Why is there no more performance oriented dealers? Ask GM, Ford and Chrysler!!!

Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft, and Musclecar Review all write about the great cars and the men who pioneered them at the dealer level.  Royal Pontiac was legendary for their supertuned street and race cars. Jim Wangers finally admitted what we all knew was true- Car & Driver's May 1964 GTO test car that ran a blistering 4.6 second 0-60 and 13.1 second 1/4 mile on bias-ply 7.75X14 Uniroyal Tiger Paws was a ringer. Royal Pontiac had pulled the 389 and replaced it with a blueprinted 421. No wonder production examples could only run mid-14s.  Don Yenko- a Pennsylvania Chevy Dealer was famous for swapping L72 and L88 427s into Camaros and Chevelles. He also introduced the "Yenko Deuce"- a Nova with a fire-breathing 370 hp LT-1 'Vette motor stuffed in it. Today a verifiable Yenko car is worth major bucks. Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago was doing the same thing-stuffing L88, LS6, and LS7 427 and 454 big-blocks into Camaros, Chevelles, and Novas. Hot Rod magazine road-tested an L88 Nova conversion in 1973. Joel Rosen partnered with Baldwin Chevrolet and built the legendary Motion Performance Mako Shark Corvettes and Rat-Motored Camaros, Chevelles, and a few Pontiac Firebirds. The legendary Phase III 454 package was guaranteed to run 10.60's in the 1 /4.  Mr Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge supertuned Mopars much like Royal Pontiac did with Pontiacs, and even Built the Dart GSS-which was a 340 Dart with a Paxton supercharger on it. Bob Tasca of Tasca Ford was very successfull drag-racing a '68 390 Mustang that he swapped a 428 T-Bird / Police Interceptor engine into. So successfull that Ford listened and made the 428 an option on the new for 1969 Mach 1 Mustang.  Dennis and Kyle Mecham of Mecham Pontiac in Glendale Arizona created the "Macho T / A " in the late '70's. These cars were wildly popular with the buff magazines and have a "Cult" following to this day. However no one is doing it now. You'd think with all the great cars out there someone would. I mean take a new Mustang or Camaro and upgrade it with a cat-back exhaust, a K&N airbox, a computer chip or maybe a cam. Edelbrock and Magnussen offer emissions-legal bolt-on superchargers for Hemi Chargers and Challengers, and Camaros and Corvettes and Mustangs that increase hp by 175-250. I would think someone would step up and make big bucks doing it. But no one is. I asked several dealers why no one is doing this. I mean if you buy a Toyota Tacoma or Tundra and want to pay the price a Toyota dealer will put a TRD blower on it for you. But GM, Ford and Chrysler brass has told all their dealers that will NOT warranty any claim on a modified vehicle. In other words if your local dealer puts an Edelbrock Blower on your Mustang, and the power steering pump starts leaking 3,000 miles later, they won't warranty it. If a Dodge dealer puts a Flowmaster exhaust on your Charger, and the water pump lets go, your paying for it out of pocket. Doesn't matter if the failure is totally unrelated to the modification. That's why nobodys doing it. Its asinine, but the rule. Start writing letters to the big three and see if you can change their minds. If you've got the money to pay to do it, you should be allowed to. Nissan will put the "NISMO" package on a 370Z for you-suspension and brake upgrades, and intake and exhaust mods that bump hp from 332 to 350. The Anericans should follow suit, and we'd have legendary modern Yenko-style cars that will be future classics. Mastermind    

A Heavyweight Title Fight.....and other tales from back in the day.....

When I was in high school I had a 1969 Ram Air III, 4-speed, 4.33:1 geared GTO Judge. My dad, also a gearhead and Pontiac lover, had a 1978 400, 4-speed, WS6 Trans-Am for a daily driver, and a 1965 Tri-power 421 Catalina 2+2 as a weekend cruiser / toy. The 2+2 was a stealthy street fighter. When dad rebuilt the 421 the summer of my junior year he replaced the "bathtub" heads which had 1.96 / 1.66 intake and exhaust valves and small ports with #670 heads off a '67 GTO that had larger ports and much larger 2.11 / 1.77 valves, yet were still closed chamber so he wouldn't lose any compression. Nunzi Romano and other Pontiac experts said these heads flowed better than any other factory head except the rare and expensive RAIV's. He also went with the RAIII cam-which had 301 / 313 advertised duration instead of the "068" cam that came in the 421 which had 288 / 302 duration. He also added 1.65:1 rockers which boosted lift from .414 to about .455. He also re-jetted the three Rochester 2 bbls and added a mechanical linkage instead of the factory vacuum style. He had a TransGo shift kit in the Turbo 400 and 3.90:1 gears in the rear end. With the big Cat's long ( 121 inches ) wheelbase and substantial rear overhang, to say it took off like a bat out of hell was an understatement. Any how-all my buddies were hot-rodders. My best friend had a 1970 SS396 Chevelle, another buddy had a 390 powered 1967 Cougar, and two others had a 440 Six-Pack '69 Super Bee, and a 428CJ Mustang Mach 1. The motor on the Judge was pumped-up by a previous owner but the 4.33:1 gears, 12 bolt posi rear end, Lakewood ladder bars, and soft-compound N50X15 Mickey Thompson rear tires really gave it an unfair advantage drag-racing other street cars. I could rev to 3,500-4,000 rpm and drop the clutch hard. It would spin the tires, but just enough to get the engine up on it's torque curve and the car moving with alarcity. My friends would all light up their tires taking off. Once a 4.33:1 geared 400 Pontiac GTO gets 2 or 3 car lengths on you, unless you've got a 4.56:1 geared L88 'Vette- your not getting it back. The Judge was pretty much "King Kong". I even beat guys from other schools and "Old men" ( like 35 ) with 440 Road Runners, 429 SCJ Torinos, and 396 Novas. Any how, the 428 Mustang driver's dad was also a mechanic, and he had an L72 427 1967 Biscayne. As it happened one night, for whatever reason I had left the Judge at home and borrowed the 2+2. He had also left the mighty Mach 1 at home and was driving the Biscayne. We decided to face off. The "flagman" hit his flashlight and we roared off the line. The big Pontiac jumped out to a half-car lead, which I held until the top of second gear. The big Chevy pulled even, and that was it. Neither car could gain another inch. We stayed in it until well over 100 mph and well past a 1/4 mile, and it was like the cars were locked together. Too close to call. We drove back to the staring line together and everyone was shocked when we said it was too close to call. Then we both blurted out at the same time-"What the hell is under the hood of that thing?" Which drew big laughs from the watching crowd. We opened the hoods, and when I saw the Rat motor and the "427" stickers on the valve covers, and he saw the "421" emblems and the three chrome air cleaners on the 2+2 we said again-almost in unison-"That explains it." Which drew more laughs from the crowd. My friend said it best-"That's the first time either of you ran up against someone his own size."  Since both of these behemoths had 4-wheel drum brakes, we waited about 15 minutes to let the brakes cool down while other people raced and then we tried again. Exact same result. I jumped him half a car length off the line, he caught me in second gear, neither of us could get another inch. There were some other sleepers around too. There was a kid that had a 454 Monte Carlo that surprised a lot of people. I've mentioned before I had a friend who   stuffed a 401 out of a Matador Police car into his 304 Gremlin that was quite a terror. Another friend had a Chevy LUV pickup with a 327 in it that was a rocket. Once in a while the cops would show up and run everybody off, or write a few tickets, but for the most part we were left alone because our little "Dragstrip" was out in the boonies. There was no fights, or people carrying knives or guns, or drugs being sold or anything like that. Just a bunch of guys getting together on Friday or Saturday night to play with their cars. Very Innocent. It's sad, but you couldn't do that now, and the police couldn't be as lenient as they were back then. A bunch of gang-bangers would have to show up and start trouble or shoot at someone, and there would be intense public outrage. Too bad, that kids nowadays won't have those memories when their my age because the actions of a few screw it up for the many. Mastermind        

An act of Chivalry.......From the "Snowman"......

