Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

The cost depends on the combination and and how nice you want the car, plus how fast you want it to run. When we finished Andrew's car we had about 35k in it rolling. 7500 for paint and body work, 7500 at the chassis shop, 4500 for the car which was a rolling shell. Start adding up all the parts, wheels, tires, brakes, gauges , shifter , wiring , plumbing, fuel pump and regulator, new glass and it goes on. I put the car together and used a motor and trans that I already had. On second thought it was probably more than 35k.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Just out of curiosity how far down the ladder are these cars gonna go? Will there be a dragpak or a cobra jet running u/sa soon? Is there a cutoff?

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

When deciding to build my own stocker did some looking around and picked up a good southwestern 3rd gen Camaro. It was a daily driver in need of some work off Ebay. Really good straight body in need of paint, no rust! The reason reason for choosing to build rather that purchase was mostly financial but supported by the ideas I had for the car would have me gutting it and doing a lot over any way.

Gutted the car, did all the dirty work on my own, assembled the car over a five year period on and off. What had to be done by others doubt could be done much cheaper. It pays to help friends, they help you.

Tried to buy the right parts once, the best I could afford. Have not had to purchase the same part twice to upgrade. Bought what would help the car go fast.
The first engine was a somewhat economical attempt without in depth knowledge of stocker engines but all good quality parts and machine work. Was a .60 under piece no matter how much it was flogged. Finally hooked up with the right people "and "opened my wallet".

All told have at least $50K & 400-500 hours into the car.
Building the car, getting it to the track, winning rounds and a few races has been very satisfying. The work is hard, the payoffs are few but "The Moments are Unforgettable", friendships and camaraderie are priceless!

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

A fast 1.00 plus A-B auto/stick older car 55.

Dirk

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Your biggest factor is if the car is built in Calif . add a huge budget just for paint alone ! its crazy what the EPA has done to the cost of Body and paint in California if you want a quality nice paint job….. you can't touch a good paint job in CA for under 10k

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

The lower classes and the racers in them are my inspiration. We all would love to go fast, but why not get involved, at any level, in the meantime. Granted I have a ways to go, but my current build is at roughly 1500 for everything, using alot of used and ebay parts along the way. It will make passes this spring, maybe even under the index. I probably am toast heads up, but until then, I get to race while working towards a better car, which isnt getting out there the whole point anyway?

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Much the same here. I'm confident with the winter upgrades our car will at least be 5 under...more would be gravy. The only place left for us to go is into the motor.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

We all race the cars we do for different reasons. I had a lower class car years ago. We ran R/SA. You might build and keep it running for less than some other combos because you don't have to worry about heads up in the eliminator. I being competitive as I am wanted to have the fastest one in the country. So I spent the money and worked hard and ended up with one of the faster ones. Then when it was time to sell it not many people wanted an R/SA wagon. Even though I spent the same money on the drive train that others did in higher class cars. Sold the car for about 1/2 what it would have been worth if it was a 69 Camaro. So the moral of this story for me was if I'm going to spend the money on the drive train I better put it something that has value body wise. Barry

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Ahh, but Barry, it got you involved. And instead of talking about what it costs to build a red,69 BB Camaro we should all be trying to figure out how to get young people involved and talking about 125k COPOs and 60k antiques ain't gonna do it.
I can't say for sure but you probably started in R/SA because that's where your pocketbook and knowledge would let you get a start.
We, as the elder statesmen (wow) in this sport need to try and convince young people that they don't NEED to start with a second under CC/SA car to get involved in Stock and SS or there soon isn't going to be a Stock and SS.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

X2 - Resale value can bring the (final) cost down when you sell the car. I keep telling my wife that as I try to find enough money to finish a '67 Shelby.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Agreed, it is expensive, real expensive to get a fast stocker to be competitive. Then if you have a 'normal' under 40 yr olds budget you get to race in your class maybe 5-7 times a year. The NHRA TV coverage does nothing to get young people interested in actually racing themselves. I grew up going with Dad, so it is in my blood. My buddies here in Michigan that I went school with(we are all mechanical or product design engineers) know nothing about drag racing. Some have fast daily driver cars too. Mustang, Nissan 350, Audi S4, etc. Young people like me (I am 34) have 20-50k in student loan debt to pay off before being able to drop the same coin on a race car. My Dad and I are pooling out resources to be able race our 1969 Chevelle in C/S or H/S in the next 5 years. I would estimate the total bill to be over $30k and we can do most of the work ourselves, including designing and machining parts from scratch, where applicable.

IMHO the NHRA needs to lead the charge, hard, to get the next generation of racers to back fill the spots the previous generations of racers have made. Every 3 hour NHRA show with the pros should have at least 30 mins of normal joe sportsman coverage. Wheels up super stockers, home built stockers, etc. But actually talk to the racers of these cars. That this guy is a machinist, and he has a normal house with a normal garage and he just worked hard to get to the track. Put a face and story with the sportsman cars. Someone that the average person interested in cars can feel like they relate to or could be like. The stuff that the pro classes can do these days is flat out amazing. But I can't relate to it. I will never be able to afford to get close to those machines so it is less interesting.

