Coolest cars have to be production cars...And Cool!!

Someone posted on the internet about the coolest movie and TV cars. I had to disagree with the poster on a lot of them. The reason is he had stuff like the "Batmobile", the Monkees GTO based surfmobile, the Munsters coach, etc. These were all one-off customs built by customizers like George Barris. They were definitely cool, but there's no way "Joe Average" could ever duplicate them. On the other hand-stuff like the General Lee Charger, the Starsky & Hutch Torino, even the "California Kid" '34 Ford built by Pete Chapouris would be pretty easy to duplicate. And I think a lot of the guy's picks were just because he like the shows. Colt Seavers' '82 GMC pickup from "The Fall Guy?"  Really? An '82 GMC Pickup? The Van from "The "A" team?  An '81 GMC Van??  Those belong on a list with the Iconic Mustang and Charger from "Bullitt", the Supra from the 1st "Fast&Furious", the Badass '55 Chevy from "Two-Lane Blacktop and American Graffiti,Kowalski's Challenger from "Vanishing Point"?  No way. I know some of those were modified, but they were modifications that the average guy could duplicate. I also don't think ultra-exotics should be on the list. Yes the Audi R8 from "Iron Man" and the Aston-Martin DB9 from "Casino Royale" were definitely cool but 99% of us movie goers can't ever afford a $150,000+ sports car!!  A list of cool stuff for working class people should be stuff that they could buy if they wanted to!! Elvis Presley's personal Jet-the "Lisa Marie" is a cool airplane, but I wouldn't it put it on a list of cool Hobby or Race planes!!  But that's just my opinion.  Mastermind

Availability and "Bang for the Buck" are factors to consider when choosing a powertrain...

While people fight with machetes for premium models, a lot of people build really cool cars from base models. And often they swap engines and transmissions. Here's some guidelines on which ones are easy to do and offer a big performance gain for minimal dollar outlay. # 1. Lets say you have a 1964-67 Chevelle, LeMans,or Olds Cutlass, or Buick Skylark. GM had a rule that no intermediate could have a standard engine over 330 cubic inches. ( The 389 Pontiacs, 396 Chevys and 400 Olds and Buicks were options. Semantics,but thats GM back then. ) If you have a LeMans with the 326 / ST300 powertrain the way to go would be get a 400 and a TH350. The reason is Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455, so it's literally a bolt-in swap. 400's were used in almost every model from '67-78, and make a ton more power than a 326. A 326 ( or a 350 for that matter ) isn't worth hopping up because the big-port,big valve heads needed to make serious power can't be used because of their small bore design. The valves will hit the block. People talk about notching the block for clearance, but why? For what you'd spend on machine work,you could easily buy a 400 or 455 that will still make way more power for less money than a hopped up 326 or 350!!  As for the tranny-I've said before a 3-speed TH350 is the exact same size and uses the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke as the Powerglide / ST300. It's also a bolt-in swap and will give a huge performance increase over the 2-speed autos. Now if you have an Olds Cutlass or Buick Skylark it's slightly different. For the Cutlass the way to go would be a 403. They are externally identical to a 330 or 350, but have 53-73 more cubes! Although they were only used from '76-79, their are millions of them around as they were used in almost every GM model outside of Chevys. With the Buick you should chuck the 300 or 327 V8 and get a '68-77 350. The reason is there are zero replacement parts out there for the 300 / 327 and the 350s, while being much easier to get parts for, also make way more power and torque than the obsolete ones. Now if you have a Chevelle or El Camino, there's two ways to go. If the car has a 283, I'd pull it and save it in case you ever want to sell the car to someone who wants it totally original, and just drop in a 350 or a 383 stroker. A 350 or 383 would cost no more to build than a 283, but would easily make way more power and torque. That's the beauty of a small-block Chevy-major hp for very low bucks. If the car has a 327, the shoe is on the other foot. A 327 is a great performance engine, and changing to a 350 would be a waste a time. Stock or modified, a 350 will only make about 20hp more than 327. That's not worth messing with. And swapping the "Powerslide" for a TH350 is the just what the Dr ordered here as well. These guidelines can be applied to other makes as well. If you've got an AMC Javelin ( or a Hornet or Gremlin-their short wheelbase and light weight makes them great drag racers ) with a 304, a 360 is a bolt-in swap. And since they were used in Jeep Grand Wagoneers until 1993, they are plentiful in junkyards. If you've got a Mopar with a 318-a 360 Magnum would be the way to go. They were used in millions of Dodge trucks and vans and Jeep Cherokees, so their plentiful in jumkyards. And the "Magnum" heads breathe better than any other factory head and many aftermarket ones. And Edelbrock makes intakes to run a 4bbl carb on them. If you've got an early Mustang or Fairlane or Falcon / Comet with a 260 or 289, I'd get a later model 302 and build that. And with a small-block Ford,you could build a 347 easily and cheaply that would make way more power and torque than a 289. All of these swaps offer huge improvements in performance for very low bucks and and hassle-free installations! Something to think about. Mastermind      

I can't save people from themselves....

In the last few posts I've talked about people taking on projects that are not feasible because of the time and money it would take to do them, or that the things their attempting are beyond their mechanical ability. I'm not trying to piss on anybody's dreams, but over the years I've seen it a million times. A guy gets a "deal" on some car that needs major work. Then he realizes he's bitten off more than he can chew, both mechanically and financially. The car sits,rotting in his driveway or garage for a year or two, until he finally admits he's never going to restore it the way he wants to and usually sells it to someone else at a loss. Here's some good advice on how to avoid this problem, and I'll also tell you about a couple guys who insisted on taking on projects that would be hard for a professional shop, much less some poor slob in his garage with hand tools. Luckily I was able to talk them out of it, but they almost made a HUGE mistake. Anyhow-here goes. # 1. If at all possible, just start with the car you want, with the equipment you want. I've said it before, but a car with major body or rust damage is not a deal at any price, nor is something missing the engine and transmission. 99.9% of the time in these cases, your way ahead of the game by just spending more money and starting with a much better car. I mentioned it before, but I knew a guy who was going to buy an engineless, transmissionles, radiatorless, gas tanklesss, interiorless, 1970 Firebird because it was "only" $500. I convinced him to buy a slightly rough but running and all-there 1973 Firebird for $2,500. As I explained-by the time he chased down a used engine and tranny,and all the inerior trim and all the parts the "basket case" needed-he'd have way more than $2,500 invested, and the car would still need a ton of work to get in the drivable and registerable condition of the other one. As it's plain to see-the $2,500 one was the much better deal-even though it was 5 times the price of the other one!  # 2. Search harder, and spend a little more money and get the engine and or drivetrain you want. If you want an SS396 Chevelle, then wait until you find one in your price range, or realize your going have to up how much your willing to spend. Don't buy a small-block Malibu with the intention of "dropping" a 454 in it at some later time. And that's one of the feasible ones-think your going to buy a 302 powered '69 Mustang and "drop" a 428 in it? Think again. EVERYTHING is different on Windsor and "FE" Ford engines. I mean everything-all the accessories, bellhousing bolt pattern,motor mounts, etc. Ditto for transmissions. If you want something with a 4-speed then don't buy an automatic and think you'll "swap it out" later. Or Vice-versa. It's too much trouble, and you'll never do it. You think you will, but you won't. I know a guy who got a great deal on a 1964 Olds 442. It was all there, except for the fact that it was powered by a later model 350 Olds engine. He was excited, and couldn't decide if he wanted to try to find a 330 V8 and go the Concours route, or drop in a 455 and make it really badass. Five years and one paint job later, he still drives it on weekends and during Hot August Nights with the "unoriginal" 350, "Because it runs so damn good and is so much fun to drive, that I can't bring myself to tear it apart." He may be happy with it, but he did not do what he said he was going to do with it, in five years!!  Anyhow the other guys who almost jumped into the fires of hell.....# 1. I mentioned this guy before. He asked about putting a GMPP 620 hp 572 inch crate engine into an '85 IROC-Z Camaro. I told him it could be done,as Hooker sells motor mounts and headers to put a Rat Motor into '82-92 F-bodies, but he'd need a custom radiator, and depending on whether it was a stick or an automatic he'd need a new bellhousing and a Muncie M21 or M22 4-speed, or he'd need a new crossmember and a TH400, and a custom driveshaft and a Currie 9 inch rear with GM mounting points, since a T5 five speeds bellhousing won't bolt up, and they only have a 280 lb torque rating, and they wouldn;t hold up to a 600 hp Rat. Ditto for a 200R4 or 700R4 automatic and the 7.5 inch rear end that breaks with 215 hp LB9 305s!! Then he asks-"What if I didn't lean on it too hard?"  Huh?  Your going to spend $15,000 on a 600 hp engine and then not put yout foot in it??  # 2. Had a nice 318 powered '69 Satellite. He wanted to build a Hemi Road Runner clone. 1st off-a Mopar Performance 426 Crate Hemi is $15,000. Then he'd need a big-block crossmember, big-block Torsion bars, a bigger radiator, a 727 transmission, and an 8 3/4 or Dana 60 rear end and big block leaf springs to replace the 8.25 stocker that won't hold up. I told him, by the time he was done he'd have 40 grand in it, over and above the purchase price of the car, and that's if he could do all the labor himself, which he couldn't. I suggested a 360 crate engine if he wanted to go real fast, but he nixed that. I told him-sure the math works. Once it's done, a "clone" Hemi powered '69 Road Runner could easily sell for 50 grand or more. But are you looking to just get your money back-after 1000's of hours of work?  And how, in your driveway with no lifts and hand tools, are you going to change the whole front suspension, engine, transmission and rear axle? You'll buy the parts and have a shop do it? Most competent shops charge $100 per hour or more, so it's pretty easy to run up a $10-$20,000 labor bill on a big project like that. You have 50-70 grand laying around? If you don't are you going to mortgage your house to play with a car? And if you do, how are you going to get the money back? Again, if it's nice enough a Hemi clone could go for 80K, but I thought you wanted to drive it and race it, not sell it just to get your money back!!  I told him if he had 50-70k and Just "Had to Have" a Hemi clone-to spend 40 on a pristine 383 or 440 car-which would already have the big-block suspension, radiator,x-member,tranny and rear end-and dump the Hemi crate motor in that!!  The cost would be the same, but the "Grief Factor" would be way less than trying to build one from a 318 Satellite!!!  Anyhow-do some research before you buy something that needs major work!!!  Mastermind      

Sometimes it's better to just "Run What You Brung"...

