those early days by hop-ups, but Art’s didn’t suffer that fate. “I took them off when I ran at Harper but put them right back on afterward,” Art says. “I was the only guy that had a chrome grille shell, too.”

■ There was always a crowd around Tommy Lee’s Offy-powered speedster built by Frank Kurtis in 1936, even at the lakes. Frank had worked in the body shop for Cadillac dealer and owner of 12 radio stations, Don Lee. Tommy assumed control of his father’s radio empire (which included KNX in Hollywood) after his father’s death in 1934 and commissioned Kurtis to build his custom. Art snapped this photo on April 18, 1940.

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■ Art loaned his Riley Two Port to his good friend Dick Snyder to run in his A-bone. Naturally the windshield stayed in the pits. Art squeezed 98.03 out of the Riley Two Port on August 18, 1940. Art drove the car under the Male-Snyder entry.

■ How many of these rare trophies have survived to this day is impossible to say. Each participant with the highest speed in his club was awarded this coveted trophy. This one will always stay in Art’s possession, to be sure.

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or years, third-gen F-bodies, such as the Camaro, Firebird, and Trans Am, were looked down on, but as prices skyrocketed on the earlier generations, people put aside the mullet jokes and saw the true potential of third-gens as affordable, hardcharging hot rods. One company that has always been on the cheerleading squad for third-gens is Hawks Motorsports. In fact, it used to be called Hawks Third Gen but changed the name when it branched out to the other generations as well as performance GM cars in general.

Hawks is a family-owned business that’s been around for 20 years, and recently we had the chance to crawl around the salvage yard and parts facilities. It’s a treasure trove of parts, especially if you’re a fan of third-gen, fourth-gen, and newer F-bodies.

One of the biggest parts of Hawks’ business is salvage. Hawks brings in wrecked and totaled F-bodies from all over. Yeah, it has a ton of third-gen parts, but we were surprised at how many fifth-gen Camaros were in the yard, most of them SS models and supercharged ZL1s. The “LS Everything” phenomenon has created a huge demand for parts, and although there are tons of smaller 5.3L and 4.8L engines at typical salvage yards, it can be a bit harder to locate “the good stuff.” Places like Hawks make it easier by trying to be a one-stop-shopping spot for all your newer GM parts.

Right: The SS Camaros, ZL1 Camaros, Pontiac GTOs, Corvettes, and CTS-V Cadillacs provide a ton of good take-off parts, but the real prize here would be the drivetrains, such as the supercharged LSA stuffed in this wrecked CTS-V. While the engines are the most glamorous salvage parts, all the brakes, cradles, and other parts will be repurposed to fix broken rides or may be used in cool hot rod projects.

STEVEN RUPP 62 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

CAMARO CRAWL QWheels? Yeah, there are more than a few stacked up around Hawks’ acres of parts. Need some sweet IROC wheels?

WS6 wheels? Curb a wheel on your shiny fifth-gen SS? Well, chances are Hawks will have you covered—and for less cash than a new wheel from the local Chevy dealer. Even in a crash, there’s typically one or two good wheels left on the carcass.

Besides, with some of these wheels, there’s not even an option to buy new.

QMany of the cars at Hawks are salvaged parts cars, but there are also a few complete cars just waiting to be put back on the road, like this super-clean IROC-Z Camaro (left). When Hawks finds an intact third-gen, it scoops it up if the price is right. Still, most of the cars on site are there as organ donors. Each of these cars will eventually be stripped of all the reusable parts before being sent to the great scrapper in the sky. We saw building after building filled to overflowing with hard to find parts.

It’s even more surprising because a massive fire a few years ago wiped out a ton of inventory. The glass T-top panels from fourthgen Camaros and Firebirds are very popular parts.

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Above: Hawks does a ton of business selling pull-out engines and drivetrains such as this sweet LT1. No, not the Optispark LT1, but Hawks does sell those, as well. Lately the pull-out drivetrain business has gone into overdrive with engines, transmissions, and rears shipping all over the country by the truckload.

Center: Aside from the salvage business, Hawks also sells new and reproduction parts. Need a new high-performance crate engine or shiny Tremec Magnum six-speed trans for your next swap project?

Need parts for that hot rod you’ve been saving up for?

Well, Hawks has options.

Switch panels, radios, dash bezels, taillight housings, headlights, vents—the list of salvaged parts Hawks has for third- to sixthgeneration cars is nearly endless. Again, some are nearly impossible to get new, while others are just less spendy compared to going to the dealer.

Bottom: Like the engines and other drivetrain parts, Hawks also sells new and reproduction parts for all the generations (especially third, though), including complete interiors and some very hard to find bits and pieces. If you’re near the shop in South Carolina, Hawks also has dyno testing, dyno tuning, and installation services.

To find out more, visit Hawks on the web at www. hawksmotorsports.com.

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What Is a Gear Vendors Overdrive? eBay Motors Powers HOT ROD Drag Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.

Douglas Glad ❱Why is the Gear Vendors Overdrive so popular on Drag Week? Racers know it will live behind 4,000 hp, can be installed in a weekend, and doesn’t share fluid with your transmission so it won’t get contaminated when your automatic detonates.

To truly understand the function of the overdrive, we are first going to hit you with some basic drag racing concepts. On an ideal quarter-mile pass, you leave the line at torque peak, and shift through the gears at horsepower peak until you cross the finish line. The gear ratios in the transmission, rearend, and overall tire diameter determine the engine rpm as you pass through the speed trap. A higher overall numerical gear ratio raises rpm, and a lower numerical gear ratio lowers it.

Simple, right?

As tires get wider, they also get taller, and as horsepower increases, peak power happens later in the powerband. All of this requires a higher numerical gear ratio in the rearend to get the engine speed up before the end of the quarter-mile and get the car off the line in the first 60 feet. If you can get through the traps without blowing up the engine, generally more tire and more gear is better.

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Wes Allison The downside? A numerically higher gear ratio also raises the cruising rpm. For example, using the equation rpm = mph x gear ratio x 336 x 1.00/tire diameter, a Drag Week car traveling at 80 mph on the freeway with an aggressive gear ratio like 4.88:1 on a 33-inch tire spins the engine at nearly 4,000 rpm. If you’ve spent any time in a quick Drag Week car, you know that is a lot of noise, engine wear, and fuel consumption for a 300-mile trip to the next track.

