(By Greg Rourke) – Want to go fast for cheap? It’s hard to beat a dragster.
My only attempt at serious drag racing involved a front engine dragster. A mild 327 with a bunch of mismatched swap meet parts got a couple of low 10 second passes out of it. That is, until I decided to make it faster and ended up with a popping, farting 12 second embarrassment. But the point is a light car is very forgiving when horsepower is hard to come by. The project featured here could just be your jam.
What we have here is a roller, less engine and transmission. The seller claims it was certified for 7.50, although it needs a recert after being powder coated green. It looks to be properly constructed, not something cobbled together out of water pipe by some guy with a buzz box welder. It has a Mark Williams rear, gauges, an MSD box, and a bare aluminum body that the seller admits is a little rough. It also comes with motor plates for a small block Ford, it appears the seller had a turbo SBF in it when he was racing it.
So…lets say you have this baby sitting in your garage. Now what? If it was me, a junkyard 5.3 LS with a pair of eBay turbos and a Powerglide. Assuming it needed new slicks, a few Krylon spray bombs and some incidentals and I feel one could reasonably expect low 10’s all day long for under 10K . Maybe a set of plugs and some oil and a filter once a year for a maintenance program, and you’re going fast for cheap.
Your thoughts?
CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE AD FOR THE DRAGSTER
Yes
I’ve got three SBF mills collecting dust along with a couple of shorty Glides. Would be pretty easy to replicate the turbo set-up and not have to build new plates. And, since my dad and I build all kinds of dragster bodies we could have this thing looking brand new in a couple weeks.
I always wanted to see how an LS would run on nitro!
Daddy like!!!
No SBC though. I’d go completely out of the box and use a 2 stroke mercury outboard V8. Maybe do a methanol/nitrous combo?
2k paperweight..
if it get a cert. it have it..
It’ll get one after you rework it then re power-coat it..
WHAT DOES THE NHRA charge to re-cert a chassis???
and why isn’t he doing it..
2k paper weight