This filter assembly is designed for racing, the filter element can be visually checked in just a few seconds. This makes it possible for a circle track racer to check the filter element for excessively wearing engine parts, even during a pit stop in the middle of a race. Now drag racers can easily check the filter element between rounds. The old style filters made this almost impossible, especially in the later rounds. There is not enough time to take the old style oil filter apart, and clean up the mess, and put the filter back together. The racer usually has to take the filter apart when it is very hot. No madder what kind of racing you are doing, Clear View Filtration’s new Oil Filter Assembly will give the user the ability to keep track of their engine, by being able to visually check the filter in seconds without draining or leaking any oil, unbolting or loosening any fasteners or fittings and you don’t loose any fluid out of the fluid system.

The Filter Assembly is machined out of 6061 T6 billet aluminum and Clear Anodized for Protection and Durability. The Sight Window is made out of high-grade plastic that is chemical, heat, scratch, and shatter resistant. The Filter Element is made out of stainless steel mesh that can easily be cleaned and reused.

Twelve Radial Groove Openings operate like twelve individual filters enclosed into one Filter Assembly. This allows more fluid to pass through the Filter Assembly without restriction, even as the Filter Element is plugging up with dirt and contaminates. If one of the twelve grooves were to plug completely the fluid would flow through another groove that was not plugged completely.

The Filter Assembly also is equipped with a Pressure Relief Valve. If the filter pressure rises due to the Filter Element plugging up, the Relief Valve will open allowing fluid to pump through the Filter Assembly even if the Filter Element were to plug up completely. This will help prevent motor failure caused by the filter being plugged.

The filter assembly part #100 is designed for fluid systems with a max working pressure of 125 PSI at 180 degrees temperature. If filtering higher pressures or temperatures, contact us and let us know your application. We can also design and supply Clear View Filtration’s filters assemblies for custom applications.

 The physical dimentions of the filter assembly are: 6 3/4″ Wide x
7 3/4″ Long x 3 1/4″ Thick and Weight’s 5 1/2 pounds.

Davis Technologies Can Hook You Up!
By Ian Tocher (Contributing Editor- CompetitionPlus.com)

What do top-level drivers like Tim Lynch, Mo Hall, John Stanley, Joshua Hernandez and Gaylen Smith have in common? They all rely on Shannon Davis for help in hooking up at the track.

No, Davis isn’t going to find a date for them on Saturday night, but the former IMSA sports car crewman has developed a unique electronic traction control (ETC) system that just might help them reach the winner’s circle come Sunday.

All Davis Technologies ETC units use eight, precision-machined sensors attached to the driveshaft to determine within an eighth of a revolution if that fraction of rotation occurred too quickly based on the average of what the driveshaft turned over several previous revolutions. The deviation typically is corrected by briefly retarding the engine’s timing, but also could involve reducing nitrous injection or lowering boost.

“We’re measuring in what’s called microseconds, which is millionths of a second, so it’s very, very fast to react, much faster than other systems that have just two or four magnets to trigger sensors,” Davis says.

Davis offers two basic types of ETC: non-self-learning and self-learning, and two levels of self-learning units, with the only difference between the two being their extent of tunability. 

“The non-self-learning is basically our Sportsman box and what it’s doing is just watching for a random acceleration that exceeds a certain value. The self-learning unit monitors the rate of change and if it detects a sudden deviation within that rate of change it makes a correction. The advantage is that you don’t need to predict the future with it; you don’t need a crystal ball like you do with your dots and some of the other systems out there,” Davis says.

“Some people seem to think the Sportsman box isn’t as good because it’s cheaper, but they both work on the same basic principle; it’s just not the self-learning type,” he stresses. “For the drag radial guy who might be having trouble on the gear changes, it works great and it’s all someone like that probably needs. Once those cars are rolling and up to speed they’re not nearly as likely to break a tire loose again as the high-powered Outlaw 10.5 or Pro Mod guys are.”

The Sportsman box works off what Davis calls “an adjustable fixed-rate,” which means the user sets the maximum rate at which they want the driveshaft to accelerate. Basically, the user dials in a preset deviation based on RPM rate of change to trigger the ETC whenever the driveshaft exceeds that rate-of-change preset. It’s a one-time setting that unlike some other devices does not require plotting or mapping a series of preset RPM limits. 

This method very effectively corrects early tire spin and helps with gear shifts, but Davis admits it’s not so effective at picking up subtle tire spin that doesn’t reach the deviation threshold at high speeds. He cautions, however, that simply lowering the rate-of-change threshold is not a desirable alternative.

