The trend toward traditional hot rods has prompted a variety of new methods to provide the right vintage look. One of the most popular is to make an engine appear to be something it isn't. There are a number of ploys to accomplish this; swapping rocker covers from another engine and hiding fuel injection under a vintage air cleaner are all common ploys. Another popular ruse is to make a small-block Chevy appear to be earlier than it is.
Just about everyone recognizes a small-block Chevy, but thanks to carefully chosen bolt-on pieces this one appears to be much earlier than it is.
Recently Jason Scudellari, aka Installation Jason, of Source Interlink's Tech Center was given the assignment to put years on a 350 Chevrolet and make it look like a pre-smog small-block. As he would be starting with a fresh, rebuilt short-block from JR Motorsports. The 355-inch small-block was decked, line-honed, bored, and honed with torque plates then fitted with a balanced rotating assembly. As we were starting with a short-block and there were a variety of parts needed to complete the engine, the deception could be accomplished by simply choosing the right bolt-on accessories. Here we added classic appeal by using the latest in vintage accessories. Here's how to do something that only a street rodder would understand, make something new look old with new old parts.
Timeless Triples
The classic vintage performance induction
When it comes to vintage performance parts nothing is as cool as multiple carburetors, and one of the combinations that pegs the wow-meter is three-twos. Triple carbs have that no-nonsense visual appeal, plus when properly tuned and operated with progressive linkage they offer outstanding performance as well and best of all they'll never be confused with something found on gizmo-laden trailer queens.
Jason Scudellari began with a fresh 355-inch Chevy small-block from JR Motorsports. The block has been decked, line-honed, bored 0.030-inch oversize, fitted with flat top hypereutectic pistons, a reground crankshaft, new bearings, and oil pump before being painted in vintage Chevy orange.
So, if the question is, "How do I give my small-block that classic hot rod look?", here are two great answers:
