Rather than dragging this campaign of trashing Car Craft on forever, let's contribute something constructive like a story idea everyone will like. It's not as easy as it sounds. Ready? Go...below....

Also try not to be Ad Hominem...

http://forums.hotrod.primediaautomotive.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=hot_rod&msg=3241.1&ctx=0

douglas

Nice rhetoric, but I perfer dialectic, and don't see this as an 'argumentum ad hominem', we are not against you Jeff, I, like most, just think you belong at Chevy High-Price Performance. (The big words gave you away, Jeff.)  

let's contribute something constructive like a story idea everyone will like. It's not as easy as it sounds. Ready? Go...

Ok Jeff, you did a great story on nitrous with a stock motor, why don't you do a follow up and do the same thing you did on a dyno, but do it ture to life in a car and see if you get the same results, and at what power levels does the engine fail at in a car at a dragstrip. This time use a Ford or Mopar and a Chevy and compare the two. 

Actually this is Douglas. I have worked for Jeff in the past and also run the Websites including this one. The nitrous story is a good idea, what do you say about building an affordable nitrous engine that doesn't explode at the end of the session? Are aluminum heads affordable or should we use iron? Cast stuff? Engine grenades are expensive to repeat...

douglas  

Actually this is Douglas.

Well, Douglas, it is not that I dislike Jeff, but it is like having a wine taster trying to help you decide between Coke and Pepsi. Jeff did a great job at CHP. When I want to know about EFI, overdrive conv, digital gauges - that's where I look for the info. IMO I do not think the market will deal with a CC mag that mirrors the CHP mag. CC is budget, and not just junkyards, but how to do it yourself and save money when building your car. 

I have worked for Jeff in the past and also run the Websites including this one.

IMO-It says something when the editor responds to a post. Tends to give some ownership in the mag. I think Jeff should respond here as well.

 The nitrous story is a good idea, what do you say about building an affordable nitrous engine that doesn't explode at the end of the session?

Sounds cool.

Are aluminum heads affordable or should we use iron?

Iron. Vortec or early smog 186 castings.

Cast stuff?

Sure. I have seen a few cast piston motors hold together longer than thought with nitrous.

Engine grenades are expensive to repeat...

But if it returns in high mag sales, then? If you find a the limits of a motor rather than the rest of us a $4.95 investment at the newsstand is well worth it.

BTW next time don't use such big words you made my head hurt.

Here's my input.  When I first picked up CC, I was just starting to get into cars.  I read hot rod, and that's about it.  I picked up an issue, had a yellow firebird on the cover, and 50 cheap mods for your car.  The combination of low buck stuff and the humor were what drew me in.  There wasn't just 69 camaros and '70 cudas in the mag, and I liked that.  There was an article step by step on how to build a fast 5.0 liter.  I pretty much switched over to CC after reading my first issue, and when the HR acura buildup came around I let my subscription expire.  Then the king got the boot and smith took over.  The mag wasnt' the same.  I opened the newest issue and thought it was CHP until i double checked the cover.  I'm not saying Smith is a bad guy, I just think he belongs at CHP.

Here's some suggestions:

What to look for in junkyards.  for example, which stock chevy castings to look for, that are affordable.

How about some posters?  Babes Included!

Cheap hot rod material and what to look for in them.  Examples:  Volaries, Mavericks, 2nd gen fbodies, dusters, disco novas, etc...

Reading the last issue was like reading a medical journal, make it fun again.  The wiseass comments by matt king made things alot more fun to read.

It's simple, really.  Homebuilt turbo V8.  Scrounge up some junkyard turbos and an intercooler, or get 'em off eBay.  Blow through the carb if you must to pacify the "nobuck" Car Crafters and the technophobes.  Set the budget insanely low so that nearly "everyone will like" it.

You doubt me?  Then why on the Hot Rod Power Tour was the crowd two or three deep at times around an ancient Buick Roadmaster (named the "Grande National") with a junkyard T-3 and cheap, rusting muffler shop crush-bent tubing hung on the original carbureted inline eight cylinder "Fireball" engine?  Why have hundreds of thousands visited Mike Sitar's "Too High PSI" junkyard turbo website?

A nice follow-up story would be building a secondary alcohol fuel system for when you really crank up the boost on the homebuilt turbo V8 project (I'm thinking cobble together some sort of junkyard factory EFI with an FMU or piggybacking on a cheap SDS aftermarket system.)  Or use a huge turbo and spray it with N20.  Or a BIG-BLOCK turbo V8 . . . .

Hey there.  Great mag.  Don't take the trashing too seriously.  It means your readers (I'm at 15+ years now) take pride in what ya put out.  Most mags would kill for that passion in their readers.  Here's what I'd dig

First- Crossover racing parts from non straight line applications.  A stroll through the PRI (mostly circle track) show is like a candy store for my G body.  And the stuff is incredibly cheap in comparison to "street" parts.  I've witnessed "race only" tubular A arms survive 2 seasons and 10 flips on an IMCA car, so they should take some street punishment.  Steering quickeners, big bore G body calipers, elec water pumps, tricked 2bbls, the list goes on and on.  (Hey Jeff Smith- come visit us at the Boone IA speedway, we know ya been there before)

Second- Frankensteins are SWEET!  Put an LS1 in a monza and document every stroke of the MIG.  Then tear up some high dollar cars and show us the whole thing.  Or let the LS1 tear the car up and show us that.  We will learn from your shoddiness.  Put a FWD northstar transaxle in the back of a corvair.  Make a 65 impala an AWD supercar with a supercharged 6.0 LS1, complete with trans and transfer case out of a wrecked late model truck.  The more ridiculous it is, the better.  If you fail, great, parody the build.  It's not about creating a parts list so I could duplicate it.  It's the story of the struggle to overcome what they say can't be done.  If you want REALLY valuable reader tech, this is what's gonna generate it.  We love cars and the craft.  This is the perfect way to have junkyard appeal, and late model appeal.  I don't want to see the whole car built on a bridgeport mill by a pro shop (TV is way better at that), so hack it up.

