Van Project

How much horsepower can we get out of old Casper? Hey, the results just might scare you.

Yeah.

Today on horsepower TV,

we'll turn our project van Casper into white lightning first with a free flowing exhaust, then an air charger to help it breathe before we reprogram the computer for more power. Of course, we'll test the work on our

dyno Jet.

Chuck's got a tip on how to pocket for your heads and I'll take you to the races, the I hr A summer nationals and the heart of Mid America.

So hang on for horsepower TV.

Hi and welcome to horsepower T VA. Couple of weeks ago, we gave Chuck's Astro van a new look by slamming the suspension and bolting on some body parts and the result. Well, pardon the pun? Pretty fantastic.

But today we're gonna help it live up to its new image by enhancing the horse power. Oh, how do we do on that baseline run?

Well, we got 100 and 40 rear wheel horsepower on that run.

Now, that might be enough to get you up and down the boulevard, but

it's not gonna shut down the competition when the light turns green. Now, I could really tell this old Vortec V6 had its tongue hanging out on that run.

So, let's see what we can do to help it breathe a little bit easier.

A factory exhaust does exactly what it's supposed to do. Make things quiet.

But that quiet can cost you horsepower because of the restricted path inside the muffler.

That's why swapping out your exhaust can help your engine make more power

and give it a lot more aggressive sound.

Sounds great. And the way we're gonna get it is with this custom cat back exhaust from Borla.

Now, it's made from stainless steel and features a direct bolt up to the factory cat,

a high flow muffler feeding into a pair of dual tail pipes and a pair of polished tips. They're gonna exit through the exhaust openings in our van's new body kit.

Well, here's a look at why the stock exhaust is so restrictive. See this massive muffler here. Well, inside this thing is a maze of baffles, passages and packing

and up here. Well, it all dumps into a single tail pipe. So what do you say? We get busy and get this thing off of here

with this new system ought to give us some easy horsepower. The muffler just bolts right in place of the stalker and even uses the original hangers.

The driver's side tailpipe is next. Now, we had to add this hangar here since the Astro didn't come with one from the factory.

Finally, the passenger side tailpipe finishes the installation. Now we've left all the clamps loose and we'll tighten them once everything's lined up

with our free flowing exhaust. The other part of the equation is a free breathing intake. We're gonna replace the factory air cleaner element with this air charger we got from KNN.

Unlike the stock paper element here,

this one is reusable when you wash it

and should flow 15% fat

since the engine is breathing a lot easier. Now,

we need to optimize both the timing and fuel delivery to take advantage of those upgrades. Now,

reprogramming the computer is something that anybody can do

with this power programmer from Hypertech.

It plugs right into the diagnostic port so you can choose from different tuning options,

adjust your transmission shift points and firmness and even compensate for different axle ratios and tire sizes.

Ok.

Remember we made 100 and 40 horsepower with the van before boating on the exhaust, adding the filter charger and reprogramming the computer. Now, what do you say? We kick some astro?

Ok. There's where you shifted and then you made 100 57 horsepower at the rear wheel. Oh, now that's 17, more than what we started with and,

and I'm really gonna feel that next time I mash the gas

and it's not too bad for less than a day in the driveway and under $1000 for parts.

Yeah. Give or take one thing's for sure.

Oh, Casper is gonna scare the competition out of the boulevard. Now.

Now, fear not. We'll be right back after this short break. Stay with us.

How about putting Casper on the bottleneck?

I

like

that.

That's some instant horsepower

later on. From the hottest hot rods to the quickest top sportsman. It's I hr a competition from Cordoba. Stay with us

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

Hey, welcome back to the shop. Now, in case you missed it, we just finished a high tech hop up on my van there for more power. Plus we've slammed the suspension for a whole new stance and added some body panels and graphics for a whole new look about. The only thing that we haven't worked on so far is the interior. We're about to change that. Now,

hey, tell me what's the first thing you notice when you step inside this ride? Uh dirty windshield. No man, the gauges

and with this elaborate piece of plastic here, well, we're gonna have a set of white face gauges to match the rest of old Casper. Let me show you how easy it goes in. First thing you wanna do is remove the front face and pull gently because it's snapped into place,

disconnect any wiring harnesses,

remove the lens in front of the gauges

and after marking their locations carefully, remove the needles,

then the instrument pod can come out of the dash,

then remove the dash face trim

and peel away the original face,

then take the new face and peel away the paper backing

carefully, line everything up and press the new face into place.

Now you can go ahead and reinstall the needles.

Then after you reinstall the lens and dash face, you're done.

