Still another stupid GM Corporate Edict that hurt performance and cost sales

For whatever reason, GM was deathly afraid of Ralph Nader and the safety Nazis in the 1960s. After Nader's "Unsafe at any speed" almost single-handedly killed the Corvair-maybe they had good reason. One of their concessions to "safety" was that no intermediate -i.e.-Chevelle, LeMans, Cutlass, or Skylark could have an engine over 400 cubic inches. This was ok from 1964-67 when GTOs, and SS396 Chevelles pretty much ruled the street. However, in 1968 Chrysler dropped three nuclear bombs. The Charger was redesigned into it's now classic form, and you could get a 440 V8 or the mighty 426 Hemi. The Road Runner and Super Bee were introduced with the 383 standard and the 440 and 426 Hemi optional. A big 440 inch Road Runner or Charger had little to fear from a 400 GTO or 396 Chevelle. Ford even dropped the mighty 428 into the Mustang.  A few GM guys fought back. Don Yenko, a Pennsylvania Chevy Dealer started swapping 427 Vette engines into Camaros and Chevelles. George Hurst took a 455 Olds out of the Toronado, gave it W30 heads, intake, and cam, and stuffed it into a Cutlass 442 and created the legendary Hurst / Olds. Royal Pontiac would swap 428HO Gran Prix engines into GTOs and Firebirds for a fee. Yet the GM brass wouldn't budge, and allow the bigger motors to be factory installed. In 1969 Chrysler hit another home-run. They introduced the 440 Six-Pack option on the Charger, Road Runner and Super Bee. This was a 440 Magnum with a hotter cam, and 3 holley 2bbls on an aluminum Edelbrock manifold. This beast was actually a better street performer than the vaunted Hemi. When the Camaro-sized new E bodies-Challenger and Cuda were introduced with the 440-6 and the Hemi optional, GM realized it was war. They relented and for 1970 we got the legendary LS6 454 Chevelle, the W30 455 442, and the Stage 1 455 Buick GSX. Pontiac stuck with the Ram Air III and Ram Air IV 400 engines as the top dog in the GTO and Trans Am. You could get a 455 in a GTO,but it was a "station wagon" stump-puller, not near the fire-breather the 400s were. However, for 1971, Pontiac put the RAIV heads and intake on the 455 along with the milder "068" cam and created one of the greatest street  engines ever-the 455HO. This monster produced 480 lbs ft of torque at a low 2,700 rpm. To this day 455HO Pontiacs dominate stock class drag racing even beating up on LS6 Chevelles, Hemi Cudas and the like. After 1971 the lowered compression ratios and ever-tightening emission controls began killing performance packages. The Hemi and 440 Six-Pack were gone after 1971, as was the LS6 ( It was still sold as a crate engine until 1991 ) . The W30 Olds 455 and the 455HO Pontiac were gone after 1972. Herb Adams had a last Hurrah with the 455SD Trans-Ams of the 73-74 period, but that was it for true performance engines. You could get a 455 in a Trans-Am until 1976 and a 400 until 1979, but they were "corporate" big blocks by then with barely 200 hp. What a shame that the GM brass didn't allow the mega inchers until it was almost too late. Mastermind

Another unpopular GM edict......And the myth hot-rodders have believed for decades!

