Dropping A Small Block Chevy In The Harwood '32 3-Window Coupe

We've got a purple pavement eater in the making

and we're getting ready to put the power to it

today on horsepower TV.

We'll build a small block Chevy motor for our retro street ride, adding a three Deuce carp set up and a turbo 350 tranny

plus spins are in on the oil pan and the valve covers.

We'll head to the shores of Mississippi for an annual cruising the coast celebration

and show you how to upgrade your old classic machine with a new custom steering wheel.

So hang on for horsepower TV.

Hi, welcome again to the horsepower shop. Well, today we get back to work on our 32 Retro Rod project, but first

check out the other end of the street Rod spectrum.

Now, this 33 Ford rosters, smooth slammed and slicker than old Henry ever imagined from the billet wheels

to the Duval windshield.

Under that trick leather interior man. This thing is state of the art all the way.

Hey, while you were out cruising, I went ahead and got our frame back from the paint shop where Rick Harris filled and smoothed it before laying on that special shade of PPG horsepower purple.

Now I've just about finished bolting up the whole suspension and today we're gonna work on the engine and transmission, but in case you missed it. Well, we started out with a Harwood 32 Ford three window coupe and frame.

And since we're building a nostalgia piece, we added an I beam front suspension with a SOCAL fin brake set up.

Now, out back, we've hung a curry eight inch rear end

and for rollers, well, we're using a set of Hali brand smoothies, mounting Coker wide white walls

for our rods engine. We wanted a fairly stout small block without blowing our budget. So we decided to go with this GM Goodridge 350.

That's a brand new engine as sibly, it only cost about 1200 bucks and even has a warranty. Of course, we do want our rod to rumble. So we're gonna add a new camshaft after I get this timing cover off and get our valve train out of the way.

Good deal. Now, we're using comp cams 268 high energy cam shaft to give our small block just a little bit of low

without sacrificing bottom end torque. Now, it's a hydraulic piece for low maintenance and we're gonna go ahead and install it with his dual roller timing set for reliability.

When you install a new cam shaft, you don't have to remove the oil pan to get the timing cover off. But we got a brand new pan. We'll show you a little bit later.

Now, make sure to use plenty of this lube that comes to your kit on all the journals and Lobes.

Then take it nice and easy.

So you don't nick those bearings.

That's that.

Now, here's that pen. I promised

it's a thin aluminum casting we got from Summit

all polished and perfect for our nostalgia theme.

Well, speaking of nostalgia, when was the last time you thought about running a 3d set up? Well, we have and we ordered this complete assembled system from auto motion in Great Falls, Montana.

Now they start with Edelbrock aluminum intake. Then they add their own reworked Rochester carbs.

The end carbs have had the base plates modified to eliminate the idle circuits and vacuum ports while the center carb which feeds the engine, most of the time has been fitted with an electric choke,

the progressive linkage and the fuel lines are auto motion zone design and they've fab those up from polished stainless and aluminum.

Now as a final touch, we've added these bell style air cleaners and we're gonna fit them with these canine elements.

There we go. That's it for the lifters,

man.

That is one cool piece. And I got your gasket all laid in place. Great. Well, you can help me lay this in place,

man. I can't wait to hear this thing run. Oh, man, it's gonna be great.

Edelbrock has rep popped their club

fin aluminum valve covers and we thought a set would help keep our retro look going. But before we both these up, we'll finish our valve trade with a set of comp cams, chrome Molly push rods

and their magnum roller tip rockers. Just a touch of high tech for this old timey rod.

I tell you, this thing really looks hip, hip man. You are lost in the fifties. Oh, yeah. Well, you're ugly. At least I can buy a road map. What are you gonna do?

Well, I'm gonna show him what you got for a transmission while you finish Bolton on the rest of that stuff.

Our turbo 350 has been set up for smooth street cruising by Hughes performance transmissions

in Phoenix Arizona. Now they've reworked the valve body for snappier shifts and they use Kevlar clutches for improved performance and reliability. Now, the converter is a 12 inch piece with an 1800 stall to help us get into that power band quickly.

