Big Ford power tips.....Part One

When you say "Big Block Ford" there's actually two engine lines-The "FE" series that includes the 352, 360 (   a truck engine ) 390,406, 427 and 428 that was used from 1961-76 in various cars and trucks. The other one is the 385 series-which is the 429 and 460 used from 1968 to 1997. Because of this, I think I'll break this into two separate posts so there's no confusion. Today I'll talk about the "FE" series and in a day or two we'll do the 385 series. Like I said the "FE" series was used in cars through 1971 and trucks through 1976. Of all the displacements they came in we are only concerned with two, The 390 that was used from 1963-76, and the 428 that was used from 1966-70. Here's why. The 352 is just as big and heavy and expensive to build as a 390 or a 428-but it's only 352 cubes. Honestly-if you can get by with only 350 cubes- Unless your restoring an early '60s T-Bird or Galaxie to the nth degree for concours showing-you'd be ahead of the game by getting a later-model 351W, or 351C . Their lighter,have more power,get better mileage and don't leak oil. The 360 was a weird offshoot of the 390-( I can't remember off the top of my head if it's a small-bore design or if they de-stroked it ) but it was only used in trucks and it had the dual attributes of no power and crappy gas mileage. The 406 was only built for a few years in the early '60's, and we all know 427s are moon rocks. This leaves the 390 and the 428.  # 1. Bottom end. The "FE" bottom end is very tough which is why they were used in trucks for so many years. As long as you keep rpm's under 6.500 you'll be fine. # 2. Cylinder heads. I'm going to go against the usual here-unless you have or are restoring a 428CJ Mustang or Fairlane-forget the factory heads. Get the aluminum Edelbrocks which are patterned after the CJ heads, and will drop 100 lbs off the nose of your car as well as giving you a huge hp boost. I say this because 99% of the 390's out there ( That weren't hi-perf versions in a Mustang, T-Bird or Fairlane) had 2bbl carburation and small-valve heads. If you have a 428 out of a Mustang, T-Bird or Police interceptor-by all means use it-they have the good heads stock. Otherwise I'd use the Edelbrocks on them too.  # 3. The same goes with intake manifolds-99% of the 390 engines came from the factory with a 2bbl, and the intake weighs over 100 lbs! Get an Edelbrock Performer or Performer RPM and matching carb. You'll gain a ton of performance and lose about 60 lbs more over your front wheels. 428CJ's came with an aluminum manifold and a 735 cfm Holley from the factory-but they are rare and priced accordingly. Unlike GM and Mopar-there just isn't a decent factory iron 4bbl intake for these engines. # 4. Cams. I really like Lunati's version of the 428 CJ cam; it seems to make more top-end than the other "Original Muscle" designs sold by Crane, Comp Cams, etc. It works great with an automatic and is really sweet with a 4-speed. The Edelbrock Performer and "RPM" cams are also excellent if you follow the guidelines on gears, converter recommendations, etc. # 5. Exhaust. The stock manifolds are very restrictive. Headers are practically a must-have with these engines if you want to get every ounce of power available. I know I've recommended more aftermarket parts for these engines than all the others combined; but the reason is-except for 4 short model years-1967-70-when they put them in Mustangs and Cougars-these were workhorse truck engines with 2bbl carburation and single exhaust designed to to pull heavy, sustained loads. Ford didn't develop performance parts for them, because the brass viewed them as a truck or "big car" towing engine. Like it or not-this is why a 396 Camaro, 400 Firebird, or 383 'Cuda will run off and leave a 390 Mustang in a drag race.  As for 428s-build one if you have one, or if it's already in the car your considering buying-but- save me the angry letters and copies of 12 second timeslips- stock or modified-these just don't have the power of a 440 Mopar or a 427 / 454 Chevy or even a 455 Pontiac or Olds. Don't believe it?  Car Life tested a 390 / 4-speed '68 Mustang just like the one Steve McQueen had in "Bullitt" ( That stunt coordinators Carey Loftin and Max Balchowsky added headers, an Edelbrock intake, a Holley carb, and a Mallory distributor to because in initial shooting the 440 Charger left it so bad, they couldn't even film it. After the mods-the Charger would still outrun the Mustang in a drag race, but Loftin and McQueen could stay close enough that they could film it and make the chase believable ) Any how-Car Life's stock 390 Mustang ran a 15.1 second 1/4 mile time, which was substantially slower than the 14.7 ran by a 400 Firebird ( with a TH400 and 3.36 gears ) and the 14.60 ran by a 396 Camaro. And these were BASE engines in the Camaro and Firebird-a 325 hp 400 in the Firebird and a 325 hp 396 in the Camaro. If they had tested a Ram Air III or Ram Air IV Firebird, or a 375 hp 396 Camaro the difference would have been much greater, and more embarrasing to Ford fans. Don't get me wrong-I have nothing against Fords. I'm just stating the irrefutable fact that the 390 was and is an off-shoot of the old "Y-blocks" of the fifties-it's a big, heavy, slow-revving truck engine, and no matter how much money you throw at it, it's not going to run as fast as the more modern Big-blocks from GM and Chrysler. Before you Ford fans start screaming editorial bias-I'll say it here about a Chevy-unless your restoring a late -50s or early '60s Impala-forget about a 348 / 409. They too are a big, heavy, truck engine design and with twice the money invested can't make half the power of a 1965 and later 396 / 427 / 454. Hell, they cant make as much power as a small-block 350 or 400 if it's built right!!  And I bet I don't get any Chevy fans crying foul, because I didn't say anything that wasn't true. Anyway-if your car has an "FE" in it and you want to keep it somewhat original-I gave you sound advice. If your looking for a Ford engine to build, your money is better spent on a 351W, 351C, or the 429 / 460 series. Their lighter, and will make twice the power for half the money. Mastermind          

Big Mopar Building tips.....

From "Bullitt" to "Dukes of Hazzard", "Vanishing Point" to "Death Proof"-we've all seen the Mighty Mopars blaze across the big screen and we have all had fantasies of screaming down the road in a big-engined "B" or "E" body. Big block Mopar range in size from 361 to 440 cubic inches. For our purposes we are only concerned with 3. Forget about a 361, their too small and rare. Unless you have big bucks and are restoring an early '60s Max Wedge race car to the nth degree-forget about a 413 or a non-Hemi 426. Their practially moon rocks and are priced accordingly. This leaves the 383 that was produced from 1963-71, the 400 ( a bored-out 383 ) that was produced from 1972-78, and the 440 that was built from 1967-78.  # 1. Bottom end. The big Mopar bottom end is very tough in stock trim. 4-speed applications through 1974 had forged steel cranks. Automatics, and anything built after 1974 had cast cranks. Don't search the galaxy and deplete your wallet trying to find a forged crank. On a street engine if you keep revs under 6,500 you'll have no problem. The oiling system is fine, and I would only recommend forged pistons if you were going to play with nitrous. Eagle and other companies offer stroker crank kits to turn a 400 into a 451, or a 440 into a 505 if you want to be King Kong.  #2. Cylinder heads. LIke I said in the other sections there are books with entire chapters devoted to which heads are better and why, so I'm not going to go into them here. For general advice-use the heads that came on your engine-unless your going to go hog-wild and use Edelbrock or Indy aluminum heads. # 3. Induction. The intake manifolds on 383 / 400 and 440 V8s do NOT interchange. The reason is the 440's have a different deck height. The "RB" designation stands for "raised block." The stock 4bbl intakes are more than adequate for street use. If you want a little more oomph and the cool looks of an aluminum manifold Mopar Perfromance and Edelbrock sell dual and single-plane designs. The bottom line is-it's pretty hard to outperform a dual-plane on the street. The Performer RPM is probably the best all-around choice for mild or wild engines. The legendary "Six-Pack" 3-2bbl setup is still available through Mopar Performance or Summitt Racing. Edelbrock still sells the manifold, Holley still sells the carbs and the linkage and air cleaner parts are available. This system looks and sounds ultra-badass, and on a dyno test of a hot 440 came within like 10-15 hp of the vaunted Performer RPM / 850 Holley 4bbl combo that was the "King." The downside is the complete system costs about $2,300 compared to about $600 for the 4bbl setup. # 4. Cams. The original 440 "Magnum" cam is a great choice for the 383 / 400, and is really sweet in 440's with automatics and high ( low numeric ) gearing. It's still available through Mopar Performance, and Crane, Lunati and Comp Cams offer reproduction versions. Comp Cams offers a short-duration, high lift cam that works excellent with an automatic and "Six-Pack" induction. Otherwise follow the cam manufacturer's guidelines for compression, gearing, converter stall speed etc, and you won't go wrong. # 5. Exhaust. The stock "B" and "RB" manifolds breathe pretty good as far as stock iron manifolds go. Headers will help quite a bit, and I'd use at least 2 1/2 inch pipe and a balance tube or an x-pipe between the pipes. Like I said earlier-these are very generic "Reader's Digest" versions of advice. I'd buy Dick Landy's book on Mopar engines, or the HP books "How to build Max Performance Mopar V8s".  Mastermind         

Small-block Mopar muscle tips........