“What that would do is make the system come on all the time when you’re launching, even when it’s not spinning but just accelerating hard in first and second gear, so you’d be retarding the engine constantly and killing your power,” he explains. “For guys that need to control that slippage anywhere on the track, they can move up to one of our Drag Lite or Drag Pro units, which in addition to employing the self-learning technology also include much more tunability.”

Regardless of the type chosen, it’s an easy install, one that usually requires only a few minutes to complete.
“Typically, we replace the ring you already have that triggers your data system or engine control unit with our ring and sensor and our sensor has multiple outputs, one for us and one for your Racepak or FAST or Big Stuff or whatever control unit your using,” Davis says.

Davis also emphasizes if a racer purchases a Davis Technologies Drag Sportsman box ($1995), the option usually exists to upgrade to intermediate Drag Lite ($2995) or even Drag Pro units ($4495) by paying only the price difference. And for the remainder of 2010, including at the PRI trade show Dec. 9-11, in Orlando, Davis is offering a 10-percent discount on all new purchases and upgrades.
“I can’t say this enough; they all work on the same principle, the only difference is in the options,” Davis states. “I liken it to buying a C-class versus an S-class Mercedes. Yes, the S-class has forward-looking infrared, active body control, back-up cameras, massaging seats, you know, all the bells and whistles that some people may need or want. But the C-class is a pretty nice car, too; nobody’s going to complain about you bringing one of them home either. That’s like our Sportsman unit; it’s a real nice piece, better than anything else on the market, I’m confident of that.”

Davis Technologies can be found online at www.moretraction.com or Davis can be reached by calling (828) 645-1505.

To watch online videos explaining the Davis Technologies ETC systems in detail:

Back in the 80’s muscle cars were relatively cheap and plentiful. If you had a couple grand in your pocket you could find a hard charging street machine without too much trouble. In those days you could find a decent Super Bee, Camaro, Torino or Nova in the local newspaper or even just sitting on the side of the road with a “For Sale” sign in the window. Tim Jakus, one of my buddies back in high school, always seemed to have a couple of cool Chevy’s to cruise around in. His first car was a 1969 Camaro 350 convertible that was all decked out with a 350, side pipes, cowl hood, and Z/28 stripes (it was a real looker).  It was found sitting on Chevy dealers used car lot and bought for less than $4,000.

His other car had a little more teeth and was often found prowling around the streets looking for a little stoplight-to-stoplight racing action. The gray 1968 Chevy II /Nova was brought back from Utah in 1985 and came complete with a 1966 vintage 360 hp 396 rat motor. Purchase price for this ride was only $2,000 (how would you like to go back in time to make this deal). This car was owned by someone in the Air Force and it was geared for the open salt flats of Utah with 2.53 gears. Needless to say this thing had a great top end. The next mill was a angry 461 BBC that propelled the leaf spring car into the 9’s. Then things got serious and a 540 found its way between the frame rails quickly followed by a full tilt 632 ci BBC that natually aspirated made nearly 1200 horsepower !!!

One day while cruising around he spotted a Z/28 Camaro (with a Rally Sport front end) parked at “Wild Bill’s” used car lot. Under closer inspection it turned out that the 1972 “Z” had long since lost the 350 LT1 but received a 396 big block in it’s place !!! This was no stocker 396 but was a 12.5-1, solid lifter, hooker header equipped street racer complete with a 4.11 rear end and Borg Warner Super T10 manual transmission. The price for a ticket to ride was…you guessed it $2,000. This was one rare piece since only 2,575 Z/28’s were produced in 1972 (how many that were also RS equipped is unknown).

Since Tim lived at home he did not think his parents would appreciate having another Bowtie parked in the driveway so he stored it all summer at the local grocery store parking lot (can you imagine how long that Z/28 would last sitting around unattended today). We would drive over the pick up the Camaro on weekends, fill it up with race gas, and head out to Hwy 100 (one of the local hot spots). One night while cruising “The Highway” the green 67’ Buick GS of Dave Senderhauf pulled up to the Camaro and they wanted to race. We knew this Buick had sucked the doors off many hard charging street cars but thought that he had finally met his match with the “Z”.

We made the turn around and both cars slowed to about 10 mph and the Buick nailed the loud pedal first. Tim opened all four barrels of the Holley and grabbed for second gear as that Buick’s cheater slicks grabbed the pavement and jumped a car length on the Camaro as it put on a tire spinning freak show into third gear. The 396 was screaming past 7,000 rpm in third as the radial tires finally got traction and he rowed the Super T10 into fourth gear. He was  making up ground quickly now but it was too late to come around that Buick. The race was over and we were “educated” on the value of traction. Shortly therafter we started running M&H soft compound tires and then changed over to Mickey Thompson drag slicks. Traction was no longer an issue…

A couple of years ago the 68’ Nova was finally sold and a state of the art 1969 Chevelle became Tim’s new ride. Metz Performance built the car , Authentic Auto (Cudahy Wisconsin) did the paint job and Mike Duke from Indianapolis provides the power to make this door slammer run in the mid 7’s at over 180 mph.

