Rolls Royce has famously advertised the horsepower of their cars as either “adequate” or “sufficient” instead of printing an actual number. Today we find out if the power made by the 6.25 Liter Rolls Royce V8 in this 1961 Silver Cloud is actually adequate.
With the metal work finished, including new floors, rear quarters, battery tray, trunk floor and one new front fender this car has come a long way in the last month. After the suspension is done we can start the prep for paint.
The DynoJet is a great tool for more than just seeing horsepower and torque numbers especially on a car with a small engine. Using the DynoJet on this 1953 Ford Anglia we can scientifically check how the carburetor is functioning, ignition health, top speeds in each gear, and accuracy of the speedometer.
Both of these Land Rovers are 1972 model Series III 88s but one is an original right hand drive and the other is a US spec with added reflectors and slightly different lighting configuration. After some testing on the dyno the advantage of the add-on overdrive units is clear and with the overdrive the trucks could travel at 80 mph if you were brave enough to do so.
This non-original Chevrolet color works beautifully on this Big Healey. With a small amount of work on the brakes and carburetors this car is ready for another year cruising the backroads.
With only a final sanding left on the five window truck cab the color will be put on this week. They style of these Chevrolet Advance Design trucks, which ran from 1947 through 1955, are among the most popular for Chevy enthusiasts and it is great to see another one saved.
Running this Shelby GT500 Super Snake first on 91 octane pump gas and then on 98 octane Sunoco racing fuel confirmed what we saw two weeks ago with the GT350 that these cars will greatly benefit from higher octane fuels. The Super Snake saw an increase of 46 hp giving it around 740 gross horsepower.
The engine for the 1966 Volkswagen Beetle has finally arrived from GEX International and this extra power from the dual port heads should be a huge improvement. GEX offers a 36 month warranty on this engine and claim they have run them all on the bench before shipping.
Fifty years after the original Shelby GT350 a new one is now available in dealerships. Ford rates this 2016 Shelby GT350 at 526 hp but it wasn’t until we drained out the premium pump gas and put 98 octane Sunoco race fuel through it that we were able to see those numbers. To our surprise switching fuels netted a gain of 25.5 horsepower with this car.
The Lotus engine is rebuilt and sitting again now in the 1973 Jensen-Healey. Without the intake manifold and carburetors mounted the Lotus 907 engine looks tilted 45 degrees. This early Jensen-Healey is only a few hundred before they made the first big revisions to the model. The later Series II and JH-5 models seem more common at shows.
Thanks to LMC Truck for sending us these big beautiful boxes of panels to fix the 1952 Chevrolet truck project. After unpacking it looks like the panels fit as well as if they were made by the factory.
Before: 1973 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. Ran when parked but that was 30 years ago! Although rust has taken hold of this car it is complete and has the very rare dealer installed air conditioning. Look for faster than normal progress on this one as we have a deadline.
You may have already seen the 1955 International Metro around Iowa State the last two weeks and if this food truck Makes You Wanna some Macubana then you can find it on the Iowa State campus and around the Ames area throughout the week.
Originally brown this Stag came to us in red. The engine is in assembly and will soon be returning to the engine bay. Over the seven years of production the Triumph Stag was available in 25 different colors. Everyone agrees that brown looks great on this one.
Jensen used Chrysler V8 engines for the Interceptor with a 4-barrel carburetor 440 c.i. engine they produced 305 hp SAE net. Mated to an automatic transmission this car was a true GT that could cross continents effortlessly.
This International Metro went from a smashed up rust bucket when it arrived to a classic looking food truck with modern amenities. Running on propane and electricity from a generator this truck also includes a digitally controlled hood fan system and full Ansul fire protection system.
We have had the DynoJet for just shy of a year now and by the end of the year it will have seen a fair share of interesting makes and models. The DynoJet is great for much more than just finding out how much power or torque a car makes. You can analyze the fuel to air mixture, ignition condition, finding leaks, engine break-in, and even aero dynamic effects on gearing.
With the fab shop shut down for the holiday it is a good time to share a glimpse of what we are doing in there. Media blasting, powder coating, metal forming, and welding all happen in this room. We stock around fifty colors of powder and will do from a single part for a walk-in customer to supply production parts for machine shops and manufacturers.
Our new state of the art semi-downdraft paint booth is up and running. With better light from the 64 color corrected lamps no spot will go unseen.
The parts have been rolling in for the Beetle and it is easy to see changes day by day now. The new black cloth interior is going to compliment the orange paint job completing the great look on this Volkswagen.
