Drag Race
Drag racing history buffs are more than familiar with the name Dick Harrell, or “Mr. Chevrolet,” one of early drag racing’s pioneer match race/funny car stars. However, there was also Dick Harrell the innovator, and he should be recognized for his incredible streetcars.
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Crankshaft trigger mechanisms have been used in racing applications for a considerable length of time. In truth, they’ve actually been in service for decades. It’s a simple known fact that one of the best ways to improve engine performance is to ensure that the ignition timing is stable. That’s the whole purpose behind such a system, and that’s why racers regularly use them.
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After recently purchasing a ’62 Thunderbird, it became obvious very quickly that the car needed a new engine. Our plan was to turn the car into a daily driver, and so, as long as we needed a new engine, we figured we’d add air conditioning to the car while we were at it. And if you really know your Ford history, you also know that the ’62 was the last model T-bird to come with a generator rather than an alternator—one more reason to consider an upgrade.
Making Tensioners With and Without Machine Tools Author This is a story about two tensioners, one fabricated with machine tools and the second fabricated in a garage with a minimum of tools. In fact, the only power tool you will need is a drill motor, yet the finished products will be almost identical. Your first response to fabricating something may be, “I don’t have the necessary tools; I don’t have any way to get the materials I will need.” If you have a door number so the UPS man can find you, you have everything you need. The materials list at the end of this story contains everything you will need. The rod-end bearings and lock nuts were purchased from AFCO Hot Rod Parts. The aluminum round stock and cutting tools were purchased from MSC. The aluminum round stock comes in 6-foot lengths with a list price of about $10. The average length of a tensioner body is 12 inches, so you can get five tensioners from each piece of aluminum. Do the math: At $2 apiece, we are not talking about big bucks. You could buy some extra rod-end bearings and make some extra tensioners to sell to your buddies. They can get a bargain and you could recoup your investment! We are going to travel two paths from the UPS truck to the finished product. Again, we will apologize to the real machinists among you, and talk to the home builders and self-taught home machinists on one path, and to the home builder with only a drill motor on the other path. We will call the home-builder path “Path A” and the home-machinist path “Path B.” Both paths make the same first three stops and then diverge. Step 1 is the materials list at the end of this article. Step 2 is at the back of the UPS truck, when the materials arrive. Step 3 is your trusty hacksaw: Cut the aluminum round stock to slightly longer than the desired finished length. The next step is to square up the ends of the aluminum and get to the finished length. From here, the two paths begin to diverge. Path A Step 4. If you own a belt or a disk sander, set up a guide fence and square up the ends of the round stock. If you don’t have a sander, get your file out and go to work. You can check the end for squareness with a right-angle square. If you don’t have a square, look at photo #5. If the gap is equal on all sides, the end is square. Path B Step 4. If you have a milling machine only, face off the ends of the aluminum round stock. If you have a lathe, face off the ends. Path A Step 5. Go to your junk box and find two small hose clamps and a scrap of angle iron. Clamp the angle iron to the end of the aluminum round stock with several inches extending past the round stock. Using the second hose clamp, clamp the drill bushing to the angle iron. Leave a gap of 1/8- to 3/16-inch between the bushing and the round stock to allow the drill chips to escape. The drill bushing is the same o.d. as the aluminum round stock, so it will center the drill bit. The drill bushing is made of tool steel and is harder than woodpecker lips. Lubricate the drill bit and the bore of the bushing. The “Q”-letter drill is the correct tap drill for the 3/8-inch-24 tap. Drill both ends of the aluminum to a depth of 2 inches. Path B Step 5. If you have a milling machine only, see Path A. If you have a lathe, center-drill and finish-drill both ends of the aluminum with the “Q” drill to a depth of 2 inches. Path A Step 6. Remove the hose clamps and angle iron and clamp the round stock vertically in your vise. Remember that taps need to be lubricated to cut clean threads. Since we are working with aluminum, you can use a commercial tapping fluid, kerosene, penetrating oil or waterless hand cleaner. The taps that were specified are called gun taps