Almost as unpopular as the infamous racing ban was GM cracking down on multi-carb systems. Back in the late '50's the Olds J-2 system with 3 2bbl carbs was a legendary performer. From 1959-1966 Pontiac had great success with their 3 2bbl setups on 389 and 421 engines. They also did well in drag racing with the 2 4bbl "Super Duty 389 and 421 engines. '57 Chevys had a dual-quad option on the 283, and later in the early '60's, the legendary 409. Chrysler had cross-ram 383s and 413s, and of course the legendary 426 Hemi with it's dual AFBs. In 1967, to cut down on "option proliferation" the GM brass said no more multi-carb setups. Zora-Arkus Duntov threw a fit, and an exception was made for the tri-power 427 Corvette, which hung on until 1969. Pontiac and Olds engineers scrambled and the buff magazines were assured that the Quadrajet topped 1967 engines made just as much power as the tri-power 1966 models. Herein is the myth. For 40+ years all the hot rodder mags have said a single 4-barrel is the way to go. That's because the average idiiot that thinks he's a mechanic can't tune one lousy Holley 4bbl properly, much less dual quads or 3-2's. I use to see it it mine and my dad's shop all the time. 409s, tri-power GTO's, Six-Pack Road Runners, even Hemis. The owner's screwed them up. They forgot that these engines were designed to be run hard, not babied. If your going to drive like grandma-then go a range or two hotter on the plugs. But they don't. And the second it fouls a spark plug, they start screwing around with the carburators. Pretty soon it won't even start. Then I get it. And using an infrared exhaust analyzer and a carburator syncronizer, and many sets of jets, I fix it and tell them to weld the hood shut. And the owner's can't beleive how much better their car runs, simply being tuned properly. Why do you think Porsches and Ferraris used multiple Webers for so many years? Because they made a ton of power, that's why!.  Automakers only switched to electronic fuel injection because of emission laws. All other things being equal, a carburator, or carburators always makes more power. That's whjy NASCAR didn't switch to fuel injection until 2012. I've seen it first hand. Back in 1985 I had the pleasure of being invited to Bill Pennington's shop. He owned the Circus-Circus casinos in Reno and Vegas. He also was an avid sports-car racer and boat racer. He collected Lamborghinis as well. His mechanics showed us that an early multi-weber equipped Countach made nearlyn 100 more hp on the dyno thjan a later injected one. In front of my eyes they pulled the Tuned Port Injection off a new ( at the time ) Corvette and installed an Edelbrock Torker II intake and a 750 Holley, and it picked up 55hp on thje dyno. Mopar Muscle tested an aluminum-headed 500 inch 440 based stroker that made nearly 600 hp with an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and a custom-jetted 850 Holley double-pumper. For giggles they put a stock Six-pack setup on it. They were blown away. The "antiquated" tri-power came within 5 hp and 10 lbs ft of torque of their state-of-the-art 4bbl setup, and that was with out of the box carb jetting-the repro Holley 2bbls are jetted for a stock 440 with Iron exhaust manifolds. It was undoubtedly way lean for a roller-cammed badass with headers. After rejetting the carbs, this 40 year old "dinosaur" of a design kicked the ass of the modern setup, actually making about 25 more hp!!  Yes, a single 4bbl is a cheap, easy way for the average guy to go real fast, and he can't screw it up too bad. But if you want a multi-carb setup on your musclecar, don't be afraid of it. Just find someone who knows how to calibrate them, and then leave the damn carbs alone!!!  And enjoy the look, sound and feel that onlu a multi-carb setup can deliver! Mastermind       

