1100HP Drag Rod!

Bonding between father and son over a project is an age old institution, with combined efforts towards a mutual goal inevitably strengthening the relationship. This project could be anything; building a model train set, painting a house or in the case of Neale Ide and his son Shayne, piecing together one of the meanest hot rods we have ever seen!

“Dad’s always been into rods, for as long as I can remember,” recalls Shayne. “Myself, I used to own a ’54 Customline, so we each have a history of cool cars!”

A passion for cool cars won’t get you anywhere without talent though but luckily; talent is something that this father and son duo have in spades. Over the years Neale has built more than 20 hot rods and Shayne makes a living as a sheet metal worker. With their skills combined, the pair were able to build this beast almost entirely in their own shed and funnily enough, that’s where most of the parts were sourced as well!

The first area of attack was the chassis. Having been found on a farm in service as a piece of agricultural equipment, it needed a lot of work. Shayne’s skills were put to good use as he created a jig to get it all square, boxed in various parts of it for strength and added stronger tube cross members, a necessary measure to ensure that it wouldn’t come apart under the stresses of drag racing.

While this was underway Neale put his years of experience to good use, tenderly repairing the damaged body to bring it back to a respectable state. It was at this point that the rod initially came together in a much milder configuration than what you see before you; a standard Big Block fed 6psi of boost by a relatively small blower and plans for the street. Of course the itch came quickly and boost was wound wound up to 12psi, a move that saw the engine leave this world in a spectacular fashion.

This brought our dynamic duo to a crossroads, with the decision to dedicate the old girl to the strip becoming the new direction of their project. “I had a 460ci Ford big block lying in pieces in the shed,” Shayne told us. “We decided that we might as well put that in if anything!” For the first time external help was needed, with Advanced Performance Machining trusted to prepare this BBF for what the pair had in store.

Bored out to 466ci, the Big Block was filled with forged Scat rods and forged Probe pistons and then sent back to the Ide’s Performance Garage for the final touches. A GM 6/71 blower takes pride of place on top and pumps 14psi of boost downwards, meeting up with a healthy helping of methanol provided by a Hilborn mechanical fuel injection setup.

The result? An 1100hp animal that propels this light 1930 Coupe down the quarter in close to 9-seconds flat at over 150mph!

“We don’t get to take the rod down the strip as much as we’d like to,” Shayne tells us. “It’s been out of rego for a while now so it’s a dedicated drag car. This gives us a bit more freedom with what we can do to it but unfortunately, it also means we can’t take it out as often. The Nostalgia Drags are our best friend at the moment, because it’s one of the few times a year we can take it out!"

We will be catching up with Shayne and Neale in the near future for a closer look at the shed that this hulking hot rod calls home so stay tuned!