Cheap Customizing is getting to be a lost art....

When I was younger a lot of "Do it Yourself" guys modified their cars and not always with conventional speed parts. Often we found stuff in Junkyards that really improved a cars performance. The Hollander Interchange Manual-the "Bible" that Junkyards use to know which parts interchange and fit different models was an invaluable tool. I've said it before-but I get sick of every magazine project car getting a custom Currie-built 9 inch Ford rear end and Wildwood or Brembo 4-wheel disc brake system worthy of a NASCAR racer, and Rack&Pinion steering, etc. I'm all for improving handling and stopping power,but we didn't do it by writing big checks. A buddy of mine had a '65 GTO that was really fast with a warmed over 421. However we all know the 9.5 inch drum brakes were woefully inadequate, and they weren't super handlers. He used '70's Firebird spindles-which will fit '60's and '70's "A" bodys-as well as the 11" rotors,calipers,booster and master cylinder. He now had the braking power of a '70's Trans-Am. He also installed front and rear stabilizer bars from the donor 'Bird, and used the "quick ratio" power steering box off an '80's WS6 T/A. It had a 12.7:1 ratio-which is even quicker than the 14:1 of '70's T/A's and way better than the 17.5:1 of a '65 GTO. This steering box will fit all GM "A", "F", and "G" bodies from 1964-1987. With Junkyard parts he made a '65 GTO into a corner carver that could challenge Corvettes and Porsches in the twisties as well as in a drag race. Another friend had a '69 Nova that he did in Trans-Am style-'60's SCCA racing style. Since anything that fits a Camaro or Firebird will fit the "X" bodies-Nova, Ventura, Omega, etc-it was easy. He used the sway bars from a '78 Z/28 Camaro and the disc-braked posi rear end from an '81 T/A. Another guy built an 12 second '72 Nova drag racer / street machine for peanuts that was originally a six-cylinder / 3-speed car. He found that a '70 Cougar uses a 9 inch Ford rearend-and that it's the same width and the multi-leaf springs are in the same place as the weak GM unit with monoleaf springs. It was practically a bolt-in,and eliminated any chance of axle breakage and wheel hop. He swapped the Saginaw 3-speed for a Saginaw 4-speed out of a '77 Vega. ( They are exactly the same length and use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke ) These had a 3.11 1st gear ratio and a 2.02 second which really helped it rocket out off the line. The 350 he built used 58cc '81-86 305 heads-which bumped compression from 8.2:1 to about 9.7:1. He used the old "350hp" 327 cam and a used Edelbrock Scorpion intake and a 750 Holley, along with some used Hooker headers. With drag radials it ripped of a string of 12.40s with a best of 12.24. He had $3,500 in the car-including it's $850 purchase price. Even by '80's dollars-that was remarkably cheap. I knew another guy who built a V8 Pinto. The 302, C4 tranny and 8 inch rear end came out of a Maverick that had a front-end collision. The Maverick rear was an exact bolt-in, and was obviously much tougher than the Pinto unit. I had previously mentioned a couple guys who had hot rod '53-56 Ford F100s. The one guy infuriated Ford Purists-he used a Chevelle front clip-which allowed him to have modern power steering and front disc brakes-and install a stompin' 427 Chevy backed by a TH400. This truck was seriously quick. The other guy stuck with Ford stuff-using the front disc brakes and rack&pinion steering from a Mustang II as well as the 302 / C4 combo. It wasn't as fast as the Rat-Powered one, but it was a really nice cruiser. A couple guys built Cadillac-powered hot rods cheaply. One stuffed a 500 inch Cadillac V8 into an '81 Firebird. The other guy put a 472 Cad V8 into a '78 Buick Regal. Both were seriously fast for very low bucks. Another guy I knew put a 350 V8 into a Chevy LUV pickup that was brutally quick. The point I'm making is magazines used to feature stuff like that that regular guys built in their driveways. Now it's all megabuck stuff. Yes, guys like Boyd Coddington and Troy Trepainer are undeniably talented, and the cars they build are way cool. But I think it's much cooler for a young man or an old one-to scour boneyards and do research and build something cool on a tight budget than it is to just write a big check and polish your new trophy. I'd like to see the mags feature an old Falcon or Maverick done in '70's Pro Stock style or a '60's Olds or Pontiac done in Nascar style. Instead of another old Mustang with a Coyote or Camaro with an LS engine or a Charger with an SRT8 Hemi, and a DSE subframe and rack&pinion steering, and 4-wheel discs...please, no more. So pass on your knowledge to your sons and daughters so grassroots hot-rodding stays alive. Mastermind