The History of The SS396 and the 442

Much has been written about the History of the Pontiac GTO but you don't see a lot about the 442 or SS396. I thought I'd give a history lesson on how the GTO helped spawn these two other iconic musclecars. In the late '50's and early '60's most performance cars were full-size models. Smokey Yunick and Fireball Roberts were the scourge of NASCAR in their fire-breathing 389 and 421 Pontiac Catalinas. Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was having great success in drag racing with 409 Impalas and Ford had their 406 Galaxies, and Chrysler had their 413 Dodges and Plymouths. Olds had the famous "Rocket 88" with a tri-power 394 inch V8. This is where the motto-"Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" came from. Then in 1963, GM laid down the famous ban on racing. No more racing, period. Not even the previous wink,wink, back door stuff to people like Mickey Thompson or Arnie Beswick. John De Lorean, and Pete Estes, who along with Semon E. "Bunkie" Knudsen had helped Pontiac rise from sixth place to third in sales just behind Chevrolet and Ford. They had accomplished this by building exciting, fast cars. Knudsen's motto was-"You can sell a young man's car to an old man, but you can't sell an old man's car to a young man." He was proved right. Knudsen got promoted to President of Chevrolet, but DeLorean and Estes were still at Pontiac. They feared without racing success, they'd lose their high-performance image. Estes said-"Forget a race car-let's build a high-performance STREET car!"  The rule at the time was big cars got big engines, small cars got small engines. No intermediate ( I..E.-Cutlass, LeMans, Chevelle,Buick Skylark) could have an engine over 330 cubic inches.  DeLorean was pissed that Oldsmobile had put the "small car" 330 V8 in the Delta 88 as a step-down option and cut the price. A direct assault on the Pontiac Catalina. Estes said the loophole worked both ways. The rule was for STANDARD engines. They could take the 389 out of the Catalina and put it in the mid-size LeMans as an OPTION. Estes and DeLorean had hoped to sell 10,000 units. They sold 32,450. Chevrolet and Oldsmobile bitched, but the brass never argued with sales success. Oldsmobile quickly came out with the 442 Option which stood for 4 barrel carb, 4-speed trans, and dual exhausts. But with only 330 cubes, it really wasn't a competitor for the mighty 389 GTO. Ditto for the 327 inch Malibu SS. For 1965 the other divisions fought back. Chevrolet put the big-block 396 in the Chevelle and Oldsmobile put the 400 V8 in the 442. Buick even put their 400 inch V8 in the Skylark. The GTO was still king of the street, selling over 75,000 units, more than double '64's sales. In 1966, things really heated up. Oldsmobile offered a tri-power ram air option on the 442 to compete with the GTO's 360 hp tri-power 389, and Chevrolet offered a solid-lifter 396 rated at 375 hp, that had been rated at 425 in the Corvette. In 1968 GM redesigned the intermediates with a sexy new body that would carry on until 1972. The GTO won  Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" award, and George Hurst took a 455 V8 out of the Toronado and stuffed it in a 442 and created the Legendary "Hurst Olds".  Don Yenko, a Pennsylvania Chevy dealer started putting 427s in Chevelles. With Ford putting 428s in Mustangs and Torinos, and Chrysler putting 440s and 426 Hemis in Chargers and Road Runners, the Horsepower race was on. But that's how it started, with GM's infamous 1963 ban on racing. Mastermind    

Blaspehemy Most Foul!!

Saw in a national magazine a featured car sure to offend everyone. And once again, the More-Money-Than-Brains factor is involved. This genius put a 528 inch Chrysler Hemi into a Pantera. The only thought that comes to mind is "What the hell were you thinking?" Pantera collectors damn sure don't want it, hardcore Ford Racers don't want it, and Mopar guys certainly don't want it. Panteras come with a 351 "Cleveland" engine which can be hopped up easily if you want more power. If you want a monster motored Pantera-the 351C and the 429 / 460 engines share the same bellhousing bolt-pattern, and the larger engines are almost identical in external dimensions.  A Ford Racing 460-based 514 inch stroker with 600+ hp would practically be a bolt-in. Why go to the trouble and expense of adapting a Chrysler engine?  I know Pontiac guys get pissed every time they see a GTO or Firebird with a Chevy Rat motor under the hood, but at least that's GM to GM-the cars are sisters to the Chevelle and Camaro. The only thing that comes close on the stupid meter is I saw a Chevy LS engine stuffed in a Fox-bodied Mustang. What are these people thinking?  "I know, I'll spend triple the money and time it would take to build a stompin' 302,and put a Chevy engine that doesn't run any faster than the Ford would in my Mustang, and that'll be the coolest!!"  Ditto for the Pantera except he's stupid time PI. The Mustang guy bought a beater Mustang for $1,000 bucks and got the LS motor out of a junkyard, so he gets an award for being cheap and ingenius if, offensive. A nice Pantera goes for about 30-50K if it's in any kind of decent shape. Yeah that's smart. Take a $40,000 classic and butcher it with a $30,000 crate motor that's a Dodge!!.  At least if he went with the 514 Ford, he'd have some resale value. I haven't been this offended since I saw the '57 T-Bird with the 389 Pontiac engine in it!!  There's just some things you don't do, and this is one of them. Mastermind  

The Automakers just don't learn....and history keeps repeating itself!!