The solution for this is an overdrive transmission, where the final drive ratio is less than 1:1. For example, the 4L80-E overdrive has a third-gear ratio of 1:1 and a fourth-gear ratio of 0.75:1. Adding the overdrive ratio to the equation means the same engine spins at 2,981 at 80 mph (2,981=80 x 4.88 x 336 x 0.75/33).

The problem with the overdrive transmission is that you can’t shift into fourth gear reliably while making a lot of power and the gear ratios aren’t close enough for a great performance application. Opinion varies, but as a guideline, the limit is around 1,500 hp for a street/strip style transmission. That’s where the Gear Vendors Overdrive comes in.

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QHow Does the Gear Vendors Overdrive Work?

The Gear Vendors Overdrive unit bolts to the tailhousing of your transmission and only requires some simple wiring and a shortened driveshaft to operate. The unit has an 0.778:1 drive ratio. When activated, the overdrive lowers the engine rpm by 0.788:1. (rpm x 0.778). If you want to know how much faster you will go at the same rpm with Gear Vendors activated, multiply mph x 1.286. For example, 55 mph x 1.286 =71 mph. Less rpm is less wear, less fuel consumption, and less NVH inside the vehicle, all elements that help to win a race where street driving is a factor.

Every time you push the button to activate the overdrive, you get an additional

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ratio. You can do this between each gear under full power by “splitting” shifts. This helps keep the engine in its powerband by closing the rpm gap between ratios.

Ever had to rev the engine past redline so you could keep the engine near horsepower peak after the shift? With additional ratios between gears, the engine stays in the sweet spot longer and the car goes faster. You can also put this behind a manual transmission like a five- or six-speed, or even an eight- or ten-speed, and split the gears to get the ratios exactly the way you want them. Using steeper firstand second-gear ratios to get the 60-ft time down can be combined with splits to get the car through the traps without even using fourth gear.

QSchroeder’s Five Second Corvette Most of the record-holding cars at Drag Week use the Gear Vendors Overdrive. The most recent example of a unit in action is in Dave Schroeder’s Drag Week-winning C7 Corvette. Using an 872-inch Reher Morrison nitrous engine and a Jerry Bickle chassis, Schroeder’s Corvette ran 6.46 at 209 mph at the track, then cruised 300 miles per day for a week straight without grenading any parts. The car uses a Rossler TH400 three-speed automatic connected to a Gear Vendors Overdrive. The tire is 36-inches tall (static—it grows 2 inches in the traps), and the rear gear ratio is 4.56:1. The math says the engine is spinning at a stratospheric 8,400 rpm in the traps. For the car to run in the 5s, it will need to fly through the traps at about 220 mph, or 8,800 rpm.

For next year, co-driver and crew chief John Ens is going to use a 4.10:1 rear gear to get the engine speed between 8,200 and 8,300 rpm, which is “fine” for this combo.

During the 2021 event, they were primarily using the splitter on the street to keep the car in its power band and avoid lugging and detonating the engine on hills or over-revving on the freeway. At 80 mph, with the new 4.10:1 gears in the rear, the Corvette should cruise at a comfortable 2,400 rpm with enough splits to drive in traffic and up and down hills. Aside from the gear ratio, there’s no reason to think next year’s combo will be changed, since the overdrive was deemed reliable under the massive amount of stress.

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SUPER PERFORMER HOW TO INSTALL A PRO TOURING SUBFRAME FOR YOUR LS-SWAP CAMARO

Sources Heidts Hot Rod & Muscle Car Parts; 800.841.8188; www.heidts.com Outkast Kustoms; 510.856.7201

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❱With our classic rides, you have to keep in mind that the suspension was designed over half a century ago, and when new, they handled well compared to the other cars of the day. But, as they say, “That was then, and this is now.” Today we’re used to far better handling, and the classic chassis just can’t give us that. With unibody cars such as Camaros, Novas, and Firebirds, it’s a fairly straightforward job to remove the outdated factory front subframe, which would include its worn suspension, steering, and brakes, and swap in a new subframe with improved suspension, brakes, and most important, handling.

For this, Heidts offers their Pro-G front subframe for first-gen Camaros, Firebirds, and Novas. The Pro-G bolt-on subframe and suspension lowers ride height by a whopping 3 to 4 inches and widens the track to 58 ½ inches. All you have to do is unbolt and remove your Camaro’s front-end sheetmetal, engine, transmission, and the factory subframe. Then, slide in the new complete Heidts Pro-G subframe. It’s a lot of work but nothing you couldn’t knock out in your garage using basic handtools, jackstands, and the help of a friend or two for the heavy bits.

When it comes to Pro-G options, Heidts offers you a polished stainless steel control arm kit (#CF-103-K) if that’s your style, but we opted for bare parts that we could powdercoat or paint as we please. We’re working with Nick Germano of Outkast Kustoms in Newark, California, who is giving this 1968 Camaro the Pro Touring treatment prior to its LS swap.

Steven Rupp

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01 We’re at Outkast Kustoms in the Bay Area of Northern California working with this bare-shell 1968 Camaro LS-swap project.

We’ve installed the Heidts front Pro-G subframe along with new hardware and polyurethane body mounts.

02 Use an alignment pin like this one to ensure proper body to subframe alignment during subframe installation. In a pinch, you could also use an appropriately sized bolt as an alignment pin. We also used a measuring tape to ensure the new subframe was square to the car. You can do this at the end, as well, but it’s easier when there’s less weight involved.

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03 A closer look at our Heidt’s subframe reveals the key elements, such as improved suspension geometry and engine mount brackets that make it a convenient bolt-on piece. This was set up for an LS, but they offer small- and big-block parts, as well. You also get power rackand-pinion steering. Think of rack-and-pinion steering not as being a better system compared to a good steering box, but as something that makes packaging an engine, especially with headers, easier.

04 This is the complete Pro-G kit sans the subframe. The revised

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geometry will result in improved performance and handling via adjustable tubular upper and lower control arms, coilover shocks, drop spindles, adjustable antiroll bar, and power rack-andpinion steering. Unless you order stainless steel components, parts arrive at your door in bare steel ready for painting, powdercoating, or plating. The design of the system will also make it easier to run wider front wheels, which is something limited by stock subframes.

05 Heidts sent us front and rear Wilwood disc brake kits for the respective front and rear Pro-G suspension packages. This kit has six-piston front calipers and four-piston calipers for the rear.

