To the untrained eye, a car’s VIN number looks like a random hodge-podge of numbers and letters. However, the VIN code is actually a window into a vehicle’s soul, providing valuable background and insight about your car or truck. The key is understanding the meaning of each character that makes up the 17-character code. This code was first used in the
It’s probably easier to pick a fuel pump for a Pro Stock car than it is for a street-strip machine. Think of the Pro Stock car for a minute: The fuel cell is most likely in the front of the car. That means the plumbing is short. The big pump can sit right beside the
Math was never exactly our strong suit in school. That’s unfortunate because, as you know by now, there can be a substantial amount of math involved in hot rodding, racing, and general automotive mechanics. Luckily for folks like us, there are a number of automotive calculators around to help make this motorhead math simpler. Here, we’re going to share
“Which size fuel pump do I need?” According to the Summit Racing technical department, it’s one of the most common questions they hear. It’s not about the physical size of fuel pump; rather, the question refers to the volume of fuel the pump can flow. Many companies rate fuel pump size based on gallons-per-hour (GPH),
Thinking about swapping an LS engine into an early Camaro or Nova? It’s not exactly like fitting the proverbial square peg into a round hole, but you will need to have some special parts to ensure proper clearance and maintain the right driveline angle. Luckily, LS swaps have become popular enough that Holley and Hooker
[portfolio_slideshow id=42114] Plenty of racers use ballast to meet specific class weight breaks. Clever racers use the ballast as a tool to effectively tune the car too. As we covered in Weight Plan (Part 1), the best way to build any race car is build it as light as you can, then use ballast to
The crankshaft is the backbone of any Mouse or Rat. Without a good, strong crankshaft, your high performance Chevy engine (or any engine, for that matter) risks catastrophic injury. Whether you’re building a small or big block from the ground up, or adding serious modifications to your existing mill, it’s important that you match your crankshaft
You’ve got questions. We’ve got the answers—the Summit Racing tech department tackles your automotive-related conundrums. This week, we’re examining how changing rocker arm ratio can help performance. T.Y. Thornton, IL Q: I am in the market for roller rockers. I own a 1966 SS Chevelle with a 396. The engine is bored .030 over, has 10.25:1
Over the years, drag racers with door cars have gone through all sorts of suspension arrangements. Lift bars, slapper bars, Super Stock springs, leaf links, ladder bars, three-links, four-links, and torque arms (there may be others too, but it’s a start). Of all of the systems, the most common you’ll see today is the equal
What’s the latest trend in automotive paint? Green. Not the color green, necessarily. We’re talking “green” as in environmentally friendly automotive paints. These are paints that meet environmental regulations for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) within paints and coatings. Found in traditional solvent-based paints, VOCs are essentially solvents that are emitted into the atmosphere as gases
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