As a lifelong car enthusiast I'm amazed at how in my lifetime, the automakers have made the same mistakes over and over, and don't learn from them. I touched on it a little in a past post, but it's worth discussing again. # 1. A carmaker comes up with a great idea that's a thunderous hit. Not content to sell this car like hot cakes, and rake in profits for years to come, they have to "broaden it's appeal" to try to sell even more. What happens is they ruin the car, and people stop buying them. A couple good examples-one American, one Foreign. The 1964 GTO was a smash. It was a simple old hot-rod trick-put a big motor in a light car. Pontiac had hoped to sell 10,000 units. Even though it was a mid-year option, they sold 32,450-more than triple what they planned. In 1965 they sold 75,000 units, more than double '64's total. In 1966 they sold almost 100,000. Even mighty Chevrolet, with twice the dealer network of Pontiac, could only sell 77,000 SS396 Chevelles. Then they decided to "Broaden it's appeal." The car got heavier and more expensive every year. By 1971-five short years later they only sold 10,000 units, and in 1972, half that-5,807. Yes, high insurance rates put a dent in all musclecar sales, but the brass had ruined Pontiacs biggest Cash Cow. They didn't even try to save it. All the performance efforts were now concentrated on the Firebird line. Nissan did the same thing. In the '50's and '60's the British pretty much owned the sports-car market. The 1970 Datsun 240Z was an immediate smash. It had a sexy body, a high-revving six-cylinder engine that would suck up and spit out any British sports car-including the vaunted XKE-and it was reasonably priced. To combat the power lost to the tightening emission controls of the mid-'70's they punched the engine out to 2600cc and later 2800cc-thus the 260Z and 280Z monikers as the years passed. But the basic platform stayed the same until 1978. Then, Yes-The brass decided to "broaden its appeal". The car got bigger and heavier, and more expernsive. Even with a turbocharged engine, the 1983 280ZX was nowhere near the performance car the original 240Z was. Did the brass learn? No. 1984 brought the even larger, heavier, more luxurious and much more expensive 300ZX. By 1994 a loaded ZX cost 45 grand. That's more than a Corvette was at the time.  Gee, why weren't they selling?  In 2003 they brought back the "Z". Now called the 350Z and powered by an awesome 300 hp V6 and with a swoopy two-seat body and a pricetag around $26,000 guess-what-they sold like hot cakes and the enthusiast mags raved. Now they've increased the displacement and the hp is up around the 350 mark in the 370Z, and the base price has crept up to around $32,000. However, when you consider that a loaded Toyota Camry or Honda Accord is over 30K, their still a screaming bargain. Hopefully Nissan won't screw it up again. GM did again-in the '80's and '90's. Musclecar buyers didn't magically fall off the earth in 1973, the automakers stopped making cars that they wanted to buy. That's why the Pontiac Trans-Am was the alpha dog in the late '70's. Yes it was a good car, and "Smokey and the Bandit" certainly helped sell a few-but think-if you wanted a sporty car with a big V8 after 1975-you bought a Trans-Am or nothing. Chevy brought back the Z/28, and Ford wisely scrapped the Pinto-based Mustang II platform and put a V8 in the Fox replacement. Yet, ath the Camaro / Firebird's demise in 2002 a loaded Z/28 or T/A cost almost 40 grand. The people that wanted them-young males-couldn't afford them. Yet Ford sold twice as many Mustangs every year as GM sold Camaros and Firebirds combined. Why? Because you could buy a V8 Mustang for around 25 grand not 40!! And just like the T/A in the '70's-if you wanted a rear-wheel drive sporty V8 car-you bought a Mustang or nothing.  Flash forward to 2009-the reintroduced Camaro with a 300 hp V6 and a sticker of $22,000 duh-sells like women of ill-repute in a seaport full of drunken sailors. Even the SS-comes in under 30 grand-almost 10K less than the one they were trying to sell seven years before. Shocker! It's a success. As is the Dodge Challenger that's looks like the "Vanishing Point" model. Hopefyll GM, Ford and Chrysler won't make the same mistake again and price and pork these awesome modern musclecars into oblivion. Mastermind   

The little pony that could....And did!