Talked to some more people this week who wanted to take the path of "Most Resistance." I tried to talk some sense into them, and as usual I might as well have talked to the wall.  Masochist #1 had a 1977 Pontiac Firebird that had a 350 Chevy in it. ( GM played musical engines due to smog laws in the late '70's. From '77-79 depending on where you lived, you could get a Firebird, Formula, or Trans-Am with a 301 Pontiac, a 305 Chevy,a 350 Chevy,a 350 Olds, a 350 Pontiac, a 400 Pontiac or a 403 Olds. ) He wanted to know what it would take to put a 455 Pontiac in it. I told him it would be too expensive and too much trouble. He'd be better off financially and in terms of less grief to just hop up the 350 Chevy, that there was more speed equipment for a Small-block Chevy than anything else on the planet. "But what would it entail exactly?" he pressed. Ugh. "Okay." I said. "1st off you have to find a running or at least rebuildable 455 Pontiac. They've been out of production since 1976. That's 40 years. Not easy to find, and their not going to be cheap." "Secondly,none of the accessories from the Chevy engine will work." "That means a new starter,a new fuel pump, a new water pump, a new distributor, a new alternator, a new power steering pump,and all the brackets." "You'll need a bigger radiator to cool the bigger engine. and you'll need new motor mounts, and new exhaust manifolds or headers,and all the tin-valve covers, oil pan etc-unless the engine you bought was complete from carb to oil pan." "Then your going to need a new transmission because BOP engines ( Buick, Olds, Pontiac ) have a different bellhousing bolt-pattern than Chevy engines." "Investing 1/3 the money and time that would take would give you a totally badass ride with the Chevy engine." "Or sell the car and use the money to buy another Firebird or T/A that already has a 400 or 455 Pontiac engine in it."  The response? "I'll go on-line and start searching for Pontiac parts."  Good luck with that.  Masochist # 2 had a 1973 Challenger that had been a 340 car, but some previous owner had yanked the 340 and it now had a 318 in it. He wanted to know what it would take to put a 440 in it. "Too expensive and too much trouble." I said. "If you want to go real fast, get a hot 360 crate motor from Mopar Performance or Blueprint engines." They come complete from carb to oil pan, with a 3 year warranty and they have 375 or 400 hp, depending on which one you get, and a 360 is a bolt-in swap for a 318." "Or if your on a tight budget, go to a junkyard and get a '90's 360 Magnum out of a Dodge truck or Jeep Cherokee." Edelbrock makes Performer intakes to run a carb on them and hot roller cams." "They run like a scalded cat stock." "And honestly, unless you spend a ton of money hopping it up, a stock 440 isn't going to be as quick as a warmed-over 360 Magnum or one of the crate engines."  "But what would it entail?"  Double Ugh. "Ok, 1st off you have to find a complete 440." They've been out of production since 1978." "That's 38 years. Their not going to be easy to find, and their not going to be cheap." "Your going to need a big-block front crossmember, a bigger radiator, big-block Torsion bars to make it handle properly,and if the tranny behind the 318 is a 904 Torqueflite instead of a 727, your going to need a new transmission." "And unless the used 440 you buy is totally complete-your going to have hunt down alternator brakcets, power steering pump brakcets, and a fuel pump, water pump, power steering pump,etc.". "Trust me, the 360 swap is the way to go." "Low cost and big gain." "Or if you just "Gotta Have" a big-block E-body-sell the car, and look for another Challenger or 'Cuda that has a 383 or 440 already in it from the factory." The response? "So it is possible." Ugh! "Manned space flight is possible, but it isn't cheap or easy!!  And the real kicker, the "Catch-22"? Neither of these guys is a mechanic by trade, and neither of them have the tools or the ability to complete the monumental jobs they were considering attempting. If they were professional mechanics and had the tools and the skills, they'd know what I'm saying is right, and they wouldn't attempt a project that even if they completed it would cost way more money and time than it would ever be worth!!  What's the old saying-"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink..."  Mastermind      

More on the path of most resistance....

Like I was saying yesterday gearheads seem to go out of their way to make their own lives difficult. I was talking to a couple people who wanted to build "Tribute" or clone cars of rare muscle. The thing I don't understand is if it's a fake anyway, then it doesn't have to be correct to the nth degree!!  Here's some examples. # 1. This guy wanted to build a Yenko Camaro clone. Simple enough, right?  Buy a '69 Camaro, swap in a Rat Motor, and get the decals / stencils from Phoenix Graphics. His lament was he couldn't find a 427 with 1968 or 69 date codes. Really?  I'd just buy a 454 out of a junkyard truck and rebuild that. If you "gotta have" a 427 you can buy a 427 crank, rods and pistons, and the proper balancer and flywheel from Summitt or GMPP very cheaply and put it in a 454 block. It's a fake anyway, so who cares if the block has '70's or 80's date codes??  # 2. This guy was building a 1962 Catalina Super Duty Tribute. He was griping that he couldn't find a 421, or an original dual-quad intake. He was aghast when I suggested that he put an Eagle 4.00 inch stroke crank / rotating assembly in a 389 or 400 block and "make" a 421, and use an Edelbrock or Offenhauser dual-quad manifold. "It won't be correct!" He whined. He was totally devastated when I pointed out that any pristine 1962 Catalina he found as a base, wouldn't be totally correct because "real" Super Dutys had aluminum hoods, front fenders and bumpers!  # 3. This guy wanted to do a Thunderbolt Fairlane clone, but couldn't find a 427!  Really?  All "FE" engines look alike externally, and 390s were used in millions of Ford cars and trucks from 1961-76.  Edelbrock claims 451 hp and 434 lbs ft of torque from their dual-quad "Performer RPM" package on a 390. That would give you the look and the performance at a fraction of the cost of buying a 427 that needed to be rebuilt! Again, it's a clone,so it doesn't have to be correct down to the hose clamps!!  Get over yourselves, people. If you want to clone a '69 Z/28 and you "gotta have" a high-winding 302 Chevy, don't mortgage your house and search the galaxy for a "DZ" code 302. You can use a 350 block and buy from GMPP or Eagle a 3.00 inch stroke crank and pistons and make your own 302. If you want to clone a Boss 302, Edelbrock and Trick Flow both make "Cleveland" style aluminum heads that bolt up to Windsor blocks, and Edelbrock offers an "E-Boss" intake manifold thats compatible with them. Or do you think you can find a complete, "real" Boss 302 engine for sale at any price?? If you stuff a Mopar Performance 426 Crate Hemi into a '71 Charger, it's still a cool ride, even though it's not "Correct!!!"   I don't get it. If it's not the real deal, then who cares if some of the parts are not totally correct or have the wrong date codes?  Mastermind      

The Path of Most Resistance Revisited....

Salesmen and Sports coaches talk about taking the path of least resistance-i.e doing something the easy way instead of the hard way. For some reason auto restorers think that a project is somehow better if it was hard to do. Not true. A lot of the advice I give people is to make their restoration project cost less, and be easier to do. Here's a list of things to consider when planning a project. # 1. "Bang for the Buck". This should be obvious. You want to get as much performance and value from your money as possible. For example I had a guy ask me what kind of car / engine combo would be best for an all-out top end run at Bonneville. I suggested an '82-90 Trans-Am powered by a 454 Chevy. The reasons I suggested this are simple. Like it or not, nothing makes more power for less money than a big-block Chevy. Yes, a Chrysler Hemi or Boss-Nine Ford can make as much or more power,but at two or three times the cost. Secondly, on an all-out top-speed run, aerodynamics count as much as horsepower. The '82-90 T/A is one of the most aerodynamic vehicles ever built, with a drag coefficient of .032. One with the "Aero" package actually drops to .028!!  A more aerodynamic vehicle can slice through the air and actually go faster with less hp, than one with a tall, blunt body and more power. That's why a 225 hp '91 Mustang GT has a higher top speed ( 144 mph ) than a 380 hp  '01 Ford Lightning Pickup ( 139 mph )!!!  Anyhow, the guy then says if he was going to run a T/A he'd want to do a '70's model with a "real" Pontiac engine. Arrrggghhh!!!!  I explained that a '70's T/A-while cool-looking and aerodynamic for a car that was actually designed in the late '60s-has a drag coefficient of .048.-substantially higher than the '82-90 model. Which means the "Bandit" model would actually need MORE power to go the same speed as the "Knight Rider" model. And the chance of a 455 Pontiac making MORE power than a 454 Chevy at any level of dollar investment is almost nil. So he'd be spending more money to go slower. Great Idea. Good Luck with that.  # 2. Parts availability / Cost. To restore or race anything, you have to be able to get parts for it. Like it ot not, parts for a Camaro / Firebird are going to be cheaper and more readily available than parts for a 'Cuda / Challenger, and the Mopar parts are going to be way cheaper and more available than parts for an AMC Javelin!  And sometimes, even if price doesn't matter, you just can't certain parts, period. No one makes a replacement grille for a 1972 Gran Torino. Yet, you can get pretty much anything you need for a '55 Chevy. Where are you going to get a grille, or a 1/4 panel for a '55 Oldsmobile?  # 3. Difficulty of the Work / Conversion. Some things are better just left alone, or you need to just get a different car. I had a guy with a 403 Olds / TH350 powered '79 T/A ask me how hard it would be to convert it to a 4-speed. "Too hard and Too expensive". I said. I told him if he wanted a 4-speed, '70's T/A that he should sell his car and go buy a T/A or Formula 400 that came from the factory with the 400 Pontiac / 4-speed combo. "But there's got to be a way to convert mine." He pressed. Arrrgghh!!  Yes there is. 1st you'd have to buy the pedals, the clutch linkage, the bellhousing, the clutch disc, pressure plate, throw-out bearing, pilot bearing, a T10 or Muncie 4-speed trans, a crossmember and the shift linkage. And you'd need a stick flywheel. However, since the 403 Olds was never offered with a manual transmission in any GM vehicle,no one makes an aftermarket flywheel. One from a 350 Olds would probably work, but Hays or Zoom, or Scheifer or no one else I know of offers aftermarket 350 Olds stick flywheels! And since Oldsmobile hasn't offered a car with a 350 V8 and a manual transmission since 1974-good luck finding a 42 year old usable flywheel!!  Another guy was going to buy his neighbors 4-banger '89 Mustang. He asked me how hard it would be to swap in a V8. Again-my answer was "Too hard and too expensive." I explained that since '83-93 "5.0" Mustangs were the proverbial "dime a dozen"-( I've seen rough, but running examples as low as $1,000 and anything over 2 grand is usually pretty decent ) that he just check the want ads or local used car lots and buy a nice, used "5.0".  The he asks about turbocharging the 4-banger. Again-I said he'd be better off in terms of money and grief to just look for an '84-86 Mustang SVO. ( If you don't know, these had 16" wheels, 4-wheel disc brakes, Recaro seats and a Turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that made between 175 and 205 hp depending on year. ) He uttered an expleteive I won't repeat and called me a "naysayer".  Excuse me for trying to save you money and frustration!!  Anyhow-talk to people who have done similar projects, and for God's sake, listen to their advice when they say something won't work or isn't worth the hassle. Mastermind    

"Cross-Breeding" is not Blasphemy.....

I was pleased to read in a buff magazine about a guy that bought an unrestored '57 Chevy race car that had a blown 389 Pontiac in it. By blown, I mean supercharged. Apparently the car was first raced in 1962, with a Pontiac engine, and was raced clear up until the '80's always with a Pontiac engine. Refreshingly, the new owner says he's going to restore the car as it was raced, and keep the Pontiac powertrain. Very cool. Much cooler than spending umpteen thousands trying to make it "original".  Purists rage against cross-breeding as blasphemous, but that's how hot rodding started. In the '50's many people put Cadillac V8s into Studebaker Coupes and ran them at Bonneville. Tons of guys put small-block Chevys into '32-34 Fords. I remember in the '60's and '70's seeing a lot of engine swaps. Ford guys hated it, but I have seen many '53-56 Ford F100 pickups with Camaro or Chevelle front clips-( which gives modern power steering and front disc brakes ) and small or big-block Chevy motivation. I saw a lot of '60's Chevy / GMC pickups with 389 / 400 / 421 / 428 Pontiac engines under the hood. Car Craft and Hot Rod featured a '64 Cutlass with a vicious tunnell-rammed 454 Chevy in it, and a '64 Tempest with a Mondello-built 425 Olds that ran high 10s. For a while in the '70's and '80's V8 Vegas and V8 Pintos were all the rage. Popular Hot Rodding had a project car that was a Chevy Luv pickup with a 350 V8 swapped in. My cousin bought a Datsun SPL311 ( the two-seat roadster that looks like an MG ) that had a 215 inch Aluminum Buick V8 in it. It was seriously quick. A couple guys I know put 500 inch Cadillac V8s into a '78 Monte Carlo and an '81 Firebird respectively. They were low-budget, and really quick. Sometimes you have a car laying around, and an engine and tranny laying around, and you think hmmm....Now granted, I still think anyone who puts a modern LS motor into a numbers-matching SS Chevelle or GTO, or a Ford Coyote into a numbers-matching Mach 1, should be crucified. However, if they do it to a beater Malibu or Tempest or Fairlane, who cares?  If you want to buy a '69 Cutlass-( not a 442 or H / O!! ) that someone previously swapped a Rat Motor into, and the price is right, go for it. It's a piece of hot rod history too. Mastermind

We should all adopt "Dominic Toretto's" attitude from "Fast&Furious.....