Here's something else you'll be interested in.

They dyno

test every one of their transmissions to make sure there are no problems. Once they're installed,

we won't have any problems firing our 350 either. Now, we're using an old cast iron distributor for the look, but this one's been updated by Dave's, he I conversions out of Whittier California. Now, Dave installs this magnetic trigger here to take the place of the points

and under here he's adapted a four pronged G Mh E I module. That way we won't have to worry about finding parts if we should need them. Now, we're also using Excel coil plugs and wires black, of course, to keep the theme going.

Speaking of that, back in those days, rodders didn't use a lot of billets. So we're gonna bolt on some chrome accessories from Mr Gasket. Now we've got everything from a starter to an alternator.

Check this out. Even the dipstick

there she is all dressed up and ready to go between the frame rails. Let's go get the train. Hold on for just a minute there, partner and put her in park. Now, we got to take a little bit of a break, but we'll be back with more of our retro rod build up right after this.

Later joined thousands of street rides, muscle machines and more at a colossal cruise down on the Mississippi Gulf Coast

for the latest news on horsepower TV. Check us out online at Horsepower tv.com.

Hey, welcome back. Now, before we drop the engine and trans down, there are a couple of things that I wanna show you that we did to the frame here. Since we got it back from the paint shop,

we plumbed our brakes and added a residual pressure valve right here to keep the fluid from draining back into the master cylinder since it's mounted lower than the calipers or the wheel cylinders.

Now, back, we add an adjustable proportioning valve to help us balance our braking pressure and this is our brake light switch.

And over here we're adding cables for a low car parking brake set up.

Now, this end will attach to a floor mounted handle inside the body once it's bolted to the frame.

Oh, this is our B and M Trans cooler. We've mounted it close to where the transmission will be. So we won't have to run lines to the front of the car.

Ok. Here we go. Keep coming down. All right. Slow, slow, hold on.

Ok. Let me line it up. All right. Drop her down just a little bit.

How's that? That looks good. Let me get this bolt in over here.

Hey man, check out the cool pipes. I picked up for this thing.

Now, they're Sanderson's limestone headers and I really dig that megaphone look and under here they've even got a couple of dumps so we can hook them to street exhaust.

Hey, daddy, who'd you say was lost in the fifties?

Anyway, Sanderson also sent us an assortment of precut tubing that we could use to fab up that exhaust. Now, once we get these headers hung, we can start cutting and welding.

Hey,

yeah,

let me show you what we're doing here. Now we run the exhaust down and around the frame then back here through the cross member. And for that classic exhaust note,

we're using a bullet style glass pack muffler

and to isolate that sound. We're putting these rubber insulators and all the mounts. Now we've run the exhaust all the way out back

and we're gonna finish it off with these cool megs. We got from code engineering. Of course, the next step is to take it all apart

and send it to jet hot for their metallic ceramic coating.

We got our 32 fuel tank from Rock Valley. Now it's a stainless steel reproduction

and we had it painted horsepower purple to match the rest of the body

since it mounts in the stock location. We added these rubber strips

to keep it from chafing on the frame.

Also added this protective tape that we'll remove later once we get it in place. Now,

be careful right here. So we don't chip that paint.

There we go.

I've gone ahead and added the fuel pickup and sending unit

because we won't be able to get to them once the body is in place.

We've added this in line fuel filter to keep the trash out of our three deuces. Of course, we rattled the fuel line along the passenger side frame rail with this 38 inch hard line.

We're holding it in place with rubber insulated clamps.

Well, now we can go ahead and connect our vent tube

and our cinder connection.

You might remember last time we measured for the drive shaft and well just came in from the drive line shop. Now, we ordered their street router special which uses a small diameter two inch tube

to give us more clearance right here through the cross member.

Of course, it also uses 83 thousands wall thickness for additional strength.

Now, it's available in both steel and aluminum. Of course, the steel is more affordable and more like what the rotters would have used back in the fifties.

Oh, yes. This thing is starting to take shape and look like a real ride.

