Hey I plan on buying a 89 RS and hopefully hitting 10s with it but Im trying to do it as cheap as possible. The car will be stripped of every possible thing, but Im curious as to how low I can get the weight down to. Also which engine should I be looking into if I plan on 10s? Is it rare for a 3rd gen to hit mid 10s? I hope this is the right section for this. Thanks in advance.

 

before this goes any further you should probably define what you mean by "as cheap as possible" because mid 10's doesnt come real cheap. How much money do you have to throw around? Also whats the application. Is this purely a strip car or does it have to be somewhat streetable?

 

totally stripped, dedicated drag car. I have the car picked out already, $800. Then about $5,000 to spend after that. Is it possible?

 

If I were going to have a strip car only and have it stripped of all the luxuries such as power steering, windshield wipers, and a heater. I'd definitely go with a big block. It's always easier to make power with more cubes. There are a couple of big block third gens around here. They are quick.

 

Sorry but there is no way it can be done for a number of reasons:

1. A RELIABLE 10 Sec. Motor, even if you strip your car, will cost you 3-4K, and that is on the real cheap side.

2. Tranny to handle a 10 sec car= 1,500-2K

3. Suspension/tires to handle a 10 sec car-$1K-2K

4. Safety equipment needed to run a 10 sec car and not get thrown off the track $1k or more depending if you have a welder or know how to weld.

I'm leaving a ton of little stuff, odds and ends out too that will probably quickly add up to 1-2K more. Settin your goals a little high, I'd be looking at having a 12 sec. car or so with the funds you have available.

 

not very inspiring would the motor really run 3-4g? I was looking into either a 350 or a real big motor and never thought it would be up to 4 grand. Considering you went cheap as possible and cut as many corners as possible, it still wouldnt be possible? Would it be better off to use something other than a third gen? How light could we get the 89' if we completely gutted it out. I mean nothing left. 1 alum seat, thats it.

 

you can easily drain 12k into a motor, a gm crate 350 is 3k alone

If you could run it down the track, with no safety equipment, and it hooked hard, with the weight well below the 3000lb range, with an engine that made around 450hp, with a decent shot of nitrous on top of that, and it all held together, you could probably run high 10's...atleast once

take a look at the work steven87iroc has done to his car, he bracket races it, his best corrected ET is 11.054@125mph, his car is stripped (3180lbs) , built to nhra rules, and is almost exactly what your looking to do http://www.hardtail.com/specs.html

 

thanks for that link, I think it will help out a lot. Should I stick to using a 3rd gen or look into a car that would be cheaper to get into the mid 10s?

 

the point is that cheap and 10's don't really mix...atleast not THAT cheap, and i think the 3rd gen is about your best bet, it's already a light *** car, the weight is pretty well balanced, and it's about as cheap as decent rwd cars come.

 

so would you consider 5grand in parts alone, not enough to get into the 10s

 

It can be done if you can find the right deals on parts. Spend your cash on the heads and cam, and try and get used parts for everything else.

 

i dunno man, slicks aren't gonna be cheap, the cage isn't gonna be cheap, the 5pt isn't gonna be cheap, those are all gonna have to be new because their rated good for only a few years. thats gonna eat up close to a grand.

the rears and transmissions are at best usable to low to mid 11's, 10 is really pushing your luck, i'd allocate atleast 1000 for a new trans and some beefing up in the rear.

3k for the engine alone is kinda pushing his luck, it gets to a point where used parts are unacceptable, i'm not saying it won't happen, i'm just saying it's gonna be alot of bargain hunting and once thats done, it's probably still going to have a short life expectancy

 

Ebay will be your best friend for bargains on used parts. Try getting your stuff off of there. Also, I thought that I have seen cages for about $150.

 

I think thats for an 8 point, not sure on NHRA rules but I think you need a 10 point for a 10 sec. car...prolly still only 200-300 bucks, but they don't put themselves in the car. Expect to pay someone to weld it in 200 bucks, probably more. Thats if you dont have a welder or skills to do it.

Also I forgot to mention to get your rearend to handle a 10 sec. car expect to pay another 1K(a stock thirdgen rearend will explode under those conditions).

Even if you go to all the swap meets and surf on ebay I don't see it getting done...and if it does I don't see the car lasting anywhere near a full season. Just telling ya my opinion for what its worth.

 

I think AllGoNoShow and I are agreeing that it's not gonna happen

 

so I would be looking closer to 8,9,10 thousand?

 

You guys didn't hear what he was asking. Can you build a 10 sec car on 5k? Yes, but it won't be perfect.

Nobody said anything about a roll cage. They don't bother anybody around here for cages unless you are stupid fast, hell, they don't even tech the cars around here.

The rearend will hold up with a spool and weight reduction. A 350 with a big cam, big heads, single plane intake and carb will get you there with a big stall and rear gear.

There was an article a few years ago in hot rod or car craft where they spent 10 grand to run 10 seconds which included the price of a car which was a nova. They put a nitrous kit on a 400 and ran mid-high tens.

Without all the fancy stuff, you could do it, remember, many street racers don't run roll cages, it kills the competition. Go to your local track on bracket day and walk down the staging lanes, and you will see lots of stripped, unpretty race cars with 350's that run good. For a track only car, you don't need to spend a lot. Rip out all the interior, wiring, etc, and just run the basics.

