Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Hot Rod

Editor-in-Chief @john.mcgann After many decades of rumors, false starts, and tantalizing prototype cars, the mid-engine Corvette is finally a reality, and I can’t think of a more highly anticipated unveiling of any car in production. The mid-engine layout brings with it connotations of exotic hypercar status that Corvette enthusiasts have craved since the early ’70s when the notion was first dangled in front of the public. I think it’s fascinating that for more than half of the Corvette’s existence, rumors and speculation of an ultra-high-performance, mid-engine version of the car has captivated the public, and it’s equally fascinating to read how close the rumors came to being reality at different times in the car’s history. As a kid who grew up in the ’80s, I liken the release of the…

JUNE 8 CONCORD, NC JUNE 9 MARTINSVILLE, VA JUNE 10 BRISTOL, TN JUNE 11 SPARTA, KY JUNE 12 INDIANAPOLIS, IN JUNE 13 FORT WAYNE, IN JUNE 14 NORWALK, OH My grandparents lived in a town called Massapequa Park, located on the south shore of Long Island. Their house sat directly across the street from the waters of South Oyster Bay, and in the summertime, there was no better place to be. There were large yards, both front, and rear, along with a community pool down the street. The residents consisted mainly of people from New York City and the surrounding boroughs (Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten Island) who moved to Long Island in the ’50s and ’60s with hopes of giving their families a better life. While the neighborhood, beach,…

The “build a car in a week” notion is a familiar one made popular by TV shows like Overhaulin’. It’s a compelling formula, because who wouldn’t want to see their car completely transformed in a week’s time by an army of people? We all know, however, that there can sometimes be a lack of reality in this reality TV trope, and it’s much more difficult to put a car together than the shows let on. Several years ago, we adapted the notion of a week-long build to challenge ourselves to see how drastically we could transform a relatively stock car in one week’s time using the vast resources of the automotive aftermarket, and the Week to Wicked program was born. By starting with the nicest car possible, it is completely…

Work is progressing on the Scamp, as Pure Vision Design wasted no time disassembling the car and getting it to the media blaster. We stopped by their Simi Valley, California location for some updated pictures and were pleasantly surprised with the condition of this car in bare steel. Remember, this is a car ARP’s Bob Florine bought sight unseen from a seller in Minnesota. Obviously, this car has been pampered all its life, because it suffered none of the cancerous rust-throughs so commonly seen on cars where snow and road salt ravage automotive sheetmetal.…

“Titanium springs are just too inconsistent. One set would go 20-plus passes; another would have two fail on the second pass.”—Billy Godbold. Titanium springs, once popular back in the 1990s with both Top Fuel and some Pro Stock users, have pretty much fallen by the wayside. “You’d think titanium’s lower mass would make it the best possible material,” relates Godbold, “But the idea that it’s just as strong as steel is totally false when compared to the steels used in valvesprings. These steels can easily be twice as strong as titanium, making the base material characteristics a wash. Then valvespring steel moves ahead because of the advancements in post-processing with highly developed peening and nitride process both adding compressive stress and strength.” Besides, today most sanctioning bodies mandate steel valvesprings.…

Bolt-On Wishbone Rear Suspension for Chevy Pickups Ridetech // 812.481.4787 ridetech.com Ridetech has introduced a wishbone rear suspension for the ’88-’98 C1500 pickups, making the truck even more sporty than it already was from the factory. The new setup is engineered to improve ride quality and handling. It does so via an upper cradle with heavy-duty C-notches (meaning you can still load up the bed or tow a trailer) and shock mounts. Ridetech said the cradle “accepts a ‘wishbone’ upper link,” thereby removing the need for a Panhard bar or any other kind of lateral locating device. The wishbone will bolt directly to 10- or 14-bolt rearends and will work with their coilovers or ShockWave air suspension. You’ll also gain lower links with Ridetech’s patented R-joints. Price: $2,000 Boot Protection…

Network Content Director @douglas.glad About 10 years ago, I wrote an editorial calling out a Porsche owner for calling me out about power-to-weight ratios and horsepower. He claimed his car, because of all-wheel drive, electronics, and 385 horsepower, was faster than my muscle car that made 800 rwhp and weighed 500 pounds less. Sticky tires and torque settled the issue. Today, I am not so sure. I recently got my hands on a 2019 GT-R Track Edition and took it for a spin in the mountains above Los Angeles where it began to change my mind. It makes 600 hp and has all-wheel drive, paddle shifters, a bucket seat that feels good on the kidneys, and electronic trinkets galore. Rising out of Ojai on Highway 33, I just kept pouring…

