The cost of a car

Rich Biebel · 03-12-2010, 07:14 PM

In 2004....I was racing mostly in S/C with the dragster I had built new in 1998 I was watching all the late model Firebirds and Camaros in Stock and really wanted to have one.
I learned long ago to buy a good quality used roller and thats exactly what I did. I bought a Firebrid that was very well built and had perfect paint. It came with a lot of engine parts and a trans and converter. I built an engine with parts and some good advice from Woodro Josey.....Thankyou Woody....
I had very little machine work needed to build a decent engine to get started. I bought a used laptop from Ebay.....I taught myself how to tune the EFI. I bought an Innovate LM-1 to help me tune that EFI on the LT-1. I had the trans and converter redone. Bought some used ring and pinions and changed them twice myself trying different ratios.....
I ran well under the index the second week out after fixing some minor EFI programming errors I made. I did get some good help and advice from someone I met on the internet who worked at Accel DFI , as I had an Accell Gen VII ECU....I did not spend a ton of money and ran as quick as 10.55 and at the weight I was carrying...that was about -.8 or more under the index. I did not feel I could chase this type racing as it was just not going to fit in for me......I sold it after making about 60 total runs. The new owner has spent a lot of time refining the tune up...has been on the chassis dyno and also had the help of a very good "tuner". The car has only run slightly quicker......He is getting a new engine from one of the best engine builders in stock so it should be a lot faster....

Bottom line is you can build a car pretty reasonably and be competetive for a reasonable amount of money.....I did.....and most all of my cars have been done the same way.....No they are not showcars..and they are far from the fastest. If I had kept the Firebird, I would have worked at making it faster...slowly as the budget and time allowed.......It was just not going to work for me but it was a fun car to drive and I enjoyed the build up time and learning curve on the EFI.......

03-12-2010, 07:14 PM	#17
Rich Biebel VIP Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern New Jersey suburbs Posts: 2,314 Likes: 25 Liked 544 Times in 213 Posts	Re: The cost of a car In 2004....I was racing mostly in S/C with the dragster I had built new in 1998 I was watching all the late model Firebirds and Camaros in Stock and really wanted to have one. I learned long ago to buy a good quality used roller and thats exactly what I did. I bought a Firebrid that was very well built and had perfect paint. It came with a lot of engine parts and a trans and converter. I built an engine with parts and some good advice from Woodro Josey.....Thankyou Woody.... I had very little machine work needed to build a decent engine to get started. I bought a used laptop from Ebay.....I taught myself how to tune the EFI. I bought an Innovate LM-1 to help me tune that EFI on the LT-1. I had the trans and converter redone. Bought some used ring and pinions and changed them twice myself trying different ratios..... I ran well under the index the second week out after fixing some minor EFI programming errors I made. I did get some good help and advice from someone I met on the internet who worked at Accel DFI , as I had an Accell Gen VII ECU....I did not spend a ton of money and ran as quick as 10.55 and at the weight I was carrying...that was about -.8 or more under the index. I did not feel I could chase this type racing as it was just not going to fit in for me......I sold it after making about 60 total runs. The new owner has spent a lot of time refining the tune up...has been on the chassis dyno and also had the help of a very good "tuner". The car has only run slightly quicker......He is getting a new engine from one of the best engine builders in stock so it should be a lot faster.... Bottom line is you can build a car pretty reasonably and be competetive for a reasonable amount of money.....I did.....and most all of my cars have been done the same way.....No they are not showcars..and they are far from the fastest. If I had kept the Firebird, I would have worked at making it faster...slowly as the budget and time allowed.......It was just not going to work for me but it was a fun car to drive and I enjoyed the build up time and learning curve on the EFI....... __________________ Rich Biebel S/C 1479 Stock 147R Last edited by Rich Biebel; 03-12-2010 at 07:25 PM.