Dyno Numbers

Power steering is often taken for granted. As long as the pump doesn't leak or growl, it's rarely given much thought. But today's hot Pro Touring cars that employ giant, sticky front tires, lots of positive caster, and are used on high-g road courses or autocross tracks put a serious load on the power-steering pump. We talked with Jeff Roethlisberger, owner of Turn One, for some input on upgrading a power-steering system and allowing it to survive. We use the term "survive" because often, especially on hot summer days at track events, it's common to see power-steering pumps fail.

For a couple months now, we’ve been pondering the world as we watch it pass beneath us through the holes in our 1967 Chevy C10’s rusty floor. Why bother with that when much more interesting stuff is visible through the windshield? Replacement floors can be expensive, and depending on what you drive, may even be unobtainable. Save yourself some dough and make a replacement panel yourself with some scrap metal, a big hammer, a torch, and a welder. Here’s how we did it

Safety is your responsibility. You can ponder this sentence now, or as your flaming race car careens toward the guardrail. We chose the former, and as the completion of our ’71 Dodge Demon project car draws near, our hand was forced to address all the safety gear we might need to avoid CPR at the racetrack. The obvious starting point is the firewall. It prevents fire from burning you.

Horsepower and torque represent the Holy Grail for car crafters. But the problem with more power is that when it’s matched with large sticky tires, it quickly uncovers the next weak link in your drivetrain. Stronger transmissions and large, nitrous-ready driveshafts merely transfer that power to the axles. When it comes to stock GM rear axles, the dreaded C-clip axles soon become worrisome. GM’s original idea to retain the axles with C-clips inside the differential was innovative, but a flaw in the design is that if the axle breaks, there is nothing to retain the axle inside the housing. When an axle (along with the tire and wheel) comes out of a car at speed, it usually tears up the body on the way out. It’s not pretty.

The torque wrench is probably the car crafter’s most often-used specialty tool. If you’re like me, you may still have your first torque wrench; I got my Craftsman 1⁄2-inch drive clicker style as a Christmas present in 1972. It is the oldest tool in my toolbox. But veteran status might not necessarily mean it’s accurate. We contacted Cornerstone Metrology in Van Nuys, California, a company that does calibration work for both industrial and individual mechanics. We needed a highly accurate test procedure to measure our torque wrenches, and Director of Quality Keith Chauvie showed us the digital scale that was accurate to within 0.10 of a pound, which suited our test just fine since we weren’t going to be working on the Mars rover.

Another April issue, another paintjob. This one will differ slightly from the last few we've done. This year, we sought help from the professionals to refurbish this '68 Mustang fastback owned by Jon Schultz, local Mustang enthusiast and car-show organizer. Elite Restoration of Paramount, California, offered to help by doing the bodywork and paintjob on the car, using the latest formula of DuPont's Cromax Pro waterborne basecoat.

Pace Eight-Stack Injected Crate Engine
What It Is: A complete Chevrolet Performance ZZ383 tuned with 8-Stack fuel injection and a FAST EZ-EFI system.
Why You Care: This is a turnkey engine and fuel-injection system that makes 430 hp and 475 lb-ft of torque. The engine includes tin and polished, finned, and cast valve covers, a complete EFI system, an ignition, a starter, and a flexplate for an automatic-transmission installation. The engines are dyno-tuned, broken in, and have a two-year/50,000-mile limited warranty.
How Much: $11,249.95 each
Learn More: Pace Performance; 800/748-3791; www.PacePerformance.com

Steve Strope
Simi Valley, CA

A couple months ago, we showed you a 1967 C10 pickup, our behind-the-scenes support vehicle, and casually mentioned that the Saturday Night Slayer engine Tech Editor Smith built found it's way under the truck's hood, replacing the smokey, leaky 283 the truck came with. While swapping the engine, we put it back together with the 283's Ram Horn manifolds and puny, 178-inch single exhaust. All along, we had plans for headers and dual exhaust. Smith provided a used, header-back system from his inventory of spare Chevelle parts, and Hedman provided a pair of long-tube headers. All we needed was to put the two together.

