Functional Pro Street: by Steve Chryssos
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4
There’s nothing like winter in New York City. The streets give off a special vibe as the holidays approach. But the environment is not exactly conducive to hot rodding. Frequent rain brings flooding. Snow turns to murky slush. If the roads are dry, they’re covered in a layer of corrosive salt. But none of that matters since my street fighter lacks a choke, a heater or a windshield defroster. It doesn’t make much sense to drive my car when it’s 30 degrees outside. Doing so would require gloves and thermal underwear. Instead, I use the off-season to make repairs and upgrades. It’s become an annual ritual. Jack the car up as high as it will go and take it apart as far as I dare. I like to study each part for signs of wear and damage. It’s a chance to brainstorm about possible upgrades.
Well it’s that time of year again. Thanksgiving is here and I’m anxious to get started on the tear down process. This year, I have the luxury of sharing a large, heated shop with a friend. My buddy has a growing car addiction …He’s got it bad. So my car will share a 25’x50’ space with three really cool hot rods: Two pro-touring 69 Camaros and a 1966 Fairlane that screams NASCAR. Best of all, his cars have functional heaters. So I look forward to driving all three hot rods every now and then—just to blow the cobwebs out during the winter months. I’m such a good friend.
With respect to my own car, I’m a little scared. Between Power Tour and Run Thru The Hills, I really beat the crap out of my car last summer. The car suffers from a number of minor maladies including a split header tube and a leaky oil pan. The left rear brake caliper is covered in gear oil because some dope (me) screwed up while deciding where to mount the vent tube. Fluid, spilling out of the rear during hard cornering, ended up directly on the brake assembly. The inside of the wheel is positively covered in gook. Obviously, I over-filled the housing with gear oil. As heat and pressure built up, the fluid found the path of least resistance. The remaining three brake rotors are “blued” from excessive heat. I’m eager to remove all of these parts and examine them. I’m also curious about the condition of my U-joints, valve seals, and brake pads.
Some of you—particularly you armchair quarterback types--might be thinking that my car is unreliable. Wrong. My car’s deficiencies are the direct result of hard driving. At the Run Thru The Hills drags, my car encountered severe wheel hop followed by mid track wheel spin. Despite the abusive conditions, we continued to pound on the car run after run. The Auto-x from Hell (AxH) was even more punishing. Every corner of the car’s suspension experienced full travel from bump to droop. Picture what it’s like to drive on an oval track where the course abruptly transitions from flat apron to banked turn. If that’s hard to visualize, just envision the crunching sound of my front spoiler as it was ripped from my car.
I quickly learned that street driving—no matter how aggressive—extracts about 4/10ths of a car’s potential. That’s a valuable lesson to remember while arguing the minutiae of suspension components. Pretty much any parts combination will take a turn at 4/10 ths. AxH, on the other hand, demanded about 8/10ths from my car. That’s about as hard as you want to push a hot rod on street tires. 8/10ths is abusive enough to break parts. To run a fast time, you must mash the gas pedal to the floor and hold it there. With all that momentum, you’d better jam on that brake pedal to slow the car down. If you pussyfoot around with either pedal, expect to run a slow time. At the other extreme, don’t even think about finding 10/10ths unless you have the right skills and equipment.
Based on my Power Tour and RTH2 experience, I have a list of repairs and improvements in mind for 2007. I won’t bore you with the details though. Well, maybe I’ll bore you with them in January. In the meantime, know that I’ll be putting the winter months to good use. My car and I will be nice and warm in the new shop. It has a fridge, a bathroom, and a Mr. Coffee. That’s all I need to keep me motivated. By spring, I might just drive my car down to Pigeon Forge. Maybe Bill will let me keep my car in his fancy new shop. That way I can fly down to get some extra practice at the AxH before Run Thru the Hills 3.
/Steevo
ARCHIVES:
October 2006: Functional Pro-Street
August 2006: Hot Rod Heirarchy
