Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2019 i Hot Rod

Network Content Director @douglas.glad My first set of tools was smashed inside the trunk of my wrecked 1974 Olds Omega when I was 17. They were housed in the handheld classic red steel toolbox that I had checked out of my high school’s auto-shop tool room that morning. I also lost my red puffy Bellevue Auto Shop jacket that had to be cut off me to get at my rack of broken ribs. When I finally returned to school, Mr. Renner, the shop teacher, let me check out another complete toolbox, never questioning the fate of the original. He also bought me a new red puffy. Friends were able to pry open the car in the salvage yard and retrieve the box and return it to me. I still have…

As a rule, editors don’t ride in readers’ cars. There’s brain lock on the part of the driver, groupthink on the part of spectators, and the whole experience generally ends in an explanation to the police, or worse, a YouTube video of the Cars and Coffee variety. So when we casually asked for a ride around the block in John Moss’ 1932 Plymouth, it was because it didn’t look fast or dangerous at all. Like his personality, we expected his car to be mellow, Zen-like, you know—like an artist. We were wrong. This first thing Moss did when we were out of sight of the car meet (Donut Derelicts in Huntington Beach, California) was to floor the thing with prejudice. The resulting one-tire fire went on forever, plus another 1,000…

Even without a drop of paint on its body, this 1961 Corvette is like a mirror insofar as it reflects the incredible talent of Tommy Vinciguerra, the master fabricator who built it. Tommy V, as he’s known to friends and customers, bought the car toward the end of 1976, completely covering the $2,000 cost by preselling the car’s engine, automatic transmission, and rear end for $1,050—and his 1955 Chevy for the balance. The ’55 went to the new owner minus its angle-plug head 327 engine, M21 four-speed transmission, and 4.88:1 Posi rear end because those were needed for the newly acquired Corvette. Once he got it home, Tommy V went to work getting his Corvette running. He installed the engine and drivetrain, as well as various other parts the car…

Edelbrock was the first aftermarket supplier to offer electronic fuel injection back in 1979. The company’s newest system, the Pro-Flo 4 port-injection system, is an evolutionary leap forward and fits a wide variety of engine platforms from traditional Chevy small-blocks to Chevy LS engines. Best of all, this system is able to feed up to 775 hp. Served up in four different fuel-injector sizes from 29 to 60 lb/hr, you can choose the right system for your engine combination. The key to the system’s efficiency is the Android Edelbrock E-Tuner 4 app, which allows precise tuning of the port fuel-injection system along with self-learning software that makes it easy to design the engine’s power and torque “personality.” The E-Tuner 4 app connects to the Pro-Flo 4 ECU via Bluetooth and…

“Good morning, Mr. Brandes. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find out why a long-serving Chrysler 727 TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transmission suddenly and mysteriously expired when forced to support a brutal 499ci, 600–lb-ft big-block Mopar lording it over a 1969 Road Runner. Free the trans, contain the torque, and hand full control back to its legitimate owner, who just wants to drive the hell out of it. As always, should you succeed, the editor will broadcast your exploits to the world.” It was an all-too-familiar pattern. Fix the motor so it can be all it can be, then the next domino in line topples. In this case, several weeks after Ray Lane’s big-block Chrysler (HRM, Sept. 2018) was fixed and properly tuned to its full potential,…

Flex-a-Lite Flex-Wave Fan Flex-a-Lite // 253.922.2700 // Flex-a-Lite.com The Flex-Wave fan from Flex-a-Lite is like a successful reinvention of the wheel. Using computational fluid dynamics software, the company has designed and built fan blades that move up to 20 percent more air than its own Trimline fans and up to 25 percent more than competitive products. Not only is it more efficient, it’s quieter. The sine-wave-blade design cuts through the air with multiple leading edges, instead of one large edge like most fans. Pair that with new surface designs and variations in the trailing edge of the blades, and its efficiency is increased. Price: Depends on application G-Body Hydramax Clutch Kit American Powertrain 931.646.4836 AmericanPowertrain.com This clutch kit from American Powertrain is a true, bolt-on, hydraulic clutch conversion for 1977–1988…

Executive Editor @john.mcgann I’ll be honest, prior to this year, I wasn’t a fan of the Engine Masters Challenge. I had never been to the contest and wouldn’t have planned on going prior to joining HOT ROD. To me, it seemed to be theoretical exercise played out on a dyno stand. I wasn’t alone in that opinion; I’ve heard words to that effect from other people, too. Statements like, “You don’t race dynos!” echo from critics of an event like this or many of the engine tests we do on a dyno. Yes, that’s true, of course, but in the case of parts testing, an engine-dyno article is much more expeditious than testing the part(s) in a car at the track. It’s also a lot less expensive for us. Maybe…

