Don't listen to self-proclaimed "Experts"....

It's funny-but I see it all the time. Some neophyte hot-rodder who's thinking about a project will be listening raptly to some moron telling him about a bunch of "Gotta Haves" and encouraging him to spend umpteen thousands of dollars on stuff he doesn't need. And-this "Expert"-more often than not, is not a professional mechanic, doesn't even change his own oil, calls AAA if he gets a flat tire,and has never pulled an engine or transmission in his life,and has never built or driven any kind of race car-not a VW sand rail,an MG or a Miata, a Toyota or Datsun mini-stock, a hobby stock or street stock dirt-track or paved track racer, or any kind of drag car. Nothing. Yet he pontificates at length how other people should spend their money with quotes he got off the internet, in magazines and off shows like Top Gear. And it's funny-people will listen attentively to these assholes like their talking to Smokey Yunick, or Dick Landy, or Roger Penske,or Herb Adams, or Vic Edelbrock or Richard Petty or some other legend who was a trail blazer in Indy car racing, drag racing, or Nascar, or who designed an induction system or a whole car!!  Anyhow-I'm here today to save the first-time car restorer from making expensive mistakes on some ass-clown's advice.  # 1. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". This is the best advice I can give anyone. Every car doesn't have to be a frame-off restoration where every single nut and bolt is replaced whether it needs it or not. This will drive the price of your project into the stratosphere. If you've got a basically solid car to start with-fix what it NEEDS. Whether that's replacing a rusted 1/4 panel or trunk floor, or buying a new radiator. I know a guy who bought a 340 Road Runner. It was a solid, running car. It had a dent in the left front fender, and the seats needed to be recovered, but otherwise it was all there. All he needed to do, literally was replace that fender, get the seats recovered, and a paint job, and he'd have had a nice car. A couple weeks later-I go by his place and he's got the car all tore apart and he's replacing stuff that doesn't need to be replaced. I mean he replaced the radiator, even though the car wasn't overheating, and it wasn't leaking. He replaced the power steering pump, even though it worked fine, wasn't making any noise and wasn't leaking. He replaced the starter and alternator-even though the car started fine every time you turned the key, and never had a dead battery. He was pulling the engine-and I asked him why. "I'm going to rebuild it." "Why on earth would you do that?" I asked, aghast. When we looked at the car before he bought it, I helped him go over it with the proverbial fine-tooth comb. We did a compression test and all 8 cylinders were within 5-10 psi of each other. It didn't smoke, didn't use any oil, had good oil pressure, and ran like a champ. It would smoke the tires at will from a light, and lay 8-10 feet of rubber when the Torqueflite hit 2nd!!  If he wanted more power-I could understand adding a set of headers, or an Edelbrock Torker intake, or maybe even a cam-but the engine was fine-it absolutely did NOT need to be torn down and rebuilt. It probably would have ran another 50,000 miles without trouble. Ditto for the brakes. The car had front disc / rear drum brakes and stopped just fine, with no weird noises or vibration. He replaced not only the pads and shoes, but the rotors and drums, the calipers,hoses,wheel cylinders, and master cylinder and booster!!  When none of that stuff was bad!!!  Anyway he maxes out all his credit cards and spends nearly 50 grand replacing every nut and bolt whether it needed it or not. Then he decides to get married and sell the car for a down payment on a house. He was crushed when he sold the car for $21,000-which is all the money for a 340 Road Runner back in the mid-1980's-everyone wanted the 383, 440 and Hemi models. Less than half of what he had invested. Now if he'd listened to me and just fixed what needed attention-he'd have had maybe 10 grand in the car, including it's original purchase price-and he'd have MADE 10 grand when he sold it instead of losing 30!!  Those wheel cylinders,calipers, radiator,p/s pump, and alternator and starter, etc-drove the build cost way up, but didn't raise the selling price any!!  Any restoration is going to be a labor of love, and I wouldn't expect to make a profit, but if you don't go batshit crazy replacing stuff that doesn't need to be replaced-like an alternator that works or a radiator that doesn't leak-the pain will be a lot less if you have to sell the car.  # 2. "Run What You Brung".  Magazines and gearheads talk flippantly about how "easy" it is to swap certain engines and transmissions. For a professional mechanic with state of the art tools, in a state of the art shop, yes,swapping a 350 Pontiac for a 400 / 455, or a Powerglide for a TH350 is cake. But for "Joe Average", in his driveway, with hand tools? Has anyone pulled a small-block Chevy out of a old Nova laying on the ground in the driveway? Or a clutch out of a Ford pickup?  I have. It's a sonofabitch, and that's if your simply removing and replacing identical parts. If your changing something or fabricating something-that's a rabbit-hole a 1st time restorer doesn't want to go down. So that's why I say "Run what you brung". What I mean is-if the car is an automatic-then run the automatic trans that's in the car. Don't try to swap in a Tremec 5-speed stick or BW 6-speed. Or try to swap a TH350 for a TH700R4. It's not worth the grief and hassle-and the money you'd waste is better spent elsewhere-on speed parts, tires and wheels, paint and bodywork etc. And run the engine that's in the car. If you have a 350 Firebird or LeMans, a factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake, some headers and dual exhausts, and a B&M or TransGo shift kit in the trans will give you a HUGE increase in performance. You don't have to sell your soul to put a 400 in it. Ditto for a 318 Duster or Challenger, or a 289 / 302 Mustang / Cougar. Don't buy a small-block Chevelle with the intention of "someday" swapping in a 454. Unless your attending UTI or some other school to become a professional mechanic, I guarantee it won't happen. You'll get frustrated and sell the car.  If you "gotta have" a 400, 4-speed Trans-Am, then pay the price and go buy one. Don't think that you'll be able to "convert" a 403 / TH350 model. You "gotta have" a "Vanishing Point" Challenger with a 383 or a 440-then step up and pay the price. Don't buy a 318 model and think that you'll be able to-in your driveway-change the crossmember, torsion bars, transmission,rear end, leaf springs, radiator, and everything else that a "B" or "RB" E-body swap requires. I'm not trying to piss on anybody's dreams; I've built race cars and V8 Vegas, and V8 Chevy Luvs, and put small-block Chevys into 240Z's and 389 Pontiacs into GMC pickups; and I WOULDN'T attempt the Challenger swap I just described!!  That's what I'm saying-if your a first-timer-don't bite off more than you can chew. Yes-it's possible to put a 460 into a Fox Mustang-but with guys running in the 10's with 302s-why would you want to attempt it?  # 3. Everything doesn't have to be "Super Duty". I say this because in my car sales days working in a Ford store, I got a 40 year old adolescent who wanted to buy an F250 Diesel to tow his race car. The race car was a gutted '70's Camaro that weighed maybe 3,000 lbs. His trailer that he towed it on weighed maybe 1,000; even with gas and tools, he was only pulling about 4,500 pounds. He didn't need a Super Duty-a V6 Ranger can tow 5,000 lbs!!  He definitely would have been fine with a base-model F150-they have a 7,700 lb tow rating with the 6-cylinder and 9,500 lbs with the V8. I explained all this. Like talking to the wall. He was adamant, he had to have a Super Duty. Then it hit me-all of his asshole buddies at the track drove Super Dutys, or the Big Dodge and Chevy Diesels. If he pulled into the pits in an F150-one or more of these assholes would crack-"I see you brought your wife's truck today". "A little short on cash?" "You couldn't afford a real truck?"  This guy was 40 years old, and acting like he was in junior high. He was going to spend about $10,000 extra on a heavy-duty truck he didn't need, because he didn't have balls enough to tell another 40 year old adolescent blowhard to shut the F$%k up!!  Mercenary bastard that I was, I sold him the Super Duty. He was going to lay down for one somewhere, so Instead of futiley trying to talk sense into him, I took the commission. The moral of this story-is the magazines have to sell their advertiser's products to stay in business, and like I said earlier-most of these self-proclaimed "experts" get all their information from the magazines or the internet, none from practical experience. Here's a couple examples. Look in Summitt Racing's catalog in the transmission section. They sell brand-new BW T10 4-speed manual transmissions. There listed as having a 325 or 375 lb torque rating. However-in the early '60s-409 Impalas, 421 Catalinas and 406 Galaxies all had T10 4-speeds as standard equipment and they all had 450-500+ lbs ft of torque. People not only drove them every day on the street, they competed in stock class drag racing, sometimes making 30 hard passes in a weekend. Ironically- because of modern metallurgy-the newer ones have much tougher mainshafts and gears than the old ones!!  Yet they only have a 375 lb torque rating!!  What I'm saying is-if you need a 4-speed for your 389 GTO or 396 Chevelle and you can't find a Muncie-you'll be fine with one of these T10s!!  Ditto for the T5s in Camaros and Mustangs. They supposedly only have a 300 lb torque rating. Yet I know guys who have swapped in strong 350s and never had a problem. I know Mustang racers that run blowers and nitrous and run in the 10s and 11s with stock T5s.  The same for automatics. A TH350 or a C4 can handle up to 500 hp pretty easy. I know Grand National racers that run in the 10s with 200R4's.  So remember these simple guidelines, and you'll save yourself a ton of money and grief.  Mastermind                  

The argument that killed NASCAR.....

