Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i Street Machine

TAILSPIN, the astonishing back-to-front FB Holden street machine project of Kylie and Adam Perry, reached a major milestone recently with the application of its paint. Revealed here for the first time, the colours are an incredible brew of custom green/ gold PPG Deltron GRS with aluminium and glass flake, with contrasting burgundy inside. The colours were applied by master painters – PPG’s John Hristias and Casey Calis – after Kylie, Adam and legendary car crafter Howard Astill gave the nod to the FB’s surface following several days of detailed prep work at PPG’s Sydney training facility. Tailspin has been an immense project for the Canberra-based Perrys. Originally a concept sketch by artist Linda Vesperman for the Jan/Feb 1994 issue of SM, Adam and Kylie decided it would be worth turning…

AT THE MOVIES WE POSTED some video to our Facebook page of some cool scenes from Running From The Guns, a great Aussie car movie from 1987. The flick features a GTHO, a genuine AC Cobra, a smoky Jag and a flaming Charger, and stars the late Jon Blake, who at the time was being hailed as the new Mel Gibson. Tragically, before the film was released he was involved in a horrific car accident that left him paralysed and unable to speak. From what we can gather, the film has never been released on DVD; if you’ve heard otherwise, please let us (and the readers) know! CJ Wynne – Never seen this before, looks like a great car movie. Good genuine driving and some great camera angles adding to…

THE EH was in pretty shoddy condition when Brad got it. “It was terrible,” he says. “The shell needed a massive amount of rust repairs and was pretty much stuffed.” Complete turret and rear quarter replacement isn’t for the fainthearted; throw in having to replace the plenum and fabricate lower A-pillars and it’s easy to see why it took nearly three years of spare weekends to finish! Pretty good going, we reckon. The replacement roof section wasn’t complete, meaning that Brad had to repair the front section of the original and weld the two sections together from B-pillar to B-pillar across the roof to create a full new skin.…

EVERY TIME I STARTED THE TORANA, IT TOOK BLOODY AGES TO GET GOING – COUGHING AND CARRYING ON WITH a shed full of GM products, Dave Streat is spoiled for choice when the weather is clement and he wants to play. But although the Queenslander loves power as much as the next guy, he also likes machines that play along. And for a long while, that wasn’t the case with his LX Torana hatch. “Every time I started the Torana, it took bloody ages to get going – coughing and carrying on” he says. He wanted to able to get in the car and just drive, without having to go backwards in power. “And it had to be manual so I could have some fun!” he laughs. So with the…

WHILE VERY DIFFERENT METHODS WERE USED ON EACH TRUCK, RYAN HAD ONE GOAL IN MIND: THEY HAD TO BE AWESOME STREET CARS SOME days we like sweet, some days we like spicy, but what happens when you can’t decide? Maybe that ‘why don’t we have both?’ kid from the taco ad is onto something, particularly when it comes to our automotive tastes. This ’52 F1 and ’55 Chevy 3100 come from opposite sides of Detroit, and while very different methods were used to get to the end result, the bloke who built them had one goal in mind. “They had to be awesome street cars” Ryan Carter asserts. Ryan is the bossman of Newcastle’s latest hot rod haven, United Speed Shop. You might recognise his name, as he spent years…

IT COULD be the start of a really neat Australia Day-weekend tradition. Next year, Oz Day falls on a Thursday, so for a full weekend of cool car stuff, start with the Geelong Australia Day Cruise – the Gateway City is home to some of the neatest and toughest street cars you’ll find anywhere. Then head up to Melbourne on the Friday and pay a visit to the Victorian Hot Rod Show at the picturesque Exhibition Centre. There are a bunch of killer cars inside and a revolving parade of cool stuff power-parking outside, all weekend. Then, when you’re ready for some action, head out on Saturday and Sunday to Calder Park Raceway to take in the full fury of the ANDRA Nationals. The event has just been revived at…

IT LOOKS ROUGH AND RUSTY ON THE OUTSIDE, BUT UNDERNEATH IT IS AS GOOD AS MY HILUX THE Kandos Street Machine & Hot Rod Show used to be one of the few events on during the post-Summernats glow, but these days it has to compete with a bunch of other shows around the country. Nevertheless, the family-friendly vibe at Kandos attracts plenty of loyal entrants and spectators. This year, John Spinks and his killer LX hatch won Top Entrant overall, with John Trunzo’s Draggin’ Coupe FJ picking up Top Street Machine and Bluey’s Airbourne Eight (SM Hot Rod #14) winning Top Rod. Kandos always features a few quirky cars, and our favourite of this year’s crop was 16-year-old Brent Battersby’s Mazda ute. If the name sounds familiar, that’s because Brent…