Saw an uplifting letter in "High Performance Pontiac" magazine. A guy recounted a story from his childhood. Back in 1979-when he was six years old-and of course a "Dukes of Hazzard" fan, and a fan of the now classic "Smokey and the Bandit"-he and his mother got a flat tire on a country road in Tennessee. A black Trans-Am pulled up behind them and a tall man in a cowboy hat got out and asked if they needed help. The man graciously pulled the spare out of the lady's trunk and changed the tire for her. The lady recognized the man, who affirmed he was in fact Country music legend and actor Jerry Reed. They chatted while he changed the tire, and Jerry said his friend and movie cohort Burt Reynolds had got him hooked on T/A's while filming the first "Bandit", and he bought one because they were so much fun to drive on curvy roads like they were on. He said they were planning a second "Bandit" movie. The lady thanked him for his kindness, and asked for one more favor-If he'd meet her son and give him an autograph. Jerry laughed and said of course-that most people asked him if he could get Burt's autograph for them. The little boy was thrilled,and reverently asked "Are you the Bandit?"  When he said "No, I'm the Snowman." The little boy asked "Why are you driving the Bandit's car?" "Did you lose your truck?" "See what I mean?"  Jerry said-and he and the boys mother laughed until they cried. The guy said his mother told that story for years until she died, and that he got a great laugh telling it at her funeral. He said it was sad that more celebrities weren't as down-to earth as Jerry Reed, who sadly has left us.  While I agree that some celebrities are jerks, a lot of them are nice people who do take the time to be gracious and talk to fans or sign an autograph. I can boast that I've been slapped by Chuck Norris. Back in 1981 when I was a 19 year old Golden Gloves boxer in San Francisco, Chuck Norris was in town filming "An Eye for an Eye". The guy who owned the boxing gym I worked out at was also a stuntman who was working on the movie, and he asked Chuck to stop by. Chuck and his brother Aaron, who was stunt coordinator on the film, dropped by one day. Chuck was a great guy who signed autographs for everyone and told jokes with everyone there for more than an hour. I asked Chuck for some boxing advice. He watched me work the heavy bag. "Your dropping your left after jabbing." he said. "I am?" "I don't think so." ( Typical 19 year old-knows everything and-argues with a martial-arts legend. ) I continued working the bag.  Smack!" a right across the face. Stung, I asked "Why'd you do that?" "I told you, your dropping your right." "Keep going."  I went two more rounds, and after a few more slaps, I learned quickly. I didn't get slapped at all in the third round.  We shook hands and I said-"I never thought I'd thank someone for slapping me, but thanks for the advice." He laughed and said-"Now You can brag and say Chuck Norris hit me 3 times when I wasn't looking and I didn't fall down."  "Yeah!" "Thanks. again." and  We shook hands again. What a cool guy. Anyhow, I thought it was a nice and amusing story about Jerry Reed helping out a stranded motorist. Mastermind                    

Old vs New.....They both have their charms......

I hear the debate all the time-are the old musclecars better than the new ones or vice-versa?  It depends on what you consider "Better."  I've driven new Z06 Corvettes and I've driven a friends 435 hp 427 Stingray. I've driven my buddy's 440 Six-Pack Super Bee and I've driven new Hemi Chargers. I've driven 428 Mach 1s  and I've driven new Mustang GTs. One thing for sure-they all haul ass and their all fun to drive, but they have distinctly different personalitys.  For example-# 1. The Corvettes. The new 'Vette is a refined sports car. It accelerates, turns and stops better than just about anything else on the planet. The steering, brakes, clutch and shifter are all driver-friendly and make "Joe Average" feel like the long-lost Andretti brother. The only cars that can equal or beat it's performance-the Nissan GT-R, Audi R8, or Porsche 911 Turbo-all cost anywhere from $30,000-$100,000 more!!  GM wins hand-down on the bang-for-the-buck factor. And the A/C will form an icicle on your nose in 90 degree weather, the CD player sounds like a concert hall, the car is comfortable on long drives. A true 'Gran Touring" car. The old 'Vette, on the other hand is Jules' Wallet from "Pulp Fiction."  The earth shakes and the sidepipes roar. Nothing sounds like a high-compression, solid-lifter big-block Chevy. That long-duration solid-lifter cam gives it a badass lope, yet stable idle. The clutch is stiff, and pulling on the chrome shifter to put the Muncie "Rock-Crusher" 4-speed into gear is like racking the slide on a 12-guage shotgun. You can't take off without frying the tires. The front fenders rise, the Rat wails-Crack! goes the exhaust as you shift to second, and the car lays another 75-100 feet of rubber. The redline comes quick-Crack! into third. The fenders are still flying high,-and Crack!-into 4th. Your going way too fast now so you hammer the brakes-the 4-wheel discs don't have the feel of the later ABS-enhanced model-but they slow the big beast quickly down to reasonable speed. Continue up the country road-and it feels great at what Magazines call "8 / 10ths " driving. Fast-but not at the absolute limit. Push the limits, and the front end plows under the massive weight of the Rat-Motor, and the skinny F70-15 tires squeal their displeasure and start to slide. It may be a helluva drag race between the two in a straight line, but in the twisties the new car would run off and leave the old one. So which is better?  That's a subjective opinion. For my $60-70K I'd take the old 427 model every time. The "Captain America" chopper from "Easy Rider" isn't as comfortable to ride or as good-performing as a new Harley "Street Bob" either-but it would sure be cool to have and make you the badass of the drive-in or poker run when you pull up on it!!  # 2. I like the New Hemi Chargers. They look cool, the engine idles smoothly, the seats are comfortable, and the suspension doesn't rattle your fillings loose. You can live with them every day. And they've got enough power that you don't have to take crap from little boys in rice-rockets or soccer moms in V8 Cherokees. They accelerate, turn and stop way better than a 4,200 lb sedan has any right to. That's the best of both American and German engineering. You've got a Chrysler Hemi V8 stuffed in a last-generation Mercedes E55 chassis. ( Courtesy of the merger with Daimler-Benz a few years ago ). But they don't make me feel like Kowalski on his last ride through the Nevada desert, or Bo Duke. I'm not reminded of my pal's Six-Pack Super Bee, I'm reminded of a '70's "Gentleman's Express" luxury-performance car-like a Hurst / Olds, or a 455 SJ Pontiac Gran Prix or a 454 Monte Carlo. And there's nothing wrong with that. Car and Driver said it best-the Charger is not the car for politically correct green types. It's the car for middle-aged guys who want to die with a Glock in one hand and a Jalapeno double-chesseburger in the other. That's true, but it's still not as badass as a '69 Super Bee. # 3. The new Mustang GT has been called "America's M3". Especially after Car and Driver found a $28,000 Mustang G/T was equal to or damn close to a $64,000 BMW M3 in every performance category-0-60, 1 / 4 mile, 70-0 mph braking, skidpad G, and lap times around Willow Springs Raceway. With the miniscule difference in performance, and the huge difference in price, they declared the Mustang the hands-down winner of the comparo. And that was the GT model. The Boss 302, with upgraded suspension, tires and brakes, and 32 more hp ( 444 vs 412 for the GT ) actually smoked the Bimmer around Willow Springs and at $41,000-was still more than 20K cheaper!!  I like the new Mustangs. The 5.0 "Coyote' has a lot more torque than the old 4.6, and that makes them a lot more fun to drive. The 4.6s were stellar performers, but the tach had to be above 4,000 rpm to get the most of it. The 5.0 feels much more like a musclecar engine with power right off idle. And they do handle like a slot-car. C / D hit it on the head again-it feels like an M3 with a bigger, torquier engine. And that's an awesome engineering feat, especially with a solid rear axle. But it's dossn't feel like a '60's or '70's model. I've driven them with 289s, Boss 302s, 351Ws, 351Cs, 390s, and 428s. The 390s and 428s were nose-heavy and not very good handlers, even by '60's standards. The '70's 351C models were bigger and heavier and saddled with smog controls and salt-flats gearing. The Boss 302 is badass-from 3,000 rpm to 7,000. There's a reason they were only available with a stick and 3.90:1 or 4.30:1 gears!! Oddly-the base-model '69 Mach 1-the 290 hp 351W with a 4-speed offered the best balance of performance, drivability, handling and value. The Mach felt as good as any small-block Camaro for that nostalgic, "Ponycar" feel. . But for my $30,000-I'd have to go with the new car.  The modern Mustangs have a vintage look, and they run so strong and handle so good, that I just can't say I'd rather have an old one without my nose hitting the wall. Mastermind

More on the path of least resistance......

