Questions about Stock
 

I'm a long time bracket racer and am looking at putting together a stock eliminator car, probably a 3rd or 4th gen camaro. What's a realistic $ figure for building a competitive 305, 346 or 350, I'm not talking about a 1.20 under bullet, just a decent motor. Also do you guys have any suggestions as far as putting the car together. I'm not looking for any secrets here, just tips in general as I plan to do a fair amount of the work myself.

Re: Questions about Stock
 

First suggestion -- Don't tell your wife about it .........if she finds out the "true" amount you've spent on this baby you might as well start building an addition on the the doghouse..............

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Good answer Jack. I'll go one better. Don't tell anyone. I've made the mistake of telling my nephew about a new "fast" piece I just purchased and lo-&-beho it gets back to my wife. Then I've got to listen to all that bull forever.

Re: Questions about Stock
 

If you would like some real answers to that question you can e-mail me at gwood75@comcast.net.

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Its been said many times.... I think the best way to get into class racing (especially if your goal is simply to "run decent" as you as say), is to shop around for an existing car that will meet your needs. It goes against the wanting to "do it yourself" feeling, but in the long run, it will save you a lot of time and money.
The problem with building a "decent running" class car as opposed to a killer car is that it is still "very" expensive. Building a killer car is just "crazy expensive". If you were to buy an existing turn-key car, I bet it would still be less money than just the cost of the parts to do a car from scratch.

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Tell your wife you got the motor off the clearance rack, like us girls tell our hubbys. :D :D :D

Re: Questions about Stock
 

OR - if your wife asks you if the motor is new, say the following "This old thing? No, I've had this in the back of the garage (instead of closet) for a while, forgot I even had it! I used it (instead of wore it) one time at that race (instead of whatever girly event) back two years ago, don't you remember?" Then acted hurt if she doesn't remember - "The car (instead of I) ran so good with (instead of in) it".

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Angela -- Spoken like a real racer ! ! ! That being said my my wife would never believe we bought an engine "off the rack" ............

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Why not? I know one man who was told by his wife that she found this pretty red leather coat on the clearance rack and after all of her discounts she paid $6 for it!! He believed her - true story!! She really paid $60 for it.

So tell her rather than getting it off a clearance rack you got it at a salvage sale - and go with this story - "The auctioneer thought this was a 305 motor, which is highly undesirable, so no one was bidding on it - I could clearly tell that it is a 350 motor, which would originally sell for $1000, but it got down to $10 and I bid on it. I didn't even really want it, but $10 for a $1000 motor is hard to turn up. I could turn around and sell this and make $990 profit".

By the way, I have my own little profitable side business going on. Several of our high performance customers demand we never give them a receipt so their wife doesn't find out how much they spent. For a $50 fee per transaction I will offer my complete secrecy. Ha ha. Some say this is blackmail, but I disagee :D :D :D

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Angelo is right, look for a complete car, hell you could buy one right here on this site. Mark Yac has a Mustang that will run 2 sec under or better for only 10 grand, you could be # 1 qualifer at every race you go to. Buy built its way cheaper.

Re: Questions about Stock
 

The other thing I'd recommend is to try to find a lower class car that can be consistent. That may be hard to do and you'll be chased all the time, but since NHRA has combined the FI and carb cars, there are lots of heads up races these day in the higher classes and then you are talking big bucks..

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Fast - you didn't mention where you live and what sanction body you were wanting to run - NHRA or IHRA. Obviously you can't run a crate motor in NHRA, but can in IHRA. Crate money are less expensive to build than traditional stocker motors, or so I hear.

I recommend IHRA and run a Crate Motor - more bang for your buck. IHRA treats their sportsman racers better - strickly my opinion.

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Angelo is absolutely correct. It takes a pile of money & time to build a car that is instantly competitive. I bought mine as a 6 cylinder driver 22 years ago after just missing buying a complete national record holder. Did a body off frame restoration on it & built it the way I wanted to. It was fun & a huge learning experience but if I could do it over again would not go that route, especially in todays market.
The end result was a very nice car that did OK competition wise but it did take a "couple" of years to arrive at that.

Re: Questions about Stock
 

I wouldn't say its cheaper to build considering a stocker engine and a "crate motor" stocker engine run basicly the same internal parts. Its easier to find the parts thats for sure. You can get Vortec heads right at the wreckers and build yourself a 350 330/340hp IHRA crate motor. Its next to impossible to find Camel Back's (461's/462's)in the wreckers to build a 300hp combo. And if you do find the heads good luck finding the intake and carb complete. Personally id stay away from the 4 gen camaro stocker because the class is flooded with cars from A-C (FI) which makes it hard to win in a "Heads Up" run. The cool thing about IHRA is you can build a GT Stocker now so you can build your 4th gen Camaro and run a 69 350 295hp combo. Really the sky is the limit with GT Stock. And theres not alot of cars in GT yet so winning class is not a pipe dream.

Re: Questions about Stock
 

Thanks for all the replys guys they have all been very helpful. There isn't alot of IHRA races that are very close so the crate motor idea probably isnt an option, even though I would love to run IHRA. Another question that I had and haven't been able to find any information on is what are the limitations on rear-ends? If a car came from the factory with a 10 bolt, can you put a 12 bolt underneath it or even a 9 inch?

Re: Questions about Stock
 

you have to stick with the rears that were made by that manufacturer, but truck rears are not allowed, so you could not put in a dana 44 or dana 60 even though GM did use some of those in thier trucks. You can switch it with an aftermarket 12 bolt such as the KTRE which will bolt right in. in SS you can use any rear made by anyone, except for some of the FAB 9 type rears.