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Archives for May 2011

Book Review – GM LS-Series Engines: The Complete Swap Manual

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Engine swap book for performance enthusiasts.
The essential American performance engine title has changed hands a very few amount of times over the last 80 years. Without question, the Ford V-8 engine, also known as the Flathead, was the essential centerpiece of any V-8 hot rod beginning in 1932. With an overhead valve conversion by Ardun, the engine was able to make big power in a somewhat reliable fashion.

Chevy Small Block

In 1955 however, Chevrolet introduced what is now known as the Chevy small block. The small block, in a variety of sizes, ranging from 265 cubic inches to 400, has found its way into nearly every car through a variety of swaps, some easy, others ridiculous.

The small block, or Generation 1, lasted 48 years in production cars before being replaced by the LT series. Now the LS series, which includes Generation III and IV of the GM V-8 family, has taken over the performance industry as the engine of choice for just about anything. LS engines appear in several GM cars, most notably the Corvette, Camaro and CTS-V. However, the real popularity of the LS engine lies with the potential of swapping the motor into something else.

The engine swaps easily into many classics, especially muscle cars. An LS1 in a ’69 Camaro is probably more common than an original six cylinder, given the unpopularity of the original engine. The LS also swaps into pretty much any other car, if you have the time and lots of money. Mazda RX-7s, Nissan 240SXs and even Honda S200s have been given the LS engine as a powerplant. While the engine swaps relatively easily; there are still a variety of parts and factors that go into the process.

Complete Swap Manual

“GM LS-Series Engines: The Complete Swap Manual,” by Joseph Potak, provides a step by step guide to preparing the engine and car for an LS swap. While the LS engine remains one of the easiest engines to swap into a variety of cars, several parts must be obtained for its completion. From the oil pan to the wiring harness, there are multiple details required for a smooth swap.

The book opens with a very handy guide to the variety of GM V-8 engines that the LS series encompasses. It also explains the differences between the LS and the Vortec truck engines found in many GM products, including the automaker’s huge selling full size pickups. Since the Vortec engines share many components with LS engine, they can offer a more budget conscious alternative and produce similar results. Each engine in the family is listed along with the cars that it was available in. The included charts offer a great quick reference for someone looking for a suitable engine.

Detailed Swap Instructions

Once an engine is selected for a car, the swap process begins. The book offers comprehensive advice to ensure a smooth swap. When trading out engines for a vehicle, a number of small components must be obtained to ensure that the engine will fire once installed in the new vehicle. Wiring harnesses, engine mounts, fuel systems, cooling systems and transmission compatibility are the major areas of consideration. Nothing is worse than installing an engine and finding out you have to put more work into the fuel system to get it to run.

After the first chapter overview, the book breaks down the swap chapter by chapter. When mounting the motor, several intuitive tips can make the engine fit without hassle. The alternator placement on an LS1 from a 2004 Pontiac GTO and a 2002 Pontiac Firebird differs; therefore, using one over the other can leave different parts of the engine bay clear for other components. Transmission mounting can also be an issue, especially if the car receiving the swap is a non-GM vehicle. A third area of importance is the oil pan. The LS family has a dizzying variety of oil pans. Some dry sump pans from high performance Corvettes can lead to problems in other cars given their extreme width. Pictures of several LS oil pan options help determine the best fit.

Perhaps the most intimidating aspect of an LS swap, especially those experimenting with fuel injection for the first time, is the engine electronics. The snaking wires of an engine wiring harness can be quite intimidating. The book provides a step by step guide to installing the wiring in the correct places. It also provides an overview of popular aftermarket performance chips, sure to be popular in most swaps.

Swap Troubleshooting Guide

A troubleshooting guide at the back is a great feature for the inevitability of a completed swap that still won’t start. This handy guide can help the car get started for the first time and on its way to enjoyment. Another short chapter at the end provides a tease at the variety of performance upgrades that can be added. From superchargers to cams to nitrous oxide, a lot of fun is waiting to be had with a monster of a powerful engine. However, it would be a shame to get carried away and ruin a perfectly swapped engine. Still, the potential is there for a variety of cars and power levels as described in this comprehensive title.

Other Potak titles include “1993-2002 Camaro And Firebird Performance Handbook” and “How To Build And Modify GM LS-Series Engines.”