I get so tired of people arguing that whatever niche of hot-rodding they personally like is the "right" one, and everyone else is an idiot. I loved Vin Diesel's answer to Gal Gadot when she caught him inspecting his rivals Gran Torino. "You like that car?" "I appreciate a fine piece of machinery, no matter who builds it." We should all take that stance. I get so tired of the Concours crowd deriding an awesome car because it has the wrong kind of hose clamps, or BFG T/A radials instead of bias-ply Coker Tire Wide Oval repro tires!  Or the idiots that say no "real" musclecars were built after 1971. Really? You don't consider the 1973-74 SD-455 Trans-Am a real musclecar?  A 1974 Dodge Charger with a 440, a 4-speed, and a 3.55:1 geared Dana 60 rear end isn't a real Musclecar?  A 1987 Buick Grand National-that ran high 13s off the showroom floor isn't a musclecar? The LT1 engined 1994 Impala SS isn't a musclecar? A new, 465 hp SRT8 Hemi Charger of Chrysler 300 isn't a musclecar because it has 4-doors?  A new "5.0" Mustang or Camaro SS that run 12s off the showroom floor aren't musclecars?  Shut the F%*&k up!  I also hate people who deride import swaps, or import cars, period. A small-block Chevy in a Datsun 240Z makes an awesome perfromance car. The SBC doesn't weigh any more than the old Datsun straight six, but has twice the power! Does anybody realize that Carrol Shelby took the AC Ace-a small British sports car and stuffed a small-block Ford V8 in it and created the legendary Cobra? Back in the day guys would put 327 Chevys into Austin-Healey 3000s. The buff magazines called them "The Poor Man's Cobra". I guess a Porsche 928 is technically a "sports car", but with a front-engine big V8, a five-speed, and rear-wheel drive, it sounds an awful lot like a musclecar to me. With a base price of $29,000-a new 332 hp Nissan 370Z isn't a screaming performance bargain? With sub 5-second 0-60 times and high 13 second 1/4 mile times, a Subaru WRX ISN'T a performance car??  Your going to argue that a big-block Corvette isn't a musclecar? How about the Pantera? Back in the day the buff magazines called them "The Poor Man's Lamborghini". However with a price over $10,000 in 1972 dollars-( a 455HO Trans-Am was $4255.75 ) I doubt that any "poor" people bought them. But the mid-ship mounted 351CJ gives it quite a bit of muscle if you ask me. Build your car any damn way you want and enjoy it, but don't make fun of other people's pride and joy. I swear, if I see one more Dodge Ram pickup with a sticker of Calvin ( of the comic strip "Calvin&Hobbes" ) pissing on a Ford emblem or a Chevy Bow-Tie, I'm going to vomit. And then shoot the offending vehicle with a paint-ball gun....Ok maybe not, but it's a nice thought.... Can't we all just get along?  Mastermind        

Some alternative bodystyles that would make cool racing tributes...

Popular Hot Rodding had a wildly popular Project Car Called "Project Talledega". It was a 1975 Chevelle Laguna done in '70's NASCAR style. Weve also seen several '71-74 Chargers done like Richard Petty's most iconic racer. I'd like to see some others that people don't usually think of. Here's my list of potentially awesome racing tributes. # 1. 1963-66 Ford Galaxie. The fastback Galaxie would look mean as hell with radiused fenderwells,huge tires and loud exhausts exiting in front of the rear wheels. And with 390 cubes under the hood it could back up the image.  # 2. 1959-66 Full-Size Pontiac. High Performance Pontiac magazine featured an article on Fireball Roberts and Smokey Yunick's Pontiacs that were the scourge of NASCAR in the early '60's. In 1961-62 Roberts won 22 races, a record that stood until Richard Petty won 27 in 1967-68. The reason the Pontiacs are a great hot rod is while most Impalas of this era are small-block powered, every Pontiac built had at least 389 cubes under the hood, and a few had 421s. # 3. 1967-70 Mercury Cougar. These Cougars look totally badass done in Trans-Am style like Parnelli Jones' racer. Radiused wheelwells, Minilite Wheels with fat tires, and side-exit exhaust. I'd build a 347 inch stroker with Edelbrock or Trick flow "Cleveland" heads and the "E-Boss" manifold to make a snarling "Boss" style engine. # 4. 1971-74 Pontiac Ventura. Pontiac's version of the Nova. One of these would be totally badass done in Trans-Am style with radiused and flared fenders, huge tires,a T/A style "Shaker" hood scoop and a snarling 400 or 455 under the hood. ( Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. So swapping a 400 or 455 for the 350 is a no-brainer. ) And any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Camaro / Firebird will fit the "X" bodys, so you could make it a real corner carver. # 5. 1974-76 AMC Matador. AMC actually had modest success in NASCAR with the swoopy fastback Matadors. 360 V8s are plentiful in junkyards ( used in millions of Jeep Grand Wagoneers through 1993 ). Edelbrock makes aluminum heads,and intakes for them,and Crane and Comp Cams make cams, so you could have the power to back up the image. # 6. 1978-79 Dodge Magnum. Richard Petty briefly campaigned a Magnum in Nascar, and then switched to the much more aerodynamic '77 Olds Cutlass. However,the Magnum is racy looking, and the engine bay will swallow anything from a 318 to a 440.  Any of these cars would be a nice change from cookie-cutter Camaros, Chevelles, Mustangs, etc.  Mastermind

More on "Restification".....

Here's my opinion on "Restification".  If you want to build a Concours show car that's correct down to the hose clamps, then do it. Except we all know that on say,- a Concours '69 Mustang that the "Autolite" battery is an Interstate or an Exide in a repro case, and the Firestone Wide Ovals are Coker Tire repros,so is it really "all original?" No, it isn't. It's restored a certain way that certain people deem acceptable or correct. If that's your bag, go for it. However for the other 90% of us that want to drive and even-gasp!-race our cars on the strip occasionally, "restification" makes a lot more sense. Here's some good examples. I've mentioned it before, but 4-speed GTOs, Firebirds and Olds 442s had Hurst shifters from the factory. Chevelles, Camaros and Novas had the awful Muncie shifters which were body-mounted and would bind up under load. Forget powershifting at six grand; try to shift one quickly above 3,500 rpm. It's a crapshoot whether or not you get the next gear or neutral. Now even if your car is otherwise bone-stock, but you want to run it at the Pure Stock Drags or bracket race at your local strip-it would behoove you to replace that awful shifter with a transmission-mounted Hurst or Mr Gasket unit so you could shift it quickly when you wanted to, and be competitive in your class!  Mopar guys know how crappy Chrysler's points were. I've said it before-back in the day you never saw a Mopar racer at the strip who didn't have extra sets of points in his toolbox, and they were usually Mallory or Accel! Mopar lovers rejoiced in 1972 when electronic ignition was introduced. So if you have a 440 Charger that you like to run hard, or even just take long cruises in, you haven't "ruined" it if you put in a Mopar Performance or Accel or Mallory electronic distributor! You've made the car MORE reliable and easy to drive! If you have a 351CJ Mustang that you want to drive at all, you will be much happier with an Edelbrock or Holley carb than you will be with an Autolite 4300. They were awful when they were brand-new. My dad was a Master Ford Tech in the early '70's, and 351 Mustangs and 460 T-Birds had so many problems with cold starting, stumbling,crappy gas mileage ( even for a big V8; I'm talking a brand new car getting 5-8 mpg! ). If you bitched hard enough Ford would have their dealers replace the 4300 carbs with an electric-choke 600 Holley, and warranty it! If I remember correctly the part number was either #6619 or 6919. Anyhow, thats how bad those carburators were when new,much less 40+ years old. So why suffer with bad performance just so you can say that it's numbers-matching down to the carb?  Really?  If you have a '70-74 Firebird or Trans-Am, even if you don't want headers, by replacing that awful, restrictive "crossflow" muffler with a true dual exhaust system and re-jetting the carb, you can pick up 30 or 40 hp with the stock manifolds. That's how restrictive it was. Read some '70-72 Car Life or Hot Rod road tests. 400 and 455HO GTOs and LeMans GTs ran 1/2 second quicker in the 1/4 than Formula 400 Firebirds and 455HO T/A's!!  Because the GTO / LeMans models had true duals, and the F-bodies had that restrictive crossflow design. Bone stock it was costing 25-30 hp. Why do you think the 1970 GTO base 400 was rated at 350 hp, and the same engine in a Formula 400 was rated at 330?  Why were the RAIII and RAIV rated at 366 and 370 hp in the GTO and only 335 and 345 in Firebirds? Because of that restrictive exhaust system!!  GM, Ford or Mopar, if you have an automatic transmission, a B&M or TransGo shift improver kit will drastically increase performance. Seriously-will anyone know by looking at the car that you changed some springs and weights in the governor, or a couple of plates in the valve body?? Here's another thing-even if you have a "premium" musclecar-say you have an LS6 Chevelle or a Hemi Road Runner, but you'd like a little more performance. On the Chevelle-way back in 1970-Hot Rod gained 71 hp on the dyno by adding headers to their LS6 test car! Stock, although it was rated at 450 hp-it pulled 380 hp on the dyno. With just the addition of headers,no carb tuning or bumping the timing or anything, on the next run it pulled 451 hp! Even on a 454, you will notice a 70 hp increase! Because the intake was designed to clear the low hood of the '70 Corvette and Camaro ( The LS6 was initially going to be offered in the Camaro and Nova SS as well as Chevelles ) it loses 15 hp over the taller '69 427 aluminum manifold. By adding headers and the '69 manifold and replacing the 780 Holley with an 850, you could easily gain 100 hp, and the car is still basically stock. Just save the original intake and exhaust manifolds and carb in case you ever want to sell the car. On the Hemi Road Runner, adding headers and replacing the 625 cfm AFBs with 750 Edelbrocks will add 75-80 hp. If it's an automatic, a higher stall-speed converter will definitely help cut a few tenths off your 1/4 mile time as well. You've greatly improved the cars performance, and again, you haven't done anything major to the car that can't be put back to stock in a few hours if you need to. So don't be too hard on people who want to maximize their car's performance with a few minor mods. Yes, anyone who even thinks of putting an LS motor in a '69 Z/28 or a 6.4 Hemi in a '70 'Cuda ought to be dragged out into the street and shot. Barring that, I don't think you need to storm anyone's house with torches over an HEI distributor or a set of traction bars!!  Mastermind      

How to get the most "Bang for the Buck" out of your "Restification" project...

