Imagine going into the garage to pull the cover off your much loved Monaro, only to find an EH Holden sitting there instead. You’d be suspicious, and shocked, especially since you’d walked past the covered car many times and never noticed anything wrong.

This was the situation Neil Rutherford found himself in five years ago now.

The Monaro was part way through a rebuild at the time, the second build under Neil’s ownership, and in his eyes it was just about ready for paint.

Neil’s son Steve was the instigator of the plan to take the car while Neil and his wife Tilly were away for a few weeks, then give it a (more…)

The sport, or art, of drifting conjures up many different responses. Those who’ve seen the pros do it live are blown away by the speed, control and ability of the drivers. Those who’ve never witnessed it first-hand either don’t get it, or sadly, often respond with “oh yeah, we used to do that, but it wasn’t called drifting back then”.

I hate to burst your bubble if you fall into the latter category, but I highly doubt that what you used to do was anything like what today’s professional drifters do.

Drifting is not sliding out of a corner, far from it. It’s more the (more…)

It’s a well-known, weird and often-demonstrated curiosity that any given person or situation can be linked together through six degrees of separation. Expat-Aussie Andrew Clatworthy and his family have an automotive variant on that theory with this HG Holden Belmont ute, the story of which starts back when it was purchased brand-spanking-new on September 20, 1971.

Without the connections and influence of this family heirloom, Andrew wouldn’t have started his panel business Streetneat, and there wouldn’t be a bunch of Streetneat-built vehicles scattered around Australia, and now, the world.

Andrew explains: “I was given this ute as my first car by my mum when I was just about 18 and still going to agricultural college. It was only supposed to be for utilitarian transport purposes, as the car was well maintained and in great shape when I took over the keys. It had nothing really wrong with it or in dire need of attention. Although I did request the milk-truck canopy that had been on it since new be removed before I came home from college in 1984.”

As a teenager, the ute gave Andrew direction in life. Suddenly agricultural college wasn’t so important, nor was partying to excess with mates, and pissing money up against the wall like his peers. Instead, every spare waking hour and dollar was set aside for the improvements to the ute. By 1986 enough was saved for a show-class paint job — providing Andrew did the lion’s share of the prep work to help keep the price down. That was a defining time for Andrew when he started to learn the art of (more…)

In some circles the term ‘hot hatch’ refers to small front-wheel drive–powered cars of European decent, modified generally with an outrageous excess of fibreglass bodykit, oversized wheels, a few tonne of audio gear, neon lights and TV screens. Thankfully Shane and John Poulton’s idea of a hot hatch is somewhat different.

Having both always been fans of the Torana hatches because of their light weight, racing pedigree, and rarity, when the father and son team found a decent starting point on Trade Me they jumped at the chance to own it. Unlike their Camaro (see last issue), with the Torana they knew exactly what they were getting and how much work would need to be done to get the car (more…)

I can’t even remember who said it now, it was that long ago,” Lee Wilson comments on someone’s statement that Holden 308 motors couldn’t make any power. That was all it took to tip him over the edge and set him on a quest to prove them wrong… whoever they may be!
Lee had owned the car for a few years, just with a 3-litre straight-six in it, but the plan was always to drop a 308 in so it had a bit more power and street cred. If he looks back now, he would surely have noticed the signs that it was spiralling into a full-on build. One of those signs should have been when the decision was made to give the car a quick paint job before the motor was dropped in…
As you can tell, that quick paint job turned out to be a quality job, and it looks just as good now as it did all those years ago when it was first sprayed. It was around the time that the build began when Lee started hanging out with a few other guys and girls who had supercharged engines, and through helping them out with their builds, he soon met Al Shadwick from Al’s Blower Drives. Over the years Al and Lee have become good mates, helping each other out on various projects (Lee’s a fabricator by trade, so comes in handy).