Resources

GM LS-Series Engines: The Complete Swap Manual; Joseph Potak; Motorbooks; 2011

“LS Engine Swap – LS6 Into 1970 Camaro”; Hot Rod; Marlan Davis; July 2007

See Also — Book Review — Dream Garages International

Are Pickup Trucks Really Gas Guzzlers? Myths vs Reality

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By Jason Lancaster

truck gas guzzlers
Toyota Tundra 2010

We’ve all heard that pickup trucks are some of the worst offenders when it comes to gas mileage. To hear the media tell it, pickup trucks are tremendous low-tech gas guzzlers that waste fuel in the worst possible way…but is this true? Is this another case of the media blowing a story out of proportion?

Let’s a take a look at some of the hard facts surrounding pickup truck fuel economy and see where the truth really lies:

Heavy vehicles do consume more fuel, but they do more work too

It’s true – pickups do burn more fuel than cars, but they’re also built for a different purpose. Where cars are simply commuter vehicles, trucks are all-purpose work vehicles.

Pickups are usually 20-50 percent heavier than a standard 3,000 pound automobile thanks to stronger frames, bigger engines and transmissions, and beefier components. This additional weight allows truck owners to haul or tow equipment, building and other materials for work. It also allows boat and recreational vehicle owners to go to the lake, camping and elsewhere.  Trucks do burn more gas, but they can do a lot more work than a car…which means comparing them directly to a car isn’t really accurate or fair.

Many trucks are technologically advanced when it comes to efficiency

Engine technology has also come a long way over the past few years, and the 2011 Ford F-150 with EcoBoost is a perfect example of a truck with advanced fuel economy technology. The vehicle’s twin-turbo V-6 engine offers 365 horsepower and 420 foot pounds of torque, which is enough power to do some serious hauling and towing. However, despite all this power, the EcoBoost F150 is rated at 16 mpg city and 22 mpg highway.

These full-size numbers are impressive considering that the much smaller and less capable 4 cylinder Toyota Tacoma compact pickup is rated at 21-mpg city and 25-mpg highway.

The point is, not all trucks are low-tech fuel wasters – many of them use the latest technology to try and improve efficiency as much as possible.

Trucks are singled out unfairly

Many members of the media lambast a full size truck with a big V-8 engine because it has a low fuel economy rating, but this same fact is true for a number of different vehicles. Exotic sports cars, for example, regularly have worse fuel economy ratings than pickups, as do full size luxury performance sedans. Yet how often are these vehicles singled out as gas guzzlers by the hand wringing media? The Bentley Arnage and a BMW M5 might drain its fuel tanks as fast as a quad-cab pickup, but most automotive experts are too busy blasting around the test track to stop and think about how wasteful these vehicles are.

Pickups might not get the best gas mileage, but they’re a heck of a lot more practical than an M5, aren’t they?

Sometimes, bigger trucks are more efficient

Many people assume that smaller pickups are more efficient, but this is often incorrect. If, for example, you need a truck for work, it often makes sense to buy the biggest truck you could possible need. The reason? If you buy as big as you could ever need, you’ll never be in a situation where you have to make two trips.

What’s the fuel economy benefit of driving a small truck if you have to make two or three trips to haul everything?

Pickups get a bad rap because some people use them inefficiently, but don’t throw stones

Is a big Toyota Tundra the perfect commute vehicle? No. Trucks aren’t supposed to be for commuting. If someone uses a big bad truck only as transportation – and not for any other purpose – they very well may deserve our collective ire. If these people could drive a more efficient vehicle, fuel costs might be lower, there might be less smog.

Of course, truck owners who only use their trucks to commute are no better or worse than people who waste electricity…or people who litter…or people who use energy to heat an empty home. Pickup truck owners who don’t use their vehicles for the intended purpose could definitely make a better vehicle choice, but none of us are perfect.

Pickup trucks get a lot of bad press for being inefficient, but the fact of the matter is that it’s not the pickups that are bad – it’s the people who use them wastefully. Let’s stop blaming the product and start changing the people.

See Also — Stout Truck: Toyota Tacoma 4×4 TRD Off-Road

Book Review – Porsche: A History of Excellence

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Automotive history books offer fascinating looks at the evolution of the ever important automobile. Books focusing on a single manufacturer show the design changes throughout the years, and each progressive generation demonstrates an improvement in refinement and looks. A book tracing the history of the Ford Motor Company, for instance, traces how we’ve ended up at a late model Taurus when we started with a Model T.