I often get asked by various people how to get the most "bang" for the buck out of a "restification"-( Restoration / Modification ) project. There's no one generic answer, as it depends on what type of project your building. Is it going to be a daily driver, a weekend cruiser, or an all-out race car?  Or a combination of the three?  You need to be really specific and honest about what you really want. I've touched on this before but it's worth re-visiting. A guy comes to my shop and wants me to build him a 350 Chevy. He says he wants "As much power as he can possibly get for "X" amount of dollars."  "I can do that." I say. "But what are you using it for?"  "Why does that matter?" He asks. Here's why. If I'm building the engine to put in a Suburban that he's going to tow 40 ft horse trailer or a 25 ft boat with I'm going to build it to make maximum low-end and mid-range torque, which is what you need for pulling heavy loads. I don't care if it won't rev over 5,500 rpm. I'm shooting for maximum torque between 2,000-4,500 rpm. I'd use a dual-plane intake like an Edelbrock Performer and a short duration, medium lift cam to maximize torque and engine vacuum at idle to work with power accessories and a stock torque converter. Now if the engine is going in a Nova or a Camaro with a stick and low gears ( higher numeric ) or a higher-stall speed torque converter, I'm going to use a hotter, longer duration cam and a single-plane intake like an Edelbrock Torker II or Weiand Team G to make max power between 3,000-6,500 rpm. See what I'm saying? If we put the Camaro engine in the Suburban it probably wouldn't run as good as the stock engine, because were sacrificing low-end torque for top-end rush. If you put the Suburban engine in the Camaro it would do spectacular burnouts because of the massive low-end torque, but big burnouts aren't conducive to good 0-60 or 1/4 mile times, and it would probably run out of rpm before the end of the 1/4!! So building a "Max Power" 350 Chevy or anything else depends on the application. Another question I get asked is "What's the first thing I should buy?"  Again, it depends on the car. For example if you've got a late '70's Pontiac Trans-Am with an automatic- most of them had 2.41:1 or 2.56:1 gears. The single biggest performance upgrade you could make would be switching the gears to something in the 3.23:1-3.73:1 range. This would give you a stunning improvement in acceleration-easily more than 1/2 a second off your 0-60 and 1/4 mile time, without hurting fuel economy or freeway crusing rpm too much. Now, if you had a late '70's Chevy Z/28 Camaro with an automatic-they had 3.42:1 gears from the factory-I'd say get a set of shorty headers ( for ground clearance ) and good dual exhausts. If you had a '69 Mustang with a 351W with a 2bbl-( a lot of Mach 1s did ) I'd say get an Edelbrock Performer intake manifold and matching 4bbl carb. If you had a '65 GTO with a 389 and a 2-speed ST300 ( read Powerglide ) automatic, I'd say swap it for a TH350. ( ST300s have a 1.76:1 1st gear and 1.00:1 2nd. TH350s have a 2.52:1 1st, a 1.52:1 2nd and a 1.00:1 3rd. And they are the exact same length and use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke! It's practically a bolt-in. ) This will give you a stunning improvement in acceleration and drivability, way more than headers or a tri-power setup would! If you had a late '80's "5.0" Mustang I'd say get a Ford SVT or Vortech centrfigal supercharger. See what I mean? Every application is different. The bottom line is do some research on what other people have done with a car like yours and read parts catalogs carefully. Edelbrock, Competition Cams, Lunati, Trick Flow Holley and other companies offer guidelines-i.e.-"Makes power from 1500-5,500 rpm." or "Needs 2,500 rpm torque converter and 3.55:1 gears" Those recommendations are usually pretty spot-on. The main thing is err on the side of caution, don't go too wild on cam timing or converter stall speed. Hope this helps. Mastermind.

For the last time...."Fakes" don't affect the value of the "Real Deal"...

Got some gripes on the posts about "Replicars". Apparently, some people think that if I buy one of the 299,000 '69 Mustangs built, and put Edelbrock or Trick Flow "Cleveland" style heads and an Edelbrock "E-Boss" manifold on the 302, and tap Year One or Phoenix Graphics for "Boss 302" stripes, spoilers, and rear window louvers, that I have somehow diminished the value of the remaining 1,603 "Real" '69 Boss 302s out there!! Huh?  If I buy one of the 113,000 '69 Firebirds built, and make it look like a T/A, does that "Ruin" the value of the 697 "Real" ones?  If I take a beater '68 Cutlass, stuff a 455 and a Hurst Dual / Gate shifted TH400 in it and paint it silver and black, does that "compromise" the value of the 515 "real" "Hurst / Olds" models ever built? No!!!  For God's sake, get over yourselves people!  Like I said in another post-Sports car guys are smarter. If I buy a 1977 Porsche 911 and put a "Whale Tail" and and a Air Research Turbo on it, none of the 2,819 "Real" 930 Turbo owners are going to have a hissy fit and cry that I have somehow "hurt" the value of their car!!  So, again, if you want to "clone" your dream car, go ahead and do it. If you buy one of the 93,000 '78 Trans-Ams built and get the stencils from Phoenix Graphics and paint it like a "Macho T/A", I seriously doubt that Dennis Mecham ( Creator of the "Machos" ) or any of the 203 owners of documented ones are going to sue you!!  If you buy a '69 Dodge Coronet and stuff a Mopar Performance 426 Hemi crate engine in it and paint it like a Super Bee, you haven't done anyone any financial harm. Do you really think the owners of the 17 455HO 1971 GTO Judge Convertibles ever built give a shit in hell if you take a 350 LeMans Sport drop-top with the Endura front bumper and put a spoiler and Judge stripes on it???  So build your car the way you want it, and ignore these morons that come up with this nonsense. Mastermind.            

More cool '60's and '70's full-sizes that people overlook.....

Here's some more cool '60's and '70's full-sizes that you might not have thought of.  # 1. 1966-70 Olds Toronado. These cars still look cool today. And with 425 or 455 cubes under the hood they move pretty good too. Car Life's 1970 test car ran the 1/4 mile in 15.0 seconds flat. "George Stark" writer Thad Beaumont's killer alter ego in the Stephen King thriller "The Dark Half" drove a black '67 with a bumper sticker that read "A High Toned Son of a Bitch".  And if you live where it snows, their front-wheel drive.       # 2. 1967-69 Olds Delta 88. These have sleek fastback styling and 425 or 455 cubes under the hood. Since they were the top of the line, they also usually have good stuff like factory a/c and front disc brakes. # 3. 1970-71 Ford Thunderbird. These have racy, Nascar inspired styling, and 429 cubes under the hood with 375 hp. This was about the time that American car makers started to care about handling, so these handle surprisingly well for a big car. The 1972-76 models had 460s, but they were low-compression, and the car was based on the much heavier and uglier Lincoln MKIV platform. # 4. 1967-68 Cadillac Eldorado. I think these are still one of the best-looking cars GM ever put out. With their sharp edges and hidden headlights, they still look futuristic even 50 years after their introduction. And with 429 or 472 cubes under the long hood they move good, too. #5. 1975-78 Plymouth Sport Fury. To quote Elwood Blues-"Its got cop tires, cop shocks,cop brakes,....and with 400 or 440 cubes under the hood they scoot pretty good too. Fred Dryer drove one on the hit action show "Hunter". The 2 dr models are good looking. # 6. 1977-78 Ford Thunderbird. The 'Bird was down-sized from the Lincoln MkIV platform to the LTD II platform, and completely restyled. The new body was sleek, and you could still get a 460 under the hood. '79 models are identical, but the largest engine is a 2bbl 400M. Yuk. Stick with the '77-78's. Mastermind

Some '60's and '70's full-sizes that make cool drivers...

If you don't want to pay the king's ransom for a "traditional" muscle car-i.e. GTO, SS Chevelle, Charger, Road Runner, Mustang, etc, etc, here's some good alternatives. Every car maker had at least one, some had several really cool full-size cars that would still be fun to own and drive and be unique. Here's my list in no particular order. # 1. 1965-68 Pontiac Gran Prix. GP's had 389 or 400 cubes standard all years with 421 and 428 optional, backed by either a 4-speed or the excellent TH400. I personally like the '65-66 models best, but the fastback '67-68 models are cool too. Ray Liotta drove a '68 in "Goodfellas". There's tons of speed equipment for Pontiac V8s and any suspension or brake upgrades that fit an Impala will fit these cars. # 2. 1967-68 Chevy Impala SS. 427 models are priced in the stratosphere, but 327 models are still reasonable. 75,600 were built in '67 and another 38,200 in '68, so their not a moon rock. Most have cool interiors with bucket seats and a console and front disc brakes, and other good stuff.  # 3. 1967-69 Ford Thunderbird. Cool hidden headlight styling and 390, 428 or 429 cubes under the hood. I personally like the 2 dr models, but a lot of people like the "suicide door" 4dr models. You can't go wrong either way.  #4. 1969-71 Plymouth Sport Fury. Cool, "fuselage" styling and 383 or 440 cubes under the long hood. Peter Graves drove one on "Mission: Impossible".  # 5. 1966-69, 1971-73 Buick Riviera. I personally think the '66-67 Riviera is one of the best-looking cars GM ever put out. They resemble the revolutionary Toronado, but have cleaner styling and are rear wheel drive. With 430 cubes under the hood, they move pretty good too. '68-69 models have a bit different front bumper, but their cool too. The '71-73 Model is the famous "Boat Tail" design. With 455 cubes under the hood,you get Cadillac like luxury and GTO like acceleration. #6. 1977-78 Lincoln MK V. Even though they were "downsized" compared to the gargantuan '72-76 MK IV model, their still a big car. I loved the clean, hidden headlight styling, and with 460 cubes under the hood their no slug. '79 models are identical, but for some reason the largest engine that year was a 2bbl 400M. Any of these would be a cool ride to cruise around in today. Mastermind

If you have one of these "Oldie but goodies" by all means use it....

The last couple posts about overlooked engines caused some people to remind me of some viable ones they thought I forgot. I didn't forget them,I just dont think their plentiful enough to look for.  # 1. 289 Ford. I loves 289s. Their reliable, and offer tremendous bang for the buck. However, they've been out of production since 1968. That's 48 years. If you have a 289 V8 in the car or can buy one cheap, then by all means use it.  If your restoring a '65 Mustang to the nth degree, then a 289 is the only way to fly. For anything else-the 302 was used in millions of cars, trucks and suvs from 1968 to 2002 and is still in production and being sold as a crate motor to this day. That's all I'm saying-don't search the galaxy for a 289 while passing over hundreds of 302s!!  # 2. 396 / 402 Chevy. 396s run great.  If  you have one already in the car or your restoring an SS396 Chevelle or El Camino, Camaro or Nova to concours status, then this is the engine that you "gotta have." But they've been out of production since 1972. Why frantically search for a rare 44 year old engine, when 454s are plentiful in junkyards, and GM is selling 427 and 454 crate engines to this day?   # 3. 383 / 400 Chrysler. Same thing here. 383 / 400s run great. With the right combination, just as fast as a 440. However the 383 has been out of production since 1971, and the 400 since 1978. If you have one, or can buy one cheap by all means use it. However-again, I wouldn't chase a 38-45 year old 400 cube "B" engine, when Chrysler is selling 400 hp 360 crate motors, 500 hp 505 wedge ( a 440 stroker ) engines and 426, 472 and 528 hemis with 465-610 hp. # 4. 351C Ford. Again, if you have one already in the car, by all means use it. There's still a ton of speed equipment available for these engines. However they've been out of production since 1974. The 351W was used in cars and trucks until 1997, and is still in production today the- hi-performance 351W crate motors being sold by Ford, and Edelbrock and Trick Flow offering "Cleveland" style heads and manifolds to make "Boss" clones on Windsor blocks, it just doesn't make sense to try to find a 42 year old engine to build. Unless your restoring a Boss 351 Mustang or a Pantera. That's why these were left off the the list, not because they don't make big power. Mastermind      

Sometimes dynamite comes in small packages.....