With the recent resurgence of the ponycar-Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger-some people have asked if there were others back in the late '60's and early '70's. (Firebird, 'Cuda,-"sister" cars- Duh! ) I thought I'd bring up a noble underdog in the ponycar wars-the AMC Javelin / AMX. The Javelin was a racy looking car that was also available as a two-seater from 1968-70 in AMX form. Optional engines included the 290 inch V8 that was used in SCCA Trans-Am racing, and larger 343 and 390 inch V8s. They were exceptional handling, well-balanced cars. The problem was, at the height of the musclecar era, they were underpowered. The top 390 only made 315 hp. By contrast-you could get a 396 in a Camaro that made 375 hp. A Ram Air 400 Firebird was rated at 345 hp; however the same engine in a GTO was rated at 370, and considered under-rated at that. You could get a 428 in a Mustang. However, in 1970-Mark Donohue and Roger Penske-who had won championships in Trans-Am for Chevrolet defected to AMC. The Javelin was given a more aerodynamic body for 1971 and the base engine was increased to 304 inches, the 343 to 360, and the 390 to 401. The new 401 was rated at 330 hp. However, you could get a 440 or 426 Hemi in a Challenger or Cuda, and Pontiac offered the 455 in Firebird Formulas and Trans-Ams. The Javelins were still underpowered when it came to street cred. However-Donohue won the SCCA Trans-Am Championship, narrowly edging Ford for the title, and AMC promoted it heavily in the buff magazines. Except for a Trans-Am or a Corvette, the AMX was about the best handling American car built. However, ever-tightening emission controls and the Arab fuel embargo was putting the hurt on Musclecars in general. By 1975 not only was the Javelin a memory, so was the Challenger and Cuda, the Z/28, and the Charger and Road Runner. The Mustang II was more Pinto / Capri than Mustang. Ironically,the Pontiac Trans-Am soared in popularity in the late '70's-partly because it was a great car-their really rising in popularity among restorers now-and partly because it was the "Last Man Standing" if you wanted a performance car with a big V8. However, as a Welterweight in the ring with Heavyweights the Javelin did pretty well. If you can find one, they still make a nice driver, but except for two-seat models they don't hold the Value that Camaros, Firebirds, Mustangs and E-body Mopars do. However, that's a good thing if you want to buy one! Mastermind

Don't try to emulate magazine project cars- You don't have the bankroll!!

A lot of us enthusiasts read car magazines and often the stuff we buy for our cars is influenced by them. But we can't copy them verbatim, because we don't have an unlimited bankroll and companies like Edelbrock or Accel aren't donating new products to be tested on our vehichles!  You have to realize a lot of these project cars aren't someone's personal ride ( although some are ) their rolling test beds for their advertisers products. A case in point-Popular Hot Rodding's "Project Talledega" a 1975 Laguna done up in '70's Nascar Style. It was finished less than a year ago. The engine they put in it was a snarling, 408 inch solid-roller small-block that pumped out 560 hp. Now they say their putting a big-block in it. Huh? I know what your thinking. 560 hp is enough for anybody, and even with a Rat they'll have a hard time making much more than that in a streetable package. So why do it?  Here's why. A couple years ago when they started the project, Dart had just introduced a new line of Small-Block Chevy high-performance short blocks. They were available in either 372 or 400 inches and with a Dart "Top end" kit-i.e.-heads, cam and intake manifold you basically had a crate engine. They wanted to showcase this engine line in a car. Now apparently, someone has a new big-block package the magaazine and the manufacturer want to showcase. This is nothing new. "Project X", their legendary '57 Chevy that served them from 1962 until it's retirement and internment at the GMPP Museum in 2008, went through numerous small-blocks, big-blocks, four-speeds, five-speeds, automatics, carburators, fuel injection systems, blowers and turbochargers over the years. There's nothing wrong with that. That's how they keep readers interested and sell their advertisers products, which keeps them in business. But "Joe Average"  can't afford to change engines or transmissions or suspensions every six months.  So take these projects with a grain of salt, and plan yours for the long-term. Mastermind

Are you as sick as I am of "Sissy" hotrods?