01 BLUE A FUSE BLUEWIRE’S universal short wire harness and fuse block series offers an ultra-small fuse block that can be mounted in any position, including under the dash or seat. If your factory wire harness is still in good working order and you just want to clean up your old fuse box then this is the kit you need, at half the price of a full wire harness. Ideal for hot rods, racecars and custom car installations. For more info visit www.bluewireautomotive.com. 02 WAX WORKS EAGLE One Wax-As-U-Wash is a two-in-one application for car cleaning and protection. Formulated with powerful cleaning and foaming agents for maximum shine and protection, Wax-As-U-Wash promotes a sheeting action that helps prevent water spots that occur when water beads dry. Visit eagleone.com.au for further…

LEE HILL XY FORD FAIRMONT “I PICKED up my 1971 Fairmont in early 2009. It was in very rough condition but it was a runner. A lot of people said it was too far gone to bother repairing, but I knew it could be done. I got it home and stripped it down to a bare shell for a full nut-and-bolt rebuild, which took three years. It had significant rust in all the usual places and once that was repaired I painted it in acrylic Limelight Metallic, which is a factory XY colour. I then had the interior re-trimmed in factory Saddle by my good friend Dave Palmblad. It’s powered by a standard-stroke 302 Windsor with AFR alloy heads and a solid cam, backed by a fully manualised C4 transmission…

WE’VE seen plenty of big engines over the years, but this 763-cuber in Mark Hayes’s newest LC Torana is right up there in terms of capacity. For those who like their measurements in metric, Mark’s motor packs a whopping 12.5 litres! “I love nitrous engines” Mark says, “but you can only make a certain amount of power per cube – around 3hp per cubic inch – so the more cubes you’ve got the better. I built the biggest engine I could afford at 763ci” He kicked things off with a five-inch-bore-space Brodix block (4.84in is standard), which retains the same external dimensions of the standard tall-deck engine but allows for more cubes inside. Just the thing you need when squeezing a big-block into a tight Torana engine bay. It also…

IT’S finished! After more than six months of work the Sidchrome Kombi van has been transformed from a rusted-out bucket of bolts to a head-turning street machine. The project was a joint initiative between Sidchrome, Chisholm TAFE in Dandenong, the Australian VW Performance Centre and SM. The TAFE crew handled the considerable job of repairing the body and applying the paint, while AVWP took care of the mechanicals, the amazing interior fit-out, installing the roll-back sunroof, and the final assembly. I had the pleasure of steering the Kombi to its public debut at the Saturday Night Live event at the Eastlink BP in Melbourne’s east. Now, I’ve driven my share of Kombis, but never one like this! For a start, it hoots along thanks to the 2180cc, twin-carb-equipped flat four.…

WHEN Hoodoo Gurus arrived at Summernats 29, their eyes were practically popping out of their heads. The four band members – vocalist/guitarist Dave Faulkner, guitarist Brad Shepherd, bassist Rick Grossman and new drummer Nik Rieth – were glued to the windows of the 12-seater they rode in on, completely stunned by the carmageddon taking place around them. “If you just see just a couple of these cars on the road on a Friday or a Saturday night you’re astonished, so seeing hundreds is mindblowing!” said Dave, who, as the biggest car guy in the band, was slightly more tickled than the rest of them. Which was very tickled indeed. SM already had an inkling Dave was a fellow enthusiast. Years ago we got wind that he owned an XC Cobra…

UP FOR THE CHALLENGE LOVE the mag; I have a collection going back to the late 80s. But I couldn’t believe what I was reading when I came across Boxhead’s letter in the Feb issue about how he was so disappointed with the amount of content dedicated to Drag Challenge. Excuse me if I’m wrong, but the magazine is named Street Machine! Drag Challenge is a fantastic concept and a real credit to you guys and the people who braved it and took part. Just goes to show you’ll never be able to keep everyone happy! By the way, it would be great to see more in-the-build shots and how the cars looked before their rebuilds. Peter, email SILVER SERVICE THE ‘Quick Silver’ XW Falcon article in the January issue…

