The idea is to get the large hard-parts into the car, then follow up with the details, like dialing in the transmission electronics, the fuel injection, and tidying up the lists of all the little components beyond the scope of this story. The '64 El Camino still had the original 283 V-8 that smoked like the stack at Burger King. We shoved the powerplant into a corner for a rebuild later.>>>

Over the last two or three years, we've noticed the price for a Gen III V-8 has dropped from $5-6K to as low as $1,500 for a 5.3L engine and transmission from a pickup truck, and $2-3K for a 6.0L from a crashed van or Escalade. Aluminum LS1 engines from the Camaro/Firebird are also dipping into the $3,000 zone. We even pulled a truck engine from the yard and built a 480hp 6.0L for less than $3,800. But up until now, we've never tried to put one in a car.

We were told our engine was from an '04 GTO, making it an LS1. We ran the digits on the block and discovered that 12561168 is an LS6 casting number, and the 241 stamped on the head and oval exhaust port meant the heads were from an LS1 (LS6 ports have a D shape). Regardless of where you source your engine, the important things to know are how many teeth are on the crank trigger and if the engine is from a Corvette (Y-body), Camaro/Firebird (F-body), GTO, or truck. You are going to need that basic information to pick pulleys, the oil pan, and a wiring harness.>>>

The reason for our fear largely stems from rumors we've heard about incompatibility and fabrication requirements related to the installation of a Gen III into a musclecar. We've also heard it can get expensive, but we've never seen a real dollar amount. That's all going to change as we do this engine swap the Car Craft way. We'll show you every dollar we're forced to spend, every mistake, and every short cut, so you can spend the good money on only the parts you need to get the engine in the car and running, then decide if you want to go for that new blower.

The oil pan from the GTO had a front sump that crashed into the crossmember on the El Camino. We've heard that a stock full-size truck/SUV pan will fit this application but hangs really low. If you score a Camaro/Firebird engine, the pan can be modified to work on your Chevelle or El Camino by Street and Performance (S&P) in Mena, Arkansas, for about $265 exchange. In the photo, the upper pan is from the GTO and the lower pan is the modified one from S&P. Note that the GTO relocates the filter to the front sump (on the left) and the modified F-pan does not. The F-body pan also has an oil-cooler bypass fitting (lower right) that can be tapped for a manual oil-pressure gauge.>>>

The victim is a '64 El Camino we picked up for $2,000, with some real Midwestern rust and truck-like fatigue that guarantees we're giving you the real deal, not some cherry with squeaky-clean floorpans we picked up in Arizona or California. It is a 283/Powerglide car with a 10-bolt differential and dents and problems everywhere. We chose it to prove that you can still find a '60s El Camino any day of the week, and aside from the bed and frame, they are the same as any '60s Chevelle in terms of bolt-ons and engine fitment. And since it is a Chevy, the parts we add will likely work on your early Camaro, C10 truck, and maybe even your Nova. Later, as we add performance goodies, the things we learn will apply to your '98-and-later Camaro, Silverado, Corvette, and anything else with one of these powerplants. Interested? Read on.

There are several companies selling engine-mount kits for this swap, but it all boils down to a couple of different styles. The weld-in style is flexible, so you can add any combination of engine/transmission you'd like by simply bolting the mounts to the engine, lowering it onto the crossmember, and tack-welding it in place. It's perfect for fitting this combo in a street rod or something with a custom chassis. The other way is to relocate the stock engine mounts on the block using an adapter plate. It puts the engine in the stock small-block location using the original engine perches, helping parts from other aftermarket companies such as headers, modified F-body oil pans, and transmissions bolt right in. The engine adapter we used was from Hooker Headers. It cleared the firewall and all the stock El Camino bits with no problems.>>>

This is the other kind of engine mount offered by BRP. We test-fitted it into the '64 and found that we could move the engine anywhere we wanted under the hood. If we'd gone for a wacky six-speed or an altered firewall, we would have used these.>>>

Accessory Drives
The accessory drive has always been a deal-breaker for this swap. The problem is that the accessories, such as the power steering and A/C compressor, sit low on these engines, and on the '64-'72 Chevelle/El Camino, they interfere with the crossmember and steering box. So when you score that killer LS1 off of eBay for $3,000, you get stuck with that accessory drive.

One option is using a truck accessory drive. It's ugly, but it's the cheapest way we've seen to get everything on the engine. The downside is that both the alternator and the power-steering pump are placed high on the driver side of the engine and will interfere with the stock throttle body on an LS1 intake. So you either swap to a truck EFI intake, swap to a carbureted intake (which is a whole other story), or modify the idler pulley location and bend the outlet on the water pump to 90 degrees to clear the belt. We've seen this mod performed by the guys at Speartech Fuel Injection Systems. It's pretty hard-core. Also, the truck crank pulley is longer than the F-body and Y-body pulleys, moving everything closer to the radiator.

Most of the engines we've seen in the wrecking yard and online have a 4L60E hanging on them for just a few dollars more. Nearly all the companies we talked to assumed that's what you'll use. And why not? The 4L60E has a 3.06:1 First gear and a 0.70:1 Overdrive. If you are using a transmission sourced from the classifieds or somewhere else, check the number of pins on the large gray wiring harness connector. If it has 13 pins, you can use it for this swap. If it has 12 or even 15, you'll need a different flexplate to get it to correctly bolt to the torque converter. If you don't get the engine and the transmission as one package or you are using parts sourced from different places like we are, you can buy a complete kit from Keisler. The company calls it the A 41. It's essentially a 4L60E that has been rebuilt and upgraded to handle 450 to 650 lb-ft of torque, prepped for an electronic speed output, and is fully programmable. It even comes with a crossmember, a driveshaft, cooler lines, a shift linkage, and a lockup torque converter, and you can use it behind virtually any GM engine-fuel-injected or not.>>>

The next best thing is to use the Corvette (Y-body) pulleys. We've seen them new for $600 on eBay, but that doesn't include the alternator or power-steering pump, and good ones will cost about $600 more from places like Rock Auto online. The Y-body system puts the alternator and power-steering pump up on the driver side in a less grotesque fashion than the truck pulleys, but we've been told by Mark Campbell at S&P that the Vette power-steering pulley can hit the upper A-arm on the Chevelle/El Camino.

You can always sell the F-body drives to a first-gen Camaro guy and do what we did: use the pulleys from Street and Performance. At $958, it's expensive until you add up the time and money it takes to cobble together a junkyard kit, not to mention the fact that this system is an actual engine dress kit, so it looks awesome with a trick power-steering pump and a rebuildable 140-amp alternator with an internal regulator included. We've used the phrase "spending the good money" before, and this is what it looks like. We rarely gush about off-the-shelf solutions, but we traded money for time here, and the serpentine system went on so easily we were laughing. If you have the cash, this is the way to go.

Rock Valley sells a modified El Camino tank for $910 that includes an LS1 pump already installed. Or you can upgrade for $200 more and get a stainless tank with a built-in pump, mounting hardware, and internal baffles for drag-racing or road-racing action.>>>

Fuel System
We stuck with the fuel injection to keep with the salvage-yard theme and therefore we need to run something other than a mechanical fuel pump squirting 7 psi. In fact, we needed about 53-63 psi to run this system. There are a couple of ways to handle it. Competition Engineering sells a fuel sump kit to feed an external pump, but that comes with a cost. Puller pumps are less efficient and usually louder than in-tank pumps. Or you can send out your stock gas tank and have a pump kit installed, buy a new tank and send it out for a fuel pump, or buy one that is ready-made. If you do the math, a stamped-steel tank will cost about $200-$250, the pump kit is another $325-$375, and the labor is about $225, depending on the application. That's about $850 plus shipping to rework a stock tank. The alternative of course is to buy a tank that is ready for the job.

Since we aren't really interested in keeping the stock harness, we used the LS1/LS6 MEFI4 system from MSD. It allows us to tune the engine "live" or simply use one of the dyno-tuned calibrations that are preinstalled. It also allows us to switch from the factory mass airflow (MAF) system to speed density. All F-cars used MAF from the factory. There are also systems from FAST, Accel, and others that offer tunability. We'll run the wiring and tune this car up in a future article.>>>

Wiring
If you are using an engine and transmission combination from a wrecked car or truck, you can have the original computer and wiring harness modified for your application by companies like Wait4Me Performance for about $300. By using the factory harness, you can utilize aftermarket systems like the FlashScan V2 stand-alone data logger and ECM reprogramming system from EFI Live or HP Tuners' VCM Suite to control the engine. You can also buy a premade factory harness from S&P for the same effect.

OK, so along with this huge story, we also managed to get the engine bolted into the car. When the radiator and headers get here, we will slap those in and write a story about how to wire the car and tune it along with some detailed information on the transmission controls. By then, your project might have caught up if you get to work now.>>>

I've got a what?
If it says Corvette on the valve cover, it's likely a Y-body engine right? How do you know? Below are some quick spotters' tips for identifying your LS engine.

You might be asked if you have a 24x or a 58x crank trigger. An easy way to know is by the color of the plug near the flexplate or flywheel at the rear of the block. Gray is 58x; black is 24x.>>>

All Gen III LS1 and LS6 engines use an aluminum block. Truck engines used iron except for the aluminum LM4 5.3 that arrived in the SSR. The LS2 will have 6.0 cast into the block behind the flywheel. The LS1/LS6 will be 5.7 liters with a 3.89-inch finished bore, and the LS2 will have a 4.00-inch finished bore. LS1/LS6 is Gen III and LS2 is Gen IV. Gen IIIs also have a knock sensor under the intake and a cam sensor on the rear of the cam under the intake. Gen IV has knock-sensor locations on both sides of the block, and the cam sensor is in the front cover.>>>

PARTS
DESCRIPTION	PN	PRICE
Boneyard LS1	N/A	$2,500.00
GMPP LS1 Crate Engine	17801267	4,899.95
GMPP LS6 Crate Engine	17801268	6,295.99
Keisler A 41 transmission kit	N/A	TBA
S&P accessory drive	N/A	958.35
S&P modified oil pan	N/A	263.62
Rock Valley stainless fuel tank	N/A	1,100.00
Milodon oil pan	30915	389.95*
Milodon windage tray	32150	69.95*
Milodon pickup	18290	87.39*
MSD MEFI4 controller	240010	1,895.00*
Hooker engine swap mount kit	12611HKR	75.00*
MSD spark-plug wires	32813	64.40*
Chevy LS1/LS6 V-8 Book	N/A	13.57**
Lokar throttle cable	LOK-TC-1000LS1U	45.95
*Prices from Summitracing.com
**Amazon.com

Foot to the floor for 100 feet when you brake for that bus full of nuns? Upgrade when we show you that putting disc brakes on the rear of a GM car is actually very easy. Watch as we swap out the drums on our '86 Caprice and swap in a set of discs from a '94 Caprice police car. The good news is that these tricks will work for any GM C-clip-style 10- or 12-bolt axle on nearly every GM car.