NASCAR always stood for the "National Association of Stock Car Racing". Back in the 1950's when Semon E. "Bunkie" Knudsen took over Pontiac he had the motto "You can sell a young man's car to an old man, but you can't sell an old man's car to a young man." Pontiac immediately began building performance into their cars. The 1959 model was the first one to have been completely designed and built under Knudsen's tenure. It looked like the Batmobile, and the top engine option was a 389 inch V8 with 3 2bbls that had 345 hp. All a 348 inch Impala or a 352 inch Galaxie were going to see of a 389 Catalina or Bonneville is the taillights. A mechanic named Smokey Yunick partnered with a driver named Fireball Roberts and for a couple years they dominated NASCAR. The term "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" was coined by the automotive press. It certainly worked. With it's high-performance image Pontiac quickly climbed from sixth in U.S. sales to third. NASCAR rules said that to race a car at least 500 had to be sold to the public. The SCCA ( Sports Car Club of America ) which sponsored the immensely popular Trans-Am series had the same rule. This rule brought us many cool things-most notably the vaunted 426 Chrysler Hemi, as well as the Boss 429,the Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird,the Z/28 Camaro,the Boss 302 Mustang and the Firebird Trans-Am, Challenger T/A and 'Cuda AAR. ( There was a loophole that allowed de-stroking a production V8 to get under the 305 ci limit. Pontiac de-stroked a 400 and Chrysler did the same with a 340; unlike Chevrolet and Ford, they had no 5 liter high-performance production engine )  We all know Robert Duvall's immortal line from "Days of Thunder"-"There's nothing stock about a stock car" is true. However-the point I'm making is the cars had to be production based. You could recognize your favorites on the track and if you wanted one-you could go down to your local dealer and buy a 421 Catalina, or a 409 Impala or a 406 Galaxie, and later a Hemi Road Runner or a big-block Chevelle, or a 427 Fairlane. The competition was fierce. In the early '70's in an effort to keep speeds down-they were hitting 200 mph on the big tracks-You know how much power it takes to push a '70 Charger or a '71 Monte Carlo to 200 mph?? Nascar lowered the cubic inch limit to 366 ci and the mega motors were no longer necessary. As the small-blocks got more and more powerful, then they went to restrictor plates under the carb and other crap to control speeds. Also bodystyles could not be more than 5 years old. This is what eventually ruined NASCAR racing and made it the uninteresting mess it is today. Richard Petty couldn't run his iconic '74 Charger after the '79 season. He tried to run a Dodge Magnum body, but it was uncompetitive. The Petty team then switched to GM products. Most GM racers were running either Chevelle or Monte Carlo bodies. Petty discovered that the slope-nosed fastback '76-77 Olds Cutlass was much more aerodynamic and would run much quicker than the blunt nosed, notchback Malibus and Monte Carlos. Since Petty was running the ubiquitous 350 small-block Chevy race engine, the other teams cried foul. They said Petty should be forced to run an Oldsmobile engine. Obviously-the 350 Olds had nowhere near the racing development or speed equipment availability of the Small-block Chevy. If he had to run an Olds engine, the car would have been uncompetitive, which the other teams knew. However-in the late '70's, mostly because of smog laws, GM was playing musical engines. In 1977 you could get a Pontiac Firebird with a 231 inch Buick V6, a 301 Pontiac,a 305 Chevy,a 350 Chevy, a 350 Olds, a 350 Buick, a 350 Pontiac,a 400 Pontiac,and a 403 Olds. In 1978 you could get an Olds Cutlass with a 231 Buick V6, a 260 Olds V8, a 305 Chevy,and a 350 Olds. You could get a Buick Regal with a 301 Pontiac or a 305 Chevy. A Pontiac Gran Prix offered the 231 Buick V6, a 301 Pontiac, or a 305 Chevy. The Cadillac Seville was powered by a 350 Olds. Petty argued that since GM was selling Oldsmobiles to the public with Chevy engines in them,that he ought to be allowed to race them. The NASCAR brass agreed with Petty, and amended the rules-saying that teams could run any GM engine in any GM body. Petty's Cutlass dominated, winning several races in a row. The other teams quickly switched to Cutlasses to keep up. Through the '80's you could still buy a V8 rear-drive Monte Carlo SS, like Dale Earnhardt drove, or a Ford Thunderbird like Bill Elliott drove to the championship. Buick Regals were a popular body-so that got us the badass Grand National-although no NASCAR team was running a Turbo V6.  That was all well and good. Then in 1988 GM discontinued the rear-drive "G" bodies ( Pontiac Gran Prix, Chevy Monte Carlo, Buick Regal, and Olds Cutlass ). Every GM intermediate and most of the "big" cars were now front-wheel drive with V6's. This posed a problem for the racers. Now why GM NASCAR teams didn't simply switch to Camaros and Firebirds-I don't know-they were still rear-drive, V8 models and stayed in production through 2002. That would have been the simple thing. Instead the rules were amended and teams began running Chevy Lumina and Beretta bodies. As we got into the '90's the downward death spiral started. NASCAR should have stuck to their guns. If no manufacturer is making rear-drive, V8 cars then guess what guys? Your racing 4-banger and V6 front-drive econoboxes!!  I guarantee the manufacturers would have made sure they each had at least one model that was rear-drive and V8 powered!! Instead, they change the rules to allow a fiberglass front-drive econobox body on a tube frame, with 1965 technology?  Carburators? No roller cams? No overhead cam designs?  Then Ford guys started running Taurus bodies, and Toyota got into the fray with Camry bodies. Here's where they really went sideways. NASCAR basically forced Toyota to build a small-block Chevy copy-a pushrod V8 that was NEVER in any production Toyota vehicle!!  I don't understand why they didn't stick to the rules that cars had to be production based. GM still had Camaros and Firebirds, Ford had Mustangs. And let Ford run the OHC Mod Motor. Let Toyota run their I-Force V8 in the Lexus coupe. Let GM run their LS engines. Let Chrysler run the Hemi in a Charger Body. Now that would have been fun to watch and competitive as all hell. Nope. You got small block Chevys-a 1955 design, "Clevor" Fords-Windsor blocks with "Cleveland" heads-a 1968 design, and small-block Mopars-a 1967 design. Toyota has their faux-small-block Chevy, not the OHC V8's they put in Lexus's and Tundra pickups.  They had carburators until 2014-when every american and foreign car built has been fuel injected since 1988!!  And the so-called "fuel injection" their running now isn't multi-port or sequential port injection like all modern cars have-it's a 4-barrel Holley throttle body on an Edelbrock Victor manifold!!!  A glorified carburator!!  All the cars look the same. You can't tell one from the other. Don't you agree that today the sport would be better if people were running LS engined Camaros, Coyote engined Mustangs, Hemi Challengers,and I-Force Lexus Coupes?  That would be fun to watch, instead of a bunch of "Cookie Cutter" "Cars of Tomorrow" ( That are really cars of yesteryear ) going in circles. I think they need to get back to their roots-"Stock Car Racing". Or like it was in the '60's and '70's and '80s-the Golden Age when they were at least production based!!  Anybody have any other ideas?  Mastermind      

I'm not "Bashing" anything...I'm trying to give people good advice

A lot of people ask me why I sometimes "bash" certain vehicles, even revered classics. I think the term "bashing" is a little harsh. I'm not "bashing" anything; I'm trying to give people good advice to help them avoid costly mistakes when buying or restoring a musclecar.  For example-I've said it many times because it's true. Fords do not have the easy parts interchangeability that GM and Chrysler stuff has. This is not a slam of Ford products; it's an irrefutable fact. You can take a 327 out of a '66 Impala and put it in a '78 Camaro and and not have to change a thing.  By contrast a 390 Ford out of a T-Bird has a different oil pan,a different water pump and different accessory brackets than a 390 out of Mustang, and they are both different than a 390 out of an F100 pickup! And god help you if your changing "families". A 289 / 302 has a different bellhousing bolt-pattern than a 351C does. Their both different than the "FE" engines-i.e. 352-390-427-428, and they are different than a 429 /460!!  So if you swapping a Ford engine, chances are your chasing a bunch of different parts, and you need a new transmission or bellhousing to boot!  A lot different from taking a 455 out of a '75 Grand Prix and literally bolting it into your 350 powered '69 LeMans!! That's all I'm saying. I'm not telling people to not do Ford projects. I'm just warning them that they are going to cost more and be more hassle than a Chevy or a Pontiac or a Mopar. Another thing I don't understand is I've been called out for saying a 351W is a better street engine than a Boss 302. That's because it is!!  The Boss 302 was designed for one thing-to win the SCCA Trans-Am championship. The engine was designed to make maximum power between 5,000 and 8,000 rpm. The engineers didn't care about anything below 5 or above 8. That's why they have a solid-lifter cam and ports and valves the size of a 427 Chevy!! There's a reason they were only available with a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.30:1 gears. They have very little torque below 3,000 rpm. And a lot of people don't know it, but to keep people from running them 8 grand and blowing them up and having a lot of warranty claims on this expensive ( Ford lost money on every one ) one-off engine-Ford put a rev limiter on them that cut the ignition at 5,800 rpm. So yes, if your in the market for a '69 Mustang and your going to drive the car at all-the 351W has way more low-end torque and much easier drivability, and can be had with an automatic trans and A/C!!  What part of better STREET engine did people not grasp?  Ditto for the mighty Chrysler Hemi. I've been chewed out for saying that a 383 or a 440 is much better STREET engine. Again-that's because it's true. The 426 Hemi was designed to do one thing-go 200 mph at Daytona. Richard Petty and others had great success and dominated the big tracks in Nascar. Others like Sox&Martin had great success in drag racing. That's because it was designed as a racing engine. On the street, especially with restricted exhaust, an automatic and normal gearing like 3.23:1-they don't run that fast. Popular Hot Rodding said driving their '69 Hemi R/T Charger test car was like running with one flat tire. They couldn't break out of the 14s, and went through the traps in 2nd gear. They said it needed a 4-speed and 4.30:1 gears or at least some 4.10:s and a higher-stall converter to reach it's full potential. In the same issue a 440 GTX ran faster in the 1/4 than the Hemi Charger, as did a 428CJ Mustang, a 400 RAIII GTO, and a 396 Chevelle!!  The PHR writers are absolutely right. If you've got stiff gears and the right converter and free-flowing exhaust, yes a Hemi will kick ass. But in bone-stock trim-they often got beat in "Stoplight Gran Prix's" by "lesser" cars like 383 Road Runners, 400 GTOs, 396 Chevelles, etc. This is another irrefutable fact. Just like saying that Boss 429s don't run to their potential. They don't. The Boss-Nine was designed for one thing and one thing only. To beat the 426 Hemi in NASCAR races. Period. Stuffed into a Mustang with a very restrictive exhaust system, and a little 735 Holley carb, and having 3.50:1 gears-they weren't slow-but a "regular" 428 Mach 1 would blow it's doors off in a drag race. A 351C Mach 1 would run almost as fast, and have much better handling because they weren't so nose-heavy. The Boss 429s weren't the fearsome beasts you'd think they'd be. And here's the catch 22-with only 1359 ever built and pristine examples selling for $250,000 on up-no one is going to put headers and a Jon Kaase intake and an 1150 Dominator Holley and 4.30:1 gears in one and let it rip down the drag strip to the tune of low 11s like it should!!  I love Pontiacs. I loved my dad's Tri-Power 421 '65 2+2, I loved my '69 Judge, and I loved my '77 T/A. I loved my sisters '72 Gran Prix. Nothing feels better than punching it and riding that mountain of torque that a 400 or 455 posesses. However-Pontiacs are not high revvers. That big heavy crank, which is why they often go 200,000 miles on the street with out a rebuild-is a hindrance when racing. If your building a 455 I wouldn't run it over 5,700 rpm if you want it to last. A 400, you can get away with 5,800-6,200, but that's about it. When you've got 450+ lbs of torque from idle on up, you don't need to rev to 7 or 8 grand. That's the beauty of them. But their not high revvers. Ditto for a 400 or 455 Olds. It's not a bad thing, it's just a quirk of the way these engines were designed. As STREET engines, not racing engines. Oh yeah? You say-then how come a 427 or 454 Chevy can go 7,500 rpm reliably? Because-the Rat motor was designed as a racing engine!! Remember the 427 inch Daytona Mystery engine of 1963?  In 1961-62 Smokey Yunick and Fireball Roberts were the scourge of Nascar in their fire-breathing 421 Pontiacs. They won 22 races that year-a record that stood until Richard Petty won 27 in 1967-68. The old 409 Chevy and 406 Fords and 413 Mopars were blown away by the 421s. The Manufacturers weren't going to stand for that. Chrysler was already developing the Hemi for its debut in '64 or '65. Ford was developing the 427, and Chevy was developing a 427 of their own. That Daytona "Mystery" engine became the porcupine-head production "Rat" motor that debuted in 1965. So the legendary "Rat", like the Hemi and the Boss-Nine was designed to be a race engine and was adapted to street cars. Chevrolet just had better success making them streetable. I hope that clears a few things up. When I say something about a given car line, I'm not saying it maliciously, I'm just trying to save people time, money and frustration. Mastermind      

The King's rides....And other celebrity car stories...

