hot auto review

You remember the Crusher Camaro, that forlorn piece of raw inspiration we plucked from the jaws of death in the parking lot where oil companies indulged in some kind of government payola, crushing old cars for smog credits. You remember-former staffer Rob Kinnan rebuilt it from the ground up as a clean, mean street crawler and made tracks on the very first Power Tour. That was more than a half-dozen years ago. It's back now with a big, big bullet in its gullet and a chassis that'll take anything the motor can fire at it.

We last saw our Chrome Yellow buddy shivering and gutless outside Kevin Thompson's (KT) Hot Rod Solutions in Memphis a few days before some now-forgotten Thanksgiving. Kevin had just retrieved it from the even colder latitude of Chicago, hot off the floor of Larry Wolyniec's Competition Motorsports in Bridgeview, Illinois, but a lot has changed since then. Wolyniec quit building NMCA Super Street race cars a couple of years ago. About that same time, Trick Flow ceased foundry orders on the tall-deck aluminum cylinder block that we stuffed with one of Joe Lunati's big arms, forged rods, and 10.0:1 pistons-long before he was absorbed by the Holley conglomerate.

Dates change, and parameters with them. The Crusher was to become a test mule for a series of engines, and to prepare for that notion, we sent it to Competition Motorsports for a complete chassis upgrade, but with a completely streetable driver as the goal. Wolyniec installed front subframe bushings and merged the subframe to the rear portion of the body with tubular connectors. To add unspeakable rigidity to the assembly as well as protect the driver, he fabricated a six-point rollcage from chrome-moly tubing. Rather than a complex four-link setup, we requested that he retain the leaf springs and temper them with simple slapper bars.

In order to fit a 10.5-wide slick in there clean and easy, he installed his own sheetmetal mini-tubs and originated an upper shock absorber attachment point on the fabricated framerails that positions the dampers in a nearly vertical plane. Though the multileaf spring bundles originally came from PST, Larry massaged 'em and hooked them to the car with Moroso aluminum front bushings and hung Competition Engineering slappers beneath them. Todd McCutchen (Quick Classics) supplied the big-block front coil springs and the aluminum late-Mopar-style master cylinder.

To satisfy our penchant for prompt stopping, Larry infused 13-inch Baer brakes with four-pot calipers up front and fitted 10-inch plates to the rear axle to accommodate that all-important 15-inch-diameter wheel and slick. Call this part of the transformation part one; two or three more segments will appear consecutively and deal with engine construction, fitting the engine to the chassis, building the exhaust and fuel systems, and the myriad details of project. We promise you this: With its 632ci motor (not a single Chevrolet part to be seen), the Crusher is literally a roaring success.

Bow Tie Loyalist
Randy Johnson's love for big American iron has never strayed across party lines-he's always had Chevrolets. Some of the cars he has built have included a '70 Camaro with a 396 and more recently a '67 SS/RS Camaro with an LS1 and T56. Once both of these found new owners, Randy wanted a car to elevate his skill as a builder to the next level. It also wouldn't hurt if it was big enough to haul his growing family, so Randy selected a '66 Chevelle to fill both those needs. When it debuts at the Detroit Autorama, it'll have a Schwartz Extreme Performance tube chassis and a breathed-on LS7 crate motor. For the outside, Randy called on Murray Pfaff (www.pfaffdesigns.com) to whip up a few ideas. The car is being built at Randy's new shop, D&Z Customs in Kewaskum, Wisconsin. -Rob Kinnan

Radical Ranchero Surf Woody
Harold Saul has collaborated with the legendary Dick Dean on several radical customs over the years and is continuing the tradition with Dean's son Keith, who took over the business when Dick retired.

Keith worked with Kaucher Kustoms (www.kaucherdesign werks.com) to develop the idea for his latest off-the-wall project for Harold-this '62 Falcon Ranchero roadster inspired by the Barris Surf Woody on the Apr. '65 cover of HOT ROD, which Dick was heavily involved in. The build is currently going together at South End Kustoms in Hemet, California. - Christopher Campbell

