Just because something is possible, doesn't mean you should attempt it....

I get people asking me all the time about wild combinations they read about in the buff magazines. Some are feasible, some are not. What kills me is the "Catch 22" of it. The people who are interested in these projects are not professional mechanics by trade, and have very little knowledge of cars in general. A professional mechanic would know not to attempt such a difficult endeavor. Here's an example. Some guy had read an article where a guy used a 350 Olds Diesel block ( they are much beefier than the gas models ) with a custom crank, Buick rods, custom pistons, etc that was bored and stroked to 440 inches. It also used 455 Olds heads, a custom ported Edelbrock RPM intake, a small-block Chevy type valvetrain etc. He wanted to know how much trouble it would be to duplicate this effort. More than it would be worth in both time and dollars I said. First off-if you want a big-inch Olds engine just buy a 425 or 455. They were used in virtually every model from 1965-76 and there is great aftermarket support. Secondly, rather than stroke out a 350-you could buy a 400-that was used from 1965-69, or you could use a 403. Even though they were only used from 1977-79-there are millions of them in Buick Rivieras, Park Avenues, and Electras, Olds 88s and 98s, Cutlasses and big BOP wagons, as well as Pontiac Bonnevilles and Catalinas, and Trans-Am and Formula Firebirds. Whether you hopped up a 403-which anything that fits a 350 Olds fits a 403-Edelbrock claims 397 hp on the 350 Performer RPM package-53 more cubes would definitely put you well over 400 hp, or the "old-school" 400-425-455-either one would be much cheaper and easier to build, and probably make as much or more power than a stroked out 350 diesel with a bunch of custom, expensive, one-off parts. Something isn't cooler just because it's hard to do. It's possible to put a 460 into a Fox Mustang, but why? I know guys that are running 10s and 11s with 302s or 347s ( 302 with a stroker crank ). Is a 460 swap going to go faster than that? Probably not, and we know it's going to cost way more, and be a ton of hassle to do. So why do it?  I touched on these before-but here's two more examples of people wanting to take the path of MOST resistance. The one guy was thinking of buying his neighbor's pristine, low-mileage '89 Mustang. It was a 4-banger model. He asked about swapping in a 302. I told him to just go buy a "5.0" Mustang. Their plentiful. Swapping a V8 into a 4-cylinder model would be a nightmare. The number of parts you'd have to chase down is staggering. Again-it's just easier-go buy a Mustang that has a 302 in it from the factory. I have seen rough-but-running examples as low as $1,200 and anything over $2,500 is usually pretty nice. Then he asks about turbocharging the 4-cylinder. Same deal-I told him to find an '84-86 SVO Mustang. These had Recaro seats,4-wheel disc brakes, upgraded suspension,50-series tires on 16" wheels and a Turbocharged 2.3 liter 4-cylinder engine with between 175 and 205 hp depending on years. Trying to turbo a stock 2.3 with aftermarket parts would be major-league expensive and probably wouldn't be as fast or reliable as a warmed-over "5.0".  The other guy had a '79 Trans-Am with a 403 Olds / TH350 powertrain. He asked how much trouble it would be to convert it to a 4-speed. Too much. I said. I recommended he sell the car and look for another 70's-era T/A or Formula Firebird with the 400 Pontiac / 4-speed combo from the factory. "No, really?" he asked. "No, really." I answered. Besides chasing down the clutch linkage and all the pedals, the shift linkage, the crossmember,the transmission, and the bellhousing, the main problem is GM never offered the 403 in any GM car with a manual transmission. Where is he going to get a flywheel? No one offers an aftermarket manual-trans flywheel for a 403!!  He could probably use a 350 Olds flywheel, but GM hasn't built a car with a 350 Olds engine and a manual transmission since 1974!!  Where are you going to find a usable, 45 year old flywheel?  I had a similar conversation with a guy who had an L98 350 / TH700R4 IROC-Z.  His buddy had an LB9 305 / 5-speed Z / 28. The IROC was faster in a drag race but the stick Z/28 was more fun to drive. He asked what it would take to convert the IROC to a 5-speed. I told him just sell the car and use the money to buy a nice LB9 or L69 / 5-speed Z/28 or T/A / Formula Firebird. I said putting an Edelbrock Performer Intake and matching cam on the carburated L69 would bring the hp up to or beyond the L98's.  For an LB9 model I suggested a 160 thermostat and a fan switch that turned the fan on at 185 instead of 220 would help immensely. I also suggested a larger throttle body, and Edelbrock's ported baseplate and TPI runners. These mods would bump the LB9's power level from 215 hp past the L98's 240 easily.  Yes the parts are readily available to do the change-over in junkyards or the aftermarket-but honestly-do you really want to chase down the trans, the bellhousing, the flywheel, the clutch, the linkage, the pedals, the shift linkage, cut a hole in the floor for the shifter, adapt a new neutral safety switch, etc, etc?  Wouldn't it be easier to just buy a car with a 5-speed already in it? Like I said minor, relatively inexpensive upgrades would bump the 305's power up to the 350's level.  In fact-if he just "HAD" to have a 350 / 5-speed combo-swapping a 350 for a 305 is an absolute bolt-in. Certainly a lot easier than swapping a TH700R4 for a T5!!   A couple of "G" body owners didn't like my suggestions either. One had an '84 Buick Regal. He wanted to swap in a 455 Buick. It's possible-I said. But since his car was powered by a 307 Olds V8, I said a 403 Olds would be a bolt-in swap. The nearly 100 extra cubes would certainly be an instant power and torque infusion, and that's if the 403 was bone-stock. If he used some headers and an Edelbrock intake and matching cam, he'd have a combo that would really rip on the street. The last 455 Buick rolled off the assembly line in 1976-43 years ago. Even if you find a running or rebuildable one-you have to chase all the tin and the brackets to mount the alternator, power steering pump, etc. The 403 would be so much easier and cheaper, and probably just as quick. The 2nd guy had an '85 Pontiac Gran Prix and wanted to convert it back to "real" Pontiac power. Since it had a 305 Chevy under the hood-the easiest path to big power would be to bolt in a 350 or 383 Chevy. Besides chasing down a 400 Pontiac-which have been out of production since 1977-and all the brackets,accesories, etc-since Chevy engines have a different bellhousing bolt-pattern than BOP engines, you'd also need a new transmission. And is a 400 Pontiac going to run any stronger than a well-built 350 or 383 Chevy?  No. The cost vs gain just doesn't add up. So think carefully before you take on some "easy" project. Yes manned space flight is possible-but it isn't cheap or easy!  Mastermind                      

The "Other" 350s re-visited.....

While the big-block cars get all the press and people fight with machetes to buy them, the fact remains that there are hundreds of thousands of  LeMans, Firebird, Ventura, Cutlass,Omega, and Skylark,and Regal models out there built from 1968-77 that have 350 cubes under the hood. If you have or want to buy one of these cars don't despair. If your buying one to swap a 455 into, then by all means do it; but if your not planning an engine swap these "other" i.e.-non-Chevrolet 350s can be made to run to pretty damn good. Good enough that you'll surprise some smug big-block owners in a drag race. # 1. 350 Olds. Out of the BOP ( Buick , Olds, Pontiac ) 350s the Olds engine has the most potential. The reasons are two-fold-one their a large-bore, short stroke design. Two-there was a factory high-performance version-the fire-breathing W31. Olds 350s respond well to basic hot rod tricks-4bbl carb and intake, headers and dual exhausts, cam upgrades. If you have a heavy car with an automatic-most '70's Cutlasses-you want to go for maximum torque. That means 1 5/8 headers and a dual-plane intake like the Edelbrock Performer. I'd also use the matching Performer cam. This simple combo will make more than 350 lbs of torque from idle on up which will give you some great street performance. I'd also change axle ratios. Most '70's Cutlasses had 2.56:1 or 2.73:1 gears which is not conducive to good acceleration. I switch to something in the 3.23:1-3.42:1 range. This will give you a huge boost in 0-60 and 1/4 mile acceleration without hurting drivability or freeway cruising rpm too much. If you want a wilder combination-dig for '68-72 heads. These have 70cc combustion chambers which will give you a full one point boost in compression over later 83cc heads. On '75 and later blocks you'll have to re-tap the bolt holes in the heads to change from 7/16 to 1/2 inch bolts. Not a big deal. I'd use the Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, or if you can find one-( they've been out of production for years ) a single-plane Holley Street Dominator. ( I had one on a 403 Olds T/A and it really woke it up ). The vaunted W31 had a cam with 308 ( 232@.050 ) duration and .474 lift. It was so lumpy that W31s were only available with a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears, and couldn't be ordered with power brakes because the engine didn't make enough vacuum to operate them! This is because the Olds engineers took the cam out of the 400 /455 Ram Air engines. Plus you have to realize this cam is cut on 1966 profiles and is not computer optimized. If you "gotta have" it-and have a stick or an automatic with a 2,800 rpm converter and are using 3.73:1 or 4.10:1 gears-it will run like a scalded cat. But your giving up quite a bit of low-end and mid-range torque for top-end rush. The cam I like better is made by both Lunati and Edelbrock. It has 224 / 234 duration ( @.050 ) and .496 / 520 lift. You'll need some roller rockers and different pushrods but Harland Sharp has you covered, and Crane and Comp Cams also sell adjustable rockers for Olds engines. You'll still need a 2,500 rpm converter and 3.42:1 or 3.73:1 gears, but this cam makes 11 inches of vacuum at idle and has a lot more low and mid-range torque than the factory W31 cam, yet still pulls hard to 6,000 rpm and beyond. Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs ft of torque with this combination. 400 hp will make any street car an absolute rocket. There are people who go wilder than this-using factory or Edelbrock 455 heads, custom domed pistons, and a custom ported intake, etc-but to them my question is this-If you need more than 400 hp and 400 lbs of torque, and have that much money, why aren't you building a 455 instead of a 350?  # 2. 350 Pontiac. 350 Pontiacs respond well to 4bbl carb and intake, headers and dual exhausts, mild cam,etc. I'd recommend either a factory '67-72 intake or an Edelbrock Performer or the old P4B if you run across one at a swap meet. For cams the Edelbrock Performer grind is great as is the factory "068" cam which Crane, Comp Cams, Lunati and others make exact replicas of. Again-most '70's LeMans, Firebirds and Venturas are going to have salt-flats gearing; swap the 2.56:1s for something in the 3.23:1-3.73:1 range for a stunning improvement in acceleration. These simple mods will give you 325-350 hp and 400 lbs of torque. You simply amplified what the factory did-made big torque at low rpm. If you need more than that then you need a 400 or 455, period. The limiting factor is the 350 is a small-bore design. The big-valve high-performance heads used on the 400 and 455 engines necessary for big power can't be used because the valves will hit the block. Some people will talk about releiving the block to clear the big heads, but why?  If you need that much power then just build a 400 or 455.  # 3. 350 Buick. The Buick is last for two reasons-one-unlike it's Pontiac and Olds cousins-there was never a factory high-performance version. Two-there is very little aftermarket support. Edelbrock doesn't even make a manifold for them, and they make manifolds for everything-including 472-500 Cadillacs, Flathead Fords, Hondas, LS motors, everything. There's just no parts available. There is one company called TA performance-don't ask me why-they don't make Pontiac parts-they do Buicks-and they offer aluminum intakes, cams, headers etc for 350 Buicks. You can make 290-340 hp and 375-400 lbs of torque pretty easily with parts from TA. Beyond that you'll need a 400-430-455-which Edelbrock, Crane, Comp Cams, Hooker, and many other companies DO make parts for!!  Hope this helps the owners of the "other" 350s out.  Mastermind            

A "Pure Stock" Small-Block Chevy....