A lot of people are interested in cars that were owned by celebrities. I have to admit I fall into that category. Here's a few interesting stories about celebrity rides. # 1. Elvis Presley. You gotta start any celebrity discussion with the "King". It's widely known that Elvis had a lot of Cadillacs from the '50's until his death in 1977. But he also liked musclecars and sports cars as well. His favorite car was the Stutz Blackhawk. The Stutz Blackhawk was a custom hand-built luxury performance car based on the Pontiac Gran Prix platform. Elvis had four of them between 1971 and 1977. The first one was the prototype based on a 1970 Gran Prix. A businessman named James O' Donnel revived the Stutz Motor Company and teamed up with retired Chrysler Stylist Virgil Exner to create an exclusive high end luxury performance car. The 455 Pontiac / TH400 powertrain was powerful and reliable and was easy to get service and parts for. The Blackhawks could do 0-60 in 8 seconds and had a top speed over 130 mph. The bodywork was hand-rolled steel done by Ghia in Italy. The interior featured lush Australian wool carpeting, rich leather and real gold and walnut on the dash and accents. O' Donnel was smart in first marketing the car to celebrities. Frank Sinatra wanted the first one as well. When O' Donnel showed the car to Elvis he wanted to buy it on the spot. O Donnel  explained that he needed the car to show to other people and obtain orders, and that it was scheduled to debut at a big car show the following week. Elvis replied-"Do you think you'll sell more cars with you driving it, or with me driving it?" Sinatra refused to allow any pictures to be taken of him and the car and refused to let O Donnel borrow it for the car show where the Blackhawk's debut was planned. Elvis happily posed for pictures with the car and said O' Donnel could say he bought the first one and use his likeness in advertising it. He also agreed to let O' Donnel put it in the car show, and to take delivery after the show. Wisely, O' Donnel sold the car to Presley. Sinatra was furious, but O'Donnel didn't care. He'd made the same offer to Sinatra about buying the car as he did to Elvis.  Sinatra refused. Elvis made the deal. Elvis promoting the car was so huge,the impact couldn't be measured in dollars and cents. Orders from other celebrities poured in. Sammy Davis Jr, Evel Kneival,Dean Martin,Wilson Pickett,Lucille Ball,Elton John,Paul McCartney,Jerry Lewis, Robert Goulet, Boxer Larry Holmes,Frank Sinatra-after his initial anger and threat to never,ever buy one subsided-probably his close friends Martin and Davis having them helped, and countless others all purchased Stutz Blackhawks after Elvis did. Anyhow this first one got wrecked in an accident and Elvis had it stored at Graceland several years. Eventually it was restored. He bought another '71 model and a pearl white '72 model as well. However his favorite was the 1973 model. It was black with red leather interior. This was the car he was driving when he was photographed returning to Graceland on August 16, 1977 just hours before his death. This car is on display at Graceland. He also had a BMW 507 when he was in the Army in Germany. It was high-performance roadster that had been specially built for and driven by German race-car driver Hans Stucker.  Elvis thought he bought it, but the contract was in German. He had only leased it, and had to turn it in when he left Germany.  Another interesting story is the Elvis 'Cuda. While on tour in Ohio in 1971 Elvis had watched the car-chase cult classic movie "Vanishing Point" and decided he wanted a Challenger. He and Sonny West went to the local Dodge-Chrysler-Plymouth dealer. They didn't have a white Challenger, but they did have a Sub-Lime 'Cuda on the showroom. It was a 340 / Torqueflite model. After some negotiation, Elvis bought the car. He took it home to Tennessee, registered it, ( lucky for the future owners ). and kept it 8 months before selling it. The car went through various owners over the next 40 plus years. The current owner bought it with the intention of making it a badass hot rod, maybe even swapping a 440 or a crate hemi into it. When he was going through papers from the car he found a Tennessee registration from 1971 that listed the car's vin number and the owner's name and address-Elvis Aron Presley,### Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee.....and turned handsprings all the way home, and decided to restore it to it's original condition. The other funny one is the 1971 Pantera. Elvis bought it for $2,400 in 1974 for then-girlfriend Linda Thompson. That should have thrown up a red flag right there. Panteras were $10,000 when they debuted in 1971. The buff magazines called them the "Poor Mans's Lamborghini". However with the base price of a Pontiac Trans-Am being $4,300 and a Corvette being a little over $6,000-I doubt any poor people bought Panteras. They were selling for $12-15,000 in 1974 dollars. If somebody was selling one for $2,400, you knew there had to be a problem. The problem was electrical and sometimes it just wouldn't start for no reason. Wait an hour-it would fire right up. Memphis tow-truck drivers joked about several times picking up a furious Elvis and towing it back to Graceland. After one such incident he shot it, and the car started! It's on display at the Petersen auto museum in L.A. Before putting it in there the current owner asked Lisa Marie Presley if she wanted to display it at Graceland with the Stutz and the Cadillacs and Harleys and other toys. "Absolutely not." She said. "My daddy hated that car." "It left him and Linda stranded a bunch of times." "He thought it must have had a Gypsy curse on it or something ."  # 2. Evel Kneival. Evel was a huge Elvis fan-his jumping leathers were a lot like the King's show jump suits. So naturally he had to get a Stutz Blackhawk. His was blue. Evel also had a Ferarri 246 Dino, and a Cadillac Eldorado that was made into an El Camino type pickup. # 3. Steve McQueen. Some high-end sports car dealer back east really stepped in it trying to sell a 1971 Porsche 911S that was supposedly owned by the King of Cool. Actor Chad McQueen-his son-saw the ad and wrote Hemmings Motor News and the dealer a letter rebuking this claim. It basically said-"Gentlemen-"Steve McQueen's personal Porsche 911 is in my garage." It's not a '71 model, it's a 1969 911S." "It never left the family." "He purchased it brand-new in 1969." "He drove it several years and then gave it to my sister." "She kept it many years." "When she died of cancer a few years ago, her husband gave it back to me." "Like I said, it never left the family." "There's no possible way that you have Steve McQueen's 911." "It's in my garage."  The company quickly pulled the ad and apologized and vowed to do some research. Apparently while filming the race-car epic "LeMans" in 1970 and '71-McQueen drove a real Porsche 917 racer in the film, and got a lot help from the factory racing team to make it realistic. One day on the set he was talking to Ferdinand Porsche-the CEO of Porsche-and commented on the wonderful, twisty mountain roads they had in France and said "I wish I had my 911 over here." ":It would be great fun." Having formed a friendship with the star while working on the film, Mr. Porsche wanted to please his friend, so he called Stuttgart and had a new 911S shipped to France, which he said the actor could play with until filming wrapped. We all know pre-'90's 911s do not suffer fools lightly. Even experienced race car drivers like McQueen. Danny Ongais-who won the Indy 500 was once asked-how do you corner fast in your 911? He responded-"I don't corner fast in my 911".Anyhow, in the course of hot-rodding on his day off-McQueen wrecked the car. He wasn't injured, but the car was practically totalled. McQueen offered to pay for it, but Ferdinand Porsche said not to worry about it, they'd write it off as an expense of making the movie. The car was shipped back to Stuttgart and repaired. Even though it had been wrecked it was sold with the story of having been driven by McQueen while filming the movie. Apparently when the last owner sold the car to the dealer he told this story. Either the dealer manager, or an ad salesman at Hemmings-no one will admit it now-misunderstood and instead of saying the car was DRIVEN by McQueen, advertised it as being OWNED by McQueen. The car was eventually sold, at a much lower price than they were initially asking. The buyer was very lucky that Chad McQueen is a gearhead and happened to be reading that magazine and saw that ad and took action. Otherwise he'd have paid many thousands more for the car!! Remember the old saying-"Buyer Beware."  Mastermind            

What part of "Bang for the Buck" are you people not grasping?

I get a lot of flack from people about the opinions I voice on here and most of the time I just ignore them. If some yahoo that drives a Dodge Ram pickup with a sticker of Calvin ( of the comic strip "Calvin&Hobbes ) pissing on a Chevy Bow-Tie wants to tell me that Mopars rule and Chevys suck then that's his opinion and I'll just forget it. Like one of Murphy's Laws-"Never argue with an idiot because people might not know the difference."  That aside, what really burns me up is people saying that I'm too "Old School" and I'm just against anything modern. Really? How many times have I recommended that people use "Vortec" heads when building a small-block Chevy or "Magnum" heads when building a small-block Chrysler?  How many times have I recommended that someone with a GM product should use an HEI distributor instead of a point-type? Or use the Petronix conversion that fits under a point-type cap?  How many times have I recommended that someone with a GM car that has a 2-speed Powerglide / ST300 trans should swap it for a 3-speed TH350? What I'm saying here is I always recommend stuff that offers the most value for the dollar-or as we always say "Bang for the Buck". For example I think aftermarket fuel-injection systems are grossly overpriced. They start at $2,000 in most cases, and for anything other than a small-block Chevy the price is often over $3,000-3,500. Why would you do that when an Edelbrock manifold costs about $200 for most applications and an Edelbrock or Holley carb costs about $400. For $600 "Joe Average" can bolt on his new carb and intake in a couple hours in his driveway with hand tools, and it will run like a champ. Or he can spend 3 or 4 grand and countless hours trying to get the fuel curve right, and it won't run any better, or in some cases not as good as the simple carb and intake!!  High-Performance Pontiac did a comparison test on a hot 455. The fuel injection system cost $3,895 and made 15 hp LESS than the Performer RPM / 850 Holley combo!!  Now why would you spend Four grand to make LESS power??  I think fuel-injection is great-if you have a car that's fuel-injected from the factory-say an '80's or 90's "5.0" or 4.6 Mustang, or an LB9 or L98 Camaro, Firebird or Corvette, ( or later LS models )-they run great stock, and Holley, Accel, Edelbrock, and Trick Flow offer ported manifolds, larger throttle bodies, etc that work in CONJUNCTION with the factory system. I wholeheartedly endorse those products. However I just can't bring myself to tell someone to spend $3,500 on a whole new fuel-injection system that doesn't work as well as a simple $600 carb and intake setup!!!   I know I gripe about people doing it all the time-but if you just ":Gotta Have" fuel-injection on your '67 Mustang-go to a junkyard and get the engine and wiring harness out a wrecked "5.0" and have fun. And this validates my point further-I guarantee the engine, wiring harness and T5 tranny from an '87-95 Mustang-won't cost 4 grand from a junkyard!!!  Another one that irks me is overdrive transmission swaps. Richmond or Tremec 5 or 6-speed conversions cost about 3 grand on up. So your cruising rpm at 70 mph on the freeway will be 600 rpm less? Honestly-if your car came from the factory with a 4 or 5-speed-why can't you just use that?  Or spend 300 bucks changing the rear-axle ratio, rather than 3 grand changing the tranny. Hot Rod did the Tremec swap on "Project Disco". Why? The Car was a '79 Z/28 Camaro. '79 Z/28's had either a BW T10 4-speed or a TH350. Nothing less than stellar to begin with, and either would have worked just fine with the hot rod LS engine they were using. In my opinion they spent ten grand on this car that they didn't need to. 3 for the tranny, and another 3 for the 9 inch Ford rearend. I've said it a million times-Z/28's have an excellent 8.5 inch ring gear 10-bolt Posi from the factory. I've had 400, 4-speed T/A's ( they use the same rear ) that I abused mercilessly and NEVER had an ounce of trouble with the rear end!!  Then they went for the Wildwood 4-wheel disc brake setup that cost another 3 or 4 grand. Again, why? 1970-81 Camaros and Firebirds have excellent brakes to begin with-11" inch rotors up front and 9.5 or 10 inch drums in the rear. I've said it before-I know circle-track racers that run Camaros and have run an 8-lap heat race,a 25 lap semi, and a 50 lap main event back to back to back on a 1/4 mile track  and the brakes never,ever faded, even with the rotors glowing red!  All we had to do was run Dot 5 fluid and semi-metallic "Police" pads! Are the staffers at Hot Rod saying that this system can't stop the car safely in daily driving or on a weekend trip to the drags??  No-they have to showcase their advertisers products to stay in business. That's what I'm saying- a lot of "Gotta Haves" you see in magazines are unnecessary.  Another thing is Roller cams. Most cars built since the '80's have roller cams from the factory. So if your hot rodding a small-block Ford or Chevy from '87 and later or a '92 and later "Magnum" Mopar-Edelbrock, Competition Cams, Lunati, and other companies offer high-performance roller cams for these engines at reasonable prices. But if your building an engine that had a flat-tappet cam from the factory the shoe is on the other foot. Often the parts alone to convert say a 400 Pontiac or a 440 Chrysler or 390 Ford-or anything other than a small-block Chevy- to a roller vavletrain cost $2,000 or more!! Why should you spend 2 grand instead of 3 or 400 for a cam, that isn't going to make any more power or be more reliable than the flat-tappet??!!  That's all I'm saying. Consider the cost versus the gain. Mastermind          

Some forgotten engines that are still viable...