Had some people say that I'm against anything out of the ordinary or new. Huh?  Didn't I suggest in the last post transplanting a Supercharged, Fuel-Injected 3.8 Liter V6 into an old Buick instead of trying to rebuild an obsolete, under-powered 49 year old 300 inch V8 that has limited parts availability and performance potential?  Haven't I said many times how much I like Tuned Port Injection, and that if I could find an '85-'92 Z/28 or Trans-Am that I'd swap in my ZZ4 crate engine or a 383 and use the TPI instead of a carburator? Don't I always recommend using Electronic distributors instead of points on everything, be it GM, Ford or Mopar?  If you have a 2010 Camaro SS or SRT8 Charger I don't advocate ripping off the fuel-injection system and putting a carburator on it! ( Although Edelbrock sells 4bbl intakes for LS motors with the MSD box to run the ignition attached to the intake, and 4 bbl intakes for 5.7 and 6.1 Hemis. ) . Here I have to again ask- "Why?" If I was going to swap an LS engine or modern Hemi into an older car-I would certainly get the wiring harness out of the donor car or buy one from Painless-so I could have the benefits of the electronic fuel-injection and ignition management. Why would I spend umpteen thousands of dollars transplanting a state of the art modern powertrain, and then put a leaking, power valve blowing, bleeding over 750 Holley on it??!!!  I have voiced my disgust at people putting modern fuelie engines in vintage Iron-but I think I'm misunderstood on that too. If you have a generic '68 Malibu or '75 Firebird or '71 Satellite that you want to slap an LS motor or SRT8 Hemi into-I think that's a great idea-more power to you. What drives me up the wall is it's never a beater '73 Duster or a '71 Tempest-in these magazines-it's always a pristine for-real, numbers-matching, 4-speed SS396, or a 455HO Trans-Am, or a ( formerly ) 440 powered Challenger R/T or GTX. You want to slap the fuel-injected 302 and T5 five-speed out of a wrecked '91 Mustang into one of the 600,000 plus 1966 Mustangs out there-go ahead-it makes a hell of a nice driver out of them. Just don't do it to a Shelby GT350H!!!  That's all I'm saying. As for other "innovations"-yes hot rodders are always tinkering looking for more power. But just because something is POSSIBLE doesn't mean it's the greatest thing since sliced bread or that everyone should do it. We know manned space flight is possible; it's just not economically feasible to send people on pleasure trips to the moon!!  As it applies to cars-Dart and Blueprint engines sell 427 and 454 inch stroker Small-Block Chevys. I'm not impressed, and I'd never buy one, or recommend anyone buying one. The reasons being- 1st off-they cost $11,000!!!  Secondly-they only make 540  or 575 hp respectively-and that's with 11.4:1 compression and a lumpy cam with 248 duration ( @ .050 lift ). If you want a 454 inch Chevy crate engine-then buy a ZZ454 / 440. These cost $5999 through Scoggin-Dickey and are rated at 440 hp and 500 lbs of torque by GMPP with a pump-gas-friendly 9.6:1 compression. Hot Rod had one, and with only the addition of a Performer RPM intake ( $249 ) and a Comp Cams XR282H cam-( $299 ) they made 534 hp and 558 lbs of torque, and had a glass-smooth idle and 15 inches of vacuum at idle, and made 488 lbs of torque as low as 2,500 rpm!!  So for $6,500 you have the same amount of power, with better idle quality, on 89 octane pump gas, a broader torque range and better drivability. Tell me again why you should spend $11,000 for the stroker small-block that has a rough idle, 10 inches of vacuum at idle, a  peakier powerband, and requires 100 octane gas to run properly?  Which one is the better deal?  Now there are circumstances where installing a big-block isn't feasible-a '32 Ford, a Cobra Replica, a '64 Nova-and so forth. However-if you need a 550 hp small-block you can buy or build a 383 with that much power for a lot less than 11 grand. The same goes for other stroker combinations. Why spend a ton of money turning a 302 Ford into a 347 or a 363 when you could just build a 351W?  And the money you would have spent on a custom crank, rods and pistons, flywheel and balancer, and machine work-can now go towards heads, cam, carb and intake, exhaust, gears etc. Stuff that offers the most bang for the buck. Another popular one I don't get is turning a 400 Chrysler into a 451. Why? The process requires a custom crank, rods and pistons, and cutting and RELIEVING the block to make the rotating assembly fit!!  Just build a 440. In fact-besides musclecars-440s were used in millions of "Big" cars-Chrysler Newports and Imperials, Dodge Monacos and Polaras, Plymouth Grand Furys, countless Cop cars and millions of light and medium-duty trucks and vans from 1967-78. The 400 was only used from 1972-78. So in reality-in a junkyard or swap meet it's probably easier to find a 440 than it is a 400. Just like it's easier to find a 454 Chevy instead of a 396. Again-the money saved on the extensive machine work and custom rotating assembly can go towards heads, cam, intake, ignition, etc-and build a Thumpin' 440 for way less money than the custom 451. And honestly-Is 11 cubic inches really going to make that much difference?  And Mopar "B" ( 361-383-400 ) and "RB" ( 413-426-440 ) engines are externally identical except for the deck height. The only thing that doesn't interchange is the intake manifolds.                     So there's no space / size advantage to starting with the smaller engine. At least with the Chevys  a mega-inch small-block will fit many places where a Rat won't. Not so with the B / RB engines. If a 383 / 400 will fit, a 440 will fit. So what's the advantage?  I don't see it. Now some of you hard-core racers are going to write in to "educate" me about rod to stroke ratios, and side-to side piston loads etc. I know all that. A 6 inch rod runs smoother, with less vibration and makes more power in a small-block Chevy than a 5.7 inch rod. However, all other things being equal the difference in peak power is only 6%. On a NASCAR NEXTEL CUP engine that makes 850 hp and has to turn 8,000 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona-that 6% could definitely be the difference between a win or top 5 finish and being an also-ran in mid-pack. But on a street engine-even a very hot one-it's not going to make an ounce of difference in real-world performance. Because of various factors-air quality, wind, gearing, tuning,converter stall speed, traction, track condition, driver skill, etc.- In a street / strip car you are not going to notice in the seat of your pants or on a 1/4 mile time slip the difference between 400 hp and 424 hp, or even 500 hp and 530 hp!!  Your not. So don't waste the extra money on the custom rods and pistons. I'm all for something new and trick if it works and offers a performance increase that justifies it's cost. But if it costs substantially more than something time and competition and street-proven, yet offers very little if any performance improvement-then Why use it?  Just to be able to say you have the latest and greatest thing under your hood whether it works or not?  Not me. Mastermind        

The path of least resistance.....

