When you own your car as long as Gary has had this ’65, you have a long time to get it to perform the way you want it too. 23 years of hard work and dedication have made this car into a car that looks great and runs hard. On motor, the car has gone a best of 10.29 @ 131, and a 9.53 @ 143 with a 200HP Nitrous hit.
The Engine consists of a .038 over 455 Buick, running a BME Nitrous piston with Total Seal file fit rings, with 12.5 to 1 Compression. Stock length aluminum rods swing on a stock 455 Crank that is cross-drilled. A TA Performance HAlo Girdle helps keep the bottom end where its supposed to be, with ARP Studs clamping both the main caps and the heads in place. Speaking of heads, they are TA Track Eliminators that use the big 2.260/1.750 valve package with matching TA 1.7 ratio Roller Rockers. The cam is a custom flat tappet piece from Scott Brown at Competition Components. Specs are in the 260 at .050 range and .636 lift with the big 1.7 rockers. Atop the TA Intake is a single 1050 Dominator, with a Nitrous Express Gemini Twin single stage plate snuck between them. An MSD Billet distributor lights it all off, and a set of Lemon’s custom 2 1/8- 2 1/4 step headers direct the burnt mixture into the Dynomax bullet mufflers that try to keep things quiet. A Petersen external oil pump and a Meziere water pump, push their resective fluids through the engine.
The Trans and Converter are from Mike’s transmission, including the Ultimate TH400, as well as the 9inch converter. The rear end houses a spool and 3.70 gears, while 35 spline axles get the power to the tires. Gary has spent a lot of effort on the suspension on the car, and it has definitely paid off. The front end consists of TRZ Control arms, Moroso trick front springs, and HAL shocks to keep the Bogart Superfly lights heading the right direction. The rear sports Wolf Racecraft lower control arms, and HR Parts and Stuff uppers, as well as their anti roll bar. These work hard together to keep the 29.5X10.5 slicks planted, and Wilwood disc brakes all 4 corners make sure the 3550lb car stops on the big end. As I said before, all of this hard work has paid off, with 60′ times in the 1.48 range on motor, and a 1.38 (lifting) on the juice.
John Csordas Jr is a Buick guy through and through. Attend just about any Buick event and John and his family will be there with one of their several Buicks. Our favorite ride of theirs right now is the 71 Skylark street car. Not your common street car, this 71 has a full 25.5 certified chassis from NRC motorsports and is set up to run a drag radial. The car sees some street duty, and is raced in full street trim. One thing a lot of guys fail to realize is that most of these Buicks are heavy. Like really heavy. Junior’s car makes the scales whimper, weighing in just a couple of doughnuts short of 4000 lbs. To run bottom 9’s at 150mph like it does (yeah, you read that right) it has to be making somewhere over 1,000 HP, probably closer to 1100.
Power comes from a stock stroke 455 Buick built by Scotty’s Engine Technology in Florida. The internals are smart, but straightforward. Stock crank, R&R aluminum rods and Wiseco pistons round out the rotating assembly, which is held in check with a Rob Giroux (Precision Billet Designs) halo girdle. The short block is topped off with TA Stage 3 heads and intake. The custom flat tappet camshaft is from Scott Brown at Competition Components, and is around 260@ .050, with .600 lift. A Procharger F1R making 12lbs of boost and blowing through a Quick Fuel 850, is what makes this combo really hum. All brackets for the Procharger were designed by Cliff Gilman, and fabricated by Precision Billet Design. A custom 3500 Converter from Lenny at Ultimate converters transfers power to the Mark Deconti Turbo 400 that shifts on its own with the governor set at 6000RPM. So far, the ten bolt with 3.73 gears has managed to hold up under all that power and weight. So far, the car has run a best of 9.12 @ 150 with 12 psi of boost. Hopefully spring of 2010 will show us even more.
Junior made sure to thank Scott Brown at Competition Components, Bobb and Geoff at Finishline, Precision Billet Design, TA Performance, Scotty’s racing technology, Deconti Transmission, and Lenny at Ultimate Converters.
Some guys have a lot of money to spend on their toys. Other guys have to be more budget concious. Aftermarket blocks, high dollar heads, roller cams, yeah, who doesn’t dream about that stuff? Sometimes it just isn’t in the cards.
