I am trying to start next year on Sportsman and trophy class. I have a 77 Volare, a few used complete 318's and some extra misc parts. How would you set up the Volare for these classes? Just a 318 topped with a 4bbl and a cam? What gears? It will be an auto, the 904 was rebuilt under 300 miles ago. Just want peoples ideas on what they would do. What cam would you use with what gears, that type of thing. Thanks everyone in advance. Ooh this will be 1/4 mile at Cedar Falls Raceway and maybe Eddyville. I have spent years saying I was gonna but decided finally that life is to damn short it is time to live.

Depends if you want to be the slow car in the class or the faster car, you can go no quicker than 12.00 in sportsman, we chose the faster route and run right around the 12.05-12.10 mark at 115

Does the car need to be driven on the street?

If not do you want to run races that require basic street equipment.

How Quick/fast do you want to go? You'll want to go faster later!

I have gutted 70 Dart with a very basic 360 runs 11.60's Low cost good performance. See my sig. line for details.

That's a pretty broad question. You need to start thinking about what times you are looking for. Lot's of things start changing around the 12.00 mark. Once you have figured out a desired ET range then you should ask that question. Let's not put the cart before the horse.

Assuming your track follows the NHRA rules (Some Don't) you are looking at a minimum ET of 12.80 to run in Sportsman. You should be able to get there with a .030 over 318 at 10.5 cr, with a set of good heads, RHS or Eddies, and a Mopar purple cam with the .484 lift (PN 3690213 I think) , 650 Carb, 4:10 or 3:91 gears and some ET radials, good shocks and chassis set up.

TY for the responses all and Buckeye you are right, I do need to think about that. To be honest I grew up watching my dad race until my early teens and have always wanted to go back so here goes. I would say I want at least 12.5 - 13.5. I do understand this is still a broad ET so let's stay with around 13.5. This will be street driven so everything still needs to work but, I would like to gut my dash and fabricate one if it is street legal in my town. I will gut as much weight as possible. At the moment I only have the 7 1/4 rear so I will have to invest in a bigger one. I really do not care much about street manners much but would like it somewhat manageable.

A good combo that worked for me years ago was a cam .500 lift and 290 duration, dual-plane intake, oversized 800 carb, 2" spacer, iron heads with mild porting, heads milled .030, 1-5/8 headers (used), 4200 stall converter, 4.56 gears, 9 X 28 slicks. Car launched hard, ran very consistent, 12.90's.

Sportsman class in NHRA is 11.50 and slower. Lots of good 12 and 13 second cars out there.

This is what I was talking about for sportsman class. A lot of tracks run different ET breaks and call it sportsman class. I copied this directly fron the rule book for NHRA ET breaks for classes.
SECTION 4A -
SUPER PRO, PRO, SPORTSMAN
7.50 (*4.50) seconds & slower
DESIGNATIONS
NHRA SUMMIT RACING SERIES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
SUPER PRO: 7.00 to 11.99
PRO: 9.00 to 13.99
SPORTSMAN: 12.00 to 19.99

best way to get a 318 to step up with out breaking the bank, put a set of 360 heads and a 4 barrel intake(find a good used alum intake at a swap meet), headers and a 4 barrel carb. This can be done for $500-$1000 if you shop wisely. Then have fun.
Brian

I forgot a cam. Cam that I used was a Comp .454 lift, 284 duration. Its a good "Dairy Queen" cam. Not to bad to deal with, but it sounds good crusin the DQ on Fri nite! It sounds meaner than it is. And cheep too.
Brian

This is what I am thinking. Stock 318 bottom end rering, 360 or magnum heads no 2.02 valves,thin head gasket,headers, dual exhaust with cats because I will be driving on the road, 4bbl and intake. What stall should I go, 2600 - 3000 for street/strip? Should I run a single or dual plane intake? What gear ratio and tire dia.? I used a calculator to use 3200lbs weight w/ 325hp to get 12.48 ET 1/4 but I know that will not be accurate with driver errors. Sorry if I am going ahead of myself I am just trying to get a guideline.

Heck ya!! Sportsman at CFR is a blast!! We can always use another Mopar in our group! And you are more than welcome to join us!

you do realize that is 325hp at the wheels,325 at the flywheel will be at least 1/2 sec. slower.

With any street use and at that ET target, I'd build for torque. More lift, less duration than the MP cams (look at Engle or Hughes), 650-750CFM Holley (easy to tune), and cam/converter/gear/tire need to work together, so talk to your cam guy & converter guy with ALL your info, including what the car ACTUALLY weighs. Bang-for-buck, there are easier & cheaper ways to shed weight than to remove the dash; losing nose weight is more important. If you can afford to stroke the motor, that would be a good thing. Also, for bracket-racing, a consistent chassis & suspension will make life a lot easier.