Third- Quit being fabrication pu**ies!  It bothers me when a do it yourself mag can't weld in a rollbar themselves.  Or even install an exhaust system.  I just made a catback kit for my LT1 caprice, it was a TON of work, but turned out awesome and cost a fraction of the pre-bent kits.  Hack it up, and show us what you did.  Good, bad, or bad*ss.  We all have projects that fail.  Show em.  I don't give a damn if it's NHRA legal, that's why they make vericoms and darkness. 

Last- I can't begin to say how cool vintage hot rods and racers are.  I think I made a wet spot just typing that.  Can't get enough.  Personalities and cars.  All I can say is more more more. 

81 elcamino HO350/TKO/9"-- 30th anniv Z28 -- 94 9C1 caprice -- and of course, 79 starfire with a 383.

I want to see a late 70's 460 budget build up!!  Straight up out of a Lincoln or the like.  Just like the 200 hp bolt on Pontiac 455 artical you did.  I'm seeing a lot of late 70's Lincolns for cheap lately.  I know that the 8 to 1 compression is lame but what can bolt-ons do and maybe a swap to smaller chamber factory heads?(I hear that AutoZone sells cheap rebuilt C8 heads)  These things are only rated at 210hp stock,  be pretty cool to screw together a torque monster for $600? 

Also, I have always been curious about the junk swirl port heads that your project Cone Head has...  The ports look bigger than say a TPI head of the same year and they have reasonable 64cc chambers.  What happens if you home port/hog out the cast in swirls?  People give these heads away all the time, if you could get away with out a valve job, are they worth anything ported?

Speaking of Cone Head I have swapped cams in my 95 TBI 350 truck (Comp EX249H) and I will warn you that even the "computer compatible" cams don't necessarily work too well with out "real" not off the shelf tuning...  All the more reason to do it, dyno it, and report back to the masses!!!

Here's some more ideas. 

How to Port your own heads, exhaust manifolds, and intake.  (techniques, tools, etc...)

How about a comparison between 383's.  Make one with the 400 block and 350 crank, and one with the 350 block and 400 crank.  Or even a 406 vs a big bore 383.

How about how to build a cheap durable OD tranny.  700-r4 or somethin.  Yes that means showing us how to put the thing together.

Build up a small(er) big block.  396,402,383,390, etc...  there's a lot of 402's laying around, because everybody wants a 454 or 427.

I loved the feature this month on the 66 Charger.  Would be nice to see more different stuff like that where all work is done by the owner.  

Hey Mitch-

I've helped put both of those engines together, though they were very different builds. We were using ported 18 degree bowtie heads and a solid roller cam with the 377 (peaked around 7200 RPM and went in a 72 240Z) and used iorn sportsman 2's with a hydraulic tappet in the 383 (peaked at 5500 RPM and went into a 68 el camino). So it wouldn't be fair to compare those two straight up.

I've also seen a few head to head dyno comaprisons of those two engines. Given identical compression, heads, cam ect... they make nearly identical power. There's a slight increase in low end power with the 4"bore/3.75" stroke but the 4.125" bore/3.5" stroke engine typically makes more midrange and top end power. But overall there's not a huge power difference between the two.

The big difference between them is engine durability. The 3.5" stroke is much easier on the connecting rod bearings because of the reduced piston speed. The shorter stroke also decreases angular cylinder wall loading. So the cylinder wall should wear more slowly and more evenly. The real test between the two would be to put them on a dyno after break-in and put them back on the dyno after simulating 25K miles, 50K miles and 75K miles.

Joe

Joe:

I agree with most of what you said.  The only thing I sway on is there can be a significant difference between a 372/377* (400 blk w/ 350 crank) and a 377/383* (350 blk w/ 400 crank).  It all boils down to the bore/stroke ratio and rpm operating band.  The 372/377 combo is destined for ultra-high rpm use and only begins to come into its environment at +6,500rpm - turf of big bore / short stroke small-block combos.  IMO, the only real way to build and optimize the characteristics of a 372/377 is to spend a bucket of money - big bucks on the reciprocating assembly, heads and valvetrain because you'll be operating in the stratosphere.  Otherwise, you're better off with the longer stroke combo.  I've had the opportunity to be associated with a couple of 372 builds - plenty of $$ and plenty of power.

I'm pretty sure CC or HRM did a comparison on these two combos a couple of years back.  If I recall correctly, the 377/383 had better overall results.  And it's only because the 372/377 combo wasn't built to run up against +9,000rpms.

* Variance is standard bore or +0.030.

I'd still like to see a 400 block with a 267 crank or an old 302 chevy crank.  Modern Vortec heads, lowered compression for some boost later, and a dual grind cam to optimize the exhaust for say a TURBO. Did I mention this thing should be Fuel Injected? Anyway, if done right, the average person would think they are looking at a boring old low rever that falls on it's face on the upper end. Just remember that this was my idea first.  

"I'd still like to see a 400 block with a 267 crank or an old 302 chevy crank."

You might be thinking of a 262 crank (3.10" stroke) rather than the 267 which had the same stroke as a 350 (3.48").  I doubt you're going to find a forged 262 crank unless you had it custom ground.  Without a forged crank, it would kind of offset the reason of building a destroked 400.

"Just remember that this was my idea first."  OK, it's all yours.