The trend in the buff magazines always seems to be "Bigger is Better". Everything they feature has a 500 inch monster motor. If you can afford that, by all means do it. However-there are a lot of people who don't need or want a 500+hp engine. They'd just like a little better than stock performance from their base model car. Here's my suggestions on how to do this. # 1. 318 Mopars. There are a ton of 318 powered Duster / Darts, Challenger / Barracudas, Satellites, Coronets and Chargers out there. In all it's history-the 318 was Chrysler's lowest warranty engine. Their bulletproof. '92 and later "Magmum" heads will bolt up to earlier blocks, and Edelbrock sells "Magnum" bolt pattern Performer and Performer RPM intakes. With headers and dual exhausts, maybe a mild cam and a good shift kit in the Torqueflite-you'd be amazed at how fast a 318 can run. Especially in a light car. So before you sell your sould for a big-block or a 360 crate motor, you might consider warming up the 318 that's already in the car.  # 2. 350 Pontiacs. There are a lot of 350 powered LeMans, Tempest, Firebird and Ventura ( Pontiac's version of the Nova ) models out there. Basic hot rod tricks-4bbl carb and intake, headers and or dual exhausts, mild cam-really "wake up" a 350 Pontiac. You can make 350 hp and 400 lbs of torque pretty easy-which should give you some exciting street performance-13 second 1/4s in most cars. Beyond that-you'll need a 400 or 455. The reason is the small-bore / long stroke design. It gives them great low-end torque, but the big-valve, big port heads used on the larger engines that are necessary for really big power won't fit. ( The valves wil hit the block. )  # 3. 350 Olds. There's way more 350 Cutlasses out there than there are 400 and 455 442s. Like their Pontiac cousins, they respond very well to basic upgrades-4bbl carb and intake, headers, etc.  Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs of torque from their "Performer RPM" package on a 350 Olds. 400 honest hp will make any street car into an absolute rocket.  # 4. 302 Ford. There's a lot of Mustangs, Cougars, Torinos, Montegos, and Mavericks and Comets with 302 power. Except for the small-block Chevy, there's more speed equipment for a 302 Ford than just about anything else on the planet. A buddy with a 440 Road Runner got his doors blown off by a hot 302 Maverick one night. With the right equipment in a light car-you can quote Chuck Berry's classic "Maybelline"- "Nothin' outrun my V8 Ford"  Mastermind

Some "Junkyard Jewels" that people overlook.....

There are a lot of engines that could make big power for low bucks, that a lot of enthusiasts overlook. Here's a few that I think offer the most "bang" for the buck. # 1. 400C / M Ford. These were in hundreds of thousands of Ford cars and trucks from 1971-82. They were unfairly labelled as "dogs" because they were saddled with 2bbl carburation, single exhausts, a lazy cam and salt-flats gearing. However-with a 4bbl carb and intake, a decent cam and some dual exhausts-they can really rock. Anything 400 cubes is going to make serious power and torque with the proper equipment-every year someone builds one in the "Engine Masters Challenge" that makes over 500 hp.  # 2. 360 "Magnum" Chrysler. Used in millions of Dodge Trucks and SUVs as well as millions of Jeep Grand Cherokees from 1992-2003, these are plentiful in junkyards. They have roller cams from the factory, and the "magnum" heads breathe better than any factory head and many aftermarket ones. Edelbrock offers 4bbl Performer and Performer RPM intakes for those who want to use them in old cars.  # 3. 350 Chevy "Vortec" . Used in millions of Chevy / GMC trucks, vans and SUVs, these are plentiful. The "Vortec" heads breathe better than any factory heads and many aftermarket ones. These also have roller cams from the factory. Edelbrock and Weiand offer 4bbl intakes that fit these engines. If you need a small-block Chevy that makes big power for low bucks, this is the ticket. # 4. 360 AMC V8. These were used in millions of Jeep Grand Wagoneers through 1993, so they are plentiful in junkyards. Edelbrock makes aluminum heads and intakes for them. An easy way to go if your restoring a Javelin or AMX and can't find a 390 or 401, or a bolt-in replacement for a 304. # 5. 403 Olds V8. Although they were only used from 1977-79, there were millions of them sold in Pontiac Bonnevilles, Olds 88s and 98s, Buick Electras and Rivieras, all the big GM wagons, ( except Chevys ) and Pontiac Trans-Ams and Formula Firebirds. Externally identical to a 350, ( almost everything interchanges ) the extra 53 cubes would be a great power infusion for a 350 Cutlass. The only reason they were considered "dogs" was they were always put in heavy cars with 2.41:1 or 2.56:1 gears. In a medium weight car with reasonable gearing like 3.23:1-3.73:1, a decent cam and intake, and dual exhausts they would really rock. Might be something to consider if you don't need or want a numbers-matching engine. Mastermind    

Let's see some cool kit cars restored....

Back in the '70's and '80's there were a lot of companies making Kit Cars. The Daytona Spider driven by Don Johnson on "Miami Vice" was actually a 1981 Corvette with a replica Ferarri body that was built by Tom McBurny that fit the '68-82 Corvette chasiss. McBurnie and Rowley stopped making them after being sued by Ferarri. There was a company called Saxon that made Austin-Healey 3000 replicas that a lot of guys put 302 Fords and 350 Chevys into. I remember Fiberfab who had two-one was called the "Jamaican" a swoopy two door coupe that looked like a cross between a Corvette and a Jaguar XKE. The cool thing about the Jamaican was it could be built on the ubiquitous VW Beetle chassis like a lot of Kit Cars were, or it could be built front-engine on an MGA, Triumph TR4 or TR250 Chassis. Their other offering was called the Kelmark GT and it looked almost exactly like a Ferarri 246 Dino. Car Craft featured one that had a 455 Olds V8 and a Toronado transaxle in the rear. As I remember it ran something like 10.60 in the 1/4; it only weighed like 2,400 lbs and obviously got great traction. There was a Manta Ray that looked like a Can-Am racer that Popular Hot Rodding tested that had a mid-engine 327 attatched to a Corvair transaxle. ( The one on "Hardcastle&McCormack was VW based ).  A friend of my dad's had a Ford GT40 replica that used a 215 inch Aluminum Buick V8 attatched to a Corvair transaxle. There was 1963 Ferarri GTO replica kit that fit a Datsun 240Z body. The "Ferarri" that Maxwell Caulfield drove on the "Dynasty" spin-off  "The Colbys" was a "Z" with a body kit and a 350 Chevy under the hood. What I'm saying is a lot of these cars were bought and not finished because a lot of people over-estimated their mechanical skills. If you look around you can probably get a good deal on an unfinished kit car. I know there were some '55-57 T-Bird kits, and there were some Gran Sport Corvette replicas out there as well. It might be a cool thing to investigate.....Mastermind

Lets do some Period Correct hot rods....'60s, '70's and '80's style....

Is everyone as sick as I am of cookie-cutter cars everywhere? It's seems the trend is one of two things-the car is either bone-stock, Concours, "Just as it Left the Factory" down to the hose clamps, or ( depending on if it's a GM, Ford or Chrysler product ) it has an LS motor, a Coyote, or a 5.7 / 6.1 / 6.4 Hemi backed by an six-speed manual or an overdrive automatic, with rack&pinion steering, a DSE or Global West suspension system, 4-wheel disc brakes, and 20 inch wheels. You know what I'd like to see? Some period correct stuff-like a '55 Chevy with no front bumper, a straight front axle, radiused rear wheel wells, and a snarling 327 or 427 backed by a Muncie 4-speed or a TH400. Real badass '60's "Gasser" / Street Racer style. Or a Camaro,Corvette, Firebird, Mustang, Cougar or Challenger done in '70's Trans-Am / IROC style. Flared fenders over huge tires on Minilite wheels, front and rear spoilers,loud side-exit exhausts-Picture Jerry Titus' famous # 8 T/A at Lime Rock, John Greenwoods Corvette at Laguna Seca, or Sam Poseys Challenger,Mark Donohues Javelin, or Parnelli Jones' Mustang. And the power to back it up with snarling 350 Chevys, 351W Fords,340 / 360 Mopars, and 400 Pontiacs and 401 AMC's. What about the late '70's truck and van craze? I'd love to see some 2wd, short bed, Chevy, Ford and Dodge pickups with lowered suspensions, fat tires, wild paint schemes, and thumpin' 454, 440, or 460 V8s under the hood. The Factories even got in on it-remember the Dodge "Adult Toys?" The Li'l Red Express hot rod 2wd pickup, the Warlock, and "Macho" 4wd models? They were cool. The GMC "Street Coupe" pickups and the "Nite" Package Ford pickups and Broncos?  Or some cool vans with trick paint, fat tires, and outlandish interiors with TV's, waterbeds, stocked bars.  How about some "Pro Street" tributes-an '80's Monte Carlo with a narrowed rear end, monster meats, and a tunnel-rammed 454 jutting out of the hood?  I said it once before, but I think sports car guys are smarter. If you go to a sports car show you might see a '70's 240Z with a header and some Weber carbs,Koni struts and shocks and some wider wheels and tires, but you never see one with the engine and tranny out of a 2013 370Z!!  You'll never see a 1969 Porsche 911 with the drivetrain out of a 2010 Carerra 4!!  You don't see a 1967 Jaguar XKE with the Supercharged V8 out of 2009 XKR!!!  You don't see a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 ( The "Goldfinger" car ) with the V12 out of a 2006 Vanquish!!  Just had to vent that. Mastermind        

Every car doesn't have to be a premium, fire-breathing monster....

I blame the buff magazines and TV shows like Overhaulin' for this. People think that if a car doesn't have a 500 inch big-block or a blower on it, it's not cool. Or if it's not a numbers matching 428 CJ Mustang or 440 Six-Pack Road Runner. it's not cool. Not true. For every GTO and SS Chevelle out there, there are fifty base-model Malibus and Tempest / LeMans models that would make great drivers or project cars. Ford sold 300,000 Mustangs in 1969 alone, but only 70,000 of them were Mach 1s. That leaves 230,000 others, many with 302 or 351W power under the hood, and that's just one single model year!! Pontiac built way more base-model Firebirds than they ever did Trans-Ams. See what I'm getting at?  And not everything has to have a stompin' big block. Let's say you did buy a '73 Firebird with a 350 2bbl / TH350 powertrain. If you added a factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake, a set of dual exhausts behind the stock manifolds, and put a B&M or TransGo shift kit in the trans-the improvement in performance would be stunning. Your friends would swear that you swapped in a 400. And you could drive the car just like that for the next ten years and be perfectly happy. You don't need a 455 and a 700R4, and 20 inch wheels, etc. Ditto for a 318 Challenger, Charger or Duster. A 4bbl carb and intake, dual exhausts and a shift kit will make people think it's a 340. If you wanted to, you could swap in a 360 crate motor, or a 440-but you don't have to. If your happy with a basically stock, nice running car, that's nothing to be ashamed of. So go ahead and buy that 350 Malibu or Cutlass that your neighbor is selling-you don't have to sell your soul for a 442 or SS396 / 454 because the magazines glorify them!!  For some people, happiness is a base model!  Mastermind

Don't pass on a great car because of one option that it does or doesn't have...

