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contents hotrod.com hot rods 28 11 trans am feature stories 36 lingenfelter lta 52 the power tour® challenge 38 challenger daytona 40 31 ford roadster 58 the golden greek 42 c6 68 camaro 46 willys srt8 48 road race el camino on the cover 50 427 sunbeam tiger cone-crushing action from the optima ultimate street car invitational see page 14 wes allison found the beauty light to shoot trans am depot s camaroturned-trans am we shot it at spring mountain motorsports ranch in pahrump nevada the hot rod staff walked around the sema show and picked out 26 vehicles that we liked then challenged them to come on the 10 power tour® these are them think they ll show up chris karamesines is more than 80 years old and yet he still pilots an nhra top fuel dragster here s his story hot rod march 2010 3 www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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contents hotrod.com tech 64 converting the ls7 from wet to dry-sump departments 8 rampant march of performance technology starting line the 10 holeshot a shameless plug for another magazine the gm ls7 is a remarkable engine that makes big power but its dry-sump oiling system adds complexity for an engine swap we show how to convert it to a wet-sump and test the power difference if any 70 latest nitrous trick 76 tfs ford heads 82 what s new in brake pads testing trick flow s new fast as cast small-block ford heads versus its cnc versions nano stands for nitrogen-assisted nitrous oxide and it s a bolt-on that regulates bottle pressure for more consistent performance 12larson runs 6s plusat random roddin some pro touring action larry 22 where it all began the sema show the early years 94headlights toand tunecar test a complete road race from 100 pit stop ever wonder who did the first official burnout we do a deep dive on the world of performance brake pads and explain the differences in materials applications and more 112cars and power tour® hot rod world of of pedal 114new street machine next month coming foose s could this be your new trans am see page 28 4 march 2010 hot rod www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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get more for your street machine summit racing equipment has more of what you want you get guaranteed low prices on millions of in-stock parts from over 700 brand name manufacturers fast delivery and no-hassle special ordering plus expert advice from the industry s largest tech staff and the best customer service on the planet adjustable ball joints keyword qa1 ball joints as low as elastomer harmonic dampers ancers r bal keyword tci elastome as low as each street strip premium racing engine oil oil keyword premium racing as low as stock appearing ns replacement oil papans keyword stock appearing as low as $32 39 $13895 each $5 95 quart $109 95 each summitracing.com · sales 1.800.230.3030 international 00.1.330.630.0230 · tech 1.330.630.0240 prices good through march 1 2010 we ll beat any price advertised in this magazine on items in stock at the time you place your order mail to p.o box 909 dept 1003hr akron oh 44309 · typographical errors and errors in description or photography are subject to correction ©2010 autosales inc www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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hotrod@hotrod.com editorial editor-in-chief david freiburger editor rob kinnan managing editor kristen prescott senior technical editor marlan davis copy editor michelle mccarthy hotrod.com editor glen wilkinson art direction and design art director edwin alpanian photo editor taylor le director of photography randy lorentzen contributors detroit editor bill mcguire the performance group on the web www.carcraft.com www.chevyhiperformance.com www.corvettefever.com www.hotrod.com www.moparmusclemagazine.com www.modifiedmustangsandfords.com www.mustangmonthly.com www.50mustangandsuperfords.com subscription services email hotrodmagazine@emailcustomerservice.com call 800/800-4681 386/447-6385 international or write to hot rod p.o box 420235 palm coast fl 32142-0235 please include name address and phone number on any inquiries for change of address six weeks notice required send old as well as new address to hot rod p.o box 420235 palm coast fl 32142-0235 occasionally our subscriber list is made available to reputable firms offering goods and services we believe would be of interest to our readers if you prefer to be excluded please send your current address label and a note requesting to be excluded from these promotions to source interlink media llc 831 s douglas st el segundo ca 90245 attn privacy coordinator back issues to order back issues log onto www.simbackissues.com or write to source interlink media back issues 2900 amber lane corona ca 92882 cost $7.50 each plus $3 shipping and handling please specify which magazine and issue date if this is not specified your check/money order will be returned to you allow 3 4 weeks for delivery advertising information please call hot rod advertising department at 310/5319183 related publications include 4-wheel off-road four wheeler jp super street eurotuner rod custom circle track 5.0 mustang super fords mustang monthly modified mustangs fords corvette fever mopar muscle car craft and chevy high performance