As promised in the previous post today we'll talk about building a small-block Chevy to run in the Pure Stock drags. There's only 3 displacements that you can run. ( Unless you have a '76 El Camino with a 400 ).  These will be 302, 327 and 350. These are all easily doable with a 350 block, as they all have the same 4.00 inch bore size. GMPP, Eagle, Lunati and other companies sell cranks with 3.00, 3.25 and 3.48 inch strokes to get your desired displacement. TRW sells the proper pistons. Every one has a list of "gotta haves" when talking about the SBC. 4-bolt mains, forged cranks, "Pink" rods, screw in studs, etc. Yes, if your building a NASCAR Nextel Cup racer that has to go 7,800 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona, you need all the beef you can get. For a street machine that only sees weekend trips to the drags, you don't need any of that stuff. Seriously. Two bolt main blocks are fine. Cast cranks are fine as long as rpms don't go over 7,000. I have seen guys run 2-bolt mains, cast cranks and cast pistons for 2 whole seasons in an IMCA race car without a rebuild or a single problem, and these roundy-round racers are far more abused than your car will be. As for rods-the stock rods are bulletproof, especially if rpms are kept under 6,500. Stock length is 5.7 inches. Many Nascar builders run 6.0 inch rods with custom pistons. You can do this if you want some extra torque in the mid-range, and your getting new pistons anyway. If your re-using the old pistons, then save the money for other parts that offer a bigger bang for the buck. # 2. Cylinder heads. There's three types of heads I recommend. The first is simply use the heads that came on the engine. Here's why. Some people diffentriate between "standard" and "Hi-performance" heads. Standard heads have 1.94 intake valves and 1.50 exhaust valves and pressed in rocker studs. Hi-perf heads have 2.02 / 1.60 valves and screw-in studs. But here's the kicker-both heads have the exact same size intake and exhaust ports. Any competent machine shop can install the larger valves in standard heads for a minimal fee, as well as screw-in studs if you want some extra beef.  Which you don't need. My friends and I have drag raced and circle-track raced Small-block Chevys for 40+ years and I have NEVER seen a stud pull out of a head.  The 2nd one is '81-86 305 "smog" heads. These have 1.84 intakes and 1.50 exhaust valves. However-their 58cc combustion chambers will bump compression on the average 350 from 8.2:1 to about 9.6:1 when replacing 76cc heads. The large boost in hp and torque from the extra compression will more than offset the slight loss of airflow from the smaller intake valve, or any machine shop can install 1.94 valves easily and cheaply. The third type is 1996-2003 "Vortec" heads. You can buy a set of brand-new Vortec heads from Scoggin-Dickey for $700. This is a screaming deal, because most machine shops would charge nearly that much to re-condition your old heads, and they probably couldn't duplicate the trick valve job that the GM factory puts on the new heads. Vortecs breathe better than other factory head and many aftermarket ones. Their 64cc combustion chambers will bump compression one full point over 76cc heads. All these features make this a 25-40 hp bolt-on. You will need a Vortec bolt pattern intake. GMPP offers a replica of the original Z/28 / LT-1 intake in cast iron in standard and Vortec bolt patterns. This manifold makes power from idle-7,200 rpm. It is almost impossible to out-power this manifold. It's also available in aluminum if your restoring a Z/28 or LT-1 'Vette or just building the motor to those specs. Stock class rules say the intake has to be the original "type"-which means either Iron or Aluminum depending on what model you have, or are claiming to clone. Carb choices are limited to two. If your doing a Z/28 / LT-1-you can use a #3310 780 cfm Holley.  Everything else will require a Quadrajet. Luckily-the GMPP manifold is a spread-bore bolt pattern and will accept either carb without need for an adapter. # 3. Cam. The cam I recommend for this application is the Comp Cams 270H Magnum. It has 224 / 224 duration ( @.050 ) and .470 lift. It will be a little lumpy in a 302, better in a 327, and really sweet in a 350. It pulls hard from idle-6.500 rpm. I'd only use it with a stick in a 302. With a 327 / 350 it will work with an automatic and a stock torque converter. However it will launch better if you have a 2,000-2,400 rpm converter. Crane, Comp Cams, and Lunati all offer exact replicas of the original Z/28 / LT-1 solid-lifter cam if you want to use it. However-the hydraulic Magnum cam works so well and is so maintenance-free that I don't think spending the time and money to switch to a solid-lifter design is worth the extra money or the time needed to constantly adjust valve lash settings. The other hydraulic design I recommend is sold by GMPP and Crane. It's an exact replica of the "350 hp" L46 / L82 cam. It has 222 duration (@.050 ) and .450 / .460 lift. It pulls hard from idle to 6,000 rpm and works great even with an automatic and a stock converter.     # 4. Exhaust. Since many circle-track classes require iron exhaust manifolds, there are several companies that offer ported and extrude-honed Iron manifolds for small-block Chevys. Most are ported reproductions of the classic "Ram's Horn" '60's 'Vette style-but they work almost as well as steel tube headers. Use at least 2 1 /4 inch pipes and low-restriction mufflers.  # 5. Gearing. Use 4.10:1 gears. This ratio will cover a 302's lack of low-end torque ( there's a reason '67-'69 Z/28's were only available with a 4-speed and 3.73:1 or 4.10:1 gears ) and get it moving with alarcity, and will give a 327 /350 some serious mid-range and top-end pull through 2nd,3rd and 4th. ( Or 2nd and 3rd if your running a TH350 ). Depending on car weight-obviously a Nova will be quicker than a Chevelle, or a 'Vette quicker than a Camaro-this combo should run very low 13s to mid-12s depending on traction and driver skill, and will cost very little to build, and will be bulletproof dependable.  Mastermind

More tips for building a Pure Stock champ....

I said in the last post that I'd go in depth on building a Pure Stock contender. Since every engine line is different we'll have to concentrate on a specific motor. I've always been a Pontiac guy so I'll use a Pontiac as an example. I have also built many Chevys, Fords, Mopars and Oldsmobiles over the years, and if folks want advice on those I can certainly do posts about those engine lines. Anyhow-I'll use the Pontiac as our test mule. Since the 400 was used in virtually every model from 1967-78 these will be the most plentiful and chances are whether your running a LeMans, GTO, Firebird, Trans-Am or Gran Prix, this is the engine your car came with anyway. # 1. Bottom end. Most stock class rules say the engine has to be within 15 cubic inches of stock. Since a 400 Pontiac is actually 401 inches, you can build a 416. Eagle, Butler, Kauffman and other places offer Pontiac cranks in nodular Iron, cast steel and forged steel. They also offer various stroke lengths as well. Since Pontiacs are not high-revvers-were going to accentuate what the factory did, which is make big hp and torque at low rpm. Even though were technically building a race car-were going to redline it at 6,200 rpm for reliability. At that redline a stock crank or a cast steel one will work just fine. Well use one with a 3.79 inch stroke. This is slightly longer than stock which is 3.75. This coupled with a .030 or .040 overbore will give you 412-415 inches. Stock Pontiac rods are 6.675 inches. Eagle sells 6.8 inch rods for Pontiacs and Ross and TRW sell pistons to work with the longer rods. The extra stroke and longer rods will boost torque all through the range. This is why small-block Chevy NASCAR racers have used 6 inch rods for years. ( Stock is 5.7 ). Use a stock-type ( TRW, Melling ) replacement oil pump. # 2. Heads. Pontiacs run best with flat-top pistons and high-compression heads. If you have a 1970 or earlier engine with 72cc combustion chambers, your all set. this will give you about 10:1 on a 400. 1971 and later engines have much larger combustion chambers which dropped the compression. Any other time I would say use the Excellent Edelbrock Performer RPM heads with 72cc chambers. Most stock classes don't allow aluminum heads, you have to use iron. If you can't find some early heads-#670, 46,48 etc. the next best thing is the "6X" "smog" heads used on 350s and 400s from 1976-79. These actually breathe better than any factory head except the vaunted 1969-70 RAIV and '71-72 455HO heads. Pontiac heads can be milled as much as .060 inch to raise compression. ( You have to shave the intake side as well so the manifold will fit properly ). Using milled 6X's and flat tops will give you about 9.7:1 compression, which will be enough, because Pontiacs love a lot of timing. # 3. Cam. Most stock classes only stipulate that the cam has to be the original "type". In other words if the car had a hydraulic cam stock, then you have to run a hydraulic cam, you can't switch to a solid-lifter cam or a roller. However there's no real limits on lift or duration. I like one that Crane makes. It has 232 / 242 duration ( @.050 ) and .473 / .488 lift. It's a hair hotter than the factory RAIV ( 231 /240 and .470 ). It works great with a stick. If your running an automatic I like the Edelbrock Torker Cam. It has 224 / 234 duration ( @.050 ) and .465 / 488 lift. The slightly less duration gives it a better idle and allows it to work with a stock torque converter. Pontiacs make so much bottom-end torque that if you use a torque converter with more than 2,500 rpm stall speed, you'll just blow the tires off.  Since Pontiac heads ( exceptions are Edelbrocks or RAIV's ) don't breathe much over about .480 lift-you don't need a .600 lift cam. With a Pontiac, less is more. Either of these cams will pull hard from idle-5,800-6,200 rpm, which should be your shift point anyway. # 4. Induction. Most stock classes say the intake has to be the original type. With this rule-you could say your building an RAIV spec car. ( RAIV's and 455HO's had aluminum high-rise intakes from the factory ). If they allow this-Ames, NPD and other companies offer reproduction aluminum RAIV intakes. If the rules say the intake has to be Iron, don't despair. Pontiac Iron intakes from 1967-74 are excellent. ( 1975 and later models have the EGR valve intruding into the throttle opening which limits power above 4,000 rpm ). The preferred ones are the '67-72 models. ( No EGR valve at all ). Port-matching to the gasket helps. Carb-wise-Summit, Jet and other companies offer street / strip and race Quadrajets.  If your building a '62-63 Super Duty Catalina Tribute-they may allow an Edelbrock or Offenhauser dual-quad aluminum intake. If so-I'd use two 750 Edelbrocks. ( And a 4.00 inch stroke crank with 3.00 inch mains to get 434 inches with a .030 overbore on a 400 block. You'll be legal-within 15 inches of the stock 421 ). If your running a tri-power setup I'd use a mechanical linkage instead of vacuum. # 5. Exhaust. There are several companies that make ported and extrude-honed iron exhaust manifolds for Pontiacs. Behind them I'd use 3 inch pipes and low-restriction mufflers. # 6. Gearing. I'd use 4.10:1 or 4.33:1 gears. These ratios will allow you to rip out of the hole,and pull hard through all the gears. It's funny with a big-block-in my 455 Hurst / Olds when I swapped the 3.23 gears for 4.10s-it didn't help one iota in low gear. However it made a HUGE difference in 2nd and 3rd!!  Since were redlined at 6,200 rpm this will be perfect. You'll be going through the traps at 5,700-6,000. 4.88:1s would make you go slower, because you'd run out of rpm before the end of the 1/4. Depending on traction-this simple combination should run very low 12s or very high 11s, which would make you super-competitive. Maybe we'll do a small-block Chevy next.  Mastermind  

Tips for building a Pure Stock champ....