Reality Check
You're probably thinking, "That was too easy," and you're right. Yes, mechanically, the job is simple. You can swap drums for discs in a couple of hours as long as you do your research ahead of time. However, a lot of things can go wrong if you don't.

The axlehousing dimensions are the same on all '77-'96 Chevrolet B-bodies (Chevrolet Caprice and impala) are nearly identical under their sheetmetal, and virtually all parts are interchangeable among those model years. We can swap the whole thing into our '86 Caprice, and in doing so, we'll be upgrading from our puny 7.5-inch 10-bolt to a much stronger 8.5- inch unit with limited slip. The rear discs are just a bonus.

Truthfully, we planned to swap axle assemblies all along. The point of the exercise at the beginning of the article was to demonstrate how quickly you could get mired down in the multitude of variables involved in a rear disc brake swap.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many aftermarket companies offering brake upgrade kits? Or why most car builders or restorers, guys who have no fear of building engines and transmissions, will run aftermarket braking systems on their cars? Well, neither did we until we started researching for this article. We quickly discovered that trying to cobble together a brake system involves a lot of trial-fitting until you get the combination right. Fine if you've got the time and funds.

Place Your Order
When swapping brakes, the after-market really does come to the rescue. The brake companies have done the legwork, and they know what parts work best with each other and what will fit your car. We talked to the guys at Baer Brakes, Stainless Steel Brake Co. (SSBC), and KORE3 to get their advice.

They were all in agreement. You can see substantial gains in braking performance when switching to a four-wheel disc system. But there are a few key things to pay attention to. First, everyone stressed how important it is to design the rear system based on what brakes are on the front wheels.

"It's got to match the front system," says Bill Cummings of SSBC. Baer's Ben O'Connor agrees, "it's better to have too small a caliper on the rear than too big. With bigger calipers, you get too much clamping force, too much pedal travel, and the system is very hard to adjust." Because braking physics shift most of the car's weight to the front wheels, the rear brakes don't need to do as much work as the front brakes do. if you have too much clamping force on the rear brakes, the rear wheels will lock and the car can easily start to rotate. in other words, the rear caliper piston(s) must be smaller than the front or you'll be doing 180s every time you touch the brake pedal.

All three companies we spoke to offer basic rear disc brake kits that work in conjunction with stock or modified front systems. O'Connor says Baer's rear kits are modestly sized so as not to overwhelm a stock front system, but they can be easily upgraded if the owner decides to go big on the front brakes. SSBC and kORe3 have similar systems, and some can fit inside your stock wheels.

The components used are a second concern. SSBC's kits utilize a caliper similar to what GM offered on the Cadillac Seville and Firebird WS6. These calipers feature an integral, mechanical parking brake mechanism. engaging the parking brake pulls a lever on the back of the caliper that pushes on the caliper piston, clamping the pads to the rotor. Baer's kit uses components similar to C4 Corvettes and '92-'97 F-cars. They consist of PBR calipers with an improved manual parking brake design that engages a pair of pins, which push in the inboard pad, clamping the rotor. kORe3's systems offer a setup using C5 and C6 Corvette PBR calipers and a drum-inhat-style parking brake. The parking brake is actually a separate drum brake inside the hub of the rotor. kORe3's Tobin knighton prefers this system, saying the drum-in-hat system is less complicated and easier to maintain. The guys at Baer and SSBC acknowledge that the mechanical caliper parking brake arrangement is more complicated, but the system is less expensive to engineer because the parts have been around since the late '70s. Originally, the factory system experienced failure due to corrosion and lack of maintenance. The calipers would come out of adjustment or seize up, rendering them ineffective. Baer and SSBC have had lots of time to work most of the bugs out of the mechanism though, and they say their caliper designs are superior to the original GM pieces. Both Baer and SSBC offer higher-end kits that come with drumin- hat-style parking brakes, too.

Which system is best for you?
Obviously that depends on your budget and driving style. We can say with confidence that they all make a good product. Below are kORe3's, Baer's, and SSBC's best-selling kits. Note that these are not their least expensive kits. Go to each company's Web site for options and specific pricing information.

Junkyard Systems
As mentioned before, enterprising sorts may wish to build a rear disc system using junkyard parts. The old way of swapping out your drums to discs was to acquire the setup on an '80-'86 Cadillac Seville, a '79-'85 Cadillac eldorado, or a '79-'81 Firebird with the WS6 handling package. These cars were equipped with 111.2-inch rear brake rotors. The Caddy used a 5x5 bolt pattern, while the Firebirds were the conventional 5x43.4. So the hot ticket was to grab the calipers and brackets off a Caddy and the rotors from a Firebird. Those parts are still available. A recent trip to a local pickyour-part turned up at least eight complete sets of Seville brakes. The WS6 rotors are much harder to find in the 'yard.

Newer cars offer better systems, and late-model F-car swaps are becoming popular, especially the brakes from lS1 cars. These systems include PBR calipers on 12-inch rotors with a drum-inhat- style parking brake. The rotors are drilled with the common 5x43.4 bolt pattern, making this a popular swap for older musclecars. Good luck finding them in the junkyards, though. The parts are too desirable, so eBay will be your best bet for finding those setups. Also, these brakes will not fit behind most 15-inch wheels, so plan on bigger wheels if you're contemplating this swap.

Surprisingly, the biggest drawback of a junkyard system is cost. Brake parts operate in a harsh, dirty environment under extreme temperature ranges. Therefore, the parts can be totally clapped out by the time you pull them from the 'yard. While we embrace the practice of hosing off junkyard parts and putting them to use, we cannot advocate cutting corners with your braking system. So by the time you've overhauled the calipers, sliders, mounting brackets, dust boots, and parking brake cables, you may well have spent as much or more than it would have cost to buy an aftermarket kit.

What's A PBR Caliper?
PBR is an Australian company specializing in automotive and light-truck braking systems. The systems utilize a floating caliper supported by a caliper bracket that bolts to the spindle or axle flange. Their simple design and adaptability to accommodate a variety of rotor diameters by using taller caliper brackets make them a popular choice for both the manufacturers and aftermarket alike. PBR brakes were standard equipment of many performance cars including the Corvette, Camaro, Firebird, and Mustang SVT Cobra. In addition to calipers, PBR manufactures rotors, parking brake assemblies, and brake lines and hoses.

Measurements You Need To Know
GM used the same mounting flange for most of its 10- and 12-bolt rear axles with C-clip axle retainers. The flange bolts form a trapezoid shape measuring 31.8 inches across the top and 25.8 inches across the bottom. There are a few variations to watch for: Some station wagons, for example, may have a bigger flange. To be safe, take a measurement of your car and the potential donor's.

In addition, be sure to measure your wheel-stud bolt pattern, the pattern of the donor rotors, and the pilot hole in the center of the rotor because some axles have a bigger pilot than others.

Finally, be aware of possible interference of components. Cars with staggered shocks may need to mount the calipers in different clocking positions to avoid contacting the shocks during suspension travel.

We mocked up our small-block with a Milodon oil pan, along with a Tremec five-speed to see how everything would fit the first time in.>>>

Even though the last '67 Mustang left the assembly line over four decades ago, you can still find relatively rust-free examples driving around the Southwest and West Coast regions of this fine country. While all the hi-po 289 models and Shelbys have long since been snapped up, there are many pedestrian inline six-cylinder ponycars left. Such was the case with CC's '67 Mustang that Editor Glad ran across two years ago on Craigslist, which we purchased for $2,000. It was a great example of grandma-bashed, since both ends were bent and it was plenty shabby in the middle. But all the basic components were in place. Over the past 24 months, we've been slowly resurrecting this notchback from its neglected state, and now that most of the bodywork is complete and the suspension is ready to do a little apex clipping, the next piece of the puzzle is to put some horsepower to it. We managed to not blow up the '88 Mustang 5.0L engine we used for the supercharger testing in the Sept. '07 issue ("Make 600 HP on Pump Gas"), so for now horsepower will come via natural aspiration.

Our first move called for the classic six-to-eight engine swap that car crafters have been practicing for almost as long as inline six-poppers have existed. For some cars, this swap is ridiculously easy, while others like our Mustang demand a few new parts to complete the swap. We thought it worthwhile to illuminate all the details involved with dumping the dead 200ci inline-six for our much more lively 390hp 5.0L. Plus, we'll include some great information on swapping in a Tremec T5 five-speed with help from Bruce Couture at Modern Driveline. We'll break this presentation up into several categories and fill you in on all the part numbers from the companies that helped us pull this off, so you have a very specific parts list that will help when it comes time to do your own version of the six-to-eight shuffle.

Engine
Our first task was to remove the original inline 200ci six and the automatic trans. Since the Car Craft shop was full to the brim with other projects, Tim Moore offered to help us with the swap. So with the epoxy primer barely dry from the body shop session, we began the destruction phase of our engine swap. Earlier in our suspension-upgrade session, we noticed that the six-cylinder's original engine crossmember was mysteriously missing. Knowing that we had to have a V-8 version, this was no great loss. An Internet search turned up Cobra Automotive, which offers not only a performance version of the engine crossmember, but also an outstanding reinforced manual steering centerlink that allows us to get rid of that clunky Mustang ram-assisted power steering. We'll save that for a future story.

We quickly ran up quite a list of parts needed to complete just the engine portion of this swap. Perhaps the most confusing part involves Ford's use of external balance weights on the harmonic balancer and the attendant accessory drive. All early Ford V-8 small-blocks used a 28-ounce external offset weight for both the harmonic balancer and the flywheel/flexplate until 1980, when Ford changed this value to 50 ounces. This was important for us since we would be using an '88 Mustang 5.0L engine. We also decided to go with a mechanical fuel pump assembly rather than mess with an electric pump at this time. This demanded some changes to the engine's front dress and a new front balancer. We found what we needed with a Professional Products balancer that includes both three- and four-bolt crank pulley bolt patterns, since Ford changed that bolt pattern along the way to make life interesting.