I WANTED THE CAR TO HAVE A SOLID AMERICAN INFLUENCE SO I DECIDED TO GO DOWN THE DART PATH AND MAKE IT LOOK THE REAL DEAL IS THERE anything an Aussie Valiant hardtop can’t do? Whether it be a cool cruiser, tough streeter, circuit racer, gasser or convertible, the ever-versatile VF and VG coupes are the masters of morphing from one style to the next. Boasting genuine Yankee heritage and sold locally in decent numbers, there are still a few up for grabs and their prices have remained fairly subdued when compared to their Aussie two-door brethren. “I was never a hardtop fan” says 44-year-old panel beater Brent Murray, builder of the Top 20 Elite-placing Dart replica you see here. “We’d be cutting laps as young blokes and always see…

IN THIS FOREIGN LAND THERE ARE FEWER MONSTERS AND MORE CRUISERS, WITH AMERICAN RIDES OUTNUMBERING THE AUSSIE-BUILT ENTRANTS BY QUITE A NUMBER CHANCES are you’ve never heard of Muscle Car Madness; I certainly hadn’t. But to Kiwis on New Zealand’s South Island this is the Holy Grail, the Summernats of the south, the biggest and best car event on the calendar. From 22-24 January thousands of people flock to the small town of Rangiora, about 30 minutes from Christchurch, to admire, cruise and skid cars. We had to see what all the fuss was about, so Editor Telfo stuck myself and photographer Jacobs on a bomber. Us foreigners had very little idea of what we were in for; all we had was the town name. The sat-nav took us to…

QUITE OFTEN THE CARS WOULD RETURN WITH RUBBER SPRAYED ACROSS THE BACK, WITH MOST OWNERS LEAVING IT ON AS A BADGE OF HONOUR MOTORVATION turned 30 this year, but instead of settling down, buying a 4WD and going fishing, WA’s biggest car festival got some new threads and went out on the town. While burnouts have always been a big part of the fun, a couple of years ago an Active Elite class was put in place, allowing owners to take their cars out of the elite show and cut some laps around the Motorplex – and I don’t mean just through the pit area. We’re talking down the strip and through the Snakepit. Quite often the cars would return with rubber sprayed across the back, with most owners leaving…

THEY’RE big, they’re loud and they’re totally insane. The crazy dirt-churners of the Australian Tractor Pullers Association (ATPA) are absolutely awesome to watch and we had a chance to check them out at Tooradin, a little south and east of Melbourne. If you’ve never seen these beasts in action as they attempt to pull their weighted sleds down the dirt track, then it’s time to get off the couch and get amongst it. Tractor pulling is huge in the US and Europe, and while it’s not so big Down Under yet, they certainly put on a good show. Concentrated around Victoria, South Australia and southern NSW, the ATPA national series consists of eight rounds with eight different classes contested – ranging from the Limited Mini Modifieds through to the massive…

Norm Beechey’s 1964 Mustang Hardtop IN 1964 Norm Beechey decided to gamble his racing future on Fords’s new Mustang, resolutely believing in the performance credentials of the new American V8 coupe. The new Mustang hardtop, with its compact unitary construction, light kerb weight and powerful small-block V8 engine, had all the makings of a championship winner. Beechey flew to the US to purchase a brand-new Mustang with the High Performance (271hp) version of the 289ci small-block V8, four-speed gearbox, front disc brakes and limited-slip diff. However, due to overwhelming customer demand, the best he could get was a slightly used company car that Ford’s racing partner Holman-Moody was using for promo work. It had drum brakes all ’round, but at least it was in the Hi-Po V8 manual specification. Beechey…

WE RAN THE PRO CLASS IN REVERSE ORDER; THE EARLIER YOU ENTERED, THE LATER YOU RAN. IF YOU WERE SERIOUS, YOU GOT YOUR ENTRY IN EARLY AFTER the insanity that is Summernats, you’d think that everyone would be too exhausted for more burnouts, but nearly 70 cars hit the Sydney Dragway pad on 16 January for the very first Burnout Outlaws event. “We always knew it was a risk” promoter Phil Kerjean said, “but we didn’t have a lot of choice with the dates, plus we were hoping to pick up a few of the WA and Queensland cars before they went home.” That part worked well enough, with a few interstaters backing up for another round of tyre-frying mayhem, but a few days’ rain before the event certainly put…