 

I like the way you think sir I wasnt planning on running a cage just yet. Remember this will be bare bones with everything as cheap as possible. We have a track out here that pretty much everything goes. I would love to see that article if you still have it. Thanks for keeping my hopes up If you have any tips for me before I get started let me know.

 

wow okay running thought process....

rear end is an absolute mandatory....can probably get an old ford 9 bolt and some gears for a grand

tranny im not completly sure how cheap you can go with that

as far as the engine id see if i could get a used 400 block, part of your problem is going to be that to run 10's youre going to need a forged rotating assembly which is looking at 2 g's? otherwise youll throw a rod and blow you engine up. Past that you can go with some cheap heads and get em ported to all hell and then slap a carb and intake on...not to mention a rather large shot of giggle gas.

All of that plus taxes i think youre still getting into the 8-10 range

 

If you would really would like to run "tens" MHO is your trying to
doit with the wrong body style. Remember smaller and lighter is quickor and faster. I would try to find a Old chevy Vega or a 1963/64 box Nova or a 67-69 camaro first. "IF" you can find one of these, you will be better off. They are much lighter to start with and push less air with smaller physical size. Suspension on the Nova/Camaro platform is extemly easy to work with and much cheaper than trying to do it with a 3rd gen car.
I have a friend with a Vega that he put a 350 small block
with a turbo 350 a NOS sytem that ran 10.60 times thru mufflers
on REAL stiff sidewall sticky compound street tires (racing retreads ) then drive it home passing cars that he beat in eleminations that had to be trailered to the events! This was back in the late 70's before they had all these nice trick street tires that we have now.

 

yea Im glad you brought that up. I was wondering if the 3rd gen would be my best bet, and you kind of answered it there. The only problem is I would like to keep the initial cost of the car itself fairly low, ie $1000 and below. Could the said cars be had for that price?

 

Let me clear a few things up. We want to make a car as fast as possible, as cheap as possible. We can get an 89 RS for $800 and after selling some parts, it would cost next to nothing. We can go with other cars but they have to be within a budget, if the thirdgen is a bad idea.

The car does not have to look pretty, or be anything near perfect. Its only used for races. We want it to look stock on the outside (other then wheels/tires) anything that we don't need to drive can go for weight.

We are shooting for mid to high 10s, and 5 grand. We will buy most of the parts used. Would it be better to spend a little more up front for the car and go with something else other then an F body? Our budget for the first step, the car/chassis, is $1000-$1500. The camaro fits this range, and that is why we wanted to see what you all thought.

We also want a 350ci or larger, found many cheap, built to hold 150-200 shot nitrous. This and lighter weight, and traction should do it, no?

 

You dont care what kind of car? It can be ugly as sin? Get an '80s Chevette, build a frame for it , build your own cage, strip it, put a built smallblock in it. Find a used TH400, mod an S10 rear to fit and throw a spool in it. A friend and I were building one, 2000 lbs stock, two people could lift the front end 6ft in the air. It doesnt take much power to make a 2000lb car run tens.

 

read the issue of hot rod where they got a chevette to run 11's with a pretty much stock caddy 500 Thats what I'm doing next, I had a built caddy 500 in my 78 grand prix (that weighed 3,500 pounds) and it hauled ***. Imagine that in a 2000 pound car!

 

How about a built 350/ turbo 350 in a first gen RX7.
About 2500/ 2600LBS. Its easier to make a light car go fast.

This motor will fit this car (swap kits are available)
The stock rear end is actually quite strong.

A single stage NOS Cheater system would ensure it got well into the 10's

You'll need about 570 gross crank horsepower to do it
"thru the mufflers" on a relativley stock "Street chassis"
Stick to the basics and you'lll get there for about $5000.

There are tons of these cars with burned out rotary motors
available. This is a popular swap.

Python

RX-7 V-8 swap kits

 

weight on them is somewhere around 2200-2400lbs in stock trim
if you go to shave weight I'm sure you can get quite a bit more off of it
there is a guy with a 302 in one around here
a 350 will fit also
will be a fairly decent driver if you want to setup one and would make one hella sleeper if you can keep the noise down

 

Thanks for the RX7 info guys. I saw the kits and I was wondering is the real expensive kits needed for $1400 or could you get away with just the $300 kit? How much HP would be needed to get the first gen 7 totally stripped to my goal?

 

well with my friends car weighing in at 2800 or so without him in the car
second gen rx7
he was able to pull a 12.8 with a 1.9 60' with around 300 to the wheels

this is also with the less desirable (for drag racing) IRS

if that helps any

 

Thanks for that info. What is the IRS?

 

Independent Rear Suspension

 

Thanks. You never said anything about the kit. As to which one I need. which would be best to get. etc Thanks everyone

 

gut out an old maverick or something, and stuff a stroked/bored small block in it

 

hey u could do what hotrod did with their bad seed project. get a cheap small car like the chevette put a running 500 caddy in it do some suspension work add some other minor things. they did it for like $2500 and they went mid 11's. you could easily do the same thing if your just looking to go fast. just build a forged bottom end raise the compression and add some juice u might go 10's.

 

Mustang? I believe they can go lighter then a 3rd gen fbody.

 

I will third the chevette idea. Honestly how cool would it be to say that you have a 10 second vette?