People ask me why I constantly  "Nit Pick" magazine articles or project cars. I'm not nit-picking, I'm just pointing out that there are often easier and cheaper ways to get the desired result. Yes, if you have enough money to throw at a project you can do anything you want. But that doesn't always mean that's the best way to go or the most prudent or economical. For example-If you want to build a corner-carving "G" machine / musclecar to challenge Porsche 911s, Z06 'Vettes, and Dodge Vipers-wouldn't it be more prudent to build a '70's Camaro or Firebird  than a '60's Impala or GTO? Or '68-70 Charger / Road Runner? The 70-81 GM F-bodys are great handling and braking cars to start with-especially if you get a Z/28 or Trans-Am model. And there is TONS of aftermarket suspension and brake upgrades for these cars, and their wheelwells will clear huge tires without modification. Their engine compartments will accept a small or big-block Chevy or a 400 / 455 Pontiac with no fabrication, so there's no problem making the horsepower either. Yes, you can make great handlers of the '64-72 "A" bodys" or Full-size GM offerings, or Chrysler "B" bodies- but the bottom line is-it would cost way more- to build and still wouldn't have the same performance level of the F-bodies-which are lighter, have a shorter wheelbase, and have way more parts available for them at lower prices than the others. I saw an article where a guy got a thick-wall 350 Olds diesel block, and put a custom ground 425 crank, big-block Chevy rods and custom pistons, in the short-block that made 440 inches, then topped it with a custom solid-roller cam and valvetrain, Edelbrock Aluminum 455 heads, and a custom-port-matched Performer RPM intake and a nitrous system. My question is-"If you have THAT much money-and need to go THAT fast, why aren't you building a 455 Olds  instead of a 350?  Same thing the other way-I read an article about a guy building a 300 inch Buick small-block for a street rod?  Why? There is practically zero parts availability for these engines either stock or aftermarket., any that are available have to be special-ordered, and the cost to rebuild one is WAY more than the price of building a small-block Chevy or Ford, both of which make double the power for half the cost and has widespread parts availability. If your trying to be unique and have something other than a 350 Chevy or 302 Ford in your T-Bucket or whatever, why not build a 318 or 360 Chrysler? Their bulletproof, there's tons of aftermarket support and they can easily make as much power as a small-block Chevy for very low bucks. Back to the obsolete Buick 300 V8- If the car was an old Buick and you didn't want to "cross-breed" i.e. use another engine line-I'd look for a wrecked '90's Buick Riviera or Pontiac Bonneville SSEI and salvage the supercharged 3.8 liter V6. They have 250 hp stock, they'll bolt up to a TH350 / 200R4 / 700R4 trans, and by changing pulleys on the roots-type blower you can add 150 more hp easily. They have the great drivability of a modern fuel-injected electronically controlled engine, and get about 25 mpg if you drive reasonably. Now that would be cool and unique under the hood of a 50's Roadmaster or '60's Skylark. Even people trying to be "King Kong" with old standbys-spend way too much money. Here's a case where a $10,000 blower motor is the screamin' deal. Don't believe me? Read on.  Hot Rod bought a GMPP 454HO crate engine for $5599 and slapped on a Weiand 8-71 blower setup. Even with the small-cap MSD distributor, throttle linkage and dual 950 cfm blower-calibrated Holley carbs the total cost was a shade under 10 grand. With a mild hydraulic roller cam and the blower 14.3% UNDERDRIVEN-( The big Rat would live forever at that boost level ) it made 754 hp and 724 lbs ft of torque!!! Just for giggles-they tried it 17.5 % UNDERDRIVEN to make it even more street-friendly on junk gas and it still made 737 hp and 706 lbs of torque!!!  Further- it made almost 500 lbs of torque at 2,000 rpm, and was as docile as a house cat-until you hit the loud pedal. And it did it on 92 octane gas with only 31 degrees of timing. If you had that in a 3,800 lb Chevelle or Camaro it would be a low 10 second car, provided you could get traction!!  To get that level of power from a normally-aspirated Rat-you'd have to step up to the 572 inch GMPP crate engine-which is rated at 720 hp and 685 lbs of torque-but has 12:1 compression and requires 110 octane race gas, has a lumpy solid-roller cam, a choppy idle, and way less drivability and low-end torque, and oh-yeah-costs $15,000-five grand MORE than the 454HO / Blower combo!!  All I look for is maximum performance and reliability for the smallest dollar amount. The most "Bang for the Buck".  That's all I'm doing, not playing "Devil's Advocate"- just disagreeing to disagree.  Mastermind                              

If you want a Big-block Chevy or a Chrysler Hemi then buy one.....

Saw a puzzling article in Popular Hot Rodding. I see these from time to time and I wonder-Why?  Some guys were trying to build a mega-hp Pontiac engine. As we all know Pontiacs are "Torque" motors, not high revvers. But that's what made them such a great STREET engine. When you've got 400+ lbs of torque off-idle you don't need to rev to 7 or 8 grand. Nunzi Romano, Jim Taylor, Jim Butler, Len Williams and other legendary Pontiac builders will tell you that less is more when building a Pontiac. Since stock heads don't flow much over about .480 lift, you don't need a huge cam. The stock intakes are quite good-in fact their better than many aftermarket ones up to 5,500 rpm. The Edelbrock Torker II and Performer RPM offer a 25 hp and 30 lb torque gain-above 4,500 rpm. But you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a 450 -500 hp engine that idles smooth and runs on pump gas. So why do people constantly try to make a Pontiac into a Big-Block Chevy or a Chrysler Hemi?  These guys spent a ton of money on a solid-roller cam setup and custom ported Kaufman "Hi-Port" heads, 1.7:1 big-block Chevy style rockers, custom length pushrods etc.. Now Edelbrock and Kauffman both sell aluminum Pontiac heads, both standard D-port and round-port RAIV style. There great, and you don't have to spend a bunch of money having 40+ year old heads re-done. But the "Hi-Ports" are bigger than even the RAIV's or Edelbrocks. So now you've got a Pontiac that has to rev to 7,000 rpm to make peak power at a very high cost. If you want a big-block engine that runs 7 grand then buy a Rat motor or a Hemi crate engine for less than what you spent trying to "Ratify" a Pontiac. Car Craft did a 400 a few years ago that made 440 hp and 460 lbs of torque and cost $4,400 to build, including the Edelbrock heads. High-Performance Pontiac rebuilt a junkyard 455 for $3,400 including the Edelbrock heads, and it made 497 hp and 530 lbs of torque. Both of these engines made more than 400 lbs of torque as low as 2,000 rpm, and would make great street engines. Why try to make a Pontiac into something it isn't?  I wouldn't take a Boss 302 Ford or 327 Chevy and try to make it have 500 lbs of torque at 2,700 rpm!!  Like I said before a flat-tappet hydraulic cam kit for a Pontiac costs about $200. The hydraulic or solid-roller conversions cost about $2,000. Why do you need a $2,000 valvetrain on an engine that doesn't make power over 5,800 rpm??  That money could be spent elsewhere-on heads, carb and intake, converter and gears,-stuff that would give much more bang for the buck. Anyhow-I wasn't impressed-they spent a ton of money and it only made like 550 hp. Jim Butler advertises that he can build you a Pontiac with 550 hp that runs on 89 octane gas with a flat-tappet cam and stock Iron heads!!  What's next?  A high-revving 472-500 Cadillac V8 buildup?  More people with more money than common sense. Mastermind            

