The LSA and spacer comparison is something me and my buddies don't recall seeing on a big-block; it seems to have always been done on a small-block. So this could be new for a huge number of readers. Thanks for considering something a little bit new that has real street/strip merit.
Rick Jackson
Via e-mail
That's a stout powerplant, and we're already in the planning stages with this build. To make things even more interesting, we'll stuff it in our Nov. '06 Hugger Orange '71 Nova cover car and hit the track to see what it'll churn on the quarter-mile. Stay tuned!
Have something you want to share? Did we do good or did we blow it? Drop us a line at chevyhi@primedia.com.
For Speed
Bob Mehlhoff
It happened again last week. I made a trip to a chain auto-parts store for nothing more than a relatively common part. Once in the parking lot I remembered the fun I used to have going into a little auto-parts store years ago called Erickson Auto Parts in Canoga Park, California. This was during the '80s, and if you were a car guy then in the west San Fernando Valley you made a regular habit of asking Bruce or his dad Jim Erickson for auto parts. After you visited for a short while and explained what you needed they'd go down an aisle, bring the part back, and lay it on the counter. They'd almost never need to look up the part number.
But that was 20 years ago. Today I needed a headlamp for my '67 Chevelle. Because this Chevelle is now about 40 years old, the hanging catalog in the parts aisle did not have the number I needed. And although I was relatively certain it was a 5006 headlamp, I thought I'd still double-check with the counter person. So I asked the very polite guy in the bright shirt, "Yes, could I please have the part number for a low-beam Halogen headlamp for a '67 Malibu?" After looking at his on-counter monitor he asked, "Is that an Oldsmobile?" "No" I answered, "it's a Chevrolet." Then I thought, OK, give him a break; he's only about 20 and this car is 40 years old. Then he hit me with the question I can't stand: "What size engine does it have?" Of course any real car guy understands that this is a totally meaningless question regarding a headlamp for most models.
I had some time to spare, so I replied, "It does not have an engine in it." His eyes grew wide, and he said, "If I don't have the engine information we can't go any further." I told him that maybe we should just guess. "No," he replied. "It makes a difference on your model car." So I suggested we look up all the engines and see what the choices were. He agreed and told me that all the headlamp part numbers for all those engines for a '67 Chevelle were the same and that the one I needed was a 5006.
Unfortunately, today there's no such thing as Erickson Auto Parts; it closed in 1988. Today it seems there's just the big chain places that have everything you'll ever need. Just bring your own knowledge.
If you are under 25 years old and own a cool Chevy-whether it's new, old, or a work-in-progress-we want to see it. Send or e-mail your prints and hi-res (1,500-pixels wide minimum) photos to: Young Guns, Chevy High Performance, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048; chevyhi@primedia.com.
Oversteer
John Nelson
Lately, I've been trying to resist the freebie. "My God, man," I hear you cry out. "Why would you do that?" Indeed, I have to ask it of myself. It's not hard to deduce why. By its very nature, a freebie is free. It's given to me, and I pay nothing for it-how can that be a bad thing?
On the surface, it probably isn't. Even if the item isn't cool, who cares? It's free! But we all know it's not as simple as that. The most basic problem is, where the hell am I going to put all this stuff? Like many of you, I don't have unlimited storage space. The area that is currently filled with no less than six 16-gallon storage bins packed with Corvette T-shirts could certainly be put to better use, couldn't it?