After the last post talking about engines that I would not recommend spending money on, I had some questions about which ones, outside of the obvious would I recommend. Here's the list in no particular order. # 1. 289 Ford. A lot of cars had these from 1963-68. In a light car-Mustang, Cougar, Falcon, Comet or Fairlane-they can really run with the right equipment. In heavier cars, their just too small. # 2. 396 Chevy. With the current "Bigger is Better" trend in the buff magazines, and GMPP selling 502 and 572 inch crate motors, people often overlook the original Rat Motor. However the L78 was rated at 425 hp in the '65 Corvette-just 25 hp shy of the legendary LS6. There was a lot of them produced between 1965 and 1972. ( Technically after 1970 they were 402 inches, but some Chevelles, El Caminos and Camaros were still marketed as SS396s ). Anyhow if you have a 396 / 402 or can buy one for a reasonable price by all means use it. You can make just as much power as a 454, just at a little higher rpm. # 3. 383 / 400 Chrysler. The "Bigger is Better" thing has infected Mopar enthusiasts as well.  With Mopar Performance selling 472 and 528 inch Hemis and 505 inch wedges, a 426 Hemi or a 440 is now "Entry Level", or so it would seem. However, there's a lot of cars out there built from 1963-71 with 383s and from 1972-78 with 400s that have a ton of potential. You can make just as much power as a 440 with a 383 / 400, just at a little higher rpm. If you have one, don't chuck it and spend a bunch of unnecessary money buying and building a 440. Remember the axiom "Biggest engine you can afford". Emphasis on the "Afford" part. # 4. 430 Buick. Buick enthusiasts will fight with machetes for a 455, but these are often overlooked. They were used in practically every model from 1966-69. Any speed equipment-heads, intakes, cams, etc that fit a 455 will fit these so there's plenty of parts available. And anything 430 cubes is going to have some serious torque. # 5. 428 Pontiac. Poncho enthusiasts primarily concentrate on the 400 used from '67-78 and the 455 used from 1970-76. The "hot" thing in the buff magazines now is to put a cut-down 455 crank into a .030 over 400 block to make 461 inches.( I say cut-down because 400s have 3.00 inch main bearings and 455s have 3.25 inch mains. These builders are making 4.21 and 4.25 inch cranks with the smaller 3 inch mains to be more reliable at high rpm. Smokey Yunick was doing this in the early '60s when he and Fireball Roberts were the scourge of NASCAR. He was cutting down 421 cranks and putting them in 389 blocks. They won 22 races in the 1962-63 season ) Anyhow-428s were only built from 1967-69, but they were used in almost every model-mostly "big" cars. If you have one or can buy one cheap by all means use it. They can make every bit as much power and torque as a 455, and rev higher. If you want to-Eagle, Kauffman and Butler performance also offer 4.00 inch stroke cranks and rotating assemblys if you want to make a 428 / 433 from a 400.  # 6. 403 Olds. These were only built from 1977-79 but there were millions of them used in Olds 88s and 98s, Buick Rivieras, Electras, and Park Avenues, Pontiac Catalinas and Bonnevilles,and Trans-Am and Formula Firebirds. Anything that fits a 350 Olds will fit these so there's plenty of speed equipment-intakes, cams, headers, etc.  403s actually made more torque than the 400 Pontiacs, at a lower rpm. The only reason people think their "dogs" is the fact that except for  WS6 Formulas and T/A's that had 3.23:1 gears-they were used in big, heavy cars with salt-flats gearing like 2.41:1 or 2.56:1.  If you have a 330 or 350 inch Cutlass, a 403 is a bolt-in swap, and 53-73 extra cubes will give you a nice power and torque boost, either stock or modified. Hope this helps. Mastermind

Engines not worth your time or money.....

Had some people ask me to elaborate on a previous post where I had said that certain engines aren't worth your time or money-that they'd be more useful as boat anchors. This is usually because their either obsolete-remember the Flathead Ford reference? Or even if their not obsolete-there is zero parts availability, or their too small to make serious power. And some of these can come from a family that has a highly desirable engine in it. Here's some that you should avoid.  # 1. 332-352-360 Ford. These are technically an "FE" engine-the same family that includes the 390, the 427 and the 428. You never see a 332-their too old. Unless your restoring a 1960 T-Bird or '65 Galaxie to the nth degree for concours shows I'd forget a 352. The reason is there big and heavy-like a 428-but their only 352 cubes. In any performance application you'd be much better off with the much lighter, and better power producing 351W and 351C engines. As for the 360-they were used in trucks and had the dual attributes of no power and crappy gas mileage. I'm not kidding-I don't know what Ford was thinking. Again their only 360 cubes and their a small-bore design. You'd be way better off with a 351W.  Any performance parts that fit a 390-i.e. intakes, headers etc will fit these-but why? Stock or modified they still don't make anywhere near the power and torque a 390 does. Honestly the only "FE" engines worth having are the 390,427 and 428 inchers.  # 2. 265-283-307 Chevy. Unless your restoring a '55 Chevy or a '57 Corvette to the nth degree, I have no idea why anyone would want a 265 or 283 inch Chevy. They run fine for a small engine, but that's the problem. A 327 or 350 costs no more to buy or build yet makes substantially more power. The 307 was created by putting a 327 crank in a 283 block, to make a torquey, "entry-level" V8 for Chevy trucks and station wagons back in the '60's. Again-especially since they had 2bbl carburation and single-exhaust and were usually in trucks or heavy cars-Chevelle wagons, etc-they weren't bad-they ran ok and got decent gas mileage. But their only 307 cubes. A 327 or 350 makes way more power and torque and costs no more to buy or build. The same goes for the 305 made from 1977-1995. The 307 had been dropped after 1973. Why they decided in '77 to cast another small-bore block and throw a 350 crank in it-is beyond me. Anyone who owned or drove any Chevy car or truck from the '80's or '90's hates 305s. They have no power,and don't really get any better gas mileage than the much more powerful 350!  # 3. 265-301 Pontiac. These were lightweight "economy" V8s, and nothing interchanges with the "traditional" 326-455 engines. If you have or want to buy an '80-81 301 Turbo Formula or Trans-Am, I hope your doing it with the intention of swapping in a 400 or 455, or changing the transmission as well and swapping in a small or big-block Chevy! I'm serious. There is zero aftermarket parts available for the 301.  # 4. 260-307 Olds . I don't know why GM thought it was cool to build small V8s that had no power and got crappy gas mileage in the late '70's and '80's, but they did. These wheezed out 120-140 hp, and made the Cutlasses and other cars they were in complete slugs. Some things like heads and intakes will interchange with a 350, but why? A hotted-up 307 won't really run noticably better than a stock 350! And probably won't have as much torque. If you have or want to buy a Cutlass or Buick Regal that has one of these engines, the easy path to power is swap in a 350 / 403. It's a bolt-in.  # 5. 300-327-340 Buick. These small V8s were used in a lot of Buick Skylarks in the '60's. The 327 was used in a lot of Jeep Wagonneers. The problem is there is zero aftermarket replacement parts for these engines, and they don't make anywhere near the power of the more modern '68-77 350 V8. I had a friend who bought a '64 Skylark Convertible that had the 300 / ST300 powertrain. He swapped in a 350 / TH350 combo-a bolt-in by the way-and was astounded at the improvement in performance and drivability. It had way more power and was much nicer to drive, and got better gas mileage!  # 6. 361 Chrysler. These are a "B" engine, which means their a big-block. However-their only 361 cubes. In any performance application-an "LA" 360 or a 360 Magnum is much lighter and will make more power. Or just get a 383 or 400. Or a 440-the intake manifolds don't interchange with "B" and "RB" engines, but everything else does. A 361 is pretty much a waste of time and money. # 7. 351M /400C / M  Ford. These are kind of a pariah. The 400 was used in a lot of Ford cars and trucks and vans from 1971-82. The 351M was used from 1975-82. Although they use "Cleveland" style heads, nothing interchanges with the 351C engines used from 1970-74. The problem is twofold. One-they were saddled with 8:1 compression, a lazy cam, 2bbl carburation and single exhaust, and they were put in heavy cars,trucks and vans with salt-flats gearing like 2.75:1. Two, their big and heavy-almost exactly the same size and weight as a 429 / 460-and share the 429 / 460 bellhousing bolt-pattern. The smart hot-rodder or engine swapper would just get a 460 and reap the reward of the 460's mountainous torque. On the upside-if you have one of these already in the car or truck-they do respond well to basic hot rod tricks. A 4bbl carb and intake and headers and dual exhausts will make a spectacular improvement in hp and torque. Edelbrock and Trick Flow sell high performance heads for these engines, and Edelbrock,Crane, Lunati and Comp Cams offer cams and valvetrain accessories. Just about every year someone enters one of these in the engine masters challenge and pegs the dyno over 450-500 hp. They can make some good power with the right combination of parts. Like I said-if you have one already in the car-by all means hop it up. But I wouldn't go searching for one or try to swap a 351W or a 390 for one. If I was going to the trouble of a Ford engine swap-we all know their not as interchangeable as GM and Chrysler stuff-then I'd go for the big dog 429 / 460.  # 8. 290 / 304 AMC.  Back in the late '60's and early '70's Trans-Am racing was popular and the displacement limit was 5.0 liters ( 305 cid ). All the manufacturers played-in '65 and '66 the 289 Ford and 273 Mopar did nicely. In 1967 Chevrolet jumped into the fray by putting a 283 crank into a 327 block and creating the mighty Z/28 302, which won the championship in '68.  Ford countered in 1969 with the legendary Boss 302.  Pontiac and Chrysler dabbled in it with de-stroked 400s and 340s, but weren't really competitive. While this was going on, AMC was playing with their little 290 inch V8 which was later bumped up to 304. When they wooed Roger Penske and Mark Donohue away from Chevrolet in 1970-it was a bold move and Donohue won the title in '71. Although AMC advertised this hugely on TV and in the buff magazines-it was kind of a hollow victory. Ford pulled out after 1970 which was why there wasn't a '71 Boss 302. Pontiac and Chrysler gave up completely, and Chevrolet gave some back-door support to some racers, but there wasn't a real factory effort. So AMC's Penske-led factory team trouncing a bunch of low-budget privateers isn't the upset of the ages they were making it out to be. Anyway-a 290 / 304 is too small for real performance work. I've said it before-AMC's are like Pontiacs-their all externally identical so swapping is easy. And there's millions of 360s in junkyards in Jeep Grand Wagonneers and pickups. If you have a Javelin or Rebel Machine or Matador with a 343, 390 or 401-by all means use it. I'm just saying if you have a Javelin with a 304-or a Gremlin or Hornet for that matter-a 360 is a bolt-in power infusion, and if their modified the 56 extra cubes makes a huge difference. Mastermind          

Still more on the path of most resistance....

