Am I being realistic?

[Boris632]

Little background: in high school (1996) my dad bought a super nice 1955 Chevy 210. 350sbc, 4 speed, 10 bolt rear end and riding on weld drag lites.

Fast forward to today - i am the proud owner of exact same car. The 350 had a different cam and heads etc installed but its in need of a rebuild and honestly - this thing is slow!


So what I am after - a multipurpose street/strip/(possible) track car. I work 10 minutes from blackhawk farms. I live 15-20 minutes from byron dragway.

I take nice country roads to work.

Is it possible to build a mid 9 second pro touring car that could also turn some laps on a road course or is this just unrealistic?


The other choice
565 bbc with 6 speed and spray
6.0L lsx with either single 80mm or twins and 6 speed.

it has to be a 6 speed!

Discuss or feel free to flame away. (ill add a pic later when im not at work)


budget: not sure

[Sieg]

I'll say it could be done.....provided your budget is in the 6 figure range.

[Spiffav8]

Originally Posted by Sieg

I'll say it could be done.....provided your budget is in the 6 figure range.

Pretty much just a matter of $$. Though if you're going to drop that much money into it, why not build two cars?

[Ron Sutton]

I'm positive it can be done.

My Track-Warrior & Street Warrior line of cars can do it with the right engine option chosen. But like the guys said ... it takes money. Our Track-Warrior cars with all the options making it capable of running road course laps in the Trans Am range and mid 9's in 1/4 mile drags costs a little over $200k & the Street Warrior version is a little over $250k.

Not that you can't build one on your own. You need a ultra rigid chassis, super light overall weight, well balanced, advanced race engine & a versatile modern suspension.

Best wishes !

[intocarss]

Anything is possible

[cluxford]

Definitely possible. But as others have said $$$

I have a 68 Camaro, more pro-street-touring.

Did 10.3 @ 130mph on first pass. Haven't dialled it in yet, and had suspension too hard. Should go into the 9's by getting it to hook up better.

Runs all the PT goodies, AME subframe, massive brakes etc.

But it's carrying extra weight. Iron 632 BBC (crate, normally aspirated). Full custom metal interior which will have added eight.

It has a 4 link, and 390 drag radials on the rear right now and a TH400

But no reason I can't run some better road course tyres instead of the large sidewall drag radials for road course racing. Only downside is the auto

And I drive this thing 100 mile round trip in peak hour traffic to the office on occasions as well.

I wouldn't say mine meets your desired goals, but it may go close. very doable.

But don't ask me how much is sunk into it. It might scare you

[214Chevy]

Originally Posted by Boris632

....budget: not sure

This is where the buck stops. Especially, if in terms of money you are "iffy" about.

[Boris632]

Originally Posted by 214Chevelle

This is where the buck stops. Especially, if in terms of money you are "iffy" about.

i was sold on a new z/28. Then they said 75k and i decided im not spending 75k on a new car. Had it been 60-65 id probably have one sitting in the garage right now

But at 75 - that just opens up a ton of options to me. And i guess that was my tipping point.

200k is a no!
100k is a stretch but im not planning on out sourcing much

Now if I can build it for 50k - great! But i have built things before and i believe i have a good idea.

[ccracin]

Originally Posted by Boris632

Now if I can build it for 50k - great! But i have built things before and i believe i have a good idea.

To achieve your goal, you'll have more than 50K in just parts. That's a fact. Right now, I don't think there are many projects on this site that are doing any more work themselves than we are on our project and I can tell you first hand you,ll have more than 50 in parts.

Heck, by the end of the project you'll probably have 5K+ in new parts that don't end up on the car! It sounds like a joke, but isn't!

I'm always behind anyone that has the ambition and drive to take on a project like the one you described. I wish you the best of luck.

[Neil B]

So I check out the Optima Street Car event at Sebring for a few hours last Saturday. A gutted, clapped out C5 FRC with heads/cam and coil overs was running as good or better lap times than the full on vendor-owned pro touring cars. Just sayin'. Then, if you want to run nines, buy a blower and a set of slicks. Replace the tranny and diff when it lets go. Then build a nice street car out of the '55. Just my .02.