As you can imagine, having a relationship with New Zealand’s top supercharger expert can come in handy when you’re trying to build a big power street motor. Al and Lee devised a plan that would see the 308 block retained, but a 304 crank installed, along with Scat H-beam rods and Wiseco pistons. While the capacity may be small in comparison, the emphasis was put on making the engine breathe efficiently to make the most of what it had to offer. To do this, Yella Terra Dash-9 CNC ported heads were chosen and fitted with roller rockers from the same catalogue. Add some Ferrea stainless valves, a blower cam and a port-matched intake and you’ve got a combo that is almost unbeatable with a Holden block. Of course, it’s what sits above all this that makes the power and makes the car into a head turner. That setup consists of a billet Blower Shop 6/71 supercharger and a pair of 650cfm Demon carbs.
Currently the blower is three percent overdriven, which should make the combo good for around 600hp. The exact figure is unknown as, since an oil pump drive failed resulting in the end being chewed off the camshaft, a new more aggressive cam has been fitted. With the old cam, it made 530hp, so it’s fair to say that Lee’s not stretching the truth at all with those numbers.

Since the plan was only ever for the car to be (more…)

The crowd is fixated, standing on tip-toes vying for space. Through the thick acrid smoke you can hear the whine of a supercharged small block being dealt to. Through the murk the front of a blue HK Monaro emerges. The crowd is loving it, cheering, arms in the air. Bang goes a tyre. The crowd goes even wilder. A few seconds later another bang, as tyre number two explodes.
As the smoke clears the driver emerges through the sunroof to stand on the front edge of the car’s roof, arms aloft in celebration. He’s not alone, as the crowd cheers and applauds his efforts.

It’s this type of behaviour that brought Tristan Teki and his HK Monaro to our attention. Brutal is the best way to describe the manner in which Tristan treats the HK, but as hard as he is on the car, he’s equally skilled at screwing it together — and he’s pretty flash behind the wheel too. In fact, he’s built a combination that’s been tough enough to handle this sort of abuse for several years now without any major meltdowns. Instead he’s got a few trophies on the mantelpiece at home for his efforts.

Tristan has been destroying tyres for as long as he can remember, but the HK only came into his possession around five years ago. When Tristan purchased the HK, it was fitted with an injected 5.0-litre Holden motor. But it didn’t take long before his driving style didn’t really suit the mechanical componentry of the car. It was a combination of the third broken gearbox and the dislike of showing people a plastic cover in the engine bay that saw him devise a plan to refit a Chev motor.

A quick search on Trade Me uncovered a steel Chev small block for a decent price, so it was bought and dropped in the hole with a turbo 400 trans. The salespeople at Pro Parts in Palmerston North must be bloody good, because Tristan went there looking for a few shiny bits to tidy up the engine bay but instead came out with a complete 8/71 supercharger kit. I guess you could say that it’s shiny and makes the engine bay look the part, at least that’s what Tristan told his wife.

A day later he’d fitted a Holley pump and half-inch lines to feed fuel to the thirsty setup, and with cable ties holding the accelerator cable on, Tristan was off down the road testing. After nearly shitting himself at the car’s new power and dislike for traction, he knew he was onto a good thing.

Little did he suspect that the stock bottom end would last three and a half years of abuse before needing to be cracked open. Included in that time were many burnout comps, street drags and even a few trips down the quarter mile, with a best ET of 11.9 seconds.
Around two years ago and with a bit more cash under his belt, Tristan decided it was time to build the engine properly. For this he called upon the services of Rivers Speed and Spares, who stroked the motor out to 383ci with Manley pistons and an Eagle crank. Edelbrock Victor Junior heads were fitted, as was a Comp Cams cam and roller rockers. The days of it being a budget beater were over.

As a qualified mechanic, Tristan did most of the work at home, including fitting a whole bunch of MSD ignition gear and a well thought out cooling system. The latter includes an electric water pump, larger alloy radiator, the biggest electric fan he could find and a turbo timer. The turbo timer lets the car continue cooling even after the engine has been switched off and Tristan has walked away.

With the engine build going on, Tristan decided to crack open the transmission at the same time. Cameron Head at Automan Specialists was given this job, and as well as freshening it up, he fitted a manual valve body and a Hughes 3500rpm stall converter. So far the combo has been able to handle all the abuse Tristan has dealt to it, as has the nine-inch rear diff.

With the diff came Ford callipers and discs, which have remained in place and are now paired with HZ front callipers. In fact a whole HZ sub-frame and suspension assembly has been grafted into the car. New shocks were added at the same time, while the springs remain standard. Tristan wasn’t too worried about handling, though, because he’s got a Camaro race car for when he fancies turning corners.