What It Is: Performance rebuild kits for GM transmissions.
Why You Care: If you want to rebuild your transmission yourself or make sure the shop uses the best available parts, try a Max Performance kit from Performance Automatic. The kits come with all the seals, gaskets, and Raybestos clutches needed to do the job and are available for TH350 and 4L60E.
How Much: $200-$700, depending on the application
Learn More: Performance Automatic; 240/439-4650; www.PerformanceAutomatic.com

Last month, we left our brave iron big-block snortin' to the tune of 589 hp using little more than a tuned-up set of factory iron oval-port heads, 12.5:1 compression, a mild flat-tappet mechanical cam, a single-plane intake, and a 950-cfm E85 carburetor. Until now, this has been a real budget effort; remember, this motor spins a stock cast crank, stock rods, and a stock oil pan. Of course, all it takes is one bench-racing session to spice things up a bit. That's when Editor Glad declared our Blue Collar 454 needed a tunnel-ram and nitrous. The call went out across the land until we found a cast-aluminum Weiand tunnel-ram and matched it with a set of Holley carburetors. Holley has promised an E85 carburetor that should hit your favorite speed emporium sometime soon, but once again, we were too far out in front of demand, so we were directed to Patrick James at Pro Systems, who was happy to oblige us with the 950-cfm carburetor we used last month in the single four-barrel attempt, plus two more 750-cfm fuel mixers for our nitrous attempt. While this represents a significant investment, we helped the budget by adding a twin-plate NOS Cheater system using only two solenoids for the whole system. This limits total power to a max of 250 hp, but that was more than we needed. Our goal was to make 800 hp. It seemed simple enough, and we're happy to report that we did achieve our goal. We also learned that this is might be the upper limit for a two-bolt main 454 with a stock cast crank, as it didn't survive the test unscathed. Our Blue Collar 454 is not dead, but he is certainly going to have to go on injured reserve for the near future. But look for Blue Collar to return, maybe with some better parts.

For this article, we decided to serve up a little bit of everything, starting with bolt-on boost to an otherwise stock motor. In our case, that stock motor was a '06 5.7 Hemi from Dodge. Sporting the most recognizable performance name in the industry, the modern Hemi had some big shoes to fill!

If there is a standard in the world for a stand-alone electronic ignition distributor for GM engines, it has to be the High Energy Ignition or HEI. This large-cap distributor first appeared on small-block Chevy engines in the middle of 1974 and remained well through the '90s in various other forms. The advantage of the HEI is its longer ignition coil dwell time that can deliver greater ignition current to the spark plugs at high rpm. Add to this its integrated ignition coil in the distributor cap, and the HEI is the go-to distributor for basic GM street engines and an easy replacement for buggy-whip-era points distributors.

We've had this Ford 363-inch replacement bullet for Project Ron Burgundy for awhile now, but we've been waiting to optimize our current combination with suspension and traction before we plugged it in. Currently, the '87 Fox Mustang runs low 12s in the quarter-mile, or about 7.80 in the eighth-mile. With a weight of 3,200 pounds—including driver/owner Grant Petersen—and making 441 rwhp, the car should be running 11.70 instead of the 12.25s we managed to get out of the stock suspension. While we're working with Maximum Motorsports to figure out the wheelspin, we have been eye-hustling the engine gleaming in its crate. It wasn't long before it was out of the crate, then on the floor, then off to the dyno to see how much power it makes normally aspirated.

Today's small-block Ford street engine builder has it easy. Not all that long ago, the little-block fan's only cylinder head choice was the classic 351W head swap on a 302. Today, the aftermarket head lineup has plenty of castings from which to choose. We'd love to test 'em all, but we decided to line up as many performance small-block Ford Windsor heads as we could find, as long as they were available complete for less than $1,350 for the pair. These heads all feature between 170 and 180cc intake port volumes and offer excellent performance potential over even the best production iron 5.0L heads. To pull this off, we needed a durable mule, so we chose Ford Racing's Boss 302 345hp crate engine that comes with a set of aluminum heads and actuated by a 0.480-inch lift B303 hydraulic roller cam, and 9.0:1 compression. To complete the Boss, we added an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, a Holley 750 cfm mechanical secondary HP carb, MSD distributor, and a set of open exhaust dyno headers, and we were ready to rumble.

Ultra Tough Big-Block Pistons
What It Is: Lightweight billet big-block Chevy pistons
Why You Care: Diamond claims these are the lightest billet aluminum pistons on the market. That means less stress on reciprocating parts like rods and crankshafts, faster revving, and more potential rpm. They are available with flat, domed, or dished tops and either 3mm or 3⁄16-inch ring packs.
How Much: Call for price
Learn More: Diamond Piston; 877/552-2112; www.DiamondRacing.net

