MEAN STREET
Street-legal in New Zealand looks a bit like this hard-as-nails twin-turbo Torana hatch
Whow the cars we feature E GET a lot of letters complaining not legal; No way that will aren’t true street machines: That’s number plates; It’s just a pass rego; It’s just a race car with show car with number plates. may not see Street Machine Admittedly, some of the cars in you get out your letterthe street too often at all. But before out of your pocket, that’s definitely writing set or pull your smartphone Torana hatch. It’s a Kiwi car, and on not the case with this tough-as-nails that be are a little more reasonable the far side of the ditch the powers a fully scratc h-built car with a when you tell them you want to register 14-inch rims out back. twin-turbo 540ci big-block Chev and a by trade, Aaron Jenkins has done For a bloke that’s a house painter he Torana from next to nothing. When pretty amazing job of building the up, tubbed and fitted with a rollcage, got the car it had already been cut to get started on the build. Well, so it had the bones of what he needed to replaced,” he admits. “It was easier sort of: “That’s all gone and been body on it, but I didn’t want to chop make a new chassis and dump the I didn’t have to source too much.” one up. It had the important bits and of the WAC (Wrecked a Classic) Aaron did manage to offend some need another beige six-cylinder crowd, but let’s face it, the world doesn’t not much of it left. “The doors and Torana SL, and to be honest, there’s of Torana left,” he says. The remaining roof skin are the only original bits clip, whic h Aaron has moulded body panels include a fibreglass front are one piece, and a carbonfibre together so the nosecone and guards down as much as possible, but hatch. He was trying to keep the weight around 1500kg. in the end it’s no real lightweight at to the turbos and associated A lot of that weight can be attributed weigh 12kg a side and the turbos plumbing. “The steam-pipe headers the day , it’s what hauls you down are another 15kg, but at the end of the track,” Aaron reasons. though. Aaron had a fair bit of Turbos weren’t always on the cards, HQ Monaro that ran 9.7@141mph success with his previous car, an a DVD player so you could watch and was a full street car; it even had the st aging lanes. “Just a road car,” movies when you were waiting in and a 250-shot of nitrous, no tubs says Aaron, “with a 496 big-block car. and a full interior.” Yep, just a road
with a single four-barrel and a “Ideally I was aiming for 632 cubes know if the government got involved, decent shot of nitrous, and I don’t fill. That just blows it out of the water, but it’s nearly $300 a bottle now to reasonable amounts in there.” especially once you start squirting by bolting on the turbos, he wasn’t While Aaron took a pretty big leap I understand the carburettor – I can ready for EFI yet. “That’ll come, but stop leaking,”he laughs. “Even going whack it with a screwdriver and it’ll looked like before I bought one, to turbos, I didn’t know what a turbo you make fun of the kids that have it’s just modern Japanese stuff and ’em – but they’re certainly working!” blower, but he wouldn’t have got it Aaron did think about going with a well, I guess twin turbos will have past rego due to visibility issues. Oh and engineering that went into to do. There was quite a bit of thought and a lot of it stems from the mounting the engine and intake plumbing, fabricated chassis and Aaron fact that the car is built on a completely prefer, body-dropped – the Torana. has effectively channelled – or if you it with the Heidts tubularifs and He got the car sitting where he wanted over it, welding it all together so it’s four-link rear and then sat the body “My welding has got a lot better as still effectively a monocoque body. to start again,” Aaron jokes. “You the car has come along; I’d quite like to the top.” start underneath and work your way heads, real est ate is at a real With the Dart Big M block and Brodix a perfectly logical reason why Aaron premium in the engine bay. There’s I “I don’t run any intercoolers yet, but mounted the turbos where he did: the headlights for later on, I could thought if I saved that corner behind – and I like shit hanging out of the put a water-to-air one in each corner people that can’t have it. Like bonnet. It just looks angrier and upsets all the Aussies!” , Aaron t ackled everything except When it came to painting the car jambs, engine bay and blackouts the final paint. So the underside, door “It went off to the panel beaters were all done by Aaron in the shed: paint it, but my mate is a car painter for the beating and I was going to turning up with beers, so I couldn’t and he wouldn’t let me. He just kept really say no.” gloss-black paint-outs might be The choice of Barbados Green and
LIKE I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT A TURBO LOOKED THE KIDS BEFORE I BOUGHT ONE; I MADE FUN OF WORKING! THAT HAD ’EM. BUT THEY’RE CERTAINLY
IT JUST LOOKS ANGRIER I LIKE SHIT HANGING OUT OF THE BONNET. IT – LIKE ALL THE AUSSIES! AND UPSETS PEOPLE THAT CAN’T HAVE
the factory just got an oldie, but it sure is a goodie. Sometimes things spot-on. on the ‘G Mh-torana’ forum – The whole build is covered online around six years to finish off, all 19 pages of it – and while it took had originally planned. “I had that was actually quicker than Aaron a 10-year plan. That was my a budget; it was $10,000 a year and the car, and I think I pretty much initial goal when I started building been halved. ” Aaron saved a stayed on budget, but the time has and with a few good deals ton of cash by doing everything himself, managed to save a bit of time too. landing in his lap along the way,he nine-second street car , you After getting rid of a perfectly good money and effort was worth would want to hope that all the time, was a licensing pass and it it in the end. “The first full pass I did I was in single digits, and was was a 9.8, so I was pretty happy that Aaron says. “At the end basically where I left off with the Monaro,” a mid-eight; if it goes any quicker of the day I want to end up around than an 8.40 I’ll be pretty happy.” is a 9.2@149mph, and that The quickest the car has gone to date never had a parachute, never was with a ballooning converter. “I’ve tubs – it’s a whole new learning had a transbrake, never had wheel the Monaro I was winning the curve with the driving side of it. In Day Drags running a 10.0. In Aussie Car Shootout at the Father’s the cars are now in the mid-tothe five or six years I’ve been gone high eights!” moment, there’s plenty more in With just 8psi in the tune-up at the s coming up fast! the tank of SYCH08. Look out, he’s