Table of contents for Volume 5, Issue 57 - September 2025 in All Chevy Performance

As the saying goes, “Ya gotta break some perfectly good eggs if ya wanna make a stellar omelet,” or something to that effect. In that same vein, to build a totally custom Corvette, some original parts will have to be given up, making room for some aftermarket or one-off fabricated parts. So, it’s not uncommon for builders to seek out a fairly rough vehicle to use as a blank canvas for an upcoming project. Eddie Pettus owner of Eddie’s Rod & Custom in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, took a slightly different approach: he sourced an original red-on-red 1963 Corvette in excellent condition, with approximately 60,000 miles on the original 327 as the base for what would become a highly modified C2. Needless to say, there were a number of Corvette purists…

Hot rodding is all about improving the breed. It might be a move like dumping those spindly, 9.5-inch drum brakes on a 1966 Chevelle in favor of four-wheel discs along with adding a power brake booster to make the whole driving experience a little bit easier. That’s all well and good until the brakes don’t work right. Either the brake pedal feels spongy or the brakes drag so badly the car won’t move. Clearly, there’s a problem, but where to look? Wilwood engineers have had to deal with this often enough that they created a simple little tool to prevent you from singing the “Gimme a Brake” blues. Like all good automotive ideas, once you see the simplicity around this tool, you’ll think “Why didn’t I think of that?” Let’s…

The Southeast Gassers Association prides itself with authenticity and a healthy dose of “wow” factor, thanks to a fraternity of like-minded drag racers who battle it out on eighth-mile dragstrips all year long. The racing organization features a championship points series for all six classes, which include A/Gas, B/Gas, C/Gas, H/Gas, A/FX, and Super Stock. Each class has a very strict set of rules to keep the playing field even, while another aspect of the rules focuses on the appearance of the car. The bottom line is that every Southeast Gassers Association race car has a manual transmission, no matter what class it competes in. This, in itself, is enough to draw a crowd, but when you consider the outrageous horsepower these racers are squeezing out of old-school small-and big-block…

Nothing’s better than the heavy scent of high-octane fuel combined with the thump of a hot cam on a spring day to welcome back outdoor car shows to a new season. After a long winter of wrenching on your ride, it’s time to open the shop doors and hit the streets. If that benefit just so happens to add in the bonus of plenty of sun and surf matched with the ability to meet up with a huge grouping of like-minded owners and their high-horsepower rides, it sounds like the makings of pure muscle car heaven. Kicking off the year in grand style, the 35th Annual Cruisin’ Ocean City, located in Ocean City, Maryland, brought with it the heavy rumble of exhaust, complemented by an endless stream of Bowties, featuring…

1. FORGED BEADLOCK WHEEL After over 30 years of crafting elite road racing wheels, Forgeline brings its expertise to drag racing with the all-forged VV1R Beadlock wheel. Precision-machined from a single 6061-T6 aluminum forging, this monoblock design integrates a bolt-on forged beadlock ring to prevent tire slip at high speeds. Secured with 21 lightweight titanium bolts, the VV1R Beadlock delivers unmatched strength and performance. Available in 17-, 18-, and 19-inch sizes with custom widths, offsets, and finishes. For more information, contact Forgeline by calling (800) 886-0093 or visit forgeline.com. 2. THIRD-GEN CAMARO STRAIGHT-LINE SUSPENSION KITS QA1’s Drag Racing Kits transform third-gen Camaros and Firebirds into dragstrip machines. The Level 1 kit, ideal for stock or mildly modified cars, includes adjustable trailing arms, a Panhard bar, and coilovers to boost traction…

This is our second article on the 1968 Camaro being built at Roadster Shop. Perhaps more than any other component on a car, the wheels and tires can really set the character of a build, especially for performance-oriented cars. It is not uncommon that the ideal wheel and tire combination will not fit inside the factory wheelwells. When serious modifications take place, careful attention is required to keep everything looking balanced and in proportion. Mike O’Brien, the lead engineer at Roadster Shop, used scans of the body and chassis to experiment with various tire diameters and widths in order to achieve the desired look. They landed on 18x11 315/30R18 fronts and 18x12 335/30R18 rears, with BFG Rival S tires. The wheels were designed in-house by Chris Gray, and machined by…

