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0224
Contents
Q ON THE COVER:
Milk delivery in a hurry!
Nick Cryer puts his DIVCO on the bumper.
Photo by Wes Allison
06 56
Starting Line Tuning Optimized
with John McGann How to Tune Your
Fuel Injectors
08 62
HOT ROD Archives
20, 40, and 60 Years Ago Let It Breathe!
46
Building a Semi-Custom
10 Exhaust System
Where It All Began
Remembering HOT ROD
36 46 66
A Radical Shift The Tribute for the Win
Editor Jim McFarland This 1975 Camaro Has Seen “The Snake” Tribute Making Connections
Countless Changes Funny Car Wins Terminator X Max ECU
12 NHRA U.S. Nationals Installation
HOT ROD 40 72
Drag Week 2023
Tom Bailey Wins His Sixth
So Close!
Pit Lane Penalty Keeps the
50 1965 Dodge Coronet
Re-Flange It!
Unlimited/Overall Title Corvette Racing Team Fabbing a Tall Intake Part 2 of Our
To Fit Under a Flat Hood Amazon Rebuild
30 off the Podium
82
Wild Mash-Up
1984 Monte Carlo Hides a Finish Line
Performance Secret The Faces of
Drag Week 2023
30
40 72
HOT ROD.COM/2024/FEBRUARY 3
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STARTING LINE
By John A HOT ROD Podcast? Yes, and it’s Long Overdue.

McGann ❱We did it! We finally started a HOT ROD branded podcast.
We recorded the first four episodes at the 2023 SEMA Show in
West at the end of the year. The hosts of the podcast are David
Freiburger, Brian Lohnes, and me. Those first two guys are sea-
Las Vegas and had a great lineup of guests, too: Mike and Jim soned professionals, and I’m the wild-card third wheel. I’m liking
Ring, Erica Enders, Bill Ganahl, and Jeff Lutz. The episodes will the dynamic so far.
Editor-in-Chief begin airing in about three weeks; the first one will definitely be It’s been an interesting year for me as I’ve pushed myself into
@john.mcgann out by the time you read this. Look for the episodes on Motor
Trend’s YouTube page as well as embedded into articles on
new aspects of our industry, first doing on-camera work with
the Car Craft video series, and now as a cohost of the HOT ROD
HotRod.com. podcast. You never know where life will take you, and I’m cer-
I’m very excited for this new endeavor for us. It’s a project tainly enjoying the ride. So far, response in the industry has been
more than a year in planning, but it’s also something I’ve tried to positive, as has feedback from our guests.
make happen since I joined the HRM masthead more than five What’s so cool about this format is that HOT ROD has the
years ago. Podcasts are nothing new, and honestly, we should name recognition to pull down some big-name guests, so
have been doing them for several years already, but better late who would you like to see and hear us talk with? I have a list
than never, right? of people I’d personally love to talk to, as do Brian and David,
That means we can show photos and videos as B-roll but it would be great to hear from our audience as well. Check
during the interview. That also means that we can be remote, out HOT ROD’s Instagram and Facebook accounts and drop a
out where the action is, and I think that is so important. We comment in the podcast post or send us a direct message with
recorded on location at the SEMA Show, and we have more suggestions for potential guests. The only limits are the ones we
plans to record remotely at the PRI Show and on Power Tour put on ourselves.
Follow us
@ hotrodmagazine
6 HOTROD/2024/FEBRUARY/
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WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
THE HOT ROD ARCHIVES

20 Years Ago
February 2004: 106 pages, $3.99
“The New Mustang” that Randy Lorentzen photographed for this cover—shot in Ford’s Dearborn
studio—was “the real thing”: a production version of the new-for-2005, S197-generation pony car.
Senior Editor Matt King “dished the inside dirt” on the GT over eight pages, revealing details about
the 300hp 4.6L engine, changes to the chassis (including why it didn’t yet have an independent
rear suspension), and its new retro look. The “900hp Daily Drivers” blurbed across the top of the
cover were in two stories: one by Senior Technical Editor Marlan Davis about turbocharging a street/
strip small-block Ford to make 940 hp, and a feature about a 900hp Impala SS from former staffer
Jeff Koch. “GM’s Wild Top-Speed Racer” was a tribute to the record-breaking So-Cal Speed Shop
belly tanker that Alex Xydias and company campaigned 50 years before. The new ’tanker, built by
the Pete Chapouris-helmed So-Cal Speed Shop, was intended to show off the potential of GM’s
new Ecotec engine, and both versions appeared on a Lorentzen-shot poster. (A year and a half 2004
later the new lakester ran 189 mph and change at Bonneville.) Staff Editor Stephen Kim wrote up
all-new LS1 heads from Air Flow Research; Editor-in-Chief David Freiburger introduced his new ’32
roadster project, the Hot Rod Roaster, with details about its TCI-built frame; and King generated
this issue’s anti-import hate mail with a story comparing Warren and Kurt Johnson’s Pro Stock
Grand Am and Cavalier with the Pro Import Toyotas of Bullish Racing.
40 Years Ago
February 1984: 100 pages, $1.75
Senior Editor Gray Baskerville photographed P.J. Jerardi’s ’67 Shelby Mustang and his father
Pete’s Deuce coupe for the cover and produced separate features on both cars inside. What did
they have to do with the “50 Hot New Parts for ’84” that the editors discovered at the recent
SEMA Show? Nothing. But it’s likely Editor Leonard Emanuelson realized they’d make a more
compelling cover than a pile of parts. Feature Editor Kevin Boales wrote the six-page story on
performance handling, what he called “a no math (almost) suspension saga.” Boales also took
a detailed look at the 274-inch Buick V6 stock car engine that Jim Ruggles built to make 517 hp.
Executive Editor John Baechtel continued his series about nitrous oxide with “tips for buying
laughing gas.” Baechtel also interviewed Ford’s SVO Director Michael Kranefuss and Jim Clark,
“the man behind the awesome Mustang GT,” for a look at Ford’s performance future. For a look
at Ford’s performance past and present, the editors published an excerpt of author Tom Madi-
gan’s biography of “Renaissance Man” Bill Stroppe. Baskerville, Technical Editor Marlan Davis and
Senior Editor Pat Ganahl went up to El Mirage to cover the wide variety of cars making passes on 1984
the hallowed ground they called “our Mecca, our Wailing Wall, our Blarney Stone.” And Ganahl
introduced readers to the Flashback ’57, the Bel Air project car to be built at California Street
Rods and given away at the HOT ROD Super Nationals in Indianapolis.
60 Years Ago
February 1964: 118 pages, 50 cents
“Speed secrets are never safe,” began the on-the-cover explanation of how Petersen photo chief
Bob D’Olivo ostensibly peeked in the window at Runyan Marine and Automotive to get the low-
down on Bob Runyan and Bill Johansen building a “big potent Chevy.” It was all a set-up, of course;
D’Olivo built the window frame so he could position his camera just so. But there were a lot of
speed secrets in the issue, from Associate Editor Le Roi Smith’s story on supercharging to “precision
combustion timing” tips by Sun Electric’s Kenneth Nelson and Part 2 of Roger Huntington’s exami-
nation of swapping stock engine parts “for more zap from a Chrysler or Ford mill.” Smith’s name
appeared on six stories in the issue, including a look at high-temperature paint, using a Corvair inde-
pendent front suspension for early Fords, how AMT built a scale model of his AMBR-winning XR-6
roadster, coverage of a reliability run, and the “Instant Roadster” full-scale hot rod roadster kit put
together by Dragmaster’s Dode Martin and Jim Nelson. Ray Brock, recently promoted from Techni-
cal Editor to Publisher, told readers about Ford’s new “Draggin’ Thunderbolt,” the “lightweight 427
HOT ROD Archives
Fairlane” in the top blurb, with help from racer Butch Leal. Craig Breedlove showed illustrations
and early build photos of his Spirit II dragster. And the NHRA’s Jack Hart outlined new drag racing
rules for the 1964 season, which included the addition of the Modified Production classes and the
requirement that gas dragster pilots wear fireproof suits and masks. 1964
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WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
QMy favorite photo
JIM MCFARLAND’S INFLUENCE WENT of Jim McFarland

(looking at the
camera), posing with
the famous project
WAY BEYOND HOT ROD MAGAZINE.

❱Jim McFarland, the multitalented, multifaceted he was a young hot rodder, “and the guys I was running
Camaro. The man next
to him is Bill Schmidt,
an auto shop teacher
at Temple City Junior
High School. They
are surrounded by
Texan who enjoyed several careers in the automotive perfor- with at the time said, ‘You like HOT ROD magazine so much, Schmidt’s students,
mance industry, passed away in October 2023 at the age of why don’t you send them a story?’” He did, about a Buick who he taught despite
88. I had the privilege of working with him off and on since engine swap he had recently done on his ’55 Chevy. Not only being blind.
my Petersen Publishing career started in the mid-1980s, and I did editor Bob Greene accept the story, but he also invited
spoke to him several times about his tenure at HOT ROD. McFarland to Los Angeles for a job interview. “It was a shock,”
McFarland came to HRM, and California, on a dare. In the McFarland admitted. “I couldn’t even believe it for a while.”
mid-1960s he was working at the University of Texas as a McFarland rose through the HRM ranks quickly. He joined
part-time teacher, having completed a degree in mechanical the staff as an associate editor for the November 1965 issue,
PRESENTED BY
engineering there. “I had two uncles who were professors at was promoted to technical editor for the July 1966 issue, and
the College of Engineering at UT, and I was trying to follow then was the magazine’s editor from January 1967 through
in their footsteps.” He had been a reader of HRM ever since April 1968.
BY DREW HARDIN PHOTOGRAPHY HOT ROD ARCHIVES
QAbove: McFarland relished writing “personality sketches,” which gave him “the opportunity to meet some of the people I had heard about or read
about for years.” He profiled Mickey Thompson in the August 1966 issue, “in the hope that some of Mickey’s experience could be of assistance to many of
our readers.” Above right: McFarland was editor for HRM’s 20th anniversary issue and was there when this iconic shot of Robert E. Petersen was taken.
“We gathered all the copies of HOT ROD on the driveway of the 5959 [Hollywood Blvd.] building, lined them up, and got Pete to squat down on them
and look up at [photographer Eric] Rickman on the roof. It started to sprinkle. He got the shot, but we had to hustle before the rain came.”
QAbove: McFarland’s interview with Zora Arkus-Duntov for the December 1967 issue was the start of a long friendship between the two men. “That
cover was a high-water mark,” McFarland said. “It sold like you wouldn’t believe. Every one of those engines was runnable, and were eventually broken
up by sledgehammers.” Above center: McFarland with “Young Man in a Hurry” Mario Andretti for an August 1967 profile, two years before Andretti’s Indy
500 win. “Right now, it’s simply drive all he can while he can,” wrote McFarland of the ambitious Italian. Above right: McFarland with Gale Banks at the
2010 SEMA Show. He attended the very first SEMA Show in 1967 as a HOT ROD staffer, went on to consult with SEMA on a number of projects, sat on its
Board of Directors from 1988-1992 and was named to the SEMA Hall of Fame in 2001.
During his time at HRM, McFarland was instrumental in some of the most ting surrounded by skunkworks engine projects. “That thing was an absolute
memorable stories of the era, including multiple articles about the modification of smash,” he recalled.
the very first Camaro to be delivered to the West Coast. After leaving the editor’s position in April, McFarland returned for the November
“I saw that as the next ’55 Chevy,” McFarland explained, “and I told Chevrolet, if 1968 issue as publisher, but realized quickly the role didn’t suit him. “I’d gone there
you’ll let us keep it for three or four months, I’ll pass it around to parts manufactur- to write, and the further up you go, the less opportunity you have to write.” Plus,
ers and let them tool up pieces for it.” Some 16 companies made prototype parts, he was approached by Paul Schiefer for help in solving the problem of clutches
making it the first Camaro with an Edelbrock intake manifold, a Hurst shifter, a exploding under drag racers. “When that issue was resolved, Edelbrock had a need
Schiefer clutch and Hooker headers, among others. Chevy tuning guru Bill Thomas to build an engineering team, so I went to Vic’s place,” where he designed intake
offered McFarland two big-blocks for the Camaro, including one 396 that turned manifolds, camshafts, valvetrain parts and other components during 20-some
out to be 490 inches. “Hey, Thomas didn’t name his kit cars ‘Cheetahs’ for nothing,” years at the company. Later, he worked as a consultant to SEMA and several of the
McFarland wrote at the time. OEMs, which included groundbreaking work on the subject of emissions controls.
One project he threw himself into was a series of personality profiles with McFarland may have left his job at UT, but he never stopped teaching. While at
racers and members of the performance industry. “That gave me a chance to HOT ROD, “my focus was largely on trying to find subjects and approaches that
meet or get to know better some of the people I had followed in my pre-HOT helped educate our readers about technical subjects.” He continued doing that
ROD days, when I was reading the magazine in high school and college.” One throughout his career, writing for enthusiast magazines as well as for organizations
profile, on Chevrolet engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov, turned into a lasting friend- including SEMA and the SAE. His thorough, clear, rational approach, whether
ship and enabled McFarland to produce a cover story with Arkus-Duntov sit- writing a story or helping someone else—like me—write one will be missed.
Tom Bailey captures his
6th HOT ROD Drag Week
Unlimited/Overall title with
his Sick Seconds 1.0 Camaro.
or the second straight year and the sixth time in