Small-block Mopars fall into two categories the "LA" series built from 1967-91 and the "Magnum" series built from 1992 to 2004. The "Modern" 5.7 liter Hemi became the go-to V8 in Dodge Trucks and Chrysler 300s and Dodge Chargers after that. Unless your restoring a '67 Barracuda to the nth degree I'd forget about a 273. Their just too small for serious performance work. This leaves us two options-the 318 and the 360. If you have a really light car-i.e. a Duster or Dart a 318 can provide great performance for low bucks. If you have a "B" or an "E" body-their heavy enough that a 360 is about the minimum size engine you'd want. The high-performance 340 that was produced from 1968-73 is a great engine-if you have one in the car or can buy one cheap then definitely use it. If your trying to chase one down, they can be expensive and hard to find. The 360 makes a great street / strip engine. 6 inch rods are the hot setup in Nascar for small-block Chevys. 360 Mopars have 6.123 inch rods from the factory. Angle-plug heads are the hot setup for Small-block Chevys. Mopars have slant-plug heads from the factory. Hardcore Nascar racers use a stud girdle to stabilize the rockers on sbc's. Mopars have shaft-mounted rockers stock.  #1 Bottom end. The small-block Mopar bottom end is very tough in stock trim. As long as revs don't go over 6,500 rpm you'll have no trouble. Eagle and a couple other comapnies make stroker crank and piston kits to punch them out to 410 cubes if you so desire.  # 2. Cylinder heads. Use the heads that came on your engine unless your going for aftermarket aluminum ones or later "Magnum" iron heads. If you want a quick 20-40 hp boost 92 and later "Magnum" heads breathe better than any factory head and some aftermarket ones. These will bolt up to earlier blocks, but you'll have get a "Magnum" style intake. Edelbrock makes "Magnum" compatible intakes for performance applications that cost about $200. # 3. There's plenty of induction choices for the small-block Mopar. Besides the stock 4 bbl intakes, Edelbrock, Holley and Weiand make manifolds that work with old-style and Magnum heads. You can still buy the manifold, carbs and linkage to build a "Six-Pack" setup like the 1970 Challenger T/A had on it's 340. At a retail price of around $2,200-compared to maybe $600 for a 4bbl carb and intake it's kind of a buy-it-if-you-want-it showpiece. But they do look and sound cool. # 4. Cams. A great cam for a 360 street engine is the old 340 high-performance cam. Works great with an automatic and is really sweet with a 4-speed. You can still buy it from Mopar Performance and Crane and Lunati offer reproductions of this cam. Otherwise follow the cam maker's recommendations on compression, gear, and converter stall speed and you won't go wrong. 92 and later "Magnum" engines have hydraulic roller cams from the factory. If your running one of these engines, then I'd stick with the roller. Otherwise use a flat-tappet style cam. Their cheaper and make just as much power for the most part. # 5. Exhaust-same as with other engines-if you want to to put up with headers their worth 30 to 40 hp. Otherwise, a good dual exhaust system behind stock manifolds will help. Mastermind         

Wouldn't you rather have a Buick?

That was their ad for a lot of the '70's, and admittedly it was aimed at luxury buyers. But believe it or not Buick actually had a performance image back in the '50's and early '60's. In 1955-when the biggest V8 you could get in a Chevy or Pontiac was 265 or 287 cubic inches-The Buick Roadmaster had a 322 inch V8. The classic 1963-65 Riviera was available with a 401 or 425 inch version of this same "Nailhead" V8-with two Carter AFB four-barrels if you wanted. As years passed they got more into the luxury segment-but there were some great performance Buicks built in the '60's and '70's. I'm assuming anyone reading this is restoring a 1964-77 Skylark, Century or Regal, ( The "A" body-i.e. Chevelle, GTO, Monte Carlo cousins ) or a 1963-73 Riviera. These are the only two cool bodystyles they had in those years, and the only ones that had performance packages offered on them. Like their Olds cousins there's only two engines were concerned with-the 350 that was built from 1968-77 and the 455 that was built from 1970-76. Here's why-the 401 and 425 V8s that were offered until 1965-66 were based on the old Nailhead design that dated back to 1949. The heads don't breathe well, and there's very little replacement parts available. I wouldn't spend a lot of time chasing down a 400 ( 1965-69 ) or 430 (1966-69 ) unless your restoring a GS Skylark or Riviera of that vintage to the nth degree. There's nothing wrong with these engines; if you have one already in the car or can buy one cheap then by all means use it. But they are pretty scarce on the used market. This leaves the 455, which luckily was put in just about every Buick built in that era, which was millions. As for the small-block engines I wouldn't mess with a 300 or 340 Buick V8 even if I had one in the car. There's practically zero parts availability, and the later 350 will make way more power and torque even in bone-stock trim. And their a lot easier to find. # 1. Bottom end. The cranks and rods are fairly tough but the oiling system on Buick V8's just sucks. The oil pump is mounted kind of externally off the timing cover-and even with a supposed "high volume" oil pump they always seem to have low oil pressure. For this reason I would redline a 350 at 5,500 and a 455 at 5,200. Spare me the letters from the guys with 10 second GS Stage 1 or 2 Skylarks or GSX's. I've been a mechanic for 35 years, and I've seen Buicks blow up that were driven by little old ladys who never saw the high side of 4,500 rpm because of this oiling system. If you want a big-block Chevy that you can spin 7 or 8 grand then go buy one. Like their Olds and Pontiac cousins Buicks are "torque" motors anyway. When you have 500 lbs ft of torque at 2,500 rpm, you don't to have to rev to 6 or 7 grand. # 2. Cylinder heads. Use the heads that came on your engine. With a redline of 5,200 rpm, you don't need to spend a ton of money here. ( Although Edelbrock and T/A performance do offer aluminum heads for Buicks if you want them. ) Power comes from filling the cylinders properly through the head and cam design. Think of it this way-if your filling a one-gallon bucket with water from a five gallon bucket-when the one gallon bucket is full, it's full. Doesn't matter that there's more left in the other bucket. If your Buick engine's redline is 5,200, and the cylinders are fully charged at 5,200 rpm with the stock heads and whatever cam your running-why do you need heads that breathe to 7 grand?  # 3. Cams. Lunati, Kenne-Bell, and T/A performance all offer performance cams for Buick engines. Follow their guidelines for timing, and gearing and torque converter recommendations, and you won't go wrong. Pick a cam that accentuates what the factory did-build big torque at low rpm. # 4. Induction-the factory Q-jet intakes for the 350 or 455 are more than adequate for the rpm range you'll be running in. If you want a little more oomph or just want an aluminum manifold Edelbrock and T/A performance offer high-rise intakes. # 5. Exhaust. Same as with the Olds engines- headers help immensely, and headers or not I'd use at least a 2 1/4 or 2 1/2 inch exhaust system and low-restriction mufflers. Let me say again-spare me the letters and 10 or 11 second time slips from you hardcore Buick racers-you know I'm speaking the truth here-stock or modified the Buicks don't make as much power as their Chevy, Olds and Pontiac cousins, and they cost more to build. But if you have or want one of these cars, that's the way it is. Don't get me wrong; a properly built Buick either small or big block will go plenty fast; but you won't throwing fear into hearts of any Z/28 or LS6 Chevelle or W30 442, or Ram Air IV Judge owners.  Kenne-Bell and T/A performance sell parts catalogs and books for getting the most bang for the buck from a Buick engine.  Sorry Grand National owners-the Turbo V6's are a whole other ballgame and several books unto themselves, and you probably have them anyway. Mastermind                       

"Dr. Olds" prescriptions for speed.......

