What I mean by this, as far as streetable cars go, is the following:

it's basically true that no matter what your car/setup is, if you put enough money into the thing, it's going to be fast

just for example, I'll put the fastest streetable cars around the low 9s

So at what point should someone be running these times?

After $10K spent, $20K, etc.

I am guessing that for a third gen you could pull times like that with $10K, but what about all the other setups?

 

Its pretty hard since you will spend about 5k just for a rear end and tranny combo. Add another 1,000 for safety to get you down the track legally. There is a street legal twin turbo 35th aniv TA here in town that runs 9's but he has a little more than 10k invested i would imagine. Price of the car aside he has a full cage, moser rear, built turbo 400, custom fabbed turbo set-up. And that is just the main stuff. Add another couple grand to the susepsnion and you have spent over 10k before you even get to the motor.

As for numbers with a 3rd gen you are looking at the same thing. You will have to replace everything on the car pretty much with better stuff to run such low numbers.

 

There was a guy named Lee Howie that did this in his 306 turboed Mustang. The car had all the goodies, and I believe he claimed the cost to be around $70,000. If you want to run fast you cannot cheap out on little items... you need everything for it to be safe and fast.

His car ran a best of 8.3 and actually ran and averaged an 8.9 with ET Streets, after a 30 mile cruise, without touching the car between rounds.

It can be done, yes, for $10,000-20,000, no... just the shortblock to run those numbers safely will probably be pushing $5000.

 

So would a reasonable number be about $50K in mods? MTI here in Houston has a 427 kit for LS1's thats about $20K that gets you like 550 HP. And I believe you can get small block crate motors pushing 500+ HP for around $10K. You would need something stronger than a T-56 swap for a thirdgen, and maybe a 12 bolt rear.

 

You can't say for $xx you can run 9s because there are too many variables. One high dollar engine combo might run 12s while the other that cost exactly the same runs 8s. It depends on the suspension, car, driver, matching of the parts, many other variables. I know, we all know someone running 8s for $2.5k and a smack in the mouth but that doesn't mean the results are typical or repeatable.

 

Money is just luxury when it comes to building all-out race engines. Theres a set of heads laying in my shop right now that cost 9800 bucks. Some people have and do build 9 second cars for that much. It all boils down to, A: Who you know B: What you know C: What you got laying around. Throw a couple Turbos on a 502, A little juice, Good home built TH 350, Nice 9 bolt rear, Chrome moly cage.... Heck, there's always stuff to find and trade. Nobody I know PAYS outright for their racecar.....

 

Well, I mean if somebody started with nothing but money, and had to pay for everything, both parts and labor, how much would put a thirdgen into the 9s.

 

A friend of mine runs DEEP 10's
He drives it on the street, and has about 12,000 in it including the cost of the car.
Given this is not 9's but it can be done with a budget if you want.
P.S. it has an interior and all that stuff, its not a peice

 

Yea and I know a guy with a GN who did ALL the work himself and runs 9s for around $2500 in parts. Big deal.. Those results are atypical. This thread isn't going anywhere.