Got a bunch more questions after the last post about projects that would be expensive at the least, and practically impossible at the worst. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to ridicule people for asking questions-but when I explain in detail why something isn't a good idea or would be so costly in dollars and time spent that your better off going in another direction entirely and they persist with their "Impossible Dream" it pisses me off.  And the people that come-up with these hair-brained ideas are never professional mechanics or engineers-a mechanic or an engineer would know better!!  These are always people who have no experience whatsoever working on a car, and they want to take on some huge project that requires a ton of money and or custom fabrication. And when you tell them their plan is not a good idea, or isn't even possible, they get all huffy and indignant. Here's a few that will amaze you. # 1. Home-built induction systems. I talked to two people who actually suggested casting their own intake manifold. The first one had a '64 Olds 442 that he wanted to put tri-power ( 3-2bbls ) on like a GTO. I explained that neither Oldsmobile or Edelbrock or Offenhauser or Weiand have never offered a tri-power manifold for the 330 / 350 / 403 Olds engines. I further explained that the late '50's / early '60's J-2 tri-power setups on the old 394 V8s wouldn't fit the later 400 / 425 / 455 engines because of the difference in deck height and that the '65 and later engines are a 39 degree bank angle which is different than the older ones, which is why the heads and intakes don't interchange. I did say that Oldsmobile did offer tri-power on the modern 400 for one year only-1966-but they were extremely rare, and it would be hard to find one for sale at any price. He wonders if someone would lend him their ultra-rare L69 1966 Olds Tri-power intake so he could take it to a foundry and they could fill it with sand and make a mold to custom cast him a replica. I replied that if you know someone who has an L69 442 and is willing to pull the intake and let you fill it with sand, then more power to you, but none of my friends are that accomodating!!  He then suggest getting a Pontiac tri-power intake, cutting the top off it, getting a 4-bbl Olds intake, cutting the bottom off it, welding the pieces together and taking that to a foundry to cast an aluminum intake. Well, first off-I say either factory or aftermarket Barry Grant Pontiac Tri-power intakes are not cheap, and it would be very hard to cut a cast-iron one in half and even harder to weld it back together, and you can't really weld aluminum because it melts-I know there's very specialized shops that CAN weld aluminum-but are they going to be willing to mess with some guys ill-fated home-built intake manifold project, and how much are they going to charge?  I just don't see how it's feasible in any way shape or form, either mechanically or financially. He calls me a "naysayer". Ok. Had a similar conversation with another genius that had a small-block Chevy. He wanted to know if you could adapt carburators to an '82-84 Cross-Fire Injection manifold. Why? I ask. If you've got a Corvette or Camaro / Firebird that has that induction system-you can use larger 454 truck throttle bodies and with a little tuning that setup can handle 350-400 hp reliably. If you want dual-quads-Edelbrock makes excellent dual-quad intakes for small-block Chevys. He says "Yes, but their inline" "I love the Cross-ram look". I reply that it will probably be pricey-$1,500 or more- but if he's "Gotta Have" a cross-ram setup to check Hemmings and the internet-that occasionally you see someone selling an original Chevy Cross-ram intake and 600 holley setup that was optional on '67-69 Z/28s and that Chevy dealers sold over-the-counter to racers. This guy then wonders if anyone makes adapters to mount carbs where the throttle bodies go on the Cross-Fire intake, or if it would feasible to try to cast your own-if you could find a '69 Z/28 Cross-ram intake that someone is willing to let you pound sand into and around to make the mold!!!  I know marijuana is legal now in most states-but what strain are these guys smoking??  # 2. Mid-engine "Kit Car". This guy had a friend who was selling an old "Manta Ray" kit car. They were popular back in the '70's and '80's. Daniel-Hugh Kelly drove one on the TV show "Hardcastle&McCormack". They looked like a Can-Am racer. A lot were VW based, but they also sold some custom frames that could use a V8. I know three people that built them. One guy used a 327 Chevy mated to a Corvair transaxle. That one worked pretty good. Another guy used the Corvair transaxle, but he'd adapted it to a 215 inch Aluminum Buick V8 out of a '63 Skylark. That worked pretty well too. The third guy used a 455 Olds and a Toronado transaxle. Since the car only weighed about 2,300 lbs it was ungodly fast. I suggested either using the Small-block Chevy / Corvair transaxle setup or the Toronado / Eldorado transaxle with a 400 Pontiac and aluminum heads to keep the weight down. "What about an aluminum 427 Chevy?"  he asks. Ugh!!  "Well, I know GMPP is selling 427s with aluminum blocks and heads, but they cost about 20 grand." Plus-a Corvair transaxle is barely strong enough to stand up to a mild 350-a 427 would break it the first time you got on it."  "The Toronado transaxle is tough enough to stand up to a 455 Olds, or Pontiac-but the bellhousing bolt pattern on Chevy engines is totally different from BOPC ( Buick, Olds, Pontiac, and Cadillac ) engines." "The Chevy won't bolt up." "Trust me, even an 8:1 bone-stock '77 400 Pontiac would run 12s in that ultra light car." "Does anyone make an adapter kit?"  "To mate Chevy engines to BOP bellhousings or vice-versa?" "No!!"  With millions of factory and Lakewood bellhousings and millions of TH350 / 400s  out there why would they??!!  I then suggest if he wants to save money and be cool that he go to a junkyard and get a Supercharged 3.8 V6 and the wiring harness and the transaxle out of a Buick Riviera or Pontiac Bonneville SSEI. 240 hp would make the 2,300 lb fiberglass wonder a rocket, and get 25 mpg. "But Can-Am cars didn't have Buick V6s or Pontiac V8s, they had big-block Chevys!" He sneers. "But your not restoring a Can-Am racer-it's a kit car." "It's a replica anyway." "I'll find a way to run the Rat motor." "I'm not trying to be rude-never mind cost-I don't see how you can." "Nobody makes a transaxle."  "You just don't understand." He's right, I don't.  Mastermind      

The path of most resistance...Again...

For some unknown reason, gearheads seem to think that some things are somehow better if their hard to do. Not true. I went to the school of  "Take the path of least resistance" and "Work smart, not hard". I bring this up because of a couple conversations I had this past week. A guy had bought a '65 Olds Cutlass ( not a 442 ) and wanted to trick it out. He had a bunch of ideas he'd pulled out of magazines, and they were all bad. When I say bad-I mean they'd be hard to do, very expensive, and might not deliver the "Bang for the Buck" he was looking for. The first was the powertrain. The car was a 330 V8 / ST 300 model. He had this article where someone had gotten a 350 Olds Diesel Block and bored it out and used a cut-down 425 olds crank, and 455 Buick rods, a ton of custom machine work, and custom pistons, etc, etc and got 440 inches. I suggested instead of trying that-he just buy a 455. The 455 was used in practically every Olds model from 1968-76, and in many medium-duty GM motorhomes in the late '70's and early '80's. There are literally millions of them out there. If you can't find a '73 Olds Delta 88 or a '76 Toronado  with a 455 in a junkyard or someones garage-you aren't looking past the end of your nose. Instead of spending all that money on machine work boring and stroking a Diesel block-a 455 with some Edelbrock Heads, a Torker Intake, and W30 cam would kick ass for less than half of what he'd spend on the stroker 440 and probably be more reliable. Or if he wanted to go really low-budget I told him to get a 403. They were used in millions of GM "big" cars-in the late '70's-Olds 88's and 98's, wagons,Buick Rivieras, Electras, and Park Avenues, Pontiac Catalinas and Bonnevilles,and Trans-Am and Formula Firebirds. And they are a direct bolt-in swap for a 330 / 350. A set of headers, an Edelbrock Performer intake and maybe a mild cam would really "wake up" a 403. 73 extra inches would certainly add a lot of power and torque for very low bucks. I also suggested swapping the ST300 for a TH350. TH350's are the exact same length as an ST300 / Powerglide and use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke. It, too would literally be a bolt-in, and the 3-speed, 2.52 low geared TH350 would offer a stunning improvement in performance over the 2-speed, 1.76 low-geared ST300. I suggested that the 403 / TH350 swap would be easy, cheap and offer a huge improvement in performance. Like talking  to the wall. He continues trying to sell me on the stroked-out 350 diesel block, and asks how much trouble it would be to put a Tremec 5-speed in it!! More than it's worth I say-you'd have to chase down clutch linkage, pedals,get a  different crossmember and rear trans mount, a bellhousing, cut a whole in the floorboard to mount the shifter, etc. And since 350 Diesels were never offered with a stick in any GM car or truck-where are you going to get a flywheel? You might be able to use a gas 350 Olds flywheel-but Olds hasn't sold a car with a 350 and a manual trans since 1974. Where are you going to find a usable 44 year old flywheel?  I don't think Schiefer or Ram or anyone makes aftermarket 350 Olds flywheels!!  I implored him to take my advice and do the 403 / TH350 swap or even a 455 / TH350 swap. Then he starts talking about upgrading the suspension and brakes. He's bringing up Global West this, and Detroit Speed and Engineering that and rack&pinion steering and Brembo and Wildwood, blah, blah. Stop I say. Go to a junkyard and get '70's Camaro / Firebird spindles and the 11 inch rotors. They are literally a bolt-on. Also get the calipers, hoses, and master cylinder and booster. For very low bucks, you'll have front disc brakes that perform flawlessly. I also suggested getting the steering box from a mid-'80's WS6 Trans-Am. I even looked up the part number. This box has a 12.7:1 ratio, and will fit all GM "A" "F" and "G" bodies from 1964-87. I also suggested getting the sway bars from a '70's T/A-they will bolt onto the "A" bodies, and give a stunning improvement in handling. I also suggest getting the sway bars from a '70's Gran Prix or Monte Carlo-they too would be a direct bolt-on and improve handling immensely. Nope. He's determined to take on this project that will suck the life out of him, drain his bank account, and probably cause him to sell the car unfinished. Why?  Just because something is possible, doesn't mean you should attempt it. We know manned space flight is possible, but it isn't cheap or easy!!  The other was with a guy who had bought a '70 Javelin and wanted to do it in Trans-Am style like Mark Donohue's racer. Minilite wheels are still available, and the red,white and blue paint job is easy enough. Now the problem. Again-the powertrain. The car is a 304 / Automatic. I suggest going to a junkyard and getting a 360 out of a Jeep Grand Waggoneer. There's millions of them. I point out that the 360 will be a direct bolt-in, and have substantially more power and torque than a 304-that I read at the engine masters challenge some guy had a 360 AMC with Edelbrock Heads and a hot cam that made something like 430 hp and 450 lbs of torque. First he asks if I'm recommending an engine swap why didn't I suggest a 401?  UGH! Because, I gently say the 401 has been out of production since 1978-that's 40 years-and they were pretty rare back then. By contrast-the 360 was used in millions of Grand Waggoneers up until 1993, and are still plentiful in boneyards. What about hopping up the 304? he asks. "Why?" I say-your not running in a racing class where the limit is 5 liters-and a 304 will cost just as much to build as the 360, but won't have nearly as much power." Then he asks about converting it to a 4 or 5-speed. UGH. "Just sell the car, and find another Javelin / AMX that has a 343 / 360 / 390 / 401 and a 4-speed from the factory." "No really." "No, REALLY." I say. "Converting any automatic car to a stick is a sonofabitch-you have to buy the clutch, the transmission, the bellhousing, the clutch linkage, the pedals, the crossmember, the rear trans mount, the shifter, etc etc." "And that's if it's something popular-you know like a '70's Camaro or Chevelle, or Mustang or Dodge Challenger-where all that stuff is readily available." "Where in the hell are you going to find all that shit for a Javelin?" "Chances are you won't, and even if you do it's going to be major-league expensive, and a pain in the ass to do." "Trust me, you'll go plenty fast with the 360 / Automatic combo."  "What about fabricating a hydraulic linkage?"  Arrrrgggghhhh!!!!  I feel like the dictator from "Team America". "Why is everybody so fu$%*ing stupid??"  Why can't they embrace the KISS principle-"Keep It Simple, Stupid".  Mastermind        

Clarification on some old hot rod axioms....