In the late '60's GM had a guy that looked like "Weird" Al Yankovic in a white lab coat that they advertised as "Dr. Olds" and he was always in ads promoting the 442, the Hurst / Olds, the W31 F85, etc.  Anyhow, here's the speed tips for Olds enthusiasts in our "Reader's Digest" engine build series. The modern Olds V8 came in various sizes from 330-455 cubes. We are really only concerned with 3. The 350, the 403, and the 455.  Here's why. Unless your restoring a '64 442 to the nth degree-forget about a  330 V8. The 350 that was built from 1968-1980 is way more plentiful and easier to find, and because of the extra cubes will make more power anyway. The "small-block" Olds engines-i.e.-330, 350, 403-share quite a bit of components. The 403 was only produced from 1977-1980-but because of smog laws and GM playing musical engines- it was GM's "Corporate" big engine at the time-( 400 Pontiacs were not California or high-altitude certified ) there were hundreds of thousands built in Olds 88s and 98s,Buick Rivieras, the big Olds and Buick wagons and a lot of Pontiac Bonnevilles, Firebirds and Trans-Ams that weren't "49 state" cars. A 403 is a good "sleeper" swap for a 350 Cutlass. Everything interchanges, but with 53 more cubes you get substantially more power and torque with the same equipment. For only having 8:1 compression and being saddled with 2.56:1 gears, they actually had 5 lbs ft MORE torque than the vaunted Pontiacs, and moved the 3,800 lb disco era California / High Altitude emissioned / automatic T/A's with enough alarcity that 99% of the general public didn't know there wasn't a 400 Pontiac under that scoop labeled "6.6 Litre". ( The Pontiacs were labelled "T/A 6.6 " ).  As for the big blocks-they came in 3 incarnations-the 400 from 1965-69, the 425 from 1965-67, and the 455 from 1968-76. Unless your restoring a '65-69 442 to the nth degree I wouldn't spend a lot of time chasing a 400. Unless your restoring a '66-67 Toronado to Concours specs, that goes ditto for the 425. There's nothing wrong with these engines; if you have one already in the car or can buy one at a reasonable price then by all means use it. But their pretty scarce and are usually overpriced. This leaves the 455, which luckily was put into just about every Olds model built from 1968-76 ( except Omegas ). There are literally millions of them around.  # 1. Bottom end. Small-block or big-block, the Olds bottom end is tough. So tough that they were actually very popular in boat racing for years. The 427 and 454 Chevys made more power, but blew up all the time. The 425 and 455 Olds motors would stay together under the sustsained load of marine racing. You had to finish to win. Anyhow, the stock oil pumps are fine, as are stock rods. Again-for pistons I would use cast pistons- their cheap and they run quiet. Again-if you want to play with nitrous I would use forged pistons. # 2. Cylinder heads. If you have a '73 and later 350 or a 403 you can gain a full one point boost in compression from 8:1 to 9:1 by switching to 1968-72 350 heads. ( These have 70cc chambers, '73 and later have 83cc chambers.) You'll have to re-tap the bolt holes to fit the early heads on '75 and later blocks but this is no big deal. Mondello Performance and other companies sell kits to do this. You can bolt 455 heads on a 350 / 403, but you'd have to get custom pistons to have any compression at all, and use a custom-ported Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold.  And I have to ask-if you want to go that fast- wouldn't it be easier to just build a 455?  As for 455s-I'm not going to go into the various recommended castings-there's books for that. Unless your restoring a W30 car-the heads that came on your engine should be fine. Edelbrock also makes aluminum heads for the big ( 400-425-455 ) Olds motors if you want maximum power and don't care about not looking stock. # 3. Cams. With the small-blocks it's better to err on the side of caution when it comes to cam timing. Yes the vaunted "W31" 350 Cutlasses had a cam with 308 duration and .474 lift; they were also only available with a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears for a reason!  The reason is with that big cam-you were giving up quite a bit of low-end and mid-range torque for top-end rush. The Edelbrock Performer cam is an excellent one to use in a 350 or a 403 especially with an automatic transmission. You want to accent what the factory did to start with-like the Pontiacs-they make big torque at low rpm. As for the 455s, Lunati makes an excellent one with 224 / 234 duration ( @.050 ) and .496 / .520 lift. I had this cam in my Hurst / Olds. It had a badass lope but stable idle, pulled hard to 6,000 rpm, and still worked nicely with a stock torque converter and 3.08 gears. The big 455 has SO much low-end torque, that this cam actually helped the car launch better by LOSING some low-end-I could come out of the hole with a lot less wheelspin. Stick with the cam manufacturers guidelines for axle ratio, converter stall speed, carb size, etc-and you won't go wrong.  # 4. Induction.  The stock iron Quadrajet 4bbl intakes on the 350 and 455s are pretty good. If you don't care about looking stock the Edelbrock Performer is a nice upgrade and adds a noticeable improvement in power and torque. For the 455 if you want more than the stocker or the Performer can deliver they still make the original Torker-you lose some bottom end-but about 2,700 rpm it hits like "gangbusters" and pulls hard past 6,000. I had this manifold on the H/O with the above mentioned cam and it was a great combo. For carbs I would either use a Jet Performance Quadrajet or an Edelbrock 750. # 5. Exhaust-If you want headers they really "wake up" an Olds engine. Part of this is the head design and the restricted exhaust port. This is why most cams offered for the Olds have more duration and lift on the exhaust side-to compensate for this. The additional scavenging effect of the headers helps mid-range torque immensely. A buddy's 403 powered "Macho T/A" ( DKM's "Macho" treatment added Hooker headers and real dual exhaust, and re-curved the distributor, re-jetted the carb and opened the scoop ) showing it's tallights to mine caused me to invest in Herb Adams "Fire-Am" treatment-besides the headers, and dyno-tune, this also included a Holley "Street Dominator" intake and a TransGo shift kit. ( We had a re-match, I won, and all was right with the world again.) But seriously-headers help any engine but they seem to wake up the Olds motors more than others. If you don't want headers or are restricted by show or racing class rules to stock manifolds, you can still gain some power by using 2 /12 pipe and low-restriction mufflers. For detailed advice on building an Olds engine I'd contact Mondello Performance and get their parts catalog, and guide to engine building.  Mastermind                    

High Performance Pontiac tips.....

It was Pontiac that started the Musclecar craze. Smokey Yunick and Fireball Roberts had been the scourge of NASCAR winning 22 races in 1962. Mickey Thompson and Hayden Profitt were dominating stock class drag racing. The motto "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" was certainly true. Because of it's high-performance image Pontiac had climbed from number six in us auto sales in 1955 to number 3 by 1962.  When GM issued their infamous ban on racing in 1963, Pontiac executives John DeLorean and Pete Estes were worried. Without a racing tie-in they might lose youthful buyers who wanted fast cars. Then they decided-let's not build a race car-let's build a high-performance STREET car. We all know the story of the GTO. It's funny-the things that limited the Pontiacs in racing-big heavy cranks and rods, relatively small port heads ( compared to a big-block Chevy, Ford or Mopar ) were what made them such a great street engine. They'd last 150,000 to 200,000 miles without a rebuild, and when you've got 500 lbs of torque at 2,700 rpm, you don't need to rev to 7,000. Anyhow- in the vein of the "Reader's Digest" engine builds, here's my advice on building a Pontiac. While the modern engines range anywhere from 326 to 455 cubic inches we are really only concerned with 2-The 400 produced from 1967-79 and the 455 that was produced from 1970-76. The reason for this is simple availability. The older ( 1966 amd earlier ) models are getting pretty scarce. And unless your restoring a '64-66 GTO or a '62-66 Catalina 2+2, or Gran Prix to the nth degree then you don't really need a 389 or 421. Don't get me wrong; if you have one of these engines in your garage or already in the car, then by all means use it. There's nothing wrong with them, and you car will be correct and numbers-matching, but if you have to go buy one on the open market they can get pretty pricey. The same goes for the 428 built from 1967-69-if you have one or can buy one cheap-by all means do so. They rev up like a 400 and make almost as much torque as a 455. That aside, most of you will be using the 400 or the 455. # 1. Bottom end. Two-bolt main blocks are fine. Pontiacs are "torquers" not high revvers anyway. Since your engine will probably never see the high side of 6,000 rpm you don't need a ton of beef.  I'd redline a 400 at 5,800 and a 455 at 5,500. The rod journals are the same size but 400's have 3 inch mains and 455's have 3.25 inch mains. The hot setup now is to cut down a 455 crank to 400 size, and put it in a .030 over 400 block-effectively giving you 455 cubes. Eagle, Crower, and other companies sell these stroker cranks if you want to do this. Regardless of what the factory did with the RAIV and SD455-you don't need an 80 psi oil pump. Even with a windage tray your using horsepower for no reason. A simple high-pressure-50-60 lb Melling or TRW oil pump will be fine. Cast pistons are fine, unless you want to run nitrous. If you want to play with nitrous then you definitely need forged pistons. # 2 Cylinder heads.  I'm not going to get into the various casting numbers that the experts recommend-you can buy books for that. In general 1970 and older heads have 72cc combustion chambers which give 10:1 compression on a 400 with flat-top pistons and nearly 11:1 on a 455. 1971 and later heads vary between 87cc and 111cc depending on whether they came off a 400 or 455. Most Pontiac "how to" books will have charts listing what compression you'll get with various heads. 10:1 is about the limit for pump gas, and in reality about 9.5:1 should be your guide with iron heads. Aluminum heads can tolerate more compression due to the fact that they dissipate heat better. Edelbrock and KRE offer aftermarket aluminum heads if you so desire. Iron Pontiac heads can be milled up to .060 inch to give a full one point boost in compression, but you'll have to mill the intake manifold side too,so the manifold will fit properly. # 3. Cams. Since Pontiac heads ( Except RAIV or aftermarkets ) don't flow much over about .480 lift, you don't have to go wild on cam timing. Stick with the cam manufacturer's recommendations. You have to realize most "Guidelines" are written for the default test mule-A small-block Chevy. A cam that would kill a 350 Chevy will idle glass-smooth in a 455 Pontiac. You have to remember that less is more with a Pontiac. You can make 350 hp and 450 lbs ft of torque with 8:1 compression on junk gas with stock iron intake and exhaust manifolds. More compression, headers, and more cam can get you 450 hp and 550 lbs of torque very easily. #4 Induction-If your restoring a '64-66 GTO or a pre '67 Full-size and want to run a tri-power setup go ahead-if you can find one at a reasonable price. They look and sound cool and run great. If your building a "Super Duty" tribute or just want dual quads Edelbrock makes an excellent dual-quad intake that's an exact copy of the 1962-63 SD 421 manifold and uses Edelbrock or AFB carbs. For 4-barrel applications the 67-74 stock Q-jet setup is awesome. A magazine tested several aftermarket manifolds for the Pontiac and only one outpowered the stocker. That was the Edelbrock Torker and it only showed a 20 hp gain above 4,500 rpm. If you have a 1975-79 engine the shoe is on the other foot. These have the EGR valve protruding into the secondary throttle opening which greatly limits power above 4,000 rpm. It's so bad that you can't even bolt up a Holley Spread-bore replacment carb-the throttle blades bind up. In this case you need to get the earlier 67-74 factory manifold or use an Edelbrock Performer. The Performer will clear a Trans-Am shaker hood, and makes power from idle to 6,000 rpm. It is almost impossible to out power this manifold. The Performer "RPM" is supposedly good for 25 hp and 30 lbs of torque over the regular Performer, however the gain is only above 4,500 rpm, and it's so tall that besides T/A shaker scoops, it might not fit under many earlier GTO or Firebird Ram Air systems. # 5. Exhaust. Just like with the Chevys headers can add as much as 50 hp, however-if you want the car to look stock or are in a show class or racing class that requires iron exhaust manifolds running a good 2 1/2 inch system and turbo mufflers will help quite a bit. Don't try to make a Pontiac into a high-winder; just accentuate what the factory did to start with-make big horsepower and torque at low rpm. The book "How to build Max Performance Pontiac V8s" by Jim Hand is a great guide and has invaluable information from a guy who's been building and racing Pontiacs since the '60s, and whose street-legal LeMans driver runs 11.30s at 117 mph. Mastermind              