I’VE LINED UP AGAINST MCLARENS AND 1000HP COMMODORES AND GIVEN THEM A PRETTY BIG FRIGHT WHEN Dan McCosker wanted to go faster, he didn’t look at making more horsepower, he went down the weight reduction path instead, building this mental 1JZ-powered Toyota Corolla panel van. I guess the obvious question is: Why’d you pick a beige Corolla panel van to build a weapon out of? A lot of it was peer pressure to be honest! My mate Kristian Goleby has one as well, and when I told him I wanted a lighter car to stick my Toyota 1J engine in he talked me into getting a Corolla panel van. The motor was originally in my old Cressida sedan, which was pretty quick, but when you stick the same gear in…

WIN! WIN one of three Mothers packages, including glass cleaner, carnauba cleaner wax, car wash, polishing pads, a pack of microfibre towels and more! See www.mothers.com for details.…

25-28 FEB, EASTERN CREEK, NSW Powercruise 60, Sydney Motorsport Park. Visit powercruise.com. 26-27 FEB, BALLARAT, VIC Ballarat Swap Meet, Mitchell Park. Contact 0487 175 996, or visit ballaratswapmeet.com.au. 26-28 FEB, COLLIE, WA Gazzanats 2016, Collie Motorplex. Contact 0408 692 033, or search for Gazzanats on Facebook. 27 FEB, LAGGAN, NSW Annual Laggan Pub Car Show, Peelwood Road. Contact (02) 4837 3208 or visit facebook.com/lagganpubcarshow. 27 FEB, LAWNTON, QLD Sims Rock ’n’ Roll Show ’n’ Shine, Pine Rivers Showground. Contact pistonenergydrink@hotmail.com. 28 FEB, BIRDWOOD, SA Small Ford Show, National Motor Museum. Contact Mark 0439 831 862. 28 FEB, CRAIGIEBURN, VIC Craigieburn Car, Truck & Bike Show 2016, Craigieburn Central. Contact Jim 0408 305 558. 28 FEB, WARRIEWOOD, NSW The Northern Beaches Car & Bike Fest 2016, Pittwater Rugby Park. Contact Barney…

IT’S common to find people winding back the clock when choosing a ‘new’ vehicle, as they attempt to find their comfortable niche within the car scene. Stephen Dariz is one such bloke who has dabbled with plenty of cool metal over the years – be it street machines, customs or choppers – but found his calling with the raised attitude and mechanical mayhem of a traditional gasser. 01: STEPHEN dubbed this XT GT ‘The Fakemont’. “It began life as a six-banger, column-shift Fairmont” he says. “Bought in ’93, it was my first real car and I spent most of my apprentice wages restoring it and buying GT bits. Oh, and booze! Ultimately, the puzzle came together with the help of my brother Mick who owned an orange XW GT. He…

FEB FAST! JUST got the Feb issue in the mailbox yesterday and it looks like a great read yet again. While I was very happy to get the extra 77 pages on Drag Challenge in the Jan issue, it appears some weren’t (Your Stuff, SM, Feb ’16). Was great to read about the machines involved and their efforts, which is nearly inspiration enough to have a crack myself! But reading Peter Warburton’s letter about Summernats being unsafe in various aspects and unorganised in others made me laugh. Peter, if you want Summernats to end up like some Yank car show, where they make cars do a stationary burnout against a block of concrete as a chock, then keep complaining loud and hard, but you might be a solo voice. If…

IT LOOKED TIDY IN THE PHOTOS, BUT JUST LIKE INTERNET DATING, SOMETIMES THE PICS DON’T MATCH THE REALITY WEARE in safe hands. It’s a golden era for street machining in Australia and there’s a vast amount of young talent securing our sport for future decades. Caseinpoint: 26-year-old Brad Pizzi and his Summernats Top 60 and Top Van-winning EH pano. What you see on these pages is a car built near-wholly in the home garage and stands as a testament to what can be achieved when dedication and vision come into play. “This project was a huge family affair,” Brad explains. “I restored my grandfather’s EH ute at 15 and now the whole family is EH mad! My mum, dad, sister and brother-in-law all have drivers and projects on the go…

THE UTE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A TOUGH 393CI STROKER, BUT IT SHIT ITSELF THE FIRST TIME I DROVE IT AND WE FOUND OUT IT WAS JUST A MILD 302 WE’VE all been stiffed on a deal over the years – it’s an unfortunate side effect of buying used cars and parts. That freshly rebuilt engine turns out to be full of second-hand parts, or that killer transmission needs all the clutches replaced, or that fresh bare-metal respray hides a cancerous body full of bog and chicken wire. We’ve seen them all, but Chris Wright got taken for a good old ride when he traded his mint VQ Caprice over a decade ago for an XW project car that looked full of promise. “I was 18 or 19 at the…