I get tired of reading about musclecars not only with modern fuelie engines, but with leather seats, and a/c and their owners talking about good gas mileage and idle quality and drivability. Huh? First off, research has shown that a restored musclecar is usually the fourth or fifth car in a household. So nobody's using these cars as daily transportation. Sorry to be sexist, but Idle quality and gas mileage and "drivability" shouldn't be a factor in a musclecar unless your building it for your wife or daughter as a daily driver! I can't believe how sissified the sport has become. Competition Cams actually makes a series of camshafts called "Thumper" that idle like the car has a big cam, but doesn't have reduced vacuum at idle. Companies make hydraulic clutch linkages because one wouldn't want to have to use a stiff clutch!!  Come on guys!!!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about a daily driver. If I was buying a new daily driver, I'd get a Dodge Charger with the Hemi and an automatic and all the toys. If I actually wanted a classic as a daily driver-say a '70's Corvette-yes I'd use a mild 350 with a hydraulic cam and a quiet exhaust system and a TH350 or maybe even a 700R4. And It would have nice stock or aftermarket seats, and a/c and a nice CD player.  However, if I wanted a '70's Corvette as a hot rod-that I only drove on sunny weekends-It would have to be a four-speed, and the engine would either be an ultra high-revving solid-roller 372 inch Dart small-block with 11:1 compression and either a Victor Jr intake with one 800 Edelbrock carb or a Tunnel Ram with two 450 Holleys, or an earth-shaking 12:1 454 with a solid lifter cam, aluminum Dart or Brodix rectangular-port heads, a Brodix or Dart or Super Victor intake with a Demon or Dominator carb, and either engine would have Hooker headers and barely muffled chrome sidepipes. The rear axle ratio would be 4.56 or 4.88, and I'd have a Gear Vendors overdrive not for gas mileage, but for top-end speed when I'm giving Dodge Vipers and Turbo Porsches the finger!!  I wouldn't care if it only got 5-8 mpg on 104 octane race gas, idled at 2000 rpm and had a stiff  clutch!!  It would be the meanest mother in the valley, with all motor, no sissy-ass nitrous, and not for the faint of heart to drive!! That may sound extreme, but a hot rod that's strictly a hot rod should be extreme. It's not what mom drives the girls to soccer practice in, it's Jule's Wallet from "Pulp Fiction".  Drivabilty,schmrivabilty!  I want to see a 6-71 blower and two 660 Holleys sticking out the hood of a primered Chevelle, that has big meats and ladder bars, and a gutted interior and an 8 point cage, not a Vortech centrifigully blown LS fuel-injected wonder that fits under the stock hood and purrs quietly as it motors down the road ( albeit rapidly ) coddling the driver in a climate controlled, leather filled, concert hall!!  If you want a Toyota Camry, go buy one. You want a fast car with a smooth idle and heated seats and a moonroof, that's rides like a Cadillac then buy a new Chrysler 300 or a Lexus Is350, or a Cadillac CTS-V, or a BMW 5 series.  But a hot rod that's not also a daily driver should be a nasty bastard.  At least in my book. Mastermind        

Movie and Delta Blues Muscle!

Took a vacation to Tennessee a while back. Went to see Graceland, Sun studios, the usual tourist stuff. Then I went to Adamsville and toured Buford Pusser's house and museum. For those of you that live in a cave, Buford Pusser was Sheriff of McNairy County Tennesse from 1962-1970, and his life and career were immortalized in 4 movies and a TV series. Joe Don Baker, Bo Svenson, and Brian Dennehy all played Buford Pusser, although the one with Joe Don Baker is the most famous. Pusser fought hillbilly organized crime that made the Sopranos look like kindergarteners. Moonshine runners, drug dealers, pimps, murderous motel owners, illegal casinos, McNairy county had it all. He was shot several times, and his wife murdered in an attempt on his life. He died in a car wreck in 1974 when he crashed his 454 Corvette. Anyway, while touring the museum I met the current McNairy county sheriff who showed me Buford's last police interceptors. One was a pristine 1968 Ford with a solid-lifter 428, that had finned aluminum valve covers, the aluminum manifold and original 735 cfm Holley 4bbl!! He even fired it up for me, and it shook the earth! The other was a 1970 Dodge that was used in the movie that was made in 1972. I'd forgotten how good a high-compression 440 sounds! It had an unsilenced air cleaner and a chrome tab on the AVS carb said "Police Interceptor".  The sheriff said the Ford was quicker off the line, but the Mopar had an unbelievable top end. These cars were so clean, it was like I stepped in a time machine and went back to 1970. The mechanic who cared for them also showed me one of Buford's 'Vettes-( Not the one he died in ) and his own personal toy-a pristine 1968 Fairlane with a 428 and a four-speed!!  He offered to sell me one of his other cars-a really nice 390 / 4-speed 1969 Torino-for $6,500!!. The cost of shipping it back to the west coast and the ensuing probable divorce kept me from buying it, but it was a cool ride. He also told me about a guy that had a bunch of Chevys at a farm up the road, and a guy in the next town who had a ton of old Mopars. If you think all the great cars are gone, take a trip down south or through the midwest. You might find something really cool! Mastermind    

"Old School" is right for old cars! ...And your wallet!!