HOT ROD Drag Week Presented by Gear Vendors
Overdrive history, Tom Bailey has been crowned with
America’s Fastest Street Car title by capturing the
Overall win, in addition to winning the Unlimited
category. His impressive accomplishments put him at
the top of the list for the most Overall wins, a title he
shared with Larry Larson for one year.
Bailey completed the week by posting a 6.7149 average over the
five-day, nearly 1,000-mile road trip, visiting tracks in South Caro-
lina, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
The pathway to the HOT ROD Drag Week victory was one filled
with plenty of bumps in the road, figuratively and literally. Bailey’s
pre-event testing could’ve gone better, the first problem being a pair
of exhaust valves breaking three days before he planned to get on the
road to South Carolina. The repairs were easy, and he got back on
track on Thursday so he could knock the dust off his beloved Sick
Seconds 1.0. That is when a larger problem reared its ugly head. The
Chevy engine spun a few rod bearings, a normal maintenance item
that Bailey admitted they should’ve changed but didn’t.
It took 24 hours to get the engine repaired and installed in Sick
Seconds 1.0, the 1969 Chevy Camaro that Bailey drove to win his
first Drag Week back in 2013. In fact, it is the 10th anniversary of
that win, the reason Bailey put this car back in service. He last ran
this Camaro at a Mid-West Drags event in 2020 and at Roadkill
Nights. The team hit the road to Darlington Dragway a few hours
later than planned, but rolled in Sunday morning with plenty of time
to make tech.
THE HOT ROD STAFF WES ALLISON, RENZ DIMAANDAL, KEVIN DIOSSI, JOHN MCGAN
SIX TIMER!
The opening day of competition turned out to be a race against
the track surface. Bailey aborted a few runs before getting it together
late in the day. The twin-turbocharged Camaro blasted off to a 6.75
at 203 mph, allowing Bailey and Steve Morris to hit the road north to
Rockingham Dragway. Normally it is a short 60-mile drive, however,
HOT ROD officials designed a 175-mile route. Day two solidified
Bailey as the leader when he unleashed his best run of the week, a
6.54 at 215 mph, making it look easy compared to his opening salvo
of runs just 24 hours earlier.
The third day brought the traveling drag racing circuit to Thunder
Valley Dragway in Tennessee. The facility is one of the nicest tracks
on the NHRA pro tour, but Bailey couldn’t unleash everything he
has under the hood because of a broken wheelie bar. It wasn’t critical,
but they couldn’t get after it as hard as the car is capable of running.
The team collected a piece of paper that reads 6.77 at 200 mph and
hit the road.
Carolina Dragway, known by the locals as House of Hook, lived up
to its name for many of the racers, allowing them to run their quick-
est runs of the week. Bailey decided to make one run and move down
the road back to Darlington Dragway; his strategy was to minimize
wear and tear on the parts, and simply stay ahead of the competition,
namely Bryant Goldstone who was ranked second in the Overall
rankings. Sick Seconds 1.0 worked its way down-track effortlessly,
and the chutes blossomed early as the scoreboard showed 6.80 at just
182 mph. It moved Bailey’s four-day average to 6.7177, nearly solidi-
fying his leader position heading into the final day of competition.
SIX TIMER!
The sun rose on Darlington Dragway as Sick Seconds 1.0 sat silent
at the hotel, Bailey dreaming of his unprecedented sixth Overall
title that was within reach. He made just one run to put his stamp of
approval on his 2023 efforts. The first result was a 6.704, solidifying
his 6.7149 average and locking up his Unlimited and Overall titles.
It’s hard to believe the week is over, although sometimes it felt like
Groundhog’s Day with the race, drive, repeat nature of the event.
On the final day, back in Darlington, we imagine the drivers were
both exhausted and pumped up to try and improve their averages
along with their standings in the final results. In the end, Drag Week
claimed 48 racers which is right around the typical attrition rate of 20
percent for our event. Also, everyone who was holding a first-place
spot on Thursday kept their standing when the dust settled Friday.
UNLIMITED
❱Given that Bailey won the Overall event trophy it
shouldn’t be a shocker that he also won the Unlimited class.
After that hotel valve job they pulled off on day three, we
would say it’s a very deserved win for the team and their 1969
Camaro. His five-day average was a 6.7149 at 200.552 mph
beating second place by nearly a second.
ULTIMATE IRON
❱Bryant Goldstone ran great at Darlington with a best pass of 6.569, and while that was enough to win his class, it was a
bit short to catch Bailey. Our quick math figured that Goldstone would have had to run a 6.3X to catch Bailey, and that just
wasn’t going to happen. Still, Goldstone dominated his class all week, and we loved seeing that AMX run. His week average
was a 6.7433 at 212.672 mph. He just missed dethroning Bailey by 0.0284 seconds, which is pretty damn impressive!
PRO STREET POWER ADDER
❱Evan Uerkwitz crushed it in his class and his five-day average of
8.2524 at 167.330 mph was enough to beat second-place race
Alan Mougey, in his 1972 Z28 Camaro, by a couple of tenths.
PRO STEET N/A

❱Andrew Starr was rolling old school in a retro Pro
Street 1956 Chevy Bel Air and had been leading most
of the week. He stayed consistent, didn’t break, and
took home the top spot in his class with a five-day
average of 9.6393 at 141.002 mph.
MODIFIED
❱Devin Vanderhoof had been running great
all week and was one of only a handful of cars
to break into the 6s—and he pulled that off on
two of the tracks. This consistency paid off with a
five-day average of 7.0917 at 194.232 mph.
SUPER STEET BIG BLOCK POWER ADDER
❱Nearly half the cars in this class didn’t finish the week, but finishing, and staying consistent gave
Clyde Carlson, in his 1969 Chevy Nova, the win with a week-long average of 8.5968 at 154.760 mph!
SUPER STREET SMALL

BLOCK POWER ADDER
❱Ryan Hargett took the win here in his 2011 Ford Mustang
with a very fast five-day average of 7.2915 at 192.982 mph!
That’s an improvement over his average time on Thursday.
ALL MOTOR BIG BLOCK

❱Remember how we told you surviving Drag Week was half the battle?
Well, Michael Remines in his 1989 Ford Mustang was the only car to survive
the week in his class, but going by the times of the cars that dropped, he
would have won anyway with his five-day average of 8.6814 at 154.188 mph.
ALL MOTOR SMALL BLOCK
❱Nearly everyone in All Motor Small Block survived, and it was a quite a battle, but in the end Jason
Tabscott, in his 1970 Chevy Camaro, was able to hold onto the lead he enjoyed all week. He ended with
an average time of 8.7805 at 154.628 mph, which was nearly identical to his average on Thursday.
STREET RACE BIG

BLOCK POWER ADDER
❱Another racer who enjoyed a comfortable lead was
Randy Belehar in his 1968 Pontiac Firebird. He was the
only car in his class to break into the 8s and won with a
five-day average of 8.5897 at 157.440 mph.
STREET RACE
BIG BLOCK N/A
❱Curt Johnson in his 1991 Ford Mustang also enjoyed a
decent lead and was the only car in his class to be in the
8s as well. This gave him an easy win with an average of
8.7547 at 154.784 mph.
STREET RACE SMALL
BLOCK POWER ADDER
❱Dustin Trance, rolling in his 2005 Ford Mustang, had a hard fight on his hands but
managed to barely win his class with a five-day average of 8.5048 at 158.870 mph,
just enough to edge out Randy Seward, who finished with an 8.5177 and 160.644 average.
STREET RACE SMALL BLOCK N/A

❱Jeff Sias took the win with his maroon 1990 Ford Mustang. He was the
only car in his rather crowded class to get into the 9s, and his average of
9.7541 at 142.502 mph easily nabbed him the top spot.
GASSER A/GAS
❱We imagine the Gasser classes must be tough since
these aren’t the easiest cars to long-haul hundreds of
miles in. Only two cars finished this class and the win
went to Wayne Baker in his 1963 Nova with an average of
9.0550 at 147.078 mph. His best run of the week was a
dip into the 8s with an 8.973 pass.
WATCH FREE CAR SHOWS 24/7
WATCH NOW
GASSER B/GAS
❱Showing that Gassers
can be reliable, only one car in
this class failed to finish the week.
Jamie Jarvis, in his 1955 Chevy 210,
snuck into the 9s on day one but
it was 10s for the rest of the week.
Still, the fast first day helped him
snatch the win with an average of
10.0047 at 134.784 mph.
HOT ROD CLASS

❱Mark Fisher, in his super-cool
1932 Ford pickup truck claimed his
class win with a five-day average
of 9.1497 at 146.694 mph! The only
competitor in his class to
visit the 9s.
STREET MACHINE ELIMINATOR

❱This is the biggest class at Drag Week, and winning it is no small feat. Claiming the top spot was
Mike Rymarz in his orange 2011 Ford Shelby GT500 with a five-day average of 10.0303 at 135.888 mph.
Second place was Michael Kalbfeld in his 1966 Chevelle who was right on his heels with an average of V Find all Drag Week
10.0964 at 137.748 mph. And that’s what they call close racing. class results here:
DEFENSE
THAT
DELIVERS
TOM BAILEY’S MIDNIGHT VALVE