But we weren't quite ready yet, because our 5.0L engine was designed for a Fox-body Mustang. This meant the oil pan wasn't going to clear the Mustang's engine crossmember, requiring an oil pan swap. We also intend to punish this pony on the road course, so we opted for a Milodon road-race oil pan along with a new oil pump, drive, and windage tray. With our new engine parts and the V-8 crossmember, we could think about dropping the motor in place.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Edelbrock RPM Air Gap	7521	Summit Racing	$237.95
Edelbrock fuel pump	1725	Summit Racing	91.95
Edelbrock fuel line kit	81243	Summit Racing	N.A.
Edelbrock fuel filter	8129	Summit Racing	39.39
Milodon oil pan	31600	Summit Racing	349.95
Milodon oil pump	18800	Summit Racing	78.69
Milodon oil pump drive	22500	Summit Racing	20.95
Milodon windage tray	32210	Summit Racing	49.95
Milodon windage tray studs	81157	Summit Racing	37.95
Milodon 180 thermostat	16406	Summit Racing	15.95
MSD distributor, Pro Billet	8598	Summit Racing	268.60
MSD Blaster SS coil	8207	Summit Racing	43.10
MSD distributor hold-down	8010	Summit Racing	40.60
MSD 8.5mm plug wire kit	31079	Summit Racing	74.10
Pro Products balancer	80007	Custom Performance Racing	87.99
Pro Products 50 oz weight	91007	Custom Performance Racing	16.99
Year One timing cover	FJ1701	Year One	145.00

Cobra Automotive's competition front crossmember is just the ticket to help keep the front suspension glued together when we start putting the power to the pavement. We also added a pair of V-8 frame mounts from NPD just above the crossmember.>>>

Engine Compartment
Before we could drop the engine in, we needed to tie the two halves of the front suspension together with a V-8 front crossmember that was missing when we bought the Mustang. Cobra Automotive came to our rescue with a high-strength piece that was born out of competition requirements. We also realized that the inline six-cylinder throttle linkage would not work, necessitating a trip to NPD's Ventura, California, outlet, which also had the V-8 frame mounts we needed. All we had left was replumbing the new stainless steel fuel line from Classic Tube, adding some new battery cables from MAD Enterprises, and lengthening a few wires in the charging system to retain the stock alternator (for now), and the engine compartment was ready.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Classic Tube tank to carb	MUF1007	Classic Tube	$89.00
Classic Tube rear brake hose	MUH7006	Classic Tube	39.95
Cobra front crossmember	336-1010	Cobra Automotive	194.95
Cobra reinforced centerlink	100-25823-G	Cobra Automotive	215.00
Year One fuel sending unit	FJ230	Year One	35.95
Year One motor mounts	XH51	Year One	149.00
MAD battery cables	1/O-1	MAD Enterprises	3.75/ft
NPD frame mount	6028-9-1A	NPD	99.95
NPD frame mount bolt kit	6028-1K	NPD	14.00
NPD carb throttle rod	9A702-1A	NPD	10.95
NPD carb rod mount kit	9A703	NPD	6.95
NPD throttle rod bushing	379000-S	NPD	3.32
NPD bellcrank assembly	9725-1	NPD	35.00
NPD bellcrank mount kit	9725-2AK	NPD	2.00
NPD throttle pedal	9735-1A	NPD	9.25
NPD throttle pedal mount	9735-1K	NPD	1.95
NPD throttle return spring	9737-1	NPD	3.00
NPD throttle spring bracket	9741-1B	NPD	8.95
NPD throttle rod seal	9793-1A	NPD	1.50
NPD throttle rod clip, RH	9825-1	NPD	0.50
NPD throttle rod clip, LH	9826-1	NPD	0.50

The Be Cool aluminum radiator assembly comes just as you see here, with a pair of 11-inch-diameter Spal electric fans to help airflow and cooling efficiency. At a later date, we may go to a high-tech Spal fan controller. The Spal fans also come with relays to protect the switching mechanism.>>>

Cooling
Adding a 390hp small-block and putting it through its paces on a road course generates a major heat load into the cooling system, so we knew our little Mustang was going to need a serious heat exchanger to avoid overheating issues. Be Cool has recently integrated a three-tier radiator selection into its entire line, ranging from an inexpensive generic one-row aluminum radiator all the way up to its top-of-the-line cooling system, which includes a pair of Spal electric fans. We decided to go with a modular system: a 27-inch-wide, two-row, 1-inch-tube aluminum radiator with a pair of 11-inch electric Spal fans and a very elegant aluminum mounting system. This complete package is a bit pricey, but we like the idea of a simple bolt-in system with an electric fan so we don't have to pay a horsepower penalty with a mechanical fan. The radiator required moving the battery to the trunk and relocating the voltage regulator. For less money and a little more fabrication time, you could go with a universal radiator with a traditional engine-driven fan and save a few bucks. The final piece in the cooling system puzzle is an Edelbrock aluminum water pump that is far more efficient than a stock pump, which is what we need once the road course flogging begins. There are two choices for small-block Ford water pumps, since the inlets can be spec'd with either a driver-side or passenger-side inlet, and this must match up with the radiator. We went with the driver-side inlet on the water pump to match the Be Cool radiator.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Be Cool radiator assembly	80187	Be Cool	$1,299.95
Edelbrock water pump	8843	Summit Racing	159.95

Part of the kit we received from Modern Driveline included a complete nodular iron flywheel, a clutch set with throwout bearings, pilot bushing, an alignment tool, and a pressure-plate assembly. The iron flywheel is the proper 157-tooth, 50-ounce-inch external-balance-style flywheel for the late-model 5.0L engines along with a Superior Clutch disc that offers organic material on one side and a Kevlar facing on the side shown in this photo. According to Bruce Couture at Modern, the steel backing on the organic side of the disc helps retain the facings, especially under high-rpm downshifts. The final piece is a Superior diaphragm pressure plate that offers excellent holding power.>>>

T5 Trans Swap
In addition to stepping up to a strong small-block, we didn't want to wimp out with an automatic. But to keep a reign on the budget, we decided to go with a more common World Class T5 trans rather than the pricey Tremec TKO 500 or 600 transmissions. While researching the best way to perform this swap, our Ford buddies all recommended Modern Driveline (MD). Bruce Couture's company specializes in early Mustang T5 and six-speed conversions and offers multiple ways to get there. Amazingly, the stock T5 trans fits under the stock floorpan. And with minimal surgery, the stock location shifter fits almost like it was intended. Couture offers a cable-clutch linkage conversion similar to the '80s vintage Fox-body Mustang arrangement to minimize the hassle factor and avoid the complexity of hydraulic systems. The cable linkage bolts in using the stock clutch pedal, but MD does offer an internal hydraulic clutch release system as an option.

Since our Mustang was originally an automatic, we needed a new clutch pedal. Rather than buy a new brake pedal, MD suggests merely cutting down the automatic pedal to fit the new brake pad. MD uses a cable instead of a mechanical clutch linkage for this conversion because it fits better with most headers. The cable does require drilling a hole in the firewall near the master cylinder, but that's the extent of the fabrication required to assemble the linkage.>>>

This is the QuickTime scattershield, created using a different material-forming process that allows it to be made from thinner steel yet still pass the SFI explosion-containment requirements. QuickTime also claims much greater accuracy for input-shaft alignment than other scattershields.>>>

MD's pervasive conversion parts list includes a Superior Clutch set as well as a custom-built T5 trans crossmember. If you're considering this swap, MD also offers either new Tremec boxes or rebuilt T5s. According to Couture, most of his customers step up to a new transmission because the price increase is only $400 over a rebuild.

The MD system also comes with a custom T5 trans crossmember that allows you to bolt the T5 directly in with no fabrication required and offers excellent exhaust clearance. This also included the correct trans mount and hardware. We also included a new Hurst shifter handle and ball to complete the swap. The three- and four-speed shifter handles bolt to the left side of the transmission while the T5 shifter is inline with the transmission centerline, so the T5 does sit slightly more to the right compared with the stock shifter, but the difference is minimal. MD also includes a new speedometer cable and optimized speedometer-driven gear that is used towork with our 8.8's 3.50:1 gear ratio and rear tire size.>>>

We did have to trim the forward portion of the stock shifter hole about 3/8 inch in a semicircle to create room for the stock T5 transmission shifter mount, but the material removed is minimal and no welding is required. MD does offer a shifter that fits the stock opening. We also had to bypass the neutral safety switch by splicing the wires together.>>>

One of the best parts of this swap is that you don't have to cut massive holes in the car to complete this conversion. If a stouter small-block or a big-block is your plan, MD also offers TKO five-speed and T56 six-speed transmissions, but the T56 does require raising the transmission hump to clear this much larger box. MD also has multiple bellhousing choices. You can go with a stock type aluminum unit, or you can do what we did and choose a new steel bellhousing from a new company called QuickTime that offers a lighter, 27-pound, SFI-spec scattershield that allows the use of either a pull-type cable clutch or the standard push-type mechanical linkage. You can check out all the trick one-off-style bellhousings from QuickTime at quicktimeinc.com. Modern Driveline's kit also includes a driveshaft for your particular rearend application. Our car would require a different shaft because of the 8.8 Mustang conversion we performed.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
MD QuickTime bellhousing	MD-401-6060	Modern Driveline	$375.00
MD 5.0L, 50 oz. flywheel	MD-CS157-50	Modern Driveline	150.00
MD K/O 10.5 clutch	MD-K/S7-101	Modern Driveline	250.00
MD clutch cable kit	MD-6768MC-C	Modern Driveline	259.00
MD clutch lever cable	MD-401-2002	Modern Driveline	43.00
MD Hurst chrome shift lever	MD-504-1040	Modern Driveline	59.00
MD Hurst shift ball, five-speed	MD-504-1050	Modern Driveline	39.00
MD T5 crossmember	MD-6773-CM	Modern Driveline	149.00
MD T5 trans mount	MD-504-1101	Modern Driveline	19.00
MD speedometer cable	MD-506-1020	Modern Driveline	26.00
MD speedometer gear	MD-506-1028-19	Modern Driveline	9.50
MD backup-light harness	MD-700-0001	Modern Driveline	15.00
MD clutch pedal assembly	MD-402-6768M-C	Modern Driveline	135.00
MD pedal pads, trim ring kit	MD-412-6568	Modern Driveline	39.00

Exhaust
On the dyno, our Fox-body refugee made an outstanding 390-plus horsepower using a set of 13/4-inch dyno headers with an open exhaust. We expect to lose a little horsepower when we add a full exhaust system, but the idea was to minimize that loss, which is why we went with a set of coated Hedman 15/8-inch, long-tube primary pipe headers. According to Bruce Couture at Modern Driveline, not all headers will clear his cable clutch linkage, but the Hedmans along with JBA and Doug Thorley headers do fit without difficulty.