Building movie tribute cars.....On the cheap

Had someone ask me how I would build a replica of  Burt Reynolds "Whiskey Runner" Ford LTD from "White Lightning". It depends on how close a replica you want. If you just want the look, then buy a 4-door 1971-72 LTD, paint it Chesterfield Brown-( A Pontiac color, but it's identical ) add some black steel wheels with chrome lug nuts and white-letter tires, and your there. If you want the 429 / 4-speed powertrain, that's going to be a lot more trouble. The reason is unlike Chevy Monte Carlos or Pontiac Gran Prix's, LTD's had no manual transmission option. They were all automatics. You could buy a Top-Loader or T10 4-speed and a Hurst shifter pretty easily. Luckily-the 351C / 400 C and the 429 / 460 share the same bellhousing bolt-pattern, so that's not a problem.  The problem would be the clutch linkage. You'd have to find a Mustang or Torino with a 351C and a 4-speed ( pretty rare ) and pirate the clutch linkage and pedals, or you could find an F150 pickup with a 460 and a stick and adapt the linkage and pedals from that. Otherwise you'd have to fabricate a hydraulic set-up which can be a real pain in the ass and expensive. The other problem would be the engine swap. Most of these cars had 400C's with a two barrel. 429 / 460 versions are rare. And unlike GM and Mopar stuff, practically nothing interchanges from model to model-the oil pans, the bellhousings, the power steering pumps, the water pumps, the fuel pumps, all that stuff is different. 351C's have good performance potential in a Mustang, Cougar or Torino, but not in a car this heavy. If you "Gotta Have" one- I would suggest searching for a 429 version and hopping that up and just use the C6 automatic. To be perfectly honest- if I wanted to do something like this I'd build a GM / Mopar product because of the ease of parts interchangeability. The reason being you can find a 4-door 71-74 Dodge Coronet, Polara or a 70-74 Plymouth Satellite, or 71-78 Plymouth Fury pretty easy. A lot of these cars had 383 , 400 or 440 cubes under the hood stock. Since a lot them were used as cop cars-Remember "The Blues Brothers"- there's more 440s out there than you think. If you wanted to convert one to a 4-speed, it would be easy. Year One, NPD, and other restoration companies sell "B" body clutch linkages and replacement pedals, and reproduction Hurst "Pistol Grip" shifters. Live out your "Gator" and "Kowalski" fantasies at the same time! Being unit-bodys these sedans are a lot lighter than the big Fords. Even a 360 version could be made to really rock with the right combination. ( 408 inch stroker crank kit, '92 and later Magnum heads, hot cam, Performer RPM intake, ) I'd go monochromatic with the brown paint or even flat black.  The other way you could go would be a '73-77 Pontiac LeMans. No one wants the 4-door models so their cheap. And most will have 400 cubes standard, and a few will have 455s!  Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle will fit these cars, and their huge fenderwells will fit 275 / 60R15 tires on 8 inch wheels all the way around without modification.  And making one a 4-speed is easy-Year one and others sell GM "A" body clutch linkages for less than $300. Find a Saginaw, BW or Muncie 4-speed in a junkyard or swap meet . Call Summit and get the bellhousing from Lakewood and a Hurst shifter and your there. Nothing against Fords, but it would be a lot harder and more expensive to exactly replicate that "Brown See-dan" from the movie. Unless you have an unlimited bankroll, I'd go the Mopar / Pontiac route for this tribute. Mastermind    

"Stuntman Mike's" favorites.....

A bunch of people inquired about the classics I quoted in the last post and who Kurt Russel was playing. If your not a Quentin Tarantino fan-Kurt Russel played a sadistic stuntman who murdered women with his car in "Death Proof"-which was the 2nd feature of "Grindhouse"-QT's collaboration with buddy Robert Rodriguez-( From Dusk till Dawn, "Desperado", "Once a Upon a Time in Mexico ) that included "Planet Terror" a Zombie flick. There's a great monologue where "Stuntman Mike" talks about his career and how moviemakers are charlatans and pussies with the advent of CGI. He longs for the "Vanishing Point" days, the "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry days, the "White Line Fever" days-where you had great men doing great things with great cars. I quoted him in the last post and listed other classics. People have asked me to expand on them-I aim to please-so here goes.# 1.  "Vanishing Point". This cult classic from 1971 gets the top spot, and it's still cool today. Barry Newman plays Jimmy Kowalski-who we learn in flashbacks is a Vietnam Veteran, an ex-cop, and an ex-stock car and motorcycle racer who's wife died tragically in a surfing accident. That's why he doesn't give a shit about anything. He's working as a delivery driver for a luxury car service. He bets his drug dealer the tab for some speed that he can make it from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. He's driving an Alpine White 1970 Dodge Challenger. ( They had 5 cars-4 were 440 / 4-speeds, the camera car was a 383 / automatic. ) That's why he's going so fast and not stopping for the police. Along the way he's guided over the radio by "Super Soul" a blind, and maybe clairvoyant outlaw DJ ( Played brilliantly by a young Cleavon Little-this was made even before "Blazing Saddles" )  ala' "Wolfman Jack" who tells him how to avoid the police. He meets a snake-charmer, some Jesus freaks and a naked motorcycle rider who help him along the way as the nationwide manhunts tightens around him. Try to get the U.K. version on DVD-it has extra minutes that show him fighting in Viet Nam, and a brilliant scene with Charlotte Rampling as a hitch hiker he has sex with who may or may not be his dead wife come to get him. These were cut from the U.S, theatrical release. The car-chase action is awesome, the music by Mountain, Jerry Reed, Kim Carnes, Big Mama Thornton, and Rita Coolidge is awesome, and the blaze of glory finale is great. The smile on Barry Newman's face as he drives into the bulldozers is priceless.  # 2. "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry"  This 1974 classic stars Peter Fonda who really hadn't done much since the spectacular "Easy Rider". It actually has a good robbery / kidnapping plot gone wrong, and there's some excellent car-chase action early on in a '66 Chevy Impala. Fonda is a career criminal who used to be a NASCAR driver. The smokin' hot Susan George ( "Mandingo", "A Small Town in Texas" ) is a floozy he picks up along the way. She's largely wasted as Fonda and his mechanic / partner make fun of her a lot. But since she spends the entire move barefoot in ultra-tight hip-hugger jeans and a skimpy denim halter-top, we don't complain. The finale is them trying to out run the law in a yellow "Dukes of Hazzard / Bullitt Charger that in some scenes is a '68 and in others a '69. Awesome automotive mayhem and the blaze of glory finale where they hit a train was used as the opening sequence for  Lee Majors hit show about a stuntman / bounty hunter- "The Fall Guy."  # 3. "Bullitt"  Steve McQueen is the epitome of cool as "Dirty Harry" type detective Frank Bullitt who gets screwed while protecting a key mob witness, and tries to find out who's pulling the strings. Robert Vaughn is excellent as the smarmy,ambitious D.A. who will do anything to advance his career, and Norman Fell ( yes, the future "Mr. Roper" on "Three's Company" ) is sinister as a police captain who may or not be dirty. To the letter police procedures, and the classic chase make it realistic even 40 years later. # 4. "White Line Fever"  This 1975 cult classic stars a young Jan-Micheal Vincent as a Viet Nam vet who buys a big rig truck and tries to make a living as an independent trucker. However he soon runs afoul of corrupt trucking company officials, corrupt union officials, and corrupt cops. A young Kay Lenz is smokin' hot as his beleguared wife, and Slim Pickens, L.Q. Jones and Bo Hopkins round out the excellent cast of thugs against him. He becomes a union organizer, and the Blaze of Glory finale when he drives the "Blue Mule" through the corrupt union headquarters  had people cheering in the aisles in the '70's. # 5. "White Lightning". Burt Reynolds at his "Good Ole Boy" best. He plays Gator McCluskey- a career criminal / moonshiner who we find in prison at the beginning of the film.   After his college-boy brother is murdered by a corrupt Arkansas Sheriff-he makes a deal with the feds to get the Sheriff on income tax evasion charges. When he gets out of prison, he goes home to Bogen County, Arkansas. The baddies may see him coming, but it's too late to get out of his way. When Matt Clark tells him "If you want to get J.C. Connors, your gonna have to kill him."  Burt doesn't flinch. Great car-chase action, and Jennifer Billingsley-who spends most of the film barefoot in a skimpy, mini-sndress, her dark brown roots showing in her bleach-blond hair, is poignant and sexy as "Shake a Puddin'" - a southern slut that can't help falling for the wrong guys, In my opinion Burt's best movie except for "Malone". # 6. "The Seven-Ups" 1974 thriller Starring Roy Scheider as the head of an elite cop unit that specializes in major crimes that carry sentences of 7 years or more. Hence the title. Tony LoBianco is great as his child hood friend who feeds him mob info and busts, and may be setting him up for a big fall. The chase involves two Pontiacs- a Grand Ville and a Ventura and since it was directed by Phillip D' Antoni-who worked on "Bullit" it's realistic and exciting and the finale is a huge surprise. If they could have got Steve McQueen, this actually could have been a sequel to "Bullit" but Roy Scheider did a great job. Anyhow like "Stuntman Mike" said-these flicks all had great action that was done by men and women risking life, limb and property not on a computer screen. Mastermind                
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I want believable action....Not physically impossible CGI.....