Some of the buff magazines have coverage of the Pure Stock drags this month so I've gotten some inquirys from people wanting to know the best combination to run. There is no magic "winning" combination or formula. I can give you some advice on what to do to maximize your performance. If you already have a car your planning to run-then you have to tailor your modifications to that car's strengths and weaknesses. If your going to buy a car to run, you need to think carefully. For example if you want a big-block Chevelle what year should you run? From 1966-69 the largest engine was a 396. From 1970-72 you could get a 454. Ditto for a Pontiac GTO. Fom 1964-66 they had 389s. From 1967 on the 400 was standard equipment and the 455 became optional in 1970. So should run a '70 and later model to take advantage of the monster 454 Chevy and 455 Pontiac right? Maybe not. a 1964 GTO with a Tri-Power 389 is rated at 348 hp. Let's say it has a 4-speed and a 3.90:1 rear end. And a '64 GTO weighs about 3,400 lbs. A '70 GTO with a 455 is rated at 360 hp. And it weighs 4,070 lbs. Let's say it's an automatic with 3.23:1 gears. Or a 4-speed with 3.55:1s. ( 455 GTO's didn't have stiff gearing options in 1970; although rated at 360 hp; it was a "station wagon" engine. The vaunted 455HO which had RAIV heads and intake and exhaust coupled with the "068" cam didn't debut until 1971. The RAIII and RAIV 400s were considered the top performance options in 1970 and could be had with 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears ). Guess what? 12 hp won't overcome a nearly 700 lb weight advantage and the mechanical advantage of stiffer gearing. All other things being equal-the '64 GTO wins the drag race easily even though it's the car with "less" power. Ditto for the Chevelle owner-early Chevelles are much lighter than later ones; and the under-rated L78 375 hp 396 ( The L78 was intially rated at 425 hp in the 1965 Corvette. Later models in the Chevelle line were-down-rated for insurance purposes, but the engine was the same. )  had everything-heads, cam carb and intake that the mighty 450 hps LS6 454 had. Now if your a Ford Guy the shoe is on the other foot. A '72 Mustang has a 351C as the largest engine. A 1969 or 1970 model can use a 428.  We could go on for days with various examples but you get the idea. Anyhow here's some good tips that work, regardless of make or model. # 1. Always build the lightest car that you can. It's simple power-to-weight ratio. All other things being equal-a 3,000 lb car with a 300 hp engine will run just as fast as a 4,000 lb car with a 400 hp engine. However-a 300 hp engine is a lot easier and cheaper to build than a 400 hp one.  So build a Nova instead of a Chevelle. A Duster or Dart instead of a Charger or Road Runner. A Maverick instead of a Torino.  # 2. Always build the biggest engine you can afford. For example a 350 Chevy makes way more power and torque than a 305, yet costs no more to buy or build. In fact-since I have seen stroker rotating assemblys that have the crank, rods, pistons, rings and bearings and an oil pump as low as $399-it really doesn't cost any more to build a 383!  On the other hand if you have a good 400 Pontiac or 383 Chrysler or 396 / 402 Chevy-don't throw it away and then spend a mint buying and building a junk 440, or 454 or 455.  The key word is "afford." # 3. Don't forget mechanical advantage. The strongest engine in the world will be a dog if it's saddled with 2.56:1 gears. Run the gear that will give you the best 1/4 mile time. On a solid-lifter, high-winding 302 '69 Z/28-4.56:1s would rock. On a hydraulic cammed 350 hp 396 Chevelle-some 3.73:1s would be better-4.56:1s would cause it to run out of rpm before the end of the 1/4!!  # 4. Traction. All the power in the world doesn't do you any good if you can't put it to the ground. Excessive wheelspin loses more races than any other factor. Check your class rules; some allow traction bars or pinion snubbers, some don't. You can also play with tire size and tire pressure. Most classes allow sticky street tires like Mickey Thompson or M&H, some allow drag radials, some don't. Maybe next time we;ll talk  about a specificic car and how to really fine-tune everything. Mastermind      

Iron fists, velvet gloves revisited.....

I get a lot of people asking me how can they get serious power from their musclecar and look stock. It can be done, it just takes a little ingenuity. While individual engine lines have nuances that will vary-there are some things that will work across the board regardless of which kind of engine your building. I'll stick to those for this discussion. # 1. Increase displacement. The old saying "There's no substitute for cubic inches, except cubic dollars" is still true. All other things being equal, the larger engine will always make more hp and torque. In some cases it's a no-brainer engine swap-i.e.-swap your 305 Chevy for a 350, or your 307 Olds for a 350 or 403. In others a stroker crank / rotating assembly is the way to go. There are kits to turn a 350 Chevy into a 383, a 302 Ford into a 347, a 351W into a 392, a 360 Chrysler into a 408. That's just the small-blocks. There's kits to turn a 400 Pontiac into a 428 or 455,a 400 Mopar into a 451, a 440 into a 505. There's kits to turn 454 Chevys into a 496. Whether your combo is mild or wild, extra cubes mean extra power. #2. Camshaft. Since no one can possibly know what cam your running ( a lumpy idle will tell the practiced ear it's not stock ) a cam swap is a great "stealth" modification. Larger engines can tolerate more "cam" than smaller ones because usually your trading some bottom-end and mid-range torque for top-end rush. The larger engine having more torque to start with-won't notice the loss as much. For example if you have a 455 Pontiac that has 480 lbs of torque at 2,700 rpm-and your "hot" cam causes it to lose 30 lbs ft at low rpm-guess what? It still has 450 lbs of tire-boiling torque, and you won't notice the supposed "loss". You will notice the big "kick" from about 3,000 rpm on up however! Conversely if you had a late-'70's 350 Chevy that had 280 lbs of torque-and you dropped 30 lbs ft off-idle-you'd definitely notice that!  Manual transmission cars can also tolerate more "cam" than automatics because idle speed isn't as important and the driver can launch at whatever rpm he desires by manipulating the clutch. Using the small-block Chevy as an example-the old standby-the "350 hp 327 Corvette" cam. This cam would ruin a 305. It works pretty damn good in a 327 with a 4-speed and 3.73:1 gears, better in a 350 with 3.23:1s or stiffer either stick or automatic, provided you have a 2,000 rpm+ torque converter, and is really sweet in a 383 / 400 regardless of transmission or gearing. In a 400-this cam will rock even with an automatic, a stock converter and 3.08:1 gears. See what I'm saying?  Consult the cam manufacturer for your engine line. Obviously a cam that's considered "mild" in a 460 Ford would be horrible in a 302 or 351. One that's "super-hot" in a 318 Chrysler will purr like a kitten in a 440. Those are broad strokes-but you get the idea. With small-blocks and cars with automatic transmissions it's better to err on the side of caution.  # 3. Induction. Since stock-class drag racers and circle track racers deal with this-many classes require running a "stock" iron intake manifold, there are several companies that offer ported iron manifolds that will give you a gain of 25 hp and 30 lbs ft of torque. GMPP sells an exact replica of the original Z/28 / LT1 manifold that's good from idle to 7,200 rpm-in cast iron. Some engine lines-Pontiacs and big-block Mopars built prior to '75-have excellent manifolds from the factory. A little port matching to the gasket helps a lot. You can also use an Edelbrock or Holley or Weiand aluminum intake and paint it the factory color. This isn't as stealthy as the iron ones, but the casual observer won't notice. The other thing you can improve on is carburation. For example the Carter AVS that came on most 383 / 440 Mopars only flowed about 585 cfm. They had very crisp throttle response and a strong mid-range-a smaller carb will do that. But they were limited on the top-end. Think-a 440 V8 with a 585 cfm carb is like a 250 lb NFL running back trying to run while breathing through a straw. Fortunately Edelbrock has their excellent 800 cfm Thunder AVS models that would be just the ticket. Ditto for some other cars-pre-'67 Pontiacs and Chevys-early Fords,-many had Carter AFBs that flowed 500 or 625 cfm. Edelbrock's "Performer" line of carbs is an exact copy of the AFB with some modern improvements and are available in 500, 600 ( great for dual-quad applications ) 750 and 800 cfm version. I don't need to tell you that a 409 Chevy or 421 Pontiac will run much better with a 750 / 800 cfm carb than it will a 500 or a 625! The same goes for Holleys. Most concurs shows now allow carbs to be the original "type". Ok-get rid of the 50 year old 735 Holley on your 428CJ and replace with a 780 or an 850. Who's going to look at the casting numbers on your carb?  # 4. Exhaust. Here's where you have to make a big decision. A good set of headers and dual exhausts can be worth as much as 50-70 hp. Super Chevy did a test on a pristine LS6 Chevelle. With stock manifolds it pulled 380 hp on the dyno. ( A little off from the factory 450 hp rating; but back then pre-1972- gross ratings were done with no accessories. The lower net ratings used from 1972 on are more accurate. ) With headers it pulled 451 hp. A gain of 71 hp! And that was the first run. They hadn't yet adjusted the carb jetting to compensate for the opened up exhaust or played with ignition timing or distributor advance curve. With a little tuning they might have gotten an even bigger gain, but the point was made. Personally I would put headers on any car or truck I own where it's feasible. The gain in hp and torque, and usually a small bump-2-3 mpg in fuel economy is too good to pass up. But if you want the total "Stealth" "Stock" look-there are companies that sell ported and extrude-honed iron exhaust manifolds-again luckily for you-catering to the racing classes that require iron exhaust manifolds. Or any competent machine shop could do the ones off your engine. Even with iron manifolds-using 2 1/2 inch pipes, an X-pipe or balance tube and low-restriction mufflers can add as much as 30 hp. # 5. Mechanical advantage. Most '70's cars have salt-flats gearing like 2.73:1. Switching to something in the 3.23:1 to 3.73:1 range will give you a HUGE improvement in 0-60 and 1/4 mile time without hurting freeway cruising rpm or drivability too much. Most automatic cars can use a little more stall speed on the torque converter. Don't go crazy-chances are your engine isn't wild enough to warrant a 4,000 rpm converter and 4.56:1 gears-but a converter with 2,000-2,300 rpm stall speed will work wonders for most applications. # 6. Traction. Most musclecars-especially big-block cars can use larger than stock tires and could use some traction aids. A Pinion snubber is good for leaf-spring cars and Lakewood, Competition Engineering and other companies make bolt-on traction bars for leaf and coil-spring suspensions. You can see traction bars-but they help immensely. As for tires BFG, M&H, Mickey Thompson-all offer drag radials and sticky street tires that are DOT-legal. Hope this helps you "sleeper" builders out!  Mastermind                

Some rare birds that can be bargains...

