January 22, 2016

Norman Blown EK Wagon

Being a greybeard and born In the early 1950s I've been lucky enough on have had a number of early FX and FJ's featured in hte early 70s and 80s Australian Custom Rodder magazine.   Our FX Ute was also pictured in a few mags at Lake Gairdner speed trials in the early 90s.  All were grey motored.  We thought that at the turn of the century, we might get a late model happening, hence the EK.

This is the car that I would have loved to have in the late 60s but couldn't afford it then!  We have tried to make is a period classic with nothing used ont he car later then 1970.  Body is stock apart from being lowered 2" all round.  Breaks are power assisted.  Inside trim is stock with addition of an Impala shifter, Smiths 3" tacho in a spun alloy case and Smiths 2" oil and temp gauges.

The engine is a grey with an Ivan Tighe came, stage 3 head, balanced bottom end, Ron Dalo headers, modified distributor and a Norman supercharger.  I drive this car to work every day and I find that greatest buzz is when you meet that one-in-a-million who is into Australian nostalgia and enjoys the car for what is is - my bit of Australian motoring fun!  The car's performance is satisfactory and it's great that our hobby is so diverse.  Thanks for your time
Lindsay Wilson


January 21, 2016

Grey Motor Yella Terra Roller Rockers


Holden Grey motor production had almost concluded come the arrival of Perfectune Engineering in 1962. Founder Dave “Dyno” Bennett had worked with the 132.5ci & 138ci refining what would become Perfectune’s only Grey Motor product – one of the acclaimed “Yella Terra” cylinder heads. Perfectune would go on to produce a range of aftermarket performance products for the Red motor which superseded the flagship Grey motor in 1963.



Wind forward 54 years and Perfectune Engineering/Yella Terra is pleased to keep the iconic Aussie legend alive, announcing the release of Holden Grey motor shaft roller rockers. 100% Australian manufactured and designed, the ultimate go-fast-bit for any standard or hopped up Holden Grey motor – 



Complete with fully adjustable aircraft grade extruded aluminium arms, internally lubricating 2-piece shaft and all the necessary mounting hardware to punch life into any Grey 6. No Machining required mounts directly to factory cylinder head and accepts factory cup-end pushrods. Nominal 1.65 ratio.



Equipped with smooth low friction rollers allowing for high revving capability perfect for any street, strip, circuit or hill climbing application. Precision CNC anodized cradle providing unsurpassed rocker stability eliminating premature valvetrain wear and radically reducing side loading.




Yella Terra 
(03) 9555 5522
53 Industrial Dr. Braeside 3195


January 06, 2016

The Bushman - Grey Motor D/A Altered


A RELIABLE, hard-haulin' mill is one of the keys to successful drag racing, that's for sure, and the six-pack which powers Jimmy Underwood's now well-established D/A Holden/Fiat must be the answer to any hot-rodder's prayers.

The EJ block being used in the Altered first tasted competition around Easter '67 in Jim's C/MS-winning FX sedan at a dirt strip meeting at Bendigo. Next time around it had found its way into his "Junior Mr. Holden '67" win-ning FX ute.

The same ute fronted to the first Calder ding early last year, but it soon became apparent that it would have to be running way above its capabilities, class-wise, so Jim turned around to his long-time buddy, Trevor Taylor, and said: "We're going home to build one of them there Fiat Altereds, boy, and to hell with the ute!"

Home to the Victorian pair is Gunbower (congratulations to the first one to find it on the map) and through the long Echuca winter months, plans were drawn up and blow torches blew, night after night, until well past bed-time. Four and a half months of solid toil and pocket lightening to the tune of $1400 resulted in a creation named "The Bushman".

Back they came to Calder in August of '68 with the new charger in tow to have it out with the almost unassailable "Li'l Bounty Hunter" Holden/Fiat of fellow Echuca driver, Maurie Mundie. But it was champagne all round at the close of business on that first Sunday in August after "The Bush-man" cracked it for a 13.28 beam-cutting class win, first time out yet! Which only lends further weight to that "old" adage: "Once a good donk, always a good donk!"

BIRDSEYE view of Jim Underwood's Holden/Fiat altered shows clean cockpit layout— Fiat steering box is mounted to rollcage crossmember, aluminium panelling along sides effectively seals cockpit lower half from mechanicals and also serve as "wind-tunnels". Pic top of page shows Jim and "the Bush-man" at Calder Dragway leaving the line for another low-13 sec. trip down the quarter.

Anyhow, that's the "after" of the picture, just what went on before? You're probably wondering.

Chassis design was left zo Trevor, who came up with a fairly light, but extremely rigid, spiderweb-like affair of lin. x lin. square tube. The basis of its strength lies in the paired longitudinal struts, braced by both conventional for-mers and mechanical fittings including the motor and the scattershield.