Many self-proclaimed "experts" spout stuff they've read in the buff magazines or on the internet, but they have no practical experience. They've never built or rebuilt an engine, never built and maintained a race car or swapped engines or trannys or gear ratios. They don't know what their talking about, and they often give people terrible advice. It's funny, how some people will listen to some idiot, but disregard the advice of someone with many years of experience. Anyhow I want to dispel some misconceptions that are perpetuated and help people with potential projects save time and money, and get the most value for the money they do invest.  # 1. "Always build the biggest engine you can afford". This is generally good advice, but the key word is "Afford". For example-a 350 Chevy costs no more to buy or build than a 305, yet makes substantially more power and torque with the same equipment. Anyone with common sense would go with a 350. Now let's say the 350 you have in the car or have just bought from a buddy or a junkyard has a spun crank bearing and needs to be rebuilt. Since your going to have to buy a new crank anyway, and probably have to have the block bored .030 over anyway, and since 383 stroker crank rod and piston kits with rings and bearings and oil pump are as low as $399 in PAW or Summitt-The wise man would build a 383-which is going to have even more power and torque than the 350.  Now-for argument's sake let say you've got a 400 Pontiac. You should buy a stroker crank kit and make it a 461, right?  Wrong!!  Here's why. Here's why-the stroker crank, rod and piston kits for Pontiacs that are sold by Kauffman and Butler Performance start at $1699. $1700 will buy you an Edelbrock carb and intake a cam kit, a set of headers, a set of gears for the rear end and still leave about $400 for any minor machine work-like having the crank turned .010 under or grinding the valves in the heads. You could build your whole engine for that and with the right combination of parts easily have 400 hp and 450 lbs of torque. I know-the 400 in my brother's GTO cost $1900 to build and dyno'd at 381 hp and 430 lbs of torque, and he has a cam that idles glass-smooth and makes 15 inches of vacuum at idle. If he went with a slightly hotter cam-he'd have easily been over the 400 hp mark, and not really lost any drivability. A magazine re-built a junkyard 455 Pontiac that made 440 hp and they bragged that it cost "only" $4,400 to build. So you can see-in this case-the larger engine isn't really a bargain. It would double the cost to build a 455 / 461 from a 400, and the slight power gain wouldn't be worth the dollar outlay. Here's a couple more examples showing both ways. Let's say you have a '70's Duster / Dart or  Challenger / Barracuda with a dying 318. You know your going to have to rebuild or replace it. You'd like to have some serious power, but don't have the time or money to invest in a 440 or a Crate Hemi, and swap the crossmember, transmission,radiator, torsion bars etc that a big-block swap would entail. What to do? Go to a junkyard and get a 360 Magnum out of late-model Dodge truck or van or Jeep Grand Cherokee. There's millions of them. But get the 360-not the 318. In modern speak a 318 is a 5.2 liter V8, a 360 is a 5.9 liter V8. I know-I priced them when my mom blew the engine in her Cherokee. The "Magnum" engines are all about the same price in boneyards regardless of size. And parts to rebuild them if necessary-i.e.-rings, bearings, cam and lifters etc-are the same price for either engine. But the 360's make way more power. You'll need a "Magnum" compatible intake but Edelbrock sells them for about $200. In this case-like with the small-block Chevys-the bigger engine makes substantially more power,but costs no more to buy or build than the smaller one. Now let's say you have a late 60's or early '70's Mustang or Cougar with a 302. Everyone tells you how "easy" it would be to swap in a  351C. Not true. 1st off-you'd have to buy the 351, and Fords are all different-the oil pans don't interchange,the accesories-power steering pump,water pump, alternator, and the attending brackets are all different. The bellhousing bolt-pattern is different on 302 and 351C Ford engines so you'd need a new tranny as well. Especially since there's more speed equipment for a small-block Ford than anything else on the planet except a Small-block Chevy-you can see that the easiest and most cost-effective way to increasing power would be to hop up the 302. See what I'm saying? Here's yet another scenario. Don't throw away a perfectly good 396 Chevy or 383 Mopar and spend thousands you don't need to buying a building a 440 or 454!!   So weigh the options carefully-and remember the "Afford" part of the saying.  # 2. "A single 4bbl on a dual-plane intake is the only way to fly". This is magazine writers trying to protect idiots from themselves. Whether it's 3-2bbls or dual quads-on a 283 or 409 Chevy or 389 / 421 Pontiac or a 440 / Hemi Mopar or 427 Ford whatever-multiple carb setups can really rock if their set up right. For years-import sports cars like Datsun 240Z's, Porsche 911s, Jaguar XKEs, Triumph TR6s, and  Ferarris and Lamborginis all used multi-carb setups. The manufacturers both foriegn and domestic started switching to single carbs and later fuel-injection because of ever-tightening emission standards, not lack of  performance!!  I've said it before-but I see it all the time with Six-Pack Mopars, 427 'Vettes, Tri-power GTOs etc. They drive the car like grandma on prozac and the second it fouls a spark plug, they start screwing around with the carbs. Pretty soon it won't even start, much less run properly. It would be better to go a range or two hotter on the plugs if your going to idle around, and then change to the standard heat range if you decide to go to the drags or take a road trip! And the dual-plane vs single-plane argument is again magazine writers and parts suppliers trying to protect idiots from themselves. Here's why. Moron reads an intake manifold "shootout" in a magazine. The test mule is a small-block Chevy. The "winner" that makes the most hp and torque is a 750 Double-pumper Holley carb mounted on a Holley / Keith Dorton single-plane that barely edged the Edelbrock Victor Jr. Said moron races down to local speed shop and buys this combo and puts it on his '78 Camaro. He's aghast. It runs like shit, stumbles, and doesn't even have the power it did stock. That's because the Dorton / Victor Jr intakes are designed for NASCAR racing and make power from 4,000-8,500 rpm. And he forgot or didn't read that the test mule was an 11.4:1 406 with 215cc Dart Heads and a .600 lift cam that made 500 hp and 460 lbs of torque!!!  So putting this NASCAR induction on his stock 8.5:1 350 that has stock 153cc heads, a .390 lift cam, makes 170 hp and 280 lbs of torque at the PEAK, has a TH350 and 2.73:1 gears and is all done in by 5,000 rpm is  just killed by it!!  He'd have been way better off with an Edelbrock Performer and a vacuum-secondary 600 cfm carb. Now if he'd had an L82 Corvette with a 4-speed and 3.70:1 gears he would really rock from about 2,500 rpm on up with a single-plane Torker II and a 750 double-pumper, or even the Victor Jr because it has the heads and the cam and the valve springs and the gearing to rev to 6.500 and beyond. My 442 really rocked with an original Torker, as did my brother's GTO and a buddy's SS396 Chevelle. The reason was the 396, the 400 and the 455 had massive torque to start with, so losing a little on the bottom-end actually helped the cars launch better by reducing wheelspin, and the powerband "hit" like "gangbusters" at 2,800 and pulled hard to 6,000+. Even my 8:1, 2.56:1 geared 403 Olds powered '77 T/A showed a noticeable increase in performance with a single-plane Holley Street Dominator. It made 325 lbs of torque at 1,600 rpm-right off idle-and I din't notice any low-speed loss. I did notice a HUGE diference from 3,000-5,400!! I personally love single-planes, on the right combo. But the mags are trying to protect idiots like the one mentioned.  # 3. Gears Make it Go. To an extent. If you have a disco era T/A with 2.56:1 gears switching to 3.23:1 or 3.42:1 gears will cut 1/2 a second or more off your 0-60 and 1/4 mile time and not hurt drivability too much. If 3.42:1s are great, wouldn't 4.33:1s be totally awesome? No! Because the engine-that's all done in by 5,200-5,500 rpm would run out of rpm before the end of the 1/4 and the engine buzzing at 4,000 rpm on the freeway wouldn't make for a pleasant driving experience!! See what I'm saying? Remember the 454 Chevelle I talked about that ran 12.80's with 2.73:1 gears and only 12.40's with 4.10:1s? The gearing has to be matched to the engine's powerband. A Boss 302 runs great with 3,91:1 or 4.30:1 gears, because the motor has the ability to rev to 7,000+ rpm!  A 351W would run out of rpm with those gears, and probably do better with 3.25:1 or 3.50:1 gears. Hope this helps people build the right combinations. Mastermind                     

Not exactly stock....But really badass....

As a follow-up to the last post I was talking to some people and they asked about the Pure Stock drag champion Corvette I mentioned in an earlier post. They wanted clarification because I'd said it was an L88 427, but it wasn't numbers-matching. What I meant was it wasn't even a "real" L88. The car was a 390 hp model, and the owner had rebuilt the engine to L88 specs. Anyhow-today with the help of the manufacturers and the aftermarket it's possible to build a premium "King Kong" engine for a fraction of what buying a "real" one would cost. Here's some examples. # 1. "Boss" 302 / 351 Ford. Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer high-performance aluminum "Cleveland" style heads that will bolt up to and have the water jackets to be compatible with 302 / 351W blocks. Edelbrock offers "E-Boss" manifolds that have the proper deck height and bolt-patterns to make this combo work. So it would be pretty easy to build your own "Boss" 302 / 351 engine. Further-like I said in the last post-with the stroker crank kits out there available cheaply-how about a 347 or 392 inch "Boss" motor? That would give your Mustang or Cougar or whatever some serious hp and torque. # 2. L88 / LS6 / LS7 427 / 454 Chevy. Junkyards are full of '70's and '80s trucks with 454s. If you want a 454-you've got it, just rebuild it with rings and bearings, or pistons, whatever it needs. If you want a 427-Eagle, GMPP and other companies offer 3.76 inch stroke crank and piston kits that will work in a 454 block and make 427 inches. You'll also need a different flywheel and balancer, ( 427s are internally balanced, 454s are externally balanced ) but that's a no-brainer. Crane, Lunati, and Comp Cams all sell exact replicas of the original L78 / LS6 and L88 / LS7 solid-lifter cams. Merlin sells the rectangular port high-performance iron heads. ( Much cheaper than aluminum ) and GMPP sells the intake manifold. Or if your not super-anal about it being exactly "Spec"-it's not original anyway-you could use an Edelbrock Performer RPM. This combo won't exactly be dirt-cheap; but it'll be less than half of what you'd have to spend for a "real" LS6, L88 or LS7.  # 3. Ram Air IV 400 Pontiac. This one is so easy it's almost criminal. 400s were standard equipment in virtually every Pontiac ever made from 1967-78. Edelbrock's round-port Performer RPM heads are exact replicas of the vaunted factory RAIV heads. You'll need some round-port headers, but Hooker and Hedman have you covered. Ames performance and NPD offer aluminum RAIV / 455HO replica intakes or you could use an Edelbrock Performer or Performer RPM. Crane, Lunati, Comp Cams and Edelbrock all offer RAIV spec cams. And again-with help from Eagle or Butler Performance-you could put a crank kit in it to make a 433 or 461. Would a 461 inch RAIV make your Firebird or LeMans or GTO "Jules' Wallet?  Does a bear crap in the woods?  # 4. "W30" 400 / 425 / 455 Olds. Edelbrock offers high-performance aluminum heads for these engines. I personally like the original Torker on these engines-the mid-range and top-end rush is awesome-but the Performer and Performer RPM work well too. Lunati and Comp Cams offer "W30" spec cams; however I prefer their one Bracket Master profile-it has slightly less duration-and a better idle than the W30, yet has MORE lift. ( The W30 has 232 duration @ .050 and .474 lift. The BM has 224 / 234 duration @.050 and .496 / .520 lift ) This cam pulls hard to 6,500 rpm. # 5. "W31" 350 / 403 Olds. The original "W31" 350 was grossly under-rated at 325 hp. ( The basic "station wagon" 350 had 310 hp; the W31 with special heads,intake and exhaust manifolds, and a 308 degree cam only made 15 more hp, yet needs a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears? Puhleeze. ) Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs of torque from their Performer RPM package on a 350. I'd build a 403-everything interchanges with a 350-and the 53 extra cubes should put you well over 400 hp, and have a better idle. # 6. "Stage 1" 400-430-455 Buick. The vaunted "Stage 1" 455 in the 1970 GSX is legendary among musclecar fans. With only 678 built-their pretty much a moon rock. However-Buick fans needn't despair. Edelbrock offers aluminum heads and Performer and B4B intakes for these engines. Comp cams and T/A performance offer cams. TTI and Hooker offer headers.  # 7. Cobra-Jet 390 Ford. This is my invention. If your building a Thunderbolt Fairlane clone or a GT500 Shelby clone or restoring a '69-70 Mach 1 or Cougar Eliminator-the chances of you finding a running or at least rebuildable 427 or 428 Ford is almost nil. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning on the golf course. However, all "FE" engines are externally identical and the 390 was used in just about every Ford car and truck built from 1961-76. There's millions of them out there. Edelbrock claims 452 hp and 428 lbs of torque from their Performer RPM package on a 390. Magazine writers spout numbers flippantly, but 450 honest hp will turn any street cat into an absolute rocket. Further, Eagle and other companies offer crank and piston combinations to get as much as 447 inches from a 390 block.  Any of these combinations would make your street machine seriously badass, at a fraction of the cost of the "Real Deal".  Mastermind    

How to look "Stock"...But be badass....