While on HOT ROD Power Tour®, a friend heard about a stash of cars not too far off the route, so we stopped to take a look. Right up front was a 1968 Mustang GT 390 that had been fitted with a number of Shelby parts. The current owner bought it in 1971 from King Ford, and shortly thereafter it was stolen. The owner recovered the car in 1978, but many parts were missing, so the car has been sitting ever since. In the back was a rare 1969 Ford Fairlane Cobra. It’s an original R-Code Drag Pack car with the original 428 Super Cobra Jet and 4.30 gears! Thankfully, it had been well cared for most of its life and wouldn’t need much work to get back on the…

“Hurry up and wait!” was the best way to describe East Coast Timing Association’s Inaugural Arkansas 1-Mile Challenge, back in April 2018, after Mother Nature decided to throw wind and rain down on the ex–Eaker Air Force base in Blytheville, Arkansas. Friday was a total wash, as was most of Saturday. Despite the delays, three racers charged past the 200-mph barrier in the mile-long concrete conquest on Sunday to take their places in the ECTA/HOT ROD Magazine Top Speed Challenge, our classes for the top street cars at the event. SUPER STREET // 227.2 MPH // DAVID MATYJASIK David and Michael Matyjasik have built one of the quickest homebrewed, street-legal hot rods out there. Their 1971 “Time Bomb” Camaro (a play on Roadkill co-host David Freiburger’s “F-Bomb” Camaro) has been…

Building a YouTube show is not unlike building a project car: They’re both seen by many, judged by all, and take more work to assemble than anyone can imagine. These things engulf people in the pursuit of perfection and creativity, as both machines are often a doppelgänger for the personalities behind them. Maybe that’s why folks have come to endear Emily and Aaron Reeves’ Flyin’ Sparks Garage, a YouTube channel that’s dedicated to the seeds and soil of grassroots hot rodding. But for Emily and Aaron, this story goes back 18 years to a mechanical fail that left “Datzen” back-burnered as they grew up. The Datzen was there when the duo met in church and was Aaron’s first car. As they dated and grew up together, however, it became something…

Building custom parts often means learning new skills or getting out of your comfort zone, especially if you want to create something that is really cool. While most hot rodders can fabricate brackets and panels from sheetmetal and tubing, building parts from plastic is not as common. How these kinds of parts are made carries a perception of being out of reach for the casual enthusiast; 3-D printing is helping bring plastic fabrication into the shop, but even 3-D printing comes with a steep learning curve. There is, however, a production method for building one-off plastic components that is easily within reach of any hot rodder: vacuum forming. Unlike other plastic forming processes, such as rotational molding and injection molding, vacuum forming uses heat and vacuum to form plastic over…

For Chrysler’s venerable A727 TorqueFlite, Raybestos offers three stages of performance clutch upgrades over standard replacement (which itself is light years better than the materials available in the 1960s). The Road Runner, whose trans was featured in the photos, makes a lot of torque and power, but spends most of its life on the street, with maybe a track day once or twice a year. For that car, today’s friction materials have gotten so good that any of the following Raybestos performance clutch module should be OK, but Brandes and HOT ROD wanted the best. Just be prepared to pay the price premium. GPZ (gray): Exceeds OE material to withstand high stress, high temperatures, and repeated cycling—perfect for trucks, heavy-duty vehicles, commercial vehicles, and other high-stress driving applications. About 10…

Phillip Thomas Staff Editor @texasthomas The Kids are All Right The culture is healthier than ever, but I hear this too often: Kids these days aren’t into cars—they’re only into whatever scapegoat is necessary to make that old-timer feel like the last cowboy. However, if you find yourself rambling about “kids these days,” here’s why it’s a toxic mentality. Racing games have introduced the culture of driving and customizing cars to millions. It was one thing to read about a McLaren or a Corvette on paper, but video games allowed you get a feel for the machines’ personalities while instilling realistic habits; when it came time to pick up tools or a steering wheel, I was already familiar with suspension tuning or track navigation. Social media is a rabbit hole…