Backing up these headers is a complete Flowmaster Scavenger 21/2-inch lead-down system, a pair of 21/2-inch Delta Flow mufflers that will connect to a pair of 21/2-inch tailpipes that exit underneath the rear valance. You can also get Flowmaster tailpipes that exit through the rear valance for that OE look.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Flowmaster 21/2" exhaust kit	17282	Summit Racing	$466.99
Hedman headers, long-tube	88308	Summit Racing	279.95

'The new darling of the engine-swap set is the GM Gen III family of small-blocks that includes everything from the lowly 5.3L truck engine to the LQ9 6.0L all the way up to the swarthy Corvette LS7 427. But not everyone demands EFI sizzle with his Gen III steak. Capitalizing on that concept is the amazingly simple MSD Ignition conversion box that allows you to stick a carburetor on an LS1 or LS2 while still employing the very accurate GM distributorless ignition system (DIS). We've rubbed our greasy paws over this system several times, and it is so incredibly easy to use that there's no excuse for even considering adding a cumbersome distributor to the Gen III/IV engines. You don't even need a laptop computer if you don't want to get into that. If you can fog a mirror, you can plug in one of these boxes and supply accurate spark to any Gen III/IV engine. We'll run it down, and you can decide if it's cool.

The Background On DIS
Any good race-engine builder will tell you that a distributor is not the best way to accurately assign spark timing to a multicylinder engine. A computer triggering a coil per cylinder is far more accurate, which is what GM did with its Gen III-and-later engines. This type of electronic spark requires a few additional sensors, including a crank sensor to tell the box when the No. 1 cylinder has arrived at top dead center (TDC) and a cam sensor that tells the box when the No. 1 cylinder is on its firing stroke (remember that a piston on a four-cycle engine passes through TDC twice).

For those car crafters who would rather run a carburetor on a Gen III/IV engine, MSD created the original LS1/LS6 timing control box. Later, when GM upgraded the Gen IV engines by converting its original 24x crank-trigger wheel to a 58x, it required a new box, which MSD calls the 6LS-2 controller. Both of these boxes do essentially the same thing, creating finite control over the spark advance, vacuum or boost retard, multiple rev limiters, and even custom advance curve, all with a few minor keystrokes. Or, for those who have never overcome their fear of computers, the MSD boxes also come with six different plug-in chips, each with its own basic timing curve. On this level, the MSD conversion box is plug 'n' play at its finest.

The Hookup
OK, if this works so slick, it must take a computer science major to hook it up, right? Well, if a mere eight connections scare you (10 if you want the two-step and nitrous-retard features), perhaps that might be true. But this is really easy. Five of the connections consist of GM-style Weatherpak connectors with two that plug into each of the two coil packs, a three-pin connector to the cam sensor, another three-pin to the crank sensor, and the last Weatherpak connection to a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor. Each connector is designed to plug into only its intended sensor so that they're goof-proof. The last three wires consist of a ground, a switched 12-volt power lead, and a tach lead. Hook those up, and the installation is complete except for mounting the box. Then just plug a basic timing-curve module into the side of the box and you are done. The only way this will get any easier is if somebody does it for you.

Custom Tuning
Assuming you're a card-carrying car crafter who prefers to create your own timing curves, and you're not afraid of using a computer, this little timing sojourn should show you how quickly you will be able to fine-tune your engine. There are two MSD timing graphs on a single screen. The lower screen is the mechanical advance curve where you set the initial timing, the rate, and the amount of total advance at wide-open throttle (WOT). The upper screen configures both the amount and rate of vacuum advance, which occurs at part-throttle with manifold vacuum. The MSD software also offers a three-pod gauge package that indicates engine rpm, total ignition timing, and engine manifold pressure in psia (pounds per square inch absolute). For normally aspirated systems, we would have liked to see the gauge and graph in inches of mercury rather than in psia, but the gauge does work well when working with boost pressures from a supercharger. To keep all this straight, we've included a simple conversion table.

By changing sensors, this same system can also read positive manifold pressure for boosted conditions. The term "bar" refers to barometric pressure (14.7 psi at sea level). A 2-bar MAP sensor, for example, can read up to 14.7 psi of positive manifold pressure (boost). Using a positive pressure MAP sensor, the MSD software can be easily configured to create a simple boost retard. This allows the tuner to create an aggressive ignition curve until boost is obtained, and then a given amount of timing retard per psi of boost pressure can be achieved.

The MSD control boxes also offer a two-step rev-limiter system with a low-rpm limiter that can be used for burnouts or as a launch limiter along with a high-rpm limiter. The low-rpm limiter for the two-step simply uses a blue wire connected to a switched 12-volt source. The upper-rpm limiter works anytime the engine is running, and both of these rev positions are completely adjustable. There's also a step retard (a pink wire connection) that is adjustable from 0 to 15 degrees in 1-degree increments when 12 volts are applied to the wire. It works as a single-stage retard feature when nitrous is triggered.

In the past, you would have had to purchase multiple MSD modules, retard boxes, and window switches to get all the features that this one box offers, not to mention the accuracy of DIS plus the ease of using a laptop to configure all these data points. It's the beauty of electronics that a simple little box half the size of an MSD-6A can perform all these cool functions.

CONVERSION TABLE
Pressure in psi absolute	Inches of mercury
5	10.2
10	20.3
15	30.6

Ignition Curve Basics
Basic ignition timing can be a bit confusing, so let's dig into the meat of all this to make it less intimidating. We'll start with initial timing. This is indicated on a timing light on the harmonic balancer with the engine at idle. For most performance engines, initial timing is around 10 degrees before top dead center (BTDC). Next, we'll address mechanical advance. Most mechanical-advance distributors can generate around 25 to 26 degrees of total mechanical advance. This is created by a pin moving in a slot in the advance plate of the distributor controlled by a combination of weights and springs. When you add an initial-timing figure of 10 degrees with 26 degrees of mechanical advance, you get a total advance of 36 degrees.

The springs and weights in a mechanical-advance distributor determine the rpm at which the advance curve begins and ends. Basically, heavy weights with light springs begin and end the advance curve at a lower rpm. The same weights with heavier springs require more rpm to eventually create the same total mechanical advance, which requires a higher rpm to achieve maximum timing. The total mechanical is determined by the length of the slot and diameter of the pin. For most street engines, a good curve should have achieved total mechanical advance by 2,800 to 3,000 rpm.

Vacuum advance is used to create additional ignition timing at part-throttle, light load conditions when there is very little cylinder pressure. Low cylinder pressure requires advanced ignition timing because the air and fuel in the cylinder are less dense, which means it burns slower. A vacuum-advance canister located on the outside of the distributor is connected to a ported manifold vacuum source on the side of the carburetor that sends manifold vacuum to the canister only after the throttle is opened slightly. This prevents creating vacuum advance at idle. The travel created by the vacuum-advance canister pulls on a plate in the distributor that advances the ignition timing. Adjusting the amount of travel is one way to adjust the amount of vacuum advance. This timing is only added at part-throttle. As the throttle opens and load is applied, manifold vacuum drops, reducing the amount of vacuum advance. At WOT, there is minimal manifold vacuum and no vacuum advance.

Each engine is different in terms of when and how much timing it needs. This is where tuning comes in. By messing with total advance for maximum power and vacuum advance to optimize cruise efficiency and fuel mileage, you can create a very happy street engine that runs better and uses less fuel, all without spending much money.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
MSD 6LS-2 controller	6012	Summit Racing	$357.10
MSD LS1/LS6 controller	6010	Summit Racing	312.70
MSD extension harness	60101	Summit Racing	184.10
MSD handheld monitor	7550	Summit Racing	154.80

Manual transmissions are making a major comeback in the performance world. Regardless of whether you have a four-, five-, or even six-speed manual gearbox, the one common denominator with any of these trannies is that they get their power directly from a spinning clutch-and-pressure-plate assembly. If that clutch doesn't make a firm connection, the chain of power is broken and all your hard-earned horsepower will make is a bunch of lining-melting heat in the bellhousing.

A clutch-and-pressure-plate assembly can be considered a consumable item. Sooner or later, it will wear out and you will need a new one. Such was the case with our four-speed-equipped cruiser, which needed help in the clutch department when oil got onto the clutch disc from a failed rear main seal. We sent a call out to Centerforce for a brand-new flywheel, clutch, and pressure-plate assembly, and we thought you might like to tag along as we run through the details on a clutch-and-pressure-plate revival. There's nothing fancy here, no multiple disc chicanery or fuss about hydraulic linkages. Just a simple clutch install that will remind you how to do it right the next time you suffer a slipped disc.

Yanking The Trans
The best way to make this job easy is to begin with a clean working area and the right tools. We are lucky enough to have access to a hoist to make the photos better, but you can easily do the work on the floor. Support the car as high and as safely as your jackstands will go so you have sufficient room to work. Lift the car at all four corners, as this will make moving around underneath easier. You'll only need a few handtools, and unless you're working on a GM six-speed or possibly a Chrysler New Process cast-iron four-speed, most manual transmissions are light enough that you can yank them yourself. Here we go.

Swap Check
Before you start bolting all the parts in place, take a few minutes to check on the parts you plan to reuse and to make sure all the new parts will fit properly. For example, we noticed that our clutch fork had seen better days, and the pivot-ball stud was also worn. Luckily, we had Year One pieces left over from a previous project that filled the bill. We also realized that the clutch linkage was in sorry shape. This might be a good time to upgrade the linkage pieces (see the Linkage Rebuild sidebar). Spending a little more time in this area will not only save you grief later, but also make the entire clutch operation much smoother.

Tech Tip
Sometimes the trans just won't slide all the way into place no matter how much you wiggle, curse, and shove. When this happens, it's usually because the clutch is not perfectly aligned with the pilot bushing. Start all of the trans bolts, but do not tighten them against the trans, and never try to pull the trans into the bellhousing with the mounting bolts. Hook up the clutch linkage and have a friend lightly push the clutch pedal just enough to reduce pressure on the disc. Push the trans in toward the bellhousing at the same time. This will usually seat the transmission into the bellhousing.

Hurst Shifter Rebuild
If you're like us, there's a Hurst Competition Plus shifter attached to your four-speed. In addition to needing a new clutch, our shifter has seen better days. Rather than plunk down around $220 for a new shifter, it might be worth checking out the Hurst shifter rebuild service. According to Hurst, it will completely rebuildyour shifter for the reasonable price of $165 plus $9.50 for shipping. Hurst also rebuilds automatic and Dual/Gate shifters. The whole rebuild process will likely take several weeks, so if the downtime isn't a problem, this is a great time to service your shifter while you upgrade the clutch. The first step is to go to hurst-shifters.com, click on the rebuild service button, fill out the form, and send it in. The service is located at Hurst's facility in Chatsworth, California.