I knew it-a bunch of people asked me why couldn't I just enjoy Fast & Furious 6 as a mindless action flick? Because almost none of the action was believable. I have to plagiarize Kurt Russel in "Death Proof"-"I long for the Vanishing Point Days, the Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry days-when you had great men doing great things with great cars. "Bullitt" is exciting to this day more than 40 years later-because Stunt drivers Cary Loftin, Steve McQueem, and Bill Hickman were actually going 115 miles per hour through the streets of San Francisco. No speeding up the camera, just raw action. You can forgive them passing the same VW three times or the Charger losing 8 hubcaps, because the rest of it is so raw and viscereal.  In "Vanishing Point" Carey Loftin ( subbing for star Barry Newman ) actually jumped that creek in one of the five Challengers they had. The only modifications he made to the car were cranking up the torsion bars and installing heavy-duty Koni shocks. In the blaze of glory finale-when Kowalski drives into the bulldozers- If you look real close at the wreckage-you can see the car that blew up at the end was a Camaro; but the fact remains-they actually ran a car into the bulldozers at high speed. ( Loftin towed a junk Camaro that had explosives under the hood behind the camera car toward the dozers at 100 mph and had a quick release-tow cable ). It wasn't computer generated bullshit. When the Pontiac Ventura rear-ended the semi in the "Seven-Ups" while chasing the black Grand Ville-they actually did it. Those '72 LTD's-most of the cop cars and Burt Reynolds' "Whiskey Runner" didn't corner too well-but they were actually bouncing down those country roads and flying over the bumps in "White Lightning." Except for the bridge jump-Burt Reynolds and Director / Stunt coordinator Hal Needham actually did all the Trans-Am's stunts in "Smokey and the Bandit". They totalled 10 T/A's in filming. It's said that during the 1979-85 run-"The Dukes of Hazzard" totaled 216 '68-70 Chargers doing stunts. It may not have always looked pretty-but they were actually doing it. Now with CGI their just putting a video game on screen. The same with fight scenes and martial-arts movies. Jet Li-jumps six feet in the air, rotates his body clockwise, kicks three guys in the face, does a backflip, and lands on his feet ( Romeo Must Die ). That's believable. I personally like Jason Statham as an actor and he's a gifted athlete; I've read about his grueling workout routine. But some of the stuff in the "Transporter" movies either in the fight scenes or with the cars is literally, physically impossible!! Like Jumping the BMW onto the truck or the Audi onto the train. Why does everybody have to be "The Matrix?" That was ok, it was supposed to be an alternate reality where anything is possible. But in these other movies they want you to believe the hero can run up walls and fly through the air. At least if Chuck Norris, or Jean-Claude Van Damme, or even Jackie Chan did something, it might have looked inelegant, but you knew they were really doing it. Now,-the crap they do-it can't be done, we know it can't be done, we know the actor / stuntman isn't doing it, so why put it on screen?  Is the target audience 12 year old boys?  I like a good action flick as much as the next guy-but it's got to be somewhat believable. The first "Die Hard" was about as far as you can go. After that they got stupid. Remember Lethal Weapon 2?  Where Mel Gibson pulls the house off the cliff with a Chevy truck??!!  A million-dollar beach house in California, who has the strictest building codes in the nation, where everything has to be "Earthquake Proof", and some asshole can pull the house OFF IT'S FOUNDATION with a pickup and not even break the axle or the tranny on the truck!!!!  Oh yeah, that's possible!!!  Here's a novel idea guys-how about write an interesting, original story, and have plausible action instead of relying on a gazillion dollars of special effects?  An example-I saw "Mud" starring Matthew Mconaghy as a fugitive that's helped by some junior-high kids. Matt was awesome as a dangerous, slightly unhinged predator obsessed with trailer-part slut Reese Witherspoon. Strutting around braless in a tank-top, barefoot in "Daisy Duke" shorts, showing her tattoos, she played the southern "Trailer Park Barbie" flawlessly-even topping Jennifer Billingsley in "White Lightning" for sheer white-trash tramp, that's both disgusting and sexy at the same time. Sam Shepherd was excellent as Mud's only friend who knows what a loser he is, but helps him evade the law and death anyway. The finale is exciting, and surprising. And guess what? No explosions, no running up walls, no cars chasing airplanes, just great storytelling and believable action. That was a satisfying movie experience that we need more of.  Not big-budget CGI contests. Mastermind      

There doesn't need to be a Fast & Furious 7.....

