Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:32 am
My pick for Racer of the Week is Dave Dennis, from Manchester, Pennsylvania. Dave was recommended to me by our friend and the head guy at the Mid Atlantic Street Outlaws group, Duane Morris. Thanks, Duane!
For Dave, growing up in a family that was active in drag racing provided plenty of influence to lead him down the right path. Seeing his dad regularly campaign a hopped-up ’58 Corvette at the York US 30, as well as cruising the local streets in a radical ’65 Nova SS provided plenty of fuel to keep him concentrating on high-horsepower V-8s. For his first car at age 17, Dave brought home a ’66 Nova in need of plenty of attention and looked to his dad for guidance. Wanting to be a hands-on owner, Dave asked the questions and then went to it until the ’66 hit the streets with a 377-inch small-block Chevy mill linked to a four-speed trans. As the years passed, he held onto the Nova while still attending car shows and various drag racing events.
In 1989, his dad came across a 1930 Model A coupe with a nasty chop and channel sitting on a rolling chassis. The car was extremely rough but had potential so a deal was made and he hauled it home. For the next 11 years he continued to buy parts to assemble the car, but for some reason the project stalled and remained dormant in the family garage. One day Dave and his good friend Jeff Martin paused to examine the coupe and determine just what it would take to bring it to life. Between them, the pair had a pile of weathered old parts that would enable them to complete the car. Dave made a deal with his dad and purchased the project from him in 2000 with the intention of completing it so they could hit the local dragstrip together. As Dave tells it, the car made its first pass down the quarter-mile with a 14.20 e.t., which he felt was terrible. The pair proceeded to make affordable changes, noting every upgrade, till the coupe ran a somewhat respectable 12.80 e.t. Finally, a decision was made to do a complete teardown and start from scratch to bring the car to a whole new level from both a performance and visual standpoint. Working with his NHRA rulebook, Dave followed the outline of what it would take to bring the coupe to the next level and have it certified for 8.50 e.t.
Dave stripped it to bare bones and commenced by first extending it by 6 inches in front to give the car a longer and leaner look. The 2×4 boxed steel ’rails were then Z’d 6 inches fore and aft to get the car closer to the ground while custom crossmembers were also laid in place. Out back an Undercover 9-inch chromoly sheetmetal rear packed with 3.89:1 gears and Strange Engineering axles was suspended in place with Competition Engineering ladder bars while Koni double-adjustable coilover shocks soak up the bumps. Up front a Super Bell aluminum 4-inch dropped axle is anchored in place by a matching four-link combined with a transverse leaf spring, Panhard bar, tube shocks, and ’40 Ford spindles. To make sure there is plenty of stopping power, fluid is pushed through a Strange Engineering master via stainless steel lines to Strange four-piston calipers and 11-1/4-inch discs out back and Strange single-piston calipers with 10-1/2-inch Wilwood discs up front. Completing the chassis are a pair of 15×12 E-T Fueler wheels capped with Mickey Thompson street radials out back with 18×3-1/2-inch Radir 12-spokes up front, capped with Avon motorcycle rubber.
The thunder within every Street Shaker resides between the framerails and to bring it all to life. Dave worked with Andy Jensen of Jensen’s Engine Technologies in Nescopeck, Pennsylvania, to inject a serious amount of horsepower into the equation. Jensen’s assembled a fire-breathing 410ci small-block packed with all the right stuff, including a Callies lightweight crank, Oliver H-beam rods, JE 11.3:1 slugs, COMP Cams custom ground cam, and topped it off with a pair of Brodix 18-degree aluminum heads. Fuel gets dumped through a Holley 1,050-cfm Dominator perched atop a Brodix intake while the fire gets lit by a Vertex mag and spent gases dump through a set of owner-fabbed headers. A GM Powerglide massaged by Ron Edwards of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, features an ATI converter and B&M internals while an Inland Empire aluminum driveshaft pushes everything rearward.
With the bottom end of the build complete, Dave shifted his attention to the rollcage, being one of the more difficult portions of the build to tend to. He worked with Gene Knaub of Dover, Pennsylvania, to incorporate a certified 8.50 e.t., 10-point chromoly cage into the tiny interior, which was a true exercise in engineering since the car would see both street and strip use. With that completed, he moved onto the body. Since the car already had a perfect 6-inch chop and 5-inch channel by the prior owner, he focused on reworking the rear wheel openings as well as adding a flat firewall, and suicide doors. With all of the fabrication complete, he then massaged the vintage steel to perfection and delivered it to East Coast Muscle Cars in Craley, Pennsylvania, to lay down a lustrous coating of PPG custom-mixed vibrant blue pearl vibe. Inside Auto Meter gauges help monitor the vitals while a B&M shifter moves the gears and a Billet Specialties steering wheel sets the course. To add just enough comfort, Sholley’s Trim Shop in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, laid out plenty of buff ultraleather to cover a pair of reworked Kirkey aluminum seats, custom door panels, and console. With an estimated 650 hp on pump gas and weighing in at 1,980 pounds, Dave hopes to have the coupe dialed for the low 9s in the quarter-mile, and to us that’s deep into Street Shaker territory!
Time will not allow the complete story of the build and all the hard work and effort that Dave put into this Street Shaker, but it is all in the text file on the DragList Forum under JB's Take. The best performance that Dave has achieved so far with this street-legal hot rod is an 8.26 at 163 mph, with a 60-foot time of 1:19 on the back tires.
This car looks as good as it runs. It is one of the finest Hot Rods I've ever seen.
Dave, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future.
This info is from an article in Hot Rod Network.com, written by Chuck Vranas, June 1, 2012.
- Attachments
-
- Dave_Dennis_Jan_29_2018_FB.jpg (530.74KiB)Viewed 3790 times
Last edited by
WildcatOne on Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Life Is Good!
http://www.peeweebowenband.com
Support Live Music!