American Racing Headers’ Hemi Prius Part 3

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Over the last couple of issues, we’ve taken the time to look at the chassis build on American Racing Headers’ Hellcat-powered Prius. The car has proven to be polarizing, and it makes most laugh out loud! If you spin your browser back, you’ll see the car proved to be a difficult packaging task (no surprise to anyone, we’re sure). But as the end of the build neared, it came together neatly. In the last segment, the steel tinwork was done and most of the major components were hung and installed. This time around, we’ll pursue the details:

As we mentioned in the previous issue, the engine is tucked under the windshield, similar to the layout in a fourth generation Camaro or Firebird. The seating position of the car (using those Firebird seats, coupled with a considerable firewall setback) really dictated the location of the main roll cage hoop. And believe it or not, this car was planned from the git-go as a long distance semi-comfortable cruiser. That meant there had to be some legroom, plus the roll cage sidebars had to allow for access into the driver and passenger seats.

Downstairs, the car relies upon a Mark Williams aluminum center section (M-W’s boss Pro Street setup) coupled with Pro Street 35 spline axles from Mark Williams. The wheels (front and rear) are new trick pieces from the folks at RC Components (the backs are bead locks). Front and rear tires are from Mickey Thompson. The back tires are MT’s newest 10.5X28.00-inch DOT-approved bias plies (keep in mind this is a clutch car and they’re happier with a bias ply tire).

Wilwood brakes on all four corners handle stopping. The back setup includes a parking brake system (an internal drum within the rotor). Calipers are Wilwood Dynalites and all of the rotors are vented.

Moving forward, McLeod provided the complete clutch assembly for the project. The safety bellhousing is a steel job from Quick Time. Meanwhile, the carbon fiber driveshaft came from the Driveshaft Shop in North Carolina.

Sal’s Top and Upholstery got the nod to do the required trim work. Here, the big job was to build a custom padded dash to cover the fiberglass shell, which eventually covered the steel base dash and firewall (whew!). Simultaneously, it had to be capable of accepting a complete AC system along with a full compliment of AutoMeter gauges. By the way, that dash is actually a modified 1994 and newer Mustang dash from Hairy Glass. It was cut up to fit the Prius and then covered. The beauty of it, though, is the fact that it also accepts a complete AutoMeter Sport Comp 2 gauge cluster. The Sport Comp 2 gauges included integrated warning lamps and even have LED lighting. Security Dodge Chrysler out of Amityville, NY proved to be one-stop shopping for Nick when it came to Hemi-related components. The parts department went the extra mile and dug up many of the necessary bits and pieces required to put an air conditioning system in the Prius.

With the chassis build winding down, the Farks Supercars crew could turn their attention to fitting things like the radiator, a-c condenser, oil cooler and other hardware. There wasn’t a huge amount of room ahead of the engine (as expected), but somehow, they managed to overcome the obstacles. Next issue, we’ll finalize the chassis build and get into the engine along with some important statistics (of the 1320 kind). This thing is definitely a hybrid; it burns both gasoline and rubber. And best of all, it was “fixed” in the USA. Watch for the next segment. It gets interesting!

While you're waiting, check out this video of the Prius in action!

Here’s how far back the seats were installed in the car. Note the location of the main roll cage hoop. It was dictated by the driving position.

Upstairs, the roll cage was set up so that a factory headliner could be installed. Note the gussets in the cage.

This is a shot of Nick Filippides (driver’s side) and his American Racing Headers partner, Jose Cruz, checking out the legroom in the Prius. Believe it or not, the car was planned from the beginning as a reliable long distance driver.

Here’s the fuel cell cover we mentioned earlier. If you look closely, you can see the filler for the cell can be accessed by way of the little hinged door up top. Note the quick release latch.

The brakes on all four corners are from Wilwood. Out back (shown here), the rotors include an internal park brake. The axles (and rear center section) were sourced from Mark Williams Enterprises. See the text for more info.

Look closely at this construction photo and you can see the vented front brake rotors mounted on the Vari Shock struts. Note, too, the oil cooler lines. Like we said earlier, the overall packaging on this car is dense. There was a lot to think about in a build this complex (and small).