JOB IN A HOTEL PARKING LOT
❱When leaving the checkpoint on day three, Tom Bailey said he heard some very alarming noises
emanating from the engine compartment of his Camaro. Fortunately, his copilot, Steve Morris, is also his
engine builder. The two pulled over immediately and began investigating. Steve quickly narrowed the
problem down to a valvetrain issue on the driver’s side of the engine.
Knowing they wouldn’t be able to accomplish much there at the checkpoint, Steve and Tom removed
the rocker arms and pushrods from the left cylinder head and continued the drive to the hotel for the
evening. Along the way, they put out the call for some assistance, and NHRA Pro Mod driver Stevie
Jackson heeded that call, delivering a valvespring compressor and a few other tools Steve needed to
repair what he suspected was the problem.
“The valves are stuck in the guides. That’s hap-
pened before on this side of the engine,” Steve
said. Drag Week rules only allow the driver and
co-driver to work on a car in competition, so upon
arrival at their hotel for the night, Steve and Tom
got to work removing the cylinder head.
Fortunately, Tom built the car to be serviced
easily, so the duo had the intake manifold off in
just a few minutes. Steve’s suspicions were con-
firmed when he removed the head and saw two
exhaust valves hanging slightly open.
All the exhaust valves proved to be difficult
to remove and required some persuasion from
a hammer. With the valves out, Steve reamed
the guides to open the clearance slightly, which
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HOW TO MAKE A MILK TRUCK DO A WHEELIE
❱DIVCO stands for Detroit Industrial Vehicle Company. The company It was just fine-tuning. “That wheelie was a difference of one degree of
was founded in 1926 and built delivery trucks until 1986. Along the way, the timing, from a half-second into the run to a second-and-a-half, then we took
company went through a couple of mergers, culminating in a partnership with it back out, just to get it so we had some power out there. That made a world
Wayne Works, best known for manufacturing school buses. This DIVCO, of Drag of difference. Last year on Drag Week we were sneaking up on a tune. We were
Week fame, is a 1963 model owned by Nick Cryer. Our intrepid photographer really close, then when it got rained out in St. Louis, we were at this tune but
Wes Allison caught it doing a wheelie during its first year in Drag Week in 2021, didn’t get to run. We’ve been playing with it this summer and got into the 10’s,
and it instantly became one of the most talked-about cars of the event. Nick so we hit that goal, then we focused back on doing a wheelie again,” said Nick.
brought the DIVCO to Drag Week last year, but it barely lifted the front wheels It’s amazing what one degree of timing will do.
as they struggled to launch off the starting line. They got things dialed in this Setting the DIVCO up to do a wheelie is now part of their program because Nick
year, however, because Nick put the DIVCO on the bumper in his first pass on wants to give the people a show. Plus, there’s no downside to setting the DIVCO
the first day of Drag Week. Wes Allison caught the sequence again, and we up to do a wheelie. “Nobody’s looking at this thing past 100 feet out. Nobody
headed to the pits to ask Nick what had changed. cares what it runs on the top end as long as it puts it up in the air,” he said.
Yet, with his tuning refinements, the DIVCO has gone quicker and quicker,
running a best pass of 10.46 at Rockingham Dragway on day two of Drag Week
2023. Now, Nick has to balance the tune-up that makes it wheelie but without
going too fast; his rollcage is certified to 10.5-second e.t.s.
Powering the DIVCO is a new-for-this-year 565-inch big-block Chevy that’s
force-fed by a pair of eBay turbochargers. The transmission is a TH400 three-
speed automatic, and a Ford 9-inch with 3:73:1 gears is out back. They are
running Holley’s Sniper EFI system, and Nick says the car is easy to drive. The
only issue they are facing is keeping the transmission fluid temperatures down.
Switching to a looser torque converter puts more heat into the fluid, and Nick is
running three transmission coolers, one of which runs through an ice chest.
The DIVCO weighs 4,500 pounds, which is less than many new Challengers
and Chargers. The suspension is pretty basic. The front end is comprised of ’95
Chevy pickup A-arms and a pair of drop spindles. The rear suspension is a ladder
bar with air springs. We asked Nick if he pays attention to instant center and
other suspension geometry. “Nope, I’m a carpenter by trade. I built this car with
DeWalt lasers and a tape measure,” he replied. He does adjust the pressure in
the rear airbags to find the right amount of rear suspension compression to do a
wheelie but not bottom out. Check out the entire wheelie sequence. It’s great to
watch a vehicle like this do such big wheelies. Because it’s such an odd applica-
tion, Nick runs the DIVCO in our Street Machine Eliminator class.
DRAG WEEK 200 MPH
CLUB’S CLASS OF 2023
❱Drag Week changed in 2009 when Larry Larson scored
the first 200-mph run in the event’s history and became
the founding member of the HOT ROD 200 MPH Club. This
year we added two more names to the list, bringing the
total to 14. This year’s class features two small-tire racers,
veteran Drag Week racer Clark Rosenstengel, and the power-
house duo of Kevin Vanderhoof (car owner) and Josh Davis
(driver).
Obviously, entry into this exclusive club requires a run over
200 mph, but it must be accomplished after day one and
the vehicle has to complete Drag Week. It sounds simple,
however, of the thousands of participants over the last 19
events, only 14 have accomplished this task.
Clark Rosenstengel has run an assortment of cars on Drag
Week over the years, but none is more well-known than his
2010 Camaro SS. Rosenstengel began the week with a stel-
lar 7.29 at 203 mph at the first stop at Darlington Dragway,
immediately sending the signal that he was chasing the
200 MPH Club. It was his performance on the second day at
Rockingham Dragway that solidified his qualification for the
prestigious club when the Camaro unleashed a 205-mph
run. Rosenstengel struggled with traction the rest of the
week, finishing with a 7.8993 average, but locked himself
into the HOT ROD 200 MPH Club and a third-place finish in
the Modified category.
His engine is an all-billet LS from Steve Morris Engines.
It is dubbed the SML, a play on the company’s SMX big-
block version. To our knowledge, Rosenstengel is the only
competitor on the drag-and-drive scene to run this unique
powerplant. If we had a crystal ball, we’d bet he won’t be
the last to run one either. The engine produces around 3,000
hp when a pair of turbochargers are fastened to it.
Devin Vanderhoof rolled an innocent-looking white Fox-
body Mustang convertible out of a trailer for Tech Day at this
year’s HOT ROD Drag Week. It only looked unusually fast
because of two parachutes that were bolted to the backside
of the ponycar, affectionately nicknamed “Big Ern.” Devin
then dropped the ragtop and popped the hood, revealing
that there is much more to this car than its initial impression.
The SFI 25.3 rollcage speaks to its capabilities and the single
turbocharged 540-inch big-block Chevy ensures it gets to
the finish line in a hurry.
Josh Davis handled the driving chores on Drag Week while Vanderhoof tition: a 6.87 at Carolina Dragway and a 6.83 at Darlington Dragway on the
performed the co-driver and crew-chief duties. The pair of hot-rodders took final day. Davis completed the week with a stellar 7.09 average, a new record
it easy on the opening day of competition and officially scored their 200 in the Modified category, and finished third in the Overall rankings.
MPH Club pass on the second day at Rockingham Dragway. They eased Rosenstengel and Vanderhoof/Davis joined 12 others in the HOT ROD 200
the true 10.5 tires off the starting line and unleashed the fury of the 118mm MPH Club—Larry Larson, Jeff Lutz, Tom Bailey, Dave Ahokas, Doug Cline, Joe
turbocharger when they hit high gear, running a stout 7.07 at 201 mph. The Barry, Bryant Goldstone, David Schroeder, Stefan Gustafsson, Mikael Borggren,
team snatched a couple of 6-second timeslips during the weeklong compe- Michael Westberg, and Alex Taylor.
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

❱We sincerely wish to thank Rick Love and Gear Vendors Overdrive for
their unwavering support and sponsorship since the very beginning of the
event. We could not put on the show without you. Thanks also go to all the
racers and fans who attended. You’re the reason why we are here. We hope
you will return for years to come. Thank you to David Freiburger and Brian
Lohnes for their hilarious banter on the PA all week, too.
Special acknowledgement goes to Spirit of Drag Week winner Paul Powell.
This was the first time we presented the Spirit award to a passenger. Paul was
recognized by many of his fellow competitors for the extra help and support
he offered to several other racers in the field. Most notably, he helped rebuild
a competitor’s transmission. Thank you very much, Paul, for demonstrating
the comradery that makes Drag Week such a special competition.
Built to long-haul the 2023 HOT ROD
Power Tour, this 1984 Monte Carlo’s
facade hides a performance secret!
H
ot-rodders aren’t bound by phrases like “you can’t do that” or “that doesn’t
seem possible.” They are creative, and this creativity leads to some very
cool builds. Maybe you really dig the supercar-like performance of a 2023
ZL1 Camaro, but you want that in the style of something retro like an ’80s
Monte Carlo. Well, many gearheads would opt to do an LT swap and call it
a day, but there’s a lot more to a modern muscle car like the ZL1 Camaro than just its super-
charged LT4 drivetrain and 10-speed automatic transmission. If you have a whole salvaged
ZL1 Camaro to pillage, you might start thinking that it’s a shame to yank the drivetrain and
throw away all that ZL1 technological goodness. This is when good ideas turn into great
ideas if you’re willing to take a chance and roll those automotive dice.
Anthony Robertson owns West Side into roadblocks such as the brakes, rear-
Custom and Collision and came across a end, suspension, power steering, and so
wrecked 2023 ZL1 Camaro for a smokin’ on. “At some point we decided the quick-
deal. He thought it would be a great drive- est way to make this work would be to
train donor for a 1984 Monte Carlo SS combine the two cars and leave everything
project he was working on with his son mechanically and electronically intact on
Dylan. The more Anthony stared at the the Camaro. We started the project on
salvaged Camaro, the more he hated to February 16, 2023 and the HRPT’s first
throw so much of it away after the swap. day in Atlanta was June 12, so that only
His ’84 Monte Carlo wasn’t just any gave us four months to make it happen,”
39-year-old car either. As Dylan told HOT recalled Dylan.
ROD, “Dad bought the Monte Carlo when The idea was to slip the skin of the
he was in 10th grade, in 1987. It was his Monte Carlo over as much of the Camaro’s
first car as well as the car he took on his chassis as possible. Of course, the modern
honeymoon, but it had been sitting for the 2023 Camaro had almost nothing struc-
last 20-plus years.” They wanted to build turally in common with the vintage 1984
it out for the 2023 Hot Rod Power Tour Chevy. Once the guts of the Monte Carlo
(HRPT), but the more the pair thought were removed, the team, assisted by lead
about it the more they wanted to do some- mechanic and fabricator Chris Camp,
thing completely different. braced what was left of the G-body so it
The other problem with swapping the wouldn’t twist into a pretzel during the
’23 ZL1 drivetrain into the ’84 was that, at body swap. And, if you’re curious, the car is
the time, nobody made a wiring harness titled as a 1984 Monte Carlo. Now this is a
for a 2023 model and they kept running hybrid we can firmly get behind!
STEVEN RUPP THE AUTHOR & DYLAN ROBERTSON
01 02
03
04
05
WILD MASH-UP 06
01 To get the vintage body on the modern chassis, the team had
to lower the body in place, make a change, then repeat the
process over and over. The best tool for getting this done turned
a few months away, and the build team still had a ton of work left
to do if they were going to long-haul the event. Also, since they
retained the factory Monte Carlo glass and roof, the car doesn’t
out to be a backhoe. Go figure. have that funky look often seen when people try to make new cars
look vintage.
02 As changes were made, the Monte Carlo’s body fit better and

better onto the Camaro’s chassis. If this looks like a lot of
work, it was. Nobody ever said hot-rodding was easy. 05 As luck would have it, the wheelbase of the two cars was
nearly spot-on, which meant the wheel openings of the
Monte Carlo lined up with the massive 20-inch wheels of the ZL1
03 The whole project is the automotive poster child for “Don’t

judge a book by its cover,” since the goal is for it to look like a
1984 Monte Carlo SS but have every performance and technology
Camaro. The team was then able to fabricate the necessary brack-
ets to attach the fenders to the 2023 chassis.
aspect of the modern Camaro.