It's funny that some people want something unique, but then don't want to pay a premium price for it. I've had several people of late ask me to recommend some unique, cool musclecars that can be bought at reasonable or even cheap prices. Some of these will be cheap, some not, but they are all worth taking a look at if you want that model car. # 1. 1980 Z/28 Camaro. For this one year only you could get a 350 V8 backed by a T10 4-speed with a 3.44:1 1st gear and a 2.28:1 2nd, and a 3.08:1 positraction rear end. This combo had better acceleration and higher top speed and better gas mileage than the '77-79 models which had a 2.64:1 low gear, a 1.75:1 2nd and a 3.73:1 rear end. Automatics had a 3.42:1 rear axle which was a good compromise between jackrabbit starts and easy freeway cruising. This year also marked the return of "Cowl Induction" a vacuum operated hood scoop that opened under full-throttle acceleration and sounded cool. It also bumped power up 10 hp to 190 on the workhorse L48 350.  For some strange reason-for '81 if you wanted a 4-speed Z/28 you were stuck with a 305 that wheezed out 145 hp. You could still get a 350 with an automatic. And Canadian models still got the 350 / 4-speed combo. It wasn't emission laws-because in both 1980 and '81 you could still get a 350 / 4-speed combo in the Corvette. ( The 190 hp L48. The 230 hp L82 was only available with a TH350 ).  Dynamite if you can find one. # 2. 1982 Corvette. This one year only offered the C3 body that had been around since 1968 with the "Cross-Fire" Injected 350 and 4-speed automatic that was going to power the all-new '84 'Vette. They were decent performers for the time-15 second 1/4 mile times and 7 second 0-60 times. They make fun weekend cruisers and there is a million ways to build power into a small-block Chevy if you want more oomph. # 3. 1984 Corvette. These featured the all-new C4  with the "Cross-Fire" injected 350. Most had the TH700R4 4-speed automatic, but some had the "4+3" which was a T10 4-speed manual coupled with an electric overdrive that could be engaged in 2nd.3rd and 4th, effectively giving you 7 gears. It was a pretty trick setup that worked really well. 'Vette collectors snub these cars in favor of the '85-91 "Tuned Port Injected" models which keeps prices low. I have seen '84 models on used car lots as low as $2995. # 4. 1984-86 Ford Mustang SVO. These had Recaro seats, upgraded suspension, 50 series tires on 16" wheels, 4-wheel disc brakes, and a Turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that put out 175-205 hp depending on year. They didn't sell well when new because the "5.0" V8 models were both cheaper and faster. Their still a cool ride if you can find one, and prices have dropped considerably over the years. # 5. 1987-92 Lincoln MKVII LSC. Often called a "5.0" Mustang in a tuxedo, these featured Recaro seats, 4-wheel disc brakes, 16" wheels with 50 series tires, and the 225 hp 302 out of the Mustang GT backed by a 4-speed automatic and a 3.27:1 rear axle. Any speed parts that fit a Fox Mustang will fit these so there's a ton of potential.  #6. 1989 20th Anniversary Pontiac Trans-Am. These had the vaunted 3.8 liter Turbocharged V6 out of the now-defunct Buick Grand National. Grossly Under-rated at 250 hp and 355 lbs ft of torque, these were much quicker than the LB9 and L98 305 and 350 V8 models. And since the V6 was lighter than the V8s, the already stellar handling of the WS6 T/A was further improved. These bring a King's Ransom, but their worth it. I honestly don't know why Pontiac didn't make this the standard powertrain for the T/A. Probably because it would have ruined Corvette sales.  # 6. 1989-95 Ford Thunderbird SC. The "SC" stood for "Super Coupe" which is accurate. These cars had 4-wheel disc brakes, 50 series tires on 16" wheels, and a Supercharged 3.8 liter V6 that put out 210 -230 hp and 315-330 lbs of torque depending on year. 5-speed manual and 4-speed automatics were the transmissions. They were quick-6 second 0-60 times and 15 second 1/4s, with a 140 mph top speed. However-hot-rodders have made 400 hp reliably by turning up the boost and have run 11 second 1/4 mile times in the buff magazines. If you can't find one of these, from '91-95 the 302 out of the "5.0" Mustang was available, and their's speed parts galore for those. Dynamite if you can find one.  # 7. 2005-2009 Cadillac XLR-V. These were a racy, two-seat coupe based on the Corvette chassis and powered by a Supercharged 4.6 liter Northstar V8. They made a tire frying 443 hp and did 0-60 in 4.6 seconds and the 1/4 in 13 flat. Top speed was electronically limited to 155 mph. These are definitely Jules' wallet from "Pulp Fiction"-the one that says "Bad Mother$%er" on it.  The downside is they cost about 100 grand when they were new, so they won't be cheap. Now there not any more pricey than a same-year Corvette, but are much cooler if your willing to step up.  Like the Ferarri salesman told Nicolas Cage in "Gone in 60 seconds" if you were driving any one of these-"You wouldn't be an asshole sir, you'd be a conissuer".  Mastermind        

More on crazy "Correctness"....

Kind of in the same vein as the last post I see some utter insanity in musclecar restorations. I read an article where a guy paid $4,000 for a carburator for a Boss 351 Mustang. To me that's insane. Mainly because my dad and I worked for Ford in the early '70's and the Autolite 4300 is the WORST carb ever made, bar none. They didn't work when they were brand-new. If you had a 351CJ  Mustang or a T-Bird or Lincoln MKIV with a 460-they would be hard to start, stumble under acceleration, get crappy gas mileage-I mean like 5-8 mpg-they were just awful. If you bitched hard enough Ford dealers would replace it with a 600 Holley 4bbl and warranty it. That's how bad they were, brand-new. I can't imagine trying to make one work 40+ years later. So if I was buying a for-real Boss 351 I'd be happy to see an Edelbrock or Holley carb sitting on top of the engine. Especially if I wanted to drive the car at all. Be honest-if your looking for a one of 1,806 1971 Boss 351s ever built, and you find one perfectly restored, with a numbers-matching engine and tranny, the color you want, the interior color you want, with a Marti report. Are you going to not buy it because it has a 750 Edelbrock or Holley on it instead of that awful Autolite 4300? I don't think anyone in their right mind would pass up an otherwise flawless car over a carburator. I read of another person restoring a COPO 427 Camaro who paid $14,000 for a "Correct" 12-bolt rear end. That's not a typo-I didn't mean $1,400-I meant Fourteen Thousand!!  For an axle housing??  Assuming the car is otherwise all there, it's still going to be worth 6 figures even with an "incorrect" rear axle-whether it's a 12 bolt with the wrong date codes, or a 10 bolt, or a Ford 9-inch or a Dana 60!!  That's just insane-especially when you can buy a brand-new Moser 12-bolt posi, or a Currie 9 inch with GM mounting points for about $3,000!!  This fetishization of "numbers" has got to stop. I mean-let's say you had $150,000 to spare and you found a for-real, numbers-matching 1963 Fuel-Injected Split-Window Corvette Stingray with the knock-off wheels, everything. Except the T10 4-speed in it doesn't have 1962 or 63 date codes, because the case on the original trans was cracked, and the guy who did the restoration installed a new Richmond unit. Or a rebuilt T10 out of a '79 Z/28 Camaro. Are you really going to not buy the car because the trans-which is technically "correct"-it's a T10-has the wrong manufacturing date stamped on it?  Really? Personally I think the restorer did the right thing. A later T10 is much more correct for the car than if he slapped a Muncie in it. Especially since a lot of Concours show organizations are allowing parts to be the "Original Type"-i.e.-a '69 Z/ 28 won't lose points because the 3310 Holley carb on it doesn't have 1969 date codes. Or should the restorer have scoured the galaxy and spent umpteen more dollars searching for a 1963 vintage T10?  Come on. A pristine, '68 GTX with a 440 is not ruined because the owner put a new Edelbrock AVS carb on it in place of the warped, leaking, bleeding over, 50 year old original Carter!!  An SS396 Chevelle is not "bastardized" if it has a Hurst shifter in place of the awful Muncie unit. At some point the voice of reason and sanity has to kick in. Mastermind          

What part of "Clone" of "Faux" i.e.-"Fake" are you not grasping?

I talk to so many people who want to build clones of ultra-cool cars, who gripe that it will be too hard or expensive to do. The way their thinking-yes it would be. I'll explain. One guy wanted to do a 427 Cobra Replica. I suggested the Factory Five kits which come complete with everything but the engine and tranny for like $19,995. You can have the frame drilled to accept a small-block Chevy, a small-block Ford, or a 4.6 / 5.4 Ford mod motor at no extra charge. I suggested the easiest way would be find a rough but running '83-'95 "5.0" Mustang and get the engine and 5-speed trans. Or call Summitt and get a 345 hp 302 Ford SVT crate engine and Tremec 5-speed. For under 25K he'd have a kickass Cobra to play with. Since they only weigh about 2,300 lbs-even with a stock "5.0" powertrain they run 12s in the 1/4!  No this guy wanted it close to "real" as possible. I told him the chance of finding a side-oiler 427 Ford for sale at any price would be chasing a moon rock. However all "FE" engines are externally identical and 390s were used in almost every Ford model from 1961-76. With some aluminum Edelbrock Heads and a dual-quad intake, he'd have the look, the sound and the feel. "But it wouldn't be correct". he sneered. I almost got coffee up my nose laughing. "Nothing about the car is correct." I said. "It's a replica!!" "A tribute". "You don't understand." He's right. I don't. Crazy guy # 2. wanted to clone a Yenko Camaro. Easy enough-find a '67-69 Camaro, Phoenix Graphics sells the emblems and stripes / stencils. Harwood sells the hood scoop. Go to a junkyard and get a 454 out of an '80's truck, and rebuild it. A TH400 or Muncie 4-speed is easy enough to find if you scour the want ads or swap meets. No he wants a for-real 427. "Fine". I said-"GMPP, Eagle, Lunati and other companies sell 3.76 stroke big-block Chevy crank, rod and piston kits." Get an internally balanced flywheel / flexplate and damper ( If you don't know 396 /402 /427s are internally balanced and 454s are externally balanced ) and voila'-instant 427. No he wants a 427 with 1967,68 or '69 date codes. Good luck with that-as "Vette restorers hog them with ferocity and want blood and a first-born child when they do sell one. Then he starts griping about not being able to find a date-correct 12 bolt posi rear end!!  Are you kidding me?  Again-I said "It's not a numbers-matching Yenko!!"  "The 10-bolt that's in the car will do fine." "In 40+ years of hot-rodding GM cars I've never broken a 10-bolt, although I know people who have." "If your going to build a killer motor and really lean on it with slicks or drag radials-Currie sells 9 inch Ford rears with GM mounting points already installed." "Or Moser sells brand-new 12 bolts if you want to keep it all GM". I showed him pictures of a friend's triple-white 1971 GTO "Judge" convertible. It's actually a LeMans Sport convertible with the "Endura" ( read GTO front bumper and scooped hood ). He added a hood tach, the "Judge" stripes and spoiler and a set of "Honeycomb" wheels. Everywhere he goes people "ooh" and "aah" over this "Judge" drop-top. The 400 / TH400 powertrain moves it down the road nicely. Mr. Would-be Yenko cloner turned up his nose. "Piece of crap". he sneered. "No." I said " It's a really cool car built for a fraction of what one of the 17 for-real '71 Judge convertibles would go for." "It's built for a fraction of what your trying to do." "All 357 '71 Judge models had 455HO engines." Where would he find a complete, running 1971 date-coded 455HO 47 years later, and for what price?" "And if he did by some miracle-the car is still a gussied-up LeMans!!!"  Who cares if it's "Correct??!!"  A Mopar guy was absolutely aghast when I suggested a 360 for his proposed Challenger T/A clone. "It has to be a 340!" When I pointed out that 340s were only used from 1968-73 and are pretty rare and usually expensive, while 360s were used in virtually every Chrysler model and Dodge trucks from 1971-1991, and are fairly cheap, he wailed the mantra-"It wouldn't be correct". When I suggested a 360 Magnum-based 408 stroker to make it really badass-he got really pissed. "Edelbrock doesn't make a Six-Pack manifold for "Magnum" heads!! When I pointed out that a 408 inch Magnum V8 with a Performer RPM intake, 800 cfm Thunder AVS carb, and matching cam would suck up and spit out a "real" 340 Six-Pack in a drag race, I got a cloud of obsenities that the kid in Christmas Story would marvel at.  I just don't get it. The car's a fake!!  If you want a  '68 Hemi Charger-and have the cash to lay out 15 grand for a Mopar Performance 426 crate Hemi and another 25-30 for a decent 383 Charger to stuff it in, more power to you!!!  45 grand is a lot less than the 100K plus that "real" ones bring. I get that. And I'd put a Tremec 5-speed behind that crate Hemi, rather than chase a 1968 date-coded A883 4-speed!!  Does this drive anyone else bonkers?  Mastermind          

It's okay to "Run what you brung" if your budget is tight....