Big Block Chevy "Restification"

While GM still sells 502 inch engines in trucks, and you can buy a GMPP crate engine up to 572 inches and 720 hp, for our purposes we'll focus on the MKIV produced from 1965-89. There's nothing wrong with the '90 or '91 and later MKV engines, but if your restoring an old musclecar chances are you'll be using a MKIV. These come in 4 sizes-396,402,427 and 454 cubic inches. The 396 / 402 was used in Chevelles,Camaros, Impalas, Monte Carlos a few Novas, and pickups from 1965-72. This engine was dropped from the lineup in 1973. The 427 was only used from 1966-69, mostly in Corvettes, although it was an option on the Impala and other full-size models. If your restoring a 427 'Vette or an Impala SS427 then you have to bite the bullet and pay the price for a 427 which tends to be steep. Otherwise you can usually find a 454 a lot cheaper. The 454 was used in various models and trucks from 1970-89, when the MKV was introduced. A 396 / 402 can make as much power as a 454, but it will be at higher rpm with less idle quality and drivability. Unless your restoring a numbers-matching SS396 Impala, Chevelle, Camaro or Nova, if you don't already have an engine and have to go buy one, I'd get a 454. They don't cost any more to buy or build than a 396, but they make substantially more power and torque with the same equipment. What's the old saying? "There's no substitute for cubic inches, except cubic dollars."  #1 Bottom end. The "Rat's" bottom end is practically bulletproof in stock trim. Unless you plan to run over 7,000 rpm for extended periods you don't need any special parts. If your planning to run Nitrous, then I would invest in forged pistons. Otherwise a standard rebuild will give you many years of trouble-free service. # 2. Cylinder heads. There are "Standard" heads and "Hi-Performance" heads. Standard heads have oval ports and 2.06 inch intake and 1.72 exhaust valves. High Performance heads have rectangular ports and 2.19 inch intake and 1.88 exhaust valves. Stick with standard heads. Here's why-Hot Rod magazine did a dyno test on identical 454 Chevy engines a few years back-i.e.-same cam, same carb and intake, etc. The rectangular port heads did not show a noticeable gain in horsepower or torque until 6,300 rpm. How often are you going to be above 6,200 rpm?  My point exactly. I don't mean to sound lassiez-faire, but you can make 350 hp on junk gas with 8.5:1 compression and iron intake and exhaust manifolds. With headers, a mild cam and an aftermarket intake you can make 450-500 hp so easy it's like stealing.  # 3. Camshaft. Again-I don't mean to sound lackadasical but the bottom line is it's pretty hard to over cam a 454. If your running an automatic tranmission and high ( low numeric ) gearing like 2.73-3.08 I'd recommend the factory L34 350 hp 396 Cam or the Edelbrock Performer cam. Both of these offer outstanding low and mid-range torque and will work with a stock converter and the high gearing. If you have a 4-speed or an automatic and an axle ratio between 3.23 and 4.10 I'd go with the cam manufacturer's recommendations on gearing, converter stall speed, carb size, etc. If your restoring a solid-lifter engine like an L78 396, an L88 427, or an LS6 454 Crane makes exact replicas of these factory cams under their "Blueprint" series and they are still available from GM as well. LIke I said in the small-block section-modern hydraulic cams operate trouble-free up to about 6,500 rpm, so other than nostalgia, or Concours Judging there's no need to mess with a solid cam that requires constant adjustment.  # 4. Induction. GMPP sells a factory iron Q-Jet manifold if your restoring an L34,L72,LS3 or LS5.  They also sell a factory aluminum one with a Holley bolt-pattern if your restoring an L78,L88,L89,or LS6. Or if you don't care about having an aftermarket intake the Edelbrock Performer and Performer RPM are both excellent depending on application. As for carbs-if you want it absolutely original then go with a Q-Jet or whatever Holley your engine may have had. Otherwise I'd go with an Edelbrock. They flat work and they don't leak or bleed over or blow power valves or any of the other fun stuff that Holleys do. # 5. Exhaust.  A set of headers can add as much as 50 hp to a big-block Chevy. I'd back that up with a good 21/2 or 3 inch exhaust system and turbo-style mufflers. If you don't want headers or are restricted by racing or concours class rules to iron manifolds you can still let it breathe with a good dual exhaust system behind the manifolds. I'd use at least 2 1/4 inch pipe and Turbo mufflers. Like I said-your really getting the "Readers Digest" version here-very basic guidelines of what to do and what to avoid to save money. I'd buy HP books excellent "How to hot rod Big Block Chevys" or "How to build Max performance Big -Block Chevys." Both give really in-depth info on how to build a powerful, reliable Rat motor that will give you years of trouble-free high-performance. Mastermind         

I guess we can go Reader's Digest versions......

