Chrome Induction

[hanaylor]

Steve Tracy’s Impressive Chromzilla ‘32 Ford

We all want a car that stands out from the crowd. Something that shows well with your friends yet offers real performance when called upon. For Steve Tracy, his latest ‘32 Ford street rod is the result of careful planning over many years – decades in fact. After 10 years of planning, the Gallatin, Tenn., enthusiast and owner of Advanced Plating finally built his dream machine, which is affectionately called “Chromzilla.”



The Inglese Induction System is the signature engine component that draws attention even before fans get a chance to check out those carburetors. The system features a full set of eight Weber downdraft carburetors, each carefully smoothed and chromed by Tracy for proper fit on the customized intake manifold. The color keyed and beautifully detailed system delivers on a number of levels for Tracy, who is well versed in the Inglese Induction Systems.

“This is my third Inglese Induction System” Tracey says of the highly customized carburetor set-up on his ‘32 Ford. “I’ve had two different systems including a sidedraft carburetor system on my ‘40 Ford and a downdraft system on my ‘35 Ford 5-window coupe. The ‘35 had a 302 engine and that car was really fast. The Inglese systems not only delivered excellent throttle response but looked great. The system on the ‘32 fits the look I wanted for this car with a high performance yet classic styling. It works with this car in many ways -- not the least of which is terrific performance. These carbs have a very distinctive sound that is an added bonus when showing the car.”

The Inglese Induction System was tuned for the application, in this case, a 454cid GM crate engine enhanced with a COMP Cams¨ camshaft, MSD ignition and Taylor wires. Tracy chromed the Inglese Induction System at his facility, where he has done a lot of chrome work for Inglese over the years. More than just the intake velocity stacks and carburetor components were chromed, as a wealth of chrome is found within the engine bay. The estimated performance from the big chrome, Big Block Chevy – 600 horsepower.

Finishing Details
Along with the highly modified engine components, a chrome exhaust system was fitted underneath the chassis. The exhaust feeds through the rear suspension system, which utilizes a parallel 4-bar arrangement with QA1 coilovers, Wilwood brakes and 4.11:1 geared Tiger quick change differential. Up front, the ‘32 sports a Quarter Elliptic straight axle attached to the AFC stamped (and chromed) frame rails. The straight axle features a 5-inch drop, smoothed Posies springs, QA1 shocks, and Wilwood six-piston caliper brakes.

The interior is a work of art designed by master craftsman Jesse Greening of Greening Auto Company. The instrument panel uses Classic Instruments with Chromzilla lettering on the faces. Paul Atkins created the green leather seating surfaces as well as the concave door and kick panels. Billet Specialties custom built the steering wheel and Ididit produced the tilt column and directional control system.



1 The Inglese Induction System uses smoothed carburetor bodies that have been color keyed to the body trim color. It is a system that performs well, attracts a crowd and looks like something found on a classic street rod.



2 The head turning interior finishes out this magnificent car and features green leather and a custom built tilt steering wheel.



3 The all-steel '32 Ford body features 2-inch wheel wells radiuses, 2-inch longer doors and a grill shell shortened and narrowed 2 inches.


Jim Inglese Up Close
It all started with a love for Cobras. While that may seem like a romantic intro for a story about the life and times of Carroll Shelby, it is in fact the driving force behind the creator of the Inglese Induction System – Jim Inglese. A fan of the Cobra before it became a performance cliché; Inglese was frustrated with the drivability of his Weber carburetor-equipped “snake.” A man on a mission, Inglese was determined to make that awesome appearing induction system run as well as it looked.

“I installed a set of Weber carburetors on my personal 289 Cobra in 1977 and was unhappy with the performance – it was undrivable on the street,” Inglese stated. “If you were all out racing with these carburetors, they worked great, but apparently no one had paid any attention to the low-speed circuit. I started doing a lot of research on these carburetors, reading everything I could. Eventually, I understood what it would take to get these carbs to work on the street. I got to the point where I could idle the Cobra down to 1000 rpm in fourth gear and accelerate [up to redline without bogging the engine].” Inglese invested a lot of time in jets and tuning parts. He kept detailed logs of what worked and what didn’t until he had the “magic” formula. Having successfully tuned his 289 Cobra, he turned to work on a 427 Cobra originally equipped with twin four-barrel Holley carburetors. In a short time, he had figured out the combination for that engine, as well.

“With the 427 Cobra I found a correct manifold and installed a set of Webers,” Inglese stated. “I started from scratch and was able to get the same kind of smooth performance with the 427. On the heels of that success, I began building Weber carburetor set-ups for my friends. That was around 1978. I built them for Chevrolet and street rods and continued to expand over the years.”

Inglese notes two important advantages with the Inglese Induction Systems over any other carburetor system: No. 1 – Stunning good looks. There is no other system that is more impressive on an engine than a set of Weber carburetors. No. 2 – Extreme versatility. Not only can you jet these carburetors to work on any engine, you can even dramatically change the airflow of the carburetor venturi to meet the needs of a wide range of engine displacements. It’s like when you look at the exterior of a Small Block Chevy, which can range in displacement from 265 through 400cid. The exterior of the carburetor body has nothing to do with the actual air flow capability of the carburetor. “Another benefit,” Inglese notes, “is the ability to pre-jet and tune these carburetors prior to installation. If I know the basic specs on an engine such as compression ratio, displacement, camshaft, cylinder head, and the like, I can dial in the carburetors so they will work great, right out of the box. As long as the fuel pressure is correct, I can set all the specs on the carburetors, including float levels, jets, linkage, etc., so they should run very nicely from start-up. They are the ultimate hot rod carburetor – and in terms of looks, they are in a league of their own.”