I see a disturbing trend in the buff magazines and it's not limited to swapping modern fuelie engines into classic iron. I see people spending tons of money on high-tech stuff that doesn't offer the performance increase to justify it's expense. # 1. Aftermarket fuel-injection systems. Edelbrock, Holley and Accel all offer aftermarket fuel-injection systems for most popular engines. The problem is most of them cost between $2,000 and $3,500 depending on application. And the sad thing is, they don't make any more power than a simple $600 carb and intake combo!! High Performance Pontiac tested a system on a stoutly built 455. With an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and an 850 Holley carb it made something like 588 hp. The 859 Holley retails for $449 through Summit Racing and the Performer RPM manifold retails for $219. Total cost $668. The injection system made 574 hp and cost $3495!! Hello?? An extra cash outlay of almost $2,900 to make 14 LESS Horsepower??!!  # 2. Overdrive Transmissions. Same deal- Mopar Muscle put a new TCI six-speed automatic in a 440 GTX project car. Yes, it was slightly quicker in the 1/4 and got better gas mileage than it did with the three-speed Torqueflite, but the conversion cost $5,500!!  To spin 500 less rpm on the freeway?!  Think what you could do with $5,500. A crate engine, a complete interior or an ultra-trick paint job. # 3. Aftermarket Brake systems. Do you really need a $4,000 Wildwood, Baer, or Brembo 4-wheel disc setup worthy of a NASCAR stocker? The factory braking system-( If it's in good condition ) on your musclecar isn't adequate to stop the car safely in daily driving or on a weekend trip to the drags? Come on guys!!  #4 Ultra-Performance tires and wheels. I understand wanting the good handling and braking of modern Radials. American Racing,Cragar,Year One and Wheel Vintiques all offer factory and classic mag style wheels in 15", 16" and 17" sizes. That will give you the classic '60's or '70's look with modern tire performance. 275/40ZR20 tires on 20X10 wheels not only looks stupid on an old musclecar, you can't use the performance anyway. Is your B-body Mopar or A-Body GM muscle car going to put fear into the hearts of any Dodge Viper, Porsche 911 or Corvette drivers on a curvy road? Puhleeze.  So save your money and do what's right for the car and your bank account. Mastermind

Make your Driver / Project run strong while your building it!

This kind of goes along with the last post but I'll talk some more about it anyway. Just because your saving up for a 600hp crate engine or whatever, doesn't mean your musclecar project has to languish in the garage or limp around with not even the power of a modern Honda Accord. # 1. Tune it up! You'd be amazed how much more power your car will have with a new set of spark plugs and wires and the timing and point gap set properly. Also adjust or replace the carburator. You'd be amazed at the cars running around with the float sinking, warped throttle shafts, and jetted way rich or way lean.  #2. Transmission. If it's an automatic, flush the fluid and the torque converter and install a shift improver kit. If it's a stick, make sure the clutch and shift linkage are adjusted properly. # 3. Exhaust. So many cars have crushed or rusted out or leaking exhaust systems. A good exhaust system will not only help your current engine, it's a good investment for that mega-hp engine your building. # 4. Brakes and suspension.  Replace the shocks or worn parts to make it safe to drive while you wait for that complete Hotchkiss or Air Ride setup. Making it nice to drive will motivate you to finish it. Mastermind

Drive your cool base model while you stockpile parts and cash to make it your dream ride!!

