My vote is for a C-body.

If you shop around you can likely find a decent driver for less than a B-body basket case.

C-bodies get no respect even tho they are the next big thing.

This is my transmission builder's 66 300 with IIRC Wheel Vintiques in 16". Not sure of the tire size but pretty conservative as you can see.




My engine builder has a set of 15" Bassett circle track wheels on his lowered 91 Silverado with stainless trim rings and repro rallye centres and it looks really sharp for cheap. The nice thing about the Bassetts besides the price is you can order any backspace you want in 1/8" increments and the OEM style trim rings will snap on.

I would rebuild the front end with good quality OEM type components with offset upper bushings so you can get some positive caster.

Bilstein seems to be the go to "good" shock that delivers maximum control without destroying the ride on a C-body but they aren't cheap.

Next would be a big front bar either store bought or I've been told a mid/late 70's GM pickup bar can be cut down to work with the C-body mounts and links. I think they are 1 1/8th or so and salvage yard cheap.

I would stick with the stock torsion bars with the good shocks and big sway bar and see how I liked it before I went with bigger T-bars or a rear sway bar.

The factory 11.75 discs are quite capable as is. I'd look at better quality pads and maybe change the master cylinder to a 15/16" or 1" if I wasn't happy with the factory one before I got carried away with big brake kits.

Same with the rear drums. Properly built and maintained they are more than capable of exceeding the traction limits of most tire wear friendly rubber compounds. If they aren't already 2.5" wide, I'd upgrade to that or 3" if they were offered on Cop/trailer tow/HD or pick-up truck apps.


Seeing as I'm spending your money here I'd put a 4.25" crank in whatever is in it, 400 or 440 with aluminum heads, 9ish:1 compression so it will make 600+ ft/lbs on regular gas with an idles at 650 cam and top it off with whatever flavor of EFI suits you.

The easy OD solution is a shorty 727 with a GV. Not cheap but none of the others are either if you are starting from scratch.

3.55's with .78 GV OD = 2.76 final drive. 3.73 = 2.90 3.91 = 3.04. Pick your poison. With a stroker any of the above gears should be capable of gaining the respect of most uber cars either at a light or on the open road and still get "okay" mileage when driven accordingly.




Kevin