Linkage Rebuild
Classic musclecar clutch linkages are actually pretty crude. On our Chevelle, both clutch linkage arms and the Z-bar are metal-to-metal pins with no lubrication. These tend to wear, especially if the car has been subjected to a stiff pressure plate. Our clutch linkage is well past the four-decade mark and is showing its age. We've welded the pins before and polished them smooth, but the best solution is to eliminate them altogether and go to spherical rod ends. There are several approaches, but we like to use thin-wall tubing and weld in 51/416-inch threaded bungs on each end. Then just thread in a pair of male spherical bearings with jam nuts set to the length of the original rods and you're done. You need to make up one rod from the clutch pedal to the Z-bar and the other rod from the Z-bar to the throwout bearing release arm. We bolted our pieces together with fine-thread bolts and locking nuts to prevent them from coming loose. We found our parts at Art Morrison Enterprises. If you don't want to build this system, you can buy similar pieces from SpeedDirect.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Centerforce Dual-Friction	DF271675	Summit Racing	$279.95
Centerforce 10.5 flywheel	700100	Summit Racing	285.95
Clutch-alignment tool	53010	Summit Racing	7.39
SpeedDirect clutch linkage	7100	Speed Direct	62.00
Year One clutch fork	8600N	Year One	55.00
Year One fork-pivot ball	904N	Year One	15.50
Flywheel-turning tool	T3	Year One	39.95
ARP flywheel bolts	100-2801	Summit Racing	8.88
ARP pressure-plate bolts	130-2201	Summit Racing	10.95

'If you've been following the buildup of the CC '67 Mustang, then you know all about the Global West Suspension upgrades that up 'til now have included a hefty escalation in both front and rear spring rates, a set of gnarly tubular upper and lower control arms, a beefy sway bar, adjustable strut rods, and a bunch of other goodies. We also bolted on a Stainless Steel Brakes front disc-brake conversion, and we're well on our way to converting that lame 8-inch rear to a stronger 8.8 out of a donor '88 Fox-body Mustang. But even with all this work on the suspension, there is still something not quite right. That "something" is the thin sheetmetal floorpan connection between the front and rear suspension on a '67 Mustang. Early Mustangs are notorious for their lack of structural strength. Because we have plans to emulate the Jerry Titus Trans Am from 1967, it will include the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound-Trans Am style. We knew that the thin floorpan connection between front and rear would have to be reinforced if we expected this car to come anywhere near corner-burner hero status.

Don't be surprised that Global West Suspension offers complete weld-in subframe connector kits for most early Mustangs, Falcons, and Rancheros, including our '67 Mustang. There's also an option with the Global West connectors: You can get a basic kit or rocker-rail support for both sides. We decided to start the installation with the tubular subframe connectors alone and follow up with the rocker-rail supports at a later date. Marlo's Frame & Alignment is in the nearby San Fernando Valley, so we limped our six-lunger over to the shop, where Marlon Mitchell had the experience to make this happen.

Bar Science

Global West's subframe connectors are constructed of robust 151/48-inch-diameter, 0.125-inch-wall thickness, drawn-over-mandrel (DOM) round tubing that is not only stronger than rectangular wall tubing but also lighter. The tubes are shipped powdercoated black so that they won't corrode. No frame or floorpan modifications are required, and all we had to do was slightly relocate a fuel line and bracket to make everything fit.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Subframe connectors, '67-'73 Mustang	911	Global West	$152.63
Subframe connectors, '61-'65 Falcon,'63-'65 Ranchero	916	Global West	224.95
Subframe connectors, '64-'66 Mustang	910	Global West	152.63
Subframe connectors, '79-'93 Mustang	912	Global West	115.74
Rocker-rail supports, '67-'73 Mustang	924	Global West	105.21
Rocker-rail supports, '64-'66 Mustang	923	Global West	105.21

'There's never been a better time to restore older musclecars than right now. Entire '69 Camaros are being reproduced, but that doesn't mean that original sheetmetal should be trashed. Original tin is still considered good as gold, so when it came time to resurrect our midwestern-rusted '66 Chevelle's front fenders, we could have gone the repop route with brand-new reproductions. But instead, the fenders were good enough to warrant saving.

We enlisted the help of Mike Paradis, an instructor at West Valley Occupational Center in Woodland Hills, California, which is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District and offers many classes for any student 16 years or older. The class Paradis teaches is the Auto Body Repairer/Fundamentals course, which provides the basics of bodyworking skills and is run as part of the Industrial Technology Education department.

Paradis showed us how to do a simple patch installation on one of our fenders, but we'll be back in later issues with other solid repairs you can do with just the aid of a few simple bodyworking tools and a little bit of fabricating skill.

Continuing Education
We'd like to thank the West Valley Occupational Center Principal Richard Wormus, Vice Principal Henry Castillo, and instructor Mike Paradis for allowing us access to the school's autobody repair program. While you can learn quite a bit just by doing, every state and large municipality has post-high school educational programs that offer classes in many different fields, not just bodywork. The fees are generally affordable, and in most cases all you have to supply are your own consumables such as sandpaper, cutoff wheels, and paint. The Internet is the best place to look for programs in your local area, so don't be afraid to take a class.

Paradis used a straightedge to mark cut lines in the original fender for removing the rust and leaving only solid metal. To make the repair easier to accomplish, he cut roughly 11/44 inch inside the fender edge next to the door and the same distance inside the fender lip to preserve these complex, curved surfaces. This also improves structural strength. He also retained the bottom edge of the fender even though it was heavily rusted. The patch panel did a good job of reproducing the lower edge, including the rectangular opening for the fender bolt.

'It's not that bad, really. Some people balk at the notion of spending half a day cleaning and detailing their cars. We're here to reassure you there is no black magic involved in detailing. You just need to be able to recognize which products to use for each surface and condition. Combine that with some manual labor and a few hours, and your car will be looking like new. Plus, the more often you do it, the easier it will be, and the longer your paint job will last.

Now, we are fully aware that photos of a bunch of dudes washing a car might cause more than a few of our readers to fast-forward through these next five pages. Our more impassioned readers might even send hate mail, so we thought we'd mix things up a bit. Feast your eyes on the beautiful Paige Peterson as she tackles detailing duties on Greg Nicholl's Nova. You can thank us later.

Wheel/Tire Cleaner
They say you should wash the car from the top down, but we're not ones to always follow convention-we actually like to clean the tires first. It's been our experience that tire cleaners work best when applied to dry tires. It seems to break up old tire dressing better that way. So we clean both the tires and wheels first before a drop of water even touches the car.

Those "no touch" hose-off tire cleaners work OK, but the best products still require scrubbing, so spray liberally and use a scrub brush to get rid of all the road grime and brake dust. To clean the wheels, it's best to use one of the newer, all-metal wheel cleaners to avoid damaging the finish. They're formulated to work on bare aluminum, magnesium, or painted wheels. Soak the wheels with the cleaner and scrub lightly with a soft-bristle brush or an old terry-cloth towel. Rinse both the wheel and tire thoroughly. Do one wheel at a time to prevent the cleaners from drying before you rinse them off. If you have unpainted wheels, they can then be cleaned with mag and aluminum polish. Use a terry-cloth towel to wipe the polish on, and wipe the residue away with a clean towel. Be sure to use old towels, though-the polish turns black as it cleans the metal.

Wash
It's not rocket science-the foundation for any detailing job begins with a thorough washing. For best results, wash your car in the shade, and use car-wash soap rather than dish soap or another type of cleaner. Mix in enough soap so that the water feels a little slippery between your fingers. Rinse the entire car first to remove larger particles of dirt, then use a thick wash mitt or high-nap terry-cloth sponge to apply the soapy water. These dense applicators will trap any dirt and particles and prevent them from scratching the paint surface. It's best to work a section at a time, rinsing after each to keep soap residue from drying on the paint. Once done, dry the car with a soft terry-cloth towel, a water blade, or our favorite, The Absorber synthetic chamois.

Polish
Paint gets its gloss by reflecting light-the more it reflects, the glossier it looks. But the paint's surface must be as smooth as possible in order to reflect the greatest amount of light. Conversely, scratched and damaged paint looks dull because its rough surface does not cast back as much light. Think of suede or a primer job-it's not glossy because the surface is not smooth. The surface of your topcoat will wear out in time too. Freeway driving acts like a sandblaster, bombarding the paint with grit and particles. Combine that with excessive sunlight, hard water, bird droppings, and careless people brushing up against your car, and eventually your paint appears faded because of tiny scratches that have developed with time and use.

One option is the clay bar, which works by picking up small particles of dirt and minerals left behind in water spots. The paint needs to be wet so the clay will glide smoothly over it, so spray the area with quick detailer first. Rub the clay lightly across the paint until it feels smooth. Dry with a soft towel and move on to the next section.

Clay bars only remove contaminants embedded in the paint, however, so what do you do about scratches? Sometimes, a coat of wax will fill light scratches and revive the shine. Try a light coat on a small area to test. If it doesn't work, you'll need to break out the big guns.

Polish is a very general term referring to a range of products that remove or fill in scratches, usually by means of abrasives. Other names you'll see on parts stores' "wall of wax" are cleaners, cleaner wax, swirl remover, and glazing compound-clever terms, but they are all types of polish. Most brands market their polishes in steps from mild to heavy, so you'll probably have to buy all three and experiment-be sure to start with the mildest formula first, though. Polishes can be applied by hand using a foam applicator or by machine. Apply the polish and buff until the scratches fade; it should take less than a minute. Then wipe the residue off with a microfiber towel. If the scratches are still there, move up to the next higher formula. Keep moving up until the scratches are gone. Smooth out any areas where you used the rough stuff with a final coat of the mild formula prior to waxing, and your paint will look a mile deep.

Wax
Someone described wax to us awhile ago as a coating that keeps the paint from drying out. Paint, like most other materials in your car, will oxidize, fade, and break down over time. Wax is like a moisturizer for your paint. More than that, it provides a layer of protection against the sun's UV rays, dirt, and grime-all the crap you want to keep off your car. The best waxes are made from carnauba, an oily substance that comes from the leaves of a palm tree native to Brazil. Did you ever notice the way water beads up on some plant leaves as if they were waterproof? Some brilliant guy decided to put this stuff on his paint, and it worked.

Paste wax requires more effort to apply, but the finish lasts longer than liquid wax. However, we prefer the liquid stuff. It goes on quickly, and we don't mind waxing our car more than twice a year. Apply wax with a soft sponge applicator, wait for it to dry to a light haze, and wipe the residue with a microfiber towel.