06 The front of the Camaro required quite a bit of work to
accommodate the nose structure of the Monte Carlo. Some
04 After more than a few stabs, the Monte Carlo’s body was
grafted to the Camaro chassis. HOT ROD Power Tour was just
creative trimming and a few fabricated brackets allowed the team
to graft the nose support from the Monte Carlo to the Camaro.
08
07
09
10
11
12
13
07 For added chassis rigidity, Camp fabricated a brace that

would clear the LT4’s supercharger and make up for some of
the Camaro’s removed materials.
slightly longer wheelbase of the Camaro was pushing the front tire
a bit forward in the fender opening. The other issue was that the
Monte Carlo was narrower than the Camaro, and the newer car’s
massive factory rollers were sticking out past the fender lips.
08 Turns out the hardest part of the swap was the doors, which
are 2023 Camaro doors wearing the 1984 Monte Carlo’s
skins. Remember, their goal was for every aspect of the ZL1 11 The way to solve both of those problems turned out to be
fender flares. With careful fabrication, the front wheel arch
Camaro to be present on the final product, including items such as could be moved forward a touch and the flares could “widebody”
the side-curtain airbags. the Monte Carlo to encapsulate the massive tires of the ZL1.
09 Lots of welding, trimming, cutting, and fabrication had to

happen before the hybrid doors would close properly and
look right from the inside.
12 With the cardboard templates made, metal was cut, worked
over, and tack-welded in place.
10 At this point, the 1984 Monte Carlo SS was looking like, well,
a 1984 Monte Carlo SS. Look closely and you can spy that the
13 The exterior door-handle areas of the Camaro were grafted onto
the door skins from the Monte Carlo. And yes, the auto-unlock
feature works when you are in proximity with the key fob.
14
16
15
17
18
19
WILD MASH-UP
14 Installing the Camaro interior in the Monte Carlo wasn’t as
bad as you might think. It only required minor trimming and
massaging of the dash. All the features work—even the HUD,
sons. Yes, that is the Camaro’s rear backup camera poking out of
the bumper, as well as the rear parking sensors.
which they thought would require the Camaro’s windshield. It

still works with the old Chevy glass. 18 The wiring was straightforward except for the head-
lights and taillights. As Dylan explained, “There are so
many modules that need to be in place to make the various
15 The power windows, power seats, electric parking brake, XM

radio, blind-spot detection sensors, lane assist, and all the
airbags work. As far as the ECU and all the various body modules
computers happy that the lights just fought us. We ended
up removing the light modules and making a custom har-
ness so we could use the original Monte Carlo headlights
are concerned, this is a 2023 ZL1 Camaro. and taillights.”
16 One of the keys to making it all work is keeping all the vari-
ous systems in the same location as they were in the Camaro.
That meant the battery and all the control modules were kept
19 From across a parking lot, it looks like a 39-year-old,
slightly worn-out Monte Carlo SS wearing some 20-inch
Camaro wheels. No matter what you call it, we think it’s com-
in the trunk. You can also see one of the widened rear wheeltubs pletely badass! And yes, it did make it to the 2023 HOT ROD
that were installed to house the ZL1’s massive rear tires. Power Tour. The father and son duo long-hauled it the whole
route! The guys thought about bodyworking the Monte and
17 The Camaro’s active exhaust was also reused, but the four
tips were centered at the back of the car for packaging rea-
repainting it, but to be honest it gets more attention with the
patina and Frankenstein weld stitches.
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Coby Gewertz - 1934 Ford coupe Danny Shaffer - 1974 Mustang

2023 Goodguys “Hot Rod of the Year” 2023 Goodguys “Street Machine of the Year”
hen you’re a teenager and the police know you by
name, it’s not usually because of your volunteer
work or class-topping GPA. Not at all. That was
especially true for Jeff Kainz when he was behind
the wheel of his 1975 Camaro. In the ’80s, while
cruising his hometown in North Dakota, his bud-
dies with police scanners often heard the police tell
one another: “Kainz is out on Main Street.”
The supercharged LSA and

new suspension completely
transformed this 1975 Camaro.
“Yeah, I did some dumb things,” says an older and supposedly
wiser Jeff. “I was on a first-name basis with all the cops in town, but I
like to think I’ve matured.”
By all appearances he has. Jeff went to college and found work as
an automotive engineer, relocating to the Detroit area to take a job
with Ford. He has also worked for General Motors and one of the
larger OEM suppliers in the area. This was a big change from those
rebellious days when he’d drive the Camaro onto frozen lakes, but
one thing that hasn’t changed in more than 40 years is his owner-
ship of the car. It has undergone countless changes—and, by Jeff’s
estimate, around 10 engine swaps—but the keys have never left his
pocket since he bought the Camaro in 1982 at age 15.
Even that event was tinged with rebellion. “My mother insisted I
couldn’t buy a car with a V8 engine,” says Jeff. “I didn’t. The Camaro
had a six-cylinder, so I kept my promise. But two weeks later, I
pulled a small-block out of the junkyard and swapped the engine.”
Not surprisingly, Mom wasn’t
thrilled. “That was a long time
ago,” says Jeff. “She got past it
and saw that things worked
out just fine.” Through the
’80s and ’90s, different
engines came and went, and
so did popular automotive
styling trends. “The car had
it all during those days,”
says Jeff. “I had the louvers
on the rear window for a
while and a snorkel scoop pro-touring-type street machine, so the
on the hood—all the Camaro began another transformation. With
popular stuff.” input from friends and colleagues, he began to
Along with raising hell on Main sketch out the concept which would meld vin-
Street, Jeff also dabbled on the dragstrip, and that became the tage second-gen F-body cues with elements from
primary focus of the car by the early 2000s. By then, the car was modern vehicles such as the C7 Corvette.
teal green with blacked-out trim, Z28 graphics, and a tall-cowl “I wanted to tighten the look of the car—trim down those big
hood. The car was quick, powered by an authentic NASCAR bumpers and use a short rear spoiler like the early second-gen cars,”
small-block with 18-degree heads. He upped the compression says Jeff. “I had my friend Keith Confer help visualize this in some
ratio to a stout 14.5:1 and ripped up the quarter-mile in the mid- sketches that really helped guide the project.” Tackling virtually
9s for a few years. Then, around 2010, Jeff ’s interests changed. He’d every detail of the build himself, Jeff sectioned the front bumper and
become less focused on racing and more interested in a healthy essentially cut it down by half, taking it down to 3 inches in height.
//////////////////////////////////
He also pulled it closer to the body, which certainly improved the the new lower section that then matched the upper grille.” Below the
car’s profile, but a large gap was left below the bumper. To fill it, Jeff valance and grille is a hand-built, three-piece front spoiler. It all looks
fabricated an all-new valance that incorporated the lower grille exceptionally well integrated. The same goes for the rest of the car’s
from a 1970-73 Camaro, along with lights that mimic the turn external modifications, from the C7 Corvette vents incorporated in
signals on those models. In fact, two lower grilles were cut and the cowl-induction hood and Mustang S550-generation (2015-18)
spliced together to create a single piece that matched the eggcrate rearview mirrors, to the C7 door handles and central exhaust outlet
pattern of the upper grille. in the fabricated rear valance.
“There aren’t as many ‘columns’ in the 1970-73 grille, so it wouldn’t “I tried to stick with Chevy parts and tried 5th gen Camaro and
have looked cohesive with the 1975 upper grille,” says Jeff. “So I cut C7 Corvette mirrors, but they just didn’t look right on the car,” says
the first two vertical rows from both sides of the second lower grille
and married them to the first one. I essentially glued all the sections
together, sanded it all down for a smooth appearance, and painted BARRY KLUCZYK
//////////////////////////////////
A RADICAL SHIFT
Jeff. “The S550 mirrors did, and they also had added functions built-
in, such as turn signals and heated mirrors. They really look good
with the lines of the car.”
There are more custom touches, both visible and hidden. The huge
side-marker lights on the front fenders, for example, were replaced
with slim LED lights, while the floor pans in the rear-seat area were
raised to make room for the mufflers. Rather than nailing together
a few pieces of plywood to form speaker boxes, Jeff crafted them out
of steel. The fabricated engine compartment braces are works of art,
too. The only thing Jeff didn’t do himself on the exterior was spray
the Glasurit Octane Red paint. Inside the Camaro, he didn’t stitch
the leather upholstery himself either, but from the custom fiberglass-
backed door panels to the sheetmetal center console, the rest of the
fabrication work was him. In addition, the cockpit is dressed with
C5 Corvette seats and a Corvette shifter, as well as a Flaming River
steering column with a Momo steering wheel, Dakota Digital gauges, It’s obvious from looking at the pictures that the Camaro under-
Corvette power-window switches, and a switch panel for the lights went another engine swap. This time, it received a supercharged
that was lifted from an S550 Mustang. We also like the well-integrated LSA engine backed by a Tremec T56 Magnum six-speed manual
audio system featuring a Pioneer head unit that incorporates a 7-inch transmission. A BTR camshaft and a Lingenfelter Performance
display and loads of supporting Alpine amps, subs, and speakers. underdrive pulley kit, along with a few other tweaks, help push the
engine’s estimated output beyond 800 horses. Fuel is delivered via
the twin-pump module for a Cadillac CTS-V, which is mounted in a
custom fuel tank from Rock Valley Antique Auto.
“The horsepower is amazing,” says Jeff. “With about 20 pounds
of boost, power comes on right now. It’s the most power this car has
ever had, and it will light up those big 335 rear tires at 60 mph.”
All that force-inducted power is channeled to a 9-inch rear axle
that’s fitted with an Eaton Detroit TrueTrac limited-slip diff and
3.70:1 gears. The centersection is mounted in a Chris Alston Chassis
Works housing, which is located with a Detroit Speed QUADRA-
Link rear suspension and JRI adjustable coilovers. Up front, Jeff
relied on Detroit Speed for the hydroformed subframe, which not
only provided a stronger resting place for the LSA powertrain but
incorporated a coilover front suspension and rack-and-pinion steer-
ing system. Gargantuan Wilwood discs are located at each corner,
with the fronts sporting six-piston calipers and the rears sporting
four pistons per caliper. Where the rubber meets the road, Jeff went
with Michelin Pilot Sports measuring 275/35ZR18 in front and
335/30ZR20 in the rear. They’re mounted on Hot Rods by Boyd
aluminum wheels, sized 18x10 in front and 20x12 in the rear.
“The car’s handling and road manners are stunning,” says Jeff.
“It’s amazing what the modern technologies can do for a car that
was never offered with more than 155 horsepower in 1975.” That
was a long time ago, and so were Jeff Kainz’s more rebellious expe-
riences with the Camaro during the ’80s. The snorkel scoop and
rear-window louvers are gone, and as far as we know today, the local
cops in his suburban Detroit hometown don’t jump on the radio and
warn one another when he’s on the road, though with more than 800
horses on tap, Jeff has undoubtedly left a few 335-series signatures
through an intersection or two. Rebellious personalities die hard.
Following a nearly flawless
performance, a pit lane
penalty kept the C8.R off
the top of the podium in the
IMSA Sportscar Weekend.
RICHARD PRINCE
he Corvette Racing team has a long and storied history

