i have an 84 trans am that i have fully restored the exterior and much of the interior and put a new 700r4 tranny in it. i was thinking about selling the car or dumping more money into it. i have about 6500 to spend on it if i wanted to. would i beable to make it into the low 11's wit 6500 (engine swap, tires, suspension)? if so wat is the cheapest way to get my car into the low 11's?

 

Well, you get to re-spend your money on the transmission, unless it was specifically built to handle 500+ HP. $2000 should do it.

The rear may last a few low-11 sec runs, but figure on another couple grand there to continue to do it.

Anything faster than 11.49 secs requires a 6-point cage. I don't know what that costs, but probably at least a grand. More if you don't already have subframe connectors and other suspension upgrades.

That leaves you about $1000-1500 for engine upgrades. You could spray it, but I doubt a stock 305 is going to last even one run with the kind of nitrous needed to get to low 11's.

$6500 is a decent budget to do a lot of neat things to your car. But, low 11's isn't one of the things you'll accomplish, I'm afraid.

 

i have a built 4.11 rear in it already and i have a th400 built to hold some power already

 

Well, you didn't say you had a built TH400. Do you have a good converter for it, with appropriate stall? If so, you might have more money for the rest.

Built what with 4.11's?

You still can't ignore what it takes to get the car to handle the power or safety requirements for low 11's. $6500 would probably build the engine for it, though.

 

Even if it's the stock rear,it can handle the power if set up properly.Granted,it's not a 9",but there is some really good stuff out there for the 10 bolt.It's a hassle,but I've built mine a piece or two at a time,and it's held up fine behind my 406.

As far as the engine budget gos,that depends on many factors.For example,some folks want the "best" parts available,and people like myself buy quality at a reasonable price,as opposed to the big names.I'll use cylinder heads as a scenario here.When I was shopping for heads,I was almost dead set I wanted Dart Pro-1s.They are great heads.But,after a lot of investigating,I ended up buying my Pro-Toplines for MUCH less,and they actually outflow the Darts.I just lost the "prestige"of saying my engine has Dart heads.

Another factor is how much of the work you can/will do yourself.If you walk into a performance rebuilders shop with no core or gameplan,other than to run low 11s,you can blow 6500 in a flash.If you plan to do much of the work yourself,such as spending time on the phone with cam manufacturers to choose the best cam and related parts,shopping for the best parts for the money,assembly/camshaft degreeing,checking tolerances/clearences yourself,etc.,than I see no reason why you can't build the HP you need to run 11s for around $4500.Granted it takes Shrewd shopping and time,my 406 will run 10.20s all day long with drag radials on the motor,and I built the engine (without accesories) for roughly $3700.

Same deal with the cage,(which you should do whether your track makes you or not)Competition Engineering sells some really good quality cage kits that you can have at your door for around $500.It's just a matter of having access to some fabrication equipment and the know how to do it yourself.I'm pretty spoiled to have any fabrication equipment at my disposal where I work,but surely everybody knows at least 1 pal who has a mig welder and will help you out for a couple of cold beers.

Sorry for the long post,just my 2 cents.In my opinion,there would be a lot more cool cars out there if people were a little more resourceful.