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Going for walks, seeing some cool cars.
- Thread starter Nedmundo
- Start date
It's a shame nobody offers houndstooth interiors anymore...
My brother and I went in on a '72 Chevelle Malibu. We put E-T mags on it; IIRC, it was purely because they were cheaper than Cragars.
Nice!
I used to own a '72 Malibu.
Red with a black vinyl roof.
My dad bought it new in 1972, then when he passed, it became mine.
A very nice car, but they have a tendency to rot behind the rear wheels.
The memories!
I used to own a '72 Malibu.
Red with a black vinyl roof.
My dad bought it new in 1972, then when he passed, it became mine.
A very nice car, but they have a tendency to rot behind the rear wheels.
The memories!
Ours had a dark green vinyl roof.Nice!
I used to own a '72 Malibu.
Red with a black vinyl roof.
My dad bought it new in 1972, then when he passed, it became mine.
A very nice car, but they have a tendency to rot behind the rear wheels.
The memories!
The car badly needed a paint job, and we actually sanded the whole car by hand before having it professionally painted metallic green.
I had a '72 also 307ci. Mine had a tendency to have the passenger door open, dumpming passengers out of the car. It only happened once though......Nice!
I used to own a '72 Malibu.
Red with a black vinyl roof.
My dad bought it new in 1972, then when he passed, it became mine.
A very nice car, but they have a tendency to rot behind the rear wheels.
The memories!
My 70 Camaro was silver with houndstooth. Loved that car.
Mine had a 350 two barrel carburetor, but it was an 010 block.
It was a 4 bolt main racing block that Chevy put low compression heads on it when all the smog laws went into effect in 1972.
A mechanic buddy of mine told me this.
He knew someone that wanted my block, and would have traded me a 200 horsepower 307 engine.
I didn't take him up on the deal; I should have.
My smogger engine was 145 horsepower, the 307 was 200.
I wasn't interested in racing.
My car was reasonably fast for a regular car, but the idea of having an extra 55 horses was intriguing.
The folly of youth.
C'est la vie.
Mike
It was a 4 bolt main racing block that Chevy put low compression heads on it when all the smog laws went into effect in 1972.
A mechanic buddy of mine told me this.
He knew someone that wanted my block, and would have traded me a 200 horsepower 307 engine.
I didn't take him up on the deal; I should have.
My smogger engine was 145 horsepower, the 307 was 200.
I wasn't interested in racing.
My car was reasonably fast for a regular car, but the idea of having an extra 55 horses was intriguing.
The folly of youth.
C'est la vie.
Mike
Wow, my 350 2 barrel in my '71 Firebird Formula 350 made 270hp. Of course that was in PA, no smog control. I thought I got cheated because I didn't have the 4 barrel, but I didn't want to pay the additional insurance costs. Only 145hp out of a 350? You really got robbed!
010 was the most popular block produced by Chevy...... the full casting number was 3970010 and it was produced in both two and four bolt main configuration from 1968 ish thru 1979. There was one point that I had at least a dozen 010 blocks in my garage..... today I'm down to two.
Note that of the five main bearing caps, only the middle three would be four bolt, the outer caps were two bolt on all 010 blocks. And honestly, if you're pounding main bearings out of a Chevy smallblock, it's a detonation problem and not a lack of main bolts.
A two bolt block converted to studs vs bolts is plenty strong enough for 500 HP.
And you're correct about the compression drop of '72. By the time the height of the smog era (circa 1976) the mighty 350 in the flagship Corvette produced maybe 125 wheezing horsepower.......
But then again, Horsepower sells cars and torque wins races.
Yeah, Mike, the guy who wanted to swap engines with me wanted it for a racecar, the same class as Bill Jenkins. I forget which class that was.
I am not a mechanic, but I did hang around with a friend who was a naturally gifted mechanic, as in he could take apart anything and put it back together correctly.
His name was, Joe, and he went on to be a UPS truck mechanic.
So, I learned a lot from helping him.
He was mainly a Mopar guy, so I was exposed to a lot of 340, 383 and 440 builds.
I'll tell the story of how he blew a 440 engine in a '66 Charger he bought.