A History of Excellence

Porsche however, has an interesting position as an automaker whose most important car looks almost exactly the same now as it did 50 years ago. Yes, the 911 first hit the road in 1963 and looks like it does now, only slightly smaller. It’s not a tribute to the past either like the new Mustang, it’s the exact same lines. However, the technology behind the 911 and other Porsche models has come a very long way since the beginning of the company.

“Porsche: A History of Excellence” (Randy Leffingwell; Motorbooks; 2011) provides a penetrating look into the history of the one of the world’s most prestigious sports and race car manufacturers. We follow Ferdinand Porsche’s beginning as an engineer for Mercedes and designer of the Volkswagen Beetle to Porsche’s assent to its current position as a leading sports car maker.

The book features an excellent blend of text and clear photographs, tracing Porsche’s roots from 1930. That year, Ferdinand Porsche was fired from Mercedes after helping design a batch of winning racers earlier in the 1920s.

Daimler-Benz’s reason for firing him was that his designs were too expensive in the years after the stock market crash. He then designed the Volkswagen, at the behest of Adolf Hitler. After the war, this association would hurt Porsche’s attempts to restart his business as the French arrested him for war crimes and held him for 20 months without trial. He was eventually let out and returned to Stuttgart.

The First Porsche

The first car to have the Porsche name was the 356. Designed by Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand’s son, the car was used to raise enough money to launch the company. The 356 was mechanically similar to the Beetle in many ways. For example, the rear mounted, air-cooled engine was lifted from the Beetle as was the suspension and chassis. However, the company began to refine the car very shortly after its release, and a performance focus was born.

Porsche’s involvement in motorsport is a key part of the company. Racing more than anything else put Porsche on the map as a serious car builder in the late 1940s. The variety of racing series present at the time would foreshadow the various motorsports in which Porsche participated in the last 60 years.

The first Porsche racer was Walter Glocker. Glocker built roadster style racers with Porsche power in 1950 and took the car to a championship in the 1100cc class. In 1952, Ferry Porsche decided to build race cars in-house. Thus, Porsche’s racing heritage was born.

Porsche Racing Machines

Throughout the years, the racing Porsches have remained the most exciting cars the brand produces. Over half of the book focuses on the various racing machines developed by the company over the years. Today, Porsche participates in a huge variety of motorsports.

Through the years, Porsche has fielded cars in Le Mans, IndyCar, Can-Am, Formula 1 and numerous sports car racing leagues. Porsche is rarely thought of as a participant in open wheel racing, but in the 1980s, the company provided engines to front running McLaren. Porsche has also built IndyCars, although the first United States open wheel conflict between the USAC and CART resulted in the car never running.

Despite the various Porsche racing efforts, the biggest, most insane cars are the Le Mans beasts the company has built throughout the years. The 1970 Porsche 917 gave the company its first overall win. The car was the result of a project similar to Henry Ford II’s: win Le Mans, beat Ferrari. The 917 was also modified for the ridiculous North American racing series known as Can-Am. A series with very little regulation, the 917/30’s V-12 produced over 1,500 horsepower, probably the most of any road racing car ever. However, this setup was only run during qualifying, as running full turbo boost was dangerous for the engine. Still, the race trim of 1,100 horsepower was still quite ridiculous.

Another interesting Porsche racing project was their rally racing 959. While the production 959 was a technologically advanced supercar, the race version was designed to meet Group B rally standards for the Paris-Dakar rally. A raised, rally Porsche looks very out of place next to the many road racers, but it illustrates Porsche’s attempts to win at everything.

Porsche has, of course, continued to improve the 911, and the car is now regarded as one of the best in the world. The model is a superb road car as well as a fixture in sports car leagues around the world, including the 24-hour races at Le Mons and Daytona.

Non-Traditional Porsche Models

As of late, Porsche has branched out into several nontraditional cars including the Cayenne SUV, mid-engine Boxster and Cayman, and the Panamera sedan. Most radical is the 918 Spyder, a high powered hybrid which is featured on the cover of the new paperback edition of this book. However, the book has not been edited to include this latest model, nor the Panamera sedan. The book does provide comprehensive coverage of the historical models, and the true value of the title lies there. Everything important in Porsche’s history is here, pictures included.