Tire Dressing
Make no mistake, we're not advocating bling in Car Craft, but tire shine is good stuff. Like paint, the rubber used to make tires also oxidizes and breaks down over time. When that starts to happen, your once-black tires start to turn an unappealing shade of brownish grey. Not cool. Tire dressing shields the rubber from the environment and slows the aging process. We like the stuff made with silicone that you wipe on rather than spray on; that way you avoid coating the wheels with it as well. Pour a few drops on an old cloth or rag and wipe it on the tires.

Trim
You wouldn't want a glossy paint job taking up space next to dull-looking trim, would you? The same polish you use to clean your wheels can often put a shine back into your chrome and stainless trim. Put a small amount on an old towel and wipe until the shine comes back. Oftentimes the towel will be jet black by the time you're done-it's amazing how dirty these parts can get. Some newer cars have rubber and vinyl trim in addition to or instead of chrome trim. We like to use tire dressing on those parts that are more susceptible to environmental damage, especially from sunlight. While you're at it, you can wipe your weatherstripping with tire dressing, too. That will help keep it from drying out and cracking.

Maintenance
Though we've heard of some people who wash their cars every day (not a good idea, by the way), the more realistic method of keeping your car shiny in between washings is to use quick detailer. If the car is dusty, wipe it first with a car duster, spray on the quick detailer, and wipe it dry with a microfiber towel. It's fast and easy. Be sure to use the softest towels possible, though, in order to avoid scratching the paint.

Interior
It does not take a lot of effort to keep your interior in top shape. But a neglected interior will draw angry looks at cruise night. California Car Duster makes cool, dashboard-sized dusters that you can hide under the seat. Once a month, wipe the dash with a vinyl protectant. It helps keep the dashpad from cracking over time. We prefer the low-gloss products. Metal dashboards and trim also benefit from polish and a coat of wax.

Deep scratches and Machine Polish
Unless you keep your car in a bubble, it's only matter of time until the paint gets scratched. No need to panic, though, when that happens. Here's how we took dog toenail scratches out of one of our commuters. (Greg's Nova was too nice to demonstrate on.)

Think of rubbing compound like sanding body filler or primer. You start with a heavy grit and work down to finer grits. The same holds true with rubbing compound, which really is like liquid sandpaper. After applying the compound, you now need to smooth out the area with a less abrasive polish and follow up with a coat of wax. Victory Wax is a new company that is marketing a line of products specially designed to be applied by a random-orbiting polisher. The kit Victory sent us included the polisher, pads, and several bottles of polish, wax, and quick detailer, and we were impressed with the ease of use and quality of the finish when we were done.

'No water has touched Greg's Nova since it was painted. He keeps it garaged and maintains its shine with quick detailer. Here's us mocking up the car wash scene for the photo shoot.

Blown Nova Tech Notes
Who: Greg Nicholl, rental manager for John Deere (but this ain't no tractor)
What: '72 Chevrolet Nova
Where: Camarillo, California, where he takes the car to to get groceries

Short-block:
The car had a 396ci big-block when Greg bought it in 2005, but he quickly swapped in a Chevrolet ZZ502 crate engine with extensive work by Larry Kraszewski of Camarillo Auto Service. At the center spins a forged-steel crankshaft that swings 9.6:1 forged-aluminum pistons and rings on forged-steel connecting rods. A Chevrolet hydraulic roller cam provides 224/234 duration at 0.050 and 0.527/ 0.544-inch intake lift.

Heads:
The Edelbrock aluminum heads have 110cc chambers. The stainless-steel Chevrolet valves are 2.25 inches on the intake and 1.88 inches on the exhaust, all actuated with aluminum rocker arms.

Induction and exhaust:
A pair of Holley 750-cfm carbs gets high-volume air from an 8-71 supercharger built by The Blower Shop in Santa Clara, California. (Greg's wife went on vacation, and the huffer was in place when she got back. Stuff happens.) But the blower wasn't enough, so Greg had Jim Bassett of Bones Fab in Camarillo add a 200hp NOS Cheater setup that is fed by its own Barry Grant fuel system in addition to the BG 250 fuel system for the carbs, which siphon gas from a Jaz 15-gallon fuel cell. All of the lines are aluminum or braided steel. The exhaust exits through 2 1/4-inch Hooker headers with 4-inch collectors into 3-inch stainless tubing and Hooker mufflers.

Electrical and cooling:
Cooling comes from an Edelbrock aluminum water pump that circulates through a Griffin aluminum radiator with twin electric fans. Spark comes from an MSD 7AL box through an MSD billet distributor and coil, MSD wires, and a Powermaster 140-amp alternator that charges an Optima battery. A Moroso 7-quart oil pan is serviced by a Moroso oil pump and pickup.

Drivetrain:
Because the Nova is driven regularly, Greg kept the drivetrain straightforward and serviceable, but he used stout components to match up with the big-block. The TH400 transmission received a B&M manual valvebody and a B&M trans cooler. The tranny is fitted with a TCI 3,000-rpm-stall converter, and the driveshaft and U-joints are standard Chevy issue. The differential is a Ford 9-inch with a Currie third member that is fitted with a Currie 4.10:1 Posi and turns Strange 35-spline axles.

Chassis:
There's no mistaking the intent of Greg's Nova: Go fast and track straight. The foundation is an S&W race car back half with Koni coilover shocks, a Hotchkis four-link with a rear-end locator bar, and Competition Engineering subframe connectors. The rear meats are 29x18.5-15 M/T Sportsman Pros mounted on Weld Drag Lite 15x15 wheels. At the front end, Goodfella's Rod and Custom of Camarillo redid the suspension using Moroso springs with 70/30 Lakewood shocks and a Hotchkis 1-inch sway bar. A set of Global West upper and lower tubular A-arms control the front 26x7.50-15 M/T Sportsman rubber wrapped around 15x7 Drag Lites. The steering is stock Chevrolet, and Wilwood discs handle the braking at each corner.

Paint and body:
Weight being a consideration, Greg installed a Harwood 4-inch fiberglass hood and a Harwood fiberglass rear deck with an 8-inch stainless steel wing. The gimme-a-ticket paint is PPG So-Cal red, and the shine came through the labors of Michael and Nicholas Codina of M&N Custom Works Detailing.

Interior:
The interior is also set up for racing, with custom seats by Superior Interiors Upholstery in Camarillo, California, Crow five-point harnesses, and an eight-point rollcage. The custom upholstery and door panels were also stitched by Superior Interiors Upholstery, and the gauge package is all Auto Meter, including Pro Comp oil, water, voltage, and fuel monitors as well as a Pro Comp tach. The steering wheel is from Billet Specialties, and the shifter is a Hurst quarter-stick. With the Sony CD/XM radio stereo pounding out sound from an 800-watt amp through speakers in the headrests, Greg can probably even listen to tunes with the big-block running.

Performance:
The combination works. The Nova has turned a 10.13 quarter at 130 mph in street attire with no bottle, and the dyno squealed under 870 hp and 850 lb-ft of torque.

'Everybody wants to talk about bottom-of-the-page camshafts with calendar-length duration figures and valve lifts approaching 31/44 inch. With all this thinly veiled aggression going on in the valvetrain, the one overlooked component is often the valvesprings. The combination of lift, duration, and rocker ratio dictates the amount of time the valve stays open to improve flow and make more horsepower. But if the valve doesn't follow the exact path the cam lobe prescribes because the valvesprings are too weak, then the chances of making good power are greatly reduced. Engine rpm is the easy path to more horsepower, but only if the valves actually follow the dictates of the cam lobe.

While matching valvesprings to the rest of the valvetrain is a complex story that we'll save for a later date, we thought we'd attack the easy part first of how to swap valvesprings with the cylinder heads already bolted in place. This came about mainly because we discovered that our little supercharged Ford 302 that we flogged in the Dec. '07 issue ("Make 600 hp on Pump Gas") floated the valves badly at 6,300 rpm. Since the power was still climbing at 6,200, we really don't know what the true peak horsepower number is, because the valves floated before we got there. Plus, even if the engine's actual peak horsepower rpm is 6,200, best acceleration is achieved when you shift an engine roughly 300 to 400 rpm past peak horsepower. So clearly we had to address this problem.

Changing valvesprings on the engine is not difficult if you have the right tools. The trick is holding the valves in place while you remove the springs. Com-pressed air is the best way to do that, so that's how we approached this story. But let's say you're stranded on the side of the road with a broken valvespring and you don't have access to compressed air. An old-timer's trick is to feed a length of clean, nylon rope into the spark-plug hole and gently compress the rope with the piston by turning the engine over by hand until it stops turning. This should secure the valves in place while you remove the springs.

The other key to a successful valve-spring R&R party is to use the right spring-compressor tool. We've found that those lever arms are acceptable if you are dealing with stock, low-pressure springs. But for dual springs or any spring with a seat pressure of over 100 pounds, we prefer the Moroso stud-mount tool, which uses a leverage action that can take on those big dual and triple springs without a problem. We went through the drill of changing over the existing Comp Cams dual springs on our junkyard 302 with its new aluminum RHS heads and upgraded to slightly bigger springs and a set of titanium retainers to reduce the overall weight. The combination of the slightly stiffer springs with the lighter retainers should give us that extra 200 to 300 rpm we need. If nothing else, the valvetrain will be happier and live longer, too.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Moroso spring compressor	62370	Summit Racing	$79.95
Moroso spark plug adapter	62385	Summit Racing	26.95
Proform spark plug adapters	67400	Summit Racing	13.39
Powerhouse height mic	101200	Powerhouse	62.95
Comp, titanium retainer	732-16	Summit Racing	299.95

Rocker Tracks
In the old Western movies, there was always an Indian who could track anything over impossible terrain. A good engine builder can also use near-invisible signs to help track the health of an engine. As we were swapping springs on our small-block Ford, we noticed an unusual wear pattern on a couple of valves. If you look closely at the accompanying photo, the valve on the right shows a typical wear pattern across the middle of the valve stem. This indicates a good pushrod length. But studying the valve-stem tip on the left, there is only a partial pattern on roughly half the width of the valve. This indicates that the valve-stem tip is not perpendicular to the stem. That places side load on the valve that can cause premature valve-guide wear. The solution for this would be to remove the head and face all the valves in a valve-grinding machine to ensure that all the valves will allow full-face contact with the rocker-arm roller tips.

