Building bulk horsepower into our rides has never been easier thanks to modern turbo and blower combos. But don’t think for a second that there aren’t still legends like Steve Carkeet out there crafting traditional Aussie street machines that are harder than a stolen blood diamond. If you want proof, check out Steve’s latest build, this super-clean HG ute, which runs eights with a carb-fed small-block Chev.
First published in the September 2024 issue of Street Machine
It might be a looker now, but the ute wasn’t always quite so glamorous. In fact, Steve describes it as a “paddock-basher and absolute rubbish” when he bought off Gumtree back in 2011. “This one popped up at the right time, so I grabbed it, even though it was rough as guts,” he says. “I put a tough driveline in it, but that blew up in 2014, so it sat in the corner. Back then, it was a street car that I used nearly every day, and it had a stout BluePrint crate small-block.”
Steve began the ute’s comeback by dropping it off to a fab shop to get all the good gear needed to run eight-second passes on pump 98 fuel. However, things didn’t go to plan. “They had it done to a pre-tech inspection stage, which meant it was tubbed, had the seats and ’cage done, and more, but then the business went belly-up,” he sighs. “Then, when we had a good look at the work, it turned out we had to redo all of it – cut it all out and start fresh.”
Today, the HG wears chassis connectors and larger wheel tubs, with Kirkey buckets replacing the standard plush bench, while the chrome-moly rollcage runs through the cabin and down into the tray. The fuel cell also lives in the tray, as there are a pair of four-inch exhaust pipes taking up the space where the tank used to be.
Refined Restorations had the unenviable task of getting the bodywork better than new, with Ricky Johns straightening it out before Adam Noble mixed up the custom solid red paint and laid it down glass-smooth.
“All that is left of the original ute is the roof and right rear quarter,” Steve laughs. “It was rooted. It was at the panel shop for around two-and-a-half years because there was so much work to do, but look at it now!”
The bright, solid red gives the ute strong Monaro vibes. “The original colour was black, and I hated it,” Steve says. “Then they did it Sting Red and it wasn’t bright enough, so the painter came up with this colour. I wanted something that stood out like nothing else.”
Back in the day, Holden offered small-block Chevs as a factory option for HK-T-Gs, so it’s no issue at all to bolt the Heartbeat of America into one these days. Having said that, Joe and Jolene Average were never able to waltz into a GM-H dealer back in 1970 and order an HG with a mouse motor like Steve’s!
The combo swings 414ci with a Dart block, Callies crank, Oliver rods, and Ross Racing slugs squeezing 10.5:1 compression. Working bushed BAM lifters, the cam is a custom billet solid-roller, which Steve says is pretty wild: “We have 900 lift in the cam!”
Up top, BluePrint Engines 23-degree heads wear Ferrea valves and PSI valve springs, and they’ve been heavily modified by Pete Murray to Steve’s specifications. A seriously reworked Edelbrock Super Victor single-plane intake and a 1250cfm APD four-barrel carb crown the whole affair, and there’s also 300hp worth of nitrous on board should the mood take.
On 98 pump unleaded and nitrous, the stout mouse is good for 1008hp at an eye-watering 8700rpm. Those numbers will no doubt have some people questioning how much use the ute gets – surely it is too hardcore for the street? Wrong!
“It’s definitely a stout thing,” Steve laughs, “but I drive my cars, and how it sits in these pics is how we drive it on the street and how I race it. We did a 6.5-hour cruise in it recently, and it won Car of the Show out of 600 cars.”
Speaking of racing, Steve wanted to attach an eight-second timeslip to the HG’s name, and just as we write, he nailed that goal on only the ute’s second outing! “It did an 8.9@149mph on pump 98 at Willowbank,” he says. “It did some massive wheelstands, so once we get a handle on it and spend some time tuning it up, we’ll see 8.50. I’m keen to do some drag-and-drive events with it next, as I build my cars to drive ’em.”
We can’t wait to see you at a future Drag Challenge in the HG, Steve!
STEVE CARKEET
1970 HG HOLDEN UTE
Paint: | Custom solid red |
ENGINE | |
Brand: | 414ci Dart small-block Chev |
Induction: | Edelbrock Super Victor, Induction Solutions Holey Moley nitrous kit |
Carb: | APD Dominator 1250cfm |
Crank: | Callies |
Rods: | Oliver |
Pistons: | Ross Racing 10.5:1 |
Heads: | BluePrint 23-degree alloy |
Camshaft: | Custom billet solid-roller |
Oil system: | Modified big-block Chev pump, ASR sump |
Fuel system: | A1000 pump |
Cooling: | Custom alloy radiator, electric thermo fan |
Exhaust: | Custom 17/8in headers, twin 4in system |
Ignition: | MSD Power Grid, custom front-mount MSD distributor, Jesel front-drive |
TRANSMISSION | |
Gearbox: | Reid-case Powerglide, transbraked |
Converter: | Coan 5500rpm bolt-together |
Diff: | Sheet-metal 9in, 35-spline Moser axles, full spool, Strange bolt-through aluminium centre, 3.7:1 gears |
SUSPENSION & BRAKES | |
Front: | Reset Pedders six-cylinder springs, Gazzard Brothers 90/10 shocks, billet-bushed |
Rear: | Gazzard Brothers leaf springs, CalTracs and adjustable shocks, billet-bushed |
Brakes: | Wilwood discs, (f), Nissan Skyline discs (r) |
Master cylinder: | Wilwood |
WHEELS & TYRES | |
Rims: | Weld V-Series; 15×3.5 (f), beadlocked 15×10 (r) |
Rubber: | Moroso DS-2 26×4.5-15 (f), Mickey Thompson ET Street 275/60R15 (r) |
THANKS
Adam and Ricky at Refined Restorations; Kevy at KPM Performance; Adam and Donna at Carman’s Auto Trimmers; Craig at Extreme Custom Engineering; Bryan at Exhaust Innovations; Russell at Lamprecht Race Engines; Benny at Elite Automatics; Ray at Western Suburbs Diff & Gearbox Services; Darren at Protrac Suspension; Pete Murray for the cylinder head and intake manifold machine work; Swanny at Promodz Fabrication; Andrew at Bliss Custom Machining; Dave at Drag Photos.
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