The first car was called Tantrum, a 1970 Dodge Charger built by SpeedKore with carbon-fiber bits that went beyond the hoods and aero parts the import crowd use for their freshly crashed aesthetic. It blew the lid off the muscle car build with an entire front clip and doors weaved out of carbon fiber. When it showed up at the 2016 Car Craft Nationals, it didn’t really click until it took top honors at the Pro Builders Shootout. The second car was an exercise called Menace, a 1970 Cuda with a carbon-fiber front clip, doors, and deck. It made it to the show circuit and appeared in F&F 8 in a garage shot. Car number three was Evolution, the lighter, slimmer offspring that, as the name denotes, evolved from a…

Upon completion of the HOT ROD Power Tour®, we stuck around Ohio for a few more days, stopping in Akron to visit Gearstar Performance, a small company that has become a major player in performance aftermarket automatic transmissions. Owner Zack Farah described what makes his company’s products unique.…

Drag-racing historian Dave Wallace says touring Super Stock (S/S) match racers started performing burnouts in 1964. Back then, S/S match racers were beginning the evolutionary process that would eventually culminate in today’s tube-frame, flip-up-body Funny Cars. But back in 1964, match racers were still basically lightweight real cars with a stock-based chassis and no engine setback. In NHRA-legal configuration, the big-block S/S engines of the day were making perhaps 500 hp, but the outlaw match racers were adding cubic inches, injectors, and even blowers—yet they were still stuck with hard, stiff tires (wrinkle-walls hadn’t yet been invented). There was no real suspension science—and no track prep, either. (Lions would be the first to have a formal prep procedure, but not until the late-1960s.) At any rate, someone came up with…

“Every time you add a component, you make it easier to have a failure. There is absolutely no need for a rev kit with the current valvespring choices today.”—Billy Godbold Rev kits, formerly used in many higher-end combinations, have fallen into disfavor. Installed in the engine valley sandwiched between the bottom of the cylinder head and the top of mechanical (and occasionally even hydraulic) roller-lifters, rev kits were said to add more load and control when normal valvesprings just weren’t enough. They also were claimed to prevent the lifter from coming out of the bore in the event of pushrod or rocker arm failure. This could cause a loss of oil pressure and subsequent engine failure. In reality, adding more parts—in this case the kit’s lightweight springs, retainers, and plates—actually…

“Don’t throw and go! Be an engine builder, not an engine assembler.”—Billy Godbold You can have the best springs in the world, but they aren’t worth jack if care is not exercised during installation. For a serious high-perf or racing mill, you need to check everything, on every spring. The most common errors Godbold sees include retainer-to-seal contact (“acts like an oil pump”), coil bind, incorrect installed height, wrong open/closed loads, and improper handling.…

Automotive Karma Former HRM Editor I’d like to think I’m a realist. I’ve been working on engines since high school and began honing my engine assembly abilities soon after. I’ve noticed something karma-like in this quest to learn engine assembly. In my case, it’s a somewhat odd corollary to a philosophical approach. In karma, what you put out there is eventually returned to you. Engines, I’ve learned, are both amazingly forgiving of minor mistakes, yet can be merciless in punishment of the same offense. I’ve mentioned this over adult beverages in a neutral location like a restaurant or bar, because I think my engine-builder friend is more likely to accept a somewhat out-of-the-box observation when not sitting in his shop. The opine goes like this: When I was younger, I…

This year is the 25th anniversary of the 1968 Dodge Dart known as Cheap Thrills, which ran 12.69 and cost $1,886.92 (Mar., Apr., May ’94). And it’s perhaps the most controversial and popular project car to ever appear in HOT ROD. The idea was hatched by then Staff Editor, David Freiburger: Build a car to go as fast as we could for as cheap as we could. We’d keep it real by doing it the same way many readers build their cars: on a budget, going to swap meets, and trying to find parts and sell parts in order to have enough money to buy the next part. But HOT ROD Editor Jeff Smith rejected the pitch, as it would be spotlighting a car not built particularly well. When Steve…