CROWNING THE WILD MOTOR IS A B&M BLOWER WITH A 600 HOLLEY AND A DICK LANDY INTAKE – POSSIBLY THE ONLY ONE EVER MADE AS THE crow flies, it’s about 600km to the nearest beach, so you’ve got to wonder what a vehicle like this is doing out in the high desert of Utah. Dubbed Surf Seeker, this cartoony take on a ’65 VW Bus might not make too many trips to the Southern Californian surf breaks, but it sure is a hit on the car show circuit. The artist that created this rolling sculpture is Ron Berry, and while he spends his time these days in a much less crowded part of the world, he was born and raised in SoCal and spent a lot of his youth around…

PETE Hamilton has nailed the balance of street and strip perfectly with his 364ci, LS2-based VH Commodore Vacationer wagon. It’s punched out 340rwkW on the chassis dyno, and has already run a 10 at the strip, yet is fully street-registered and engineered. But why a wagon, particularly one decked out with Holden’s slightly upmarket but family-oriented Vacationer pack? “I’ve got a real soft spot for these VH Vacationer wagons” the Canberra resident says. “I had one as my first car; it was stock as a rock in original metallic brown, running a 253 and Aussie four-speed. I loved it. I had it back when I was at school and drove it around for a few years like that. Then I pulled it apart for a major rebuild but got a…

FOR MANY IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THEY’D SAMPLED THE SIGHTS, SOUNDS AND FULL-BODY MASSAGE THAT ONLY TOP FUEL CAN PROVIDE IT’S BEEN a long time since we’ve had all the classes represented at Calder Park, but Australian drag racing’s ‘Big Go’, the Nationals, returned to Melbourne in early February to thrill thousands of fans. For many it was the first time they’d sampled the sights, sounds and full-body massage that only a Top Fuel dragster can provide. After the Rapisarda fuel cars made their first full pass down the quarter there were plenty of wide-eyed faces looking around to see if everyone else was feeling what they were feeling. Unfortunately drag racing’s big split meant there weren’t enough of these thundering monsters for a full Top Fuel field, but…

A CLASSIC street machine like our giveaway LX Torana hatch calls for a classic transmission, and that’s precisely what a Turbo-Hydramatic 350 has become. Of course, it’s not the only choice available; adapters or modifications make it possible to fit almost any transmission to a 308 Holden V8 these days. The Trimatic, for example, is a good trans but it isn’t as robust as a Turbo 350. In standard form it will start to suffer beyond about 400hp, though with the right components that figure can be extended to as much as 600hp. For heavy-duty applications there’s the classic Powerglide, and these can be built to handle any power level, but for regular street use there are better choices than a two-speed transmission. The three-speed Turbo 400 is tough enough…

RIVERINA skid king Martin Tooth is in the process of upgrading the motor in his Holden one-tonner, after popping a head gasket and bending a rod at Brashernats last year. With plans to sit the tacho on 9000rpm, an LSX block was called for, with a custom-made 3.25in-stroke Callies centre-counterweighted lightweight crank, extra-long 6.35in rods and Ross pistons. “It’s a pretty serious engine” Sam Fenech from Westend Performance says. “We are going to run an L98 head with titanium valves and a solid-roller cam with Morel tie-bar lifters. The manifold will be a Shaun’s Custom Alloy high-rise intake with a Blower Shop 8/71 supercharger. It’s not about making horsepower, it’s all about being able to rev the snot out of it, and with the blower at 25 per cent overdriven…

I WANT TO KEEP IT IN ORIGINAL CONDITION, WHICH IS GOING TO BE HARD TO DO BECAUSE I’VE MODIFIED EVERY CAR I’VE EVER OWNED! I’M A fitter and turner engineer just coming to the end of my apprenticeship. I’ve always liked old-school cars; I’d had a few Ford Escorts, but once I got my first HQ Holden when I was 17 I just fell in love with them. I’ve had this ’74 HQ Belmont for about two months now; it’s the seventh Quey I’ve owned. When it came along it was like no other HQ I’d ever seen, so I had to get it! It has only done 86,000km and is completely original. The guy I bought it off found it in a barn a few years ago and it…