It’s a good, affordable kit that will be light-years better than stock brakes. As a bonus, they look pretty good, as well. If you have more cash saved up there are upgrades available.

06 Because we had the lower control arms powdercoated, the ball joints had to be pressed out and then pressed back in for installation. Use caution when using a hydraulic press to remove and reinstall these ball joints. Ball joints must be dead square with the arm before you apply pressure. If they are cocked, you could break the ball joint or the arm.

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07 Heidts’ single-adjustable coilover shocks are installed first and secured. Do not tighten these fasteners until all components are in place since you’ll need some wiggle room.

08 The lower control arm was installed next using the provided lubricant on the poly bushings. Wear rubber gloves when you touch the lubricant. Silicone lubricant does not wash off your hands easily and is nearly as bad as antiseize in terms of getting everywhere.

09 Our Pro-G front suspension system was fitted with adjustable coilover shocks as one of the options. A shock absorber’s primary job is to dampen spring action.

Spring rates are based on vehicle weight loaded. Some enthusiasts use shocks to modify spring rates, but this is not the way it should be done. Think of a shock as a timing device to control the speed at which the suspension contracts (compression) and expands (rebound).

10 The Heidts power rack-andpinion steering unit is carefully positioned and lined up for installation. Two bolts secure it through the rack bushings. If you run into rack-to-oil-pan clearance issues in

some applications, offset bushings are available from Summit Racing Equipment that will get you the clearance needed. If you are doing an LS swap like we are, then there’s most likely a Holley pan that will easily clear this rack.

11 This is the power steering control spool valve end of the steering rack.

You may have to try different couplings until you gain the necessary clearances based on your engine and accessory drive system.

12 Here’s one of the drop spindles in the Pro-G kit. We cannot stress enough the importance of properly lubricating the spindles and wheel bearings when you set the rotors.

Do not use wheel bearing grease where the bearings sit on the spindle. You want the bearings to remain secure on the spindle on a dry surface. This keeps the inner race secure and prevents bearing race rotation.

13 Wheel bearing axle seals are typically fitted with a garter spring that keeps the seal lip against the spindle. Pack the seal cavity with wheel bearing grease to keep the garter seal in place when you install the seal.

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17 14 Wheel studs were screwed into the bearing hub as shown. Use a thread locker on these studs and torque them to spec. The hubs have multiple stud positions, so we obviously chose the Chevy pattern.

15 Drop spindles are mounted on the lower control arms as shown. Upper control arms will be installed shortly.

Again, most everything is just hand tight for now.

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16 The front sway bar was fitted with polyurethane bushings, which were lubed heavily with the provided lubricant. Again, use protective gloves to keep it off your hands.

17 Sway bar bushings and the bar were mounted to the Heidts subframe as shown. Don’t tighten the Allen bolts until everything is in place.

18 The locking ring secures the splined sway bar and keeps it from shifting left and right. Once properly centered, tighten the Allen bolts, which will keep the bar centered.

19 There are sway bar arms on each side, which are adjustable via this end link. The adjustable end links are nice since it allows you to preload one or both sides of the sway bar. More adjustability is always a good thing.

20 To start with, sway bar end links should be adjusted to exactly the same distance from the subframe.

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21 The upper control arms are installed next and secured to the spindle as shown.

22 Our Pro-G suspension and Wilwood brake package is installed and good to go. We’re going to need a precision frontend alignment once this Camaro project is complete. Alignment locations are indicated with arrows. The upper control arm adjustments cover caster and camber adjustment. The tie-rod end below controls toe.

23 The complete Heidts Pro-G front suspension and subframe is a great upgrade for any classic car like our Camaro. What you get with the Heidts Pro-G is modern suspension

technology without fabrication hassles.

Everything you see here bolts on and requires no mods to your car.

24 With the Heidts Pro-G subframe and suspension installed, we’re ready for the supercharged LSA-swap crate engine. This is virtually a drop-in LS swap with very little tweaking involved. The only issue we encountered was oil pan to rack clearance, which was remedied with offset rack bushings and a Holley oil pan. If we had run the thinner front Holley pan (PN 302-2), we most likely wouldn’t have needed the offset rack bushings. And with that, our 1968 Camaro was ready for its front-end sheetmetal.

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Chill Out! Mistakes to Avoid When Installing Aftermarket A/C in Your Hot Rod ❱Air conditioning is one of those modern wonders that’s nice to graft into our classic hot rods. Yeah, you could get A/C from the factory back in the ’60s, but by today’s standards it comes up lacking.

Thanks to the aftermarket, there are several companies that sell kits that let you add modern A/C to your classic car or truck.

Just bolting on parts won’t get you there. These systems are complex, and even though they tried to make them easy to install, there are still several ways you can screw it up and wind up with a system that doesn’t work very well, or not at all. To help you navigate the pitfalls of aftermarket A/C installation, we hit up Vintage Air’s Rick Love to clue us in on the most common mistakes to avoid when installing an aftermarket A/C system. So with that, let’s take a look at what not to do when adding modern air conditioning to your favorite project car.

Steven Rupp

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Source Vintage Air; 800.862.6658; vintageair.com

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01 ❱Improper system charge is the most common problem Vintage Air faces. The days of charging with a couple of cans of refrigerant and watching the sight glass in the drier are long past. With 134A refrigerant, the “bubbles” you see in the sight glass are actually small oil droplets, not air bubbles. Today’s systems must be charged by weight with a good scale or preferably a charging station. Vintage Air’s standard charge recommendation is 1.8 pounds (28 ounces) of 134A refrigerant. This charge will be correct for most standard installations (dash-mounted systems). If you have a trunkmounted system with a liquid line of more than 12 feet, some additional refrigerant will be required.

02 ❱A/C gauge readings will tell you how your system is working. Most cars use an expansion valve and a fixed displacement compressor (CCEV system).

The low side pressure should be about 7 to 12 pounds when correctly charged under the following test conditions: engine rpm 1,200 to 1,500 rpm, doors and windows closed, blower on medium with fan in front of the radiator for airflow across the condenser and radiator. An overcharged system (too much refrigerant or oil) results in higher system operating pressures and poor performance. An undercharged system will show lower operating pressures and poor performance, as well. Prior to charging, an A/C system must be evacuated for a minimum of 30 minutes at 75˚F with a vacuum pump. Evacuating accomplishes two things: it removes air from the system, and it lowers water’s boiling point, so any moisture in the system boils away. In order for the moisture to be boiled away, all components must be at 75˚F. If it is cold (winter?), run the engine or heat the components with a hair drier to get them up to temperature.

