Tech Notes
Who: Chris Whitney
What: '66 Ford Fairlane wagon. Don't send us hate mail-it really is a '66. Chris installed a '67 grille.
Where: Sun Valley, California, home of some of our favorite junkyards
Engine: Chris' test engine is under the hood right now. It's a 0.040-over 390 police car engine with GT heads that was built to NHRA specs for the Stock Eliminator class. The stock rods were shot-peened, and the rotating assembly has been balanced and blueprinted. Chris is a big fan of CP Pistons, so they're what are attached to the ends of the con-rods. The lumpy idle is courtesy of the 250/260-duration, 0.481/0.490-lift Lunati cam. Paul Smith at Dougan's Engine & Machine in Riverside, California, prepped the engine block.
Intake: In keeping with the police car theme, the factory intake remains intact. On top of that is a modest 600-cfm Holley carb.
Exhaust: Look at the photos. Putting headers on one of these cars is a nightmare. Chr is says he installs them a section at a time. They are a slip-fit design so that he can take them out and R&R them as needed. Bassani collector mufflers are there, but they really don't muffle anything. The car is nice and loud.
Ignition: Chris dropped in a Duraspark distributor from a '76 pickup to improve reliability over the original '66 sparker. He added an MSD-7AL3 and an MSD coil for firepower and dragstrip launch control.
Transmission: How cool is this? There's a Jerico four-speed behind the 390. Chris doesn't care very much for automatic transmissions. "I swear I was born holding a shifter," he says. After getting burned several years ago by the usual H-pattern, Chris switched to an inline shifter. "I haven't missed a shift since."
Rearend: You guessed it: 9-inch. Inside are Richmond 5.14:1 gears on a Mark Williams spool. The 31-spline axles are from Mark Williams as well.
Suspension: It's mostly stock up front with Competition Engineering shocks and a Performance Suspension Technologies rebuild kit. The monoleaf springs in the rear were custom-made by Betts Spring in Santa Fe Springs, California. Chris uses Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks in the rear to fine-tune the weight transfer during dragstrip launches. Chris made his own suspension bushings out of aluminum.
Brakes: Lightweight Wilwood discs are up front; stock 10-inch drums bring up the rear.
Wheels/Tires: There are Holeshot Hole Star drag wheels on all four corners. Dragstrip wheelies are made possible by Mickey Thompson 29.5/9.0-15 ET Drag slicks.
Interior: It's pretty stock-looking in there. Chris prefers to carry the sleeper theme inside his cars as well as the outside. Except for the tach, shift light, toggle switches, and three-gauge pod, the dash is unmolested. He even left the stock steering wheel in place. The dashpad and carpet were done by Rick Munoz at Chatsworth Upholstery in Chatsworth, California, and the rollcage was welded up by Morse Muffler in Burbank, California.
Performance: The car is still in shakedown mode, but it ran an 11-flat its first time out. "It hooked hard and went straight," says Chris.
Thanks: Chris wants to give props to his buds Vick Wood at McLeod Clutch, Mike Judson at Mickey Thompson, Rick Panneton at CP Pistons, and Bob Iverson, who airbrushed the impossible-to-find side trim. He also wants to extend special thanks to his mom, Mary, for supporting his Fairlane addiction since his early teens, and his wife, Jill, for being patient during his long hours spent working on his cars.