I had someone ask me for advice on building an engine for his musclecar project, and he suggested I do features on this site. As I explained to him-whatever type of engine your building-Chevy, Ford, Mopar, Pontiac etc-there are entire books devoted to the nuances of each engine type and how to get that last ounce of hp and torque out of each one. It would be virtually impossible and incredibly long-winded for me to try to serialize how to build every engine type for street, strip, or concours. However, I can give you some good general advice that will save you time and money on each engine line, and recommend the books to buy to give you ALL the info you need to build a reliable, powerful engine for your project without breaking the bank. I'll start today with the obvious choice-The Small-block Chevy. Then we'll go through ( not necessarily in this order ) Big-block Chevys, Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, Buicks, Small and Big Block Fords, and small and big-block Mopars.  Anyway-the first rule of building a small-block Chevy is don't listen to self-proclaimed "experts" and their list of "Gotta Haves".  You may or may not have heard them- "You gotta have a 4-bolt main block" "You gotta have a forged crank"  "You gotta have 2.02 heads" and several other "gotta haves" that I can't think of right now. These idiots are half-right. Yes, if your building a NASCAR Nextel Cup engine that has to go 7,800 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona, you need all the beef you can get. However, if your building a street engine to power your musclecar / show car / weekend cruiser that's only going to be driven on sunny days, and the occasional weekend trip to the drags and even then will probably never see the high side of 6,500 rpm, you don't need ANY of that stuff. Here's how to save money and still have a powerful, reiiable SBC.  #1. Bottom end. Two-bolt main blocks are fine for street use. I've seen them used for years in "Street Stock" and "Hobby Stock" racing classes without a problem, and these engines are far more abused than your street car ever will be. The same goes for cast cranks. As long as revs don't go over 6,500-your fine. Ditto for stock rods, and the stock oil pump. This is why the Mouse was and is still so popular with racers of all different classes from $500 claim rule dirt-track racers to the big dogs at Daytona and Indianapolis. They just don't break no matter hard you run them. As for pistons I would recommend simple, cast, flat-top rebuilder pistons. Their cheap, they run quiet, and they give 9:1 compression with 76cc heads, or 10:1 with 64cc heads. I have seen thse last 2 full seasons in an IMCA race car- so you should get over 100,000 trouble free miles on the street. I would only recommend forged pistons if you were going to run a blower or nitrous, but even then I would ask- if you have THAT much money and need to go THAT fast-"Why aren't you building a 454 instead of a 350?"  # 2. Cylinder heads. All the "old-school" experts talk about "standard" heads and Hi-performance" heads made from 1964-86. Here's the skinny. Standard heads have 1.94 inch intake valves, 1.50 inch exhaust valves and pressed-in rocker arm studs. Hi-performance heads have 2.02 intake valves, 1.60 exhaust valves, and screw-in rocker arm studs. That's the difference. 1970 and earlier heads have 64cc combustion chambers, and 1971 and later have 76cc chambers. The port sizes are exactly the same. And it's a simple,cheap procedure for any machine shop to put the larger valves and screw-in studs into standard heads. But here's the real kicker-you don't even need to that for most street engines. You can make 350 hp with standard 1.94 heads easily. And-in 20 years of racing street stock and hobby stock cars I have NEVER seen a stud pull out of a head. So, unless your restoring a '69-72 Z/28 or LT1 Corvette to the nth degree-you don't need to kill yourself searching the galaxy for "202" heads. Here's a couple of tips if you want a quick 30 or 40 hp boost and don't care about serial numbers. 1981-86 305 "smog" heads have 58cc combustion chambers which will raise the compression on the average 350 from 8.2:1 to about 9.6:1. 305 heads have slightly smaller 1.72 inch intake valves, but the slight loss of airflow is more than made up for by the power and torque boost of the added compression. And you can put 1.94 valves in 305 heads if you so desire. The other choice is as close as yuour local GM dealer or the internet. For about $650-( you can't even get old heads re-done for that at most machine shops ) you can buy a pair of brand-new Iron Vortec heads from GM. These have 64cc chasmbers, flow better than any stock and many aftermarket heads, can accomodate cams with up to .480 lift and will give you a good 30 or 40 hp boost. If you want to run a cam with more than .480 lift-Scoggin-Dickey sells these with beehive springs and modified valve seats to accomdate up to .575 lift for less than $800 a pair. You'll have to buy a Vortec-compatible intake manifold, but Edelbrock,Holley and Weiand sell them for about $200. If your building a 1987-95 engine-I can't imagine that anyone would be for an old musclecar-the heads and intakes are different from the 1955-86 models and don't interchange. The valve covers and oil pans are different too. GMPP and companies like Edelbrock, Dart and Trick Flow all sell ultra-high performance aluminum heads for the SBC-but I'm assuming most of you want your engine to at least LOOK stock, which is why I only recommended Iron heads. If you can afford them and don't care about not looking original-they will make all the power you could want. # 3. Cams. Modern hydraulic flat-tappet cams can give trouble-free operation and make power up to 6,500 rpm. For that reason-there's really no need to mess around with an old-style solid-lifter cam. Unless of course, your restoring a Z/28 / LT1 engine-then Crane and Lunati have you covered with exact replicas of this factory cam. And I think it's still listed in the GMPP catalog if you "gotta have" a box with a GM part number on it. Here's a good tip to know. Larger engines can take more "cam" without adverse effects on drivability and cars with manual transmissions can take more "cam" without affecting drivability. For example, the old stand-by-the "350 hp 327" cam-will absolutley ruin any 283 or 305. This same cam will work pretty damn good in a 327 with a 4-speed, better in a 350, and be really sweet in a 400 even with an automatic. You can get away with more cam in a stick-shift car because idle quality isn't as important. The driver can launch at whatever rpm he wants by manipulating the clutch. In an automatic, unless you have a high-stall converter-a car with too big a cam won't take off very good-probably slower than a stock engine. Follow the cam manufacturer's recommendations on engine size, carb and intake, gearing , transmission or converter recommendations, etc and you won't go wrong. A lot of companies sell hydraulic roller cams and they are fine-but they are more expensive than the flat-tappet design and often don't make any more power. In fact-the roller valvetrain is so heavy that it doesn't let the engine "wind up" as quick as a flat-tappet design-which hurts you coming off corners when you want maximum power and torque. That's why to this day Nascar has resisted switching to rollers. I'm not saying don't buy a roller cam-I'm just saying you don't need to spend the money if you don't want to-and '69 Camaros didn't have roller cams to my knowledge!!  # 4. Induction. If you want to look stock and make maximum hp-here's the way to go. GMPP sells an exact replica of the original Z/28 / LT1 high-rise manifold in cast iron, and it's got the spread-bore bolt pattern-it will accept a Q-jet or a Holley or an Edelbrock carb. In dyno testing this manifold out-powered every aftermarket intake made except the Edelbrock Performer RPM, and the Edelbrock only beat it above 5,200 rpm. This is why a lot of racers whose class rules require an iron intake run this manifold. Otherwise you could port-match your stock intake, or if you don't care about having an aftermarket intake atop the engine-the Edelbrock Performer series is pretty hard to beat. Same for carbs-Summitt racing sells performance Q-jets, as well as Holley and Edelbrock / AFB designs. It's just a matter of how stock you want to be or look. # 5. Exhaust. Headers can add lots of power and sound way cool. They also can greatly reduce ground clearance, need constant re-torquing or they'll blow gaskets, and may get in the way when you try to change spark plugs or the oil filter. Headers are a use-them-if-you-want-to thing. If you want the power boost and are willing to put up with idiosyncrasies I just listed, good for you. And even the most anal purist usually won't NOT buy an otherwise well-done car just because it has headers on it. If you want the car to look stock or just don't want to mess with headers a good free-flowing dual exhaust system from the manifolds back can add as much 30 or 40 hp to even a mild engine. There are people that have flow-tested all kinds of stock iron exhaust manifolds-the "Rams Horn" design has a "cult-like" following-and they port match and extrude-hone their iron manifolds, but in reality-if you want to make every last ounce of available power ( and your not in a racing class that requires iron manifolds ) then just put headers on it and shut up. Hope this helps everyione out, and well go through the other engine lines as promised in similar Reader's Digest fashion. I would recommend buying HP Books excellent "How to build Max Power Small-block Chevy V8s" before you start buying parts. Most auto parts stores like Autozone stock it, or you can order it through Summit Racing.  Mastermind                                  

You know.....You guys make your own lives hard sometimes!!

I've always been the kind of guy to take the path of least resistance but that's apparently not the case with most hot rodders. It's like they have a masochistic streak. If building a car doesn't require a certain amount of suffering, then they can't enjoy the finished product. It's like they go out of their way to make the job difficult. I was discussing this with a friend the other day, and he didn't have a solution other than self-abuse either. Here's some examples of people that took the hard way when they didn't have to.  # 1. The undisputed title goes to these two clowns that I knew in high school. They both had 1970 Pontiac Firebirds. One was a Formula 400 with a 4-speed, and the other was an Esprit with the 400 / TH400 powertrain. They were both blue with blue interior, and they both had white vynil tops and Rally II wheels. Except for the scooped hood on the Formula, you wouldn't have been able to tell them apart from five feet away. These geniuses get in their heads that their going to trade transmissions because for whatever reason, the guy in the Esprit now wants a 4-speed and the guy in the Formula now wants an automatic. I, along with several other mutual acquaintances tried to be the voice of reason and sanity.  "Why don't you guys just trade CARS? " "For god's, sake, their even the same color." "What you guys are attempting is a bitch of a job, and then your cars won't be original anymore either." (This was importsnt even in 1979 ). "Who wants a Firebird with a slushbox that used to be a stick, and one with a stick that used to be an automatic?"  "For Christ's sake, just trade cars!!"  Nope. These two spent two weeks working nights and weekends, and since the cars were identical, and side-by side in the same garage, they did get it done. Then they spent two weeks trying to see who could do the biggest burnouts. Why? They'd done this when they first met and it was too close to call. They felt they had to do it again. The guy in the Formula would powerbrake it to roast his tires, and the guy in the Esprit would pop the clutch about 3,500 rpm to fry his, until they both got exhibition of speed tickets in a school zone and lost their liscences for a while. Like I said, they weren't rocket scientists. To this day I can't figure out why they didn't just swap cars. Even their parents told them that swapping cars was the easy way. # 2. This genius wanted a Fox-bodied Mustang to hot rod. He got a screamin' deal on an '85 SVO Mustang. These had 16" wheels, Recaro Seats, and a Turbocharged 4-banger that put out 175 hp. They were fun to drive, but (this is the reason they didn't sell many of them when they were new ) the "5.0" V8 model was both faster and several thousand dollars cheaper. He loved the car, but wanted more speed. I suggested he read up on Turbos, or perhaps contact Gale Banks, or Ak Miller, or Kenne-Bell or someone who specialized in Turbos and get good advice on how to turn the boost up without turning the engine into a grenade. Nope. He gets the brilliant Idea to swap in a V8. "Just sell the car and buy a "5.0" I said. "V8" Mustangs are a dime a dozen." "You could probably trade your SVO for a nice one, and not have to come up with any cash." Any one who's ever tried to convert a 4-banger Mustang to a V8 knows what a nightmare it is. He ended up selling the car and abandoning the project. Idiot # 3. Had a 79 Trans-Am with a 403 Olds / TH350 powertrain. He decided that the car would be a lot more fun if it had a 4-speed. My friends and I told him-just sell it and go buy a '74-79 T/A with a 400 or a 455 and a 4-speed. I'll give him credit for tenacity-he did search junyards far and wide, and rounded the clutch linkage,flywheel, and bellhousing from a '70's 350 Cutlass. He got it done, and yes the car was a blast to drive-what 400 inch, 4-speed Firebird isn't?  But the time and money he spent, he could have just went to any used car lot around and traded it for what he wanted and saved six months of scrounging and grief. ( This was the early '80s, disco era T/A's were everywhere. ) Some people just like pain and suffering I guess.  Mastermind      

Still don't get the love affair......