 Many things have changed over the past 25 years. Technological advances in engine design, and displacement, have allowed real world horsepower output levels in excess of 1,000 horsepower to become almost commonplace. Collectors have scooped up many of the rare cars and placed them in storage  as “investments” (what a shame). Those days of cheap muscle cars are over but the thrill of driving them will always be timeless. If you are lucky enough to own one be sure that you get out there and drive it !!!

Spanky’s Haulers  

Pat Spangenberg (owner of Rod & Competition Specialties) is known for the cool street rods that his shop builds. There is a new kind of “street rod” that they started playing with a few years ago when a certain puke green 1966 Impala was added to his corral of cars.

Take a 4,000 Impala with stock suspension and 10” tires, add 540 cubic inched of BBC (that makes 961 HP) and toss a fogger on the top (with the “big boy” 400 HP jets in place) and you have a recipe for 8.77 time slips !!! The legendary green beast is the test mule and gets plenty of street miles in between the 100 drag strip passes over the past couple of years. She aint pretty but she sure is fast !!!

The “white car” is a true work of art. This 22,000 mile original was put  together about 10 years ago and started out as a genuine L72 (425HP 427) with a bench seat/4 speed stick and some steep gears when it left the General’s assemble line. Every detail has been attended to and it is now one of the nicest B-body cars in the country. A very healthy 615 BBC now resides where the old 427 used to be many years ago. Still maintain the stock suspension this baby is a handful when you hit the single stage fogger.

“Top Gun” just about says it all. Having watched this street racing legend over the years Pat set his sights on owning this bad boy and when he had the chance jumped on it. Now this was back in the late 90’s and he had a street/strip car that was capable of running deep in the 10’s.

 Kelly Landry was the original owner of the Nova and had every conceivable combination between the fender wells (including a blown BBC) that he ran with a 5 speed. This car was often seen cruising around the Milwaukee area (sometimes as late as 2am in the morning…I wonder what he was out doing at that time of the night?).  Oh, the good old days….

The “First Car” happened to be a Camaro that was a original “MO” code 1968 Z/28 !!! Yep, hiding behind those groovy side pipes and spoked wire wheels was a real collectible muscle car. Dig those shackels man….

Pat’s Dad had a bunch of cool cars back in the day. This late sixties/early seventies street rod was the one that a heavy hitter on the streets of Milwaukee. Powered by a bullet proof 327 that could spin to big RPM….this baby was light weight and could clean the clocks of  many of the street bruisers of the day.

Contact information:  Rod and Competition Specialties #262-781-9044 

Brian Hansen- Owner of 10″ Wide Racing (“Motor Head” from the start)

I was born in 1966 and showed an interest in hot cars at an early age (it probably has something to do with our family car being a Dodge Super Bee with the “Drag Pack” option.

This picture was taken in 1970, standing next to our new 1969 Dodge Super Bee, with my mom and sister Kim.The Super Bee coupes quarter mile time was in the low fourteens at over 100 MPH (and was tested at the local “proving grounds” near our house).

                               Nice “Family Car” complete with roof rack and trailer hitch !!!

Our other daily driver, a 1965 Mustang with a 6 cylinder and “three on the floor”. Not a muscle car at the time but would be nice to have now and put a nitrous assisted big block Ford in it.

Early Car Interests
It was not long before I started talking about the kind of car I would like when I got my drivers license. I was always talking about a V8 that I could hop up (of course)
My interest in hot cars was “nurtured” by Art Lutzke, the automotive teacher at Waukesha North High School. He was an avid hot rod enthusiast himself and a great mechanic. During my high school years there was a 1968 HEMI Road Runner that lived in our auto shop (and we got to help work on it during class). Pretty cool stuff…
I did ask my parents to save the 1969 Dodge Super Bee so that it could be my first car when I got my license. Needless to say, they did not think that was the kind of car a 16 year old should have for a first car. They were probably right…

Brian’s first “Hot Rod
Shopping for this car was quite an experience. I wanted a V8 and my parents said whatever I bought had to have nothing larger than a 6 banger.

Well, I ended up “reluctantly” choosing a sort of “clapped out” 1968 Chevelle with a 6 cylinder engine and a 3-speed stick shift. The motor sounded sort of sick and smoked a lot. This did not bother me because I already had “other ideas” on what I was going to do with the car.