Then, there were these two other guys in the neighborhood:
Dave and Wally.
Dave had a '57 Corvette into which he shoehorned a 427.
Wally had a 70 or 71 Hemi Roadrunner. Gold with a black vinyl top.
I'm handy, but no master mechanic, but I was very lucky to be around these guys in my late teens.
Also, I used to built hundreds of scale model kits: Airplanes, battleships and tanks.
But the one kit that made me really understand internal combustion engines was, The Visible V-8.
I will tell the 440 engine disaster story soon.
Mike
I am not a mechanic, but I did hang around with a friend who was a naturally gifted mechanic, as in he could take apart anything and put it back together correctly.
His name was, Joe, and he went on to be a UPS truck mechanic.
So, I learned a lot from helping him.
He was mainly a Mopar guy, so I was exposed to a lot of 340, 383 and 440 builds.
I'll tell the story of how he blew a 440 engine in a '66 Charger he bought.
Then, there were these two other guys in the neighborhood:
Dave and Wally.
Dave had a '57 Corvette into which he shoehorned a 427.
Wally had a 70 or 71 Hemi Roadrunner. Gold with a black vinyl top.
I'm handy, but no master mechanic, but I was very lucky to be around these guys in my late teens.
Also, I used to built hundreds of scale model kits: Airplanes, battleships and tanks.
But the one kit that made me really understand internal combustion engines was, The Visible V-8.
I will tell the 440 engine disaster story soon.
Mike
I wish there was a pic. I had that in 1974 or 75 and we didn't carry cameras around in our pockets in those days. I bought it in southern Cal and drove it cross country to Tampa, taking a couple of weeks. It didn't last long in Tampa before I totalled it.
I like 2nd gen Camaros too, and I think the 70 models are the best.
I thought I've heard them referred to as ET Slots, but the Ansen stuff seems like they pop up more. Thanks!
Mike, I knew that you're a gearhead from way back and I also remember a post from you 15 or so years ago about watching the races on Friday nights...... something about a silver Nova with the name "Hill Bros" on the side of the car and they cleaned up on every race.Yeah, Mike, the guy who wanted to swap engines with me wanted it for a racecar, the same class as Bill Jenkins. I forget which class that was.
I am not a mechanic, but I did hang around with a friend who was a naturally gifted mechanic, as in he could take apart anything and put it back together correctly.
His name was, Joe, and he went on to be a UPS truck mechanic.
So, I learned a lot from helping him.
He was mainly a Mopar guy, so I was exposed to a lot of 340, 383 and 440 builds.
I'll tell the story of how he blew a 440 engine in a '66 Charger he bought.
Then, there were these two other guys in the neighborhood:
Dave and Wally.
Dave had a '57 Corvette into which he shoehorned a 427.
Wally had a 70 or 71 Hemi Roadrunner. Gold with a black vinyl top.
I'm handy, but no master mechanic, but I was very lucky to be around these guys in my late teens.
Also, I used to built hundreds of scale model kits: Airplanes, battleships and tanks.
But the one kit that made me really understand internal combustion engines was, The Visible V-8.
I will tell the 440 engine disaster story soon.
Mike
Good times I'm sure and you probably had more street races in NYC than we ever had here on the Western NY end of the state..... but we had Carl McQuillen and his engine shop for the Fast Streetcar thing in the early 90's and Carl was a huge hitter then.
Myself and my guys got in on the ground floor of the Street Legal movement. Hot Rod Magazine issued a challenge in 92 for guys to bring their fast car to Memphis for a shootout. We showed up with an 82 Firebird that had a 467 cube BBC with Big Chief heads, single 4 barrel on a cast intake and the car weighed 3200 lbs with driver. All steel (minus the hood) full interior and real glass windows.
On a single stage of spray we went 8.20's @ 171 mph. Not bad for a car that did see street duty. We lost to the eventual winner (Rod Saboury) but we did get an award for being the most authentic street car, and we received TV and national magazine coverage for our efforts...... Not bad for a bunch of clowns in our 20's.
Memphis in the 90's.
Notice the "Winston" banner in the background.