Saw an ad for Mast Motorsports advertising performance LS motors, and it featured the jerk I talked about that butchered a one of 458 Lucerne Blue 1972 Trans-Ams. He not only swapped in an LS motor and electronic six-speed automatic, he also extensively modified the body and interior. Anyhow-their big "Bargain" in the ad was that you could buy the same 575 hp engine that he had for $12,000. Huh?  First off the car had a numbers-matching 455HO- a stellar powerplant to begin with. Hemmings Muscle Machines followed the rebuild of a 455HO for another 1972 T/A. It was rebuilt with all stock parts, including the mild "068" cam and iron exhaust manifolds. It made 429 hp and 544 lbs ft of torque when they dyno'd it. That's the engine the car came with. If he wanted more oomph than that, a set of headers and a hotter cam would easily have added another 75 hp, putting him over the 500 hp mark without affecting drivability. Who really needs more power than that?  If you absolutely have to be "King Kong" Jim Butler performance will build you a 455 Pontiac engine guaranteed to have 600+ hp and run on pump gas for $7,500. So why on earth would you spend $4,500 extra dollars for a bastard engine that you have to spend numerous hours wiring up, if you didn't have more money than brains?  The better one was the 1990 Mustang GT with an LS in it. Whose the genius that thought this up? "I know, I'll spend double the money swapping in a Chevy that doesn't run any faster than it would with a 302 or 347 Ford." "Won't that be badass?"  What was this guy thinking? We've all seen Fox-bodied Mustangs that run in the 10s or even the 9s with 302 or 347 or 351 inch Ford power, either normally aspirated or with a blower or nitrous. And you've made the car sale-proof. Ford guys don't want it, Chevy guys don't want it, and the uninitiated are going "Why the hell would anyone want a Mustang with a Chevy engine in it?"  Like I've said-I see ten a day of them that haven't run 30,000 miles without a major repair so I'm not that impressed. Mastermind   

For the last time....Do what you want with junk, and leave the classics alone!!

Some people said I shouldn't have been so down on the guy that didn't like non-Ford powered Cobra Replicas since I go off on a Dennis Miller "Rant" every time I see an LS motor in vintage GM Iron or a modern Hemi in a Vintage Mopar. First off-the key words are "Cobra Replica". The cars a fake to begin with; so who cares what's under the hood?  No one griped that the Ferrari Daytona Spyder Replica driven by Don Johnson on "Miami Vice" didn't have a real Ferrari powertrain. ( It was based on a 1981 Corvette and had duh-a 350 Chevy.)  I conceded that he'd have a right to his level of outrage if anyone had put a Chevy engine in a "Real" Cobra, but that wasn't the case. We were talking about kit cars. As for my deep-seated obsessional hatred of LS motors-It's two fold. The magazines all say how great they are power wise and reliability wise. I am a Service Advisor in a Chevrolet dealership and everyday I get trucks, Camaros and Corvettes coming in on tow trucks with the check engine light on, not running properly, overheating, sometimes not even starting. I've had brand-new ones with less than 500 miles have such electrical problems, that GM tech support offered to either give the guy a new engine or a new truck. I've had to warranty 5.3's and 6.2s with flat cams, collapsed lifters, and one with a hole in a piston!  And these are cars with less than 50,000 miles on them that are bone-stock and were always serviced at a GM dealership by a Certified GM tech. Go ahead and keep a straight face while you tell me that one some guy stuffed into a '68 Chevelle in his garage and wired the electronics himself has had thousands of miles of trouble-free operation. If they won't run stock, in the vehicle they were designed for there going to be better in a swap into a 40 year old vehicle?  You want to talk bulletproof the 350 in my old '72 Chevy pickup with point-type ignition would start so quick you couldn't get your hand off the key fast enough, It ran over 200,000 miles and when I wrecked the truck, I put the engine in another truck body I had and drove it another 60,000 before I sold it. The 403 Olds in my '77 Trans-Am ran 180,000 miles being drag-raced every weekend, and was still running strong when I sold the car. Show me an LS motor that's run 200k WITHOUT at least one, if not several major expensive ( over $500 ) repairs whether they were covered by a warranty or not.  So the "bulletproof drivability" argument just doesn't fly with me.  My other problem with these modern fuelie swaps-and I've said it until I'm blue in the face-is that the car is always a "For-real, numbers-matching, four-speed SS396"  ( Hot Rod Oct. 2008 ) that they do it to.  Chevrolet built 58,000 SS396's in 1968. They also built over 400,000 2 dr Malibus that year. Why can't these people swap the modern fuelie into one of those 400,000 beaters and leave the pristine SS396's for those that want them original?  Popular Hot Rodding featured a 1972 Trans-Am that had not only an LS motor ini, but the body and interior had been extensively modified as well. And the article said-again that the guy bought it as a "Show car".  As we all know there was a strike at the Norwood Ohio plant that built Camaros and Firebirds in 1972, and it was so costly that there almost weren't 1973 models. Thus only 1,286 T/A's were sold that year. Why couldn't this guy butcher one of the millions of other beater 1970-81 Camaros and Firebirds out there? Why buy a "Show Car" quality numbers-matching 455HO that's one of 1,286 and cut it all to hell?  If he absolutely had to have a Trans-Am to start with ( god knows one couldn't butcher a base-model ) why not get one of the 100,000 plus built in 1979 with 403 Olds engines or the 60,000 plus 1980-81 models with 301 Pontiac or 305 Chevy motivation? Even hardcore Pontiac lovers don't care about them. Another was a for-real 1963 split-window Corvette. Again-the guy couldn't get one of the millions of 1968-82  C3 models and cut that up, no it had to be a one-year-only classic. This is my complaint with these people that have more money than brians. Buy a 1970 Buick Skylark, swap in your LS motor and six speed automatic or manual and paint it like a GSX if you want. But for god's sake-don't pay top dollar for one of the 678 real GSX's ever built and THEN put the LS in it!! I've seen this done in PHR to one of the 3,797 numbers-matching 1970 GTO Judges ever built. You couldn't buy a beater Tempest or LeMans, it had to be a numbers-matching Judge!!!  Buy any beater two-door Cutlass you want and "LS" it. But don't do it to one of the 906 1969 Hurst /Olds ever built, or a W30, 4-speed 442!!  Does everybody understand now?  LS motor in a beater '70 Firebird Esprit? God Bless & Have fun. Do it to one of the 3,196 Trans-Ams built that year and I'll want to storm your house with torches and a hanging posse. There's enough junk out there to do anything you want with, so please stop butchering irreplaceable classics!!! Mastermind                              

I thought the F&F movies were entertaining too....But I don't get young people's fascination with econoboxes as hot rods!!

I was talking with a young guy the other day and he was telling me that he was going to buy a "really fast car" and that he couldn't decide between a Ford Focus SVT or a Mazda Speed 3. I've driven them and they are fun little pocket rockets. However-like I told him-if you want to go really fast don't buy a Focus-get a Mustang. The base-model Mustang starts at 22K-cheaper than the hot-rod Focus and has a 305 hp V6 that pushes it to 13.9 second 1/4 mile times. That's right-a V6 that runs in the thirteens. Or if he wanted to be really badass-he could get a GT. They start at 29 grand and have 412 hp, and run 12.70's off the showroom floor according to Car and Driver. And in testing-a Mustang GT beat a BMW M3 around Willow Springs raceway. The front-wheel drive, 263hp Mazda Speed 3 rice rocket can't come close to that. Nor can the Subaru WRX STI or Mitsubishi EVO, both of which cost around 35K. For sheer bang-for-the-buck a new Mustang is just about impossible to beat. I also suggested a new Camaro as a close 2nd to the 'Stang. The base model starts at 23K and it's 323 hp V6 pushes it to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and through the 1/4 in about 14 flat. For around 30K, the SS model has 426 hp and runs very low 13s or very high 12s depending on which magazine road test your quoting. I'm not bashing Japanese cars-I'm just stating a fact-the American "Pony" cars are both cheaper AND faster than anything the Japanese have to offer. Yes, the Nissan 370Z runs blistering 5 second 0-60 times and low 13 second 1/4s but they start at about 36 grand-a good 6-7 thousand MORE than a Mustang GT or Camaro SS. "Maybe I'll get a used car." He replied. "A friend has a Mazda RX8 that he wants to sell."  "Those are great fun if you want a go-kart for the street." I said. "They have a slick-shifting trans, and the motor will rev to 9 grand." "Their a lot of fun to play Ricky Roadracer in, but their not that fast."  "What do you mean?" the kid asked. "They only weigh about 2,600 lbs, so the little 232 hp motor ( 197 with an automatic ) moves them pretty good." "But they only do mid-six-second 0-60 times, and like a 14.7 or 15.0 in the 1/4." "A V6 Honda Accord sedan or a V6 Camry does that, according to Road&Track." "I'd hate to pop the clutch, rev to nine grand,shifting like a fiend, and then see the taillights of the Camry driven by a soccer mom in the next lane." "That would be pretty humiliating actually."  "Your just old-school, you can't get into the new cars." He said. "No."  I replied. "If a Focus or Mazda 3 could run 12 second 1/4's and beat an M3 around Willow Springs, and cost the same or less than the Mustang, I'd say buy it."  "The WRX's are great, but they cost well over 30 grand."  "More than a Camaro SS or a Mustang GT and they aren't as fast." "If you want a high-performance car, why would you pay MORE money for a car that doesn't go nearly as fast."  "If I was a millionaire and going to spend 150K on a sports car I'd buy a Ferrari F430 instead of an Aston Martin Vantage or DB9." "Why?" Because the Ferrari is substantially faster."  "Don't buy a half-ass performance car based on an econobox that can't outrun a Honda Accord." "If you want to go fast, buy something that goes fast." "Maybe I'll just build a Honda Civic." he said. "Why?" I asked. "Buy a 2005 and later Mustang, put nitrous on it, and you'd be almost untouchable." "What is the fascination with econoboxes?" "You old guys modified your musclecars." he said. "Yeah, but a '68 GTO is a fast car to begin with. " I replied. "No one walked into a Ford dealer in say 1971 and walked between a 429SCJ Torino and a Boss 351 Mustang and told the salesman-"I want to go really fast." "Show me a Pinto." He had to laugh at that. "I see what your saying-he said." "I just don't see myself as Vin Diesel in that big bad Charger, or that badass Chevelle." "So your Paul Walker in a rice-rocket?"  I joked. "I guess so." "I guess I'm the Diesel type." I said-"Next time you see me I'll either be driving a '73 Hurst Olds, or a '70s vintage Trans-Am." "I can see you in those." "Your definitely the Vin Diesel musclecar type." I guess I should take that as a compliment. But for the life of me I can't see why he'd lust after a Focus. Mastermind                                   

"Day Two" modifications that are still ok.......