I talk to a lot of people who lament that their car isn't a premium model and that they don't really have the money to swap engines or do a full boat restoration. You don't have to. Every car doesn't have to be a frame-off resto with every nut and bolt replaced whether it needs it or not. Have you heard the term "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  I've touched on it before but I'll say it again. I see people spending thousands of dollars replacing parts that don't need to be replaced, which drives the cost of the project way up, but doesn't get you any more money at re-sale time. I've seen people replace the radiator when it didn't leak and the car wasn't overheating. I've seen them replace the power steering pump when it wasn't leaking and wasn't making noise, and worked perfectly. I've seen them replace the alternator and starter when the car started perfectly and the battery charged perfectly. I've seen them replace rotors, drums, pads,shoes, hardware,calipers, wheel cylinders, master cylinders and boosters needlessly. I'm all for safety-but if you drive the car and it stops perfectly with no pedal vibration,doesn't pull left or right, the condition of the pads etc, is good and the hoses aren't leaking, then leave it alone! I've seen people strip an entire interior, when all the car needed was the driver's bucket seat recovered. That's insane. Don't do it. As for other mods-again-I've said it before-every car doesn't have to have a 500 hp fire-breathing monster. If you've got a Firebird with a 350 Pontiac, don't despair that you can't find or afford to swap in a 400 or 455. 350s respond well to basic hot-rod tricks-4bbl carb and intake, headers and / or dual exhausts, mild cam upgrade,etc. You can make 325-350 hp and 400 lbs of torque pretty easy and cheaply. That's enough to give you some exciting street performance and put you solidly in the 13s with proper gearing and traction. Chargers and Satellites with 318s can be nice drivers, but their too heavy for serious performance with the small engine. They really do need a 383 / 400 / 440 to really rock. However if you have a light car-i.e.-Duster, Dart, or Challenger / Barracuda-318 Mopars car really rock with a 4bbl carb and intake, headers, and a mild cam. Remember-"Magnum" heads will bolt up to earlier blocks, you just need a "Magnum" compatible intake, which Edelbrock makes. Ditto for Fords-if you have a light car like an early Mustang or Cougar, a Falcon or a Maverick-a 289 / 302 can make some serious power for low bucks.  If you have a '60's or '70's Cutlass with a 350 don't despair and search the galaxy for a 455. As anyone who's ever seen or driven a W31 will tell you, a 350 Cutlass can kick ass with the right equipment. Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs of torque from their "Performer RPM" package on a 350 Olds. Writers spout numbers flippantly-but 400 honest hp will make any street car an absolute rocket.  GM played musical engines in the late '70's because of smog laws. If you have a Firebird with a 350 Chevy-then you basically have a Camaro. There's more speed equipment for a small-block Chevy than anything else on the planet. If you have a T/A or Formula with a 403 Olds-anything that fits a 350 Olds will fit a 403. If you have an '80's Camaro / Firebird and can't afford to swap in a 350-305s respond well to intake, exhaust and mild cam upgrades. My cousin had a 305 Camaro that was pretty damn quick with the Edelbrock Performer intake, matching cam and Hedman shorty headers. And don't forget mechanical advantage. Most '70's cars have salt-flats gearing. Replacing the 2.41:1 or 2.80:1 gears with something in the 3.23-3.73 range will give you a stunning improvement in acceleration without hurting drivability or freeway cruising rpm too much. So don't despair-you can make your base-model a fun ride for low bucks.  Mastermind    

Can we stop with the "It's not original"? Especially on minor options!!!

I see a disturbing trend in car restoration these days. I've touched on it before but I think it's worth re-visiting. I talked to a guy who was restoring a 1970 Plymouth GTX. It was a for-real 440 / 4-speed model. The only downside was it was green with green interior. Yuk. The car was pretty solid-he was going to replace the trunk floor and the rear quarters but that's common on late '60's and early '70's Mopars. Since he was going to have to re-do the interior anyway-I suggested he contact Legendary and do it in either black or white and then paint the car red with black GTX stripes. I also suggested he contact Summitt and Mopar Performance and get a "Six-Pack" setup for it. The answer-Wait for it-"But then it wouldn't be completely original." "Ok." I said. "Let me get this straight". "Your going to spend thousands of dollars restoring the body and interior of this car in a color you can't stand." "Why not paint it a color you like?" "I like red, but if you don't like red, then go blue, or Alpine white, or Plum Crazy or whatever you want." Here comes stupid defensive statement  # 2-wait for it-"But what if I want to sell it?" "What if you do?"  "Let's say you take my advice and go red and black with a six-pack induction." "Do you honestly think a prospective buyer is going to check the serial numbers and say-"Gee, a red 4-speed 440 / Six-Pack GTX has always been my dream car,and this one is beautiful and runs like a scalded cat and the price is reasonable." "But the VIN tag says it was originally a green 4bbl car." "I'm going to have to pass." "Puhleeze." "And if he did, he's an idiot." "I'm sure you'd find another buyer who could overlook the color change and the intake change." "I'm always amazed at how much people care about what some asshole who might want to buy the car down the road will think."  "I've joked about it before but did you marry your wife because you thought she'd give you an easier divorce than other women you dated?" Like talking to the wall. The response? "I'll think about it." I guarantee he'll think about it, and then paint the car fuckin' green, which he hates, because "What if he wants to sell it?"  Some other asshole might say something negative about his restoration!  Oh, Horrors!  I see this all the time, and it always drives me up the wall. Another guy I knew who had a '79 Trans-Am commented on a High-Performance Pontiac article about Dennis Mecham and the "Macho T/A's". "I remember those cars." he said. "A guy I knew in college had one." "It was so badass."  I commented that Mecham had allowed Phoenix Graphics to make the stencils so anyone who was restoring a "Macho" or just liked the look could paint their car in "Macho" Style. I suggested he do his car that way. You know the response. Now if his car was a 10th Anniversary model, I could certainly understand wanting to stay with the factory paint and graphics scheme. But it wasn't. It was a generic one of 117,000 '79 T/A's built, with a 403 Olds engine and a TH350!! I like Pontiacs-so I talk to a lot of Pontiac owners-and it kills me to see people with '70s Firebirds and T/As who like "Honeycomb" or "Snowflake" wheels, but won't put them on their car because the build sheet or the repro window sticker they got from PHS says the car originally had Rally IIs!! Really??  Another guy who had a nice '73 Formula 400 with white interior was distressed because he wanted to remove the vinyl top and paint the car Buccaneer Red, but the window sticker said the car was originally blue with a white vinyl top. Again-"What if he wanted to sell it down the road?" "What would a prospective buyer think?" "A Buccaneer Red Firebird will sell ten times faster than a blue one with a vinyl top". I said. "Trust me." "I spent 30+ years in the used car business". "In fact-not only will it sell quicker red, you'll get more money for it."  Remember my post that said "There's No Used Car Factory" to order from? Well there isn't. So I guarantee you'll get more money for a '69 Malibu with a 350 and a TH350, than you would a 307 and a Powerglide!!  Or a '67 Nova with a 327 and a 4-speed instead of a 283 and a 3-speed!!   Even if it's not "Original".  You'll get way more money for a '68 Road Runner if it's painted "Vitamin C" orange with Ansen or American Racing slot mags than you will if it's brown with "Dog Dish" hubcaps!! Even if it's not "Original."  Would you rather have a sinister triple black 400 or 440 '73 Charger with Cragars on it, or a light tan one with drab brown seats, a white vinyl top and dog-dish hubcaps?"  See what I'm saying? These minor add-ons or color changes increase a car's value, instead of hurting it. So if you want to paint the car a different color, do it!!  Or add or remove a vinyl top, or change wheels. Putting a tri-power setup on a '66 GTO or a '70 Charger will add value, not take it away. Ditto for minor upgrades. If you add later model Monte Carlo spindles, booster and front disc brakes to your '68 SS396 Chevelle that had 4-wheel 9.5 inch drums-any prospective buyer will thank you, not cuss you!!  So go ahead and paint that 383 powered '68 Coronet like a Super Bee!  Call Tony Branda and make that '66 Mustang look like a Shelby if you want. Mastermind

Some "Junkyard Jewels" that can really rock...

I talk to a lot of people that would like to have a powerful, reliable engine in their project car but don't have the big bucks for a 500+hp crate engine and don't want to scour the galaxy looking for a date-correct one. There are some engines out there that you can buy dirt-cheap and with very little work will make big hp and torque.  Here's a few in no particular order. # 1. "Vortec" 350 Chevy. Used from 1996-2003 in millions of Chevy / GMC trucks, vans and suv's these are a screaming bargain. The "Vortec" heads breathe better than any factory head and most aftermarket ones. Vortec heads will bolt up to earlier blocks, as long as you use a Vortec bolt-pattern intake. Edelbrock and Weiand both make Vortec bolt-pattern intakes that use a carburator. They have roller cams from the factory, and Edelbrock, Crane, Lunati and Comp Cams sell cams for them that can re-use the stock lifters if their in good shape, or of course they sell new roller lifters if you need them. Super Chevy did a budget buildup on a junkyard Vortec motor and with machine work and all the new parts they used it only cost $2,600 to build, and made 400 hp and 415 lbs of torque. There's also stroker crank kits to make a 350 into a 383.  # 2. "Magnum" 318 / 360 Chrysler. Their are millions of  "Magnum" engines in junkyards in Dodge Trucks,vans and suv's as well as Jeep Grand Cherokees from 1992-2003. The 318s run damn strong, but the 360's really rock. Like 15 second 1/4s in a loaded 4WD Grand Cherokee. What you think one would do in a Duster or Dart or 'Cuda?  Like the Chevy Vortecs, the "Magnum" heads breathe better than any other factory head and many aftermarket ones. Edelbrock makes "Magnum" compatible intakes. They use roller cams from the factory as well. Like the Vortecs, the Magnum heads will bolt up to earlier blocks as long as you use a Magnum intake. Eagle and other companies make stroker crank kits to turn a 360 into a 408.   # 3. 1986-97 302 / 351W Ford. Used in millions of trucks,vans, and suv's through 1997 these are plentiful in junkyards. The 302s are the same roller-cammed model used in "5.0" Mustangs. The only reason the trucks were rated at 205 hp-20 less than the Mustangs is the trucks used single exhaust and the Mustangs had duals. 5.0 "Explorer" heads breathe as good as the factory "GT-40" heads and better than many aftermarket ones. If you don't want to run fuel-injection-Edelbrock and Weiand make intakes that run a carburator. The same for the 351W's. Eagle and other companys make stroker crank kits to turn a 302 into a 347 or a 351 into a 392.  # 4. 360 AMC. These were used in millions of Jeep Grand Wagoneers through 1993 so they are plentiful in junkyards. Edelbrock makes aluminum heads for them and claims 433 hp from their "Performer RPM" package. If your restoring a Javelin / AMX and can't find a 390 / 401-this may be the way to go. Since AMC engines are like Pontiacs-their all externally identical from a 290-401-think how blisteringly fast a 360 Gremlin or Hornet would be?  Mastermind    

The biggest baddest, isn't always the best...

