Steve Nitti called me the other day to invite me up to see his car at Sharadon Automotive, it is close to being finished. This project has been in process for several years but Steve says it will be running and showing at Mopars in the Park in Farmington, MN on June 5-6. Steve doesn't go on this board so I asked him if I could tell you about this car. Nothing has been spared to make this an exceptional show and performance car and Steve is anxious to bring it to the track to see what it will do and wants to enter a Slant Six race some day.

The car is a 72 Gold Duster that Steve has owned since new. He got the complete coil shock front end set up from Magnum. I had never seen one of these close up before and I was impressed with the engineering. It included many specially fabricated pieces which is probably why it is so expensive. It looks strong enough for rigorous street use. Out back is an 8 3/4" axle with an aluminum carrier, super stock springs, and QA1 shocks. The subframes are tied together and a roll bar installed. The wheels are chrome with small hubcaps on the centers. A 904 trans is there and a converter will be ordered after after dyno testing.

The engine is bored .030 over and the crank is stroked as much as possible by offset grinding to a Honda crank pin size. The block is partially filled and features 4 bolt ProGram main caps. The rods are Carrillos. The head was reworked by Glen Knowlton, they clouldn't find the flow sheets but Glen has produced several Slant Six heads that flow over 200CFM in the past. It has T&D rockers but I didn't ask about the cam. The plenum style intake was fabracated out of aluminum with some tricky looking passages between the plenum and the head. It looks a lot like the intake on Howard Davis' car except the throttle body is on the side instead of the front. The headers were fabricated out of stainless. The fuel injection system is controlled by a FAST unit. There is an Aeromotive 1000 fuel pump in the back and a tank for a water injection system. A belt driven ProCharger tops it all off. Denny says it is a D series capable of supporting 850HP.

There was a mock up of the engine at Mopars in the Park last year and apparently Rob Wolf took pictures for an article to appear in MCG. The car will be in the Sharadon exhibit at this year's show. Maybe someone can take pictures and post them here.

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If you didn't drive it there, it's not a street car.

Holey moley! Sounds like a serious car. Wonder if he would bring it to Kearney this year??

You and Neal should try to go again. He has the Dart back and drivable, but with all the turbo parts ready to bolt on as soon as I can make a trip up there.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I asked about Kearney but Steve has a commitment that weekend. I also suggested Clay City in October and he thought that might be a possibility. Based on how long everthing else has taken I wouldn't hold my breath until this thing hits the drag strip. I talked to Neal yeasterday and asked about Mopars in the Park, he has something going on on Saturday but might come out Sunday. I am thinking of bringing the blue car on Saturday and see how it goes.

I realize that I didn't ask Steve if he is going to run an intercooler or not. I didn't ask about his ignition system or balancer either. The car was actually up on a lift when I saw it, good for somethings but not others.

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If you didn't drive it there, it's not a street car.

Maybe I can feast eyes on it next time I'm up there? Looks like I might be able to come the weekend of July 4 and maybe a few days after.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Steve Nitti called me this morning to report that they had his car on the drag strip for the first time yeasterday. They were at Cedar Falls Iowa and made only a few runs before some transmission seal issues put the car on the trailer. They did get a time slip with 12.10 and 116MPH on it. Steve plans to do some tuning on a chassis dyno after the transmission is fixed and try it again at Grove Creek on October 16 or 17. In the meantime he is going to put on some street miles to get more used to the car.

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If you didn't drive it there, it's not a street car.

At 116 mph that car should be able to run mid 11's.
Steve is on the right track, drive it and tune it... it will get faster.
DD

Hmmm. I just scheduled it into the calendar. Would be fun to see this thing. Is there any pics of Steve's car? I would bring my car out if I came. Later
Ryan

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10.74 @ 127.47 mph 1320 ft
6.65 @ 107.80 mph 660 ft

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Sure sounds like a great car for a write-up in the newsletter. I would certainly like it and would be interested in some more info on the 4 bolt mains?

Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6