besides a vega or something similar, what are some other GM body styles that would make a good drag car? I`ve seen a bunch of 78-71 malibus lately. I`ve also seen a bunch of 3rd gen camaros pretty cheap. I`m going to be looking for something relativley easy to set up as a race car. I was thinking a leaf spring car since I have a 9" housing I could use. I don`t know when I`ll be looking to start on something like this but since I`m selling my chevelle, I know I`ll be iching to play with something. Thanks guys

ps- this is not in any way a classified ad

A Nova. 68-72.

An S-10. They can be bought cheap, parts are a dime a dozen....which means more money for the go-fast goodies. Not to mention the older base models with the 4 cyl/4speed and no options weighed 2500. An iron headed/iron intake small block adds another 200 lbs.

The last one I owned had a 285 hp 350/TH350 in it. Pulled consistant 13's at the track. Mind you I had to ease out of the hole with my 295/50 radials so my 60 ft's were only 2.16 at best.....in other words there was alot of room for improvement.

i always thought a 67 camaro with a 70 eldorado motor would make a cool street car .it would get good gas milage as its in a light weight car and it would have a smooth idle .70 el dogs had 400 hp stock if my memory serves me correctly .it would be a sleeper .just my 2 cents worth .maybe some day when i get time /like when i retire/ i'll try it .

If I didn't have my car I would go back to a 78-81 malibu. I had two in the early 90's and they were easy to make work.

'72 Olds Ninety Eight or Cadillac of that era ;) Vega,Camaro,Nova, or Malibu.

'72 Olds Ninety Eight or Cadillac of that era ;) Vega,Camaro,Nova, or Malibu.
Was thinking more of a 58 Buick....

The light weight part makes it a little difficult. I would have to agree with the S-10 suggestion. You get a full frame and a light vehicle. A Monza is nice but, a uni-ody car. I like the 78-87 Malibus but, I wouldn't call them light weight. They have a full frame and are very easy to make hook. I know you want something easy to build, so that leaves out many lighter cars. The other option would be the 78-87 Monte Carlos, Grand Prix, Cutlass, Regal, El Camino, all will hold a V8 with no modifications, they are cheap and easy to work with. The problem is here in Calif. You won't be able to smog any of them with a "modified" engine. I think that is why you don't see more of them hot rodded.

Search racingjunk.com and you will find over 1000 race cars for sale. My buddies and I all have race cars that range in performance levels of 8.20's in the 1/4 to 9.6's. In my experience the things you want are (if you want to go fast, 9.0 or faster) 2400 lbs (or less), tube frame (preferred) struts (front steering) motor plate instead of mounts, as much room inside as possible, good electronics (no crazy loose wires) big tires 14x32 or bigger. This is a good starting point

Thanks for the input guys. I`m not looking for something thats already built or even a street car. I do have a smog connection but I`m going to build a race only set up. I keep looking through the classifieds to see whats going for what. The s-10 sounds like a good idea. I always thought that would be a cool race car but did`nt even think about them now. Anyway, thanks again for the replies.

id find an early 80's chevette, drop in a 496, 9" and hang on

Chevy LUV. They make SBC swap kits for them.

Novas are light...My nova with a small block weighs in at 3050 w/o me in it. All metal no fiberglass. Just race seats and inner fenders are gone.
Ed

Short wheelbase cars can be a handful when you are faster than 9.0's, not to mention the cockpit is cramped.

If I was able to do this, money and garage/tool-wise, I would take a '65 Chevelle full frame and rework it so that I could stick a '75, Monza 2+2's body right down around it, then floorpan it and be done. (And reworked so big rubber would fit too)...

I'd probably 4-point mount the engine like the old Tri-5's were too so it would be easy to work on the REQUIRED CLUTCH!!!

I would, however, rework the front of the Chevelle's frame so that I could run a shoebox oil pan as well as ramshorn AND big car exhaust manifolds so if ever I wanted to, I could.