I will be racing in stock eliminator before I am 40, or die trying. I love drag racing and have so many fond memories racing with my Dad that I want to duplicate with my daughter and soon to be wife.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Doesn't Koski have a U/S mopar for sale?

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

If you can do a lot of the work yourself you can cut the costs down a ton.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

In the process RIGHT NOW. Upper level car (loophole to boot) D/E/F had the body but doing ground up resto. 2 engines ( one a dyno mule) complete one of one combo. I will be about 30k done at .5 under...should see track mid year (I hope). All good parts and a top shelf engine builder doing a mid level build. And believe it or not the most expensive part....PAINT!

Kenny Newsome ?/SA 7709

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

I agree tenfold on the cost of body and paint. You guys have got it made at $10,000 for body and paint. You would have a coronary if you saw the prices here in Saskatchewan. Environment was not necessarily the biggest drive here. It was the money printing machine our gov't insurance provided the body shops here. Doug

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

My attempt at building a stocker(89 mustang) is about 30% complete and I have about 7500 in it (car was 600 of that). I expect to have another 3500 in it just to get it running and on the track for some testing. I'm hoping to be .30 under index with this set up. And this thing is U G L Y.

I would expect to sink another 10-15kin it years 2 and 3 assuming all goes well for a stouter motor, paint, race trans/clutch etc.

I'm pretty cheap and will do as much as possible myself, and it looks like 25k might get me a so-so looking car that's not super competitive.

But, I wanna go racing!!

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

I have no doubt I could have picked up a used stocker for a fraction of what I paid to build my F/SA car.....but for me this was a bucket list thing. I also have no doubt that if I had participated more in the build I could have reduced the cost somewhat. But after hearing the rest of you it sounds like my spend was not totally out of line. We were able to go rounds at every race attended, and the equipment was never the reason for an early round departure.

No matter what you spend, whether it's a 5,000 actual mile 69 Z/28, Original Cobra Jet, or my 40 year old $1500 beater, you still have to DRIVE the thing to get maximum enjoyment out of it. Truthfully, I would have had just as much fun in a beater if I had driven it to the winners circle a few times!!!

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Pure Stock will bring in the younger crowd if you start Classifying the new American cars and allow Imports to race. I get an email every couple weeks from someone asking about Pure Stock.

You want the younger crowd. They are buying the little cars. On test and tune days they are out in force. Add Stock Class Record at local track again and you will see interest.

The issue is not young people not wanting to race in Stock.
It is the entrenched American Car only racer community preventing it from happening.

Dan

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Those young people you see on test and tune days are not driving stockers. They can run tens in their ricer for less money then they would have in a 15 second pure stocker. It's all about cheap boost.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

You have but to look at the Stock Car Classification guide...there are no slots for their cars.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Talking about young people is a bit of a tangent but, there are lots of "young" guys dropping HUGE freaking money into cars. I agree that the guide has to be updated, but not neccessarily to include imports(Honda and mitsu are already there), but to include everything built.
Here is the guide, look at the latest year and more importantly, note that in the last few years the only vehicle available is the company's flagship. (ford and chev both go to 2013 but only for cobra jet and camaro, dodge goes to 2011 but only challenger)
AMC latest year 84
Buick 1997
Caddy 1990
Chev 2013 (camaro only)
Chrysler 2004
Dodge 2011 (challenger only)
Ford 2013 (mustang only)
Honda 2007
Mitsubishi 1991
Olds 2004
Opel 1974
Plymouth 2000
Pontiac 2008
Saturn 2008

So, you want to build a stocker? Either pony up $$$ for a new CJ or camaro/challenger or buy an "old" car (2008 or older) and restore it then build it.
THAT is the problem as I see it.
How about a new ford/chev/dodge fwd or awd 4/6cyl? The common question when trying to convince people to try is "where would my car fit"? Well, unless it's in the guide, IT DON'T! Maybe somebody doesn't want to build a 2009 fusion or cobalt, but would it really hurt to list all the vehicles?

I see a 74 torino for sale, I look in the guide to see how it fits etc. If it was like this back then, it wouldn't even be in the guide!

Now, back on topic...I have no idea what it will cost to build my crate but it will be as cheap as possible, for better or worse. (probably worse! LOL)

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Thank you..
Well said !

D

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Kid don't race or do outdoor stuff ..like ride a bike go play some ball .They rather play stupid video games ..also if you don't buy it for the kid a car they wont race.
By the way Dan nhra tried running the jap cars in there own ..Dead JUST like PURE STOCK. ... JUST BUILD A REAL STOCKER...waters warm

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Many don't like a lot of rules. Test n tune night when I'm testing something several kids with F body cars come over to look at it and ask questions. "Why don't you...." Fill in the blank. I tell them rules don't allow that. Invariably they will say "You have too many rules, not enough freedom to "mod" ( internet speak) my car."

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Pretty broad statement there. My niece is a rock climber and I'm pretty sure she could beat both of us down...at the same time lol. Btw, I'm sixtey years old and I play video games on the pc. ;)

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/q...9/Courtney.jpg

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

x-2

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

James is correct. All counts.
Ricer thing died in a short length of time. Low car counts, and like a second spread in qualifying sheets. Their qualifying sheets always drew a lot of chuckles.
Best part was the wet tee shirt contests. LOL!