reprints contact wright s reprints at 877/652-5295 281/419-5725 outside the u.s and canada to purchase quality custom reprints or e-prints of articles appearing in these publications copyright 2010 by source interlink magazines llc all rights reserved printed in the u.s.a advertising publisher jerry pitt marketing manager jenny schmitz account executive brian cox account executive bob mehlhoff advertising coordinator monica strock publisher s assistant mimi hirata west los angeles 831 s douglas st el segundo ca 90245 mark dewey scott timberlake 310/531-9900 placentia 774 s placentia ave placentia ca 92870 714/939-2559 east new york 261 madison ave new york ny 10016 adam mayerson 212/915-4405 craig mura 212/9154406 north detroit 31700 telegraph road suite 250 bingham farms mi 48025 joe didato 248/594-5999 midwest chicago 500 n dearborn suite 1100 chicago il 60610 glenn bucher 312/396-0606 southeast tampa 9036 brittany way tampa fl 33619 brit white 813/675-3479 southwest dallas 3117 saint croix dr dallas tx 75229 steve arndt 214/904-9811 performance automotive group sr vp group publisher doug evans vp group publisher howard lim vp sales operations warren kosikov group operations director amy diamond senior operations director pauline atwood officers of source interlink companies inc chairman and ceo gregory mays president and coo james r gillis president source interlink distribution alan tuchman chief financial officer marc fierman general counsel cynthia l beauchamp source interlink media llc chief operating officer chris argentieri sr vp chief creative officer alan alpanian sr vp chief revenue and marketing officer brad gerber sr vp business development jacqueline blum sr vp manufacturing and production kevin mullan vp finance colleen artell digital president digital media greg goff sr vp digital john cobb consumer marketing source interlink media llc sr vp single copy rich baron vp circulation planning and operations arlene perez consumer marketing enthusiast media subscription company inc vp consumer marketing tom slater msc 800/812 www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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when it comes to cars you know what you like and you speak the language so why waste your knowledge and passion on a career that isn t up to speed the time to change your life is now ­ with automotive technician training from uti learn engine modification and optimization in our power performance course get the hands-on training you crave learn from instructors with real-world experience get assistance starting your career from a school that has over 90 job placement for the period 10/1/06 to 9/30/07 uti had 12,294 total graduates including manufacturer specific training program graduates of which 11,817 were available for employment of these available 10,108 were employed at the time of reporting for a total of 90.6 uti is the industry s choice for automotive technician training and could be your connection to a career don t wait another day call 800.311.8343 or visit uti.edu and start training for a career msc 800/812 programs vary by location financial aid and va benefits available to those who qualify uti cannot guarantee employment www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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the new office i miss my old view in this month s roddin at random you can read in detail how larry larson our twotime drag weektm champion ran a 6.93 pass in his 3,400-pound street car wow a 6.93 at 211 mph in a car i ve ridden in and did donuts in too and personally witnessed drive more than 1,000 miles on public roads just un-frigging-believable it got me thinking about the old days when hot rod started the fastest street car thing with the original memphis fsc shootout in the early 90s the fastest pro street cars of the day were running low 8s and we were totally shocked when the super street cars then on real 10.5-inchwide tires cracked the 9-second barrier the big news of the day was when monte berney ran the first 7-second pass in his 55 chevy as we all know that scene especially the pro street part of it snowballed out of control to the point that the cars have become full-on race cars and the street part of pro street drag racing became a punch line still it s interesting to look back on that 7.99 from berney s 55 and remember how big a deal it was then consider that larson has topped that by a full second with a car that is about 1,000 percent more streetable true larry had race gas in the tank for the money pass but when the event was over he pumped in 92-octane and went cruising the vegas strip the same roddin item mentions tim lynch s astounding 6.40-at-225-mph pass on 10.5w tires another shot heard round the drag racing world today s 10.5 tires are in reality waaaaaay wider than 10.5 inches and one can never confuse lynch s full-race mustang as a street car but it s twin-turbo monster motor makes well north of 2,000 hp probably closer to 3,000 without alcohol or nitro that just wasn t possible 20 years ago in recent years we ve witnessed the fast cars and even the horsepower of the average hot rod progress to levels that were unheard of not that long ago remember when 500 hp was a lot for a street motor building a 500hp motor is as easy as falling out of a tree now similarly a legitimate 10-second street