Ralph Lacaze entered the car scene when he was just 14 years old as his dad gave him a “little” nudge by buying him a Model A to work on, which he did after school and on weekends. “My buddies and I would work on the car hopping it up to make it as cool as possible with the little money I had,” Ralph remembers. “It’s the car that got me started in the hobby. Over the years Ralph has had numerous cars but recently had to downsize due to a new living arrangement, so that meant parting ways with his 1933 Ford, 1963 Corvette, 1966 Chevy II, and 1933 Ford cabriolet. All nice cars, he confirms, but for some reason letting the ’66 Chevy go hurt the most. To…

When it comes to engine stories in the typical car mags, it’s almost always about the big four: heads, camshaft, intake, and exhaust, which is understandable because those are the easiest and most effective ways (except maybe for bolting on a turbo) for improving the horsepower on an existing engine. But this time we’re going to throw you a curve. After all, when’s the last time you’ve seen a legitimate harmonic damper test? And we promise you, the results are pretty interesting. In fact, we made power by going heavy. Dampers are normally considered a component that’s necessary for an engine’s health and longevity. And that’s true. A harmonic damper is critical for absorbing damaging harmonic vibrations that travel up and down the crankshaft every time the air/fuel mixture is…

This 1957 Chevy is going full-on roadster with no top at all. Other than the top delete, the body itself will remain mostly stock. The trim elements on the exterior will be modified quite a bit. The hood gunsights have been smoothed down into bullets and the center grille bar has been simplified as well. Wing windows have been eliminated for a cleaner look around the windshield. Metallic blue and white paint help the exterior pop, while a rich interior accents the colors. A full-length console and bucket seats take advantage of the roadster configuration. Custom door panels and seat inserts round out the look. @TavisHighlander TavisHighlander.com Builder: Motech Performance, Murrieta, California…

Shirley Muldowney is known as the “First Lady of Drag Racing,” and for good reason: she knocked down doors, paving the way for every female drag racer behind her to strap into the seat of a nitromethane-burning top fuel dragster or Funny Car. Born in Burlington, Vermont, Muldowney’s drag racing journey began in the 1950s when she could be found street racing in Schenectady, New York. By the 1960s she moved off the streets and onto organized drag races where she obtained her official NHRA license in 1965, becoming one of the first women to do so. Competing in a male-dominated sport, Muldowney encountered resistance from sponsors, fellow competitors, and sanctioning bodies, but she plowed through with sheer determination and undeniable talent. In 1977 she became the first woman to…

Well, yes. After experimenting for years with cast aluminum and sheetmetal oil pans and LS conversion motor mounts there’s much confusion about what fits and—more importantly–what doesn’t. Yes, there are kits that do work and frankly you should save yourself a ton of time and just go with those packaged plans. But if you’re like us, you might have a collection of LS engine swap motor mounts and perhaps a buddy has a cast-aluminum pan from Temu he’ll sell cheap. What could go wrong? The issue with early Chevelles is that even a stock small-or big-block Chevy engine with a stock oil pan is a tight fit to the crossmember and steering linkage. Our all-original big-block 1966 Chevelle revealed dimples in the oil pan from the inner tie-rod end grease…

When Greg Whitney was about 4 years old, his next-door neighbor, a car dealer who drove a wide variety of different vehicles, pulled into his driveway behind the wheel of a Marina Blue 1966 Malibu. For young Greg, it was love at first sight. “He kept that car for a while,” Greg remembers. “And sometimes he used it to take me to Wetson’s, a local burger joint in Queens, New York. I remember that bright blue interior like I was sitting in it this morning!” Predictably, Greg gravitated toward the automotive field and has worked as a wholesale dealer for many years. That’s made it easy for him to get in and out of several hot cars over the years, and he’s enjoyed every one of them; but nothing has…