My 414 Stroker 340 Daihatsu Rocky...should I...?

Sell it or convert it to a street Jeep?

I've had the Rocky for probably 15 years .

When I bought it it had a bone stock 318 and 904 that ran consistent 14 flats at 100mph, I had one goal and that was to gradually transform it into a 10 second car,...which I did, thanks to a nice mild roller cammed 414" stroker 340 and a 5300 stall low gear 904 and a 4.10 8 3/4" rear out of a 68 road runner.

It weighs about 2700 pounds and it was and has been by far the most fun car I ever ran down the strip.


I used to run it a fair amount at Rockingham and Darlington but I'm kinda "done" with something I have to tow to the track. I could probably run it on the street with a few exhaust modifications, but the sensible thing (did I just say that out loud?) would be to de-tune the cam a tad and put some 3.55 gears in it, along with some DOT tires. there's plenty of local car shows I could cruise to and having a little Jeep type vehicle can be kinda cool in the spring and fall around here.

But I also have the Valiant wagon I finally need to finish so if I have 2 street toys one would be kind of redundant,

The cool thing about the rocky is I could probably fit a tunnel ram under the hood and have plenty of room (no scoop required)

IDK I'm kinda On the fence about it. I could de-tune it, sell it as is, or even sell it without th motor and trans (I can pull the motor in and out in about 40 minutes)

it's so unique I kinda don't want to get rid of it, but by the same token I would probably love to see somebody take it to another level and enjoy it with all the enthusiasm I had when I first got it.

I could also sell the motor and trans (And it would probably go high 9's in a back-halfed A body ....since an 'average' .50 drag coefficient takes a lot less HP to push at 123 MPH than a .84 CD 6' x 6' x 12' 'Jeepster') and maybe put a late model hemi and 8 speed auto trans in it. Note: I didn't say LS!!

I had also hoped to find a young protégé to apprentice and teach him how to run the car and just gradually let myself shift into the Mr Miaggi role....complete with a saumurai bandana lol.

if there were 1/4 mile tracks closer by this wouldn't even be an issue, but I basically keep an SUV and a trailer around just so I could tow my other cars....

also, has anyone actually successfully converted their Bracket car back to a pure street car? And did you go 'all-in'? I'm afriad if I don't I might not actually drive it very much, If I do...( street 236-ish @ .050 street cam, 3200 stall, 3.55 gears, quiet mufflers) I feel like I would. It probably wouldn't really feel that much slower TBH.


Thoughts?

Sell it. Lots of guys moving into street cars as they get older.

What John says! I sold my 64 back in June and just recently bought a nice 69 Dart GTS 340. Had it at a local cruise in last week and had lots of compliments!

Hmm...that's a tough one and here is my take on it.

You are right about this being a very different and therefore unique ride. Take it from a guy who's been building M-body cars for...ohhh, let's see, about 30 yrs now. These rides (and you can probably include the F & J bodies in there) never got any respect, even from the "home crowd", or to put it better, especially from the "home crowd"...LOL, get where I'm going?

So it may be a case of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", and you may be hard pressed finding someone who can appreciate that ride the way YOU had appreciated it all those years.

In the end, pick your battles and/or priorities: if you want to move more to the street, I would happily recommend a nicely cammed say mid-240s @ 0.050 roller, with a good flowing set of heads on a SB stroker motor...plenty of "go", fun, and it still has that tell-tale sound to let others know "you mean business"!!! Otherwise, maybe part it out as per your considerations and keep fond memories of what once was?

In my opinion your street cam specs are all about what you want to deal with. I have a comp low shock solid roller grind in my car. Its a 418" W2 small block and cam specs are 275ish@.050 IIRC. Sure its a thumpy 1250rpm idle but it can idle like that just as long as anything with a purple shaft lol. Comp endurance springs went 3 drag weeks over 6 years with my first cam. The second set have a higher rate and have done 1 event so far, about to be 2 in a few weeks.

The number one thing my car needs to be better on the street is a headliner, I did about 80 miles of cooling system testing when it was 104 outside recently. Down the road it wasn't so bad but in traffic with no headliner it makes a man medium rare in no time. Same with the staging lanes.

Put it on the street, its fun. I don't even own a trailer. A 10.40 car on 91 octane isn't as impressive as it used to be but it still blows some peoples mind's when they see me at the track with nothing but a couple of small boxes holding my pit spot.

It's not a comfy modern car. Just drive it!

Neutering it will make you wish you'd sold it in the first place.

Badfish,

Yeah you know it's pretty streetable as light as it is the cam is 260/269 @.050 Bullet Solid Roller on 108, but it fires right up and it idles strong and the 8" 5300 stall only feels a little "slushy" down low. The cooling relies on pusher fans but I have a big oil cooler that came off a frieghtliner truck which helps and a 9 quart dragster pan with an accumulator.

Maybe I'll rig up a couple header flange cut-outs and see how it does. I have a set of 3.73's I could swap out for the 4.10's so yeah, maybe I could try that out! I have the low gear set (2.74/1.54/1.1) 904 so the 3.73's would still feel like 4.10's in a standard 904 but would knock a couple hundred rpm off my highway cruise speed.

It is so unique and the body is in such nice shape it still turns some heads.

I would put the tunnel ram on it and make it quicker. Maybe put a stick in it? I am thinking about it for my car. Your car is different like mine so make it cool with a stick.
I have 2 street cars I rarely use I rather go to the track.

I like the stick Idea, it already has the pedal but it would be a MAJOR handful to keep straight, it goes amazingly straight with the 904 and it's dialed-in so I think it's gonna stay.

I've been looking for the MP tunnel ram, they are kinda hard to find, I've was even looking to trade even for the "Holy Grail" W2 Pro Dominator TR I still have.

If it's an either/or situation I'd recommend putting the drivetrain into the wagon and selling the Rocky. Valiant Wagons are rare enough and you can tune the engine to meet your "street" needs.

The Valiant already has about the same-ish motor 440/360 W2 vs 414/340 w Airwolf heads.

It had a bit less compression and a more streetable cam and converter too. I'll see how the Rocky does as is, it might not be too bad as light as it is.

I'm going through the same with my Duster. I have pulled the "race motor" (9.80/135) and built a pump gas 383 (11.20/118) . I put torque thrusts-drag radials, carpet and a bench seat in it, probably going to swap out the 4.56 for 4.11's. The good part for me is that I am only about 25 minutes from Beech Bend which has a low key street based series they run on Saturday night that fixes my race itch pretty nicely as it is a 3-4 hour commitment. I'm still trailering it for now but I am working toward being able to drive it to the track-4.56's with an 8 gallon cell has a pretty limited range. My biggest issue is exhaust as with fenderwell headers it is difficult finding a solution that keeps it quiet. A nine second N/A car is pretty limited on where it can be used, an 11-12 second car can have a few more options. I keep thinking I want to put a small block 6 speed combo in it to truly make it street/strip and more fun to drive. I've had the car nearly 20 years now and I am finishing up the 4th engine for it. I really want a 63-65 B body post (this is where the race motor is going), but in all reality I can't imagine the Duster not being in the shop as it is an ongoing father son project so I will likely never sell it but I do want more use out of it.

I vote keep it, detune or build less HP. There is something nice about having a car that you know everything about and in the end, I think you would regret selling it.

That's great advice!

Other than taking it to cruises and to the track occasionally I think it will be fine. I think maybe swap out the rear gear for a 3.73 along with a taller tire I can actually launch it harder without worrying about it going "hemi under glass" lol. Maybe I'll spray it if I get bored, lol.

i need that in my a100