I see so many musclecars sitting in garages or driveways, and their owners lamenting-"When I get enough money....".  The car doesn't have to sit until it has it's killer powerplant,suspension and paint job, and is magazine cover worthy. You can drive and enjoy your project while it's "in progress".  You bought a base-model Firebird that you plan on turning into a killer Trans-Am clone? Great! If you put a 4bbl carb and intake and a good dual exhaust system on the 350, it would run way better, and guess what? The Edelbrock Performer intake and free-flowing exhaust system will also work great on the killer 400 or 455 your planning. You want it to have 17X9 Snowflakes and 275/40ZR17 Goodyear Eagle F1s for rolling stock? Fine. But you could put some inexpensive 14" or 15" inch radials on the stock Rally II wheels and drive it while you save for the killer rolling stock. Adding the air extractors, and spoilers and shaker hood is a big investment before you consider painting it. But what's stopping you from throwing a $399 Maaco or Earl Schieb quickie paint job on it for now, to make it look a lot better than it does with peeling paint and primer and preserve the body panels you are going to keep? See what I'm saying?  You can go ahead and put a 3.55 geared,12 bolt rear end and a Turbo 400 in your '69 Chevelle. Guess what-The 350 that's in the car will bolt up to and work fine with that B&M or TCI TH400 until you get that killer 454 or numbers-matching 396 built. You've got the killer suspension in place, and the snarling 383 stroker crate engine is already in the engine compartment of your Camaro. You just don't have the $2800 needed for the Tremec six-speed conversion you planned.  So? Hook up the motor to the Muncie or Saginaw or T10 4-speed, or TH350 that came in the car and have a blast driving it and working the bugs out of the rest of the car while you save for the tranny swap! Planning to drop a killer 440 into that '71 Charger you bought that has a knocking 318? Why can't you spend a few hundred bucks and a weekend installing a running 318 out of a junkyard? Now that the car's running, like I said, you can work out a million other bugs, and get the bodywork and paint and interior done and not have to have worry about some yahoo in a body shop or upholstery shop grenading your prize big-block. You'll be a lot more motivated to finish something that runs and drives than you will to work on something that you know isn't going to move for months. Trust me, you'll be a lot happier with a registered, driveable "Work in progress" than you will be with a rusting, rotting, "Someday" under a tarp.  Mastermind        

Where's the Hard-Core hot rodders with wicked fast beaters?

Maybe I'm showing my age, but nowadays it seems there's the Concours "Just as it left the factory" crowd and there's the Blown / Nitroused / Modern engine and tranny crowd, and nothing in between. There's no badass beaters around. When I was younger yes, there was the meticulously restored show car types, and there was the radical "Pro Street" type cars, both of which cost their owners many thousands of dollars even back then. But there was also the dangerous "beater" that could stomp the ass of a $30,000 ( In 1980's dollars) show car or Pro Street hero in a drag race. I'm talking about cars like my buddy's 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. Yes, the ugly Valiant model with the huge fastback window. But it was light, and it was all motor.  It was primered, and he never got around to painting it. He had crudely radiused the wheelwells on the rear to clear the soft-compound N50-15 Mickey Thompson tires that were mounted on 15X10 Center Lines, while still running E78-14 tires on stock steel wheels on the front. His crude, home-made exhaust system exited in front of the rear wheels and was excessively loud even by kid hot rod standards. But it had a very nasty solid-lifter, tunnel-rammed 340 backed by a four-speed and a 4.90 geared 8 3/4 rear end with a pinion snubber. He would pop the clutch about 4,500 rpm, and the car would just rocket off the line, and he'd shift it about 7,500. He smote everyone in biblical fashion, even expensive big-block cars. Another guy I knew had a ratty, primered, '66 El Camino with a 455 Pontiac under the hood that showed it taillights to quite a few aghast expensively restored musclecars. There was also a guy with a 383 powered Duster that kicked a lot of ass, and I took the 400 out of my wrecked Trans-Am and stuffed it in a 72 Ventura that looked like Eddie Murphy's crappy Nova in "Beverly Hills Cop".  But it smoked a lot of "Hot" cars that had pricetags 10 or 20 times what I had invested. You don't see that anymore. I mean, I'd love to see a beat up, but wicked fast '88 5.0 Mustang, or an '84 Camaro with a 383 stroker in it, or an '85 Olds Cutlass with a 403 or 455 V8 stuffed in it, or even a '90's Crown Victoria with a blower on the "Cop Car" 4.6 mod motor. All I ever see is megabuck cars whether their restored or butchered. Let's see some cheap, but quick cars, please. Mastermind