Sometimes the thing that makes the most horsepower is not always the best. If your building a race car then the sky's the limit-you don't care about idle quality, or fuel economy or drivability. All that matters is speed. Back in the '60's when Trans-Am racing was popular-a lot of their races were run on road courses like Lime Rock. When Ford was developing the "Boss 302" the feedback they got from racers, both factory backed and privateer-that had been previously running 289s-( The displacement limit was 5 liters or 305 inches ) was they needed peak power between 5,000 and 8,000 rpm. So that's how they designed the engine. They didn't care about anything below 5 or above 8. That's why production examples were disappointing performers. They had very little low-end torque-especially below 3,000 rpm. If you had 3.90:1 or 4.30:1 gears that helped keep the engine on boil-but if you had 3.50:1 gears they were a little sluggish. Further-to cut down on warranty claims- unbeknownst to the public Ford put rev limiters on them that killed the ignition at 5,800 rpm. That's just when it was starting to really roll. Now race examples with out rev limiters and proper gearing would totally rock from about 4,000-8,000 rpm. But the street versions felt sluggish because of the lack of low-end torque and and the rev limiter kicking in just when it was starting to really rock. In fact the 351W that was standard in the Mach 1 was actually quicker in the 1/4 mile and had great drivability. The reason being-the 2bbl 351W had 355 lbs of torque at 2,600 rpm. ( 4bbl versions had 385 lbs @ 3,200 ) This made the 351W a much better STREET engine, while the "Boss" 302 was undoubtedly the better RACING engine. The same thing with the Chrysler 426 Hemi. It was designed to do one thing-go 200 mph at Daytona. It dominated NASCAR and some people like Dick Landy or Sox&Martin had great success drag racing them. If you had headers, and a 4-speed and 4.30:1 gears, or a Torqueflite with a 2,500+ rpm converter and 4.10:1 or stiffer gears-yes your Hemi-powered street car could rock-n-roll with the best of them. But most of them had stock exhausts and 3.23:1 or 3.54:1 gearing. Popular Hot Rodding tested a 1969 Charger with a Hemi and a Torqueflite and 3.23:1 gears. They were very disappointed. They said it was like running with one flat tire. It couldn't break out of the 14s and went through the traps in 2nd gear. The PHR writers said it needed a stall converter and 4.10:1 gears. The 440 GTX and the 383 Super Bee they tested were both quicker in the 1/4 mile. The '69 GTO they tested in the same issue was quicker in the 1/4 mile. Does that mean that a 383 Mopar or a 400 Pontiac is a better race engine than a Hemi?  No!! The Hemi's superiority in any kind of competition is legendary. But the 383 Mopar and 400 Pontiac are much better STREET engines! Their massive low-end torque gives them great drivability. When you've got 400+ lbs ft of torque from idle on up- you don't need to rev to 7 or 8 grand. What I'm saying is-if your going to drive the car on the street at all-it's better to err on the side of caution. Sure you can write a check for 15 grand and put a mega-inch 600+ hp 12:1 compression, solid-roller beast in your car. It's choppy 1,500 rpm idle will sound badass, and if you've got a stick or an auto with the proper converter and gearing, it'll certainly rip ass on the strip. And off the strip-if it's only driven on and off the trailer or a few blocks to "Cruise Night" once a week you may not give a shit how nasty it is.  But again-if your going to drive the car on the street or the freeway at all-9.5:1 compression, ( to run on pump gas ) and a cam that idles at 800 rpm  makes a lot more sense. Like I said once before when discussing induction systems-"If a Super Stock Firebird can run 11.30s with a Quadrajet on an iron manifold, why do you need a Tunnel-Ram and dual 660 Holleys?"  Here's a perfect example. A guy I know was looking for a '68-'70 Olds 442. He ran across a 1970 W31 Cutlass. If you don't know-the "W31" was a factory-built high-performance 350 V8. They had special heads, an aluminum high-rise intake, special exhaust manifolds and a hot 308 degree cam. They were so nasty that they were only available with a 4-speed-no automatic was offered-and 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears, and you couldn't get power brakes, because the engine didn't make enough vacuum at idle to operate them! To fool the insurance Nazis they were rated at a ridiculously low 325 hp. The standard "station wagon" 350 in the Cutlass was rated at 310 hp!!  GM wants you to believe that all those go-fast goodies-intake, exhaust, heads and cam-are only worth 15 hp?  Puhleeze.  They were blisteringly fast, as was the one my friend test drove. He didn't like it. He said with the 4.33:1 gears he was always shifting it around town, and the motor was buzzing at 3,800 rpm on the freeway. He passed it up and later bought a 400 inch '69 442. He loved it. The 400 inch motor had so much torque that around town if he was in any gear but 4th-acceleration was just step on the gas, and the 3.36:1 gearing was a good compromise between jackrabbit starts and easy cruising rpm on the freeway. He told me he thought the W31 was quicker in a drag race, but the 442 was much more fun to drive all-around. Here's a couple more good illustrations. Edelbrock claims 387 hp and 439 lbs of torque for the "Performer" Package on a 400 Pontiac with 15 inches of vacuum at idle. The "Performer RPM" Package claims 422 hp and 441 lbs of torque, with 10 inches of vacuum at idle. You know what those specs tell me? That by using the "RPM" package your giving up quite a bit of low-end and mid-range torque for top-end rush. And that's if you have optimum gearing,traction, etc. In a typical street / strip machine is a car with 422 hp going to be THAT much faster than a car with 387 hp?  Probably not. Another example-when Edelbrock introduced the "Air Gap" line of manifolds-they raised the plenum so air could flow under it- cooling the fuel charge substantially-the buff magazines raved because they made 15-20 more hp on the dyno than the "regular" Performer / Performer RPM / Torker II / Victor manifolds. In sunny California this worked great. However many people in the mid-west and Rocky mountain states who ran out and bought these manifolds were furious-writing to the buff magazines and Edelbrock and demanding refunds because now their cars wouldn't start in cold weather!! Or even if they'd start-they'd experience carburator icing-or have to idle for 15 minutes or more to not die and cough and spit when trying to drive!!  That extra 15-20 hp wasn't so wonderful now!!  Many of them angrily said they were going to re-install their old intake so they could drive the car!!  So be careful-yes swapping your 2.73:1 gears for some 3.42:1s will give you a stunning improvement in acceleration without hurting drivability or freeway cruising rpm too much. If 3.42:1s are great-wouldn't 4.56:1s be totally badass?  No-because chances are you don't have the motor or the valvetrain and would run out of rpm before the end of the 1/4, and you definitely don't want the motor buzzing at 4,000 rpm on the freeway! So err on the side of caution. The biggest and baddest thing isn't always the best. Mastermind          

It's the whole package, not just horsepower...

It's funny how the internet works. I guess "cookies" or "web crawlers" bring up random stuff depending on what type of google search the user is doing.  Because of this I get hate mail for stuff I posted 5 years ago. A recent one was regarding a post I made about lowering your sights a little-i.e.-You may not be able to find or afford an LS6 SS454 Chevelle, but you could get an SS396, or a Boss 302 might be beyond your means, but a 351W Mach 1 would do nicely. I stated that way back in 1994-( That was when I bought the H / O ) I was frustrated looking for a GTO when I ran across my 1973 Hurst / Olds 442. I said I loved the car because it was really nice to drive, looked badass and was quick enough to back up the image, that I didn't have to take crap from "5.0" Mustang drivers. I got all kinds of profanity laced emails saying I was delusional and offers to race for thousands of dollars or "Pink Slips" from assholes who owned "5.0" Mustangs. I'll duplicate my response here. Everyone knows that the fuel-injected 1987-93 Mustangs were quicker than the 1983-86 Carburated models. I stated before that various buff magazines had tested "5.0" Mustangs and that the 1/4 mile times varied-the slowest being a 15.29 and the quickest being a 14.72.  I couldn't find a road test of a '73 Hurst / Olds, but I did find two for a "regular" Cutlass 442 with the 455 / TH400 powertrain. One ran a 14.65, the other a 14.90. I'd say that pretty much cleared the air about me "not taking crap" from "5.0" Mustang drivers. I then got a bunch of hate mail from "5.0" owners saying "Big deal you beat a stock Mustang" "But I have-( Pick one ) a blower or nitrous or an Edelbrock or Trick Flow Top-end kit ( heads, cam and intake ) challenging me to drag races. Ironically, shortly after buying the H / O-it spun a crank bearing. Having to rebuild the 455 anyway-I decided to spice it up with headers, a Lunati cam with 224 / 234 duration ( @ .050 ) and 496 / .520 lift, an Edelbrock Torker intake and 750 Carb, and an MSD HEI distributor. I also decided to replace the stock 3.08:1 gears with 4.10:1s to really put all that newfound power to the ground. I gleefully accepted the challenges saying that these assholes should come find me at Hot August Nights events and that I would gladly race their modified Mustangs with my modified 442. Now, as it did back then, it made me shake my head at how people who have never been on a racetrack perceive how drag races go. I remember a muscle car drag event I went to several years ago. A guy with a 1970 W30 455 Olds 442 was matched up against a 1966 Nova SS with an L79 327. The announcer joked about what a mismatch it was-saying "Come on guys, a small-block Nova tugging on Superman's cape? " The announcer, the crowd, the 442 owner and everyone but me was shocked when the Nova won easily. I knew the Nova was going to win. Here's why: A 1970 442 weighs 4,070 lbs. The 455 was rated at 370 hp. A 1966 Nova weighs 3,100 lbs. The L79 327 is rated at 350 hp. Guess what? 20 hp wasn't enough to overcome 1,000 lbs of extra weight!!  Further-the 442 was an automatic with 3.42:1 gears, and the Nova was a 4-speed with 4.10:1s.  So in addition to a huge power to weight advantage, the Nova also had the mechanical advantage of stiffer gearing.  It amazes me that people can't grasp this. A friend of my brothers has a late-model Dodge Ram Crew-Cab 4WD pickup with the 5.7 liter Hemi rated at 390 hp. It moves pretty good for a big truck-but this guy who's parents drove VW's and who's last car was a Honda Civic thinks it's a rocket. He challenged my brother to race him with his GTO. My brother and I were rolling on the floor laughing. My brother's '69 GTO has a 400 that we built from a junkyard engine for less than $2,000. I've stated before that it dyno'd at 381 hp and 430 lbs of torque. Not bad for a cheap rebuild on a junkyard engine. Anyhow the guy with the truck would not shut up until my brother agreed to race him, and was utterly flabbergasted when the GTO blew his doors off by about 10 car lengths. "How can that be?" "My truck has 390 hp, 9 more than your car." he said-dead serious. When my brother stopped laughing again he explained. "It's power to weight ratio." "Yeah, we both have roughly 400 hp." "My GTO weighs 3,730 lbs." "According to Car and Driver, a crew-cab Dodge Ram like yours weighs 5,790 lbs".  "Of course I blew your doors off." "I'm pulling 2,000 lbs LESS weight!!"  A couple of car salesmen I know learned this. One had a 400, 4-speed '77 Trans-Am, the other had a 350 / Automatic '74 Ventura GTO. Both were rated at 200 hp. The T/A had 3.23:1 gears, the GTO had 3.08:1s. So power and gearing were roughly the same. The GTO won by about a car length and a half. How? Power to weight ratio. A '77 T/A weighs 3,890 lbs. A '74 Ventura weighs 3,278 lbs. 600 less pounds gave it the win. You have to remember the rule of thumb-which is "All other things being equal, a 3,000 lb car with a 300 hp engine will run just as fast as a 4,000 lb car with a 400 hp engine."  The key words here are "All other things being equal". The monkey wrench is mechanical advantage-like a 4-speed, or a high stall converter,a shift kit or stiff gears. Here's a perfect example. I got a ton of hate mail when I said I beat my friend's 427 powered '67 Impala in a drag race with my dad's '65 Pontiac Tri-Power 421 Catalina 2+2. Because there's no way a 421 Pontiac can outrun a 427 Chevy, right?  Here's the facts. Both cars weighed about 4,400 lbs. Both had TH400 transmissions. The Tri-Power 421 was rated at 376 hp. The 4bbl 427 was rated at 390 hp. We all know that 14 hp on paper is not going to make an ounce of difference in a real-world drag race. So weight, cubic inches, and hp are all dead even. The Impala had 3.31:1 gears and an open rear end, the 2+2 had 3.90:1s a posi, and a TransGo shift kit. That was enough to let me get about  1/2 a car length off the line. That was it. Neither car could gain an inch. We did it 3 times and the results were exactly the same. I'd jump him by half a car length and hold onto it until we let off at 90 or 100 mph. Now if the 2+2 had 3.23:1 gears or the Impala had 3.90:1s the outcome might have different. Traction makes a huge difference. Besides the pumped-up RAIII 400 and 4.33:1 gears, one thing that made my Judge so brutally quick was the fact that it had Lakewood coil-spring traction bars, and I was running N50X15 Mickey Thompson "Hot-n-Sticky" tires on the rear. They were about 12 inches wide, and as advertised when they got hot, they were very sticky. I could pop the clutch at 4,300 rpm and rocket off the line with very little wheelspin. Now what poor bastard with regular street tires-who can launch at maybe 2,500-3,000 rpm if his car is a stick before he frys the tires-or the same if he's got a stall converter on an auto-is going to compete with that?  And once I get a car length or two or three lead-the RAIII on steroids is going to hold on to it, or maybe even open it up more. To catch me you'd need a SERIOUS package-like L88 or LS6 with 4.56:1 gears, or Hemi with 4.90:1s serious-to have a prayer. And never under-estimate a light small-block car. Back in the day-my cousin had a '63 Nova with a 283 that he bored to 301 inches and pumped up backed by a 4-speed and 4.88:1 gears. It was brutally quick, because it only weighed about 2,700 lbs. Another friend that had a 340 Dart that stunned a lot of big-block cars,and his brother had a pumped up 273 powered '65 Barracuda that was awful fast. A buddy of mine with a 440 Road Runner was shocked one night when a 302 Maverick showed him it's taillights. Remember the Chevy Monza? A light little coupe that could be had with a 4 cylinder, a 231 V6, or a V8. The buff mags called them the "Factory V8 Vega". Most had a 305 with a 2bbl that wheezed out 145 hp. But for a couple years-1975 and '76 I think-the 305's weren't California emissions certified. So if you ordered a V8 Monza in California you got a 350! Their pretty rare, but a guy I knew had one back in high school and it was damn quick. Especially after he put a 4bbl carb, some dual exhausts and a shift kit in it.  My dad and I put a 350 Chevy in a Datsun 240Z for a guy and it was so fast that he got kicked off the track for not having an 8 point cage and a driveshaft safety loop! Which you need if you run quicker than 12 flat-or 11.50 on some tracks!!  It only weighed about 2,300 lbs-and the warmed-over 350 didn't weigh any more than the Nissan 6 it replaced. But it had more than double the power. So don't summarily dismiss someone because of a horsepower rating you read in a magazine. They may surprise you and blow your doors off.  Mastermind          