I know this is going to piss a bunch of people off, and I know no one in Hollywood is going to listen-as long they keep grossing zillions-Justin Lin and Vin Diesel will keep cranking them out. But Fast & Furious 6 was terrible. Fast Five was a little over the top with them dragging the safe through the streets of Brazil, but I have  enough suspension of disbelief to enjoy a mindless action flick as long as it's not too far-fetched. At the end of Number Five Diesel and crew supposedly split 100 million bucks and all lived happily ever after. They should have left it at that. Part 6 opens with a cat & mouse race through the mountains of Spain between Vin Diesel driving a Hemi Challenger and Paul Walker driving a Nissan GT-R. For those of you that don't know-the GT-R -nicknamed "Godzilla" by the buff magazines is an all-wheel drive sports car with a twin-turbo V6 that puts out 560 hp and is backed by a six-speed automatic. They do 0-60 in 3.8 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 11.5 seconds and have a top speed of close to 200 mph, and pull something like .098G on the skidpad according to Car & Driver magazine. An SRT8 Challenger on the other hand-with it's 470 hp Hemi and either a six-speed stick or five-speed auto-does 0-60 in like 4.7 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 12.7 and pulls only .085g on the skidpad. Sorry Mopar fans-a full second 0-60 and in the 1/4 is 10 car lengths. In a drag race or the twisties the rice-rocket would have smoked the Challenger. Anyhow they had this buddy-buddy race to a convent where Jordana Brewster is giving birth to her and Paul Walker's baby. ( She announced she was pregnant in #5 ). Why a convent? What? They don't have hospitals in Spain? So Walker and Jordana are lving happily ever after in Spain with their baby-as is Diesel with the hot Brazilian cop he hooked up with in #5. They show everyone else-the Asian dude and the hot Isreali girl, Ludacris, and motormouth Tyrese Gibson all living the high life. Then the Rock shows up with a picture of Michelle Rodriguez- who supposedly died two pictures ago. They had a funeral-Who or what did they bury in number 4?  And Walker and Diesel bringing down the drug-dealer "Braga" in #4 was Vengenance for her murder!!  But no-she's alive-she just has amnesia and can't remember her old life or old friends. But she remembers how to drive and do all the other criminal shit she used to do and now she's doing it for some shadowy, untouchable British guy. The Rock recruits Diesel to go after her and the British guy who is trying to steal some satellite weapon controlling computer that the government doesn't want to fall into enemy hands. So Dominic Toretto has gone from a street-racing ex-con who supplements his income by boosting electronics to James Bond. The Rock-with all the resources of the FBI, Interpol, and the Dept of Justice is helpless without Diesel and his gang of car thieves. So when Dom calls all these millionaire fugitves drop what their doing and rush to meet him and the Rock. Excuse me? I've got 10 million dollars and I'm living high on the hog in a non-extraditional country, and you want me to chase some international criminal and maybe get killed because your ex-girlfriend who you believed to be dead for years may or may not be alive and may be working with this asshole? And even though the FBI, and Interpol can't catch this guy and his crew of master criminals, our band of street thugs can?   And wants to because hey were all tight and devoted to each other. Riiigghht. Then Walker-who's on the FBI's 10 most wanted list-goes undercover in the American prison Braga is in with the help of the FBI agent he beat up and was at fargin war with in #4!! Of course nobody checks his fingerprints or anything!!!  Then Braga comes to threaten him with two thugs. Of course-Paul Walker-who's what-5' 9" and 160 lbs? can kick the shit out of THREE bigger career criminals armed with knives in a jail cell, and not get a scratch. Ok. Plot twist-Braga works for the British Guy!! Of course prison officials are not going to question why this "man with no name" was brought in by an FBI agent, maims 3 other prisoners within an hour of his arrival and then is miraculously bailed out by the same FBI agant who brought him in. The rival Fed who was trying to screw over Walker all through #4 is now going to risk his career for him?   Ok. MMA fighter Gina Carano is there to swagger through the film with her big tits bouncing next to the Rock, who swaggers through the film with his big biceps glistening. She does have a fight with Michelle Rodriguez in a train station. Of course a Latino girl from East L.A. can go toe to toe with a Krav Maga trained FBI agent because hey-she's a tough chick from the 'hood right?  And even though Gina Carano who supposedly choked a bull-necked 200 lb man unconcious in 10 seconds with her iron-pipe thighs in "Haywire", can't put scrawny assed, scrawny-necked Michelle Rodriguez to sleep with this hold for a full minute, because hey-those Barrio chicks are tough. After miraculously not passing out from Gina's crushing leg-scissor-she escapes on the subway and then shoots Vin Diesel in the chest when he confronts her. But he doesn't hold it against her, and doesn't even need to go to the hospital he pulls the bullet out himself and dresses the wound in a garage. And in all the ensuing mayhem, this wound doesn't split open or bleed, or cause him any pain. There's a totally implausible chase sequence involving cars and a tank, and a completely impossible scene where Rodriguez leaps off  the tank that's going off a freeway overpass and Diesel leaps out of a moving car, from the other side of the freeway, flys like Superman across the abyss, catches her in mid-air and they land on the hood of a car, and don't get a scratch.  Another plot twist-Gina Carano works for the British Guy and was feeding him intel on the dream team the whole time!! And he has Jordana Brewster!!  In the finale-the team brings down a jet with cars while Rodriguez and Carano have a fight to the finish, on the jet- which of course Rodriguez wins by shooting her with a spear gun. At the same time also on the jet the is British Guy's hulking bodyguard- I hate when they do this in movies-both 6' 4' and 270 lb Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Vin Diesel who's 6' 2" and about 230 can't scrap this asshole quickly?   Two guys-one the size of an NFL Defensive tackle, and the other the size of  a linebacker-one a military trained Cop and the other a street  thug who's been to prison-both hitting and kicking him at the same time can't stop this bodybuilder / steroid monster?   Puhleeze.  The Rock and Diesel hit him with punches that would be-head the average man, or at least break his jaw and drive his nose up into his brain, and break your ribs and puncture your lungs. I mean you'd be dead or out cold from sheer blunt-force trauma in about 30 seconds, but this guy doesn't even flinch, or even get a bloody nose, and like the Terminator gives the two of them an ass-whippin' before they finally break his neck. And of course neither the Rock or Diesel get a bloody nose or fat lip or a scratch either during this death-match. Ok. The cars bringing down the plane is totally implausible, and the Isreali girl dies saving the Asian guy. Then after the Rock pardons everyone, Diesel dumps the hot Brazilian he's been shacking with for Michelle who still doesn't remember him, and the Brazilian girl is totally cool with it. Then after the credits-we see the Asian guy get killed in Tokyo by surprise!--Jason Statham!!! Who calls Dom and says-Torretto? "You don't know me but your going to."  To supposedly set up #7. Ugh!  Let's hope they stop after this mess. Mastermind        

More big bucks for less performance.....

Read an article in a street rod magazine about a guy who was building '32 Ford hot rod. The owner wanted it to be unique, yet "Old-school" so instead of using the ubiquitous 350 Chevy or 289 / 302 Ford that 99% of builders of these projects do he decided to go with a 389 Pontiac. Refreshing, and doubtless a torquey big-block Pontiac will move the "Deuce Coupe" along with greater alarcity than a small-block Chevy or Ford, probably for less money and look cooler to boot-especially if he went with a Tri-power or Dual-Quad induction setup. I'm not dissing the idea; I think it's great. My dad and I actually tried to buy "Project '32" from Popular Hot Rodding back in 1978. It was a '32 Ford 5-window with a Ram Air IV 400 Pontiac engine backed by a TH400. It ran 12 flat on street tires, through the mufflers. Unfortunately-another reader showed up with the cash a few hours before we did. Anyway-back to the current article-they did a standard rebuild-boring the block .030 over, new pistons, rings and bearings, polishing the crank, re-sizing the rods, new oil pump, etc. That's standard procedure. Then they went off the rails. Of course-they had to have a hydraulic roller cam. Like I said in an earlier post-if you have a late-model Small or Big Block Chevy, Small-block Ford or Chrysler "Magnum" engine that had a roller cam from the factory-that's the only way to fly. But older stuff especially anything other than a Chevy-is very expensive to convert. High-Performance Pontiac did an article on this. By the time you get the raocker arm studs, rockers, pushrods, cam and lifters, cam button, lifter retaining "spider" ( so the lifters don't drop out the bottom of the lifter bores and gouge the cam )  springs, retainers etc-your looking at $1,800. As opposed to $200 for a conventional flat tappet hydraulic cam from Crane, Lunati, etc. Then they re-did the small-port pre-64 "Bathtub" heads, and spent $1,600 buying and refurbishing an old '59-64 tri-power setup. By the time they were done they had over 5 grand in the motor. Then they dyno'd it and it made 352 hp and 433 lbs of torque. Big deal-a bone-stock 1964 Tri-Power GTO was rated at 348 hp and 424 lbs of torque. And the '59-64 manifold won't work with '65 and later heads-you'd need a '65 or '66 unit to do that. And we all know that the '67 and later heads are the best ones for performance. ( Other than RAIV's or Edelbrocks. ) For a lot less than the $3,400 they spent on the roller cam and induction-they could have put a stroker crank assembly in it and later iron heads that would have netted 461 cubes and a lot more grunt ( like 450 -475 hp ) in a stock looking package.  Or they could have stuck with the 389 short-block and bought the Edelbrock Performer RPM top end package ( cam, heads, and intake ) which makes 422 hp and 441 lbs ft of torque on a 9.5:1 400..  They could have used Edelbrock heada and a Barry Grant "Six-Shooter" setup-( a modern take on the Tri-Power setup that fits '65-79 models ). That BG claims  makes the same power and more torque as the "RPM" setup. Or they could have used the Edelbrock P65 dual-quad intake and the matching Perfomer heads and Torker-Plus cam and made 402 hp and 439 lbs of torque, while having 15 inches of vacuum at idle. You may say they wanted it to look as original as possible-but that argument won't fly-it was going in a '32 Ford, not a '62 Grand Prix or '65 GTO!!  They could have had way more "Bang" for the same or less bucks if they'd used the right combination of parts. And I hate to harp on the same point-but it's being cross-bred into a Ford for God's sake-not a pristine 2+2 or Bonneville or GTO convertible!!! Who cares if it's stock or not?  Sorry just had to vent that. Mastermind        

Another 100K+ race car with liscence plates.....That can't be raced!!