at Road America, the beautiful Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin,
circuit, including eight class wins in the modern factory
program era. However, a complete repaving of the track’s
surface following the 2022 season meant much of the data
accumulated there would be of limited use going forward.
In past years, Road America’s pavement was especially
rough, which offered high grip in areas but led to very
high tire wear resulting in traction loss over the duration of a typical
racing stint. As expected, the new pavement is smoother, leading to
more consistent tire wear, but also yielding lower grip in places.
With a fourth-place finish at Lime Rock Park on July 22, team
drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor moved up to second
place in the 2023 IMSA GTD Pro class. To close the gap, Corvette
Racing had to at least finish ahead of the No. 14 Lexus, and of
course the best way to do that is to win, which was the team’s goal
at the Aug. 6 Road America race.
Corvette Racing
earns its first top-
place finish of the
2023 season.
SO CLOSE
Following extensive computer simulations run prior to arriving
at the track, the C8.R performed well in practice, allowing the team
to focus on fine-tuning its setup. The two 1.5-hour practice sessions
also allowed Garcia and Taylor to get accustomed to the new track
surface, which offered good grip on the racing line but surprisingly
poor grip off-line.
In Saturday’s qualifying session, Taylor set a best lap of 2:03.143
(118.34 mph), which put the C8.R third in class. “It’ll be tricky to
race,” observed Jordan after qualifying. “Off-line around here is
very slippery. Track position is very important and being somewhat
defensive when guys are making moves is going to be tricky. There
will be a lot of mistakes tomorrow because of that.”
With lap times extremely close in the GTD Pro field, which also
includes teams from Aston Martin, Lexus, Mercedes, and Porsche,
avoiding mistakes, outperforming the opposing crews on pit lane,
and outstrategizing the competition are all key to success. In his
first stint, Taylor drove flawlessly and took full advantage of an early,
minor misstep made by the Mercedes driver who started the race in
second. The pass put Corvette into second position, and 40 minutes
later, Taylor moved into first when the leading Aston pitted early as
part of their strategy to get out of sync with the others.
At the 51-minute mark, Taylor brought the C8.R in for new tires,
a full fuel fill, and a driver change. Since Corvette was the last of the
front-runners to make the first pit stop, Garcia emerged on track
with more fuel than his competitors. The team’s plan was for him to
drive as hard as he could to stay at or near the front of the GTD Pro
pack, then benefit from their fuel advantage during the second and
final pit stop. Because the C8.R was going to pit with a little bit more
fuel than the competitors or go a few more laps than they would
nearing the end, it would take less time on pit lane to put in the
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amount of fuel needed to finish the race. The seconds saved by “short
fueling” on pit lane would translate into better track position, putting
Corvette in strong contention for a win.
The strategy paid off, and with 52 minutes remaining, Garcia got
out onto the track inches ahead of the previously leading Aston after
the second pit stop. The two raced side-by-side and nose-to-tail for
most of a lap before Garcia was able to pull slightly ahead. With the
cars very closely matched on speed, and track position so critical
given the good grip on the race line and poor grip off-line, it looked
like Corvette was going to secure a victory.
The plan unraveled, however, with 24 minutes left in the race,
when Corvette was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for not
meeting the minimum refueling time required by IMSA on that
final pit stop. The team believed they were within the fuel-fill tim-
ing requirements, but IMSA thought otherwise, and the penalty
stood. This relegated Corvette to third place when the checkered
flag came out.
Aston Martin’s win at Road America didn’t impact the champion-
ship chase for Corvette because the Aston is last among GTD Pro
competitors. Corvette’s third-place finish in the race was ahead of
the Mercedes team that’s third in the championship rankings, so
Corvette extended its lead over them in the championship points by
a little bit. However, the championship-leading Lexus team finished
second at Road America, so they extended their gap over Corvette
slightly. This makes it more difficult for Corvette to get ahead of the
Lexus in the championship standings, but with three races remain-
ing, the 2023 GTD Pro driver, team, and manufacturer champion-
ship titles are still very much up for grabs.
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THE
TRIBUTE
FOR THE WIN
Ron Capps wins the NHRA U.S. Nationals driving a
Don Prudhomme-Hot Wheels tribute Funny Car.
MICHAEL GALIMI THE AUTHOR & NHRA
T here are a lot of records and milestones in recorded drag racing history, and
one that sticks out is an impressive run by a hotshot Top Fuel driver in the
early 1960s. Don Prudhomme, a kid from Southern California, captured a stel-
lar 81 round wins and just 8 round losses from June 1962 through May 1963. He
was the driver of the Greer-Black-Prudhomme Top Fuel dragster and the team
wreaked havoc at dragstrips up and down California with one side trip to Texas.
THE TRIBUTE FOR THE WIN
Despite his success with dragsters, Prudhomme would add a
Funny Car to his successful racing operation by the end of the ’60s
and create one of the most iconic pairings in drag racing history with
the Mattel Hot Wheels “Snake and Mongoose” legacy.
On the advice of longtime friend Tom McEwen, the two teamed
up in 1970 and built a pair of Funny Cars as part of a sponsorship
program with Mattel Hot Wheels. Prudhomme became known as
“The Snake” while McEwen assumed the role of “The Mongoose.”
The famed rivalry and toy product lines that followed cemented the
duo’s prominent position in the history of the sport. It was a monu-
mental sponsorship opportunity, showing that drag racing could
attract companies outside of the performance aftermarket industry.
Prudhomme went on to earn four NHRA championships over his
35-year driving career, becoming a full-time team owner in 1994 and
seeing two more NHRA titles with Larry Dixon as his driver in the
Top Fuel eliminator.
It is Prudhomme’s performance at the 1973 NHRA US Nationals
that is perhaps the most pivotal moment in his Funny Car career.
He had been winless in NHRA competition with the flopper despite
spending a considerable amount of time and energy in the category.
That dry spell was snapped in 1973 during the biggest and most
prestigious event of year, the NHRA U.S. Nationals held at India-
napolis Raceway Park. Prudhomme drove his Plymouth Barracuda
Funny Car into the winner’s circle, beating Ed “The Ace” McCulloch
in the finals. Prudhomme not only beat the defending event cham- The vehicle was revealed in a special press conference on Friday of
pion, but he also qualified number one, set the national record at Labor Day weekend, which was followed by Prudhomme slipping
6.35, and ran the quickest pass in Funny Car history with a 6.27. behind the wheel and warming up the 11,000hp supercharged Hemi.
Fifty years later, Ron Capps, defending NHRA Funny Car cham- The exceptional design and matching crew uniforms earned them
pion and former driver under Prudhomme, announced a unique Best Appearing Car and Best Appearing Crew awards.
design on his NAPA-sponsored Funny Car for the 69th annual The winning continued on track as Capps finished runner-up in
NHRA U.S. Nationals. His championship-winning Toyota GR Supra the special Mission-sponsored #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. That feat
body would carry a Prudhomme-inspired look, mimicking The earned him a total of 14 bonus points over the season series and
Snake’s 1973 U.S. Nationals entry to celebrate the 50th anniversary of garnered him recognition as being the Funny Car driver who gath-
the event win. ered the most points at the challenges that started in Phoenix and
in the 1,000-foot contest. The semifinal round against Robert Hight
was much better, as Capps unleashed a 4.029 to advance into the
final round.
The finals pitted Capps against J.R. Todd in the DHL-sponsored
Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, a formidable opponent who strung
together three consistent runs during eliminations. Todd ran 3.913,
3.974, and 4.007, using a mix of lightning-quick reaction times and
big speed at the other end to earn a spot in the U.S. Nationals finale.
It was all Capps in the finals from the start, with a .032 light to Todd’s
.057, and he stayed in front all the way to the other end of the track
with a 3.986 finish to his opponent’s 4.131. Capps would complete
the mission—win the U.S. Nationals while flying the iconic look of
The Snake’s most notable Funny Car.
wrapped up in Indy. The small battle was special, but the team kept
their eye on the big prize—winning on Monday.
The road to the finals is a long one at Indy, with extra qualifying
runs requiring both mental fortitude and a deep parts bin in the
trailer. The team ranked fifth after five rounds of qualifying thanks
to a 3.917 at 328 mph performance. Capps’ journey to victory lane
began with Dale Creasy Jr., who he eliminated with a stellar 3.894
at 326 mph. A quarterfinal encounter with Matt Hagan ended with
Capps moving on thanks to a slip-and-slide battle that lasted 4.58
seconds for him, while Hagan muscled his way through with a 5.14
WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM
STEVEN RUPP MARK MCDONALD &THE AUTHOR
❱Hot-rodding is a game of trying to figure out how to get from idea A to result
B. Having a vision of what you want is the easy part; figuring out how to make
it happen is the challenge—but it’s also the biggest reward when you pull it off. We check out the fab skills
Mark McDonald runs a fab shop called GforceFab and his mission in life is to turn
ideas into reality. needed to run a flat hood on
Right now, he’s working over a 1970 Mustang Fastback for customer Eric Vibe. Vibe
wants his ’Stang to have a Boss 429 look, and part of that is fitting the engine under
a flat factory hood. To complicate things, the engine is a 9.5-inch deck 351 Windsor
a 1970 Mustang with a very
punched out to 427 inches and running heads from Greg Brown over at Hammerhead
Performance Engines, who is also going to build the final engine. He makes insane
unique and too-tall engine.
hemi-style heads for a variety of engines, from LS mills to this Ford small-block.
The engine, with its tall Edelbrock Super Victor intake and billet EFI throttle
body, wasn’t going to squeeze under the hood, and changing from the flat hood
wasn’t an option. That left only a few choices on the table: go with an expensive
sheetmetal intake that wouldn’t have the right look, or go to town on the stock
Edelbrock intake and lop off some height. As McDonald told us, “I wanted to use a
unique engine in this build, and what better than a Hemi-headed small-block Ford
that looks like a Boss 429 under a stock flat hood? The Hammerhead Hemi heads
do have a downside in that they raise the intake
1.5 inches, and I’m going EFI, so without making a full
over-the-top sheetmetal intake I felt it would be easier to
Sources
Edelbrock;
modify an existing intake.” 888.799.1135;
McDonald is always up for a fabrication challenge, so edelbrock.com
he fired up the Bridgeport, loaded the spool gun on his Miller Electric;
trusty Miller 210 welder, and got busy doing what hot- 920.734.9821;
millerwelds.com
rodders do.
01
01 The starting point for this

endeavor was an Edelbrock
Super Victor EFI single-plane
intake (PN 29245) for a
small-block 351W Ford.
02 McDonald needed to
knock the intake down
around 1.75 inches for it to
clear the hood, so the first
step was to scribe a plan of
attack on the stock intake.
03 First up was a trip to