I was at a show-n-shine for a local Chevy club the other day and someone asked me what I thought about a 68 SS396 Chevelle that had a 750 double-pumper Holley an "old" style Edelbrock Torker intake-the one where the carb sat at an angle. I said I was perfectly fine with it, that it was "period correct" and in my mind made the car much cooler than it would be if it had a modern Perfromer RPM or Torker II sitting on it. He got a weird look on his face and then said-"Why?"  "Modified is modified."  "Please don't start that "Just as it left the factory crap."  I said. "If you had a 2009 Mustang GT that was out of warranty and blew a radiator hose on a Friday night would you go to Autozone and get a replacement so you could drive the car all weekend or would you wait until Monday when the dealer opened to get a "Genuine" Motorcraft hose? "And on that same Mustang-would you keep it totally stock for the next 40 years or would you maybe add an K&N air filter, a cat-back exhaust, and a computer chip?"  "What are you trying to say?" He asked, confused. "I'm saying that people played with musclecars just like we play with modern ones." "Why do you think there's so many 4-speed Chevelles and Camaros out there with Hurst shifters?"  "GTOs, Firebirds and Olds 442s, had Hurst shifters from the factory, but Chevys had that awful body-mounted Muncie shifter." "Forget powershifting, you couldn't even shift them above about half-throttle." "Everyone hated those and immediately swapped them for trans-mounted Hurst or Mr. Gasket unit."  "That's what you call a Day two mod." "Even when the car was new, so many people did it, that now a lot of people think it's standard equipment." "Well, if you had a Chevy in the late '60's or early '70's, the most popular mod was swapping the iron intake and Q-Jet carb for an Edelbrock Torker or Tarantula manifold and a 780 Holley or a 650 or 750 double-pumper." "That car is refreshing because that means that manifold's been on there since about 1970." "Which makes it cooler than if it had a brand-new Performer RPM." "I'd rather see a Point-type Accel or Mallory distributor on a '69 Camaro than I would an HEI distributor and an MSD box." "Wouldn't you rather see 15" American Racing Torq-Thrusts or Cragar S/S mags on a '65 GTO instead of 20 inch Center Lines?"  "I never thought about it, but your right." The guy replied "I like the 68-70 Chargers, and they look good with Cragars or even the old Ansen Sprint slot mags." "But they look like crap with modern 18 or 19 inch wheels and tires with no sidewall."  We talked some more and agreed that a 1968 GTO with an Edelbrock P4B manifold, a set of headers, and Cragar mags was just as "Right" now as it was in 1969.  We also agreed that the same GTO with a modern LS motor, a Tremec 5-speed, and 22 inch wheels is an abomination and it's builder should be dragged out into the street and shot, or my personal favorite-entrails cut out and burned. A Mopar fan, he also believed a 340 Duster with an LD340 manifold , headers and traction bars was fine, but he was sick to death of seeing Challengers and Chargers with modern 5.7, 6.1, and 6.4 fuel-injected Hemis. So, here's the guidelines I'd go by-modifications are ok if the parts were built within 10 years of the car. That means a '57 Chevy with a 327 or even a 427 is ok. That means a 1973 Trans-Am with an Edelbrock Performer intake, Recaro seats and a Doug Nash / Richmond 5-speed is cool. That also means a '65 Mustang with the Fuel-injected "5.0"  motor and a T-5 or '68 Camaro with a TPI L98 350 and a 700R4 is definitely NOT cool. The 10 years after rule is right because it encompasses what gearheads would do to the car when they were still fairly new, and utilizes parts that were available at the time, either new or used.  For example- if you yank the 2-speed Powerglide out of your 327 powered '66 Chevelle and drop in a 3-speed TH350 ( which is a "drop-in"-they are exactly the same length, the same bolt-pattern, and use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke ). You've drastically improved the performance and drivability of the car. And a lot people did this around say-1970. On the other hand-an electronically controlled six-speed auto like a 2010 Camaro has wasn't even invented in 1976.  Or for that matter, '86, or '96!!  See the difference? Mastermind                             

Remember the saying- "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I've talked a lot recently about the huge discrepancy in prices of musclecars. One thing that is probably confusing to the neophyte buyer is the difference between "good condition", "original" and "fully restored."  "Good Condition" or "Driver Quality", are about the same as a well-maintained original. "Good Condition / "Original" means the car has never been wrecked and has the numbers-matching engine and transmission and may even have the original paint. However this well-maintained "original" car may have 100,000 or more miles on it. Don't get me wrong, it may run and drive like a champ-because the owner(s) maintained it over the years-i.e. if the fuel pump went bad, they replaced it, if the brakes squeaked they replaced the pads and turned the rotors, if the radiator leaked, they had it patched or replaced it etc. These cars can be great bargains and fun drivers. These are the cars that you see for sale for $10,000-30,000. The fully restored category is where you find cars where every nut and bolt has been replaced whether it needed it or not. These are the cars that are generally priced between $40K-100K. If you want a Concours show car or just a brand-new old car to drive and you have the money, there's nothing wrong with these. However, don't fall into the trap that many of these sellers did. Just because you have 50 grand invested in a car, doesn't mean you'll be able to sell it for 50 grand. Especially if its a base model-in other words-no matter how pristine it is, a 351W 1969 Mustang Mach 1 is never going to bring the money that a Boss 302 will, even if the Boss isn't as nice. A friend fell into this trap, and I tried to warn him. I remember going to look at the car with him when he bought it. It was a 1971 Road Runner. It was originally a 340 car, but someone had yanked that and replaced it with a garden-variety 360. Otherwise, it was a pretty solid car-no rust issues, it ran good, stopped good, had no weird noises, and the body was pretty straight other than usual parking-lot dings and stuff. He bought it and as we drove it home we talked about maybe buying a Mopar Performance 360 crate engine that would bolt right in, and probably be cheaper than buying and building a 340, or maybe going hog-wild and installing a 440 or a Hemi Crate engine. I go to see him the next weekend and he's doing the brakes on it. "Why?" I asked. "It stopped fine, and when we pulled the wheels to look at the brakes, they were good." "The pads and shoes were thick, the wheel cylinders weren't leaking, the pedal was solid, and it stopped fine." "I want everything new." he said. "Then why did you buy this nice, drivable car?" I asked. "You could have bought a basket-case for $500 if you wanted to replace everything." "Just throw a motor in it and paint it." I said. "You'll be a lot happier, and if you ever want to sell it, you'll be able to get your money back." Well, not only did he not take my good advice, he went crazy-and replaced everything whether it needed it or not. I mean he replaced the alternator even though it was charging fine. He replaced the starter, even though it bench-tested and worked fine. He replaced the radiator even though it wasn't leaking and the car wasn't overheating. He replaced the power steering pump even though it wasn't leaking or making noise and worked fine. Unable to find a 340 for any price, He rebuilt the 360 he had with the best of everything. I could go on, but you get the picture. He spent a lot of money unnecessarily replacing things that didn't need to be replaced, which drove his restoration cost way up. When he was done, the car was absolutely beautiful. He had $35,000 invested in it by then. Then his wife had twins, and they decided to buy a bigger house, and the Road Runner had to go for a down payment on the house. He ended up selling it for $21,000, ( a loss of $14,000 ) and he's still paying off credit cards he charged up building it. Now if he'd listened to me-and just put a crate engine in it and a paint job-he'd have made money when he sold it-even if he'd sold for only 15 grand-instead of 21-and he'd be a lot happier and less in debt. He's crying the blues-but 21 grand was ALL THE MONEY for a small-block Road Runner without a numbers-matching engine. And you still lose on a premium car-I saw a frame-off resto done on a one of 295 Ram Air III, 4-speed, with factory air, for-real 1970 GTO Judge. The car was flawless-every hose, nut and bolt had been replaced. But the asking price was $75,000!!!  That the price of a house anywhere except New York or California. On the same website I saw a numbers-matching 1973 455 Trans-Am for 35k, a 400, 4-speed '79 T/A in great condition for $18,900, and a 24,000 mile original 403 Olds / TH350 powered '79 T/A for $21,000. You could buy ALL 3 of those cars for what the guy wanted for the Judge. I mean-think about it- you could keep the '73 as a show car, hot rod the 4-speed '79 model and use the 403 automatic as a daily driver!! For what this guy wants for one car??!!   I saw a great Carousel Red RAIV '69 model for 45K, and a low-mileage, 455HO, 4-speed, WW5 1972 GTO for 32K. You could buy BOTH of those rare birds for what the guy was asking for the '70 model. See the problem? I'm not saying the frame-off pristine Judge-isn't worth the money-If I hit the lottery I'd own it in a heartbeat. But since I'm not Donald Trump-I'd be more likely to buy the Trans-Am for 18K or the other GTO for 32. If your building your dream car by all means do it any way you want even if that means gold-plating everything. But don't expect to make money when you sell it. If your a mechanic and want to make a living buying and selling old musclecars you'll have to do it the way car dealers sell used cars. Buy something decent, fix a couple of things, maybe do a little bodywork and paint, maybe tires and wheels-and that's it. Your not going to make a profit doing frame-off, every nut and bolt restos unless you have a TON of venture capital and are looking to fill a very-specific niche-i.e. only do Shelby Mustangs or 55-57 Chevys. Otherwise, whether it's for a driver or one for sale-follow that rule-"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"  Mastermind   

I always tell the truth.......People just don't always want to believe it!!