A lot of people liked the "No Used Car Factory" post. It's just common sense. Yet I still talk to people almost every day that whine about not being able to find a decent car at a decent price. Then, they'll tell me about some screaming deal they passed on because the car had or didn't have one thing!!  UGH!!  Here's some stupid things that these people pass over great cars for. # 1. 2bbl Carburation. Back in the '60's and '70's a lot of base models and even mid-level models had V8s with 2bbl carbs as standard equipment, and the 4bbl and premium engines were optional. There's a lot of 289 and 351 Mustangs and Cougars with 2bbl carbs,a lot of 350 Camaros, Firebirds,Chevelles, and Cutlasses with 2bbls on them. And it's not just small-blocks either. I've seen 390 Mustangs, T-Birds, and Fairlanes with 2bbls, 383 and 400 Chargers, Coronets, and Satellites with 2bbls, and 400 Firebirds, LeMans and Gran Prix models with 2bbls. And again-it's not just base models. I've seen Mach 1 Mustangs with full regalia-i.e. front and rear spoilers, blacked out hoods, stripes, "sport slats" ( rear window loovers ) and Magnum 500 wheels that have a 2bbl 351W or 351C under the hood, that's numbers-matching!! I've seen for-real SS Chevelles and Olds 442s with 2bbl 350s under the hood. I've seen GTOs and 442s with 2bbl 400s under the hood. ( GM's "Turnpike Specials"; whose Idea was that? ) The point I'm making is, are you really going to pass up a great deal on a great car because it has the wrong carburator??!!  And seriously-An Edelbrock Perfomer intake costs about $200 for most popular engines and a matching Edelbrock carb is about $350 from Summitt. So for less than $600 you can have the tremendous power and drivability upgrade of a 4bbl carb and intake. If your an anal type and want to keep the car more or less "all original" junkyards and swap meets are full of people selling Chevy, Pontiac,Olds, Ford and Chrysler factory Iron 4bbl intakes, for sometimes as low as $50!! New or used, or rebuilt-finding a Quadrajet for GM, or Carter AVS or Thermo-Quad for Mopars is easy, as is finding a Holley or Carter AFB for Fords. ( Or use an Edlebrock-their identical to the AFB. ). I can't imagine anyone in their right mind wanting an Autolite 4100 or 4300 carb on their worst enemy's car, but if you do their out there. The point is factory or aftermarket, changing from a 2bbl to a 4bbl is an easy, cheap fix. Yet I've seen people pass up great 2bbl cars, and pay 3 or 4 grand more for a 4bbl model that isn't as nice. Are you kidding me?  Serial numbers on the CARBURATOR are worth 4-grand to you??  # 2. 3-speed Sticks. A lot of cars had 3-speed manuals as standard equipment and the 4-speeds and automatics were extra-cost options. Popular Hot Rodding's 1969 GTO Judge test car was a Ram Air III, with a 3-speed!!  I've seen quite a few 389 and 400 GTOs with 3-speeds, and quite a few 383 Road Runners, 'Cudas and Challengers with 3-speeds. I've seen a lot of 340 Dusters and Darts with 3-speeds, and more than a few 350 Camaros and Firebirds. I've seen a few Formula 400s with 3-speeds. I've seen a lot of 289 and 302 Mustangs with 3-speeds, and even a few 390 Mustang and Fairlane models.  You can address this one of two ways. If you just "Gotta Have" a 4-speed-thankfully the factory did most of the work for you. The clutch linkage and pedals, etc are already there. Most Saginaw,BW, and Muncie 3-speeds are the same length and share a common rear trans mount with their 4-speed cousins. Ditto for Ford and Chryslers. Swapping a 3-speed for a 4-speed is practically a no-brainer if you have any mechanical ability at all-or even if you don't most shops would only charge you the "R&R" labor time-less than 4hrs on most cars-if you had all the parts. The other way to look at it would be you have a 3-speed auto with a high-stall converter and a badass shift kit. Think. You can launch at whatever rpm you want. If you pop the clutch at 2,500-3,500 rpm-isn't that going to give you a spectacular launch? If you have a good Hurst shifter, you can powershift at whatever rpm you desire. Doubtless a 383 Road Runner or 400 GTO would be more fun with a 3-speed stick than it would be with a slushbox, right??  And it would fall under the "weird, but kinda cool" option packages that a lot of '60's and '70's cars had. The point is, I wouldn't pass up a screaming deal on a car I wanted because of the transmission!! # 3. GM cars with 2-speed automatics. For some reason in the '60's GM was lagging behind on automatics. Fords had the excellent C4s and C6s, and Chryslers had the excellent Torquflites-all 3-speed autos that performed flawlessly. However, for some insane reason, ( although the TH400 was introduced in "big" cars in 1965 ) up until 1967 or '68 depending on model-if you wanted an automatic, you got the awful 2-speed "Powerglide". Even in a 396 Chevelle or 389 GTO, or-gasp-in a 427 Corvette!!  Luckily-the solution is easy. A TH350 is exactly the same length and has exactly the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke as the Powerglide / ST300. That means a TH350 is a bolt-in swap. You can even use the stock shifter. ( You won't be able to manually engage low gear, but with a good shift kit that's not a problem ). The difference in performance will be stunning. The reason is Powerglides had either a 1.76:1 or 1.82:1 first gear and a 1.00:1 second. TH350s have a 2.52:1 first gear,a 1.52:1 second, and a 1:1 third. Even with the same rear axle ratio, your 0-60 and 1/4 mile time will drop substantially. Save the old tranny in case you ever want to sell the car to a "just as it left the factory" type, and if he wants to change it back, he can after he buys it!!  But don't let one option stop you from getting a great deal on a great car. Mastermind

Still more "Replicars" that are way cool.....

I talked in the last post about building a copy of megabuck cars for a fraction of the price. Here's a few more that I thought of later. # 1. Baldwin-Motion Phase III Camaro. In the early '70's Joel Rosen opened Motion Performance and partnered with Baldwin Chevrolet to build some ultra badass Camaros. The Phase III models were guaranteed to run 10 second 1/4 mile times. Since they had LS6 or LS7 454s backed by a Muncie 4-speed or a TH400 with a high stall converter, 4.88:1 gears in the rear end ( a Hone overdrive behind the tranny reduced it to 3.42:1 for highway crusing ) traction bars and ultra sticky Mickey Thompson soft compound tires-it wasn't hard to back up that boast. They also had an L88 style hood scoop and two tone paint with wild stripes and graphics. Documented Motion cars are rare and bring a King's Ransom-100K on up. However to build a clone today you'd only need to find a '70-74 Camaro. ( Emissions laws caused Rosen to stop production in 1975 ). 10 grand will easily buy you a decent small-block Camaro of that vintage. GMPP's 454HO crate engine has 440 hp and 500 lbs of torque and sells for $5995. A TH350 will hold up behind a Rat with the proper cooler, torque converter or shift kit. If you "gotta have" a TH400-or a 4-speed-it's not that big a deal to change the rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke. A set of gears for the rear end is cheap-under $200-and the 8.5 inch GM 10 bolts are tough-I've had 400, 4-speed T/A's that I dropped the clutch on a lot and never had a problem. Harwood sells the hood scoop and the paint scheme is easy to copy. Depending on your mechanical ability you could do one up nice for under 25K easily. That's a lot better than 100+ for a "real" one. # 2.  Yenko Deuce. Don Yenko took a base-model 1970 Nova, stuffed an LT1 Corvette motor in it, added a Pontiac-style Hood Tach, and some cool graphics. I saw an original, documented Yenko Deuce for sale on the internet for $200k!!!  You can build a fun copy for 1/ 10th of that. Finding a six-cylinder or small-block '68-72 Nova isn't that hard. For less than five grand GMPP will sell you a complete from carb to oil pan, including a serpentine belt drive and the water pump, power steering pump, and starter and alternator included ZZ5 350 V8 with 400 Hp or a ZZ383 Stroker with 450 hp. These engines have 4-bolt mains, steel cranks, "pink" rods, Keith Black pistons, roller cams and "Fast Burn" Vortec heads. They rock, right out of the box. I had a ZZ4-that had L98 heads and was rated at 355 hp-and it kicked ass. A hood tach is easy to find from any Pontiac restoration vendor, and Phoenix Graphics has the stripe stencils. This one is so easy, it's almost criminal. ( Well only if you try to sell it as an original ). # 3. 1962-63 421 Super Duty Catalina. Again, rare, documented 421SD cars are priced in the stratosphere-100 grand on up. However-you find a generic Cat of this vintage. Get a 400 out of any '67-78 Pontiac and put a cut-down 421 / 428 crank kit in it. Kaufmann and Butler Performance sell these complete rotating assemblys ( crank, rods,pistons and bearings ) for about $1,699. Any aftermarket ( Crane, Comp Cams, Lunati ) RAIV cam has the same timing and lift as the McKellar # 10 cam used back then, and Edelbrock and Offenhauser both make dual-quad intakes for Pontiacs. The internet is full of 4-speed conversion kits for early '60's Pontiacs-( clutch linkage and pedals ) and a T10 or Muncie 4-speed is easy enough to find. Depending on the price of the base car, you could build an SD copy for under 20 or 25 grand easily. # 4. 1965-68 Shelby GT350. Try to touch an original Shelby of this vintage for under 100k. Like the kid in Christmas story-I triple-dog dare you. However-15 grand will buy you a decent 289 fastback in any state in the union,and Year One and Tony Branda have the scoops, spoilers, taillights, etc for the look. Branda also sells tri-y headers and the Shelby intakes and 715 Holley carbs if you want to go to the nth degree. Personally I'd buy a 345 hp Ford SVT 302 crate engine and World-Class T5 five-speed and use that-but to each his own. Anyhow-again you could have a badass looking and performing ride for less than 25 grand, which is 1/4 of what you'd pay for a "real" Shelby.  Anyhow, there's cool stuff that you can copy for a fraction of the price of an original-Yenko Camaros and Chevelles come to mind as do Factory Five Cobra replicas. Something to think about if you can't spare six-figures for a toy!!  Mastermind              

Building a replica of an ultra-rare car can be cool......

I've talked to a lot of people who lust after certain cars but complain they could never afford one unless they won the lottery. That's true if you "gotta have" a numbers-matching Boss 429 or something similar. But there's a lot stuff that you can build for 1/ 10th of what a "real" one would cost. I'll list them in no particular order. # 1. 1969 Pontiac Trans-Am. Only 697 T/A's were built in 1969-so a "real" one in decent shape will cost you over 100k. However, Pontiac built 113,000 Firebirds in 1969, most with V8 power. 15 grand will buy you a nice one in any state in the union. Year One,Ames Performance and NPD all offer the hood,scoops and spoilers to duplicate the bodywork. The white and blue paint job is a no-brainer. Even if you did just that to a 350 model-you'd have the look. If you went with the Edelbrock Performer RPM package-( heads, intake, cam ) on a 400-you'd have a non numbers matching RAIV. Probably for less than 25 grand, which is a lot better than 100K+.  # 2. Thunderbolt Fairlane. 289 Fairlanes can be bought relatively cheaply. No, I'm not suggesting you search the galaxy and mortgage your house for a 427. But all "FE" engines look alike externally and 390s were used in just about every Ford car and truck built from 1961-76. Edelbrock claims 451 hp and 434 lbs of torque from their dual-quad Performer RPM package on a 390. You'd have the look, and I've said it before-magazine writers spout numbers flippantly, but 450 honest hp will make any street car into an absolute rocket. You can find BW T10 4-speeds on line or from Summitt, or you can buy a Top-Loader used. Or-it's a fake anyway-and a C6 with the proper torque converter and a good shift kit would give you better 1/4 mile times and greater consistency if you did want to drag race it. The "Teardrop" hood scoop is easy enough to find-Harwood sells them. You could build a cool Thunderbolt copy for a fraction of the price of the real deal.  # 3. Hemi Dart. You can buy a '68-69 Dart relatively cheaply. 340 versions are getting a little pricier, but 318 models are still reasonable. Mopar Performance and Summitt sell the big-block crossmember. That and a 727 Torqueflite are easy enough to chase down.  A 465 hp 426 Mopar performance crate Hemi is 15 grand. That's not cheap, but if you figure 10 grand for a nice 318 base car, 15 for the Hemi, a couple grand for a TCI built 727, 3 for a Dana 60 or Currie 9 inch rear end and you've got 30 grand in the whold shebang. A lot more attainable than the 250K+ that people ask for the few remaining "real" ones.  # 4. Boss 302 Mustang. Ford only built 1600 in 1969 and 7113 in 1970 so these bring a King's Ransom-usually 80-100k. However Ford built over 70,000 fastback Mustangs in 1969 alone, most with 302 or 351W power. 15-20K will buy you a nice one. The graphics and spoilers are easy enough to get through Tony Branda or Phoenix graphics. Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer "Cleveland" style heads that will bolt up to Windsor blocks and Edelbrock sells an "E-Boss" manifold so you could build a "Mock Boss" 302 or 351. Depending on the price of the base car and how much work you can do yourself, you could easily have a "Boss" clone for 25-30K. A savings of 50 grand over a "real" one. And since it's a fake anyway-why not build a stompin' 347 or 392 inch stroker and back it with a Richmond 5-speed?  There's others you could do, but I think you get the picture. With a little imagination you can have a super-cool ride at a fraction of the cost.  Mastermind    

"Day Two" modifications are ok...even if you add them 40 years later...