because they force the chips forward in front of the tap. Gun taps can be used to power tap but are not designed to be used in blind holes. Remember that we drilled the holes 2 inches deep to provide room for the chips. The advice your high school shop teacher gave you about tapping (one turn forward, half a turn backward) is still good. Thread one end with the right-hand tap and the other end with left-hand threads. Clean up the chips and the cutting oil and take a break. Path B Step 6. If you have a milling machine only, see Path A. If you have a lathe, you can hold the round stock in the chuck and tap the holes by hand or put the tap in the tailstock and turn the chuck by hand. The same advice about lubrication and one turn forward and half a turn backward still applies! Clean up the chips and the cutting oil and you also deserve a break. Note: If you’re building a “rat rod,” you can stop here and proudly display the vise-grip scars on your tensioner. Each pair of scars will represent one adjustment. If you want something more professional looking, put some flats on the body of the tensioner. Determine the best location for the flats and mark the aluminum. The center is not always the best location for the flats. There may be more “wrench room” nearer one end. Remember that we drilled the ends 2 inches deep, so stay at least 2-1/4 inches from the end when locating the flats. Path A Step 7. We clamped our tensioner horizontally in the vise. Another trip to the junk box, this time for a scrap of metal to use with a level to index our
Producing horsepower requires two major ingredients, namely, air and fuel. Of course, the two must be supplied in the correct proportions and at the proper time; but improving power is a simple matter of adding airflow. Naturally, additional fuel will be required once the airflow is improved, but the first item on the horsepower priority list should always be more airflow.
Even though we all dream of blasting through the desert at 130-MPH like Robby Gordon, most of our 4×4 adventures take place at a much more reasonable pace. Unfortunately for our engines crawling along a boulder strewn dry river bed or climbing a goat trail through a mountain pass does not always allow enough airflow to keep our engines cool with a belt driven mechanical fan. Belt driven fans are designed to keep your engine cool when traveling down a street or highway not while crushing boulders at 3-MPH and 1,500-RPM. So what can we do to keep our rigs from boiling over this summer? Follow along with us as we install a pair of 11-inch electronic cooling fans along with a programmable fan controller both from SPAL USA.
Dive into the world of header fabrication as we demystify the process and equip you with the knowledge and skills to create custom headers for your vehicle. Follow along step-by-step as we break down the intimidating task into manageable steps, offering valuable insights and practical advice along the way.
This engine, and others like it, has opened up a brand-new chapter in the ever-evolving, wild world of Chevrolet power. By design it has a bore and stroke of 4.60 inches by 4.25 inches and Big Chief II heads, which are about 2 inches taller, that feature oval-shaped intake ports. This, they say, is for maximum cylinder filling. Years ago, creative racers would angle-mill heads to arrive at the desired combustion chamber size and to improve the valve angle in combination with the incoming intake flow. These heads are nicknamed “11-degree” heads, as they have been designed with a built-in 11-degree angle right out of the box. There’s no angle milling needed here. A special valvetrain is necessary, along with longer stem valves. Quarter Mile Performance feels that these heads are worth 200 additional horsepower over the very best “shorter” heads.
When this ʼ54 Chevy truckʼs owner started building it, he wanted it to be fast and to have a nasty appearance. He always liked the Pro Street style, so that is the direction he decided to follow. He started by ordering a custom back half that was narrowed and set up with a narrowed rear differential with coilover shocks, a Panhard bar and ladder bars. In order to complete the back half, the car was delivered to Dream Cars, where the suspension was installed.
The lines of ’55-’57 Chevys are almost sacrosanct. They haven’t been modified or changed over the years with very good results. There have been a couple of exceptions, but by and large, chopped tops, restyled fenders and other modifications that alter their original lines don’t come off looking real good. The problem is in the proportions. We’re not sure if it’s because the factory got them so perfect right out of the gate, or if it’s that most have been left alone over the last 50 years, so a chopped top looks strange. Whatever the reason, the classic “greenhouse” roofline, long fenders and slab sides all work very well together.