It was always important that the car looked good, and thanks to some expert panelwork by Prestige Panelbeaters and paint by Jellymans Panel and Paint it now does. The colour is a bit of a ‘she’ll be right’ custom blue. With the chrome bumpers and bug catcher sticking through the bonnet, it doesn’t look bad. The mix of 14-inch front and 15-inch rear Cragar rims adds to the purposeful look.
Tristan has made sure the car’s interior is as comfortable for cruising the streets as it is sitting on the burnout pad. A set of bucket seats replaces the factory items and a Pioneer stereo system pumps out the tunes should he ever tire of the blower whine. It hasn’t happened yet, so it doesn’t seem likely that it ever will.

With recent success at the Powercruise Burnout competition, among others, he’s got a few titles to defend, so we don’t think the car’s future will change a lot from what it’s become accustomed to. It’s been such a reliable combination despite the trashing that it gets so regularly, and of course Tristan knows how to drive it, and knows how to get the crowd on its feet, so why would he want to change a thing? Except tyres, of course.

1968 Holden GTS HK Monaro – specifications

Engine: 383ci (6.3-litre) Chev, 010 overbore, four-bolt Chev truck block, Manley coated pistons, Eagle 4340 forged rotating assembly, stroker kit, Victor Junior alloy heads, Comp Cams roller rockers, Comp Cams cam, twin 650cfm Demon double pumper blower carbs with bug catcher, Weiand 8/71 supercharger, standard tank, 13mm braided fuel lines, Holley high-flow fuel pump, Barry Grant four-port regulator, MSD 6BTM ignition, billet MSD distributor, MSD leads, twin 2.5-inch pipes, alloy radiator, electric water pump, 356mm electric fan all on turbo timer, MSD 7000rpm chip, MSD BTM adjustable boost control
Driveline: Turbo 400 transmission, Hughes 3500rpm stall converter, manual shift kit, nine-inch diff
Suspension: HZ Holden suspension, aftermarket shocks, stock springs
Brakes: HZ front callipers and rotors, Ford rear callipers
Wheels/ tyres: 14×7-and 15×8-inch Cragar rims, 205/60R14 and 265/50R15 Cooper tyres
Exterior: Custom blue paint
Interior: Bucket seats, Pioneer audio system (head unit, components, 6x9s and twin 12-inch subs)
Performance: Approximately 600hp (450kW)

Tristan Teki – Owner profile

Age: 33
car club: Wanganui Road Rodders
Occupation: Foreman/director
Previously owned cars: HQ, HZ, WB Holden utes all with 350 Chevs, VS SS ute, VX Commodore
Dream car: My ’69 Camaro. Now I have to think of a new dream car
Build time: Six months about five years ago
Length of ownership: Five years
Tristan thanks: Big thanks to Grant and Dean at Rivers Speed and Spares 06 345 4402, Mark, Dean and Nigel at Pro Parts Palmerston North 06 355 2992, and all the family and friends who helped, and my understanding wife Joanne. Thank you.

Words: Todd Wylie    Photos: Adam Croy

Growing up with a dad who is a self-confessed petrol head with a penchant for anything fast, Winiata Reid was always going to end up with some cool rides. At just 23-years-old his roll call of previously owned cars reads like a wish list for many of us, yet we get the feeling this is just the beginning.

With dad encouraging him all along, not to mention setting the benchmark with his nine-second street car among others in his collection, Winiata’s rides have been getting better and better, and when the opportunity to purchase this HQ came up he jumped at it. Although he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty himself, the HQ was already up and running, and couldn’t be built for the price the seller was asking.

Like Winiata, the previous owner of the HQ has had a bunch of very cool cars over the years, and seems to pump out another stunner around once every 12 months or so. With full-on business commitments, he hired HQ guru Carl Johnson to build the majority of the vehicle and manage all other aspects, and what a job Carl’s done.

(more…)

The Supercheap Auto Powercruise event hits Taupo Motorsport Park for the third time this weekend (18-20 Nov). There’s been a bunch of new cars in the build specifically for this event, so it’s going to be huge.

Event organiser Gup will once again be bringing ‘Elvis’ his monster-power HQ Holden from Australia for the event to impress the crowds. If you’re looking for a chance to do everything you’ve always wanted to do in your car, but in a safe environment, Powercruise is it.

To find out more go to www.powercruise.com