Phil doesn’t have a ton of extra dough, like most of us. But he does want to go racing! So you have to be smart about the dollars you have available. The car, a 1972 Nova, weighs in at about 3500lbs. It’s a basic street/strip type of set up. Mini tubs, 10 point cage with swing out bars, Jaz poly seats, make for an all business approach. The outside of the body is stock and all steel other than the fiberglass cowl hood and front bumper both from Harwood. Slicks are 30X9, and front runners round out the package.
The engine is equally no frills, but just as smart. Stock block and 063 oval port heads are the core to the combo. The stock GM steel crank is.010/.010 and slings GM rods with 7/16 ARP bolts and TRW domed pistons. All business, no flash. Cam is a flat tappet form Competition Components 256/266 with .636 lift. EDM constant oiling lifters make sure the cam and lifters get plenty of lube. Comp Stainless rockers and .080 pushrods make sure that all of the lift the flat tappet can produce gets to the valve. The Beehive springs and retainers keep the heavy valvetrain in check. An 850 Quick Fuel carb sits on top of an unmodified Team G from Weiand. The 8″ converter is from Transmission Specialties, and the transmission is a bullet proof ‘glide from Hutch’s transmission in Canada.
The old girl has done right by Phil so far, it’s been a best of 10.88 at almost 123 MPH with the old 4500 converter. The new 8″ converter should help launch the car a bit harder, so hopefully ET’s will improve a little. At this weight, a 3 speed would probably help some too, but that is just on the wish list for right now.
The first year we run the car naturally aspirated because of the delays with K1 crank and rods. It run decently with the Scott Brown (Competition Components) cammed 528 pump gas wedge; 10.64/130 mph.
For the next summer we got the turbo engine built; 7.1″ K1 rods, 3.75″ stroke K1 crank, Ross dished pistons (51cc, 8.6:1), Scott Brown cam with around 260 degrees at .050″ and almost 0.7″ lift with 1.6 ratio Erson rockers. The Indy intake was converted to EFI by adding injector bungs Instead of welding they are press fit and glued; seems to work, Wilson elbow and 95mm throttle body. Heads are Indy 440-1, homeported with 2.25″ intake valves, valvesprings are Isky gold stripe. Oiling is with a regular Melling hv pump and external static single line pick up. Self made 8 quart pan since nothing is available aftermarket for this body. Headers are black iron, 2″ to 1 7/8 to 1 3/4 an 4-2 models because of the twin entry turbos. Exhaust is 4″ with bullet mufflers. The turbos are realatively small, Garrett hybrids with 68mm compressor and 88mm turbine, 1.22 A/R. They spool very quickly and the car can be raced without any tricks to get the boost up. Twin 60mm HKS wste gates and local Pates racing pop off valves. The injectors are 160 lbs, ignition is done with a hall sensor, four 6mm bolts are threaded 90 degrees apart to the self made aluminum lower pulley, distributor is used for distributing the spark and with 7 peaks removed from the reluctor also acts as a cam sensor. MSD 7 AL2. Engine management is Autronic SM4. Cooling is handled by a big griffin radiator and Craig Davies EWP water system with variable speed external pump and a temp controller, the cooling is reversed and water is also put in from between the siamesed center exhaust ports. Intercooler is locally built air/air, typical intake temp at 18 psi is around 130-140F
The transmission is a JW Ultraglide with seven disc clutch and wide band, 1.80 straight gears. Originally rated for 1800 hp and worked flawlessly. The converter is PTC 10″ with ateel stator that has also worked like charm. We had it tightened last summer since when adding boost we run out of stall speed. One example of the innovative thnking is the trans fluid; we have been fine adjusting the stall speed with SAE 80 wet brake fluid, and currently have about 70% of SAE 80 and the rest ATF. The stall speed is 6200 with full boost, currently about 18-20 psi. 4″ cro mo drive shaft with 1350 joints. Rear is Strange S 60 wit 4.10 gears, spool and 40 spline solid axles. Wheels are weld all over front brakes are HD B-body Wilwoods fitted in to the C-body spindles (-50 lbs), fornt tires regular street Hankooks and rears M/T ET Streets 18.5″/33″. Four link with a wishbone in the rear from a quartermax kit and Strange double adjustable shocks. Front suspension and steering are Stock, extra heavy duty torsion bars (1.18″ vs 0.98″ stock) and Koni shocks. Front and rear bumpers, hood and doors are fiberglass and side & rear glasses lexan. The chassis is SFI 25.5 cerified which created a major problem since it has got a maximum weight of 3600 lbs. After all the work we are currently under it and with the smaller fuel cell we can now even hopefully add wheelie bars and a rear sway bar. We currently leave the line at about 10 psi and the best 60 ft so far has been 1.26. Shift at around 7100, 1/8 mile 5.100 at 143 mph and the quarter mile 7.89/174+, against the 7500 rew limiter about 0.5 seconds. We have still about 5 psi of boost left in the current turbos, and the launch propably could be made better. Haven’t also used the many properties of the Autronic, controlling boost etc. I think we can still cut a couple of tenths without parts changes, but we’ll see.
