Hello and Happy Friday to All,

For bench racing fun, what are your thoughts on a modern DEDICATED bracket/index car with a glide or a 727 (for competitive/consistent times)?

It would basically be a Drag Pak without the Drag Pak price, weight, or speed – lol

I’m thinking a 13 or 12 second car ( older R/T or 392 car) with a glide for a trans (or a 727 for the Mopar religious), racing seat only, with the full dash, doors, and power windows left in the car. Selective parts and pieces could be removed where applicable to help with some reasonable weight reduction i.e. carpet, rear seats, trunk interior, maybe replace some glass with lighter material, etc.…basically keep the functioning dash (speedo, tach, engine gauges) and power windows as operated by the pcm.

Lighter racing wheels and tires ( 28X9 slicks) would be used along with the IRS rear suspension (3.92 diff or similar) setup with some basic pieces to help achieve consistent launches and repeatable times.

You get the idea…

I’m seeing higher mileage 2011/2012 R/Ts in the $14-$15K price range. Now, the remaining cost for the above described make-over would be affected by necessity and priority and could be obtained at a slower rate as finances and time permit.

If the stock 5 speed auto could run very consistent times and be reliable with slicks, then swapping the trans or rear diff wouldn’t even be needed and a lot of money and hassle would be reduced. This setup would be a foot brake only car and that's still OK.

Would something like HP tuners need to be used for the engine, dash, windows to operate with an old school trans or would the stock PCM and other electronics even care?

Again, this is for a modern Challenger dedicated to weekend ET fun at the local tracks and wanting to be consistent and competitive.

Anyone done this or know someone who has?

Thanks!