Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2008 i Hot Rod

V-8 PACER ’78 AMC Pacer • Chris Allen • Michigan State University, MI At the ripe age of 14, Chris and his dad decided that it was time for them to start a father/son project, but the common fare wouldn’t do. Inspired by Wayne’s World, they tracked down one of the 500 ’78 AMC Pacer coupes with a 304 V-8 from the factory and set about doing a rotisserie resto. To nail the stance on the 17-inch American Racing 200s, they cut a full coil out of the front springs and dearched the rear leaves. The 904 automatic is slated to be swapped for a T5 five-speed. The next swap will be a hot AMC 401, which is the right thing to do. 5.0 NASH Nash Metropolitan • Jim Buchman…

MORE WONDERS FROM DOWN UNDER These two Holdens are coming to America and they’ll be wearing Pontiac badges: the G8 GXP and the G8 sport truck. The pickup is offered with a 6.0L V-8 with a six-speed automatic, and the G8 GXP gets a 6.2L LS3 with a preliminary rating of 402 hp, while six-speed manual and automatic transmissions are available. This raises to 44 in six variants the number of models produced at Holden’s Elizabeth, Australia, plant, which employs more than 5,000 workers. All told, Holden builds around 150,000 vehicles per year. The G8 sport truck is kitted out to approximately the same option level as the G8 GT sedan introduced earlier this year, with dual-zone climate control, cruise control, and remote start—fairly posh for a truck. The G8…

50TH ANNUAL MARCH MEET Most of the folks flocking to Auto Club Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California, on March 7-9 fully realized they would be making, and living, a little bit of history. After all, this was the 50th March Meet and the first NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series event. All of us got more history than we’d bargained for, as Jack Harris put a slingshot into the 5.50s (twice!), nitro Funny Cars outnumbered fuel dragsters, a tire war broke out, and John Shoemaker became the first fatality in three decades of Nostalgia Top Fuel racing. Shoemaker, 65, and Jim Murphy were the first pair out on Saturday morning. A heart attack or stroke during John’s run may explain why a veteran pilot with thousands of career passes neither deployed…

Mike Warn • Wilsonville, OR POWER TRAIN Engine: Yep, it’s an ’02 Ferrari 360 Modena 3.6L engine, except it is mounted in the back seat of a bathtub Rambler. It’s all stock internally, but the electronic throttle control has been converted to manual, while the inscrutable Ferrari electronics have been ditched in favor of a more transparent Motec CPU. Brian Macy of Horsepower Connection in Lacey, Washington, assisted with the sorting and calibration. Power: The factory rating for the Modena’s 3.6L flat-crank, five-valve V-8 is 395 hp at 8,500 rpm and 275 lb-ft at 4,750 rpm. We reckon that’s about what this one makes, too. The totaled Ferrari that gave up its powertrain for the project was the result a of prom night gone horribly wrong. Fortunately no one was…

For most people, it’s probably hard to imagine why anyone would want to build a V-8 chain saw. After all, it’s grossly overpowered, it’s completely impractical, it burns high-octane fuel exclusively, it costs a lot of money to build and maintain, and the vast majority of the parts must be custom-fabricated. In other words, it’s just like any other hot rod. Forty-four-year-old Robert Andrews is a native of the Pacific Northwest, which is famous for two things: incessant rain and big trees. As a result, logging isn’t just a job for many of the folks in this area; it’s a way of life. A chain saw isn’t just a tool; it’s who you are. So in the winter months, instead of building hot rods to go drag racing with in…

We knew our April Fools’ hoax, “The Return of AMC” (Apr. ’08) was going to really stir the pot, and boy did it. We’ve always known that AMC loyalists are 10 times as rabid about their marque as even Mopar guys, and that was proven by the pure hate mail we got from them about the story. But a lot of other people loved it and understood the real motivation behind the story—to show how cool modern interpretations of classic cars (this time, using AMC as the example) could be. And really, folks, the text was so over the top, how could you have thought it was real? I mean, really. To those of you who felt it was cruel, chill out and realize the story was actually a tribute…

COKER BUYS PHOENIX RACING TIRES Firestone was in the drag racing tire market for a long time but pulled out of it in the mid-’90s, at which point a few execs left the company to relaunch the specialty drag tire brand Phoenix Drag Racing. The tires were (and still are) built from the same molds that Firestone developed more than 40 years ago and represent 30 different size and compound variations. Those 30 tires are now part of Coker Tire Co.’s product line, since Coker just bought Phoenix. Coker Tire president Corky Coker (left) said, “We’ve kicked off our 50th anniversary year by announcing Phoenix’s arrival and will soon be rolling out our national distribution plan for Phoenix. Our new performance brand division’s marketing plan is exciting!” Want more information?…

Andrew Murray • Woodbury, CT POWER TRAIN Engine: It’s an all-iron 327ci small-block Chevy, dressed out to look like it was built in 1960. “The block is from my 250,000-mile Chevy van before I turbocharged it, but that’s another story,” Andrew says. The cylinder heads are cast-off circle-track sportsman pieces. Power: The mildly tuned engine made 399 hp on the engine dyno. “I tried to squeeze that one more horsepower out of it, but it just wasn’t there,” Andrew says. No matter; with only 1,750 pounds to push, performance is brisk enough. Transmission: A BorgWarner T10 four-speed that previously resided in Andrew’s F-100 shop truck was salvaged for the project. The shifter is by Hurst. Rearend: A Winters V-8-style quick-change rearend was used, with enclosed axles and Winters pin-drive hubs.…