V-10 Maverick
Every time we talk to Jason Lewis over at Auto Edit (661/510-8069) the drivetrain plans for his malevolent Maverick have changed. The latest iteration calls for the 500hp V-10 from a wrecked '04 Viper SRT10 with only 12K on the clock to be implanted along with the T56 trans and factory ECU. A custom four-link suspension will hold the 9-inch Ford rear and wide billet hoops in place, while the front suspension, brakes, and steering components from a wrecked '98 Corvette will plant the front firmly. The final goal for the hodgepodge is a Maverick that will pull 1 g through the turns and do 0-60 in the 4-second range with a total investment of around $35K. Look for it on the '08 Power Tour(r). -Christopher Campbell

Propane Roadster
Wayne Greenwood is in a bit of a conundrum, since he says he's got one foot in the environmentalist camp and the other saddled with a love for traditional hot rods. To satiate both sides of his personality without driving a hideous greeniemobile that he says "looks like it was designed by people who hate cars," Wayne is building his '31 Ford roadster to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or propane. The chassis is repro '32 Ford rails, while the body is a '31 Model A Sport Coupe that will be cut down to roadster dimensions. Though the body is different, styling will be heavily influenced by the legendary Doane Spencer '32 roadster with a DuVall-style windshield, black steelies with '46 Ford caps on all four corners, heavily louvered hood, and of course a '32 grille shell. The "flathead green," aluminum-headed '67 Ford 289ci has been bored and stroked to 306ci and prepped specifically for propane fuel. The transmission will be a T5 five-speed pinched from a '92 Mustang. Read more about the logistics of the build and watch it come together at www.zonk.com. -Christopher Campbell

SCT Turbo cars
Superchips Custom Timing (SCT, Longwood, Florida) loves to tune things to the nth degree, but there's only so far any stock engine can be wrung out. For power-hungry customers with modern-day American supercars like the Ford GT and Dodge Viper, SCT has crafted custom-built twin-turbo systems to kick things up into the four-digit area. The Ford GT system uses twin GT30R turbochargers with dual TiAL wastegates and a TiAL blowoff valve. Air comes in through a dual air-filter system that utilizes a single MAF sensor and 95mm polished TB, and once the turbos are done it's shoved into a custom-built intake manifold. The factory EEC-V ECU was dyno-tuned by SCT, of course, and plenty of Ford Racing bits were tossed at it to achieve about 950 hp at the wheels. The Viper gets its boost from a similar setup and throws down similarly intense horsepower. Ludicrous excess? Oh yes! Check out www.sctflash.com and www.jmschip.com for more info. -Christopher Campbell

The Mother Lode
The Sadd-Teague-Bentley car as it sits in Al Teague's shop.>
Anytime we offer a list of the 100 All-Time Whatever Hot Rods, as HRM recently did, the first question people ask is invariably "Where are they now?" We can vouch for many on that list, while others are long lost or remain to be found. One we came across recently, however, is the venerable Sadd-Teague-Bentley Bonneville roadster, and we found it right in Al Teague's shop, along with his famous streamliner, which still holds the FIA record as the world's fastest wheel-driven vehicle (409.9 mph, 432 one way). The S-T-B car with its blown fuel Chrysler Hemi was the first highboy roadster to break the 200-mph barrier way back in 1955, and it continued setting records until it blistered a phenomenal 268-mph record in 1973.

Also undergoing restoration is Al's famous streamliner.>
Al is currently restoring the roadster to that configuration because it, along with the streamliner and the former Rolema-Hill 12-port GMC dragster (HOT ROD, Aug. '58) that Al and his brother raced in the '60s, have all been acquired by the new America's Car Collection museum currently under construction in Winnemucca, Nevada. "What? Winne-where, you say?" Yes. Former resident and current successful entrepreneur Ralph Whitworth, along with curator Dave Bengochea, has already purchased more than 200 significant hot rods, customs, drag/Bonneville/ NASCAR race cars, and muscle machines, not to mention many Ed Roth and Von Dutch creations that graced these pages. In fact they just snagged no less than seven Don "The Snake" Prudhomme Funny Cars dating from 1970 to 2006 including two Hot Wheels Barracudas. Ground is just being broken on the two-story, 75,000-square-foot museum as we go to press, with a projected opening date of early 2009. But we plan to bring you a sneak preview shortly. You'll be very surprised at what's already there. -Pat Ganahl

The Kingman Street Drags
Drag racing down Main Street with a bunch of your hoodlum buddies is a clandestine activity typically best reserved for the cover of night. Of course we don't endorse that sort of lawlessness, but the city of Kingman, Arizona, does-at least for one day, anyway. Once a year, Beale Street through the middle of downtown Kingman gets shut down to normal traffic, barricades and a Tree get set up, and some good old-fashioned street racing happens-except for rules, tech, and classes, of course. The Napa Racing Kingman Street Drags organized by Route 66 Wings and Wheels is embraced by the community, and racing is broken down into eight classes to cover everyone from serious racers to stockers, and even Harleys. -Christopher Campbell