car used to be considered really fast today if you have a 5.0 mustang and you re not running 10s well you re just not trying that hard it also seems like this progression of power and speed has moved forward a lot quicker in the past 10 years than it did in all the years prior how there are several factors first is cylinder head technology guys were using stock cast-iron heads even into the mid 80s but today s selection of aftermarket and even factory heads is full of killer options for whatever you want to build there are also affordable blocks stroker cranks and quality pistons available so the average hot rodder can build a big-inch engine if he wants to back in the day a 632 was huge but it s not that rare anymore thanks to the aftermarket s supply of quality affordable parts then there s boost especially in the form of turbochargers turbos have been around forever but they were never accessible to the common guy today you can go on ebay and buy a turbo kit for your car and it s not that hard to find a tuner to dial it in for you one thousand horsepower on the street it s not that hard anymore you also have to credit electronics with much of the progress electronic fuel injection provides such infinite control over tuning that it s the standard but you also have electronic timing controls data loggers and other such things that are within the reach of you and me whereas they used to be the tools of only the most well-funded race teams my big question is where do we go from here it s normal to think we might be nearing the limit of what street cars and race cars can do but then we thought that back in 1993 when monte put the 7 on the board i doubt we ll ever see a 5-second street car but i d love to be proven wrong rob kinnan email me hotrod@hotrod.com 8 march 2010 hot rod www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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nobody makes more ls horsepower new race technology adapted to make most powerful ls camshafts ever over three years in development the lsrtm series from comp cams® is a new lineup of hydraulic roller camshafts featuring the industry s most advanced lobe designs for popular gm ls engine single three-bolt applications designed specifically for radical street performance and all-out race applications these aggressive profiles take full advantage of today s newer and better flowing aftermarket cathedral and rectangular port ls cylinder heads they feature higher exhaust duration and overall lift making them the right choice for engine builders looking for the most advanced cam designs you can purchase in an off-the-shelf cam and with the broadest powerband and most top-end power of any ls cams ever created the lsrtm series will jump start the bragging rights of ls engine owners everywhere put them to the test in your ls1 -2 -3 -6 -7 -9 lsa and you will never use anything else #26925 valve spring ideal for most high lift hydraulic and some solid roller ls cams this durable valve spring design offers great high rpm valve train control 1.320 o.d .680 i.d drop-in installation and a .660 max lift #26926 valve spring premium springs that feature cutting-edge design processes developed specifically for aggressive lsrtm cam series key specs include micropeened finish 1.320 o.d .654 i.d and .675 max lift ultra pro magnumtm these innovative rocker arms 1.8 ratio 3/8 stud offer studmounted adjustability for ls1 -2 -6 and ls3 -9 -92 lsa engines arched web-like steel design offers added rigidity and spring clearance short travel lifters patent-pending short travel race hydraulic roller lifters offer limited internal piston movement for increased engine rpm available in captured link bar retro-fit and oe drop-in style for all ls engines engineered to finish first www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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there s me in the freshly emptied photo archive room at the old office on wilshire boulevard warning this column is a glaring sales pitch for a magazine called hot rod deluxe i can justify this gratuitous promotion of my own product because it s extra neato not because of me but because of the work of many before me who created the documentation of hot rodding s history that we publish in every issue of deluxe hrd is the magazine about nothing but retro-related topics from the 40s and 50s with a smidge of early 60s it s not rat rods tattoos weirdo art or rockabilly it s all cars and legacy best of all there are loads of vintage photos in every issue which is what prompted me to write this column if you ve read closely over the past couple of issues of hrm you know our company moved out of the hollywood area for the first time in hot rod s history and this issue is the first one produced at our new office space in el segundo california as part of the move musclecar review editor drew hardin and i were charged with relocating the magazine s photo archive and research library the company began to document and store all its film in 1955 a process that created a pristine decades-long record of the american hobbies covered by robert e petersen s magazines hot rodding custom car building skin diving hunting and even teeny-bopper interests that began to fall apart in 1993 when the archives moved from the sunset boulevard office in hollywood to the nearby wilshire boulevard