More advice for first-time restorers......

Everyone wants something cool and unique, but often in this pursuit we get sidetracked and allow emotion to over-rule common sense. When restoring a classic car this can be a disaster, both emotionally and financially. Here's some more good advice to keep people from making costly mistakes.  A rare or special car missing major components is not a deal at any price. Obvious examples would be a Hemi powered Chrysler vehicle without the Hemi engine or a Boss 302 or 429 Mustang sans the "Boss" engine. You find an engineless Road Runner or Charger and check the VIN and discover it was originally a Hemi car. OK-now what do you do? You could slap a Mopar Perfromance 426 crate Hemi into it, but they cost 15 grand, just for the engine. You'd still have to chase down all the accessories-alternator,water pump,power steering pump, fuel pump, exhaust manifolds or headers, all the brackets. And after that-the car's still not numbers-matching, which will decrease it's resale value. You could try to chase down a date-correct Hemi engine-but good luck with that. Even if you can find a running or at least rebuildable 426 Hemi with 1968 or whatever year you need date codes-the seller is going to want blood and a first-born child for it. By the time it's in the car and running you'll have more in it than you would if you went the new crate Hemi route. Sure now, if you sell the car you can say the motor is "Correct" but that's still not numbers-matching. And do you want to invest 50 grand+ and countless man hours building this car just so you can sell it and make a small profit? I say small because someone may be willing to pay 60K for a non-numbers-matching Hemi Challenger or whatever, but their not going to pay 100K+ like "Real" Hemi cars bring. The same goes for the Boss Mustangs. Pristine Boss 302s usually bring around 80K. Sure you can build a "Mock Boss" 302 engine with Edelbrock or Trick Flow heads and Intake, but it's still not the real deal. As for a Boss 429, with only 1359 ever built you'll never, ever find a Boss-Nine motor for sale at any price. I saw a '70 Mustang on the internet that someone had stuffed a Jon Kaase built 600 inch Boss Nine into. The ad said the car dyno'd at 912 hp and 826 lbs ft of torque. I believe it. Especially since they admitted that the engine alone cost 36K!!  These are obvious "DUH!" examples but I hope they drive the point home for other stuff. For example a fuel-injected '57 Bonneville or Corvette without the fuel-injection system is not a bargain. A Thunderbolt Fairlane without the side-oiler 427 is not a deal. Those too, bring the "DUH!" response. Ok, let's say you find an engineless '67 Plymouth GTX-not a Hemi, or a '67 Impala SS. Where are you going to find a 440 Mopar or 427 Chevy with 1967 date codes? If your not trying to sell it for a zillion dollars and you just want to drive it, and maybe race it at classic drag events, sure you could grab a 440 out of a '74 Imperial or '78 Sport Fury or a 454 out of an '80's truck and build a badass engine that looks correct. I'm saying you'll play hell finding a Chevy or Mopar engine that was plentiful back in the day. What if your trying to find a 390 AMC for an AMX?  You might get a 360 out of an '80's Grand Waggoneer and have the look-but actually finding a 390?  Good luck. Or a 428 CJ Ford for that engineless Fairlane or Cougar Eliminator that's "such" a deal?  Again-390 Fords are plentiful and look the same-but 428's are scarce. See the point I'm making?  So think hard before you lay out hard-earned cash for some screaming "deal" that's missing a major component. Mastermind  

Some building guidelines for first-time restorers.....

Some of the cable networks have TV shows called "House Hunters" or "Property Virgins", etc-that chronicle experienced Real Estate agents helping first-time home buyers get a good deal on a house. I think we need one for novice classic car restorers.  Most of the time when you talk to someone who bought a car, didn't finish it, and usually sold it at a loss, it's because they "Bit off more than they can chew." In other words the car needed more work than they were mechanically and financially able to do. Here's how to avoid this pitfall. # 1.  Avoid "Basket Cases" like the plague. Any car that is just a body and frame or is missing major components is a money pit. 99% of the time your way better off just spending more money and getting a better car to start with. Also-do some research-a missing component may not be available at any price. For example no one makes a replacement grille for a 1972 Ford Gran Torino, or a rear glass for a 1971-73 "Boat Tail" Buick Riviera. This brings up...  # 2. No matter how cool or unique you think the finished product might be, some projects should not be attempted by anyone, much less someone who is not a mechanic or bodyman by profession. Everyone loves '55-57 Chevys. So much so that you can now buy or build a complete, brand-new one. That's awesome, if you want one. Let's say you think a '55 Buick Roadmaster would be cool, with a 455 / TH400 powertain, modern disc brakes,  killer suspension etc. Good Idea, in theory. In reality-unlike '55 Chevys that have a modern, open driveline and rear axle-'55 Buicks have the old "Torque Tube" driveline with a huge Pumpkin rear end and a "Dynaflow" automatic that slipped, and couldn't handle the power of the 322 inch nailhead V8 that was stock. Trying to install a modern powertrain would be an absolute nightmare. Motor mounts, crossmembers, trans mounts would have to be custom fabricated, holes driiled in the frame to mount this stuff, the rear suspension would have to be custom fabricated. You'd have to find which GM or 9 inch Ford rear end is the proper width, you'd have to decide if you were using leaf or coil springs, and fabricate the mounts, and you'd have to have a driveshaft and yokes custom-built. The front suspension is the old "Kingpin" style. As far as I know no one makes aftermarket control arms and ball joints, or spindles that mount disc brakes for '55 Buicks. It's almost impossible, no matter how much money you have. Now some of you will say-"Nothing is impossible". Manned space flight is possible-but it isn't cheap or easy!!  By contrast-if you want a killer '55 Chevy-the engine bay will accept any engine from a 283 to a 454. A TH350 is the exact same length and uses the same driveshaft yoke and rear trans mount as a 1955 Powerglide!!  The stock rear axle will hold up to anything short of a 600 hp monster, and if you want that-Currie makes 9" Ford rears with GM mounting points and spring locations pre-installed!!  The front end has control arm suspension stock, and CPP and other companies offer aftermarket ones,and front and 4-wheel disc brake conversions. You can see-building a killer "Pro Touring" '55 Chevy with a modern drivetrain and suspension would be a piece of cake. Doing the same with a '55 Buick would be practically impossible and mega-expensive. See the point I'm making?  # 3. Avoid oddball cars that have body damage. Again-where are you going to get the parts, regardless of cost?  You can get anything you want for a '57 Chevy. Where are you going to find a front fender or rear 1/4 panel for a '56 Oldsmobile 88?  You can get anything you need if you have a late '60's or '70's Camaro / Firebird, Chevelle / GTO / 442, Road Runner, Charger, 'Cuda or Challenger. But what if you have something else. Where are you going to find a hood for a 1974 Ventura GTO?  Sure dozens' of T/A resto shops sell the "Shaker" scoop. I'm talking about the actual hood panel, with the hole for the scoop cut out of it, for a Ventura, not a Firebird!!  Guess what? No one makes it. Now you can get a flat hood off a '71-74 Ventura-but even that's going to be a moonrock in a junkyard-and have the hole custom-cut by a body or metalworking shop, but how much hassle is that going to be? You can get anything you want for a Mustang or a T-Bird. What if you've got a Cougar? Or a Mercury Montego like David Pearson raced for the Wood Brothers?  Sure some suspension parts from a Mustang or Torino will interchange, but what if you need body parts or interior trim?  Where are you going to find headlight doors for a '70 Sport Fury GT?  I'm not saying you have to build a "Cookie Cutter" car-I'm just saying the reality is it's a lot easier and cheaper to restore a '69 Camaro than it is a '69 AMC Rebel Machine. It's a lot easier and cheaper to restore a '65 GTO than it is a '65 Barracuda. ( Where would you find that huge rear glass? )  Even between car lines-You can get anything you want for a '68 Mustang. What about a '68 Fairlane? Or Ranchero?  # 4. Get the engine / transmission / suspension combo you want. If you want say-a '68 SS396 Chevelle and you really don't care if it's a stick or an automatic, or if it has disc brakes or not, then that opens up a lot more possibilities of finding a good deal on the base car. If you "Gotta Have" a 4-speed, and front disc brakes that's going to narrow it down quite a bit. If it's got to be a solid-lifter L78 car instead of the hydraulic-lifter L34 / L35 models-your choices get way fewer and the price goes way up. Don't buy an automatic car and think you'll convert it to a stick, or vice-versa. Yes, it can be done, but it's a pain in the ass and expensive. Same with engines. If you want a big-block Challenger or 'Cuda then step up to the pay line and get one that has a 383 or 440 from the factory. Don't buy a 318 model and think you'll convert it. Besides the new engine and accessories- You'll need a new front k-member,big-block torsion bars, a new radiator, a 727 Torqueflite to replace the 904, and an 8 3/4 rear end to replace the 8.25 stocker and big-block leaf springs. That would be a MoFo of a job in a state of the art shop; Your going to attempt it in your driveway with hand tools?  Here's where you may have to compromise a little-If you want a big-block Camaro-the 396 / 402 was only available in the Camaro from 1967 until 1972 and those are pretty rare. By contrast-400 Firebirds are everywhere-and you could get a 400 in a Trans-Am or Formula Firebird until 1979 and the 455 was available until 1976. The Gran Prix is to the Monte Carlo what the Firebird is to the Camaro-the better buy of the two. Rat-Powered Monte Carlos from 1970-74 are rare and pricey. The Pontiac Gran Prix? 400 power standard all years from 1969-76, and a fair number of '70-76 "SJ" models had 455s!!  My sister had a '72 GP in high school. It had power everything, and it felt like a GTO. She showed her taillights to many a shocked Camaro and Mustang driver. Take the path of least resistance the first time, and don't be a dumb ass. I know a guy who wanted a '68-70 Charger. He passed up a one-owner little-old-lady pristine "time capsule" '68 model because it had bench seats, stock hupcaps and skinny tires and a 2-barrel carb on the 383!!  And then paid nearly as much for a '69 that had Cragar Mags and fat tires, a non-numbers matching 440 and bucket seats. And needed a new trunk floor and 1/4 panels and, had a leaky radiator and and a leaky power steering pump!!  Moron!!  # 5. Remember the KISS principle. ( Keep it simple, stupid ). Don't go crazy on your first project. If your doing say a '55 Chevy let's go with a 350 and a 4-speed or TH350.  Don't attempt an LS motor and a 4L80E, or a 454 and a Tremec 6-speed.  If your doing a '65 Mustang-the 289 / C4 combo will work just fine. Don't try to swap in fuel-injected 4.6 Mod motor and a 5-speed. Like I used to tell people back in the '90's when "Pro Street" was all the rage-if a Super Stock Firebird can run 11.30s with a Quadrajet on an iron manifold, why do you need a tunnel-ram and dual 660 Holleys?   Mastermind          