McDonald’s vintage Bridge-
port mill (it will outlive all of
02 us), where he attacked the
intake around the perimeter
04
03 of the carb flange with a
0.50-inch end mill. 05
04 An air saw was used to
cut through some of the
material under the flange
that the mill couldn’t reach.
Once done, the flange could
be removed from the rest of
the intake.
05 The flange went back

to the Bridgeport where
McDonald milled half an inch
off the top and flattened the
bottom cuts another quarter
of an inch.
06
06 The intake then took a 09 This is a big welding
ride on the Bridgeport, where job, so McDonald rolled
it was milled flat in the cut out his Miller Syncrowave
areas so the modded flange 210 welder and Miller’s
would be flat and square super-cool wireless pedal
to the inside of the intake. controller. He used a 2%
This dropped the flange an ceriated 3⁄32-inch tungsten,
additional inch for a total which has a lower burn rate
overall drop of 1.75 inches. and is better suited for high-
Obviously, this is a measure amperage use. This means it
twice, cut once situation. can handle higher amps and
maintain a stable arc for a
07 Here’s a better view of longer time when working
how much the flange surface with thicker materials.
was lowered. McDonald was
careful to keep the angles of 10 Backing up the Syncro-
the flange surface correct. wave 210 is a Miller Coolmate
3 cooler. There’s just no way
07 08 08 As McDonald explained, you would be able to do this
“While the top was off the level of welding without it. In
intake, Chuck Lawrence of short, the Coolmate extends
Lawrence Engine and Ma- the duty cycle of a welder.
chine instructed me to mill McDonald explained that it
out as much material as prevents heat soaking and
possible from the beginning amperage loss and makes
of the runners to help get a huge difference in AC and
back some of the plenum heavy-duty DC welding since
volume. He said this will help he’s better able to control
with the pulse signal inside the weld puddle. Without
the intake. I then blended the Coolmate the torch
these milled areas with a would get so hot that the
carbide burr and positioned argon wouldn’t be able to
the carb flange back to the properly shield.
center of the intake before
tack welding it. Before
starting to weld things up
I ground the port opening
to match and added some
valleys for filler weld.”
09 10
11 12
13 14
11 To gain welding access to the there won’t be any cavities in the 14 “Once the carb flange was different shapes and lengths of
inside of the intake ports McDonald welds. This was followed by more welded, I took the pieces I cut off the carbide burrs.
had to remove the tops of the ports. blending with a carbide burr to ensure tops of the outer runners and cut
He explained, “After all that was in all the areas were solidly welded. them down so they were 0.250-inch 15 After everything on the exterior
order, I welded the gaps on the center below the carb surface. The edges was blended McDonald used a worn-
ports with 5356 aluminum filler rod. I 13 Next were the outside runners. were then ground so weld filler out long fine-cut carbide to give the
prefer this filler because it grinds and More grinding with the carbide would penetrate to the inside and surface a cast look; it doesn’t cut well
features well when metal finishing.” burr for welded material and the make the port walls solid,” recalled but more or less bounces around on
same procedure as before; weld McDonald. Now the fun part! Tons of the surface making small craters.
12 McDonald built up the weld from low to build up high with several grinding with an angle grinder with
low to high so that when it’s ground layers of weld. a 3-inch, 80-grit disc and several
15
16 Finally, everything was 18 To carry the 429 illusion

media blasted to blend it further, they will be running
all together, though more an OE air cleaner. McDonald
port work will be done by will modify the air cleaner
Greg Brown at Hammerhead base to drop down further
Performance Engines to around the EFI throttle body.
optimize the performance of
the shortened single-plane 19 Here’s the 1970 Mustang
Super Victor intake. Fastback project so far. Big
Baer brakes, the full Detroit
17 Even with the throttle Speed handling catalog,
body in place, there’s still Forgeline wheels with sticky
enough room to make the Continental/Hoosier tires,
flat hood happen. and a Tremec Magnum are
just a few of the ingredients
in this Pro Touring recipe.
16
17 18
19
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TUNING OPTIMIZED
VARIABLES WITHIN FUEL-INJECTOR CONSTRUCTION CAN LEAD TO POOR
ENGINE OPERATION. HERE’S HOW TO TUNE YOUR FUEL INJECTORS.
GREG BANISH
❱It’s safe to say that performance enthusiasts have embraced electronic fuel of horsepower with just a single injector per cylinder. I fondly remember my early
injection. That’s not to say that carburetors can’t do the job, but Detroit hasn’t days of playing with fuel injection in the late ’90s, when a 42 lb/hr (roughly
rolled a new car off the assembly line with a carburetor in almost 40 years. Since 440cc/min) injector flow rate was considered “big”—I have more recently tested
then, we have seen the evolution of EFI systems move from crude to precise in direct-replacement options for many port-injection applications that deliver over
their control of fuel metering and ultimately the air/fuel ratio seen by the spark 286 lb/hr (3000cc/min), depending on the pressure being used.
plug in the cylinders. We all know that more airflow equals more power from our engines, and
The fuel injectors themselves have also evolved. Not only has their physical that whenever we add more air, we need to add more fuel. At the outset of a
size diminished enough to allow some creative placement options in the intakes, project, we like to run the math and figure out just how big the fuel injectors will
but manufacturers also offer flow rates that enable us to make amazing amounts need to be in order to support the target horsepower level. We take the desired
horsepower and multiply it by an estimated Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) number to
get total fuel flow. We can then divide this by the number of injectors in the system, usually one per
cylinder, and get a minimum injector flow rate. Finally, we throw in a safety factor of about 20 per-
cent to make sure we don’t need to run the injectors completely static, or wide-open, to satisfy the
engine’s needs. We want to give each injector enough time to flow the necessary fuel, close com-
pletely, and reopen for the next shot after a brief pause. This also gives the injector drivers inside the
ECU a chance to cool a bit. The formula ends up looking something like this:
Total Fuel Flow (lb/hr) = Target Horsepower (hp) x BSFC (lb/hp-hr)

Minimum Injector Flow (lb/hr) = Total Fuel Flow (lb/hr)/number of Injectors
Safe Injector Flow Rate (lb/hr) = Minimum Injector Flow (lb/hr) x 1.20
For a 600hp supercharged engine, we would take a safe BSFC estimate of [0.6 lb/hp-hr] to get a
total fuel flow of 360 lb/hr for the system. On a V8 engine, we would need a minimum injector flow
rate of about 45 lb/hr. After applying a safety factor of 20 percent, the real number becomes more
like 54 lb/hr for each injector. This is where most people start shopping for injectors, but there are
other factors to consider.
Of course we need injectors that physically fit our engine, fuel rail, and connector type. Almost all
modern vehicles use high-impedance (12-16 ohm) injectors with their stock ECU today. There used
to be a time when we needed to look at low impedance (2-6 ohm) injectors to find a high enough
flow rate, but we couldn’t simply plug them into an ECU that is designed for higher impedance.
Doing so would risk pulling too much current through the drivers that might damage the ECU itself.
Today’s market is flush with great high-impedance options that flow just about whatever we need
without endangering the electronics.
Here’s where we start running into problems from a tuning perspective. Not
all injectors flow the same. If we simply grab a random set of injectors with
some flow rate and try to make the EFI system work properly by only chang-
ing the flow rate in the calibration, we get mixed results at best. Tuning on an
engine dyno may indicate good results because WOT power pulls all the way to
redline and utilizes nearly constant flow out of the injectors, but unfortunately,
we can have very different results at idle and part-throttle. The reason for this
lies in the science of how a fuel injector really works.
Measuring fuel injectors requires specialized equipment that you don’t see in
many shops. OEMs use benches especially made for the task that cost hundreds
of thousands of dollars. The garden-variety “clean and flow” benches are not
capable of running the necessary tests to get all this data. Calibrated Success
recently stepped up to the challenge and built a custom unit from scratch that
can run the right test conditions. The raw data is processed using an online tool
that can deliver results in just minutes, any time, day or night. So, what does
“complete” injector data really include?
QLooking at individual measurements from a series of very short pulses

shows the nonlinear behavior as the fuel injector begins to flow.
We can also see that this straight line isn’t exactly straight when we look close to
the bottom. Instead, after a brief pause, the curve of the slope is steeper down low
before it settles into a more stable linear flow after a few milliseconds. It’s the same
principle that we see when opening the nozzle of a hose. When opened quickly, water
sprays further and with more intensity for a split second before it settles into the
QBy taking thousands of data points, a clear, linear pattern is found. This
reduces the chances of a single data point inducing any significant error.
If we run a complete set of tests on just the fuel injector outside of the
engine, we can spot a few interesting things. The first is the linear relationship
between fuel mass and pulse width. The longer an injector is open, the more
accumulated mass of fuel we have. The slope of this line can be measured in
mass (milligrams, grams, or pounds) divided by the time (milliseconds, seconds,
or hours) that closely matches the advertised flow rate of the injector. Some
injector companies simply flow the injectors wide-open for some period of time
and measure the total delivered fluid, but this static-flow measurement isn’t
exactly what’s happening in our engines. Measuring the slope of the line from a
series of shorter pulses is more precise. QPlotting several sweeps at different voltages together shows how the
offset moves, but slope stays the same.
normal flow rate. This is happening every
time the fuel injector opens, too. The
exact shape of this curve relative to the
straight line we get up top is unique to
each particular injector design. Testing
on a proper flow bench can reveal this
nonlinearity if we can collect enough
accurate data during times of very short
pulse-width firings of the injectors. The
difference between the simple straight
line and this actual nonlinear delivery
can make for an error of 40% or more if
we were to ignore it.
Finally, by plotting the response
across time for a number of different
activation voltages, we see that the
location of our straight lines can shift.
Fuel injectors contain electrical coils
that are charged by vehicle operating
voltage. There is a delay in opening the
solenoid that is proportional to the
voltage applied. Lower system-voltage
samples show a slightly longer delay
before the injector opens and begins
flowing. Higher voltages can open the
injector in less time, moving their lines QIf we plot how the offset moves versus voltage, we can see another clear relationship. Curve fitting is best here,
to the left. so any one data point doesn’t force an unrealistic curve.
QHere’s an example of complete fuel-injector characterization data in spreadsheet format for GM software. The user can simply copy-and-paste into
their favorite tuning software.
If we plot the X-axis intercept (commonly called the “offset”) of these lines OEMs are pretty smart. They know how their fuel injectors work, and they
against the voltage used to create them, we discover the relationship at work here. added a few extra tables in the ECU to help account for the different variables.
The shape of this curve is again unique to the injector design. It actually incorpo- Almost all ECUs, even aftermarket standalones, will let us enter a fuel injector
rates both the electrical delay from the coil and the fluid-dynamics delay as fuel linear injector flow rate. This should match the slope of the line we saw earlier.
moves through the body, valve, and tip of the injector. Any modification to the They’ll also let us enter values for offset as a function of voltage. Be careful here,
injector tip can change this offset just as much as the linear flow rate. Whenever as different OEMs will often define the “offset” differently, depending on how
we are attempting to deliver small amounts of fuel, like at idle or when cruising, they handle the rest of the nonlinear compensation. We can’t always take the
this offset value can be a large portion of the total injector pulse width from the published offset value from one manufacturer and use it in another’s ECU without
ECU. Even if we have the right slope, errors in this offset can be bad enough to baking in some more error factors. Finally, they may also have a separate function
flood or starve the engine. to define the nonlinearity of low flow requests. To avoid stepping on each other’s
patents, and probably out of a need

to prove that their software team is
smart too, each manufacturer has
its own way of modeling this inside
their ECU.
If we want to correctly replace the
OEM fuel injectors with new higher-
flowing units, it’s especially critical to
have all of this data, too. If we only
type in a new flow rate, we can have
trouble trying to get idle air/fuel ratio
correct, because the error could be
coming from bad data in the MAF/VE
tables or with the fuel injector’s offset
or short pulse nonlinearity. Remember
high school math where we needed
one equation for each unknown in a
problem set? This is the real-world
application of that.
Sure, we could assume or ignore a
change in offset or nonlinearity, but we
would be putting that unknown error
into our VE or MAF calculations during
the tuning process. When the weather
changes or we hit a different operating
condition, suddenly the AFR is way off
again. This doesn’t happen to pro tun-
ers who are doing it right because they
QWith the right calculations, raw injector measurements can be fitted to almost any OEM format. This is an insist on having complete injector data
example of Ford ECU inputs for a specific set of high-flow injectors. from the start.
QCopying the spreadsheet data into the tuning software tables ensures QInjector Dynamics has a great reputation for data accuracy with their
that the ECU will be able to calculate the correct injector pulse width injectors. Our testing confirmed this by returning ECU data that fell
needed to deliver any amount of fuel requested. With this right, the tuner almost exactly on top of theirs.
can focus on airflow errors on the dyno instead
of wondering about injector behavior.
Here’s where we enter the cheat code. There

