Show and Go Fast

1967 Ford Custom 500

It was a rite of passage that turned Royce Glader into a Ford man. You see, in the neighborhood where he grew up in early ’60s North Dakota, when a boy reached a certain age, the guys in the surrounding blocks—which were comprised of a number of his relatives—lined up a Ford and a Chevy as teaching aids. They taught young Royce how the Ford engine was smaller and lighter but produced excellent power and was therefore more efficient. They showed him the safety features that might save his future family. They pointed out just how much faster the Ford could be. Yeah, there was some bias, but the passion of those elders spilled into the young man, which he has held onto for life.

As the last engine is crated up at the University of Northwestern Ohio, and the DTS/SuperFlow dyno carts are stowed away until next year, my thoughts turn to next year’s AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge. By the time you read this, we will have decided the rules for next year’s competition, but right now things are very much up in the air. Will we hold over the same successful format as 2011, or will we change it up to keep readers excited, and competitors inventive? It’s a win-win either way, but irrespective of that, I’m more stoked about who might submit an application, and what they might bring.

Sick Super Stallions

Fast Ford Features

Point blank, no Mustang in history can match what Ford will release this year as a 2013 model. We're talking about the next Shelby GT500, and with 650 hp, 600 lb-ft of torque, and a top speed of over 200 mph, this Dearborn destroyer will leave no question as to which Pony car is king.

All right 5.0 Nation. We're back with three lovely ladies vying for the crown of May 2012 Babe of the Month. After scouring our BOTM submission files, we came up with these three ladies for you to choose from.

All right 5.0 Nation. We're back with three lovely ladies vying for the crown of April 2012 Babe of the Month. After scouring our BOTM submission files, we came up with these three ladies for you to choose from.

All right 5.0 Nation. We're back with three lovely ladies vying for the crown of March 2012 Babe of the Month. After scouring our BOTM submission files, we came up with these three ladies for you to choose from.

Spend enough time comparing dyno sheets and you will begin to wonder why so little information is normally considered enough. In the real world, most numbers come with additional data, data that is necessary to make a full decision. For example, if we said "John has been on a diet for six months and hasn't lost any weight at all," you might assume that his diet is terrible. Of course, if we continued by saying, "but he gained 15 pounds of muscle mass, can now bench three times his body weight, and finished a half-marathon on his first try," you would get the full picture, proof that John's diet and exercise plan was working well. The same can be said for the dyno. For instance, if we said, "Installing the new intake manifold and cylinder heads only picked up five rear wheel horsepower," the natural reaction would be to think they weren't worth the money. Completing that sentence with, "however, looking at the datalogs showed a 3-psi drop in overall boost, a 35-degree drop in incoming air temperature and a slightly lean condition throughout the run," we would know that the new combination was actually much more efficient and capable of making significantly more power, assuming we could get the missing boost back and add enough fuel in the tune up to compensate for the increased airflow. You see, you can't ever go off horsepower and torque alone, they just don't tell enough of the story, which is why looking at and understanding datalogs is essential..

Above these words are two completely different cars, built for completely different purposes for two completely different owners. On paper, they don't sound anything alike. One features a 402 cubic-inch LSX block with a single turbocharger and the other has a stock cubic-inch LS1 stuffed under the hood that huffs nitrous from a single fogger kit. One car rides on drag radials, the other on a slick. Silver SS, Silver Z28. It's amazing then to consider that these two cars are actually extremely similar in personality and form, even though they differ so drastically in function. So similar, in fact, that even after spending hours around them, it's hard to tell each apart, even knowing the differences.

In a world of CNC-this and CNC-that, is it possible to build anything worth a buck using regular old cast aluminum and some quality design? It's a question the aftermarket has been trying to answer for years and one that until recently, no one had really seemed to get right. Sure, GM has had some great results with "as cast" cylinder heads in the past, but we're talking about bolt-on performance here, not just run of the mill factory stuff. Enter Racing Head Service (RHS) and the company's new line up of Pro Action "Clean Cast Technology" cylinder heads, which are being cast to improve horsepower without the cost, downtime and hassle of a CNC-ported competitor. According to RHS, these "LS cathedral port heads combine race-proven head design and Clean Cast Technology to create 'as cast' ports that flow like they've already been ported." With both a 205cc and 225cc version of the heads that cost just under 600-dollars apiece, the idea sounded great to us on paper and we knew it was a must-test piece for 2011.

January 21, Melbourne, FL

• Mopar Super Swap XIII is hosted by the Mopars of Brevard at the Wickham Park Pavillion in Melbourne Florida
• Mopar swap meet/car corral, car show with no judging, and a model car show. Additionally, we will be having Don Carltons Original Mopar Missile Duster and a special tribute to all of the winged warriors (Daytona's and Superbird's).
• Info: Jon Warner 321-635-8581, jwarner51@cfl.rr.com; Penny Anderson 321-727-1039; pander2211@aol.com

Technical Stuff

Technical Stuff