Aeromotive Sets Pro 5.0 Record
All the extra time and thought that Aeromotive put into Steve Matusek's turbocharged '07 Mustang is paying off early. When the car debuted last Labor Day weekend at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, the BB/AT Comp Eliminator entry was selected as the Hedman Hedders Best Engineered Car, beating out over 900 competitors. That's especially impressive considering the car was also selected Best Engineered the previous week at its NHRA divisional debut in Topeka, Kansas. Out on the track those engineering qualifications showed as Steve qualified 30th in the 64-car field and advanced to the second round, where he ran a 6.764 e.t. at an off-the-throttle 203 mph. Racing Pro 5.0 at the 9th Annual Nitto Tires NMRA Keystone Ford Nationals in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Steve posted an unreal 6.54 at 215.48 mph, the fastest pass in Pro 5.0 history. The coolest part is that the 5.4L mod motor is a production aluminum block from the Ford GT, while the heads are worked-over pieces from an '07 GT500. Check out the car and see the run at www.aeromotiveinc.com. -Christopher Campbell

World's Fastest Pickup
The surprisingly stock-appearing '05 Dodge Ram Quad Cab built by the Jesel Land Speed Team recently set a new C/BMP class record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The big Dodge set the record at 248.69 mph and was clocked at 255.95 mph, which officially makes it the world's fastest truck. It's no modern Hemi powerplant underhood, however. A Jesel-built 357ci Dodge R5P7 NASCAR engine equipped with twin turbos blowing through a 105mm Wilson Manifolds throttle body and ported intake manifold with EFI conversion provided the necessary 1,545 hp to move the big red barn door down the Salt. As far as aerodynamic improvements, the Dodge was fitted with the SRT10 Aero Package and a custom front air dam, but other than that and the required roof rails, it's basically the same body that's available at any Dodge dealership. -Christopher Campbell

Gm's New High-Tech Diesel V-8
General Motors has just unveiled a new diesel V-8. Actually it's newer than new, as it will not be offered in GM vehicles until after 2009, the automaker says. However, the engine is well worth a look right now for two reasons. First, it signals GM's growing commitment to diesel-powered private vehicles for North American consumers. Next, the 4.5L Duramax Light Duty V-8 is unlike any American V-8 you have seen before.

The latest Duramax Diesel is built on a 72-degree bank angle, instead of the nearly universal 90-degree angle used on American V-8s in modern times. Also, the engine's flow pattern is reversed: Here, the intake manifolds are on the outsides of the cylinder heads, while the exhaust manifolds, which are integral to the cylinder heads, are in the middle of the V. A variable-vane turbocharger and intercooler are nestled down between the heads. The block is compacted graphite iron (CGI), while the heads are cast in aluminum to reduce weight.

These features give the new engine an unusually small, light, and narrow form factor for a diesel, with the ability to fit anywhere the current LS-series gasoline V-8 will go, according to GM sources. Potential applications mentioned so far include pickup trucks under 8,600 pounds GVW and the Hummer H2. While no passenger-car plans have been revealed so far, the new engine's small footprint allows GM "the flexibility to introduce this engine in a wide variety of vehicle applications should there be future market demand," according to GM statements. [And what a potential hot rod engine swap candidate! -Ed.

Displacing 4.5 liters and featuring a double-overhead-cam four-valve layout, the new diesel meets the tough emissions standards due in 2010, achieving a 13 percent reduction in carbon dioxide compared to gasoline engines and a 90 percent reduction in particulates and oxides of nitrogen over current diesels. An ultra-high-pressure, common-rail fuel-injection system can inject fuel up to five times per combustion event for precise noise and emissions control. However, just to show how times have changed, no power or torque figures have been announced as yet. "This new V-8 is not only a clean diesel meeting the toughest emissions requirements in North America, it also delivers an effortless performance feel because of its high torque across the speed range," says Charlie Freese, executive director of GM Powertrain Diesel Engineering. "It is also significantly quieter than other diesels on the road today, with noise and vibration performance approaching gasoline V-8 levels." -Bill McGuire