Sometimes, the best way to find cars is to just drive around, and that’s just what happened when we saw this collection of Mopars. We were out looking for a Dodge Travco when someone tipped us off to this treasure trove of Mopars in Wisconsin. Two were ’70 Dodge Chargers, the other a ’69 model. Two were basic 383 cars and the other a 318, but all had air conditioning. They had been picked up years ago and squirreled away until the time was right to start working on them.…

Rob Iulo remembers it well: the day he first gazed into the dusky headlights of his ’32 sedan. “I was in Newark, New Jersey selling auto parts, and I got a tip about a Deuce sitting unkempt in an old warehouse. Luckily, I took the initiative to search it out. It was lust at first sight,” says Iulo. It didn’t take long for Iulo to make a deal on the neglected Ford, and a few days later, he brought his good friend Rich Conklin back to Newark to help extract the vehicle. From there, the young gun would start the process of turning the long-abandoned heap into what it is today: a wild, custom rod that has stood the test of time and carried on as one of the eye-arresting…

Ford’s 5.0L Coyote engine has been a proven soldier in the world of high-performance. Introduced in 2011 with 412 hp, and now offered with as much as 480 hp in the 2019 Mustang Bullitt, the all-aluminum DOHC V8 has been a favorite of Mustang and F-150 owners. Despite being just a “little” 302, it can out-muscle many engines of larger displacement. And it becomes a superstar with bolt-ons and forced induction. Owners have cranked out more than 600 rwhp with basic blower kits, and far more with the boost turned up. If there’s a weak link, however, it’s the factory sintered-iron oil pump gears that can quit when the power is pushed up. Although not super common, a failure can be ugly. As you’re probably aware, losing an oil pump…

“Spring coatings are bad; it’s like putting on a wool sweater on a hot day.”—Billy Godbold According to Godbold, dry lubrication coatings, once favored to reduce friction, actually raise spring temperatures. “We tried them; they didn’t work.” You want to keep springs cool and promote heat transfer—and the best way to do that is immerse them in an oil bath. That also means “restricting oil to the top end is now frowned upon.” In fact, the current question is: “Do you run valve covers flooded, or spray oil through there, and how much? More oil keeps the valvespring alive. Cool is the rule!”…

“Hydraulic roller tech is no longer spring limited.”—Billy Godbold Even at the high-perf street or street/strip level, the old spring load assumptions are in a state of flux. Take the case of the hydraulic roller lifter. They’re heavier than other types because they contain both a roller plus a hydraulic mechanism, which seemingly calls for pretty stout springs—yet for many years “the experts” recommended mild springs that weren’t really adequate to get the job done. A popular belief was that high seat pressures cause hydraulic roller lifters to leak down overnight, resulting in clatter for several seconds during initial cold start-up the next morning. It does take about 20-90 seconds for a hydraulic lifter to bleed down when subjected to just a 50 pound load—so in reality, that means as…

I have a 2002 Firebird V6. I’m looking at swapping the normally-aspirated engine for a supercharged engine. After reading about the nightmare that is swapping just the supercharged V6 engine blower onto the existing engine, is it at all more economical to swap the L37 for an L67, and just have to worry about piping for the blower? Joe Bresett Via email For our readers’ benefit, the Buick 3800 Series II V6 was produced from 1995–2005 in both normally-aspirated (RPO L37) and supercharged (RPO L67) versions. Normally-aspirated L37s are found in many front-wheel-drive (FWD) cars of that era as well as rear-wheel-drive (RWD) 1996–2002 Generation IV Chevy Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds. The optional supercharged L67 versions are only found in some FWD cars. Unusually, the engine blocks are externally the…

Roadkill @davidfreiburger I wrote a whole editorial column about how junkyarding isn’t what it used to be and ended up convincing myself that, actually, it kind of is. See, from when I was a teen all the way into the ’90s as editor of Car Craft mag, the local gearhead world had a whole culture built around the local Pick Your Part yards. In earlier times it was no big deal to hit the yard and grab a Muncie four-speed, or maybe a sharktooth grille for your ’71 Duster 340. Even in the ’90s, when we were building engines for magazine stories, it was no big deal to swing to the yard and harvest a BOP 455 or maybe a 440 Mopar. The Chevy 454s were the big deal, and…