building the archive was gutted to make for an easier move and was never fully put back in order in 1997 after petersen sold the publishing company the new owner right-sized the photo lab and the archive suffered more blows by the time we moved out of wilshire last month photos were scattered all over the high-rise the great news is that relocation forced us to do something about the mess and drew and i mustered the archive into better order than it s seen in at least 10 years in the process we discovered hundreds of photos that had been lost to disorganization or poor filing incredible historic images were found crammed into boxes with otherwise useless garbage irreplaceable negatives were recovered from under filing cabinets and shelves and so on which brings me back to hot rod deluxe i try to deliver lots of old photos in every issue but the mar 09 issue is truly a standout triumphantly packed with 30-plus pages featuring an eclectic mix of those formerly lost photos it s a must-see while that issue is extra special the thing that s regularly fantastic about hrd is that every issue seems to connect a lost car with an old owner or reveal the history of an unknown car after it comes to light in a previously unpublished photo the company launched deluxe thinking it would be big with the new wave of retro hipsters but the truth is that it has mostly hit home with the audience of graybeards and pioneers who are reliving their glory days with every issue they give us the stories behind many cars and people we can t identify and i could not be more thrilled people email frequently to ask for a list of all the hrd issues that have been published so here it is the first one was dated spring 2008 then the magazine quickly went into regular production with cover dates every other month starting in may 2008 that does not count two issues with the same name that were produced in 1999 but that are very different from the current iteration of hot rod deluxe if you missed an issue try to buy one at www.simbackissues.com or on ebay hot rod deluxe is only available on the newsstand bimonthly while readers constantly beg us for subscriptions they are unlikely to be offered for financial reasons the extra-bitchin mar 09 issue that i ve described in this column goes on sale january 26 if you have trouble finding one at a convenience store try a local bookstore future issues go on sale every other month between the 25th and the 30th check it out david freiburger email me hotrod@hotrod.com 10 march 2010 hot rod www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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send stuff in email hotrod@hotrod.com· mail hot rod 831 s douglas st el segundo ca 90245 photo requirements minimum size 1,600 x 1,200 pixels message board hotrod.com street car records set november was a wild month for the entire street car drag racing scene as records were set in jawdropping performances at the top of the list is hot rod drag weektm hero and two-time winner larry larson and his 66 nova which we incorrectly identified as a 67 in the jan 09 issue the smack talk about being the first drag weektm car to run in the 6s was hot and heavy before the 09 drag week with the front runners being larson and jeff lutz larson ran as quick as 7.25 during drag weektm while lutz broke but at the super street nationals in las vegas larson ripped off a string of 6-second passes the quickest being a 6.93 at a screaming 211 mph then drove the car into vegas and through downtown how cool is that the other big record set in vegas was a stunning 5.98 at 243 mph by cory rabon in his 07 mustang pro mod car then there was the shakedown at englishtown old bridge township raceway park in new jersey intentionally held in the fall when the air is cool and the density altitude is similar to a mine shaft the big news was former hot rod top 10 tim lynch s mustang also tuned by steve petty breaking the 10.5w tire record with a 6.40 at 225 mph just as impressive were the identical 6.89-at-210-mph runs of dave hance and alex vrettos on mickey thompson drag radials finally in nitrous pro mod jim halsey was first to the 5s in 2008 and in 2009 he went 5.86 at 243 mph to reclaim the record halsey s car runs a fulton competition 870ci powerplant with four stages of nitrous michael galimi jim halsey s camaro was built by tim mcamis race cars 12 march 2010 hot rod www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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larry larson did what we expected him to running in the 6s with his true street-driven car it didn t happen during drag weektm however so technically the first 6-second drag weektm pass is still open territory still cory rabon s mustang ran in the 5s with this steve petty­built 670ci monster wow tim lynch does it again running 6.40 on 10.5w tires photos michael galimi hot rod march 2010 13 www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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photos wes allison and david freiburger the overall winner proved to be bruce cambern s entry which is believed to be the last original-owner 427 cobra other than shelby s personal car we love that he flogged it so hard and destroyed the muscle cars in on-track performance optima pro touring invitational goes big here s a drama that s been interesting to follow