High comp Weslite pistons and a 60 thou. shave for the head have resulted in a healthy 12-to-1 compression ratio, while the Perfectune special stage 3 head runs 1.5 inch and 1 7/16 inch. inlet and exhaust valves respectively. Rejetted, triple 'Olden-type Strommie.s meter the 115 octane diet in extra large doses and an EH fuel pump drives the gas up to them.

A Scintilla Vertex magneto keeps the beast self-contained electrically, apart from the "tranny" batteries which power the impulse tacho.

The Lukey banana branch extrac-tors drain through into a home-built set of aluminium meggas, which are a good 50 percent lighter than their steel counterparts. It's this kind of fastidious attention to the weight factor that has turned the rig into a 1050 lb. scale tipper, and the pair figure that there's more lb. to come off yet!

FIAT Topolino body con-tributes 80 lbs to all-up weight ticket for Bushman, which stands at 1050 lbs. Body has been finished in Brimstone Green lacquer —looks great! Power comes from Holden EJ block bored to 155 cubes, run-ning 12 to one pistons and full balance job. Head is stage 3 Perfectune with triple Stromberg carb set-up. Little screamer is red-lined at 6500 revs and con-sistently turns the quarter in low-13 seconds.
 Stripped to the bare necessities, the Topolino Fiat body adds 80 lb. to the total weight, with the basic chassis accounting for approximately another 150 lb.

A 3 and 3/16th inch. overbore stretched the EJ block to 149 cubes, and bhp output is estimated to be well up over the 1 bhp per cu. in. mark at 175 bhp. Redline on the tacho is strictly adhered to at 6500 revs, at which point the Wade 140 grind cam is giving bags of power. A fully balanced mill (by Paul England) has kept the bottom-end virtually trouble-free throughout its life in three different cars.

Flywheel weight was shaved back considerably before the X2 clutch was mailed into place, and the synchro rings in the FJ box used were spot welded to prevent those second cog selection worries that Holden boxes often seem to have a mortgage on. Only second and top gear are used for the 440 and their selection is handled by a Landspeed floor shift. The modded Holden tailshaft measures 15in. in length and turns a 3.89:1 FC centre in an FJ housing.

The mill sits at a legal 25 percent aft on the 98in. wheelbase and with the lightweight Anglia front-end used, weight transfer is all that could be desired.



Five leaves were removed from the beam-axle suspension and the A-bar split into a pair of radius rods — this, plus the Vauxhall Viva tellies and 6in. of inbuilt positive castor on the cut-down VW hoops, makes the little mover track like a bullet — and invariably come to a halt in a straight line.

Morris Major 14in. rims have been grafted to the VW centres up for'ard and wear 5.20 x 14 rubber, white 6in. rimmed wheels and 600 x 13 Dunlop racing bags hang off the solid-mounted rear axle.

FE master-cylindered FJ drums constitute the whoa works at the rear — the system being hand lever activated.

Four bolts fix the body to the frame and it's a simple matter to de-Topolino the rig, whenever necessary. Finish is an eye-popping Brimstone Green laquer, complemented by an uncluttered sign-writing job. In an effort to beat wind resistance, the firewall has been trimmed at either side from top to bottom and a pair of aluminium "wind tunnels" mate up to the resultant gaps and taper down to exit near the rear wheel arches. All this also keeps the cockpit a little less omen to the elements without taking up too much space.

Pilot's perch is a featherweight but comfortable Hillman Imp bucket, and the Fiat steering box is driven by a home-built 8in. diameter 'wheel.

The tacho sits in the breeze directly in front of the driver on the bulkhead, while temp and oil gauges have been snuck into the uppermost' corners of the wind-screen surround. The driving compartment has been well planned and everything falls readily to hand when needed.

There must be a veritable horde of enthusiasts around who will tell you that tuning the mill j-u-u-u-s-t ... so! can make that winning difference and much credit for the Bushman's already formidable reputation must go to the third member of the team who's res-ponsible for all those critical, endless adjustments, Bill "Chimpy" Anderson. With Bill on the right end of sin. open-ender, competitors beware!

The "Bushman" may not be Competition Elimiator material yet — changes in a V8-type way could be occurring soon — but for sure it has given the D/A ranks a real shot in the arm at Calder, and the fans can hardly wait for the "little fellas" to turn it on come the first Sunday of every month!


January 03, 2016

McGee Racing - Grey motor

Here is a nice bit of information that popped up on FaceBook.


Phil McGee and Rod Farrell put this car together. The engine was out of Johnny Stewart's McGee Shell "Trackburner" that had just won the 65-66 Craven Filter National Championship.






More info on Trackburner here: http://www.thegreymotor.com/2014/09/mcgee-greymotor-speedway-trackburner.html