Some families have issues with sibling rivalry. Not Brian and Ed Sobczyk. They work as more of a team. It probably comes from years of working together at the family business, (TJ and Sons in Madison Heights, MI) where they work on daily drivers for local customers as well as lots of local hot rods.
Ed’s Pontiac combo is very similar to Brian’s Buick (featured below)
Custom Scott Brown (Competition Components) Flat tappet Camshaft 256 @ .050, .600 lift
Scorpion Rocker Arms
Edelbrock Victor intake
Quick Fuel 4150
Custom PTC torque converter
4.10 Gears
Full 3″ exhaust
Ed’s car is regularly street driven and raced at Milan fairly often. When this combo was originally put together, it had an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, and ran a best of 11.14. The photos in this post are old, from the first day at the track with that combo. Upcoming changes include a dominator carb. The car weighs in at 3700+ lbs, and currently runs in the 10’80’s
At the Bonneville World Finals in October, Steve Benyo Destroyed the class record for C/PS by over 21 MPH. The old class record (which Steve also held) was set at 232 MPH. The first leg of the record run was 258+ MPH, and his second was 248. The two runs are then averaged for the record. Beno’s 323 CID 4V Mod motor is developed by Scott Brown of Competition Components, and meticulously machined and assembled by Dave Weishaupt (Pops).
Tony Russo’s Dart is kind of plain. Sleeper isn’t really the word. Maybe subdued is. It’s most definitely clean. The attention to detail is great too. It’s just not flashy. Tony likes to make his statement at the track. This car has evolved over the years from a 440 powered bracket car to a nitrous assisted stormer. He is still hard at work making improvements, we wonder what he has in store….
The Engine:
499 CID = 4.375 bore x 4.150 stroke
9375 box stock dominator
Indy Intake ported by Competition Components
Nitrous system, Edelbrock and Nos components, installed by Tony Russo
Heads 440-1’s ported by Competition Components
Scott Brown roller cam
T & D Rockers
Smith Bros pushrods
Pistons Ross flattops
Rods GRP alum
Crank Callies
Oil pan, home made Tony Russo
Milodon single line, fixed pickup
2″ ProParts headers
4″ Exh, Hooker Aero Max mufflers
The Car:
1973 Dodge Dart
Front suspension – Stock, 318 T bars
Front shocks AFCO
S & W Roll cage
2 X 2 Box frame connectors
S & W ladder bar kit
Rear shocks Strange
Trans Rossler Turbo 400 ATI 10″ blown/fuel converter
S & W 9″ Rear, Strange center and axles 3.70 gears
Race weight with driver 3.550
Currently registered and inspected and street driven in NY
Jim posted new bests this past weekend at the NMRA Milan race, including a 7.18 at over 196
Jim’s 400 inch motor sports a variety of custom parts from Competition Components including Billet Aluminum rods, and Ross Pistons. The key to the power comes from a 106 MM turbo from SupernaturalTurbo providing the manifold pressure. We’ll do an upcoming feature on this home built killer soon!
