I always look back at a buddy of mine who sold his super gas Challenger and bought a pipe rack.... and on the heals of some GM based rainbow chasers was buying up used parts and engines for pennies on the dollar. It was sickening on the hp to dollar ratio.
Funny, after near 28 years racing Mopars I quit for a long while. When I came back I built a Nostalgia front engine dragster --outfitted it with Hilborn alky injection on a SBC. First test pass dipped way down in the 5's with an engine that I built from Craigslist leftovers --that engine cost less than a set of nice Hemi valve covers. Being used to the Need to hoard Mopar parts I set about the same with the Chevy stuff--Big Mistake! I have more sweet blocks and parts than I could use in two lifetimes--all collected in less than a year --average block price $50-$100, same with nice steel cranks, and the internal parts bought new in the box for 20 to 30 cents on the dollar is just plain amazing- new in box aluminum rods $175 last week-I have three pro built 8 inch converters I have a total of about $250 in--the list goes on.
HP is HP and racing is racing--I can no longer afford the "Mopar Tax"
I still build mean Mopars for folks around the nation--I use my experience to make folks smile and melt rubber with a Mopar but for me --I have a new found Love for racing again and it is AFFORDABLE with the GM stuff and...after all....Mopar never even gave me a set of valve cover gaskets--they also have decided to destroy the Mopar Performance/ Direct Connection line of once affordable parts in favor of some Italian ideas about car making
so....I owe them nothing.
I can get a race block delivered Free to my shop from local warehouse distributor that actually STOCKS parts. Ahh...life is so much easier this way.