are just too many unknowns to derive the injector
variables correctly on a running engine. Instead, we
take a known dataset for the new injectors we are
installing and copy/paste that data directly into the
ECU before we ever start the engine. After doing
this, it’s safe to assume that any AFR error we mea-
sure going forward is from the ECU’s airflow model.
We just use the measured wideband error to adjust
the VE or MAF table accordingly.
This all, of course, assumes that we have access
to a complete characterization dataset for the
injectors we are using. For the last 20 years, I have
been teaching tuners the importance of this les-
son. Injector companies like Injector Dynamics and
Fuel Injector Connection have taken notice too.
Many of them now provide plug-and-play data to
go along with their injectors, some more accurate
than others.
Whether you start with injectors that come with
trusted, accurate data or you generate your own
using the right tools, nailing this critical step will
make your life much easier. Your engine will thank
you for it, and you’ll spend less time tuning too.
Sources
Calibrated Success; 734.325.4386;
cartrainingonline.com
Fuel Injector Connection;
770.888.1662;
fuelinjectorconnection.com
HP Tuners; hptuners.com
Injector Dynamics; 214.607.9022;
injectordynamics.com
Project X’s new ZZ632 big-block

needed to breathe, and this do-it-
yourself stainless exhaust kit was
just the ticket to make it happen.
STEVEN RUPP JOHN MCGANN
❱Finding an off-the-shelf exhaust system for your current hot rod project can
be, well, problematic. The issue is that your new exhaust system must deal with
a lot of variables, from engine location to header choice, and to make it more
challenging, it has to wind its way around a lot of parts such as the rear suspen-
sion. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find a bolt-on kit perfect for your application, but
chances are you won’t.
That leaves two choices: Open your wallet wide and have a custom system
built, or grab a universal exhaust kit from Summit Racing, break out your tools, fire
up your welder, and make a semi-custom system of your own.
Our problem was nobody makes a kit for our recent ZZ632 big-block swap
into our 1957 Chevy called Project X. The biggest issue we had was the over-the-
frame headers that were going to require some serious work to route and get Included in the kit were:
back to a pair of mufflers. The ZZ632 moves a lot of air, so we wanted to run •Four 4-foot-long straight sections of tubing
3.5-inch pipes, and the perfect builder’s kit turned out to be Summit’s Universal •Four 180-degree mandrel bends
•Four 90-degree mandrel bends
Rod Builder Exhaust Kit (PN SUM-670243) made from 409 stainless steel. •Four 45-degree mandrel bends
01
01 To tame the sound (at least a little bit), we opted (PN SUM-694350) to tie in with the existing
for a pair of race mufflers from Summit Racing (PN V-band flanges on our headers.
SUM-638435). These 3.50-inch, center inlet/outlet
stainless mufflers come in at 21 inches in length and 02 Just like Project X’s old 427 ZL1 big-block, the
won’t cause us any ground-clearance issues. The new ZZ632 required over-the-frame headers—good
straight-through core wasn’t going to hurt power, and thing we saved them (it’s almost like we knew).
after the quiet experience of our EV swap we wanted These headers are fed from the engine through the
the 632 to fall on the louder side. We also grabbed four side of the collector and there are block-off plates
of Summit’s interlocking V-band exhaust clamps on the ends in case we want to run open header.
Source 02
Summit Racing;
800.230.3030;
summitracing.com
03
04 05
03 The over-the-frame headers

solved part of our problem, but the
unique design meant we needed
a semi-custom system to make it
all work.
04 Here you can see the collector

setup of our headers. The flange
for the V-band clamp is already
stitched to the header and there’s
some heat shielding in place to
protect the sheetmetal.
05 After measuring twice, HOT

ROD Garage’s Lucky Costa got
to work trimming the Summit
exhaust parts as needed.
06 The 3.5-inch stainless exhaust

tubing runs alongside the Gearstar
trans, up the inside of the fram-
erails, then makes a 90-degree
turn back over the top of the
framerails through holes cut in
the body, and then to the V-band
06 clamps on the header flanges.
07 Here you can see where the
3.5-inch pipe pokes through the
body sheetmetal on its way to
the header flange. Getting this
right was the toughest part of the
exhaust build.
07
08 With the front of the system
figured out, Lucky installed the
Summit straight-through race
mufflers on Project X. The HOT
ROD Power Tour was only a couple
of weeks away, so the team didn’t
have time for a fancy over-the-axle
system.
09 To save time, two 45-degree

dumps were stitched to the back
of the mufflers and angled off to
the sides. The last step was for
Lucky to go back and fully weld the 08 09
exhaust system in place.
10
10 And with that, our Project X
1957 Chevy with its new 1,004hp
ZZ632 big-block was ready to roar
for the crowds at the 2023 HOT
ROD Power Tour.
Making Connections
Project T-top Coupe: We install a Terminator X Max for big power.
❱Since its initial build in 2007, Project T-top Coupe’s Paxton Novi 2000 super- high-side 12-volt inputs than HP, 14 more low-side 12-volt inputs, 9 more multi-
charged, 350ci small-block Ford engine has been electronically fuel injected and inputs, 6 speed inputs, and 30 0-5V sensor inputs. That’s a lot of scramble buttons,
operated by a then state-of-the-art, stand-alone engine-control unit and the bump boxes, and any other tricks and gadgets that can be added to a race car.
tuning wizardry of Brian Macy of Horsepower Connection in Lake Havasu, Arizona. As Holley EFI systems go, Dominator is exactly that—dominant. The HP is less
Since those early years, companies have made notable advancements in high-per- expensive, but is a great alternative for applications that don’t require as many
formance fuel injection. Holley is one of those brands, and at this point, its top-of- accessory inputs.
the-line Dominator EFI is recognized as one of the leading multiport fuel-injection At the other end of the spectrum, the Terminator X Max
systems in the space. It’s a veritable do-everything setup that is most notably used ECU we’re using in T-top Coupe’s resurgence is the entry-
on the outlaw small- and big-tire rides that are wildly popular right now. Naturally, level player in Holley’s advanced-EFI lineup; a level above
as the big dog in Holley’s EFI ranks, Dominator is the most expensive unit. the street-centric Sniper but loaded with the same soft-
Holley’s HP EFI slots in the product lineup just below Dominator. Although ware that’s in Dominator and HP ECUs. As the base model,
they use the same software and main wiring harness and can support low- or the Terminator system is the most affordable of the three VInsignificant
high-impedance fuel injectors, only the Dominator has two oxygen-sensor inputs and serves traditional small- and big-block Chevy engines, parts lead to
and the ability to control certain drive-by-wire throttle-body applications. Holley small-block Fords, as well as today’s LS engines from GM, very significant
Dominator EFI also can control certain electronic transmissions (GM 4L60E/4L80E, damage.
Ford AODE/4R70W) that the HP does not support. Finally, Dominator has 18 more KJ JONES
Chrysler’s Gen III Hemi, and modular Ford (Coyote and Godzilla) powerplants. details about our use of this system (on the dyno and at the dragstrip), as our
It’s self-learning (fuel mapping) and only supports high-impedance fuel injec- project moves forward. For now, stay with us as we bring you highlights of the
tors. The total number of 12-volt inputs (the number of channels of additional Holley EFI Terminator X Max installation, which was handled by our man Saul “the
data the system can track such as fuel pressure, transmission temperature, or Surgeon” Gutierrez. Although it’s plug-and-play for the most part, there are a few
other useful data) and outputs (electric fans, shift light, and so on) is limited to nuances with the project car and the Terminator X setup that required minor
eight. Progressive nitrous oxide and turbocharger boost control can also be man- alteration and custom work. Nothing too strenuous, and all-in-all, installing the
aged through the Terminator ECU. system is something that is DIY-friendly, and like the bulk of our efforts with
That’s the Terminator X overview. There’s more to discuss and we’ll provide Project T-top Coupe, can be accomplished in the garage or driveway.
02
03
01
01 In addition to an ECU itself, wiring 03 A thick rubber grommet on the
harnesses (main, power, and/or the main harness seals the hole in the
actual EFI wiring) are the primary firewall that the main harness runs
components of any multiport fuel- through. Pro Tip: When extracting
injection system. Project T-top Coupe any wiring harness that passes
has used aftermarket, stand-alone through the firewall, save the grom-
EFI since day one. Direct-to-battery mets! Unfortunately, we gifted the
12 volt and negative ground wires old EFI system to another ’Stang-
are common for any EFI system. banger, and the big (and necessary)
Technically, this installation requires grommet seen in this photo went
removing all the preexisting with it. Motion Raceworks offers
harnesses (power, main, and fuel replacement grommets that come
injectors). We’re using positive and in various diameters so we ordered a
negative wires from trunk to cabin few for T-top Coupe.
that already exist (for the fuel pump,
too). Saul cut that original wiring, 04 Here’s the hardware we’re work-
and our plan is to tie the Holley unit’s ing with. Holley EFI’s Terminator X 04
red and black wires directly to it. is a collection of wiring harnesses
(power, main, injectors, and more)
02 Extracting the EFI’s main harness and sensors (wideband O2, coolant
is the next step. Whether stock or temperature, oil pressure, fuel pres-
aftermarket, this series of wires sure, manifold air temperature, and
typically passes from cockpit to a 1-Bar MAP sensor incorporated into
engine compartment via a hole in the ECU) that transmit operational
the firewall on the passenger side. data and instructions between the
Removing the passenger seat makes engine and the ECU. The main har-
access to the harness easier, as does ness we’re using is specifically for
having someone outside the car to Fox-body Mustangs with small-block
pass wires through the hole in the Ford (302 [5.0-liter]/351W) engines.
firewall.
05 This harness effectively defines

the “Max” part of the Holley EFI
Terminator X system. It’s the line
that facilitates programming Gear-
star Performance Transmissions’
4L80E automatic that we plan to
use in this project. “Max” is basically
integrated electronic transmission
control, which currently operates GM
and Ford automatic transmissions
(GM 4L60E and 4L80E, Ford AODE
and 4R70W). We were asked several
times why we’re not using Holley’s
HP system for this project. The
reason is simple: HP does not offer
transmission control, and we don’t
need a Dominator.
06 After installing high-impedance

160 lb/hr fuel injectors, plugging up
the Terminator X injector harness
is the first order of business, and
it’s very easy. The harness is clearly
labeled (#1-#8) and is sized to fit a
small-block Ford intake manifold.
07 With the injectors and harness in

place, we bolted down the upper in-
take and Vortech “Igloo” water-to-air 05
intercooler before moving on to the
Terminator X wiring harness.
08 The Holley EFI Terminator X main

harness measures approximately
nine feet in length. After uncoiling
the bundled wires, Saul assesses
all the connections that need to be
made and passes the ECU end of
the snake through the hole in the
firewall. In most cases, everything
is directly plug-and-play for Ford or
GM (LS) applications. Holley offers
adapter harnesses and connectors to
correct conflicts when they arise.
09 The first harness that Saul

connects is for the fuel injectors. The
Terminator X requires a minimum of
60 psi of fuel to operate properly. The
Aeromotive fuel system we installed
earlier in this project will meet those
needs with no problem.
06 07
08 09
10 Coolant temperature is next. Once
10 11
the harness is attached, the Holley
brass sensor is installed at the front
of the intake manifold on the
passenger side.
11 This is one of the major links in an