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03 ❱All new Sanden compressors contain all the refrigerant oil that will be required for proper system operation. Adding additional oil to the system will result in increased system pressures and poor performance.

Also, new compressors are capped, so don’t uncap them until you are ready to hook up the entire system.

04 05 ❱Use insulation. It is very important to understand the basic premise of how an air conditioning system works: An A/C system works by taking in air from a confined area, pushing it across a coil where the heat is absorbed and the humidity converted to droplets that drain to the outside. This cooled air is then pushed out through the vents onto the occupants. If you don’t keep the hot air out, no A/C system will ever be able to cool off your vehicle.

It’s like running the A/C system in your home while you have the windows open. Most heater control valves are directional and must be installed with the proper orientation, in the high-pressure side of the heater hoses. Water pressure in the hose helps the valve seal. If they are installed backward or in the wrong heater hose, they will leak. Hot water in a climate control system that does not have a temperature blend door will result in warmer temperatures because the cooled air flows across the hot water in the coil tubes and gets warmer. Most water pump heater hose outlets are on the low-pressure (suction) side of the pump. The intake manifold outlet is the high-pressure side of the system.

06 ❱When deciding where to place A/C louvers, be sure you can direct the airflow to your face.

Some louvers are very restrictive and do not allow good airflow.

Choose louvers that open all the way and are directional. Stretch duct hoses for the smoothest airflow path and make sure there are no “droops” or crushed duct hoses. Finally, never cap unused vent outlets in the evaporator. This results in “cold spots” in the coil and rapid coil freeze-up.

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❱The condenser dissipates the heat that was absorbed inside your vehicle to the outside air through condensation. As the gaseous refrigerant condenses to a liquid, it transfers the heat to the condenser tubes, and the tubes then transfer the heat to the fins, where the air flowing through the fins can carry it away. The common copper tube/aluminum fin condensers that have been manufactured for years are not as efficient when using 134A refrigerant. The design of an aluminum parallel flow condenser provides an increased amount of surface area in the same package size and, therefore, are much more efficient. With this in mind, we always advise that you choose the largest condenser that will fit the radiator core. Remember, you are working with a system. All components must work together for the system to operate properly.

❱Include a compressor safety switch in the system. A binary compressor safety switch will disengage the clutch if the system pressure gets too high (above 406 psi). Excessive high-side pressure can damage the compressor or rupture a hose. The binary switch also will not allow the compressor to engage if the high- side system pressure is below 30 psi (refrigerant loss). Since an air conditioning system relies on the refrigerant to help carry lubricant through the system, if you lose all your refrigerant, you have also lost your compressor lubricant, which will result in a damaged or locked compressor.

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❱You can have problems if your evaporator is too small for the vehicle. As we said earlier, an air conditioning system works by removing the heat and humidity from an enclosed space. If you choose an evaporator that’s too small for the interior area you need to cool, you will not be happy with the result. Imagine installing a window A/C unit in the corner of a large building.

You would feel cold air in front of the unit, but the building would never “pull down” to a cool, comfortable temperature.

This is why it’s important to buy the right sizew kit that is designed to work together and, just as important, work in your car or truck.

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09 ❱Set up the electric fan(s) to turn on in conjunction with the A/C compressor clutch. The proper way to engage an electric fan with an A/C system is with a trinary compressor safety switch. If your vehicle relies on an electric fan as its primary cooling fan, you should have a trinary safety switch instead

10 of a binary switch. A trinary switch provides the same high- and lowpressure protection as a binary switch, but it also includes a fan engagement signal at 254 psi. It should be wired in parallel to the same relay as the engine temperature switch. This way, either engine temperature or A/C system

pressure will turn on the fan. You obviously don’t need the fan engaging at highway speeds just because the A/C compressor is working. Let the engine temperature or A/C system pressure indicate when more airflow is needed to dissipate the heat absorbed from inside the vehicle and the engine.

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❱If you’re using a parallel flow condenser, the tanks should be vertical, and the tubes will be horizontal. It is also critical that the gaseous refrigerant pumped from the compressor (the larger #8 fitting) be on top and the liquid line (smaller #6 fitting) on the bottom. Remember, you are condensing a gas to a liquid, and the system will work more efficiently if you are not trying to push a liquid up through the condenser.

12 ❱Driers have a flow arrow on them. The refrigerant flow goes from compressor to condenser, then through the drier to the evaporator.

Make sure the arrow matches the flow. You also don’t want to mount the drier near an exhaust header. We don’t want the refrigerant to absorb heat under the hood. We want to absorb heat inside the car.

Mounting the drier in the grille (cool airflow) or inside the car is the best option.

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MOPAR MAKEOVER HOW TO INSTALL A MOPAR SUSPENSION THAT PERFORMS Johnny Hunkins ❱In 1993, Bill Reilly spent a bunch of time and money upgrading his ’69 Dodge Dart with bigger torsion bars, ’73-up disc brakes, and a healthy big-block.

In his own words, “It was absolutely miserable to drive. It was all over the place.

It was so hard to install the big-block—the headers and all that with the stock suspension—and then it drove like crap. I still remember the exact piece of road I was on when I first thought that.”

Bill Reilly’s single-minded obsession to build a Mopar suspension that worked well and packaged all the popular engine combinations culminated in the AlterKtion K-member with coilover suspension ($4,995). That’s why he created White Haven, Pennsylvania-based Reilly Motorsports (RMS). Since designing and marketing the AlterKtion, RMS has added the four-link Street-Lynx rear suspension to its resume and began carrying other parts—such as brake kits and subframe connectors—that dovetail with their mission statement of Mopars without performance handicaps.

From an installation standpoint there’s no comparison. A chassis transplant can take months to save the cash, collect the tools, and learn the fabrication chops to pull it off. It took us just four hours to install the AlterKtion—less than the time it takes to swap out a box full of stock-style bolt-ons, and the four-link Street-Lynx rear suspension was just as simple. It is the right suspension if you want to accomplish the most good and you’ve got limited time and a modest skill set.

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01 Installing the RMS AlterKtion suspension clocked in at around 4 hours.

Real estate has been reclaimed from the steering box, steering linkage, and torsion bars—you can choose whatever engine, headers, and oil pan you want.