It's easy to get carried away with horsepower plans. The "more is better” approach to horsepower and torque is as hard to ignore as the promise of stylish new shoes to a Hollywood starlet. But we're reading Lindsay Lohan's new book 10 Steps to Avoiding Temptation and practicing on our Blue Collar 454. So far, we've refrained from throwing expensive alloy heads and other big-ticket items at our cast-iron creation, but the lure is incredibly tempting—how does Lindsay do it? Back in the Oct. '12 issue, John McGann stuffed a budget set of Sealed Power 12.5:1 compression pistons in the iron Rat that, along with a simple Comp mechanical flat-tappet camshaft and the Blue Collar 454 (close friends call him BC), stumped out a reasonable 550 hp on E85. The more we looked at those numbers, the more the devil angel said we could do better. We yanked the heads and took them to Jim Grubbs Motorsports for a personal massage session, along with a bigger E85 carburetor, and uncovered a large pile of torque and nearly 40 more horsepower. We're not near done yet, although the jungle drums speak of a tunnel-ram and nitrous that we can neither confirm nor deny. In the entertainment business, that's called a hook, and we not-so-subtly planted it. Stay tuned, as we have major plans for BC—assuming we fall off the Lohan wagon.

There's a place in this world for wretched excess. We're talkin' in-your-face, old-school stuff like a pair of Holley carburetors stuck on top of a monster blower sticking through the hood with a cogged beltdrive that sings like an high-pitch chainsaw. This is classic car crafting, harkening back to the days when you had to look around that huge blower to know when the stoplight turned green. Somehow we've gotten away from that, and there are those who mourn those days. Sitting on the shop floor at the giant Car Craft shop (where Hot Rod has to ask us to use the hoist) was this huge Weiand 6-71 aluminum lung just daring us to bolt it on something. It was just like the Siren's song in Greek mythology, and we're one of those ancient mariners who shipwreck onto those giant 6-71 supercharger rocks. Yeah, sail on, brother. Blower whine—give me all you got!

Did you feel the disturbance in the Force a short time ago? If you did, it was a good thing. It\'92s the future come knocking, with the release of GM\'92s Gen V small-block engine dubbed the LT1. With a nod to two earlier Chevy performance engines, this is the first V8 with direct injection. That means fuel is injected directly into the cylinder under very high pressure. Think of this as (dare we say it?) a hybrid between gasoline- and diesel-engine technology. GM is calling this spark ignition direct injection (SIDI). The \'9214 LT1 still uses spark plugs to initiate combustion, but this configuration is sneaking up on diesel efficiency, with an impressive 11.5:1 compression ratio. The direct injection has been cleverly integrated into the existing LS-engine architecture, retaining what appears to be plenty of interchangeability between this engine and its Gen III/IV cousins. That\'92s a good thing. What\'92s most interesting is how impressive the cylinder heads look. No specs yet on the intake-port volume, but it appears to be in the LS7 range. The bore and stroke are typical of an LS3, with 4.065 bore and 3.62-inch stroke, displacing 6.2L (376ci). Then there\'92s the variable valvetrain technology (VVT) that uses oil pressure to advance or retard the cam to improve combustion efficiency, power, and emissions. And don\'92t forget Active Fuel Management (AFM)\'97formerly called displacement on demand (DOD)\'97in which the engine can instantaneously drop four cylinders and convert to a 3.1L V4 during cruise conditions. That promises to improve highway fuel mileage to 26 mpg in the new \'9214 Corvette. This is where the new LT1 will debut, but expect it to be quickly integrated into new Camaros and truck and SUV applications. We\'92ve come a long way from the 265 SBC, baby.

Fast Mopar

If you are a celebrity in America these days, it’s nearly a requirement to spend at least a week in some trendy, beach rehab facility. Thankfully, we’re not celebrities, but one of our junkyard power-steering pumps recently suffered from leak issues and cried out for rehab, so maybe we’re more tragically hip than we thought. With our minds now cleared from a synthetic power-steering-fluid-induced haze, we thought it might be interesting to show you how easy it is to put your classic GM Saginaw pump through rehab and have it come out a clean, happy, and fully functioning member of our high-performance society.

When we last left our intrepid V8 swap S-10, we bolted the small-block in place and installed the Summit aluminum radiator, the Maradyne electric fans and relays, and the Centerforce flywheel and clutch assembly. We were about to install the bellhousing when we discovered it was cracked. This required some skilled, cast-aluminum TIG-welding we’re not qualified for, so we took our housing to Tim Moore Automotive. With that accomplished, we decided to finally face the electrical issues. Frankly, we had been dreading this part of the engine swap. If you have been following the Sten’s progress, you remember that because we live in a state that firmly believes in iron-fisted emissions controls, we were forced to follow the Bear State’s rules and swap in a ’90-or-newer engine with all the emission controls in place. We chose a ’90 350 Tuned Port Induction (TPI) engine as our swap victim, which meant we had to include all the factory emission controls and the stock factory computer.

At our satellite branch, we have a full complement of Miller Welders, a pile of scrap steel, and some time on our hands. This is the first in a series of short, how-to articles on making stuff. First up is this easy-to-make pair of cylinder-head stands.