Thinking of building a track car, looking for ideas.

So it came to me the other day that with my 1972 Charger and 1970 Cuda builds going on, if I wanted to race them when their done, there is the chance of them being damaged or even destroyed if there should be an accident while racing. Not too keen on losing a car and the amount of hours and money that would be lost if that should happen. So I was talking with one of my good buddies here on the board and they have a few dozen mopars coming up for sale due to some fire damage they got last year. I'm keen on b-bodies as he has a bunch of those and e-bodies around the yard. I figured if I can get enough parts I can make a good race car or two with spare parts incase of future damage. I've checked out most of the bodies and the metal fatigue is not bad on most, some have none at all, but have good surface rust from paint being singed off from grass fire. Since bodies don't have to be perfect for racing, this is the cheapest way to go for a buildup. Plus I have a stash of different types of suspension parts and brakes and drivetrains I could recycle for the build. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

In concept, others can share numbers/parts:

1. Start with an A body
2. Make the engine the very last upgrade
3. A stock suspension well tuned, will out handle most drivers here, period
4. Anything that gains the driver seat time, is a plus
5. "everything, effects everything else" is never over comeable
6. If passing the guy in front of you is the objective, you need horsepower, not torque, you are not passing him exiting a turn, you most likely are passing by being faster at the braking zone.
7. A great seat is s secret most learn late
8. It is very difficult effectively to put torque down exiting turns

Hard to argue with the light weight of an A body as a starting point, but it does come with other items that would have to be addressed.

But, what do you means when you say "a track car for racing"? This is as broad a question as saying you are restoring a car. It means many different things to many different people. Is there a specific sanctioning body you would run with, a specific class, time trails styles or fender to fender, just open track days tooling around? Start with fun driving and advance to further levels in the future??

Effective race cars are not necessarily cheap and many organizations have rules regarding appearance.

A track car for me is something I could take to road courses/speed events and may not be a street car. More for fun, not to win or be 'Top Dog'. Something just tool around on the track and have more fun than trophies.

Also, only have access to b/e-body cars so a-body is not an option.

If this helps out, I have a list of cars that I have access to.

(3) 1971/72 Satellites & (1) 1971 Roadrunner

(5) 1970/71 Challengers

(4) 1970/74 Cuda’s

(3) 1969/70 Chargers.

the cost and legacy of the e body's vs dime a dozen cheap a body's ( you only need one right?) and the fact a lot of stuff can be transferred to a second higher level build e body later, when you finally get a chance to test the a body against a guard rail or another overly robustly driven fellow track member's car that is going backwards at high speed.

One item in my earlier list I failed to mentioned, tires, other then the driver, nothing else is as important, and unless you are running a stock slant. For performance, nothing is too wide or too sticky, period.

OP is a BIG fella.
The A body platform would not be a good fit for Miggy.

Yeah, I’m a big guy, but that’s not the issue. The roof line in low on a-bodies. E/B-bodies tend to be better for head clearance, thus why it is a better choice. Besides that, I have Suspension and brakes parts for only b/e cars including dropped spindles, tubular arms and sway bars.

I like the idea of a '71/72 B-Body for you. They may be heavy but you can fit an extremely fat tire on all 4 corners.

The 3rd gen B body can be stripped down to be as light as a 68-70 and the 3rd gen cars are MUCH cheaper!

I am tempted to go with the satellites as Richard petty is one of my hero’s as a kid and loved his cars from 1970-1972 races. With my 1972 Charger, I have that hen covered as i’ve had a bunch of those and only a couple running of the Plymouth version. The chargers on the other hand would be super interesting and most sheetmetal is being made for replacement parts. There is a decent 69’ shell there and the other 70’ chargers have some nice front fenders that would make for a ‘Daytona’ nose style if I had wanted to change up later on. Challenger and cudas are priced decent, but those two b-body styles are what I prefer.

I hate to bring up Roadkill but I am impressed with that 86ish Corvette that they pulled the body off and lightened up. You could buy one of those cheap and stick in a nicely done 360 with an A833 or even a T56, you're already setup with pretty good suspension, wide wheels etc.

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Ebody rear leafs pigeon toe 3.4degrees, such that the front springs mounts are closer together than the rears. This is preferred setup for rear leaf suspension for track cars. But unfortunately this design aspect is often ruined to fit a wider tire.

A-body and 70 and older B Body cars have parallel leafs.

E body leaves can be moved in an inch to allow 335 tires and still retain the splayed layout. However, to mount a similar 335 up front will require some massaging of the wheel openings. Not out of the realm of possibility, but a slightly narrower tire for a square set up may be preferable. Since this is a track only car, a 275-305 slick would be great. If you want to go with a 305-315 UHP 200tw tire, that would also work.

