COMPACT PRO STOCK

I came across a Dodge Colt that's supposed to be a former P/S car. No lettering or any obvious markers as to who it belonged to. There seems to be many crashes with this body style, I think the latest was a few years ago CHGO?, Is there any strong info why they crashed(out of control) and what are the remedies? Hate to bring it back to life and meet the fate as others. Not going to be a show car. Probably a 9.0 or 8.50 car.

Very short wheelbase

Too short for me. I don't have life insurance.

well, a short wheel base car with a TON of hp can be a handful.
add the wrong alignment specs to the front suspension, and "stuff" WILL happen.
this car only had a 440+6/727/dana 60 combo, and the below was the results.
in order to fit the engine, the struts were swapped side to side, which also dictated the rack to move to a front-steer position.
this caused two major factors to happen.
first, swapping the struts caused the caster to go WAY negative. think of an out of control shopping cart with wobbly front wheels.
second, the ackerman went way wrong, allowing the outside front wheel in a turn [correction maneuver] to sharply turn in a very decreasing radius than the inside wheel, thus resulting in a ton of tire scrub, similar to locking a tire on ice.
zero ackerman would have been better, but neither of the mentioned alignment items were tried to be corrected.
only the toe-in was set, but i forget what it was set to.
luckily, no one was hurt, but the car was a write off.
the drivetrain was later installed in a duster, and i "think" it goes [or went] mid to low 10's.

Isn't the Colt the same as the Plymouth Arrow which Bob Glidden successfully campaigned in Pro Stock? Ran 8.50's, won several events and set speed record several times.

Similar but not the same, the Colt had a 90" wheelbase and the Arrow was 92". I am not certain but IIRC NHRA allowed them to stretch the wheelbase to 99". I think all the pro stock cars are 105" now.

I believe the Arrow had a slightly longer wheelbase, better aero, and a much lighter small block in the nose.

Colts with a Hemi were well known to be "twitchy".

I can verify that the Colt can be a handful. I have been racing a '74 with BBM and about every 30 passes it reminds you who is the boss!

'My Colt is easy to drive but the fastest its been is 9.80s. I usually run 10.0 could go a bit quicker but no license.
Wheelbase is only 1" longer than a Pinto and 1" shorter than a Vega. I think a modern strut front suspension helps.

I stretched mine to 105 inch and still run with a arms. Been as quick as 8.30's with 542 cid BBM

Would sure like to see some pictures.

I stretched mine to 105 inch and still run with a arms. Been as quick as 8.30's with 5442 cid BBM

i think a pinto a vega may be wider

FWIW the heads up car we run is 96" wheelbase C3 Vette. It has been 1.08 60' 4.97 to the 1/8 and 171MPH in the 7.90's in the 1/4 so far and other than it being a totally stupid choice for a racecar it has not been an issue.

What bore center is that?

I can't seem to upload pictures to this sight. I was using a stock cast iron block.

I have some of mopacltd's colt

nudder

Thanks for posting pictures of my car. That dial was for S/ST 10.90 @155

i showed what happens when the front suspension is not right !
please make sure your front suspension is correct, and dialed in to make the car go straight !

I remember way back when, that I was talking to a road racer that was at the drag strip with friends. He was talking about poor handling with his Colt when he put a warmed SB in it. He talked about adding wider wheels and tires to keep it on all 4's. Maybe this is the problem or one of them.

I thought the track width in the front caused accidents. it makes them very unforgiving at speed if you get a little bit out of shape.
Slowing down the steering some and push the wheels out to the edge would help. Also keeping center of gravity low.
If you are looking at a former P/S car I would think someone could identify it by the chassis.

a very short wheelbase and a narrow track width on a vehicle are two things that automatically cause handling issues with lots of power added.
slowing the steering ratio down helps considerably, as well as a small diameter steering wheel.
7-8 degrees of positive caster helps make the car go straight[er] than anything less, add 1/2 to 1 degree of negative camber and 1/8 to 3/16" [maybe 1/4"] of toe in to help [a little] when car gets out of shape.
all measured at a chassis "height" rise of 1 to 1 1/2".

I have zero bump steer and mustang II rack and pinion

if you don't mind me asking, what are your alignment specs ?