It was not long before the modifications began. I found a heavy duty 6 cylinder truck block and began working with a local engine builder to make a 6 banger that would scream. This replacement engine featured a huge solid lifter cam, ported & polished cylinder “head” with larger small-block Chevy intake & exhaust valves and two carburetors.

The engine also featured split headers with dual exhausts that sounded pretty wild. The end result was a “fire breathing” six banger that once beat a 1968 Olds with a 455 CI V8 in a street race. They could not believe that they were beat by a six cylinder!

The 3 speed on the floor was quickly changed to a Muncie M21 4 speed (complete with Urst shift) out of a 1966 GTO. I had to scrape up the $75 for the complete package but I thought it would be worth it to have the 4 speed (those were the days).

My Second Car – The “Cuda”

The Cuda’ had a stock 340 Magnum and an 727 automatic transmission. I was the third owner and the purchase price was $1,000 in 1987. I spent a little over $4,000 to restore the car to original. The car was gorgeous !!!

The Cuda was drag raced in the Muscle Car Nationals at Great Lakes Dragaway in 1988.

“The Blue Nova” 10 Second Street Racer

In 1989, I bought a 1968 Chevy II Nova that already had a 427 CI big block V8, a modified Turbo 400 automatic transmission and a 9” Ford rear end with traction bars.

The car had a roll cage and a 5 point racing harness (it had everything that a good “street car” needed). My friends Bob Hood & Tim Jakus thought I was nuts for wanting a 10 second street car.

The car was driven to the track and ran low 12 second ¼ mile runs through the full exhausts as it was bought (3700 pounds). But that was only the beginning. I added a nitrous oxide system during the spring of 1990 and got the car in the tens (through a full 3” exhaust including tails pipes).

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Then the fun really began. I had to go faster. A set of Merlin BBC cylinder heads, a bigger Lunati cam and a 250 nitrous plate system was installed in the same old short block.

In this configuration, the car ran 10.47 second quarter at 123 MPH through full exhausts. The trap speed was limited by lifter pump up at 6,400 RPM and 7,200 RPM was needed to get to the end of the track.

Then the quest for more speed continued — One of my friends Bob Hood sold me “take off” parts from his car. A big lift solid lifter cam was installed. The car ran the quarter mile in 11.70 @ 114 MPH on horsepower (no nitrous). For a few months, he went to their “test-n-tune” highway and tried out more modifications that included a Nitrous Works 325 HP NOS system. Now the car was a “real animal”! I was ready to go to the home track, Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, WI and make a pass before winter set in.

I knew that the car could 60 ft. mark in the 1.40’s and thought that it could maybe I could get the car in the 9.90s. I put in a 325 pills in the Nitrous Works plate and staged the car at the starting line. The lights came down, matted the throttle and simultaneously pressed the “magic button”. The car stood up and planted the Mickey Thompson 11.5*29.5’s on the sticky starting line and I was off!

I watched the tach hit 7,200 RPM and clicked the shifter into second and heard a loud bang and the car immediately unloaded the suspension. The engine was still running so I pretty sure that it was a tranny, convertor or rear end. It turned out that the trusty Turbo Action 9″ race convertor had given up the ghost from too much action !!!

 Then, I got married , sold the car and the money was used towards the down payment for a house. I know the current owner of the Nova (Brian Chelf), who lives in Iowa. It currently has a SBC with a F1 Procharger and still sports the leaf springs suspension with Cal-Trac bars….it has found a good home.

 Current ride 1967 Impala 396

It was not long before I got the itch for another car. I found the pictured 1967 Chevy Impala 396 Sport Coupe advertised for sale in one of the local papers and located near our house.

The elderly gentleman, who owned the car, was the original owner! He was a retired policeman from the Chicago area. The car had been kept in a climate-controlled garage since it was new!

Genuine original one owner 74k mile big block 1967 Impala as we bought it in 2000. Not very fast but very cool.The Impala has all of the toys (power windows, seats and even Comfortron air conditioning) and they all still work – quite rare for a 1967 car. The interior is bright red vinyl and in perfect condition, and amazingly, still smells like new! The big block 396 runs nice but is not this is not race car at 4400 pounds!!!

The next car…

Someday I would like to build another fast street car. Hanging around guys like Pat Spangenburg and Kevin Ribbens who have “big cars” that are capable of running in the 8’s has “influenced” me and I think I’d build a Impala, Biscayne or Caprice. Nick Scavo’s 1965 Impala (now owned by Joe Penze) was also a big influence in my facination with making 2 tons of fun run in the 8’s. 

 The engine of choice would be a 540 BBC with a F2R Procharger (so that I can still run a flat hood or small cowl hood). Stock suspension and 10″ slicks of course !!!