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The only thing worse than being out on the trail with someone who isn’t prepared is when that someone is you! Being the guy borrowing tools to air down tires, the one without a tow-strap attachment point anywhere on his vehicle or bumming beers off us when the day of off-roading is done isn’t going to win you any friends. We’ll put one of the core unwritten rules in writing: bring the stuff you need to be self-sufficient.
How much stuff you need is dependent on what type of four wheeling you like to do and how frequently you break parts on your rig. But there are a few things that should be in every 4×4 every time. By doing so, it will completely remove unnecessary hassle and inconvenience forthe whole group. Don’t get us wrong, working together to overcome big challe
Read MoreWe love muscle cars. But some of the 40-year-old technology is a drag to live with, and some elements can take the fun out of driving yourclassic. One example is the exterior lighting. All muscle cars came with incandescent light bulbs of questionable wattage which can make driving at night frustrating and even a bit dangerous.
Your headlights remind you of driving a model T with gas lamps. They were dim and yellowish-brown in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, and they have grown dimmer since day one. These cars came with incandescent bulbs. They give off a warm yellowish light, and did you know that they grow dimmer with every use? The filaments decay when the lights are on, and bits of the metal flake off and float around in the headlight housing. Halogen headlights have a light
Read MoreNot long ago, changing your older muscle car over to a coil-over suspension meant big bucks and a lot of fabricating. This type of suspension was for race cars and serious street performance cars only. Not for the masses, and not for you. Today, thanks in part to a growing number of events that combine driving and racing — road racing, in particular — there are now a number of kits available that make converting to a coil-over suspension system much more feasible for owners of classic muscle cars.
Sometimes the stuff we dream about turns out to be a nightmare. Like chasing after that hot cheerleader only to realize that she’s high maintenance or the football coach in drag. That often can happen to us as we pursue components for our 4x4s that we think will make us the cool kid on the block, and can easily be the case with engine swaps. The search for more power, lighter weight and cool looks can be very costly, and being fully educated before you make up your mind on the right powerplant for your off roader is one of the smartest things youcan do.
Right now, the hottest engine swap people are talking about are GM LS engines. They’ve been around for more than 10 years, they can make sick horsepower and the most desirable versions are all aluminum, giving you a weight
Read MoreWhen we installed a 523hp Dart small-block in our 1968 Chevy Nova project car, we pulled the pin on the grenade that was the original rearaxle. While it was fun doing peg leg burnouts on the ancient tires our Nova came with, we’ve since stepped up to a pair of 255/40R17 NittoNT01s on the back. Horsepower and traction equal broken parts in between. So before we scattered the old 10-bolt axle, we decided to do the right thing and build a rear axle that will take the abuse.
If you read most enthusiast magazines, and especially the Chevy-only ones, you’d think that there isn’t a single person building a pre-1997 small-block Chevy any more. With the advent of the LS series of engines, you might believe the hype that everyone has abandoned their old-style engine in favor of retrofitting the newer generation of powerplant. Camshaft makers have chucked those cores on the back lot alongwith flathead Ford and Buick nailhead components. Block makers have smashed those casts and Gen I small block heads are little more than bulky door stops.
We’re here to say that the demise of the original small-block Chevy engine is greatly exaggerated. In fact, Comp Cams sells more Gen I camshafts than LS nearly two-to-one. Go ahead and pop the hood on your favori
Read MoreThere are three things necessary to have a running engine: fuel, spark and a sealed place for the fuel and spark to meet. We take for granted that the engine provides the place for controlled explosions, and the carburetor or fuel injection that provides the fuel is out there in the open for us to inspect. However, hat second part – spark – can be a bit illusive as we built our specialty car. There are hundreds of ignition products, but what do you really need in your application?
The undercarriage of a muscle car is something that no one looks forward to restoring. It’s not glorious work and no one admires the bottom of the floor plans like they do the topside paint, or the engine compartment or interior for that matter. And it can be downright difficult to do a decent job. But it’s also what sets a mediocre car apart from an extremely well done example.
Last year, 88,000 JKs were recalled for potential automatic transmission overheating. You might think that the fix was to install a transmission cooler or some other mechanical upgrade to better control the transmission temperature. Nope. When you roll into your dealership for the recall, they install a trans temp idiot light, and they instruct you to pull over and park your Jeep if that light ever comes on. Right.
For right around $50, we came up with a solution that we feel a whole lot better about: adding a Flex-a-lite transmission cooler.
As your project progresses from sheet metal repair to body work, one of the things that you’ll want to do is mock up the complete front end.All of that beautiful trim that adorns the front of most muscle cars needs to be carefully fitted at this stage so that you know that everything will fit together after the car is painted. This is especially true if you are changing any of the frontend sheetmetal or trim.
Most of the frontend on this car was replaced with reproduction pieces from National Parts Depot. The front fenders, inner fender wells, bumper, grille, headlight trim, fender eyebrow trim and hood trim are all new. That’s a lot of components that needed to get friendly with each other in order to look like one harmonious car when it all comes together.