By the way, this kit comes from A PC which has them for most popular applications

and partner better face it. This was a good idea. Hey, speaking of applications,

well, here's something that you apply right to your dash to give even more of that high tech look. Now, Infinity products makes these press on panels with that carbon fiber appearance

to install them. You just clean the dash with rubbing alcohol,

then peel a plastic strip from the two sided tape

and press it into place.

The final piece in our carbon fiber face lift is this steering wheel cover from Grant.

Now, it just snaps on right over the steering wheel and it doesn't interfere with the air bag. So it's safe too.

Things are looking pretty good up front but the backseat passengers ought to be happy with this. It's a console with a built in TV. And video player also comes from Infinity products. But before we install it, we got some assembly to do. Starting with wiring

first. The video player gets a power cord

and a pair of RC A plucks.

Ok. Now let's get this cover out of the way

and we can connect the player to the TV.

Here we are

at the TV S power plug,

put her in place

and we'll secure it with this Velcro strap

with the cover back on.

Install the face plate here

and you'll be ready to put it in the vehicle.

Ok, man, she's all yours. All right, man. You did a great job on that.

Yeah, let's get it into place here, man. That thing fits perfect.

Now, the console kit comes with this hard wire harness that lets you permanently power the TV video player and even this optional beverage mate. Now this thing will keep your drinks hot or cold at the flip of a rocker switch. Now we plan on transferring this thing from vehicle to vehicle. So we're gonna use these power plugs that use the van's accessory outlets.

Well, now I can ride down the road and watch a movie or even check out my favorite TV show. Speaking of which,

hey, Dummy, you forgot to tell him about the remote.

Oh, well, thanks for the reminders.

Now, don't you touch your remote? We'll be back with more horsepower TV. After this

tv's race of the week is brought to you by Edelbrock,

the leader in automotive performance for nearly 75 years.

This week, we're in the heart of MidAmerica for the Emily Oils Summer nationals. So if you're ready, let's leave the pits and go line them up.

Welcome to Cordoba Dragway Park in Northern Illinois for the fourth national event in I hr a competition

as the racing heats up, the track gets hotter

and some of the hottest cars out here are the top sportsmen.

These cars not only have speed, they have a personality all their own

that goes from Jeff

Aloma and his 63 Corvette lovingly called the Beast.

We just wanted to, uh, do a throwback to the old days of drag racing where all the cars were named.

Uh I think it, it has a lot of crowd appeal. I think people like it, especially the nitrous purge out the nostrils.

Jeff did get his nitrous fed beast to turn over 180 miles an hour enough to clinch a place in Saturday's finals.

The fast cars might attract a crowd, but I hr isn't just for high priced drag cars.

One of the hottest classes here is for door slammers, only the hot rod class

in Hot Rod. The racers run a five inch pro three and all cars run a 1090 dial in.

It's bracket racing with a heads up field. Let's ride along with points leader David Hill as he tells us his strategy for taking home a win.

I

will clear my mind. Make sure I'm focused on the, on the Christmas tree. Try to cut the best light I can.

And then, uh, as I start off down track, I'm going to, uh, I wanna be looking for the other guy because the object is you wanna get there first without going too fast. And that's what gets a w

this is a perfect class for guys just getting started in drag racing.

And 12 year veteran David has some advice for newcomers. Ir drag racing is, is for,

you know, the little guys like us to come out and have a good time and,

and, uh,

to

be able to get out in front of people and run national events.

And, uh, it's awesome to come out here and race for these guys. And, uh, there's a bunch of really great racers and you can learn a lot,

you know, just don't be scared to come out and give it a try. One racer that came out to give it a try for the first time is Rich Ferre

Burlington, Iowa.

I've always been into street riding,

but I thought at the age of mid

ff, I'd better do a drag car before. I'm too old to do it.

Rich gave it his best this weekend. But a problem with his cooling system would affect him for the rest of the weekend.

One team that made sure they'd have no problems. This race was Barbara Hedge and her dad Rick for them, racing is more than just for winning. It's become a family affair.

We have a lot of fun together. We'd meet a lot of nice people at these races. Real nice people. A lot of families,

a lot of them, I don't get to spend a lot of time with them during the week. So the weekends, good time to spend time with them.

Even though they've been racing for four years. This is their first, I hr a event and so far so good.

Yeah, this Quick Rod is the first time we've ever came out to. I hr A and ran

and, uh,

I gotta say that I'm, I'm impressed with what they've got.

It's, uh,

it's a little easier, a little more relaxed racing here. Rick might like the laid back pace but Barbara has a few different reasons.

The speed,

the acceleration launching off of the line.

It's just,

it's

incredible.

I love this.

I couldn't be any happier.

Only one thing could be hotter than today's qualifying rounds and that's Friday night's quick eight. The top sportsman duke it out to find out who was the quickest street car

and it would be Jack Odell and his 70

challe going against Doug Mills. 93 Thunderbird

and o'dell took the top spot even though it wasn't the prettiest way to do it.

