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Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
7/7/24 3:22 a.m.

In reply to Datsun240ZGuy :

But...with a supercharged 3.8, that car would rule.

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) MegaDork
7/7/24 10:34 a.m.

In reply to Appleseed :

They were pretty good with the Opel four cylinder, at least until the head cracked.  OTOH I know someone who had a turbo Skyhawk that did close to 200k on the original engine, which I think is kind of a miracle.

 

I have a soft spot for N bodies, my mom had a couple of them during my formative years.  The '91 Grand Am looked nicer but the '93 with the 3.3 V6 scooted better smiley  She almost bought a Quad 4 with manual trans but she liked the color of the V6 car better.

She would have got ALL the Mom points if she'd bought the 180hp thing.

P3PPY
P3PPY SuperDork
7/7/24 10:54 a.m.

They look like enormous pigs to me now, but in high school I lusted after a RWD version of a Grand Prix GTP

 

Well... I just see someone DID it

Ranger50
Ranger50 MegaDork
7/7/24 10:58 a.m.
P3PPY said:

They look like enormous pigs to me now, but in high school I lusted after a RWD version of a Grand Prix GTP

 

Well... I just see someone DID it

Tyler is now building a rwd converted regal and named it the granny national. Same formula tho with a smashed s550 for the suspension and subframes.

I don't think he'll convert the interior like he did on the GP with the Camaro dash and console.

Ranger50
Ranger50 MegaDork
7/7/24 11:56 a.m.

I'm actually still stuck on something like this too...

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) MegaDork
7/7/24 12:04 p.m.

In reply to Ranger50 :

Yow... I see about 3x as many tubes as need to be there smiley

A 5 second rail car pushing a few thousand horsepower is just a top and bottom tube on each side.

Ranger50
Ranger50 MegaDork
7/7/24 12:34 p.m.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Well they built it to sfi 25.1 spec with a single framerail... need the rear structure since they didn't do any upper hoop to chassis bars, which aren't required. Personally, I would have done a double framerail because it's gonna torque twist all to hell.

Tom1200
Tom1200 PowerDork
7/7/24 5:16 p.m.
ShawnG said:

I flogged a Toyota Starlet in Mod autocross until it got stress cracks in the transmission tunnel.

Is that weird enough?

I still want a Jeep FC170 and an AMC Eagle.

Toyota Starlets rock. I know someone who nearly won Rim of The World Rally overall in a 4AGE powered Starlet.

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) MegaDork
7/7/24 5:48 p.m.
Tom1200 said:
ShawnG said:

I flogged a Toyota Starlet in Mod autocross until it got stress cracks in the transmission tunnel.

Is that weird enough?

I still want a Jeep FC170 and an AMC Eagle.

Toyota Starlets rock. I know someone who nearly won Rim of The World Rally overall in a 4AGE powered Starlet.

They were pretty popular in Finland.  There was a class called Group F with a displacement/weight break, and some other limitations like it had to be the stock engine block and bore, and such.  This one team stroked the Starlet pushrod engine to 1.8l and was making about 180hp, looked like all between 6000-8000, but they also had a dog box close ratio Volvo trans so they'd just *thunk* into the next gear at 8800 with barely any rev drop.  The fun kind where top gear was 1:1 and they repurposed 5th gear to be the new 1st, so the first two gears were up and to the right, then up and to the left.

The websites down now, I just remember that it was geared to top out at 170km/h on gravels and 190km/h on rally snows.  Look for Mikko Kauppinen or Mikakiracing, a lot of their old videos made it to YouTube.

 

After they ran out of Starlets to wreck, they switched to M3s of the E36 persuasion, which made enough power so they just needed a good suspension and transmission to be pretty good out on the stages.  Apparently they were very cheap to buy out of Germany when they'd fail TUV.  My guess is the suspension they would put in would cost as much as the car they start with.

nlevine
nlevine HalfDork
7/7/24 8:24 p.m.

Possibly sacrilege, but I'd love to Hellcat swap a Jensen Interceptor, with a 6-spd manual. Still keeps the drivetrain Mopar!

Tom1200
Tom1200 PowerDork
7/7/24 8:32 p.m.

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

Ironically the guy I know, that raced said Starlet, was from Finland.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
7/7/24 8:32 p.m.

Not sure why this one hit my when trying to fall asleep the other night: F Street Prepared Plymouth Cricket. (And I’m assuming it’s in FSP vs. DSP.)

Tom1200
Tom1200 PowerDork
7/7/24 8:41 p.m.
David S. Wallens said:

Not sure why this one hit my when trying to fall asleep the other night: F Street Prepared Plymouth Cricket. (And I’m assuming it’s in FSP vs. DSP.)

WhIch one? Hillman or Mistubishi?

When I was one of the organizers for our local stage rally we had one (Galant/Colt) entered.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
7/7/24 8:52 p.m.

In reply to Tom1200 :

The Colt one. My grandparents’ neighbors had a red one. 

Tom1200
Tom1200 PowerDork
7/7/24 9:10 p.m.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

A high school friend had one and I have fond memories of it, mostly because we did some hot laps around an abandoned dirt track with it.

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltimaDork
7/8/24 7:37 a.m.
David S. Wallens said:

Not sure why this one hit my when trying to fall asleep the other night: F Street Prepared Plymouth Cricket. (And I’m assuming it’s in FSP vs. DSP.)

A wild small block Mopar might be worth getting bumped into Modified for. devil And possibly easier to find in a Cricket than the stock engine these days if you look for drag cars for sale.

Ian F (Forum Supporter)
Ian F (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
7/8/24 8:28 a.m.

When these first came out in the late 80's, I had a day-dream about converting one to RWD with a V8 & a 5 spd.   I've seen one or two converted since that time, but I still think it'd be a fun project:

 

Appleseed
Appleseed MegaDork
7/8/24 8:38 a.m.

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

Direct Connection made a RWD conversion kit for K-car derivatives. So it's not as hard as it might seem.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
7/8/24 9:52 a.m.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

Yeah, true, but FSP cars have a certain coolness. So, that got me thinking about something truly unique....

bmw88rider
bmw88rider UberDork
7/8/24 9:52 a.m.

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

My GF's BIL has a Daytona (the FWD K-Car version) that is back halved with a BB mopar that is a 9 second drag car. They are out there and more common than you would think. 

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) UltimaDork
7/8/24 10:53 a.m.

One of the regular competitors here at central Florida events. 
 


 

Converting my Ralliart wagon to a mid-rear drive train has been on my mind for years. All I lack is time, money, skill, motivation, experience...

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
7/8/24 11:07 a.m.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

One of the regular competitors here at central Florida events. 
 


 

 

A real Street Prepared car, something you don’t see as often at local events these days. 

Tk8398
Tk8398 HalfDork
7/8/24 12:11 p.m.
David S. Wallens said:

Not sure why this one hit my when trying to fall asleep the other night: F Street Prepared Plymouth Cricket. (And I’m assuming it’s in FSP vs. DSP.)

I think it would be cool to do that with a Plymouth Fire Arrow, kinda like that old rwd Isuzu I Mark FSP car that has been around for many years.

Tom1200
Tom1200 PowerDork
7/8/24 4:00 p.m.

In reply to Tk8398 :

There were a few Fire Arrows running in the California Rally Series in the 80s and 90s.  My sister had an Arrow and I wanted a Fire Arrow but they were a bit thin on the ground locally.

jmabarone
jmabarone HalfDork
7/8/24 4:15 p.m.

Always wanted to manual swap our '04 Odyssey.  

Kind of want to get a Focus wagon to swap in a Duratec 3.0 or Ecoboost 2.3.

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