I believe the 71+ B bodies also have a splayed leaf layout, but I think it is reversed from the E body and is wider in front. I don't have my chassis book available to confirm. A bodies and pre 71 B all have parallel leafs. This isn't a huge detriment to performance, but was part of the reason that later models were more refined in their feel.

If you just want an open track day car and ultimate performance and wheel to wheel racing is not necessary, any of them would work. Any of them will get a lot of attention. If you think body damage is a risk, then the Chargers and E bodies will have the most readily available panels in a wider range of materials. Personally, the open track days I have been to are for predominately street cars, so they make pretty big efforts to preserve the integrity of everyone's equipment.

Weight is a factor in performance as well as reliability. The lightest of the bunch would be preferable for that.

NASA offers time trials classes where you could actually race your combo against the clock in classes factored for modifications. This would certainly expose you to competition factors without the potential for wheel to wheel contact.

If you think actual wheel to wheel racing would ever appeal to you, then NASA's American Iron or Camaro/Mustang Challenge, which is focused on pony cars, could be an evolution of the car. In which case, you would want to start with an E body.

From the OP's suggestions, I'd go with a 70-74 B'Cuda as it has the shortest wheelbase (108"), and probably the lightest overall weight, and absolutely stay with a small block V8 engine for light weight up front. Search for 318 car for lower initial purchase cost.

I'd agree on an E-Cuda being the best platform of your available options. Almost certainly the lightest, definitely a better (shorter) WB (agility).
Big brakes, wheels & good tires are handy items to have; you can whistle guys who have to slow earlier for a corner.

thanks for the ideas everyone. I think a small block or late model hemi would be good fun and good drivability. Big blocks are pretty good, but going to lightweight engine parts parts would be costly. I am still thinking the roadrunner idea is good. Here are some of the bodies I have access to.

Shorter wheelbase E body-better for mid speed turning, gymkana style driving.
Longer wheelbase B body-better for sustained high speed stability, top end driving.
Shorter and narrow A body-better for tight, twisty, autocross style driving.

71 B bodies-good for full contact racing with the entire nose as a bumper and a higher than average rear bumper height.

68-70 Chargers-high speed aero issues with recessed grill and buttressed backlight. A plus for them-its iconic and universally recognized.

Where is that yard? It looks like it was in the path of the recent Nor Cal fires.

That A-body Barracuda in the background could be a nice foundation, though you'd probably also need a parts car...

Yes, the fire was one of several fires that swept through napa county last year. in a yard of about 2100 cars, all but 200 burned from grass fire. So far, 1300 cars were crushed because the city mandated they do mandatory cleanup. they crushed soo many car bodies and trucks from the 1920-1980's. Several hundred cars that were stored there was a fellow moparts member and he lost a 20+ years collection of cars. I was asked with helping him with the cars and was given first shot at some of them. Most have burned interiors, but the bodies mostly did not get structure damage and work case was warped roof. These were the better cars he kept, so that's what I have to work with.

To answer a previous post, the a-bodies were no enough for parts cars and are not a good choice besides not having enough parts. Most of those got VERY hot and got super damaged. The one a-body you saw in the pic, this was it's interior. That is not spider webs on the steering column, but th windshield that melted onto it and liquified.

Thank you for the list, much appreciated. I think the Charger would be good as I was thinking aero nose or Coronet grill insert like a 500 with rear window plug (also heard the hatchback of a vega wagon makes a cheap rear window plug).


The curious yellow Roadrunner is my 1st choice and the Plumcrazy 70' HP Charger is my second choice. To be honest, I'm not fond of those colors so if I got either one, probably end up painting the car snow white.

suspension parts list is slowly growing while I clean out the back shed. Here is a starter list of what I have.

Magnum Force dropped spindles
1972 K-member that can be reinforced.
1.00 torsion bars
unused set kyb shocks
1972 Charger disc brakes
1974 A-body disc brakes
Stock and Magnum Force tubular upper control arm
Hotchkis torsion bars
FFI stage 2 box

I would up the ante with the torsion bars to go at least to a 1.10" bar.
The 1" bars won't be enough supporting the car at higher cornering speeds.

My '73 Dart has 1" bars, swaybar and adj. shocks all around, but really 'spirited' daily driving makes me wish for bigger torsion bars usually.

Sell all of that stuff and go buy a used Vette or Viper. Or even something like a MR2. You'll be able to start going to track days right away and it will cost you less time and money in the long run. Been there, done that......

Pick up a copy of Grassroots Motorsports magazine; it's dedicated to road-course & autocross stuff. They have a big classified section in the back, tire tests, build-ups, etc etc.
I totally get the build-my-own line of thinking, but like (I think) Andy's basically saying, a complete used deal may be a better use of $$$. I can't recall the last time I saw a Mopar in there, though.

This is my favorite old school Road race mopar, back before we had a "handling forum":

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbt...tml#Post1106456

What did you decide to go with Migs?

A foot long at Subway and a bag of chips?