Sunday, June 14, 2009
Sounds like my kind of car show...
The latest issue of Hot Rod arrived today, and they mentioned a car show that would actually be an appropriate place to show off my Dodge. No, not the Dart... the D50.
Well, there is one thing about it that would make it less than an appropriate place, and that's that my D50 probably couldn't be trusted to make it all the way to California. I'm not sure if I should enter it in the "Soul-Sucking Japanese Appliance, 1970-current" or "Rust Belt American Junk, '64-current" category - or it might have a shot at "Most Effluent," awarded to the entrant that pollutes the most. Seriously, these are real categories in the show - the complete list of categories has to be seen to be believed. Some of the other classes include cars that have been kicked out of other shows, a category for cars from Malcom Bricklin's many failed efforts at importing things that didn't fit American tastes, bizarre special edition cars (it appears that counterfeiting even weirder special editions that never existed is encouraged), and a class specifically for all K-car based vehicles.
Maybe they'll have one closer to Georgia if this is a success - the same guys' 24 Hours of LeMons has inspired a nationwide series.
Well, there is one thing about it that would make it less than an appropriate place, and that's that my D50 probably couldn't be trusted to make it all the way to California. I'm not sure if I should enter it in the "Soul-Sucking Japanese Appliance, 1970-current" or "Rust Belt American Junk, '64-current" category - or it might have a shot at "Most Effluent," awarded to the entrant that pollutes the most. Seriously, these are real categories in the show - the complete list of categories has to be seen to be believed. Some of the other classes include cars that have been kicked out of other shows, a category for cars from Malcom Bricklin's many failed efforts at importing things that didn't fit American tastes, bizarre special edition cars (it appears that counterfeiting even weirder special editions that never existed is encouraged), and a class specifically for all K-car based vehicles.
Maybe they'll have one closer to Georgia if this is a success - the same guys' 24 Hours of LeMons has inspired a nationwide series.
Labels: Automotive Awefulness, Cool Cars
Friday, June 12, 2009
Turbos aren't the only way to make a slant six fast
This video is pretty impressive - even though it fails to show the Valiant's e.t., which is somewhere in the 11's.
11 second slant six Valiant on YouTube
Found this one where Big Dad posted it on Bangshift, where he also posted a link to MoParts with some pictures. This Valiant is a naturally aspirated, tube framed, Lenco equipped drag monster. Wish I could find more details on it. There's custom parts all over this Valiant; even the valve cover is not an off the shelf item.
11 second slant six Valiant on YouTube
Found this one where Big Dad posted it on Bangshift, where he also posted a link to MoParts with some pictures. This Valiant is a naturally aspirated, tube framed, Lenco equipped drag monster. Wish I could find more details on it. There's custom parts all over this Valiant; even the valve cover is not an off the shelf item.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
There is no kill like overkill.
An interesting link I found at the BangShift forums. Taking a Trailblazer DOHC inline six and putting it into a rail dragster is unusual enough. But add a very large centrifugal blower, an air to water intercooler, and twin turbos, and you get something truly over the top. It doesn't say how much boost it's running, but I'm a little surprised the stock ignition system can keep up. (Edited to add - "dieselgeek" has reminded me to take a closer look at the coils. They're actually a set of high powered aftermarket coils that just aren't all that flashy.)
Labels: Cool Cars
Saturday, January 12, 2008
My jaw is on the floor
"Heckshemi" on the Slantsix.org board has built a slant six with a crossflow cylinder head made out of sections of a pair of new 5.7 Hemi heads. Absolutely astounding. I wonder if the reason I've been highlighting slantsix.org threads is how long my Dart's been off the road...
Nah. This one's just too impressive to ignore.
Nah. This one's just too impressive to ignore.
Labels: Cool Cars
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Another EFI slant six
While my Dart's been languishing waiting for the big turbo project to get finished, "Runvs_826" on the slant six forum has gone and put together a very impressive, cheap, and effective TBI conversion for his slant six. Check it out. I was particularly impressed by his clever way of adding an in-tank pump. If I redo my conversion - and there's a good chance I will - expect to see a similar fuel pump setup.
Labels: Cool Cars
Monday, December 10, 2007
I've seen this before, but only in forklifts
Check out this Chevy V8 powered Festiva. It's got a 355 mounted where the back seat used to be... driving the front wheels. Sounds kind of like a forklift drivetrain, except without the rear steering. I'm kind of impressed by this as an exercise in mechanical weirdness, but I've got to wonder whether it can get any sort of traction. Particularly on those tiny tires.