A lot of musclecars had what the buff magazines call "Day Two" modifications-i.e. aftermarket upgrades done immediately after buying the car. Good examples would be 4-speed Chevelle or Camaro owners installing a Hurst Competition Plus shifter in place of the awful Muncie unit. ( They were body mounted and were pratically impossible to shift above about half-throttle. GTO's,Firebirds, and Olds 442s had Hurst Shifters from the factory. Why Chevys didn't, I don't know. ) Another would be Ford guys replacing the awful Autolite 4300 4bbl with a Holley. Others would be Accel or Mallory distributors. GM cars had decent points-they'd go 6,000 rpm or so. Fords and Mopars? Theirs tended to "sign off" about 4,500 rpm and start to bounce. It was rare in the '70's to see a Mustang or Charger at the strip with a stock distributor. If you did, the guy had extra sets of points in his tooldbox! And they were usually aftermarket-like Accel. So be a little flexible when looking at a 40 or 50 year old car. A '69 Camaro with headers and traction bars and a 650 Holley on an Edelbrock Tarantula manifold is just as "right" today as was in 1971. A '60s or '70's 'Vette with headers and chrome sidepipes is just as cool today as it was in the early-'70's. Ditto for a Sun tach on the steering column or a set of Cragar S/S or American Racing Torq-Thrust mags. Much better than an LS motor, and 20 inch Center Lines!!  Just had to vent that. Mastermind  

More on adding options....

Here's something that purists need to get over-If someone puts Super Bee graphics on a 383 powered '69 Coronet-it doesn't reduce the value of a numbers-matching "real" Super Bee one ounce!!  No matter how many Cobra replicas Factory Five sells-guess what? A "real" 427 Cobra is still worth $250,000!!!  I say this because I was talking to a guy who loved the DKM "Macho" T/A's, but every one he located for sale was priced very high-$25,000+. I told him that's because DKM-based out of Mecham Pontiac in Arizona-only built 2-300 cars a year from '77-79. They are rare. However-I told him-you could buy one of the 93,000 T/A's sold in 1978 alone, and buy the stencils from Phoenix Graphics to duplicate the "Macho" paint scheme. Adding Hooker Headers and dual exhausts is easy, as would be re-jetting the Q-jet carb and maybe even adding a Performer intake. ( '75-79 Pontiac factory intakes have a restrictive throttle opening which limits power above 4,500 rpm. Switching to the factory '67-74 intake or an Edelbrock Performer offers a huge improvement-it will now pull hard to 5,700 rpm. ) As long as you don't try to sell it as DKM built car-( Dennis Mecham has all the vin numbers for people who want to authenticate a "Macho" ). What harm is done? The same goes for putting "Judge" graphics on a '69-'71 GTO. If you want to paint a '69 Mustang fastback like a "Boss 302" and use Trick Flow or Edelbrock "Cleveland" heads and the "E-Boss" intake to create a "Mock Boss 302"-who have you hurt? If you put a Hurst Dual / Gate shifter and Hurst / Olds graphics on a '72 Cutlass, does it affect the value of the 629 "real" H/O's built that year?  No!!!  So if you want to make you LeMans into a GTO clone or your Camaro into a Z/28 your not hurting anyone. Mastermind

You can add options to a car...

The last few posts I've talked about buying an already finished car and trying to find the options you want. Like I said before the chance of you finding a car with every single thing you desire is pretty slim. However-a lot of things can be easily changed. For example-if you have or want to buy a '60's GTO or Firebird, and you just "gotta have" the hood tach, that's a pretty easy add-on. Year One, NPD and other places sell them. Another one is a vinyl top. Whether you do or don't want one-it's a pretty simple process to add or remove one. Another is wheels. If your disco-era T/A has Rally II wheels and you want "Snowflakes" or vice-versa, Year One, Wheel Vintiques, and others can help. Ditto for Chevelles,Corvettes and Camaros and the various Rally wheels Chevy offered over the years. These companies also offer Chrysler Rallyes, and Magnum 500s that were used on various Ford,GM and Mopar offerings. Other stuff takes a little more work, but is not a major undertaking. For example if you want to add a "Six-Pack" setup to a Mopar-Edelbrock sells the manifold, Holley sells the carbs and Summitt and Mopar performance sell the air cleaner and throttle linkage. The whole setup will cost you about 2 grand-but with "real" six-pack cars getting almost as pricey as Hemis-it might behoove you to buy a 440 4bbl Charger or Road Runner,etc for 10-15K less money and then add the induction setup! Pontiac Tri-Power setups are all over the internet. A lot of companies sell front disc brake conversion kits for most popular cars. Summitt sells new steering boxes and power steering pumps for most popular bodies. So if you found your dream car except for the fact that it had drum brakes and manual steering-those are easy upgrades. ( If your a mechanic, and if your not, most shops wouldn't charge more than a couple hrs to do simple stuff like that ). A little harder, but not insurmountable is certain transmission swaps. For example, if your car has a 3-speed, and you want to swap in a 4-speed, it's pretty simple. For GM guys,most Saginaw or Borg-Warner 3-speeds are the same length and share a common rear trans mount with Saginaw, BW or Muncie 4-speeds. You wouldn't even have to shorten the driveshaft. Mopar 4-speeds and 3-speeds are usually the same length and have a common rear trans mount. If your GM car has a Powerglide or ST300-a TH350 is exactly the same length and shares a common rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke!! You could even use the stock shifter if you wanted to. ( You wouldn't be able to manually engage low gear, but with a good B&M or TransGo shift kit-you won't need to-the trans can be programmed to automatically downshift to low gear below 15-20 mph.)  And if you ever sell the car, most people would much rather have a 4-speed stick or 3-speed automatic than a 3 speed manual or 2-speed auto!! Why does everyone care so freakin' much what something will be worth if or when they sell it?? If your prospective buyer has to have a 2-speed "Powerslide" in a 396 Chevelle or 389 GTO instead of the "unoriginal" TH350-then let him change it back after he buys the car, and SLOW Down his 0-60 and 1/4 mile by 1/2 a second or more!!  The point I'm making is don't pass up a great deal on a great car because it doesn't have some easily added feature. Mastermind      

Sometimes you gotta grab what's there.....The old saying-"You snooze,you lose....

I talked in the last post about there being no "used car factory". Even knowing that, I have had many friends and customers over the years pass over great cars at reasonable prices and then regret it later. Why people do this, I don't know. But I knew a guy who wanted a '70's Trans-Am. He passed on a 400, 4-speed, T-topped '77 Formula at a dirt-cheap price-( the owner had multiple DUIs and needed the money for a lawyer to try to stay out of jail ) because it "wasn't a T/A".  He spent more money for a hardtop '79 403 Olds / TH350 T/A that he was disappointed in, and then bitched that he should have bought the Formula. I had no sympathy for him. "Yes, you should have bought that Formula, you dummy." I know another guy who wanted a '67-69 302 Z/ 28 Camaro. He found one a '68 model-and it was numbers-matching and gorgeous. And it was the color combination he wanted, a dream come true. He didn't buy it. Why? He started haggling with the owner over the price. He walked over $500. I said at the time-"Don't be an idiot." "You'll never find another one that nice that has everything you want." "And honestly-your not $5,000 apart-I could see that-but $500??"  "If you can afford $24,500 then you can afford $25,000!!!  No, his ego got the better of him, and he walked. And after looking at several more cars that were just as high priced or more and not as nice, or not equipped like he wanted-he sighs-"Damn you were right." "I should have bought that blue one." "In the scope of my whole life, what does $500 bucks matter?"  I'm not saying lay down and overpay for an overpriced car, but if something is exactly what you want, and you can afford it, why not get it? I'll never forget back in the '80's a guy I knew wanted a Datsun 240Z. He found one that was the color he wanted, everything, in good condition. The asking price was $3,000-all they were worth back then. He offered the guy $2,500. They haggled back and forth. The owner said he'd take 2,800. My friend offered him $2,650. The guy said no-2,800 take or leave it. He decides to walk-he tells me-"I'll call the guy back in a couple days-he'll take the $2,650." I tell him-"That's a nice car-it won't be here in a couple days." "If you want it, you better step up."  Before we get to the car-someone else walks up and hands the guy $3,000 cash and drives off in the car. My pal is devastated. I know it was mean, but I couldn't help it. "How's that $150 dollars you wanted to save looking now?"  "F&*k  you!" was the response. But he still didn't have the car. And he had to look for a several weeks before he bought one, that wasn't as nice as the one he let slip away.  Don't let that happen to you over a piddling amount of money. Mastermind        

There is no "Used Car Factory" to order from....You need to lower your sights a little if you want to find a car....

There is no "Used Car Factory" to order from. If your looking for a musclecar-the chance of you finding a 40 or 50 year old car with the exact engine, transmission, axle ratio,instrumentation, interior color, etc. is almost nil. You'd have a better chance of getting struck by lightning on the golf course. So when you hear some clown whining that they can't find their dream car, and they've been looking five years, blah,blah,blah-it's because they're too picky. I've touched on this before, but's it's worth going over again. I personally know several people who passed on very cool cars in good condition at fair prices because it wasn't "Exactly what they were looking for". These idiots are why I came up with the "There's no used car factory" line. Idiot # 1. Wanted a '68-70 GTO with the 400 / 4-speed powertrain. He passed on a nice 400 / 4-speed '68 model because it didn't have the hood tach or disc brakes. He passed on a gorgeous, loaded 455 powered '70 model because it was an automatic. When he turned up his nose at a gorgeous, triple white, 400 / 4-speed, '71 LeMans Sport CONVERTIBLE that was done like a Judge-"Because it's not a real GTO" I wanted to kill him.  Idiot # 2. Wanted a '70-'72 LT-1 powered Z / 28 Camaro. He passed up an unrestored, but exceptionally well maintained '70 model because it was an automatic. He passed up a nice 4-speed '71 model because it had headers on it and traction bars and Cragar mags-which made it "Unoriginal". Ugh! He also passed up a fantastic, all original 4-speed '73 model because it was an L82 ( which has a hydraulic cam, an iron intake and Q-Jet carb, instead of the LT1's solid cam, aluminum intake and 780 Holley!! )  As far as I know, this moron still hasn't found a Camaro up to his standards. Idiot # 3. Wanted a '68-'70 "Bullitt" / Dukes of Hazzard" Charger with a big block. He passed up a decent '69 model that had a KILLER 440 in it, Cragar mags and brand-new T/A radials, because the 440 wasn't "numbers-matching". He passed up a pristine, all original '68 models because it had bench seats and a two-barrel carb on the 383!!. He also passed up a 440 / Six Pack '70 model that should have been on the cover of Hot Rod magazine because the 440 wasn't numbers matching. Idiot # 4. Wanted a '65-68 Shelby Mustang, preferably a GT350 or GT500. He passed on a gorgeous'68 390 GT done in "Bullitt" style-highland green paint and Torq-Thrust mags-becsuse "Its not a Shelby". He also passed on a '66 GT with the 225 hp 289, the rally pac guages, the pony interior,factory air, factory front disc brakes, and the "California Megaphone" exhaust with date-coded mufflers intact- for $2,300!!!!!  Because "It's still not a Shelby". I wanted to slap him.  I'm not even a Ford guy and I bought the damn thing and sold it for a tidy profit a few months later. The point I'm trying to make is realize a good deal when you see it, and snap it up!!  Mastermind  

Get the damn car you want....Even if you have to pay more for it or search longer...