Next time you see it, we'll be working on the body and paint. Plus you'll see a cool custom flame job come to life. Well, speaking of that, don't you think the engine could use a little bit of color? What you got in mind there? Lack of breath. I like this black. Well, I'm kind of hung up on the horsepower purple myself or we're gonna get hung out to drive if we don't take a break, stay tuned, we'll be back with more.

Next. Join us with the sounds of seagulls, slot machines and Super Chargers. Feel the air at a cool car adventure on the Gulf coast.

Welcome back to horsepower TV. And to the isle of Capri here in Biloxi, Mississippi, we've blown into town to join several 1000 people for a three day cool car party on the beach called cruising the coast.

Just imagine carefully cruising up and down. Miles and miles of Gulf coast beaches past stately old southern homes

and not so old beachfront casinos

in just a few years. Cruising the coast has exploded into a nationally known, gotta be there. Horsepower habiting

with rides ranging from awesome antiques

to slick street machines of all descriptions.

Any cool cruise has a cruise site, right?

Well, cruise on the coast has got five. They're scattered all the way from Biloxi to here in beautiful old bay, Saint Louis.

Yeah,

the climate. The Gulf of Mexico beaches, the casino gaming at night time. The live entertainment cruising the coast 26 miles of white sand beach

attracts a lot of theft

fall

out.

So you're a mo

far man

born bred and cut mo

Far.

No matter what kind of car spins your crank, you'll find it here.

Hey, but there's more beach road crews and more sites to visit

like this one at Gulfport

where we find everything from Hot Rod High Boys powered by Ford flatheads

to this car that started out as a 52 Chevy taillights. Car 63 Chrysler tail lights.

You got anything? Just yellow.

Uh, no, I'm gonna paint my next car yellow.

Well, the event sponsors are seeing green.

Thanks to attendance figures. Topping 3000,

that doubles last year's numbers.

We like growing

things we like to, we like trying to make it bigger and better each and every year.

How would you describe cruising the coast to somebody who's never been here? Uh, it's just a wonderful weekend. The people are great.

It's sort of like a, a family atmosphere. People bring their family, their Children.

Ok. Back on the road on to another site

that is with a few stops along the way.

Hey, thanks for the ride now.

Yeah, you can't mix cars in a casino town without an event called the Poker Run.

Come on here. Let's, uh, try our luck a little bit.

You get to draw a card at five different casinos and the best poker hand wins the jackpot.

Wow. Ace of hearts. Good start.

Hey.

All right.

Royal Flush in the works.

I don't believe him.

Ok.

Who?

Here we go. Last stop of the poker run. I just need a 10 of hearts. And I got a Royal Flush. Oh, come on, baby.

Oh, well,

what else can happen today to rain on our parade?

But even a Mississippi monsoon can't wash out this hot car celebration.

By the time we reached the Biloxi crew site, the sun was shining like a new lacquer paint job.

Now, this side is sponsored by Chevrolet and, but they also brought along some of John Moss's toys from his warehouse, including this car called a Chevrolet Tandem. What is it? Well, it was designed as a street, a

version of a formula one car. It's got a 2.5 L four cylinder and, oh, why do they call it a tandem? It was like, get out of this thing. I'll show you.

You see

the driver sits up front,

passenger sits in back just like a motorcycle.

But it's the older rides that bring them to cruising the coast in droves

and here in the balmy land of shrimp boats and slot machines,

it's a safe bet that thousands more cars of all kinds will point south next year

for some more cruising on the coast.

Next, we'll steer you toward Chuck who shows you how a new steering wheel is a turn for the better in your car. We'll be right back

for more horsepower. Join us online at Horsepower tv.com.

Hey, welcome back. You know, my partner is always telling me that I need to get a grip.

Well, he might be right, but here's something that anybody can wrap their hands around. Now swapping out the steering wheel in your old street machine can not only bring it up to date,

but it can also keep it head in the right direction.

Now, there's an amazing assortment of steering wheels made for almost any application, whether you're building a pro streeter or a pro touring machine. Now, check out these that we got from La

Cara.