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Always thought my son would build his 70 Nova into a stocker but he is a dirt track racer. He says more fun and ALOT cheaper. He says I'm crazy with how much I spend on racing. Only way he will be drag racing is if I let him behind the wheel of mine.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

I just recently in the last two seasons finished up a small block Nova. We started with a car that was in fairly decent shape initially. I spent several years putting it together. It has pretty decent parts all the way around however it is not complete top of the line by any stretch of the imagination. So far we have run between .5-.6 under with it. There is a little more in it with playing around with different things as we only have three weekends on the car. So I figure we should be able to run about .7 under when it's all said and done. I'm into the car for approx. $27k. We did virtually everything ourselves except the rear end and cage. We did all the body work and engine work. However, we could have done things a little cheaper but it has all new chrome on the car along with pretty much all new interior, weather stripping, and some other pieces just to make it nice.

Now to get to getting younger people involved in our class. Personally, I don't think it's going to happen unless the parent gets involved as well. I'm one of this younger generation (31). Not many younger generation have an extra $30-40k to build a car or even $15-20 to buy a decent car. Plus you have to still have a vehicle and trailer to get the car to the track. Another added expense.

Secondly, if my generation is interested and have some money to play with why would they spend that kind of money to run high 10's to high 11's. When they can build something as fast or faster for less and use it almost as a daily driver.
I'm looking at putting together a late 70's early 80's Malibu for the street. It's going to be a virtually stock bottom end 6.0l LS series engine with a single front mount turbo. I should have less then $15k in the whole car when I'm done and it should be able to run in the 9s and I can drive it almost everyday on pump gas. Now I love stock and super stock. I love the rules and work that goes into the class. However, it's pretty hard explaining to my friends why my car has $30k into it and runs low mid 11's when there going faster for half the money. They aren't stupid. But they sure think we are. Unfortunately, our classes have out grown the average persons available income for the most part. I know if we couldn't do all of it ourselves I sure wouldn't be running a stock or super stock car.

Just my .02 for what it's worth.
Rick Ryan

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

New racers probably shouldn't be starting out in Stock or Super Stock, it should be the end goal. We should encourage new racers to try brackets or super street first. They can get their feet wet and experience racing for relatively low cost. I built my first super street car for $8K. I moved up to super gas and had a low 9's car for $20K. Now I'm building a $40K car to run mid 10's. Why, because there is a certain allure to running a competitive car within the rules. Anyone can build a car to run the .90's classes, just get a big enough engine. I think Stock and Super Stock are a step up and it's the last step I can afford.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Well here it is folks in the news here tday our govt insurance company just gave those poor poor body shops a 30% raise, 10% per year for 3 yrs. ya just gotta feel sorry for them huh.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Even in a slow car it will be 30k or more.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Bob, you got to talk to Billy, he'll set you up for less than $10k

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

I've had a few '68 Chevelles for 20 years now. I bought a Dart block, a steel large journal crank, Manley rods, CP pistons, Smith lifters, a Bullet cam, and had Gregg Luneack do my machine work and furnish rings and bearings for a new motor project. I do all my assembly and maintenence and construction on all my stuff, but this 327 bottom half looks like $6500 so far. A good set of stocker heads and intake can cost as much in time and effort as the short block. I also wish to endorse Gregg Luneack for all your engine needs. He's a fine man, an excellent machinist, and quite a good fellow racer as well.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

I have found the cost of building a stocker to be a lot cheaper if you dont add up the receipts. Honestly, I have never put a pen to paper because i really dont want to know (and i dont have to lie to my parents on how much ive spent). With that being said, see you boys at the track.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Build it as a bracket car and make it legal for stock. Alot less money and alot more fun.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

i agree totally, which is why the IHRA crate motor deal should be looked at by NHRA. they just need to factor them better (or worse). I run crate motor classes - i think there should be no way a $5500 350/330 crate should run as far under as a $12,000 350/295 when put in the same 69 Camaro. And yet crate motors cars seem to out run natural stockers (on average). If they made it so it was just as hard to run 1 under as it is with a natural stocker engine, then maybe NHRA would have less issues with this?

IMO

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

Crate motor cant compare to a NHRA stocker motor.The crate motor has all the good parts and then some.You can get into stock for$15'000 and under if you by one off the internet...Like I did... But it was a slow 2-3 under car. Thats when you spend.
Compare..IHRA triple A.....NHRA Major Leagues...Thats the difference..

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

It's not (just) the factors. The indexes are .10 slower than the traditional Stocker index of the same weight break. Indexes should be lowered at least .10. HP factors should be adjusted just like any other. They're factored better than the 'new' cars. My 5.9L DragPak is factored 50HP less than my 360 Magnum crate motor, despite better specs all the way around.

Re: Today's cost to build a stocker ?
 

I got a killer bracket car that fits in g crate motor for sale. Crate motor with double pumper holley are way easier than Rochester !!