Labels: Cool Cars
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Slant sixes on YouTube
Slant six racer Tom Drake (known as Turboslant6 on YouTube) has uploaded a few videos of slant six racing on YouTube. Most of them are of his turbocharged, alchohol burning Simca, including a video of the world's fastest slant six drag pass today. Yep, that was running high 9's in the quarter. Other videos include the Simca versus a '66 Dart (appears to be an 1/8 mile race), an in-car 1/8 mile video of his best 1/8 mile pass,, and another in-car 1/8 mile video. What's really amazing is that the engine uses the stock crank, pistons, and rods - he's achieved these results from a combination of octane, boost, and light weight.
Monday, July 09, 2007
A masterpiece takes shape
There are true masters in the world of slant sixes. I'm not one of them. Sure, I'm working on an exotic turbo slant six and run the Slant Six Mailing List, but there are many people who know considerably more about these motors than I do. Some of them have been working on slant sixes almost since the first 170 was cast. Others can recite every year and model change in a Mopar A-body down to the stamping used for the firewall, seemingly from memory (it's hard to tell on the Internet if people have cheat sheets).
Doug Dutra, also known as Doctor Dodge, is one such master. He may not have the fastest or most powerful slant six, but he knows these motors inside out, knows what their strong points and their weaknesses are, and has tried all sorts of astonishing mods in the quest for more horsepower. Doug's latest project is a real jaw dropper.
First, a little background. Chrysler built an aluminum block 225 cubic inch slant six for a very few years in the early 1960s. It didn't sell in an era where big cubes were more important than the latest technology, so Ma Mopar pulled the plug. You'd think this would make quite a prize for the slant six racing community. Unfortunately, its open deck construction has head gasket issues that make it hard to run large amounts of cylinder pressure.
Now, take a look at Doug's latest motor, "Twiggy." Compare the deck surface with the one in the above artice. It's a closed deck block. One of the slant six message board members wondered if it was a new casting.
Sort of. Doug's block has an iron plate installed in the top, and molten aluminum poured into the top of the block to transform it into a closed deck block for better cylinder head sealing. There's also some concrete in there, and no doubt the Doctor is going to put some other interesting trick into this buildup. This is a truly incredible example of someone who wasn't willing to accept the limits of what the factory built.
Doug Dutra, also known as Doctor Dodge, is one such master. He may not have the fastest or most powerful slant six, but he knows these motors inside out, knows what their strong points and their weaknesses are, and has tried all sorts of astonishing mods in the quest for more horsepower. Doug's latest project is a real jaw dropper.
First, a little background. Chrysler built an aluminum block 225 cubic inch slant six for a very few years in the early 1960s. It didn't sell in an era where big cubes were more important than the latest technology, so Ma Mopar pulled the plug. You'd think this would make quite a prize for the slant six racing community. Unfortunately, its open deck construction has head gasket issues that make it hard to run large amounts of cylinder pressure.
Now, take a look at Doug's latest motor, "Twiggy." Compare the deck surface with the one in the above artice. It's a closed deck block. One of the slant six message board members wondered if it was a new casting.
Sort of. Doug's block has an iron plate installed in the top, and molten aluminum poured into the top of the block to transform it into a closed deck block for better cylinder head sealing. There's also some concrete in there, and no doubt the Doctor is going to put some other interesting trick into this buildup. This is a truly incredible example of someone who wasn't willing to accept the limits of what the factory built.
Labels: Cool Cars
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Stone Mountain Cool Car Festival: Novas
I went to the Stone Mountain Cool Car Festival last week, and took a lot of pictures. I'll be posting these throughout the next week; there's just too many images for one post. I'll start this with a collection of Chevy Novas, because my wife Kelly is fond of them. These four here are a collection of her favorite body style of Nova.
Although it's not Kelly's favorite year, this one that Year One brought along really stood out. When I looked under the hood, my first thought was that they'd put an LS1 in it. After all, it wasn an injected motor with that distinctive coil-per-plug ignition. That would have stood out on its own, as most of the injected cars there were either modern Mustangs or PT Cruisers. But something didn't look right. The engine was too large for an LS1, and the intake had paired ports. I took a closer look, and realized it was an injected big block Chevy fitted with an LS1 ignition!
Although it's not Kelly's favorite year, this one that Year One brought along really stood out. When I looked under the hood, my first thought was that they'd put an LS1 in it. After all, it wasn an injected motor with that distinctive coil-per-plug ignition. That would have stood out on its own, as most of the injected cars there were either modern Mustangs or PT Cruisers. But something didn't look right. The engine was too large for an LS1, and the intake had paired ports. I took a closer look, and realized it was an injected big block Chevy fitted with an LS1 ignition!
Labels: Cool Cars, Stone Mountain Show
Monday, February 05, 2007
This frightens me. In a good way.