Otherwise, an early shoebox Duece with that bolt-on BB fitting frame kit put on the front of it from, I think??, Heidlt's(Sp?)... But you'd probably have to tub it too...

And if you really want to be different like in old-school, an old Henry-J gasser converted over to a streeter is waay cool to me and you sure don't have to worry about any smog crap on it!!

pdq67

How about an old - late 20's/early 30's coupe - Chevy of course!!! Find a good body and build your own chassis.

A while back Hot Rod did an article about a 27 F**d roadster on a home built chassis that ran in the 10's with
a Hilborn injected 283, 4500 stall glide and 4.10s.
If I remeber correctly they had it in the 11's with a mild 350.

Datsun 280Z The swap is pretty easy and the car is light. If I knew how, I would post a pic for you.

Thanks for the replies again guys. Some of the cars you guys are coming up with are a little out of my price range. I`m not planning to go much faster than mid 10`s at this point. I was thinking of a nova or later malibu or maybe evan a 2nd or 3rd gen camaro. I don`t want to pay more than $1000 for a roller and I`ve found several cars in this price range but I was just wondering what you guys could think of. This has been a interesting threead so far, lots of good suggestions.

I'd go Third Gen. Camaro, but re-inforce the sh-t out of it with S/F/C's and such.

Roll cage if you are gonna go that fast??

pdq67

fox bodied mustang.

fox bodied mustang.

I thought about that. I had a 89 mustang for a while and I like the body style. might look into that some more. I have found a 75 vega with no drivetrain. He`s asking $600 but I can probably talk him down some. I don`t really like the look of the later vegas though.

that is what my engine builder, Paul Klyczek, runs. I think it has a 388 cubic inch small block chevy making 900 N/A hp and 1300 or so on the bottle. 2800 lbs. I think the fastest he has ran is 8.40s or so on drag radials.

I can tell you from personal experience that Vegas are not very light in stock form. They're a unibody car and EVERYTHING is made of triple panel material that is spot welded together. We spent hours and hours cutting spot welds apart.

Then, after you cut out all the weight, you're left with no structure so you have to build a full tube frame. There is NO room in back for a big tire so you must tub the car which requires cutting out all the spot welded material and replacing with tube chassis. After you're done fitting a big tire and 4-link in the Vega, setting the engine back, fitting a full cage, etc., then it's time to try to shoehorn the driver into the car. If it sits low like mine, the trans tunnel must be high so there's very little room left over for a driver.

My Vega is only 2250lbs with me in it but it is a full-on tube chassis/fiberglass/aluminum interior race-only car. If I was going that route again, I'd build a late Camaro or Firebird for the room and aerodynamics.

As to the question of light and cheap, sign me up for a Fox-bodied Mustang with a small block Chevy. They're plentiful, light, cheap, roomy, and easy to make work.

Randy

Randy that is great insight/advice. After owning a couple Vegas (still one of my favorite cars), they are not built very well and the only way to go fast in one is as mentioned above. If you just do an engine swap you will have a "flexy-flier" the car will not go straight and won't stop straight. They are fine for very mild street drivers 13 second range but, once you start stepping up the power you need to reinforce the car a lot. The whole car is sheet metal, there is little to no structure. The doors are spot welded on etc... not exactly a well built car from the factory.

I have to say I think the S-10 is the best bang for the buck, easy to work on, plentiful, and already has a full frame (don't overlook the importance of a frame). This is coming from a guy that is finishing upi a full tube frame 61 Skylark, it is a LOT of work. Too much for a small budget and no plans on keeping it for a long time.

I would respectfully disagree about the full frame comments. I don't like frames. I don't like having to cut up my floorboards to get to the frame instead of welding some plates on the floorboard. There are bad unibody cars and good unibody cars (and planes). Dodge Charger, Hemi Cuda, Boss Mustangs, Formula One cars, etc. I do agree that spot welds are awful.

besides a vega or something similar, what are some other GM body styles that would make a good drag car? I`ve seen a bunch of 78-71 malibus lately. I`ve also seen a bunch of 3rd gen camaros pretty cheap. I`m going to be looking for something relativley easy to set up as a race car. I was thinking a leaf spring car since I have a 9" housing I could use. I don`t know when I`ll be looking to start on something like this but since I`m selling my chevelle, I know I`ll be iching to play with something. Thanks guys

ps- this is not in any way a classified adHow about a GM Opal GT?