More "Tales From the Crypt".....

In the last post I talked about testing and tuning and finding the right combination to get the maximum performance out of your car. People don't realize how important this is. Even on a bone-stock engine bad tuning or simple neglect can cost you as much as 50 hp. When was the last time you changed the plugs and wires on your musclecar? The points, condenser, rotor and distributor cap?  When's the last time you changed the fuel filter? Is your carb jetted rich or lean or "right on?" When's the last time you checked the timing? Is it advanced or retarded?  Is your vacuum advance hooked up and working properly? Does the throttle linkage open fully without sticking or hanging up? On automatic cars-is the kickdown hooked up and functioning? Is the vacuum modulator hooked up and working? When's the last time you changed the fluid?  All these things are cheap, easy fixes, but if their neglected can cost you a ton of performance. Once all that's working and your getting maximum performance from your stock combo-then you can think about modifications. You have to remember that an internal combustion engine is basically an air pump. The more air and fuel you can make it flow-the more power you'll have. Now that's a very simplistic view-and right now we don't need to go into port velocity, cam timing etc. For this discussion that sentence will fly. The largest improvement you can make on any car regardless of make or model is improving the intake and exhaust. These offer the most "bang for the buck". A friend of mine bought an '83 Camaro with the LG4 305 4bbl, a 5-speed stick and a 3.73:1 rear end. He was crushed when my '77 T/A blew his doors off. Adding insult to injury-my car was not a 400 / 4-speed W72 model, but a lowly L80 403 Olds / TH350 model!!  As I said in the last post-my car was not exactly stock and surprised many a 400 Pontiac powered T/A, as well as Corvettes, "5.0" Mustangs, IROC-Z's, and another pal with a 2WD short-bed 454 pickup. He asked for my help in hopping the Camaro up. We put some Hedman shorty headers on it that had AIR tubes and an O2 sensor port from the factory. We also installed an Edelbrock Performer intake with an EGR valve. We did put real dual exhausts on it with some shorty glasspacks. It sounded badass. I told my pal that since we had the 02 sensor hooked up, the ECM would compensate the fuel mixture on the electronically controlled Q-Jet carb, and we might not have to mess with re-jetting the carb at all. We didn't. We had another drag race, and it was too close to call. The Improvement in the car's performance was stunning. Before I could just run away from him. Now depending on who spun their tires less-it was hard for either of us to get even a 1/2 car lead. The intake and exhaust improved the perfromance  that much on an otherwise stock 305 Chevy. He decided to go "whole hog" and we installed the matching Edelbrock Performer cam. Now he could beat me by 2 or 3 car lengths depending on launch. Which he got better at. You don't think of a 305 Chevy as having a lot of torque. The cam made a stunning improvement in the mid-range and top-end, but it did lose some on the bottom-end. This actually made the car quicker-because he had less wheelspin. Before if he dropped the clutch at any rpm over 3 grand, he just roasted the tires. Now he could drop the clutch at 4,500 rpm, spin the tires for 30 feet and rocket off the line!!  Shifting at 5,500-5,700 rpm, he totally stunned many LB9 / L98 Z/28 and Corvette owners, and crushed every "5.0" Mustang that challenged him. The best race he had was with a Buick Grand National. Since they ran low 14's right off the showroom floor, that demonstrates the HUGE improvement we made from the stock LG4 that wheezed out 150 hp!!  My pal asked what could he do next to get even more oomph. I laughed and said he should be happy with what he had, that unless he wanted to invest in a nitrous system, he had about reached the limit of the 305's potential. More power than he had would require swapping in a 350. He kept the 305 until he sold the car a couple years later-because "It's so damn much fun to drive as it is, that I can't bring myself to pull the engine and start over". In the early '60's Chrysler found more performance not in the engine, but the transmission. With the introduction of the Torqueflite in 1962-they dominated stock and super stock drag classes. Manual trans cars require quite a bit of driver skill, and let's face it-the best of us give it too much throttle or miss a shift once in a while. The automatics would launch consistently at the same rpm every time,with much less wheelspin, and would shift at the same rpm every time. Any racer will tell you that consistency is the key to winning. GM lagged behind. The TH400 was introduced in 1965-in "big" cars like the Impala and Catalina. If you wanted an automatic in a Chevelle, or a GTO or even a Corvette you got the awful 2-speed Powerglide / ST300!!  The TH400 wasn't available in a GTO or Chevelle until 1967, and the Corvette until 1968. Now most of your musclecars-will have Torqueflites if their Chrysler, TH350 or 400s if their GM or C4 / C6's if their Fords. All of these are excellent trannys and with the proper shift kit and torque converter can really rock. Part of the reason my T/A was so deadly in a "Stoplight Gran Prix" was the TransGo shift kit. It would kick down to 1st gear below 20 mph. This was a huge advantage. Think-If me and say a 400 Pontiac-powered automatic T/A-or even a 383 Road Runner or 396 Chevelle with an auto are coming up to a red light-we start slowing down to stop. We get down to 10-15 mph, but still moving. The light turns green and we punch it. My TH350 kicks down to low gear. The T/A / Chevelle / Road Runner's tranny kicks down to 2nd. We've both just floored it, we've both got 400 cubes in roughly a 3,700 lb car. Except I'm in 1st gear and the other guy is in 2nd. Who's going to accelerate harder? And once I get that car length or two lead-it's going to be awful hard for the other guy to make it up. Unless he's got a SERIOUS motor-he's not going to. A friend of mine had a 340 Dart with a Torqueflite and this shift kit that stunned many a big-block car. He had 3.55:1 gears which is a great compromise between jack rabbit starts and reasonable freeway cruising rpm, and like I said-if the cars were moving at all he'd be in low and the other guy'd be in 2nd. That's how we beat many a "faster" car. In fact we'd tell people that to avoid wheelspin being a factor we'd prefer to run from a 10-20 mph roll!! And they'd fall for it, thinking they'd really smoke us now. Surprise!!!  The reason is most automatic trannys are programmed to downshift to low gear only from a complete stop. If the car is moving at all-even 10 mph-they'll kick down to 2nd, but not low. TransGo and B&M make shift kits and governor weight kits to solve this. Even on later cars with AOD trannys like a 700R4-these kits will give you automatic kickdown to low gear and a full-throttle upshift to 4th.  My pal with the 454 pickup grenaded the Rat one day. Another friend gave him a 400 small-block out of his wife's wrecked station wagon. He rebuilt the 400 installing the old standby-the "350 hp" 327 Corvette cam, a set of headers and a 3310 Holley on an Edelbrock Performer intake. The 400 actually had more torque than the 454!  With the 454 it would smoke the tires if you wanted to, but it actually came off the line really good. The 400 just fried the tires. He had to work on walking it off the line and hitting it maybe 20 feet out to avoid excessive wheelspin. Once he got the launch down, the truck was really quick. He gave my buddy in the pumped-up '83 Camaro a run for the money neither of us will forget. Scoff if you want-but a 4,300 lb pickup that runs low 14s, and has 15 inches of vacuum at idle is pretty cool. Anyone who drove or rode in that truck couldn't believe a small-block could have that much power. It was a simple but effective combination. The old L79 350 hp cam was a little lumpy in a 327, which is why it was only available with a 4-speed in a Corvette, Chevelle or Nova. It's better in a 350, but really sweet in a 400. And the intake and exhaust allowed it to breathe as it should, and the pickup's 3.73:1 posi rear certainly helped put that power to the ground. Sometimes less is more. Never under-estimate a simple, perfectly tuned combination with an experienced driver. A buddy of mine restored a '72 440 Road Runner. He used the stock 440 Magnum cam. It didn't even have headers on it-he used the stock exhaust manifolds, with a good Dynomax system behind them. He used an Edelbrock Performer intake and matching 750 cfm carb. He did install the TransGo shift kit, and swapped the 3.23:1 gears for some 4.10:1s. Funny-the 4.10s didn't seem to help one ounce in low gear. However-they made a HUGE difference in 2nd and 3rd!!  This car smote many a "badass" hot rod in biblical fashion. He showed his tailights to everybody, including my 455 / TH400 '73 Hurst / Olds. In my defense-at that time my car still had the stock 3.08:1 gears. If I had 4.10s ( which I later installed ) or if his car had the stock 3.23s-it might have been a different story. But that's "bench racing".  His car was really quick. He ran it at Reno-Fernley Raceway one time and it ran 13.54. Not bad on street tires with a mild combo. We all know how strong a 440 Magnum is, even basically stock. Anyhow-it takes a little trial and error, but it's worth it in the logn run to maximize your performance.  Mastermind