What's made from aluminum, has four overhead camshafts, displaces 1100 cubic inches, was built over 60 years ago, and doesn't really fit under the hood of a 1970 Mustang?
Find out here, with pictures.
The original link seems to be dead - I'm now linking to the blog where I found it.
Find out here, with pictures.
The original link seems to be dead - I'm now linking to the blog where I found it.
Labels: Cool Cars
Friday, December 29, 2006
An amazing race video
So you've taken your Porsche 996 GT3 out to a track day. You're dicing with an Aston Martin, when suddenly... well, you'll just have to see the video for yourself to see what else joins the fray. It's one of the funniest racetrack videos I've seen.
Labels: Cool Cars
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Eye candy time!
My friend Jay invited me to come see the car show at Summit Racing yesterday. As it was a Camaro and Firebird show, I decided against bringing the Dart, but when I got there, I found I definitely wouldn't have been the only entrant without an F-body. Here are some pictures I took.
Since it's an F-body show, I'll lead off with a picture of a first generation Camaro with a very shiny and very purple paint job. Check out its pinstriping. And I like the choice of wheels, too - large without being overdone.
A Chevy coupe parked next to a '50 Ford... only the '50 Ford is not a 1950 at all, but a kit car based on a late model Thunderbird.
Don't want to pop the hood to show off your old school Ford V8? Plastic windows to the rescue!
Various cars that showed up, including a one of 96 1970 Mustang Twister (Yes, the Twister name appeared on Mustangs as well as Dusters! It was a rare option only sold in Kansas.) and a 1957 oval-window Volkswagen with some very shiny Porsche alloy wheels.
If you want to take nine of your best friends mudding...
You don't see too many French cars at a typical American cruise-in, but somebody brought a Citroen SM. Note the backwards-mounted Maseratti V6 engine under the hood, and all the gear needed to drive the hydropneumatic suspension.
The only prewar Ford at the show not to have a Chevy V8 under the hood. Check out the spark plug "wires" on that flathead four. They're just strips of bare copper sheet metal. I'm pretty sure that's the original design. Scary, isn't it?
Pro Street lives on. There were two Camaros there with massive blowers and huge rear tires.
Here's a very clean and well kept Turbo Trans Am to finish this mini gallery.
Since it's an F-body show, I'll lead off with a picture of a first generation Camaro with a very shiny and very purple paint job. Check out its pinstriping. And I like the choice of wheels, too - large without being overdone.
A Chevy coupe parked next to a '50 Ford... only the '50 Ford is not a 1950 at all, but a kit car based on a late model Thunderbird.
Don't want to pop the hood to show off your old school Ford V8? Plastic windows to the rescue!
Various cars that showed up, including a one of 96 1970 Mustang Twister (Yes, the Twister name appeared on Mustangs as well as Dusters! It was a rare option only sold in Kansas.) and a 1957 oval-window Volkswagen with some very shiny Porsche alloy wheels.
If you want to take nine of your best friends mudding...
You don't see too many French cars at a typical American cruise-in, but somebody brought a Citroen SM. Note the backwards-mounted Maseratti V6 engine under the hood, and all the gear needed to drive the hydropneumatic suspension.
The only prewar Ford at the show not to have a Chevy V8 under the hood. Check out the spark plug "wires" on that flathead four. They're just strips of bare copper sheet metal. I'm pretty sure that's the original design. Scary, isn't it?
Pro Street lives on. There were two Camaros there with massive blowers and huge rear tires.
Here's a very clean and well kept Turbo Trans Am to finish this mini gallery.
Labels: Cool Cars
Saturday, October 21, 2006
And the bride drove a...
It's been a busy week. This week opened for me in the small town of Sexton's River, Vermont, at my brother's wedding in a small church. It was a very lovely wedding, with all sorts of personal touches. The sermon brought almost everyone to tears, and just about everything at the ceremony and reception, from the minister to the locations to the wine, had personal significance to either Philip or Amanda. But I suspect most regular readers of this blog are not going to be especially interested the details of the bride's handmade shawl that her mother knitted (although I'm sure you all will agree that this was the sort of touch it's hard not to say, "Awweee..." about...).Luckily, there was one detail that I'm sure all you car guys reading this will love. After the ceremony, the bride and groom left in a breathtaking 1931 Packard sedan - with the bride driving. The Packard belongs to her father, who has treated it to a meticulous restoration.
All in all, it was a very lovely wedding. And we got to see a very pretty town, New England's famous fall foliage, and, of course, a very impressive car.Philip and Amanda, I wish you the best of luck in your marriage.
Labels: Cool Cars