It takes guts to drive a front-motored dragster, and here’s why. During Saturday qualifying at the 50th Annual March Meet in Bakersfield, California, the Hemi in Mike McClennan’s FED burned two pistons and snapped the rods, prompting all hell to break loose and bathe Mike in a big ball o’ fire. It didn’t last very long, thankfully, and Mike emerged fine, if not a little warm. Mike borrowed a helmet, a firesuit, and a set of belts to replaced the charred remains of his stuff, his team stuck another motor in it, and they made it to the second round of eliminations on Sunday.…

DOODLING After reading the April Fools story “The Return of AMC,” I started doodling and came up with a new car, the BelAiro, a hybrid/electric, eco-friendly, two-seat, micro-mini wagon for city driving. A rubber band wind-up system is an option. It’s a cross between a ’58 Corvette (front end) with a ’55 Chevy Nomad (rear end and ribbed roof). It would be Chevy’s competition against Mini Coopers. I’d drive one if it were made. Le NerdBoise, ID Hmmmmm, OK then. Nerd said he also misses vent windows, so the BelAiro has ’em..…

JET F/C While rustling through the archives, we came across this single slide of a Mercury Comet Cyclone. At first blush, it appeared to be an old F/X car but then we noticed the name Walt Arfons slathered across the side and the laundry bags on the trunk lid. Turns out this is the world’s first fiberglass jet Funny Car. Walt and his recently departed brother, Art, defined the hot rodding spirit. They introduced the Allison V1710 aircraft engine to dragstrips and gave Wally Parks stomach ulcers. After the Arfons boys became the first racers to hit 150 mph in the quarter-mile, Wally decided the airplane stuff was for exhibition only. Undaunted, the brothers kept on. Art went to the Salt and Walt concentrated on the digs. In 1960, Walt…

HIS OTHER JOB You know him as Ryan Diem, right tackle for the Indianapolis Colts, but that’s just his day job. Seems Ryan’s teamed up with a close friend and engineering classmate to open a 10,000-sqare-foot high-performance/fabrication/restoration shop called Modern Muscle in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. The shop’s first project on the books is a ’64 Chevelle SS designed to be an all-purpose Pro Touring car. Here’s a quick rundown: a 1,000hp twin-turbo 6.7L Gen III; coilover suspension with tubular upper and lower control arms up front and a custom fabricated four-link and Strange Engineering 9-inch in the back; big six-piston Wilwood cross-drilled discs; huge 20x12-inch Billet Specialties Stilletos wearing Mickey Thompson S/R radials; a 10-point chrome-moly rollcage; power everything; and a high-end sound system inside. Not bad for…

Hot rodding is all about diversity. We create our hot rods to go fast, look good, and have fun with, sure, but a deeper inspiration comes from the desire to stand apart from all the other cars on the block. Anybody can go buy a new Mustang or an older Camaro, but it’s a hot rodder’s mind-set that makes them better than store-bought. Of course, even then you still have the same basic car as the next guy. Dare To Be Different is the mantra of those hot rodders who don’t want to pull up to a stoplight and see anything even remotely similar to their cars. These are the folks who start with alternative body styles, or put a never-before-seen treatment on a common car, or in some cases…

Not many of us can lay claim to standing close enough to postwar roaring track roadsters to get covered in clay. So few participants of Bonneville’s first Speed Week survive, that the SCTA easily fit all of these ’49ers into a small group photo. Fifty-eight years after the Oakland Roadster Show opened, it’s rare to encounter someone who attended the first one. Fewer still traveled all the way to Mexico the following year to launch the La Carrera Panamericana series. Nearly no one still alive witnessed, in its rain-soaked entirety, the ’55 NHRA Nationals that opened in Kansas but closed in Arizona several weeks later. Only four creatures on the planet claim charter membership in the revolutionary Drag Safari, touring the country like missionaries, spreading the gospel according to Wally…

When we last left Godzilla, our 540ci big-block Chevy was suffering from a painful affliction of water-in-the-oil-itis. Before it took ill, the mega-Rat, equipped with a mild Lunati hydraulic roller cam, entry-level Brodix bolt-on-replacement Race-Rite oval-port heads, Hooker headers, an Edelbrock intake, and a Holley Ultra HP carb, had already churned out 665 lb-ft of torque and 604 hp on Speed-O-Motive’s DTS dyno using the conservative SAE J1349 dyno correction factor (“Godzilla Rat,” May ’08). But before we could continue our dyno-flog, the internal coolant leak had to be identified and cured. Only then could we resume our planned cylinder head, camshaft, and intake test series as we continue climbing rung by rung up the performance ladder. Fortunately, other than the time lost in engine teardown, diagnosis, and solution, the…

VICTORY PULLEY SYSTEM FOR LS ENGINES Concept One Pulleys 877/785-5397 www.conceptonepulleys.com Concept One’s new billet aluminum Victory Series pulley systems are compact, single, serpentine-belt systems that mount the accessories tightly in front of the engine. The kits will fi t all LS series and other GM Gen III engines, including the LQ9 and L92 crate engines, and will work with LS1- and LS2-style throttle bodies. Victory Series LS systems include all pulleys and brackets, an alternator fan, a compressor cover, chrome mounting hardware, a Goodyear Gatorback belt, a tensioner, an SFI approved harmonic balancer, an aluminum water pump, a Powermaster alternator, a Sanden SD-7 A/C compressor, and a new Delphi aluminum power steering pump with the Concept One billet Mini Reservoir. Price: $1,945.00 machined, $2,145.00 polished 4-7 SWAP ROLLER CAM…