I get a lot of people asking me how can they keep their musclecars looking stock, yet still get killer performance. It's possible-but the key words are "looking stock."  There's several areas where you can stealthily gain large chunks of hp and torque and mechanical advantage.  # 1. Increase displacement. The old saying-"There's no substitute for cubic inches, except cubic dollars" is still true. However-here's where you have to be willing to compromise a little. I can fully understand not wanting to bore and stroke and then abuse a numbers-matching block. If that's the case-then put the precious numbers-matching original engine on a stand in a plastic bag in your garage. You now have two choices-you can buy a high-performance crate engine-GMPP, Blueprint Engines, Ford SVT, Mopar Performance,Edelbrock, and other companies all sell mega-hp crate engines ranging from 302 to 572 cubic inches. That's the easy-and expensive way. The crate engines start at $4,000 and go up to $15,000 plus depending on how radical you want to be. You can buy anywhere from 300 to 800 hp, the only limit being your wallet and imagination. If you can afford to do that-then write that big check and have fun. If your like to rest of us-you may have to get a junkyard engine and re-build that. The upside is the aftermarket is full of stroker crank kits to turn a 302 Ford into a 347 or a 363, s 350 Chevy into a 383, a 351W Ford into a 392, or a 427, a 360 Mopar into 408, a 400 Mopar into a 451, a 400 Pontiac into a 433 or 461, a 454 Chevy into a 482 and a 460 Ford into a 514. I'm sure theres others I missed, but you get the point. Which is all other things being equal-whether it's a 302 / 347, 350 / 383, 400 / 461 or whatever-the larger engine is going to make substantially more power and torque with the same equipment. # 2. Cylinder Heads. A couple of perfect examples-Small-Block Chevy "Vortec" heads breathe better than any other factory head and many aftermarket ones. Last time I checked you could buy a brand-new complete pair from Scoggin-Dickey for $650. That's a screaming bargain. Most machine shops charge more than that to do a decent valve job on your old heads. You will need a Vortec bolt-pattern intake, but GMPP, Edelbrock, Weiand, and Holley have got you covered. Granted, an aluminum intake won't look stock-( you could paint it the factory color to be stealthy ) but the Iron heads will and the hp and torque gain will be huge-40 hp from the heads and another 25-30 from the intake. The same goes for small-block Mopar "Magnum" heads. They breathe better than any factory head and many aftermarket ones, and they will bolt up to older ( pre-'92 ) blocks, and Edelbrock makes "Magnum" compatible intakes. Ford "Explorer" heads breathe better than a lot of factory and aftermarket heads for the 302. Late '70's "6X" heads breather better than any Pontiac head except the vaunted Ram Air IV / 455HO / 455SD heads. You may have to read up on certain engine lines, and maybe consult a Hollander interchange manual ( the "Bible" that junkyards use to know which parts are compatible with multiple applications ) but every manufacturer has certain heads that breathe better than others, and are relatively plentiful in junkyards. # 3. Carburation. A lot of people don't know it-but the Autolite 4bbl on many 289 and even 351W Mustangs only flows about 470 cfm, which really isn't enough even for a stock engine. Replacing that with a 600 cfm Holley or Edelbrock carb will give you a big boost in performance. The Carter AVS that came on most 383 / 440 Mopars from 1966-71 only flows about 585 cfm. A 440 V8 with a 585 cfm carb is like a 250 lb NFL running back trying to run while breathing through a straw. Switching to an 800 cfm Edelbrock Thunder AVS-you'll get by in shows under the "original type" rule-and you'll notice a big bump in oomph. Same with the Carter AFBs that came on '64-66 GTOs, 409 Impalas, and others. They flowed about 500 cfm. Switch to a 750 Carter or Edelbrock.  # 4. Exhaust. Even if you don't want headers or can't run them because of class rules-many musclecars have restrictive stock exhaust systems. A good set of duals with free-flowing mufflers and a balance tube or an x-pipe can free up 25-30 hp even behind stock iron exhaust manifolds. # 5. Camshaft. Here you can make a large amount of extra power that no one can see. The main thing is follow the cam manufacturer's recommendations-their usually spot-on, and especially if you have an engine under 400 cubes with an automatic transmission-err on the side of caution. Larger engines can tolerate more "cam" without ill effects because they generally have more low-end torque to start with, and can afford to lose some-you usually trade some low-end for an increase in the mid-range and top-end. Manual transmission cars can tolerate more "cam" than automatics because idle quality isn't as important and the driver can launch at whatever rpm he desires by manipulating the clutch. For example-the old standby-the "350 hp" 327 Corvette cam for small-block Chevys. This cam would absolutely ruin a 283 or a 305 regardless of transmission. It will work pretty good in a 327 with a 4-speed and 3.55:1 or stiffer gears, great in a 350 with a 4-speed or an automatic and 3.42:1 gears, and be really sweet in a 383 / 400 even with an automatic and 3.08:1 gears. See what I'm saying? # 6. Mechanical advantage. Swapping some 2.73:1 or 3.08:1 gears for some 3.55:1s or 3.73:1s will give you a boost in acceleration without hurting fuel economy or freeway cruising rpm too much. A torque converter with a slightly higher stall speed will help immensely if you have an automatic. But don't go overboard-unless you have something really radical-a converter with a stall speed between 2,000-2,500 rpm is usually enough for most applications. Especially with big-blocks-a converter with 3,000+ rpm of stall speed will probably just give you excessive wheelspin, and have quite a bit of slippage motoring around town. If you actually NEED a 4,000 rpm converter, then maybe your combo is a little TOO radical!!  Hope these tips help everyone out. Mastermind

Answers to FAQ's....( Frequently Asked Questions )

I often get asked the same questions by many different people. When that happens I assume that there's a lot of people who want this information, but don't know where to find it. Well I aim to please, so maybe these FAQ's and their answers will help some people out. # 1. Why are some engines basically treated like boat anchors and others are sought after and frequently built up by enthusiasts and magazines?  Sometimes it's because it's an obsolete design-I'm sure there's street rodders to this day that play with Flathead Fords-but at any car show or drag race your going to see a lot more small-block Chevys and Winsdsor Fords-i.e.-289,302,351Ws-than you are Flatheads. Other factors can simply be that even though they belong to a modern, popular engine family their too small to make serious power. For example-unless your restoring a '57 Chevy to the nth degree for Concours Show Competitions why would anyone want a 283 Chevy V8? When theirs millions of 327's and 350's out there that cost no more to buy or build, but make substantially more power and torque with the same equipment. Ditto for a 273 or 318 Chrysler. A 340 or 360 costs no more to build yet makes way more power. The same goes for 326 and 350 Pontiacs. Pontiacs are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. A 389,400,421,428 or 455 costs no more to buy or build than a 326/ 350-yet makes twice the power. Further-the big-port, big valve heads that the larger engines use to make all that power can't be used on the small-bore 326 / 350s-the valves will hit the block. People talk about notching the block for clearance, but why? A 400 / 455 is still going to make way more power and torque,all other things being equal. Another factor could be that there is zero aftermarket support. I know guys who have swapped 472 / 500 inch Cadillac V8's into Chevy Pickups for an instant power infusion. I know a guy who put one in an '81 Firebird. But the reason no one is building modern-day "Studillacs" ( In the '50s it was popular to stuff the powerful Cadillac V8 into an aerodynamic Studebaker coupe and make top-speed runs at Bonneville ) is two-fold. Yes, these engines make massive torque. They needed it to move the 6,000 lb luxury land-barges they came in that might also be towing a trailer!  But they are not high revvers. And I don't mean you need to redline them at 5,700 or 5,800 rpm like a 455 Pontiac or 455 Buick-I mean their all done by about 4,000-4,500 rpm. And no one makes hot rod parts for them. Edelbrock makes a Performer Intake manifold, but that's about it. Their bore and stroke and head design-that makes that massive low-end torque just isn't suited for high-performance work. Pick any other big block-429 / 460 Ford, the BOP 455's, 440 Mopars-whatever-stock or modified-they will run off and leave the big Cads. # 2. Why is every magazine writer so adamant that a single-4-barrel carburator is the "Only Way to Fly?" I personally love tri-power and dual-quads. I helped tune a 454 Chevy with 4 Webers on it that won a truck pull competition one time. My dad was a god when it came to jetting and tuning multi-carb setups, and I learned from him. But it's definitely a lost art and if you don't have synchronizer tools and an infrared exhaust analyzer and a lot of time, you shouldn't attempt it. Multi-carb setups look and sound way cool and if their done right can make big power. But what the magazine writers are trying to do is keep amateurs out of trouble. I see it every Hot August Nights with Hemis,409 Impalas, Six-Pack Mopars,Tri-Power GTOs and Corvettes etc. Guys have this killer car that there so damnded afraid of blowing up, that it never sees the high side of 3,000 rpm. Some of them are only driven on and off the trailer. Then, the second it fouls a spark plug, the owner starts screwing around with the carbs. Pretty soon it won't even start, much less run properly. The other thing is the KISS principle-"Keep it simple, stupid". I used to say this to guys back in the '90's when "Pro Street" was popular. "If a Super Stock Firebird can run 11.30's with a Quadrajet, why do you need a Tunnel-Ram and dual 660 Holleys?"  For 99% of the people a single 4bbl makes a lot more sense. Even with most cars now being fuel-injected. If your car is fuel-injected from the factory-great. If you want more oomph-Edelbrock, Accel,Trick Flow, Holley and other companies make manifolds, larger throttle-bodies, etc that work in conjunction with the factory system. Those are great. But aftermarket fuel-injection systems cost anywhere from $2,000-$5,000 depending on application and are complicated to dial in and tune. A simple, $400 carb on a $200 manifold makes just as much or more power and is practically a bolt-on. Anyone with hand tools and common sense can make one work. That's what the writers are saying. Their trying to protect idiots from themselves. # 3. Why do old guys like you constantly scoff at the "Overkill" in magazine project cars? The reason is we speak from experience. Ask some "expert" what you need to build a hot small-block Chevy. I guarantee he'll say "You gotta have a 4-bolt main block" "You gotta Have "Pink" rods" "You gotta have a forged crank" "You gotta have screw in studs in the heads" and a bunch more "Gotta Haves" I can't remember off the top of my head. He'd be half-right. Yes, if your building a NASCAR Nextel Cup car that has to go 7,800 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona, you need all the beef you can get. But I remember guys running Chevy engines for two whole seasons in IMCA circle-track cars with two-bolt main blocks, cast cranks, and cast pistons without a rebuild, and with no problems!!  I have raced drag cars and circle track cars for 30 years and I've never seen a stud pull out of a head. For a street car where rpms don't go over 6,500? You don't need any of that stuff. Here's another example. Summitt Racing list new Richmond / BW T10 4-speeds as having a 325 lb torque rating. Which means you couldn't use them behind any kind of a big-block, right? Wrong!!  In the early '60's 409 Impalas,421 Catalinas, and 406 Galaxies all used T10 4-speeds, and they all had a lot more than 325 lbs of torque!! Most had 450-500 lbs-ft!!  And the "modern" Richmond T10's have much tougher gears and mainshafts due to modern metallurgy! So if you want to put a T10 behind a 390 Ford or 396 Chevy or 400 Pontiac-I wouldn't worry about it!!  I've said it before-I've never seen anyone break a Chrysler 8 3/4 rear!! Not even a buddy of mine who has a 9 second, nitrous-fed, 505 inch Duster!!!  I've had 400, 4-speed Trans-Ams and abused and drag raced them for years and never broke the GM 8.5 inch 10 bolt rear!!  I know guys with 10 second "5.0" Mustangs that haven't broke the stock 8.8 rear!!  So how come every single magazine project car has "Gotta Have" a custom Currie built 9" Ford rear???  I understand that the magazines have to feature and sell their advertisers products to stay in business. But a lot of the "Gotta Haves" you read about are unnecessary. # 4. Why do you always say carefully measure the "Bang for the Buck" factor?  Ok-here's a perfect example. For anything other than a small-block Chevy, a pair of Edelbrock aluminum heads costs $2,000 on up. So if your building say a 383 / 400 Mopar or a 455 Olds or a 400 Pontiac-that $2,000 would buy you a carb and intake, a cam kit, a set of headers,a high-stall converter and some gears and traction bars to put all that power to the ground!! Or the set of heads. See what I'm saying?  # 5. Why do you slam certain parts or car lines?  I'm not "Slamming" anything. I'm just telling the truth. For example-it's an irrefutable fact that GM and Chrysler stuff is much more interchangeable than Ford stuff. You can take a Turbo 350 out of a 305 '81 Camaro and replace the Powerglide in a 327 '64 Impala and not have to change anything. Ditto for taking a 727 Torqueflite out of a '67 361 Belvedere and putting it in a '78 Dodge D150 Pickup with a 440. Guess what? A 289 /302, 351C,a 390, and a 351 /400M  all have a different bellhousing bolt-pattern!!  Another example-GM points were good to about 6,000 rpm. Mopar points were awful. They'd bounce and close up, especially above 5,000 rpm. You never saw a Mopar racer in the '60's or '70's without extra points in his toolbox, and they were usually Accel or Mallory!  The Autolite 4300 is the worst carburator ever made, bar none. I worked for Ford in the '70's. If you had a 351 Mustang or 460 T-Bird that stumbled, was hard starting, got crappy gas mileage and all around ran like shit, and you bitched hard enough Ford would replace it with a 600 Holley at no charge, and warranty it!! That's how bad those carbs were, brand-new!!  If something is awful-I'll say it's awful. No prejudice, like "Calvin" pissing on a bow-tie!!  Mastermind        