especially as filtered through our experiences with founding the original fastest street car shootout way back in 1992 this time the event is the optima ultimate street car invitational and it stands to have a similar impact on the industry as the old hot rod street car series but in the world of pro touring rather than drag racing we were there for the second running of the optima invitational at pahrump nevada s spring mountain motorsports ranch this past november 7 immediately following the sema show and it was nothing short of impressive in no time at all the event has grabbed the attention of the aftermarket and top car builders the event included 40 cars selected by the optima batteries team plus a handful of exhibition cars to participate in a competition involving the bfgoodrich open track challenge the ridetech autocross challenge and the baer brakes speed stop 0-60-0 there were also points awarded for style as judged by a team of four gearhead car designers therein lies the rub this year an original-owner 427 cobra absolutely owned all the driving competitions especially embarrassing every other car at the autocross but at first it was not named as the overall winner to the credit of optima and organizer fm3 performance marketing a glitch in points tabulation was remedied in the week following the event and the cobra was announced the champion but not before a number of message boards and industry insiders were buzzing about the injustice of it all the few days of confusion had the naysayers coming out of their seats we felt we were back in the fsc days as we started to hear the claims of that s not a real street car against the cobra some say it was too loud others screamed it should not have been allowed since it was 1,000 pounds lighter than the muscle cars or because it s a sports car or because it has fewer aftermarket parts than the other entries and so on on the other side of the argument people accused the optima team of intentionally harpooning the cobra the invitational is scored based on cumulative elapsed time in the driving challenges plus the points scored for design which are 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst in practice the show judges score the cars from 1 to 100 then divide by 10 to give a final score in seconds that s added to the tally a show score of 87 becomes an 8.7-second penalty it s the division that was missed the first time leading to the faulty ranking that was subsequently corrected even so it s easy to see that the only way for a car to win with a 10-point design score is to be 9 seconds faster in the driving competitions than the next closest car with a field of very good cars the gap in on-track performance is much tighter than 9 seconds so a poor design score almost guarantees a loss here s us adding to the noise we d like to see the design score factored down significantly to put the emphasis on performance and to highlight the parts from the aftermarket manufacturers so the likes of say detroit speed engineering and its test car camaros are not ousted because they have some pebble rash that s just one thought in a very large sea of opinion the other thing that has come from this year s invitational is a cry from spectators and competitors that the cars should really be street driven to compete again shades of fastest street car woes in this case we don t see any of these pro touring cars having any problem on public roads but if optima does add a caravan from las vegas to pahrump as is rumored it would be neat to see the fact that people are talking about it so much and caring so deeply reveals that optima has smacked a homer with the ultimate street car invitational the growing pains are a small chink in a program that will get ironed out to most people s satisfaction and the invitational will be bigger and more important next year for more watch www.optimainvitational.com david freiburger 14 march 2010 hot rod www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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t voelk blast event sponsor breusual and taking 10th place while having anissan re thrashing his el of ridetech was the velocity camaro as telli in an exhibition rade lap by jr grana he s chased on the pa shop 70 chevelle ster gtr and by the road the invitational was a tru e test of steering and those problems and cooling systems the off-track excursi ons 17 cars did not fin between ish steven rupp of camaro performers magazine was floored when his bad penny camaro was initially announced as the event winner rupp was vocal about something not adding up and very gracious about the quick correction in the results bad penny won the inaugural invitational last year photo steven rupp detroit speed engineering had a strong showing with ryan matthews driving the company s 69 camaro test car to a second place finish and kyle tucker wrangling the dse 70 camaro into fifth overall hot rod s rob kinnan intended to compete with the factory five 33 race rod but hit the dirt in the first turn much to the enjoyment of the competing magazines in attendance the damage to the race rod looks way worse than it is hero mark stielow nabbed third overall in the jackass 69 camaro he built for charlie lillard see jackass hrm sept 09 hot rod march 2010 15 www.storemags.com www.fantamag.com

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