Saw a '55 Chevy featured in Street Rodder magazine. This car had the requisite 4-wheel disc brakes, narrowed 9 inch Ford rear end, etc but what got me was the powertrain-a GMPP 572 inch crate engine with a BLOWER and Hilborn Fuel Injection.  Since the basic carburated 572 makes "only" 620 hp-of course you need a blower to give it 1000+ hp. And this was backed by a custom-built 4L80E trans with a high-stall converter and a trans-brake. Who needs that?  He can't run it on the strip-because it doesn't have an 8-point roll cage or a driveshaft safety loop which most tracks require on any car that runs faster than 11.50. This monster would be a 7 or 8 second car if you could get enough traction. Why build something like that if your not going to run it at the drags? It's certainly not a daily driver so what do you do with it? Just show it to people?  I don't begrudge anyone building a car as badass as their wallet and imagination will allow but to me this car is a waste-yes anything is drivable depending on what the driver is willing to tolerate-we've had that conversation before. But be honest-a car with 1,000 hp is not a "driver' in any sense of the word. Why build a car that can run 8 second 1/4's but don't install the equipment required by the track to legally run it? So you can show people your $100,000 piece of garage jewelry?  And for what it's worth-come on-the 620 hp $14,000 crate engine-that would have put it easily in the high 10s-still well below the 11.50 cutoff where you'd still need a cage and a driveshaft saefty loop-isn't enough power-you need to spend another 5 grand on a blower and a fuel injection system so now you have $20,000 in an engine you can never unleash fully? I just don't get it. Or if you just "Gotta Have" a blown rat motor in your shoebox-he couldn't buy a 454 HO for $5995, and add a blower and for $10,000 live with "only" 700 hp, no you "GOTTA HAVE" 1,000 hp, in a vehicle you can NEVER run full-throttle. ( Don't say it-anyone who lets a 7 or 8 second car rip on a public street needs his liscence taken away FOREVER ).Just Chalk it up to the more money than brains crowd. Mastermind

Sometimes "Low Tech" is the way to go.....

Still hearing from people saying I'm a "Techno-phobe" and too "Old school." I'll say it again-I have nothing against technology-if it offers the most performance improvement for the lowest cost. Let me re-iterate the Article from High-Performance Pontiac magazine-they tested an aftermarket fuel-injection system on a stout 455 Pontiac engine. It made 558 hp, and cost $3,800. The Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold costs $249 and the 850 Holley carb cost-$499. This combo made 573 hp-15 hp MORE than the fuel injection setup. Explain to me why I should spend an extra $3,150 to make LESS power?  If the difference was only $100-200 then the "Cool factor" might swing it-and let's face it-on a 550+ hp engine your not going to notice 15 hp one way or the other. But a difference of $3,000??!!  Think of this-if your building an "Ultimate" Street / Strip or Pro Touring car- 3 grand will buy you a complete with shifter, crossmember, driveshaft yoke, speedo cable, everything-Tremc 5-speed overdrive transmission set-up. Or a complete Currie 9 inch Ford Rearemd with a Posi, GM mounting points and any gear ratio you want from 3.08:1 to 5.14:1. Whether it's a Chevy, Ford, Mopar, Olds or Pontiac-three grand will buy a complete Edelbrock "Top-End" kit-which includes Aluminum Performer RPM heads, a Performer RPM or Torker II Intake, a Performer RPM cam, lifters, timing chain, and all the bolts and gaskets to install it. That's what I'm saying-the "Bang for the Buck" factor is wildly in favor of the $750 carb and intake combo as opposed to the $3,800 injection system. Here's another example-Hot Rod magazine wanted to get more power out of the ZZ4 350 Chevy crate engine in one of their staffer's '34 Ford street rod. If you don't know-the ZZ4 is pretty hopped up in stock trim-10:1 compression, hydraulic roller cam with .474 / .510 lift, aluminum heads, Z/28 / LT1 aluminum intake, 770 cfm Holley "Street Avenger" carb and a performance curved HEI distributor. Their rated at 355 hp and 418 lbs of torque by GMPP. What makes them such a great street engine is the fact that it makes more than 350 lbs of torque from 1,800-5,200 rpm. Anyway-the guy wanted more power than that-so they started throwing parts at it. A single plane intake and bigger carb gained them 28 hp. A hotter cam gained them another 27. Right now they've gained 55 hp for $400. The guy had the bigger carb in his garage, and the intake was roughly $200 and the cam was roughly $200 through Summit Racing. 55 hp for 400 bucks and a few hours work is a worthwhile investment if your looking for extra speed. Then they spent $1,400 on a set of  215 cc Trick Flow aluminum heads. Here's where they hit the wall of diminishing returns. The "Antiquated" 163cc GMPP L98 heads were within 5 hp and 5 lbs ft of torque at every rpm level up to 4,500!! In fact-the Trick Flows didn't show a noticeable gain-i.e. at least 20 hp-until 4,900 rpm. And in all honesty-how much faster is a car with 400 hp going to run than a car with 380? Not enough to notice in the seat of your pants or in a timeslip. Be honest. In your street machine / weekend cruiser how often are you going to be above 5,000 rpm?  Finally at 6,100 rpm the Trick Flows showed a 40 hp gain. Think-40 hp in an 1,200 rpm window. In an all-out drag car that might be worth 3-4 tenths. But in a street machine? Honestly how much faster is a car with 440 hp going to be than a car with "only" 400?  When you factor in traction, gear ratios, converter stall speed, shift points, driver skill, air quality, track conditions,-it's a crapshoot. Either car could win. They didn't say anything about the cars drivetrain, tires or suspension. If he was running a Powerglide certainly spending that $1,400 on a B&M or TCI TH350 and performance converter would give him a massive performance gain. Way more than the heads. If he was running an open rear end and street tires- investing in an Eaton posi unit, some traction bars and some drag radials would substantially lower his e.t. for less than $1,400. For less than $1,400 he could add a well-planned 200 hp Nitrous system-i.e. with an auxillary fuel pump, throttle-position operated solenoids, with MSD or Jacobs ignition so he could adjust the timing by turning a knob on the dash. 200 extra hp at the flick of a switch would make him a lot faster than that 40 hp above 5 grand.  Here's another good example- Super Chevy tested a GMPP 454 HO crate engine. Same thing-425 hp and 500 lbs of torque wasn't enough. They started throwing parts at it. An Edelbrock Performer RPM intake made 20 more hp than the GMPP dual plane. Then they switched to a hotter cam and picked up another 40. Now tantalizingly close to that magic 500 hp number with very little work-they put some 1.8:1 Crane Roller Rockers on it. It actually lost a ton of power and had valve float as low as 4,000 rpm. They attributed it to the stock heads "zero lash" setup. They put in regular 1.7:1 factory stamped steel long-slot adjustable rockers and studs. GMPP sells these kits, and they can be easily installed on Gen V / VI Rat motors without machine work. The power level came back to normal and it pulled hard to 6,200 rpm. Then they swapped on some aftermarket heads and an even bigger cam. Now it pulled hard to 6,600 and was well over the 550 hp mark. They tried the roller rockers again and even on the aftermarket heads-they lost 100 hp and had valve float at 4,400 rpm. Why?  Because the roller rockers made the valvetrain too heavy for the hydraulic roller cam and springs they were running. They put the stamped steel stock rockers back on, and the power came right back. The lesson learned- #1 If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The stock rockers were working fine with well over 500 hp-why mess with them? # 2. The high-tech 1.8:1 Gold Roller Rockers were too heavy and just didn't work on this engine. Now if it had been a MKIV with a traditional solid-lifter or hydraulic flat-tappet cam-the high lift rockers might have added as much as 30 hp-because the valvetrain would have been much lighter. On the Gen VI-with a heavy roller valvetrain-no dice. I'm fine with "High-Tech" if works better than something "Low-Tech". I.E-I much prefer Tuned Port Injection to a throttle body-they make way more power and torque and are much more tunable, and will feed a 500 hp engine with the right components. The 470 cfm TBI can barely feed an 8.5:1 305 and they really choke off even a 9:1 350. So if I buy an '85-92 Camaro or T/A and swap a 383 into it-I'll use the TPI instead of a carburator. Hope that clears things up. Mastermind