Re: best motor and car combination for the money
 

Most US made car in last 20 years would make a good Pure Stocker and a good racing inventment.

Mostly Bolt-On modifications.
DOT's, Gears, Converter, Tune, some Exhaust and Intake work.
Of course PS IHRA approved cam, headers, light wheels and tires would be next.

If it was a vintage car there could be a lot of body, interior work and paint to get it into nice condition.

IMHO...it is not the cost of the car..
but the time to build a competitive vehicle
and
one that is robust to wear
and
remains low maintenance.

Then keeping the legacy costs low such as getting the car to the races.
Driving to the Track and not Trailering is a big savings.
Using Pump Gas instead of Racing Gas.

For me we have to deal with HOA/COA's
and
the costs of storing a Trailer away from the home.

Then there is the WIFE FACTOR !!

Dan

Re: best motor and car combination for the money
 

Well said Mr. Nees! I recently bought some parts from a guy. Coincidently, his car is a "former" pure stocker, since converted to a legitimate stocker. Now converting the car from an auto trans to a stick. His best has only been .5-.6 tenths under, he's having a ball!

Most of us just want to join in and have some fun. It all depends on what one wants to do. If it's going deep under the index and competing on a national level, deep pockets and a lot of work. If one just wants to run a local or regional level (combos or national opens). It can be done with a less than "killer" combination. If you're looking to start from scratch, Pure Stock would be mighty appealing to build a "starter" combination.

It's main restriction, it's IHRA only. In some cases, some combo's don't allow them either.

To allude to your point. Some of us do build what we have.

Re: best motor and car combination for the money
 

Good points in this thread.
I agree with the assesment that alot of people building a stocker want to go out and kill the index.

I, however have a different goal. I want to qualify my Pure Stocker with the stock trans and convertor. (shift kit only) and rear gears.
Later, if funds permit I want to upgrade the car to stock so I can run the combo races around here as well as divisional races.

I have no interest in sinking a bunch of my retirement money into trying to blast the index tho.

Re: best motor and car combination for the money
 

Billy,
The man wants to build something cheap and he has the Nova already. That should be about as cheap as anything to build.
Didn't Steve Tarrence win class pretty often with his 6 cyl stick Nova. Seems like he was stock eliminator runner up at the U S Nationals one year. I know he won a lot of local races.

Re: best motor and car combination for the money
 

You're right and it was a 194 too.

Re: best motor and car combination for the money
 

I always enjoyed racing, didn't really matter what. Going fast is great, but slow racin beats no racin