EFI system’s wiring logic: the connec-
tion to the oil-pressure sensor. The
Terminator X harness attaches
directly to Holley’s 0-100 psi pressure
sensor. A similar tie is made on the
circuit dedicated for fuel pressure.
12 Most of the harness connections

fall on the driver-side of the engine
compartment. After making all the
connections, Saul creates a small
wiring-harness bundle and places
it on the driver-side of the intake
manifold.
13 The ignition harness plugs directly

into the wiring for Holley’s dual-sync
distributor. This is the communica-
tion link that is required for us to
manipulate values in the Terminator
X software’s Base Spark table. To
complete the ignition logic, a wire
from Terminator X is linked with the
previously installed MSD Digital 7
(7531) programmable ignition box
inside the cockpit.
14 WARNING! Linking the Terminator

X with a wideband 02 sensor must
wait until after the ECU has been
configured for the sensor. Failing to
do this could damage the sensor.
Pro Tip: Heed our warning.
12
13 14
15
15 Once all harness-to-engine connectivity issues within the GM
connections are made (including platform, there’s nothing available
a fuel-pressure sensor, which is as for this specific Ford-to-GM situation.
important as oil pressure), the op- That’s not to say it’s impossible to
posite end of the Terminator X wiring pull off. A custom four-wire harness
harness is plugged into the ECU. with the appropriate square con-
nector is required and Brian Macy’s
16 Remember, we’re using hot and Horsepower Connection is the outfit
negative wires that remain from the that can make this or any other trick
car’s previous EFI system. This is the wiring necessary for completing a
Terminator X Max’s main power and Holley EFI installation.
ground, so Saul solders each connec-
tion and protects it with a double 18 Horsepower Connection’s custom
dose of shrink-wrap tubing. IAC harness features four pins that
must be entered into provisions in
17 Although Holley offers alterna- the main-harness-to-ECU J1B 26-pin
tive plugs for overcoming similar IAC output connector.
16
17 18
20
19
21
22 23
19 It’s not like Holley didn’t think 3.5-inch handheld LCD touchscreen 22 In the engine bay, all the wiring included in the Terminator X soft-
about the possibility of this happen- display facilitates all. An optional associated with the new EFI system is ware, and that’s what we’re using
ing. For anyone who finds themself Holley EFI CAN-to-USB communica- now installed and barely noticeable. for initial startup. We look forward
facing the same predicament, here’s tion cable is available and is used Laying everything out and setting to experiencing the system’s “self-
the mapping for a GM-style, four-pin for making detailed tuning changes it up can be completed in about five learn” capability for closed-loop
IAC. Again, the J1B connector is the with a laptop. We’re starting here, hours. The next steps for our project fueling. The Base Fuel map (left)
one to tap into at the following pin but we may try to incorporate a include reinstalling the supercharger, can be presented in tabular or graph
ports: purple/blue to B1, purple/yel- larger, 7-inch touchscreen at some alternator, and other hard parts, form. It is the tuning area that is
low to B2, purple/white to B8, and point in the future. connecting hoses and tubing, adding used most frequently, along with
purple/black to B9. fluids, and powering the electrical the Base Spark table (right). When
21 With the ECU attached to our system with 12 fresh volts of juice. the engine is running, changes in
20 One of the cool things about Mustang’s lower dash panel, we this system happen in real time. The
Terminator X’s DIY simplicity is can say that Project T-top Coupe’s 23 Although hardcore ECU calibra- Terminator X Max ECU also features
that it does not require a laptop Holley EFI Terminator X Max instal- tion will be done on the dyno at Active Speed Management (extra-
computer for installation, tuning, or lation is mostly complete. The one Horsepower Connection in Lake cost optional traction control). We
monitoring engine speed, pressure, thing that remains is the transmis- Havasu, Arizona, a base tune for our plan to put this technology through
and/or temperature values. This sion connection. supercharged small-block Ford is its paces on the track.
Mail-Order Makeover, Pt. 2

We pair up with Amazon to completely rebuild a
Source
Amazon
Automotive;
amazon.com/
’65 Dodge Coronet to debut at Roadkill Nights in Detroit. automotive
❱Car Craft is building this cool 1965 Dodge Coronet, completely transforming it from a dusty nonrunner to a show-ready
vehicle. The catch is that it has to be done in time for the Roadkill Nights show in Detroit. We had about seven weeks to
accomplish that task, and it took a crew of guys nearly every minute of that time to reach our goal. Spoiler alert: We
made it, but you’ll have to wait until the third installment to see how we wrapped up our build.
In our first installment, we introduced the project and highlighted the work needed to get this cool old
Mopar back up and running. This time around, we tackled the major work the Coronet needed, namely
some rust repair, a stunning new paintjob, and a major suspension upgrade. That, and we also threw
in a 440 engine in place of the Slant Six that had been residing under the hood for far too long.
Amazon was our exclusive parts supplier for this build, and we found everything we needed to
complete the build on time. Here’s how it all went down.
JOHN MCGANN
01 As you can see, Kory Here he is wet-sanding a

Holmes and his crew at fender prior to painting
Holmes Fab got a lot of it. All the abrasives and
work done in the time after sanding blocks he used are
our initial shoot days. The available on Amazon.
body and undercarriage
had been fully stripped, 04 We’ve used QA1
primed, bodyworked, and Suspension for years on
painted. many of our project cars
because we know the qual-
02 The color is a custom ity of their products, so
mix based on a current for our Coronet, choosing
Dodge Charger/Challenger their tubular front and
color. Instead of the stan- rear suspension was a no-
dard metallic, the painter brainer. The design utilizes
added some gold and red coilovers that replace the
pearl. The color is complex shocks and torsion bars of
and amazing to see in the the stock suspension.
sun. The undercarriage
was treated with a truck 05 Though not specifi-
bedliner coating for extra cally for ’65 Coronets, the
protection against rock front-end components
chips and corrosion. fit in place perfectly. This
upgrade also benefits
03 Here’s the guy respon- from the conversion to
sible for the awesome a rack-and-pinion-style
paintjob. Connor Dahl is a steering system, which is
newbie to painting, but his also lighter than the stock
work shows how diligence, steering box and linkage
careful prep, and a willing- setup.
ness to learn can pay off.
01
02 03
04 05
06 07
08 09
06 The spindles we choose Stop, a company with the
accept sealed hub wheel tagline “Brake upgrades
bearings. They also allow made easy.” It didn’t get
a range of modern, large- much easier than slipping
diameter disc brake kits to the 13-inch rotors on the
be installed. hubs and bolting on the
brackets and calipers. The
07 We choose a set of hubs kit even came with brake
that CPP manufactures. pads and anti-rattle clips.
They are based on a C6 Amazon delivery had these
Corvette design. Here, Kory at our doorstep in two
installs the wheel studs days.
after coating the threads
with a small dab of thread- 10 The rear suspension we
locking compound. purchased is also from QA1.
It’s a weld-in subassembly,
08 The front suspension so we had to grind a por-
went together easily. The tion of the undercoating
design retains the stock away in preparation. Kory
cam bolts on the upper began by assembling the
A-arm mounts for wheel rear trailing arms and mak-
alignment. ing sure they were exactly
the same length.
09 For brakes, we choose
a set of discs from Power-
10
11
11 We centered and squared the 8¾
axle under the chassis to ensure the car
tracks straight and the wheels fit the
wheelwells properly. We verified the
dimensions with a tape measure and
plumb bob readings.
12 Though the rear trailing arms are ad-

justable, Kory wanted to get the pinion
angle close to where it will be for daily
driving. That way, minor adjustments
can be accomplished within the range of
adjustment the trailing arms allow.
13 Confident that the axle was in place,

Kory welded the subframe to the car and
the upper trailing arm mounting tabs to
the axlehousing.
12 13
14 Here’s a cool product you probably
don’t see that often. This is an inflatable
paint booth that we bought from Ama-
zon. It inflates like a kid’s bounce house.
Connor used it to paint the entire car,
plus the fenders, hood, and various other
components. Plan on a good fan and
filter system for it, and you can achieve
excellent results painting in here.
15 You may remember from our first

installment just how rusty the wind-
shield cowl panel was. Reproduction
parts aren’t available for this, and the
guys struggled to make a patch for the
original piece, so Kory ended up buying
a four-door Coronet as a donor vehicle.
The cowl is spot-welded on these cars, so
Connor spent several hours drilling the
welds to remove it.
14 15
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16 17
18 19
16 The entire car needed to 18 The long-tube headers
be rewired after decades from Doug’s fit perfectly,
of rodents seeking refuge and the ceramic coating
here. Kendal, the owner’s will stay clean and shiny
son, tackled the job of for many years. Wait until
laying out the new harness you see the engine with
from American Autowire, the air cleaners on. The
also purchased from finished product looks
Amazon. great.
17 We were excited to see 19 Here’s our Holmes Fab

what the 440 was going build crew: Noah “Fozzie”
to look like in the freshly Sohl, Kendal Hart, Kory
painted engine compart- Holmes, Noah Cardoza,
ment, so we dropped it and Connor Dahl. Special
onto its new motor mounts thanks go to these guys for
on QA1’s front subframe. all their hard work.
There is going to be a little
bit of work needed to make 20 Though we accom-
the oil pan and steering plished a lot of work in
linkage work together, a short amount of time,
but that’s a topic for the there were still many little
next installment. In case things to do to get the
you’re wondering, yes, we Coronet ready for Roadkill
purchased that clean- Nights. Stay tuned for our
20 looking accessory drive
from Amazon.
final installment to see the
race to the finish.
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©2021 Avid Pro Medical. Individual results may vary. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. V212
HOT ROD.COM/2024/FEBUARY 81
FINISH LINE
John
McGann Wes Allison
Email us at
hotrod@hotrod.com Celebrating the Racers!
Here Are the Faces of Drag Week
❱HOT ROD’s Drag Week can be described with many superlative or hyperbolic adjectives. Some of the most com-
mon descriptions we’ve heard throughout the years are that it’s grueling, a grind, or that it’s a torture test. For sure,
Drag Week stretches the limits of the race cars and the racers piloting them. However, look at the faces of the racers
in our gallery. The vast majority of them are smiling. As one racer put it this year, “Drag Week is the most difficult thing
you can’t wait to do every year.” That’s the dichotomy of Drag Week: tons of work on very little sleep, but tons of fun.
Photographer Wes Allison has been shooting Drag Week since its inception, and amid expertly capturing all the
Follow us on-track and on-the-road images of Drag Week, he manages to shoot artful portraits of our participants. The full
@ hotrodmagazine range of emotions is on display, demonstrating the intensity, fatigue, and joy inherent in participating in Drag Week.
Hot Rod (ISSN 0018-6031), February 2024 Vol. 77, No. 2. Copyright 2023 by Motor Trend Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Published monthly by Motor Trend Group, LLC; 2221 Rosecrans Ave., Ste. 195; El Segundo,
CA, 90245. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates for 1 year (12 issues): U.S., APO, FPO and U.S. Possessions $20.00. Canada $32.00. All other countries $44.00 (for
surface mail postage). Payment in advance, U.S. funds only. *Trademark registered. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to
HOT ROD, P.O. Box 37199. Boone, IA 50037.
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