More "Area 51" cars that don't exist....

These people are like rabbits or noxious weeds. No matter how you try to get rid of them, they keep popping up. After the post on the cars that don't exist-a bunch of people challenged me with some more. Ugh!!  So here's some more that don't exist-that idiots of all ages insist they do!!  # 1. Boss 429 Cougar. Boss 429 Mustangs started life as 428 CJ models and were shipped to Kar Kraft for the Boss-Nine conversion. Ford lost money on every one. The cars were only built to homologate the engine for NASCAR racing. Further, since Ford drivers like Cale Yarborough and David Pearson were running Torinos and Mercury Cyclone bodies-which would have swallowed the huge engine easily without the extensive modifications the Mustangs needed- that certainly would have been the path of least resistance. Since no one was racing Mustangs outside of the Trans-Am series where the displacement limit was 305 ci-thus the little brother "Boss 302"-why did they choose a Mustang to make the Boss 429 legal?  We may never know. Anyhow their were two Boss 429 Cougars built for drag racers "Fast Eddie" Schartmann and "Dyno" Don Nicholsen. Neither had much success. They just weren't that fast. Schartmann wrecked his; Nicholsen pulled the Boss-Nine and put an older side-oiler 427 FE in his Cougar and won a few races. As far as I know, Schartmann's car was crushed. Nicholsens's may be in a drag racing museum. No one is quite sure what exactly happened to the car after that racing season. The point is-there were never any Boss 429 Cougars sold to the public. Not one, not ever. # 2. Ram Air V GTO. Since 1968 Herb Adams and other Pontiac engineers had been toying with "Tunnel-Port" cylinder heads for the Trans-Am racing effort. They found that the big heads were too much for the 5 liter engines. The 303 ci engines ran much better with production RAIV heads. However drag racers like Arnie Beswick and Doug Nash found out that the big 400 and 428 engines could make incredible power with them. Like 426 Chrysler Hemi and 427 Chevy power levels. So Adams and some other engineers pitched the idea to make the "Ram Air V" a production option. With a hot General Kinetics solid-lifter cam, the engineers were blown away by the results. However John DeLorean-then president of Pontiac and the GM brass wouldn't warranty a solid-lifter Pontiac engine. Adams argued that Chevrolet had several solid-lifter small and big-block engines that had a full warranty. No deal. He then suggested that they sell the option with no warranty and a disclaimer. Ford had done that with the Thunderbolt Fairlanes and Chrysler had done it with the Hemi Darts. DeLorean and the brass refused to budge-they wouldn't sell a car without a warranty, and they wouldn't warranty the engine the way it was. The problem now was they had enough parts to build about 600 engines. Adams suggested they sell them over the counter through dealership parts departments to racers and DeLorean agreed to that. Arnie Beswick ran one in his "Super Judge" and Royal Pontiac technichian Milt Schornack had great success racing an RA V '70 GTO. Royal Pontiac also swapped an RA V into a '69 Judge for a customer that made the cover of Hot Rod magazine. Nunzi Romano and some other Pontiac builders built a few for racing use and for their customers as hot rods. As late as 1972 some engineers were still trying to get it into production. ( DeLorean was long gone ) Rumor has it that that a 455 inch Ram Air V GTO was built, as was a "Stage 2" ( Buick's 455 performance package had been called "Stage 1" ) Buick Skylark., and the Pontiac and Buick engineers had a drag race. Rumor is that both cars were ungodly fast-running 1/4 mile times in the low 11s and high 10s; Rumor also has it that the Buick won by a car length and a half. The Buick was destroyed in a fire at the Buick proving grounds; no one knows what happened to the Pontiac. Some of what they'd learned-especially the round exhaust ports-were incorporated into the SD-455 program in '73-74. Adams and company also developed a 366 ci tunnel-port engine for Nascar and campaigned it a '73 Grand Am. Adams wanted this engine to replace the 400 and 455s which were based on a 1955 design. That idea was nixed by the brass as well. The point being-there was never a factory built RA V Pontiac sold to the public. # 3. 1972 Boss 351 Mustang. The 1971 Boss 351 Mustang was the last "Bad to the Bone" engine built by Ford for sale to the public. They had 11.3:1 compression, a hot solid-lifter cam, an aluminum intake and were grossly under-rated at 330 hp. They were only available with a 4-speed and 3.91:1 or 4.30:1 gears. Only 1,806 were built.  In 1972 most Mach 1 Mustangs had a hydraulic-cammed 351C with 8.0:1 compression and were rated at 266 hp. A little-known and not advertised option was called the "351HO" package. This engine had 8.8:1 compression and a solid-lifter cam and Ram Air and was only available with a 4-speed and 3.91:1 gears. It was under-rated at 285 hp. The buff magazines called it a "De-tuned" Boss 351. However-the package was officially called "351HO" and the emblems on the blacked-out hood clearly said "351HO". I remember my dad doing a PDI ( Pre-delivery inspection ) on one at Serramonte Ford where he worked. Nowhere on the car or the window sticker or in the owner's manual was the word "Boss" ever mentioned. You can say I'm splitting hairs-but the "Boss 351" was made for one year only-1971.  # 4. 1971 Challenger T/A / 'Cuda AAR. The  Chrysler Trans-Am package was only offered for one-year-1970. It included a 340 V8 with 3-2bbls, a blacked-out, scooped hood,special body striping,front and rear sway bars, a loud exhaust that exited in front of the rear wheels and E60-15 front and G60-15 rear tires that gave the cars a mean rake. Transmissions were a 4-speed or a Torqueflite.  The confusion comes from an advertisement which ran in Motor Trend in December 1970. It advertised the '71 Challenger T/A. Or did it? The car was a 1970 model with a '71 grille airbrushed in. Chrysler had intended to offer the package. Some 1971 Chilton  and Motor service manuals list tune-up specs for the 340 / Six-Pack.  However-Ford  pulled out of Trans-Am racing after the 1970 season. That's why there wasn't a '71 Boss 302. Roger Penske and Mark Donohue-who had won championships for Chevrolet switched to AMC. GM still gave some back-door support to guys like Milt Minter and Tiny Lund-but there was no real GM effort. Without the racing tie-in needed to sell the cars-and the race cars had de-stroked 305 ci engines not production 340s-Chrysler decided it wasn't worth the effort, and the option was scrapped. Further adding to the confusion-the '71 R/T stripe package closely resembled the '70 T/A design. And some dealers like Mr. Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge would install the "Six-Pack" setup if you paid extra. Edelbrock sold the manifold up until 2012. I've seen quite a few '71-74 models that are done up like a T/A-a few with 318s and 360s with the 3-2bbl induction. But that's gearheads playing grab-ass. 1970 was the only factory built version. # 5. 1975 455HO Trans-Am. This car technically exists, but not the way idiots say it does. Let me explain. The "Real" 455HO was available in Trans-Am and Formula Firebirds, GTOs, and T-37 Tempests and LeMans GT models in 1971-72. It featured 4-bolt mains and forged pistons instead of cast; it had RAIV heads and round-port exhaust manifolds and the RAIV's aluminum high-rise intake, coupled with the famed "068" cam. This made one beautiful street engine. Even with only 8.4:1 compression they were rated at 335 hp and 480 lbs of torque. With 480 lbs of torque at 2,700 rpm-you don't need to rev to 6,000 or 7,000. And they were under-rated at that. One of the buff magazines dyno'd a stock 455HO and it produced 429 hp and 544 lbs of torque. In '73-74 the more fearsome SD-455 was the darling of the media. Then Catalytic Converters and stiffer 1975 emission standards hit and everything went to hell. The 454 was dropped from the Corvette leaving a small-block the only engine for the first time since 1964. The Z/28 option was dropped from the Camaro. The Challenger and 'Cuda were no more, and the Javelin / AMX was dead. The Charger was now a re-badged Cordoba ( Yuk! ) and the Mustang was more Pinto than Mustang. The Trans-Am was the last man standing. Pontiac not only killed the SD-455, they dropped the "regular" 455 from the T/A's option list. The L78 400 which had a respectable 225 hp in '74-now wheezed out 185 hp and was shackled with single-exhaust and salt-flats gearing-2.56:1 with the automatic and 3.08:1 with a 4-speed. The buff magazines howled to the high heavens. Pontiac quickly came out with a "455HO" package-shamelessly desecrating a legend. The engine was a "station wagon" 455 with 7.6:1 compression that wheezed out 200 hp, backed by Muncie 4-speed and a 3.23:1 axle ratio. Even though they weren't bad performers-Cars magazine's test car ran a 15.62 in the 1/4. Not bad considering the power-killing emission controls and the state of tune. However it was nowhere near the high low 14s and high 13s the SD-455 ran just a year before, and the magazines derided the car and said the name 455HO shouldn't have been used. Of the roughly 23,000 T/A's sold that year-( Ironically the most ever in a single year ) only 857 had this package. Pontiac offered the option again in 1976, but now they simply called it the "455 Performance Package " and the magazines stopped griping, and agreed that the T/A was the only true performance car left-it even eclipsed the Corvette in performance and handling. T/A sales doubled and hit almost 50,000 that year. "Smokey and the Bandit" wasn't released until April 1977-so that sales bump wouldn't be felt until the '78 model year. Anyhow-idiots insist that these are "real" 455HO's. The only thing these cars share with the earlier 455HO's is the displacement and the lettering on the shaker scoop!! Like I said-their a garden-variety "station wagon" 455. Now if you want to add some Edelbrock heads and intake and a hot cam and headers you'll be like Jules' wallet-but stock their pretty much a dog and nothing special. Hope this clears some things up. But it probably won't. Mastermind