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Sources Reilly MotorSports; 800.474.1534; reillymotorsports.com Strange Engineering; 800.646.6718; strangeengineering.net Wilwood Disc Brakes; 805.388.1188; wilwood.com Viking Performance; 952.469.4130; vi-king.com HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/ 83

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02 02 The RMS AlterKtion K-member for Mopars is transformative. Weight over the nose is reduced by 75 to 120 pounds, handling geometry is improved, and steering response is tightened with the included AGR rack-and-pinion conversion. RMS makes the AlterKtion for Mopar A-, B-, and E-Bodies, and for every Mopar engine family, including small-block LA/Magnum, R/ RB big-block wedge, Gen II Hemi, Gen III Hemi, and GM LS.

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03 Before starting, we dropped the stock K-member and engine/trans as an assembly.

Four main bolts plus fluid lines, steering, and torsion bars, and it’s out. We took the time to clean, sand, and shoot our engine bay with a dusting of the factory Sunfire Yellow before beginning the AlterKtion install.

04 The first step is to remove the bumpstop brackets from the framerails. Four spot welds are drilled out along the side, two spot welds are drilled out from below, and a chisel is used to break the bracket free.

05 The RMS K-member bolts to the stock frame with four bolts. The K-member is made from 1⁄8-inch-thick square mild steel tubing, while the shock tower portion is ¼-inch-thick laser-cut plate steel. It’s about the same weight as the stock K-member; the weight savings comes from the rack and pinion, control arms, and spindles.

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06 Two additional 7⁄16-inch bolts are added that go through the side of the AlterKtion shock tower support. Holes in the K-member will guide the drill through the framerails. This shot also shows how the suspension load is handled by the AlterKtion K-member—not the framerails or the unibody.

07 A shock tower backing plate bookends the framerail bolts from the inside, and after drilling through the first hole, it can be used to locate the drill for the second hole. Here the cradle bolts are tightened to the framerail.

08 The left and right lower control arms are identical except for the sway bar mounting hole, which faces the front. When putting them on, insert the bushings, aim the ball joint up, and insert the pivot shaft with the endcaps in place.

A liberal coating of anti-seize compound will keep them from squeaking. A small Allen set screw in the center of the pivot tube holds the pivot shaft in place to prevent galling and is a backup to the pivot bolt end nut.

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09 AlterKtion kits come with Viking Warrior double-adjustable coilover shocks. These light weight twin-tube aluminum dampers have independent control of compression and rebound with 19 positions for each (361 combinations total). Each Warrior shock is dyno tested and serialized with a two-year warranty. Viking Warrior springs are guaranteed to remain within 2 percent of their original free height over their lifetime and are silver powdercoated for great looks.

10 Unlike Mopar B-Bodies, A-Bodies have a small flange on the upper control arm mount that needs trimming for the AlterKtion upper control arm to swing through its full arc unimpeded. A quick cut with a reciprocating saw (already performed in this shot) solves the problem.

11 After threading the Heim joint rod ends into the upper control arms, insert the supplied spacers and install the upper control arms with the factory eccentric bolts, which are reused. The control arms are made of thick wall 0.156-inch DOM mild steel; the upper control arms are 7 ⁄8-inch thick, while the lowers are 1-inch thick.

12 The AlterKtion suspension uses a Mustang II/Pinto-style spindle, which attaches to new ball joints in the RMS control arms via castellated nuts.

13 Install the supplied Energy Suspension urethane bushings in the AGR steering rack, then mount the rack to the backside of the K-member with the supplied fasteners.

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14 The tie-rod ends go on next with the bolt inserted from the bottom. Note that RMS modifies the forged Mustang II/Pinto spindle with its own steering arm that is designed specifically for the AlterKtion steering geometry.

15 The AlterKtion front suspension includes a 1 1⁄16-inch diameter solid sway bar, which is as stiff as can be used without compromising the street feel. RMS does, however, offer an optional 1 ¼-inch diameter bar for all-out track use. Depending on your ride height setting and wheel choice, the sway bar can be mounted to the bottom of the control arms, or if reversed, to the top of the control arms.

It does not matter.

16 The photo at left is the stock, unmodified steering column; the one on the right is the same column after being shortened as described in the RMS instruction manual. The shortened column has a new column support bearing that is included in the RMS kit. Not all Mopars came with a support bearing, and on those that did the bearing is often damaged or worn out. This column-shortening mod allows extra header clearance.

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16 17 The last step is attaching the steering U-joints (reuse the factory roll pin for the upper, and new Allen screws and lock nuts for the lower). The Flaming River intermediate shaft is included with the RMS kit (along with the U-joints) and will need to be measured and cut to fit. The shaft is then installed with the remaining Allen screws and locking nuts. A good thread-

17 locking compound is recommended throughout.

18 The RMS Street-Lynx rear suspension ($1,995) converts the stock rear leaf-spring assembly to a triangulated four-link while adding adjustable coilover dampers. Now we can set ride height and pinion angle, adjust the damping, and upgrade the rearend to a Strange S60 at the same time.

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19 Here’s the installed RMS Street-Lynx suspension in our Valiant along with a new Strange S60 rear. The triangulated four-bar allows the location of the axle independent from rearend support duties. Coilover shocks reduce unsprung weight and improve suspension tuning. The upper control arms are adjustable, allowing pinion angle to be tuned, and the lower control arms have instant center adjustment.

20 The factory Mopar A-Body leaf springs locate the rear while supporting it and determining ride height and pinion angle. They also must fight the forces of axle twist under braking and acceleration. Low-cost and unsophisticated, it was merely adequate for its day.

21 After stripping away the factory leaf springs, leaf-spring pockets, and stock rearend, we power washed the chassis and sprayed it down with a coat of Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black satin paint. The first step is to remove the factory bumpstops from the framerails. Some fuel and brake lines may need to be temporarily relocated during the installation.

22 You’ll need to strip away the paint where the crossbar needs to be welded to the framerails.

(The crossbar is the attachment point for the upper control arms.) This involves mocking up the RMS crossbar on the frame, scribing marks around the edge, then grinding the frame to bare metal in the affected area.

21

22

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

23 Mount the crossbar to the framerails using two of the bumpstop mounting holes and the leftover bumpstop fasteners. These bolts do not provide structural integrity—they are only to hold and locate the bar during welding operations.

23

24 Use a MIG welder to stitch the perimeter of the crossbar mounting plates to the framerails then fill the rosette welds in the holes provided in the RMS mounting plate. After cooling, we used some Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black to coat the weld areas.