For some race drivers, the difference between hero status and historical footnote has been determined by surprises ranging from undetected puddles to unruly spectators. On March 1, 1959, a rare combination of those conditions conspired against Tony Waters in the most-talked-about event of organized drag racing’s first decade: the inaugural U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships presented by Tony’s club, Smokers Inc., in nitro-burning defiance of the infamous fuel ban (1957–1963). While Bakersfield’s “March Meet” was conceived to lure Don Garlits west for a California-sized spanking, that first-round loser had blown both of his unblown Chryslers and was standing among an overflow crowd that literally lined both lanes for this A/Fuel Modified Roadster’s post-sunset showdown with Art Chrisman’s highly favored “Hustler I” dragster, the West’s first 180-mph car. Unbeknownst to anyone,…

Todd Harris of Dallas, Texas, has been searching the country for muscle cars, vintage signs, and collectibles his entire adult life. Back in 2004, Harris heard about a Tuxedo Black 1970 Chevelle SS454 LS6 that had been parked in 1980 in an old storage garage in North Richland Hills, Texas, and never moved. “I heard about the car and its whereabouts through word of mouth and decided to check it out,” Harris says. “As soon as I opened the garage door and laid eyes on the car that many consider to be the Holy Grail of all muscle cars, I immediately knew I would own it.” It seemed the current owner had acquired the car from the original owner back in the mid-1980s and had parked it in one of…

We did it—we just slid into the 200 MPH Club during last September’s ECTA Arkansas 1-Mile Challenge with a scant 202.6-mph pass. The mistakes were ironed out, and a final tune-up made sure that every bit of the 5,280 feet before us was traversed as quickly as possible. While we had a solid HOT ROD Special, Rydin Decal’s venerable 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, that was filled with a 518ci, all-aluminum big-block Chevy; Bruno-driven, three-speed G-Force transmission; and a four-linked, quick-change rear-end with 2.77 gears—along with the experienced team of Jay Bell, Mark Weiler, Eric Gellman, Carl Dillon, Ed Sellers, and Greg Drake—we still had a lot to learn to break the two-century mark. Land-speed racing (LSR) is a curious adventure for those who’ve daydreamt about hitting terminal velocity on just…

It was a year of changes for the 2018 AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge, Presented by JE Pistons. Our long-running engine builders’ shootout has moved from the University of Northwestern Ohio to Presenting Sponsor JE Pistons’ manufacturing center in Mentor, Ohio. Though the setting may have been different, the classes were a carryover from last year: Vintage and Traditional Muscle. The rules were basically the same, as well. The Vintage class is open to any domestic V8 engine from 1954-or-earlier or any six-cylinder engine from 1964-or-earlier, while the Traditional Muscle class is open to any domestic V8 engine from 1955-and-later, and the displacement had to range between 320 and 497 ci. In either class, the engine block must be cast iron, but aluminum cylinder heads were allowed. If using aftermarket parts,…

Fluid tubing (aka “hard line”) is not a structural, self-supporting component. It must be supported at appropriate intervals by a proper combination of clamps and standoffs bolted to the vehicle’s structure or by another normally rigid part, such as a major driveline component. This table, based on standard aviation-industry practice, lists the maximum acceptable distance between supports for fluid tubing.…

Q: More than a year ago, I purchased a new GM 350ci crate motor (PN 10067353). No oil gets to the rocker arms on the right-hand passenger side. There’s plenty of oil on the driver side, and the mechanical oil pressure gauge shows about 40 psi. I am using a [name redacted to protect the guilty] oil primer tool driven by a ½-inch corded variable-speed drill, so there’s plenty of power to prime it. Any idea what’s going on with this? Someone said it might be missing some of the three plugs under the timing cover. I don’t want to start taking a new motor apart if it isn’t necessary. A: A missing plug on a brand-new-quality, GM-built engine is highly unlikely. I’m 99.9 percent sure the problem is with…

Roadkill @davidfreiburger I just got my first hot rod! At least, it’s the first one that makes smoke. For this argument, let’s narrow the definition of “hot rod” to the oldest iteration: a fenderless ’20s or ’30s roadster, coupe, or sedan. By that standard, I’ve had a few: a ’28 roadster pickup, a ’32 Tudor, a fiberglass ’32 roadster, and a ’32 five-window. Those were all just piles of parts while I owned them, so they don’t really count. I also had a ’48 Tudor and a super-sweet ’37, but those are fat-fenders; the ’48 was a clapped-out stocker and the flathead-powered ’37 was fantastic but dangerously close to being a street rod. So if you’re talking about a real hot rod that moves violently under its own power, this…