Got a bunch of flack for a piece I wrote for Popular Hot Rodding about some of the cars I owned and how fast I said they were. I thought I'd clarify things a bit and end this "Did not, Did too" right now.  The first naysayer argued that my Judge couldn't have beat all the cars that I said it did. For the record it was a Ram Air III car with a 4-speed and 4.33:1 gears. That statement alone should give most people the picture.  But it wasn't stock. The guy I bought it from had bored it .060 over, put in 12:1 pistons, a Crane Solid-Lifter cam with 337 advertised duration and .560 lift,Crane roller rockers, an Offenhauser dual-quad manifold with two 750 AFBs, a Mallory unilite ignition, and Hooker headers. It also had Lakewood ladder bars and soft-compound Mickey Thompson N50-15 tires. The guy I bought it from gave me an 11.79 timeslip from the track in Oregon he ran it on. 11.79 might not sound like much now, with 12 second Mustangs and Challengers available off the showroom floor, but in 1978 that was ungodly fast. And I did beat my buddy's SS396 Chevelle, his Buddy's LS6 SS454 Chevelle, another friend's 440 / Six-Pack Super Bee, a 428 Mustang and the closest race I ever had with a guy about 40 who had a 429SCJ 1970 Torino Cobra with a 4-speed and 4.30 gears and M&H "Street Slicks."  That car was Jule's wallet from "Pulp Fiction"  The meanest MoFo in the Valley, and I smote everyone in biblical fashion. I can't detail the build every time I mention the car; I've said it wasn't stock. But it infuriates me every time some pinhead produces an old Car Life or Hot Rod road test and tells me that since PHR's 1969 Judge test car (That had a 3 speed, and 3.55:1 gears to further add insult to injury ) only ran a 14.05 1/4-there's "No Way" I could beat an LS6 that ran 13.44 or a Six-Pack Bee that ran 13.59 in the respective road tests. Excuse me-what part of "Modified" and "4.33 gears" and 11.79 timeslip did you not grasp?  Like Johnny Cash said about fight the man that named him "Sue" -I've driven faster cars since, but I really can't remember when. The second idiot was 5.0 Mustang owner who was offended when I said my '77 403 Olds-powered Trans Am never got beat by a 5.0 Mustang in the '80s. Everyone agrees the 1987-93 models are the best performers, the 83-86 carburated models aren't as quick. Every Road test of a "5.0" I read of these cars shows they ran the 1/4 within a range of 5 tenths depending on transmission and gearing. The quickest was a 14.72; the slowest a 15.29.  Yes, it was an automatic with 2.56:1 gears. But I've said many times that it had the "Fire-Am" treatment-headers and dual exhaust, a Holley "Street Dominator" intake and a TransGo shift kit. Further, I had discovered that by switching from R46SZ plugs-an .080 gap-to R45S's a .040 gap plug-I picked up 700 rpm on the top end. With the .080 gap plus, even after I changed the intake, the HEI ran out of juice and wouldn't let the engine rev past 4,700 rpm. With the shorter gap plugs it pulled hard to 5,400 rpm. Yes, stock 403 T/A's from 77-79 usually ran a 16.3 1/4.  With the intake, exhaust, ignition, and shift kit upgrades mine ran a best of 14.78, and it would run 14.9s ALL DAY even in 90 degree heat. That's smack-dab on the very low end of what the 5.0's ran. Further, every magazine test said the best times in a 5.0 came by slipping the clutch at 1,800-2,200 rpm to avoid frying the tires. Every teenage and 20-something Mustang driver I ever encountered would pop the clutch at 3 grand, incinerate the tires, and then be shocked that I jumped them 2 or 3 car lengths out of the hole and they couldn't get it back. And, from a rolling start like a freeway on-ramp?-302 inches against 403?  Like they say in mob movies-"Fughetaboutit."  The last one was when I said I didn't have to take crap from little boys in Subaru WRX's in my 442 after I put the Chevy crate motor in it.  Again-every 224 hp WRX built before 2008 only ran a 14.4 second 1/4 in road tests. The new for 2009 265 hp model runs 13.9s, and the 305 hp STI models run 13.4.  I've never taken the 442 to the track with the Chevy engine. However, in the Sept 2008 issue of Hot Rod they tested a '69 Chevelle with a ZZ4 engine, TH400, and 4.30 gears that ran a best time of 12.44. We all agree that a Chevelle and a Cutlass weigh about the same, and I have a ZZ4, a TH400, and 4.10 gears. Allowing for differences in altitude, tuning, driver skill, and traction, even if my car was a FULL SECOND slower than the Hot Rod test mule-i.e. running mid-thirteens instead of mid-12 s-I'd STILL be able to give a WRX owner a run they'd not soon forget.  So no, I don't lie about my exploits. Next time this subject comes up remember to look for key phrases like "Not exactly stock"  "Warmed-over"  or "Modified / Restified."  Just had to vent that. Mastermind                  

How can you be offended by a fake??!!

I was talking with a guy the other day at work, just bench racing and talking about cars we'd owned in the past or would like to own in the future. I mentioned that Factory Five Racing makes an excellent Shelby 427 Cobra replica kit car that's a screaming bargain. For $19,995 you get everything except an engine and transmission. Even if you bought a $4,000 crate motor and a $2,000 transmission, you could build one for around 25K very easily.  Their designed to use 1986-2004 V8 Mustang parts, but you can also ask that they drill the frame to accept small-block Chevy motor mounts, and GM trannys like a T10, Muncie or TH350, and they'll accomodate that option at no charge. To me this is just good business sense, because millions of hot-rodders have SBC's laying around their garage, and many just prefer it for any project they build. They'll sell a lot more cars by accomodating the Chevy AND Ford small-blocks than they would if it only fit Fords. Anyhow, when I off-handedly commented that a Cobra kit car would be ungodly fast with the ZZ4 350 crate motor that I have, since the quoted five second 0-60 times were with a stock 225 hp 302 out of an '89 Mustang, and the ZZ4 is rated at 355 hp by GMPP. That extra 130 hp should cut quite a bit off the 0-60 and 1/4 mile times. This guy went ballistic,-shouting that no one should ever build such a "Bastard" car, and that Cobras should be all Ford. When I pointed out that there were other companies besides Factory Five that have been building them for 30 years, and that there were thousands of Cobra replicas on the road and that a lot of them did in fact have small-block Chevys under the bonnet, he became even more spittingly hysterical. "How can you desecrate a classic?"  "What classic?"  I responded- "No one is putting Chevy engines numbers-matching Cobras-These are KIT CARS!!".  There a fake to begin with!!  By your reasoning-even the 5.0 Mustang powertrain is an abomination-they should all be built with side-oiler 427FEs!!!  "I'm not saying that, I'm just saying they should be built with all Ford parts!"  he said, backpedaling a little. "I don't get your reasoning." I said. "I could even see you saying that a '32 Ford coupe should have a flathead, or at least a modern Ford V8 like a 289 / 302, rather than a Chevy, because it is in it;s own way-a hot rod classic icon."  "No would want a '55 Chevy with a Ford engine in it."  "I get that."  "But this is a fiberglass replica of a car that went out of production 45 years ago." "Who cares what's under the hood?" People sold Avantis for 40 years after they went out of production, and no one screamed that they weren't using real Studebaker engines." "You can buy Porsche 356 and 550 replicas that use a VW chassis and powertrain-no one's railing that their "Bastardized" because they don't have Porsche engines."  "You don't understand!" he wailed. "I understand perfectly" "If we were talking about a REAL car."  "I get pissed off every time I see a Chevy LS motor in a '60's GTO or a '70's Firebird." "But the Cobra is a fake to begin with."  "If some guy starts selling Batmobile Clones based on '70's Cadillac frames are you going to scream blasphemy because the George Barris original was based on a Lincoln platform?"  "Are we going to argue about what is and isn't correct for a freaking Batmobile copy?"  Puhleeze.  He walked off in a huff, and didn't speak to me the rest of the day, which I took as no great loss. I still don't understand his outrage, though.  Anyone else pissed because people put 350 Chevys in Cobra Kit Cars?   Mastermind