They come in three and four spoke designs and each one of them has a leather wrap that's available in colors to match your car's interior.

Now, the installation kit includes a hub retaining screws, a contact wire and horn button.

Of course, once the hub is installed, it'll accept any La

Carra wheel since the bolt pattern here is the same. Now, we decided to go ahead and bolt up this black three spoke

swapping out your wheel

is no big deal. Now, the steps may vary slightly from make to make, but one thing's for sure, you always want to disconnect your battery

and make sure that your wheels are pointed straight ahead

on. This came,

you begin by removing the horn shroud and the screws

that attach it are on the backside.

Once the shrouds out of the way, remove the horn contact

and the wheel retaining nut,

the contact disk is the next part to be removed. Then we can install the wheel puller,

just tighten the puller till the wheel breaks loose

and he can remove the whole wheel assembly

back when that Camaro was new. Hey, designers were more concerned about engines than they were about ergonomics. For instance, this wheel here is made out of hard plastic

as a fairly large diameter and a thin grip.

On the other hand, our replacement is covered in supple leather

and it's got a little bit smaller diameter for quicker response and a grip that you can really wrap your hands around.

There's an index mark on the steering shaft that's at the 12 o'clock position with the wheels pointed straight ahead.

I can install the new hub and just line up the mark on it with the one on the shaft

and go ahead and start the retainer nut.

You'll want to torque the nut to 40 ft pounds

to make sure the hub is fully seated on the spines.

Now, we can install the horn wire that's included with a kit,

just make sure it's seated properly down in the contact and now we're ready to install the wheel itself.

It attaches with these counter sunk allen head screws. Now, since there's no recommended torque back on these just make sure they're good and snug.

Well, the horn button is next, just connect the wire to the contact lead

and snap the button into place.

Now, Laar

offers several different logos for their center cap. We chose ours with the bow tie.

Well, imagine that I get out of town for a while and uh you finally get a grip. Looks good.

Well, why don't you get a grip on those new parts? Now we wouldn't steer you wrong. Hot parts is next.

Now, Horsepower's hot parts brought to you by summit racing equipment. Your source for high performance parts for 30 years.

Hey, nobody likes to have their bubble burst, especially when it has their prized possession inside of it.

Now, check out the car capsule, a portable protective enclosure from PDK.

Now it's made from heavyweight vinyl and it comes in a variety of sizes to fit everything from compacts to land. Yachts.

This fan forces filtered air into the capsule to keep it inflated and to keep the air circulated. Now you'll keep your money in circulation too because prices start at about 350.

Well, speaking of moving air, this king demon Rs car from BG fuel systems can feed the most powerful engines on the track. Now, the CFM rating can be changed from 1090 to 1190 to 1290 just by swapping out the venturi

sleeves. Now over here, both the base plate and three circ

metering blocks are made of billet. Now you can get it with either straight or annular boosters and it's got adjustable air bleeds, motion bleeds and idle restrictors. Now, you will have to bleed your budget a bit to the tune of $1100.

Well, what do you say? We shift gears for just a minute with B and M's Pro Bandit race shifter.

Now it's narrow construction makes it perfect for the tight confines of a dragster body

and with an optional mounting plate down here, hey, it works well for door cars too.

It comes with a rear exit ra M cylinder and it meets all the safety requirements of the sanctioning bodies. Now, it also works very well with either standard or reverse pattern power glides and it'll work over your wallet. But hey, for only about 300 bucks. Well, I'm all worked up over next week's show and here's a look at it

cover for a small block shootout. We'll explore the new Chevy and Ford CRE Engines before we welcome to our new engine

dyno

to see who's got the top horsepower numbers

in our race. Of the week. It's a blowout in the bluegrass state among top robots and pro streeters of the quarter mile strip

and the tip on how to use spacers to get more power out of your car.

And remember high performance fun is what this show is all about

for information about the products used in today's show and more. Check us out online at Horsepower tv.com

Horsepower TV is an RTM production.