Like I said in the last post, I blame the buff magazines for a lot of the grief unsuspecting car enthusiasts get themselves into. Hot Rod, Car Craft, Popular Hot Rodding, Truckin', all of them do it. Every month they have at least one article, and sometimes several saying how "Easy" it is to swap engines, transmissions, install dropped spindles or convert a car from drum to disc brakes, etc, etc. If your a professional mechanic working in a state-of-the-art shop and have $20,000 worth of your own tools, and access to two post lifts,engine hoists, transmission jacks, frame jigs, welding equipment / cutting torches, alignment machines, brake lathes, etc-yeah you can do pretty much anything with a minimum of hassle. But for "Joe Average" who's not a mechanic and has only basic hand tools-have you ever tried to change a clutch in your driveway? It's a bastard, and that's if your just replacing the disc, pressure plate and throwout bearing on say-a '73 Firebird with stock replacement parts. Have you ever tried to hold up a Muncie 4-speed while laying flat on your back, while your buddy tries to stab the input shaft into the bellhousing? Not fun, or easy. And that's a simple "R&R"-remove and replace, don't get me started on switching from a 4-speed to a 5-speed, or from a stick to an automatic. That's why I'm telling people don't fall into the trap set by the buff magazines. If you want a big-block Chevelle-then step up and buy one. Don't buy a small-block Malibu with the intention of "I'll just drop a Rat Motor in it next summer." Really? First off where are you going to get the "Rat" motor? Junkyards want $1,500+ for 454 "cores" out of '80's trucks that need to be rebuilt. You'll top 5K easy buying and building a "junkyard" Rat. Not me, you say-GMPP's 454HO crate engine that has 425 hp and 500 lbs ft of torque starts at $5995. Right there-depending on the purchase price of your small-block Malibu-I bet another 6-grand could have gotten you a decent SS396!!  But wait-theres more-you've spent six grand for the engine. Now what about a starter, alternator, water pump, power steering pump, fuel pump, all the belts and pulleys and hoses? What about a bigger radiator to cool it? Different front springs to support the additional weight of the big-block. With a good shift kit and proper cooler a TH350 will probably hold up for thousands of miles of daily driving-but if your going to seriously drag race the car even once a month, or put nitrous on it, or just upgrade the cam and heads-to get 500 hp-eventually it's going to break-and then you'll need to upgrade to a TH400. Which means a different crossmember, different rear trans mount,different driveshaft yoke and U-joint,different kickdown linkage,different torque converter. And that's on a Chevy-which is the easiest and has the most interchangeable parts line. God help you if your buying a Ford or a Mopar. I'm not slamming Fords and Chryslers-I'm just stating an irrefutable fact. Let's say just like the above mentioned Chevelle enthusiast-you get a great deal on a 318 powered '71 Challenger-because your going to "drop" a 440 into it. Well guess what?  First thing you'll need is a big-block front crossmember. That's right "A" and "B / RB" engines have a totally different front crossmember. Mopar Performance and Summitt Racing sell them-but it's a pretty big job to change them-better done in a body shop than your driveway. Your also going to need a bigger radiator, heavier front springs, and if you want the car to handle properly-big-block Torsion bars. Basically upgrading the whole front suspension. Chances are the 318 model has 4-wheel drum brakes. Your going to put a 500 hp engine in a car with drum brakes? There's more expense for a front disc brake conversion.  And where are you going to find a complete, from carb to oil pan 440? They've been out of production since 1978. You'll just buy a Mopar Performance 505 Wedge Crate engine? Ok, thats 10 grand.  And guess what? The 904 Torqueflite won't bolt up to or stand up to a 440 / 505. You need to buy a 727 Torqeflite and different trans crossmember, and probably have a custom driveshaft built. And if your going to lean on it-the 81/4 rear end won't hold up. You'll need to upgrade to at least an 8 3/4-and if your changing it anyway, you might as well get a Dana 60. Not cheap. by the time you get done with the suspension, brakes, tranny change and crate motor-you'll rack up a 15K bill easily-and that's in just parts, if you can do the labor yourself.  Again-depending on the purchase price of the 318 model-I'll bet an extra 15k would have easily gotten you a decent 383 or 440 Challenger / Cuda if you looked hard enough. Fords are even worse. A 351W has a different bellhousing bolt-pattern than a 351C. And their different from a 390 / 428, which is different from a 429 / 460!!  So just thinking you'll buy a C6 from B&M or TCI-is not that simple!!  All the tin and accessories are model specific. So-unlike you GM guys who can take a 350 out of a '78 Chevy C10 and drop it in a '72 Camaro, or take a 400 out of a '71 Catalina and drop it in a '77 T/A and not even change the belts-you'll committ hari-kari with a Ford. That's because a 390 in a pickup has a different oil pan, water pump, power steering pump, fuel pump, and alternator, and exhaust manifolds than a 390 out of a Mustang, and the Mustang and the pickup engine are different than a 390 from an LTD, which is different from a 390 in a T-Bird!!  So-the best thing to do is search for the damn car you want, within reason-Don't be an idiot like a guy I knew who passed up a one-owner, contantly garaged, low-mileage, pristine, little old lady owned since new '68 Charger because it had a bench seat and a two-barrel carb on the 383!!!  An Edelbrock Performer intake and matching carb is what-$600 bucks and a couple hours to change,even in your driveway!!  And if he just HAD to have bucket seats and a console-I think Year One could have helped!!!  Dumb ass!!!  Hope this helps everyone out. Mastermind                

There's nothing wrong with buying an already finished car....

So many people talk about buying and building their dream car. However-90% of these people are not bodymen or mechanics by trade. The chances of "Joe Average" being able to do a frame-off restoration or even just an engine and tranny swap properly are almost nil. The buff magazines are to blame for a lot of this. They constantly talk about how "easy" it is to swap engines or transmissions. Really? How many people have actually pulled an engine out of a car, disassembled it, rebuilt it, and put it back in the car, and had it fire right up and run perfectly?  And that's if you took, say the 350 out of your Chevy truck and put it back in! Don't get me started on swtiching from a small-block to a big block, or swapping a stick for an automatic, etc. Truckin' magazine is a big offender here. They had an article on someone restoring a '55 Ford F100. The guy was doing what "restifiers" ( restore / modify ) have been doing with these trucks for years-using a '74-78 Mustang II front clip. Which gives you front disc brakes and power rack&pinion steering, and motor mounts for a modern 302 / 351W.  Ford guys hate it, but I have also seen these trucks with a Camaro or Chevelle front clip-and a 427 or 454 Chevy Rat Motor under the hood. Again they said how "Easy" it was to put modern steering and brakes on a 60 year old truck. Really? How many people have the garage space and the tools and welding equipment and the skill to actually cut the old frame off the truck at the firewall, cut the subframe off the donor Mustang or Camaro and then weld it onto the truck perfectly straight?  See what I'm saying?  Also avoid engineless cars. And I'm not just talking about a Boss 302 Mustang or a Hemi 'Cuda. Say you buy a '69 Road Runner or a '69 GTO without an engine. Where are you going to find a 383 or 440 Chrysler engine. or a 400 Pontiac?  The 383 has been out of production since 1971 and the 440 since 1978. The last 400 Pontiac was built in November 1977. ( L78 400s were stockpiled for '78-79 Trans-Ams. ) Where are you going to find a complete, running, or at least rebuildable engine that's 38 years old or older??  I know-everyone knows a guy who has one. ( I have a 428 Pontiac in my garage that I took out of a '69 Gran Prix. ) Ok-this friend of a friend sells you a 383 Mopar or 400 Pontiac block. Your going to run Edelbrock heads on it anyway. Fine and dandy. Pray tell-where are you going to get an oil pan, timing cover,valve covers, distributor, intake manifold, carburator, exhaust manifolds or headers,a water pump, a fuel pump,a power steering pump. a starter, an alternator, all the brakcets to mount those accessories, the bolts and nuts, a radiator, hoses, belts etc?  Sure you can probably buy all that stuff-but it gets expensive. And that's on something as generic as a Small-block Chevy or a 302 Ford or 400 Pontiac. God help you if your trying to chase down alternator and power steering pump brackets for a 401 AMC Javelin, or a 428 Thunderbird or a 455 Olds 442. Trust me-it's nice to have all that stuff already on the engine. With most competent shops charging $100 per hour or more-if your not a mechanic and the car needs major work-you can rack up a $10,000 or $20,000 bill pretty quick-and that's not including the purchase price of the car. For a lot of people they'd be better off both financially and in terms of not pulling their hair out in frustration by just buying an already finished car. This past Hot August Nights-yes-I lamented that I didn't see any Hemi Superbirds or Thunderbolt Fairlanes or Boss 429s or Super Duty Catalinas. But barring ultra-rare stuff like that-I saw tons of Mustangs, Camaros, GTOs, 396 Chevelles, Chargers, Challengers,Firebirds, etc that were really nice and had "For Sale" signs on them. If I could have swung a personal loan-( dammitt! I couldn't ) I'd have bought a nice '69 GTO done in Judge style.  ( It was a for-real GTO, it just wasn't an original Judge. Regardless of paint scheme-it was a screaming deal for $16,000!!! ). There's tons of stuff like that out there if you look past the end of your nose. There's no shame in saying that you bought something really cool already done. It doesn't make it less cool that you didn't build it from the ground up!!  Mastermind        

Fine Lines: 1961-71 Ford Thunderbird....

1961-71 Ford Thunderbirds are great drivers and good performers. While the Pontiac Gran Prix and Chevy Monte Carlo and others blossomed in the '70's, the T-Bird was the original personal luxury / performance car. 1961-63 was the "Bullet Bird"-so nicknamed because the tailfin / taillight assembly looked like-well a bullet. Even 55 years later, they are still a good looking car. And with 390 cubes under the hood, they moved pretty good too. Steven Seagal drove one in the action flick "Hard to Kill," and Paul Walker of "Fast&Furious" fame drove one in "The Skulls". 1964 brought a complete restyling and I personally think this is the least attractive of the '60's T-Birds. This the "Thelma&Louise" style-Susan Sarandon drove one in that movie. They had 390 or 428 cubes under the hood. This style ran through '66. In 1967 they were restyled again. I think the '67-69 T-Bird is one of the best-looking cars Ford ever produced. They had hidden headlights and a slick body that was remarkably devoid of chrome or doo-dads. I like the 2 dr coupes best, but they also offered a 4-door model with "Suicide doors" that has kind of a cult following. You can't go wrong either way. the 390 was standard, with the 428 optional. In 1968 the 429 was introduced. This was much more modern design that the "FE" 390 / 428s. It was also the base for Ford's Nascar efforts. 1969 was pretty much a carryover year. 1970 brought another restyling and these were great looking cars too with a swoopy, Nascar-inspired body. This was also when American car makers started to care about handling-so they had big front and rear sway bars and handled surprisingly well for a big car. And with a 375 hp 429 under the hood, they moved good too. '71 was the same escept for a few new colors. These were the last of the performance T-Birds until the Supercharged 1989 model. For some insane reason Ford restyled the T-Bird in 1972, and put it on the much heavier and uglier Lincoln MKIV platform. Even with 460 cubes under the hood-they were just too heavy to be anything other than slugs. If you want a cool, good performing vintage ride, a '61-71 T-Bird is hard to beat. Mastermind