25 The next operation is to pre-assemble the lower control arms to the control arm brackets.

The brackets have four studs that bolt through the same holes used for the leaf spring mounting pocket. If your Mopar had an aftermarket inboard leaf spring relocation kit, the RMS control arms will bolt directly to those.

24

26 We tossed the factory 7.25-inch rear in favor of a built S60 rear from Strange Engineering.

(The price of a rear axle is not included with the RMS suspension, so you’ll need to make

25

27 28

26 88 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

necessary arrangements for something strong enough.) The S60 has a 3.54:1 gear ratio, a Detroit Truetrac LSD, 35-spline axles, Torino axle housing ends, a 52.25-inch width for ABody Mopars, A-Body leaf-spring perches, and Wilwood 11-inch Dynalite disc brakes. Use of a Dana 60 or S60 rear requires the exhaust exit ahead of the rear axle. If you prefer an over-axle exhaust, RMS recommends you use an 8 ¾-inch Chrysler rear or a Ford 9-inch.

27 The control arm axle plates get mounted to the axle spring perches with a pair of U-bolts on each side. The shock mounts face forward; the U-bolts should only be finger tight for now. If you’re on jackstands this operation can be done with the rear under the car.

28 The billet aluminum lower shock mounts bolt up to the axle plates with included hardware. The ride height can also be adjusted by moving the lower shock mounts in the holes higher or lower on the axle plates. The shock studs for the coilovers are then attached to the billet aluminum shock mounts with anti-seize to prevent galling. Tighten these fully.

29 30

31 32 29 Time to mate the prepped Strange S60 axle to the Valiant with a transmission lift. (Your jackstands and a floor jack will suffice.) The initial operation here is to attach the lower control arms to the axle plates with the supplied fasteners.

30 The remainder of the Street-Lynx rear suspension installation is largely given over to locating the axle and fixing the position of the upper control arm tabs for welding on the axle housing. Measure the end of the axle in relation to the framerail and adjust the axle so that the measurement is the same for both sides with the axle level to the chassis.

33 34

31 With the upper control arms attached to the crossbar with the provided rod ends and tapered spacers, it’s possible to assemble the axle tabs on the control arms and find the ideal mounting location on the axle tubes. (There is a long and a short tab for each side.) This should be done with the axle at approximate ride height while checking the axle ends against the framerails. Make sure there’s no binding between the tabs and the control arms. Once you’re satisfied, tack weld the tabs to the axle.

32 Now that the tabs are tacked in place, you can lower the axle to make working room for your welder. Our new S60 axle provided a great surface to weld on, but if you’re using an older unit, make sure to grind away any paint or wipe off grease from the axle tubes before welding.

33 Snug up the axle U-bolts to finally fix the axle in its place. You are just about ready for beer-thirty!

34 The final stage is bolting on the Viking Warrior coilovers. Start by attaching the lower mounts to the shock studs on the axle plates (the compression and rebound knobs should face outward), then raise the rear until the upper spherical joint is even with the mounting holes in the crossbar.

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STUMP PULLER! PROCHARGED 489-INCH BIG-BLOCK CHEVY IS ALL ABOUT THE TORQUE! Steven Rupp

Steve Brule

❱Everyone knows Steve Brule from his co-hosting duties on MotorTrend’s Engine Masters show. While that always gets us thinking about cars, Brule’s other hobby is boats. Yep, Brule just loves a fast boat. That may be one reason a lot of very fast boat engines roll through Westech Performance’s dyno cell doors. We get that boat engines are built a bit different compared to the automotive versions, but they are far more alike than they are different. Most of those differences are designed to help the engine survive living in a marine environment. The overall principles of building them, and of making power, are the same. And while they aren’t built to be flung into the land of high rpm, they are built to deliver tons of torque. So with all that in mind, let’s check out a sweet Procharged 489 big-block boat mill that would be a great engine, even in a car.

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01 01 Starting with a GM Gen-VI block, the bores were opened up and a stroker Lunati crank, Calles rods, and blower-friendly Race Tech pistons were added to the mix. The short-block was then topped with Brodix BB2-Plus 312 aluminum heads for a pump-gas-friendly compression ratio. The valvetrain is a solid roller deal from Comp, and the cam came in at 255/262 degrees duration with 0.651-inch lift and an idle-happy LSA of 114. Rockers are Comp Pro Magnums along with their Sportsman lifters.

02 Providing boost will be a Procharger M-1SC centrifugal blower. M? Well, this big-block is going in a boat, so they are running the marine version of the ever popular P-1SC. This is the same basic blower but built to live in a wetter environment.

02 03

03 The 489 big-block was finished off with an MSD marine distributor and a 750 blow-through Demon carb sitting on an Edelbrock Victor Jr intake. Procharger provided the blower hat.

04 This is going in a boat, so an air-to-water intercooler just made sense. If you were stuffing this into a car then an air-to-air would be simpler, but either way blowers just love the benefits of a properly sized intercooler. Pro Tip: “Properly sized” means as big as you can possibly fit.

04 05

05 After bolting on a set of 2.25-inch dyno headers, adding multiple quarts of Lucas 20w-50 oil, spinning on a new K&N filter, bolting on the Meziere electric water pump, and hooking up the fuel lines from the Aeromotive 3000 fuel pump, the 489 was ready to fire up and run through Westech’s break-in cycle.

06 Torque, it’s what you want in a car and what you really need in a boat. Well, this 489 would be a good time on sea or shore with peak torque of 754 lb-ft at 4,600 rpm. The real story is down low where it was already making 682 lb-ft at 3,600 rpm! Peak power was 755 hp at 5,800 rpm, but it was still making 755 hp when they pulled the plug at 6,000 rpm. That’s a solid set of power numbers and why Brule wanted us to check it out.

Sources 06

Aeromotive; 913.647.7300; aeromotiveinc.com Brodix; 479.394.1075; brodix.com Comp Cams; 901.795.2400; compcams.com Edelbrock; 888.799.1135; edelbrock.com Holley; 866.464.6553; holley.com K&N; 800.858.3333; knfilters.com Lunati; 662.892.1500; lunatipower.com MSD; 866.464.6553; holley.com ProCharger; 913.338.2886; procharger.com

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WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

Project Car Update:

1967 C10 Starts and Runs

Sources John McGann

❱The list of things to do keeps getting smaller as we push to get Truck Norris, our project 1967 Chevrolet C10 pickup, back on the road. Over the last few days, I got the engine started and ran the transmission through the gears. Minus a leak at the fuel pump outlet, there were no problems. The engine sounds great and has good oil pressure, the transmission shifts smoothly, and there are no scary sounds coming from the driveline. Let’s check out how we got the engine running.