'Working to make your car go faster can sometimes involve addressing what is slowing your car down. That's the situation we're facing with our hot street/strip car. The brakes are dragging mercilessly because of mismatched components causing excessive brake-pad wear, overheated rotors and slowing us down at the dragstrip. This situation has been eating through brake pads, ruining rotors, and slowing down the car at the dragstrip. This story is going to help you find out if your car has a brake-system problem and show how to correct this issue.

Brake-System Problem-Solving
Is your car incredibly difficult to push around? Are the brake pads completely worn to the backing plates in less than 1,500 miles? Do your rotors look black and scabby after a few thousand miles? Is your car slower at the dragstrip than it should be? While these symptoms are extreme, any even close indicate a disc-brake system that is holding the pads against the rotors even though the driver is not attempting to slow the vehicle.

To many, the thought of someone having these issues on their car and not knowing it seems surprising. But we know of cars out there that have these problems, and, until now, those owners didn't know why.

Dragging Brakes
In general, dragging brakes usually arise from mismatched components. Like most vehicles with this problem, the vehicle being improved in this story gained rear disc brakes in place of the production drums when an aftermarket rearend was added. This should have helped the vehicle performance, but it actually hurt it. That's because the production front-disc/rear-drum proportioning valve was left on the vehicle. This stock proportioning valve has a residual pressure valve in it that helps to slow the rate at which the brake shoes relax from the drums. Unfortunately, this feature makes the rear-disc brake pads drag on the rotor-causing excessive heat buildup and pad wear, slowing the vehicle.

Based on our research, there were lots of folks who said, "Oh, yeah, I made that mistake," which means you need to know about this situation.

The photos show the stock proportioning valve being replaced with a manual Wilwood proportioning valve, and the heat-damaged rear Wilwood solid discs and pads being replaced by Wheel to Wheel Powertrain (W2W) in Madison Heights, Michigan.

As a side note, this vehicle went from being almost completely unpushable to totally free, which told us everything we needed to know. It has gone faster than ever before at the dragstrip, and the manual proportioning valve has allowed the owner to tune the brake bias to provide maximum stopping performance.

'There aren't many things better than cruising your ride down Main Street. The rumble of a finely tuned engine, the smell of mildew-infested upholstery-oh, wait, that's not supposed to be part of it. Nothing ruins a sweet ride faster than a ratty interior. While it may sound expensive and hard to replace, in reality, it is quite simple.

One aspect of interior replacement that is a major source of annoyance is the door panel. Because several cars feature designs and materials that are long extinct, just picking up a catalog for a complete panel isn't going to happen. Professional help is needed; in this case, reproduction door-panel upholstery from Original Parts Group. OPG has a full line of restoration products for most GM musclecars, which is good since we are working on a '69 GTO Judge.

Replacing the upholstery isn't a plug-and-play operation; there is some labor involved. All of the original trim needs to be removed as well as the original stamped-steel upper panel that slides over the door. There are replacement upper panels, but these should only be used in cases where the originals are gone and original pieces cannot be located, as the replacements are usually not as good. Once that is done, the upper panel mount requires a little prep work. The factory used star-punched holes that were hammered into the cardboard backing of the door panel. While it is possible to reuse the original punched holes, it is much easier to drill new holes and use Pop rivets to secure the new door-panel backing board.

The upper section of the upholstery ships loose, which requires spray adhesive to complete the assembly. A heat gun or hair dryer makes the process easier, as the vinyl needs to be stretched a little for a factory look. With the basic assembly completed, the trim can be reinstalled. While most of the trim holes are prepunched in the cardboard backing, the panels are made to fit a variety of trim packages and styles. This means that some of the holes don't line up or are simply left out altogether, depending on the car. It is wise to lay out the trim on the panel before cutting the vinyl, as some holes aren't needed. On this GTO, the upper and lower stainless trim strips required drilling new holes, as the prepunched holes did not line up. The original plastic armrests were in pretty sad shape after almost four decades of dutiful service. OPG sent out a set of reproduction armrests, pads, and chrome bases, which mount just like the originals. The plastic armrests require drilling three holes to mount the chrome trim.

Once completed, the door panel reinstalls just like the original. We installed new push clips in place of the original rusted pins. OPG also offers replacement cups for the door, which are sometimes missing or broken. The entire operation including front and rear panels took about a day to complete. Our Judge is back to cruising the strip in style, and now, no more mildew scent!

Description	Part Number	Source	Price
Door panels	GP910BK	OPG	$119.95
Rear panels	GP913BK	OPG	63.95
Armrest bases front	DP6230	OPG	46.95
Armrest bases rear	CH24775	OPG	144.95
Armrest pads front	ARP0008,9	OPG	42.95
Armrest pads rear	ARP0025,6	OPG	39.95
Mounting clips	CH25223	OPG	12.85
Windlace	68AWLBK	OPG	28.30
Spray adhesive, pint		Local shop	10.00

If you have been following the CC/Rambler project, you might have noticed that we've made 480 hp and run 12.06 at 112 mph using a completely original fuel system. It has the crappy stock 31/48-inch pickup in the tank with original fuel lines and a Jeep Cherokee mechanical fuel pump. It works just fine, so we are going to fix it.

The next huge step for the car has always been nitrous oxide. We geared it high so we could add 1,000 rpm in the traps and bench-built the car with 150-, 250-, and 500-shots so we could visualize the schrapnel bouncing out of the 904 transmission. Good times. We also have a gnarly Tim Hogan intake manifold that we've been trying to install on the car in between differential explosions, paint jobs, transmission deaths, and drinking beer on the couch on Sundays instead of working on the car.

Before we can plumb in the happy gas and the corresponding timers and such, we have to rig up a fuel system that will both feed the existing engine and be upgradable as we put more power to the ground. The fuel systems we are going to address in this article are for carbureted cars, because that's what we think most of you guys are using. We are also going to talk a little theory so you can apply what we've discovered here to your street machine. Check it.

Fuel PumpsThe very first thing you are going to need to know is how fast you want to go. If you don't care about going fast, you need to know how much horsepower you're making or want to make. If you don't have access to an engine dyno, you can rely on Desktop Dyno from Comp Cams or a similar program to get into the ballpark. We have, and it works.

The 370-inch V-8 in the Rambler makes 480 hp at 6,000 rpm, so we can fit that number into a handy formula, 2 (flywheel hp x brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) / 6) = gph, to calculate the needs of the engine in gallons per hour (gph). This formula is an industry standard that takes into consideration g-loads and friction losses in the lines.

What is BSFC? A gasoline-powered, naturally aspirated engine uses roughly 0.5 pounds of fuel to make 1 hp for 1 hour at WOT. The calculation is

BSFC	= fuel lb/hr
	uncorrected brake hp

Obviously you are going to need an engine dyno with a fuel-flow meter to get both parts of the equation, or you can guess using a rule of thumb developed from thousands and thousands of previous dyno runs. For the purpose of selecting a fuel pump, the BSFC range varies from 0.38 for an extremely efficient racing engine with great cylinder heads to 0.65 for an engine with a turbo or blower. If you take the average of these two numbers, you get 0.515, which is why everyone uses 0.5 for this calculation when a dyno sheet isn't available.

We used the formula and ended up with 80 gph as the requirement for a fuel pump: 2 (480 flywheel hp x 0.5 BSFC / 6) = 80. We checked the lineup of mechanical fuel pumps from sources like Holley and found that the pump with an advertised rating of 80 gph actually flowed slightly less than 40 gph at 6,000 rpm and 4.5 psi. This is because the advertised number is based on zero-pressure free flow and, as Sesame Street taught us years ago, as pressure increases, flow decreases. Considering that a high-performance engine with a carburetor requires 6-8 psi, this is clearly not enough pump. Instead, we looked to Holley part number 12-327-13. That pump is rated at 130 gph free flow and pumps 85 gph at 4.5 psi and 6,000 rpm. We know this because these pumps are accompanied by a flow chart in the Holley catalog. Using the chart, you can see how much fuel the pump is actually capable of pumping at a certain pressure and rpm.

Mechanical Or Electric?That raises the next question. Should you use a mechanical pump or an electric one? This is a money issue first and a car-design issue second. If you are making the kind of power we are, the mechanical pump is the less expensive option. The pump mentioned earlier retails for $85.95 and, according to the math, can feed right around 500 hp. The inlet and outlet are also tapped for 31/48-inch line, so you can use your stock fuel system (unless your car is equipped with 51/416-inch stuff; then you should upgrade that anyway). There are mechanical pumps out there that will pump up to 225 gph and feed 675 hp, but you will need to buy a regulator and some AN fittings and lines, so be sure to factor those into the total cost.

There is also driver preference. Circle track guys like it when the mechanical fuel pump quits when the engine dies so that if they flip the car, the pump isn't glugging fuel all over the hot parts while they are headfirst in the clay. Street machine guys usually like to hear that pump whirring away and see the filter or the pump itself mounted next to the fuel cell. It's cool. Drag racers like to know that when the engine is on, the fuel pump is at maximum pressure and ready to go on a hard launch. Electric-pumps start at maximum pressure and flow, and flow drops as pressure increases. Mechanical pumps start at low flow and increase with rpm. Because of that, the mechanical pump uses and delivers fuel based on demand.

In our case we are going to be pumping up the horsepower to 550 or so, feeding a tunnel-ram, and eventually running a parallel nitrous system. The stock fuel tank hits the differential and leaks, so we are going to either install a fuel cell or get a replacement tank and add a sump. All of this leads us to a trunk-mounted electric pump for easy access and track maintenance. We also like the mechanical noise and the glamor.

Return or dead head?The term "dead head" simply means that the fuel in the system does not recirculate back to the gas tank from the front of the car. A return system recycles fuel back to the tank using either a bypass at the fuel pump or at the regulator.

Engines with mechanical pumps can use dead-head systems because fuel pressure only increases with rpm and the design of the pump only allows as much fuel into the pressure side of the system as is needed by the carburetor. Although there are some factory musclecar-era machines that use a return system, most do not for this reason. We ran a mechanical pump with no return line for two years and, even though we drove it to Vegas in scorching heat, never had a fuel-related problem.

When you add an electric pump to a dead-head system, fuel is constantly working against the pressure regulator or being bypassed within the fuel pump itself, causing extra heat and sometimes air to be forced into the system. The more of each you add, the closer you get to the point where the fuel becomes so hot that it turns to vapor and stops being delivered to the engine. On a car that sees the street and long road trips, the result is trouble. This situation also causes a pressure drop, as the needle and seat open to fill the bowls of the carburetor, and constant starting and stopping of fuel flow. These problems are why factory fuel-injected cars with electric pumps always use a return system.