If you saw Brian Sobczykz’s Blue 72 Buick GS at Norwalk this past weekend, you probably thought it was a nice looking 12 second car. It can’t be much faster than that can it? Look at that. It has a stock radiator. Clutch fan and stock water pump. All those stock parts add up in weight. The 72 weighs in around 3900 lbs. The interior doesn’t give away the car’s performance either. Stock bucket seats and full interior. Is that a tilt steering column? Nice car, shame it’s not faster. But it is faster. A lot faster. Brian ran a string of passes between 10.62-10.65 all over 124 MPH. Wow, cool! Rumor on the street is it’s a stroker motor with a roller cam. But it’s not. The engine is 464 CID (4.350 bore x 3.90 stroke.) Stock cast crank. Stock rods with ARP bolts. Custom Ross Dished pistons. The heads are ported TA stage 1 units. The TA Single plane intake with a Dominator is one of the few things that give away the car’s potential. It doesn’t even sound radical. The custom 256 at .050 solid flat tappet has a little lope to it, but the X pipe and large case 3″ mufflers tone it down enough that the police barely give it a second look on the way to the local cruise night. The tailpipes running to the bumper complete the sleeper look. A race converter from PTC custom matched to the cam and the rest of the combination, and transfers power through the TH400 Converter and 4.10 gears.
Update: All good things must come to an end. After 7 years of fun and abuse, Brian’s engine expired at Milan last night, 9/3/2009. Watch for a new combo appearing soon!
Sheldon Brewer’s Dart has it all. Literally! That’s why it weighs in at a hefty 3705 lbs with him in it. Things like the full exhaust with power cutouts, cd player, and other creature comforts add considerably to the Dart’s race weight. That’s a lot more than most race cars.
But with it’s pump gas 496, it runs consistantly in the 10.40’s. That’s pretty quick for a street car! And the engine isn’t some tricked out tempramental race piece either. Sheldon’s 496 is just a well put together pump gas combo. The 496 has a 4.150 stroke 4340 Crank, 6.760 4340 H-beam rods, and a custom Ross Piston that calculates out to 10.7 to 1. Cylinder heads are ported Edelbrocks with the springs, locks and retainers swapped out to accomodate the custom flat tappet cam. The cam is 263/273 @ .050, and has pretty good street manners. An Edelbrock Victor manifold and a Quick Fuel 1050 (4150 based) carb round out the top end. This engine dyno’d at 654HP and 653lb/ft of torque. Dyno Results here.
A quick online trip to Wallace Racing’s HP/ET calculator, show’s that Sheldon’s car should run in the high 10.38 @ 129, which is pretty close to what it actually runs, so it looks like the HP numbers from the dyno and the real world all work out. (So much for those that say we test on a happy dyno.)
The rest of Sheldon’s driveline consists of a 9.5″ PTC converter spec’d out to match the custom camshaft, and 4.10 gears drive the Mickey Thompson DragRadials.
When you own your car as long as Gary has had this ’65, you have a long time to get it to perform the way you want it too. 23 years of hard work and dedication have made this car into a car that looks great and runs hard. On motor, the car has gone a best of 10.29 @ 131, and a 9.53 @ 143 with a 200HP Nitrous hit.
on on the car, and it has definitely paid off. The front end consists of TRZ Control arms, Moroso trick front springs, and HAL shocks to keep the Bogart Superfly lights heading the right direction. The rear sports Wolf Racecraft lower control arms, and HR Parts and Stuff uppers, as well as their anti roll bar. These work hard together to keep the 29.5X10.5 slicks planted, and Wilwood disc brakes all 4 corners make sure the 3550lb car stops on the big end. As I said before, all of this hard work has paid off, with 60′ times in the 1.48 range on motor, and a 1.38 (lifting) on the juice.
on on the car, and it has definitely paid off. The front end consists of TRZ Control arms, Moroso trick front springs, and HAL shocks to keep the Bogart Superfly lights heading the right direction. The rear sports Wolf Racecraft lower control arms, and HR Parts and Stuff uppers, as well as their anti roll bar. These work hard together to keep the 29.5X10.5 slicks planted, and Wilwood disc brakes all 4 corners make sure the 3550lb car stops on the big end. As I said before, all of this hard work has paid off, with 60′ times in the 1.48 range on motor, and a 1.38 (lifting) on the juice.