We caught up with him the next day.

Well, we kind of finish

up wild. It was a good run. Uh,

get the lean out, things got a little wild,

but we got down there and we win. I guess that's what counts

ain't the way we like to do. It, but that's what we did. And Jack wouldn't be so lucky in the finals. However, losing in the first round.

Rich would also go out in the first round, still having trouble with his cooling. Even though I had problems, I had a good time and I'm glad I made it here now for the finals in Hot Rod, it would be Wayne Christopher and his 84

BTE Carlo

taking the win.

Bill Newell's Mustang took the top sportsman class edging out Lynn King in his Daytona

and in pro outlaw M

Snyder blazed away taking the wind light with the speed of 223 miles an hour. Meanwhile, here are all the sportsman winners of race four in the 2000 I hr A championship series.

Hey, welcome back to the shop. You know, a while back, we did some flow bench testing on various port modifications and we found that the best place to spend your time and energy is in the short side radius and the bowl area right under the valve.

In fact, pocket porting properly done can increase your flow number significantly

up to 30% in some cases.

Now, you can send your heads out and pay to have them done

or you can do it yourself

to modify your head. You're gonna need a dye grinder and an assortment of abrasive rolls and disks like this one from standard abrasive plus you'll need eye protection and ear protection.

And a set of headstands like this to hold your heads firmly in place while you're working on them.

Now, carbide bits like this one

are used for fast metal removal or major reshaping and until you get some experience on your belt, well, they're probably best left in the hands of the professionals.

This is the short side radius in a very critical area when it comes to improving the flow into and out of the combustion chamber. Now, what you wanna do here is eliminate any bumps and lumps in the port or any casting flash that you might find there then smooth the transition on the short side radius and into the valve throat.

You can rough in the porch, starting with a 40 grit cartridge roll and finish it off with an 80 grit roll. And while you're in there, make sure that you don't touch the valve seat area with either the abrasive roll or the rotating part of the grinder

or you could end up replacing the valve seats too.

Next, turn your attention to the roof of the port and the valve guide area or the bowl. Now, what you wanna do here is just smooth, any rough casting areas not reshape them and you may have to work through the port opening using a long mandrel to get at all the areas properly.

The final step is to open up the valve throat right here just above the valve seat.

A general rule is that the throat opening should be about 85% of the valve diameter

again, work carefully. So you don't damage the valve seat and start with a 40 grit roll finish with an 80

repeat the process on both the intake and exhaust ports and your engine will breathe a lot easier and reward you with more horsepower. Now, if it's your first attempt at modifying cylinder heads, well, you may want to start on a set of junkers first. Now, most machine shops have old heads lying around that

either didn't pass the mag test or are otherwise unusable and they gladly donate them to the cause. Now, before you know it, hey, you're gonna be ready to go with the flow and pick up some extra performance at the same time.

Well, speaking of time, it's time for us to take a little bit of a break now, but we'll be back with more horsepower TV after this.

And now hot parts brought to you by car parts.com, everything for your car, truck van or SUV.

Here's a way to keep a low profile in your 64 to 72 G MA body.

It's a custom wound spring and shock combination from the original parts group. Now, this setup will lower your car two or three inches while keeping a comfortable ride. Of course, the KYB gas shocks will keep everything under control too with the right length and valving for each application. So now, you can get down with the best of them by only coming up with 100 and $69 for a pair of springs and the shocks start at $40 and up

here's something else that will shock you. It's a plasma coil from

moroso and inside the extruded aluminum housing

are some high tech components, they say will generate up to twice as much spark energy as the competition.

They've got it for both points type and capacity discharge ignitions, both with a simple two wire hook up and you can hook up with one for about 85 bucks and up.

Well, this next hot part will help you get hooked up too. It's a carbon fiber drive shaft from trick race parts. Now it's available in lengths up to 52 inches

and the billet ends and carbon fiber construction help make it one of the lightest and strongest drive shafts on the market.

So now you can reduce rotating mass and get off the line just a little bit quicker

with prices starting at about $700. All right. Well, quicker than you know it. Our time is up. But here's a little look at next week's show.

We'll upgrade our pro touring pony suspension with upper and lower control arms plus some tunable coil over shocks.

We'll install some new disc brakes and show you a cool way to plead your brakes

in our race of the week. The past is new again as we tag along with some new nostalgic drag racers of the 21st century.

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

Hey, that was neat. Watching you on the band's TV. Earlier.

You were this tall though? Really? Yeah. You know what? You look a little small now yourself. Really? Let's go watch it on a big set somewhere. I hear you

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.