1 It’s difficult to get an engine running without a starter motor, and we happened to have this Pertronix Contour series starter on the shelf, just waiting for an opportunity like this.

The compact shape is an evolution of the Pertronix line of Harley-Davidson motorcycle starters, interestingly enough. That’s an application where light weight and lots of cranking power are essential. A few years ago, Pertronix adapted that design to automotive applications, and ours (P/N S3000P) has a retail price of $278.

A version is also available with a black finish, and the product line includes part numbers for LS, Ford, and Chrysler engines, as well.

92 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

BluePrint Engines; 308.236.1010; blueprintengines.com Concept One Pulley Systems; 877.337.0688; c1pulleys.com Earl’s Performance Plumbing; 866.464.6553; holley.com Holley; 866.464.6553; holley.com Lokar Performance Products; 877.469.7440; lokar.com Performance Rod & Custom; 812.897.5805; prchotrod.com Pertronix; 909.599.5955; pertronixbrands.com Spal; 800.345.0327; spalusa.com Total Cost Involved Engineering; 800.984.6259; totalcostinvolved.com

01

Point your phone camera here to see our previous progress report on Truck Norris.

02 02 The starter’s already compact body is clockable to fit in tight spaces. You can see there’s plenty of room between it and the headers. It works with both 153- and 168-tooth flywheels, and I especially like the side-mount terminals. They are much easier to reach than typical Chevy starters.

The gear-reduction motor rated at 200 lb-ft of torque, which is more than enough for our 9.5:1 compression small-block.

03 04 05

03 The power steering lines were the next item on the list, and I used hose and fittings from Earl’s. The hose (P/N 130606ERL) is a dedicated high-pressure hose for applications up to 2,250 psi, such as power steering and other hydraulic or pneumatic applications. In spite of its strength, the hose is flexible enough to run in a tight configuration.

04 We are currently working on a more detailed article on building the power steering lines, but in short, they require dedicated fittings on the hose side and -6AN ends to match fittings in the pump and steering rack.

05 I installed -6AN male adapter fittings in the steering rack, which takes a 5⁄8 -18 O-ring fitting on the pressure side and 9⁄16 -18 O-ring on the return side. After trying several different routings, this seemed to be the cleanest and most accessible, should servicing be needed later.

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WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

06 06 The radiator and fan assembly are from Performance Rod & Custom and are a carryover from the previous 540 big-block setup. The three-row aluminum radiator and dual fan assembly kept the big-block cool, so the 350 here won’t pose much of a challenge.

07 I even reused the radiator hoses after dropping a 175-degree thermostat in the housing.

07 08 09

08 The fans were triggered by AEM’s Infinity ECM with the big-block, so with the current carbureted smallblock, I’ll have to wire the fans to have key-on 12-volt power to the relays that grounds through this Spal coolant temperature sender. It will turn the fans on at 195 degrees and off at 180. To test their operation, I hooked up jumper wires on the power and ground side.

09 After a final check of all components, I started the engine. After bumping the timing up a bit, the engine started and ran, and I could set the timing at 14 degrees initial and 32 degrees at about 2,500 rpm with the vacuum advance disconnected.

10-11 My oil pressure gauge and voltmeter displayed healthy readings with about 50-psi oil pressure at idle and 14.6 volts, which indicates the alternator is functioning correctly. Running the transmission through all the gears showed normal operation, with smooth clutch engagement and no alarming noises.

10

12-13 With these checks done, there are just a few more steps until Truck Norris is roadworthy. I need to wire in the fans, backup lights, and the oil pressure and water temperature sending units. Then I can put the bed back on, secure the battery cables, do a final check of fasteners and connections, and take it on a test drive. It won’t be long now!

12 13 11

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WEEKEND OVERHAUL PURE VISION DESIGN COMPLETES A V8 AND FIVE-SPEED TRANSMISSION SWAP IN A SUPER CLEAN 1972 MUSTANG John McGann ❱This is the continuation of a series we started several months ago, documenting the refresh of this 1972 Mustang convertible. The owners sent the car to Pure Vision Design in Simi Valley, California, for some basic upgrades. They wanted a V8 in place of the stock inline-six, a five-speed transmission in place of the stock four-speed, disc brakes, power steering, and air conditioning.

When the car arrived at Pure Vision, owner Steve Strope summoned us to his shop to check out this cream puff. Some may quibble about the looks of this generation Mustang (your author included), but this car was such a nicely preserved time capsule, Steve wanted us to check it out before his guys began working on it.

01

01 Shortly after we photographed the car in its stock form, the guys at Pure Vision began their work. Though no one actually shed a tear, we all commented that it was sort of a shame to remove such a nice-running engine. The stock 250 six didn’t make much power, but it ran like a top.

In its place, Steve and the car’s owners decided on a very mild-mannered and highly affordable 302 crate engine built by BluePrint Engines and purchased through Speedway Motors.

Sources American Powertrain; 931.646.4836; americanpowertrain.com

Pure Vision Design; 805.522.2232; purevisiondesign.com

BluePrint Engines; 800.483.4263; blueprintengines.com

Speedway Motors; 800.979.0122; speedwaymotors.com

Borgeson; 860.482.8283; borgeson.com

Vintage Air; 800.862.6658; vintageair.com

Holley; 877.712.0002; holley.com

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WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

02

02 This engine (P/N BP3023CTC) is BluePrint’s “dressed” long-block that comes with an intake manifold, HEI distributor, and carburetor; it lists for $4,199. Cast iron heads help keep the cost down, as does the hydraulic flat tappet cam. It has an 8.5:1 compression ratio, hypereutectic pistons, two-bolt mains, and a one-piece rear main seal. BluePrint Engines runs each engine before shipping and provides a dyno sheet, and ours read 238 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque. Those may not be impressive numbers, but they are more than the stock engine made, and the owners just want a reliable, trouble-free cruiser with a V8 rumble.

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05 03 While the engine was out, the guys worked on cleaning up the engine compartment and installing the new disc brakes from Wilwood, and power steering components from Borgeson.

ing, they discovered that the engine sits lower in convertible Mustangs of this generation.