A typical Barry Grant (BG) return system works by pumping fuel pressure to the regulator mounted downstream of the carb. Since the regulator will be set to provide 6-8 psi, the unused fuel will be sent back to the gas tank or fuel cell. This ensures that the fuel is constantly flowing and that fresh, cool fuel is always available at the carburetor. Another advantage to the return system is that the fuel pressure is the same throughout the system, eliminating pressure drops between the regulator and the carbs and ensuring that fuel-pressure settings remain constant under load.

If you are stubborn and want a dead-head-style system or are clicking off 1.20 60-foot times in a trailered race car, BG offers the BG400 pump, which has an externally adjustable bypass right at the pump that can return fuel to a rear-mounted fuel cell or tank. It's really not designed for street use, but for burger-stand guys and short trips, there is a power stepdown box that will cut the voltage to the pump so it will not overheat. A toggle switch is used to put it into street driving mode, then a throttle switch takes the system back to full voltage at WOT. Pretty neat.

If you still insist on trying a dead-head system, there is the Enduro series from BG, which allows you to run a big electric pump on the street. The trick is an internal bypass and a fuel-cooled gerotor-style motor. The King, Mighty, and Speed Enduro pumps can feed 2,000-, 750-, and 500hp engines respectively and can also be hooked to an additional aluminum heat sink if necessary for additional abuse.

RegulatorsAt the very low end of the fuel pump spectrum you can find fuel pumps that don't require a pressure regulator of any kind. They are the mechanical pumps that provide less than 110 gph free flow and don't build pressure much higher than about 8 psi, and electric pumps that provide less than 100 gph free flow and don't build pressure above 7 psi. If you need more pump, you need a regulator.

Using Holley carburetors as an example, the needle-and-seat assembly can control fuel flow up to about 8 psi. Any more than that and unregulated fuel will flood the bowl, enter the carb through the venturi as it pours out of the vent tubes, and stall the car at idle or create a huge rich condition at full throttle. The regulator simply uses spring pressure to regulate fuel pressure. There is a screw or Allen bolt on top of the regulator that when turned clockwise adds preload to the spring, increasing the amount of pressure required to unseat the regulator. A dead-head-style regulator simply stops fuel from flowing when the valve is closed. A return-style regulator allows fuel to flow back into the tank. There are several sizes available, but the basic breakdown is for either 31/48-inch or 11/42-inch fuel line. There are also four-port regulator dead heads for tunnel-rams and single-return styles for multiple carbureted street machines.

When using return-style regulators, it's important that the return line is within one size of the feed line. If the line is too small, fuel will not be able to return to the tank fast enough and you will not be able to lower the fuel pressure at the feed line no matter how many times you turn the screw.

Since every pressure regulator has fuel pressure versus spring pressure vented to atmosphere, you can run a fitting to manifold pressure. On boost, the extra atmosphere will increase fuel pressure at a 1:1 ratio. Nitrous guys should have a separate fuel system for safety reasons. If the main fuel system fails at full throttle, the nitrous will still be spraying. With a separate line you can run a safety switch that kills the nitrous when fuel pressure drops below a predetermined limit.

Fuel LinesWe've been having a small debate about the size of the feed line from the fuel tank or cell. BG recommends a -12 (31/44-inch) line for the BG-400 and even sent us a photo of a cavitated pump as proof that bigger is better. The theory is that since electric pumps are designed to push and not pull, they need all the help they can get. Yet most fuel cells come with a -8 (11/42-inch) line, and the guys at Holley saw no problem with a -8 feed. What BG and Holley agree on is that the primary line should be -8 (11/42 inch) from the pump to the regulator and at least -6 (31/48 inch) on the way back.

If you are using a factory gas tank, the return line should be as far away from the pickup as possible to prevent the returning fuel from frothing and disturbing suction. All that fuel going to the pump has to be replaced with air in the tank, so it needs a suitably sized vent with some kind of filter attached or fuel will stop flowing.

WiringThis is easy. You'll need to run a minimum 12-gauge or preferably 10-gauge wire from a battery source to the fuel pump using a relay, and then switch the relay on and off using a 12-volt source from the ignition key or, in some cases, a toggle switch. Since fuel pumps are simply electric motors, the amount of current supplied can affect the speed, and therefore the efficiency, of the pump. Ever had a low battery or a bad connection and had your starter spin really slowly, barely turning over the engine? Same thing. The minimum voltage you should deliver to the pump is 13.2 volts, but companies like Mallory advertise the maximum pump gph rating at 14 volts, so the closer you can get to the ideal between 13.5 and 14.2 volts, the better.

Just as the power wire is important, the ground wire needs to also be 12 gauge or larger and attached to a clean portion of the frame near the pump. If the pump is straining or getting hot, check the ground circuit first.

PARTS LIST
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Autogage fuel-pressure gauge	ATM-2180	Summit Racing	$31.95
BG 220HR fuel pump	170013	Jegs High Performance	249.99
BG King Enduro fuel pump	170044	Jegs High Performance	515.99
BG diaphragm bypass	171021	Jegs High Performance	69.99
BG fuel-cell-to-pump kit	152387	Jegs High Performance	141.99
BG pump-bypass to return-line kit	150187	Jegs High Performance	66.99
BG fuel-pump-to-regulator kit	150287	Jegs High Performance	195.99
BG regulator-to-dual-carb kit	151587-6	Jegs High Performance	183.09
BG regulator-to single-carb kit	151687-6	Jegs High Performance	94.50
Competition Engineering fuel-tank
sump kit	C4040	Summit Racing	61.88
Mighty Demon TR 650 carbs, each	5282010GC	Jegs High Performance	549.99
Edelbrock mechanical fuel pump	1721	Summit Racing	85.88
Edelbrock electric fuel pump	1791	Summit Racing	145.88
Hogan's Racing Manifolds tunnel-ram	N/A	Hogan's Racing	Call
Holley HP125 fuel pump	12-125	Summit Racing	179.95
Weiand tunnel-ram linkage kit	WND-4032	Summit Racing	165.95
Summit Racing aluminum fuel cell	291220-SC	Summit Racing	314.95

Before this tune-up, when the green light lit this '71 Buick Skylark would smoke the Mickey Thompson stickies down the first 100 feet or so of the track before hooking up and running. The starting-line tirespin was maddening. Part of the solution we'll show here applies to production cars with coil-sprung, nonparallel four-link rear suspensions such as '64-'72 GM A-bodies (Chevelles, Skylarks, Cutlasses, and Tempests) and Fox-and-newer Mustangs. Next month, we'll dial it in.

We sought guidance from world-reknowned street-racer-turned-Pro-Street-guru Mike Moran, who has raced every kind of vehicle you can imagine and coaches a lot of Fastest Street Car racers through his business, Moran Motorsports. Surprisingly, he started his quarter-mile passion behind the wheel of an A-body Buick, so he knows these vehicles. Moran's initial suggestion was simply to change the shock absorbers to help speed up and control the transfer of weight from the front end for added bite, but after discovering the car's poor 60 percent front-end weight bias, Moran and his business partner Bart Lemeux decided that some more serious suspension parts might be needed.

The plan involved installing a Dick Miller Racing (DMR) rear-suspension kit to improve the launch grip of the vehicle. The kit repositions the upper-link mounting points on the rearend housing to alter the four-link geometry, moving the theoretical intersection point of the upper and lower control arms lower and rearward. This changes the leverage point of the suspension, leading to more body rise during launch, and therefore more pressure on the tires for improved traction. The DMR kit is also adjustable to preload the suspension for drag tuning, and it stiffens the factory mounting points. Similar kits are available for coil-spring Mustangs.

The suspension overhaul also included a DMR adjustable, preloadble rear sway bar and Strange adjustable shocks. We had to modify some of the DMR components to fit, because a Moser 9-inch rearend was installed a few years ago in place of the stock GM 10- bolt , and this kit is built for a factory rearend.

Consulting For Speed
In the process of doing the upgrade in this story, we reached out to the owner of one of the quickest streetable Buick Skylarks in the country. Steve Cagle has gone 9.49 seconds at 146 mph with a 1.36 60-foot time in a 3,500-pound '71 Buick.

When asked about getting the car to launch, Cagle said, "We spent a lot of time with the stock rear suspension and eventually installed a fully fabricated racing suspension. The Dick Miller pieces and Strange shocks are great with the stock suspension and can be installed by someone in his driveway. We ran the rebound in the rears set at seven clicks toward stiff and the fronts at halfway to stiff. I'd set the pinion angle at 3 degrees down with the Dick Miller suspension. We put a lot of pressure in the slicks compared to a lighter car, like 1111/42 to 13 psi, and with the vehicle weight, I think that would help you-we also ran tubes in our slicks. My car worked well with Moroso big-block drag springs up front, but with the front-end weight of your vehicle, I don't think they'll work."

We did try the Moroso front drag springs, which were very difficult to install as they're very long. Unfortunately, the nose weight was too much-the springs were in full coil-bind with the car at rest, so the stock front springs were reinstalled for all the runs.

Cagle went on to add, "Any weight you can get out of the front of the vehicle will help a bunch at the launch." We looked at removing weight, but decided to just focus on the suspension for this story.

Cagle's advice helped a lot. One example was his recommended optimal front-suspension alignment-which saved time for us. We suggest finding someone who has gone fast with the same type or a similar-type vehicle to give you speed tips. Don't be a pest: You'll need to make it a win-win somehow-and we're sure they are as busy as everyone else. Basic recommendations for alignment are to set the alignment with the car raised 1 inch from ride hieght. Shoot for 3-4 degrees of positive caster and 0 camber, and a total of 11/416-inch toe-in. The positive caster helps with high-speed stability.

One important caution: You will need to make sure the vehicle is similar enough to yours to translate. If the package is dramatically different from what you have, there is little to learn-but what do you have to lose in asking?

Scaling The Car
To start the improvement process, Moran asked the vehicle's owner, Mike Kunkle, to have the car weighed. Kunkle took his Buick to Wheel to Wheel Powertrain to have it put up on the electronic scales. Here are the results: As Moran suspected, the front-end percentage was brutal. This makes hooking up the rear tires at launch a real challenge. In a perfect world, he says, you'd want almost a 50/50 percent split front/rear with a suspension designed to take advantage of it.

Some of the additions to the vehicle after this weighing included the DMR suspension (10 pounds), seatbelts (10 pounds), and rollcage (80 pounds). While the car wasn't reweighed after these parts were added, we're confident the total weight was more than 3,700 pounds.

STARTING WEIGHT (No driver, 31/44 tank of fuel)
	LEFT	RIGHT	PERCENTAGE
FRONT	1,147	1,020	60.6
REAR	707	741	39.4
TOTAL	3,615 lbs.