Say a 1963 build for the 1964 racing season to be compe***ive with the intent of winning the division. What did they use back then? How does that differ from today's nostalgia AA/ cars.
I would say about the same as Rich,but for AA/GS I would guess a welded stroker would probably be part of the plan too,something to get you into the upper 400ci range.Boxed stock rods, 6-71 on a Weiand or M/T manifold,Hilborn 4-port with an Isky 550 Super LeGerra roller cam,Mondello heads,B&M HydroStick trans.... That early on you'd still be seeing a lot of stock "Firepower" valve covers as well I suspect,with the Donovan and M/T covers becoming huge later. Scott Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
This shot is from '63, it's powered by an Olds with a B&M Hydro. The owner (Wayne Harry) teamed up with Jack ****rod the following year, and they switched to Chrysler power. As far as the current nostalgia A/GS, there are still some correct looking cars running on the east coast, but they run on alcohol.
Definitely aftermarket pistons like a JE,and I believe Chet Herbert was grinding rollers all the way back to '58,but I could be having a brain cramp....lol Scott Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I know there were quite a few surprisingly stock motors sunning around too though....Some guys were of the school of thought:"why sink money into a motor that's just going to be beat to death and blow up eventually anyway?" I've heard of guys running stock shortblocks because they could put a few pounds of boost to the low compression motors without hurting them,but I definitely doubt you would see it in the higher-dollar cars at the top end of the cl***. Scott Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Although I do have a completely stock,unported 392 Hemi head at home that is O-ringed,so I think somebody was making all their power the cheap way,either with tons of boost,or with a high percentage of nitro (obviously not in a Gas cl*** car). Scott Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Ok,well guys I'm running what I think is a vintage AA/GAS motor in my Hemi J. It's a 392 Hemi with 4 bolt mains, Cast iron heads with bigger valves, magnesium intake,gm 6-71 blower and delta drive and a Hilborn 4 port which I decided not to run so I just used carbs since it's just a street rod! It had a 1/2" stroked crank with alum. Rods and pistons but the crank was cracked ,that ****ed big time!!!!
Yes, they did. Had one in my RPU in '61. Chet Herbert designed and ran the first one in the mid 50's in his LSR streamliner. Definitely not stock pistons in g***er engines. Forged True, or Venolia because they were the best, and the engines were not stock bore.
they had good gas and also mixed their own ****tails called gas, now alcohol is cheaper more forgiving and the cars run cooler
Dean: Thanks for jumping in on this thread and throwing in some firsthand knowledge. I've been reading old magazines obsessively for 30 years and memorizing every detail of the cars that I could,but it's a far cry from actually being there and participating. Guys like you are the link to the glory days for the young guys just getting into vintage Rods and racecars. Scott Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The high-dollar guys (Stone, Woods, & Cook, Mazmanian, K.S. Pittman, Jack Merkel, etc.) ran big motors, because you could stretch a gas motor (over 450" in some cases) more than you could a nitro motor, and good heads (Mondello seemed to do a lot of g***er motors). And yes, roller cams (Dean is right, Chet Herbert started grinding roller cams around '53, I think). But I think that the "cam war guys" were running flat tappets (SWC, Maz)...but others may know better.
Dean i could be wrong but they were running Harley knuckle head roller lifters in flathead fords way back
According to a September 1964 magazine feature the Mazmanian Willys was running 467 cubic inches of Chrysler with a Reath Automotive crank Milodon main support girdle, Venolia pistons, Grant rings, and Don boxed rods. Mondello worked heads and Iskenderian experimental cam and hydraulic tappet with 2&1/8 inch Donovan valves. GMC puffer overdriven 20% with an Isky 3" drive the Hilborn injected Chrysler put out 824 HP (dyno tested) according to the article.
Howard had a roller in 58 for SBC with square pushrods to hold lifters straight,, then went to a square keystock type bar in the lifter oil galley to control the lifters,, lots of problems. This morfed into the wrenches to control lifters about 59 or 60.
True, I ran Harley rollers in my Ardun after wiping out the Herbert rollers, and finding out from Chet himself that "we haven't made those since '54," or something like that. They were slightly larger than the Herbert rollers but I just adjusted the valves accordingly...
The Jalopy Journal