Once the guys made a set of 3⁄8-inch spacers, everything fit into place.

04 Though we called this build a long weekend project, things don’t always go according to plans. When the guys dropped the engine in, they discovered that nothing lined up. The motor mounts were misaligned, the clutch linkage was off, and the driveline angles were wrong.

After lots of head scratching and Internet surf-

05 Here’s a closer view of the spacers Steve’s crew made to fit the V8 motor mounts to the pads on the chassis. You can imagine how nothing would line up without them. The engine would be sitting too low for the mounts to line up with the holes in the block.

1-800-441-6287 © 2022 MacNeil IP LLC

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

06

07

06 With the engine in place, Tremec’s T5 fivespeed was next. American Powertrain supplied the transmission, bellhousing, release bearing, shifter, and transmission mount.

Steve opted to keep the mechanical clutch linkage for simplicity and to keep the cost down. Here, Pure Vision’s Troy Bray raises the transmission in place.

07 The rear of the transmission is supported by American Powertrain’s adjustable transmission mount. It allows height and

08 100 HOTROD.COM/2022/MARCH/

side-to-side adjustment for an optimal driveline angle.

The urethane mount holds the transmission securely in place.

08 Troy drops in a pair of shorty headers that offer better breathing than cast-iron manifolds, but also fit neatly between the shock towers.

09 Since there was a negligible difference between the length of the T5 and the stock four-speed transmission, Troy was able to reuse the stock driveshaft.

09

10 10 The new 302 looks great in the cleaned-up engine compartment.

Troy degreased the firewall and sprayed the area with a fresh coat of chassis black prior to dropping the engine in. In another cost-conscious decision, Steve decided to keep a V-belt accessory system rather than switching to a serpentine drive. The car’s owners requested a fuel-injection system, however, so Holley’s Sniper system got the nod.

11 Steve also chose to install a mechanical fan and a larger capacity copper/brass radiator instead of a trendy and expensive “cooling module” aluminum radiator/electric fan combination. Something like that would have been overkill in this application.

11

12 Air conditioning and power steering were also on the list of customer requests, so Troy installed the Vintage Air system and a power steering conversion from Borgeson. With the engine in place, he could finalize all the plumbing.

12

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13

13 Here’s the completed engine compartment. With the plug-and-play nature of the Sniper, we were not at all surprised when the engine fired right up at the first turn of the key and settled into a smooth idle. Steve put some miles on it to allow the ECM time to learn before the customer picked the car up.

14

14-15 The last bit of cosmetic work Steve did was to replace the stock steel wheels and whitewall tires with a larger set of Keystone wheels and a set of raised white letter BF Goodrich tires. They certainly don’t hurt the looks of the car!

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FINISH LINE

What Do Electric Vehicles Mean for the Future of Hot Rodding?

Electric vehicles are gaining in popularity and EV swaps are starting to show up in hot rods. Will this spell the end of traditional hot rodding? ❱Well, I’m honored to be tasked with penning this page for the first issue after David Freiburger’s final column last month.

In a weird coincidence, it turns out that Freiburger and I both touched on the same topic in our latest columns: electric vehicles. His piece, which can be found on his Facebook page, delves into the question of whether EVs are really that great for the environment (spoiler alert: it’s more complicated than you think). For my take on electric vehicles, I want to talk about how EVs will or won’t change the face of hot rodding.

By Steven Rupp Email us at hotrod@motortrend.com

Follow us @ hotrodmagazine

To be honest, even a few months ago I hardly gave EVs a second thought—I saw them as a wealthy person’s second or third car. Then I went to SEMA to cover the EV conversion of our 1957 Chevy, Project X, and learned a ton about EV-swapping a hot rod and about EVs in general. Love or hate the electric-motor swap, the truth is that it was right in line with the job of Project X; namely to try out new hot rodding technologies, and EV stuff certainly qualifies. For now, it’s expensive and requires a certain skill set to accomplish. In time companies like Chevrolet Performance will drop the costs and make packages like the eCrate even more accessible to the average hot rodder.

To some, EVs spell the death of internal combustion engines (ICE) and, by extension, of hot rodding as we know it. I would disagree with this prognosis, in our lifetime at least, if ever.

The biggest problem with EVs in the general automotive world is the recharging infrastructure needed (which includes increasing grid capacity) if any sizable percentage of our cars dropped ICE in favor of electricity. Sure, corporations and the well-off can have a 220V charger at their business or in their garage, but where would average people plug in? If your parking spot is a random location on the street, what’s the solution? It will take decades to solve this charging dilemma, so don’t expect ICE vehicles to disappear anytime soon—most likely not even during our kids’ lifetime. EVs have a place in our overall transportation picture but it’s certainly not going to replace ICE vehicles in many segments.

But what about hot rodding? Well, SEMA showed me that there are more than a few companies out there, including the big players like Chevrolet Performance and Ford, offering EV conversion systems, so EVs will certainly be a part of the hot rodding picture, and they do offer some impressive performance potential. But for many of us, hot

rodding is a sensory experience. One of sight, sound, smell, and feel. With EVs you can still have a stupid-fast, killerlooking hot rod, but it will be missing some of what I consider to be the soul of hot rodding: the feel of a lumpy cam, the whiff of hydrocarbons, and most of all, the sound. Call me an outdated boomer, but the one aspect of EV hot rods I can’t adjust to is the lack of sound. It’s just odd.

That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate what electrification brings to the party. But I drive a stick even though a 10-speed automatic in my ZL1/1LE Camaro would be faster.

Why? Because the stick makes for a more immersive driving experience, just like driving a shaky, loud hot rod that smells of burnt fossil fuels is a more immersive hot rodding experience. Would Harley riders be as excited over a silent Harley motorcycle even if it was faster and smoother? Nope, that distinct Harley sound is part of the experience. You may like quiet, civilized

performance and comfort in your daily driver, but most of us like our hot rods a bit rougher around the edges.

So, while I do see EV conversions gaining popularity in the hot rodding hobby, I only see it becoming a small part of the overall mix. EFI didn’t remove carbs from our hot rods, and even LS swaps are vastly outnumbered by Gen-I Chevy smallblocks. EVs are just another option for hot rodders who want to go that route. But if you think EVs will take over our hobby and displace internal combustion hot rods I wouldn’t advise holding your breath while you wait for it to happen.

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