78-81 Malibu (or any G-body for that matter). Mine weighs in at 3200# with a 12 point cage, heater box removed, and alum headed BBC, with 9".

The previous owner of my '65 El Camino had a '70 Opel GT that was an ex-dragstrip refugee returned to street duty. Aluminum floors and a tube frame. With a big block it weighed in at 2,360 lbs. The engine was a nothing special oval port, turbo 400, 3.31 gears and big tires. With super soft and easy launches it ran 6.6x second e.t.'s in the 1/8th mile.

Thomas

I don`t know how safe it was but my buddy had a vega with homemade rear subframe and frame connectors and a stock frontend. It had a cage and a sbc with NOS and ran low 9`s high 8`s@ over 150mph. I`m not looking to go that fast. Like I said before, mid 10`s will be fine with me. I`m not to wild over the 75 vegas anyway. I`ve been looking around and found a few s-10`s but most of them are long beds and while I know the longer wheel base will help it hook, I just don`t like the look of them. I1`ve found a few late 70`s camaros cheap lately. Not exactly light weight but cheap and easy to build. I did find a 72 nova that had the insides firebombed for $700 but it looked like alot of clean up. There is also a 80 malibu up in my area for pretty cheap.

I guess lightweight isn`t the answer in this case. It should say somewhat light weight,lol. Something around 3000-3500 lbs would be fine. I`m not in any hurry to pick anything up right now but I still have enough parts for a engine to build a decent runner. Maybe something will fall right into my lap if I wait long enough. Thanks guys.

a digger

Alot of the expense will depend on you skill in metal fabrication on anything that is going to be purpose built, light and rigid. Especially if you start mixing and matching various models, not to mention manufacturers.

That said, consider a Corvair or easier yet, a '63 Tempest.

A car that I would like to know the particulars on (weight, frame, suspension configuration), but probably wouldn't qualify as "cheap", simply because of logistics, is the 70's & 80's Australian GM Holden. Besides Mad Max's endorsement, I went to the Drag's in Adelaide back in 1992 and Holden was the primary platform. Oddly enough, almost all the cars are 4 door cars, except Holdens. I liked the 2 door wagons (Delivery).

Just thinking out loud.

Now a Holden, yeah that's a car that will be easy to find in or near Carmichael California!

A '64 or '65 Malibu would fit your general weight requirements and look cool. My '65 Elky big block weighs in at 3,380 lbs and it is only moderately stripped down + the weight of a full cage.

Thomas

Any model mustang 79-2004. Just buy a chevy motor swap k member or weld mounts to the stock k member. The most expensive part is headers, but cut the flanges off a set of 460 swap headers and weld on BBC flanges and with a little dinging you are there or Lemons makes headers for this swap but they are about 1000. I am strongly considering this myself since I sold my chevelle and am left with my 496 and some headers for the swap...
Caleb

well I just sold a 65 chevelle so finding another one in my price range isn`t going to happen. i might be able to find a 65 elky though. Any car I come up with is going to have a sbc since those are the parts I already have.

Datsuns,RX7s,240sx,chevettes,pintos,etc will accept a SBC and be nice and light.

Datsuns,RX7s,240sx,chevettes,pintos,etc will accept a SBC and be nice and light.

I was thinkg of a car that would be easy to build, something that might have already have a V8 in it already. I will probably keep it GM so I can get parts easier. I`ll probably be looking for a late 70-early 80`s malibu or a erly to mid 70`s nova or camaro. The camaro probably isn`t too light but they are easy to set up. Thats my goal really is to get a car that is easy to set up. thanks for the input guys.