Resources

“Porsche: A History of Excellence”; Randy Leffingwell; Motorbooks; 2011

Edmunds: Porsche Overview

See Also — Reviewed — Curves Scotland: Number 8

Book Review — The Hot Rod Reader

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America’s purely original art forms are rather limited. While American poets, play writes and painters have left their marks on art and society, their crafts were not of purely American invention. America’s greatest contributions to popular culture and art are undoubtedly film, jazz and the automobile. Jazz of course, is seen as purely and uniquely American, and while film developed in several countries, the early days of Hollywood set the standard for the world in film.

The Sport of Hot Rodding

Perhaps just as important though, is the American car. The car provides a unique illustration of the American way of life, and a particular style of car defines America. A particularly great aspect of American cars and car culture is hot rodding.

Extremely difficult to define, hot rodding remains a very recognizable part of the identity of the American car. While car enthusiasts argue over exactly what makes a hot rod, “The Hot Rod Reader” brings together stories and articles from nearly 70 years of the odd blend of engineering and art. Featuring articles pulled from magazines such as Hot Rod, Popular Mechanics and even Life, gives a valiant attempt at explaining the unexplainable world of the American hot rod. Editors Peter Schletty and Melinda Keefe teamed up to produce this compilation.

Racing, Paint and Custom Bodyworks

The Hot Rod Reader shows the varying aspects of hot rod culture, from racing to paint to custom bodyworks. Articles in the compilation include features on legends such as Ed Roth, the creator of several amazing custom cars, as well as the psychotic Rat Fink, the deranged Mickey Mouse of hot rodding. Roth himself contributes a fascinating piece, pulled from a 1995 book about his customs, on a particular car known as the “Beatnik Bandit.” The car began life as a project for “Rod and Custom” magazine and Roth explains the various places that he looked for inspiration. Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife,” car lent the inspiration for the futuristic bubble top. The paint received a yellow tint courtesy of some ground fish scales from a taxidermist.

The book is divided into sections based on a particular part of hot rod culture, whether art, racing or building. A “Car Craft” magazine interview with pinstriper Von Dutch lends some genuine hilarity to the book as Dutch, who claims to have no other name, explains his unique methods while constantly forgetting the name of the reporter. However, humor aside, the article provides a very comprehensive look into one of the men who made car painting a legitimate art form.

Rise of the Youth Culture

The book also offers commentary on the social climate surrounding hot rodding. A section on the history of hot rodding gives a variety of interesting statistics about the rise in youth culture. In 1953, the top songs of the year were pulled from musicals or sung by traditional singers such as Lee Baxter. By 1959, music of course was greatly youth foucused, and teens in particular were now a huge part of the economy, albeit spending their parents’ money. Hot rodding, too, was beginning to become a central part of American culture. Also noted is the importance of the car in the social life of teens. With the newfound access to a variety of cars, teenagers provided a market for performance parts and modified cars.

On the technical side, the story of the Ardun overhead valve kit details one of the most important products in automotive history. An immigrant from Belgium, Zora Arkus-Duntov established an engineering firm and developed an overhead valve conversion for the Ford V-8. Originally intended for industrial vehicles that experienced overheating due to the flathead design, the Ardun kit turned the engine into the must have performance powerplant. Duntov later became a lead designer at General Motors and helped bring about the Corvette.

Another somewhat technical article covers the rise of street rodding. As drag races became more and more competitive, a car built for both the street and track became uncompetitive in racing. Therefore, a shift towards a street focused vehicle occurred in hot rod circles. Today, very few hot rods are raced at all, even those with performance in mind.

Hot Rodding and Drag Racing

Though hot rods no longer make up large parts of drag racing, early hot rodders built drag racing into the sport that it is today. Of course, Wally Parks, editor of Hot Rod as well as the founder of the NHRA drag racing body, had perhaps the most influence of all. Parks brought hot rodding from a fringe or borderline outlaw hobby into the legitimate and huge business that it is today. He also provided a great public relations image with the NHRA and the idea of sanctioned and legal racing. Interestingly, the National Hot Rod Association began as a car club and didn’t branch into racing until the early fifties. However, the club’s first event in southern California drew 15,000 people. The organizers had only set up 200 seats — the potential for huge business was born.

Art, Engineering and Driving

The Hot Rod Reader provides a diverse and informative look on the various and quite different aspects of hot rodding culture and explains how each comes together for the uniquely American hot rod experience. From art to engineering to driving, the hot rod brings together a plethora of talents and skills and this book brings together the stories.

Resources

The Hot Rod Reader; Motorbooks; Melinda Keefe, Peter Schletty; 2011

National Hot Rod Association: Home

See Also — Book Review – Porsche: A History of Excellence