HQ holden Ute, Kermit frog green, painted underneath as well
350 9.5 deck height. Dart block. 18 degree Racer Pro heads and inlet
manifold
Jesel belt drive timing & rockers
Rear engine plate
2x T04Z turbos,
Tial wastegates
Alloy Auto Meter dash
Digital MSD box
Parcel shelf cut out for shelf behind seats
Full wheel tubs. 15 x 12 Weld wheels
Chrome moly adjustable 4-link
Competition Engineering 9-inch housing
Strange ultimate alloy centre. 4.88 pro gears, full spool
35-spline Moser axles. 5/8 comp studs
Alloy fuel tank, filler in tray
Twin spot commodore front brakes
ZH Fairlane, primer
460 cube engine stroked to 503. 1050 Dominator
C6 auto gearbox
RRS power rack & front struts
Alloy dash face Auto Meter gauges
Full chassis
Dual 3in exhaust
Full floating 9-inch diff
4-link suspension & Watts linkage
RRS 350mm front rotor & 8-spot calipers.
RRS 330mm rear rotor & 4-spot calipers
One-off 19x12 rims 10in dish. Very recognisable
Stainless fuel tank same shape as tubs between them
Very distinct car, everything hand made to body
Other parts Stolen
Full set white face Auto Meter gauges
One off stainless steel fuel tank
8 throttlebody EFI manifold suit cleveland
Chev 6/71 manifold
On the weekend I was lucky enough to tag along on a garage crawl/cruise/pub run. Organised by a couple of members of the Oz-E-Rodders Rod and Kustom Club, it was one of those really enjoyable low key days. We visited a couple of sheds in the morning, before a leisurely half hour cruise to a country pub for lunch. "It was a great day," explained Michael Kidd, who was one of the organisers. "It was a little of everything and not too much of anything".
Most readers will be familiar with Chad Taylor's previous ride. His wild little Series 1 Land Rover was a crowd favourite; both on the drag strip and at events like Summernats and Powercruise. It all came to a crashing end at Powercruise 12 however, when during the cruise, the wheel studs on the right rear wheel sheared off, wedging the tyre under the wheel tub and punting the little Landy straight into the concrete wall.
With the Landy a crumbled wreck in the shed, most would have walked away but Chad got straight back on the horse and bought Mal Gower's Austin A40 ute, which he was running in Supercharged Outlaws, as a roller.
With a mammoth team effort by Chad and some friends, the Landy was stripped and the damage assessed. All that was salvageable from the engine were the heads, the intake manifold, the blower and carbs, and the camshaft. Everything else including the block itself was bent and broken. Everything south of the engine, including the converter, gearbox and tail shaft, was also trashed.
A new Clevo short motor was screwed together by Morrie Wilkie from Newcastle, and shipped down to Canberra where the top end from the old Landy combo was bolted on. A new Powerglide was sourced and the whole show was stuffed into the little Austin. Some small alterations were needed to the chassis to make the Clevo fit where a small block Chevy once lived, so another mate Dan Konkoly was brought on board to make the necessary changes. He also made the zoomie exhaust headers while his TIG was warm.
While the mechanical work was taking place, Chad's apprentice Mitch fired up the spray gun and coated the previously immaculate blue and black Austin in Chad's signature 'Landy Green' paint.
Everything was finished off and fired up just in time to load onto the truck and make the haul to the Winternationals in Willowbank, QLD in June.
The car ran very well, running an 8.9 on the first pass, then two 8.7s after a bit of a tune up change. Once Chad felt comfortable in the car the boys put a bit more of a tune up in it and the little Austin reeled off an 8.51 at 153mph. Not too shabby at all for a brand new, untested combo.
With some further tuning the car should go a little bit quicker in the future, and Chad is even talking about stepping up the combo and moving to Supercharged Outlaws one day.
When we saw the pictures of Simon Major's VG Valiant, we couldn't help but love the American cop car style paint. Imagine our surprise when he told us it was painted with a vacuum cleaner in the backyard! "The vacuum cleaner sprayjob came about more out of necessity than anything else," he explained. "I don't have the funds for a professional job and I like to do as much as possible myself".
So what inspires a bloke to try painting a car with a vacuum cleaner? "I read in an old 60's Australian Hot Rod magazine that Eddie Ford painted his friends Ford with a vacuum cleaner gun so I figured it was a do-able process. I picked up a CIG 'Vacuum Cleaner' Easysprayer from a Swap Meet for $10," he told us. "It's cheap to do and owes me about $300 tops all up for all materials." Simon uses enamel paint, but lays it on nice and thick so he can cut it back to get a nice finish. The method isn't without it's quirks though, "I was laying the third coat onto the left rear door and stood on my vacuum cleaner paintgun hose, which choked the air supply and spewed out blobs of paint".
Simon is hoping to have the old girl finished for Mopar Sunday on July 27. Keep an eye out for it, it'll be the one with the 'Mopar County Sheriffs Dept.' signage.
The July issue of SM (on sale 18 June) has an awesome story on what goes on in a Top Fuel pit garage between rounds. You can check out an amazing stop-motion clip of the whole thrash here:
http://www.wheelsmag.com.au/wheels/a/BE6E7C4A18513138CA2574670009E727.html
Thanks to Simon Davidson for the camera and computer work, Perfect Sin for the tune, Craig Parker for bolting the yarn together and the whole Wicked Quick/Rocket team.