I see Chevy Luv pick ups at the strip and they are light and fast. Here's a link http://www.luvtruck.com/

Haven't read anything about a GT Fiero. Umm...I just think that it's worth mentioning. All types of engines can be dropped in from small blocks to 4 cylinders and even turbo'd V6s. Suspension upgrades can make it out handle most stock Porsches and other exotics. It can pull over a G on the skidpad on street radials. Slalom capabilities are ridiculous. All this for a fairly cheap price. It's also a mid-engine/rear wheel drive setup which is great.

Sidenote: GM stopped production of the Fiero because it was hindering sales of the Corvette.

Of course if you do not prefer the styling of the Fiero, that's another story; I just think of all these "cheap build possibilities" the Fiero is what I'd fo for.

i think i'd go with the 80 or so malibu,parts would be cheap and u wouldnt feel to bad about cuttin it up if needed.good luck

Any model mustang 79-2004. Just buy a chevy motor swap k member or weld mounts to the stock k member. The most expensive part is headers, but cut the flanges off a set of 460 swap headers and weld on BBC flanges and with a little dinging you are there or Lemons makes headers for this swap but they are about 1000. I am strongly considering this myself since I sold my chevelle and am left with my 496 and some headers for the swap...
Caleb

Ok, I got a line on a couple 87-93 fox body stangs from a few hundred each. I`m a chevy guy but I`ve always liked the look of these years mustangs. I even had a 89 for a couple months. So who sells a K member kit with chevy mounts? Any sbc headers from GM cars going to fit without hacking alot?

The Blue Oval Boys are gonna really love you.....I'm suprised you'd rather not just run a Ford mill.....

AGE engineering makes a chevy mount k member that can be bought through jegs for 429.00. ProFabRacing used to make one that was cheaper but there website has been disabled. I will do some checking through my notes because I think one other suspension company makes them. If you buy a set of the clamshell style frame mounts and matching solid mounts like moroso's you can weld the chevy frame mounts onto the stock k member. The placement is only a couple inches away from where the stock mounts bolted. I have a friend that did this with a 88 stang and used some 1st gen camaro/nova headers with a little tweaking to fit. The tubular ones will give you more room for header clearance though and save a lot of weight. I lucked out on a used set of BBC ship together headers made for the mustang with stock k member and welded mounts. If you decide to go big block you could probably talk me out of them, because my mustang is too nice (built 5.0, tremec 5speed) to slap my big block in there. My friends keep trying to talk me out of "halfbreeding" the stang. I keep holding out for another chevelle to be in my price range, but if I don't find one soon..... I will aim for low 10's or high 9's in the stang body.
Caleb

Well I already have the sbc parts. Plus I don`t realy care for the ford motor. The only reason I`m considering the mustang is because they are light and cheap. I don`t really care if they like it or not, I`m not trying to make anyone happy. I don`t know if I`m going to go with the mustang but it`s a option.

Thanks for the info Caleb. Any project I do will definately be a sbc, I`m not going to go out and buy al new stuff.

A 60' Nash Metropolitan

thanks for all of the ideas guys but I think I`ve decided against building a car right now. It`s just too frustratiing right now to try to find a decent car for a good price. I can`t see spending $2000 on a car thats going to be strip only. I`m just going to wait. Since I sold my chevelle I guess I`m having withdrawls about not having a toy anymore but I don`t want to get wrapped up in something again only to loose more money. I`m just going to finish my motor if the right car comes along ,great. If not, the motor will be sold. Thanks guys.

Mazda RX-7's are fairly plentiful, light, there are SBC kits available for 'em and most come with factory posi's. I agree, though - I decided against a strip-only car that can only be driven a few times a year. I'm going with a good hot prostreet ride, really looking forward to it. Good luck!

PA Racing is the other company that makes chevy/mustang k members. They are cheaper that the AJE by about 80.00.
Caleb

Thomas,
I knew that was coming, but thought maybe someone from down under may chime in with Holden info. It had been in the back of my mind, then a few weeks ago, Mad Max aired multiple times and it got me thinking about them again.