Canceled.Thinking of building a cheap track car.

So I'm buying a few cars from a friend that were burned in a fire. Now mind you, these cars were burned outdoors in a grass field and the interior did get toasted/destroyed, but were not like inside of a garage fire where where it gets soo hot that the cars warp into puddles. After checking them out, the Bodies are fine, but anything else was not usable. Now I was only going to use the body shells, fenders, k-members and 8 3/4 housing and replace everything else. Though I probably won't get to start building til my other 3 projects are done (probably 2024/25) and will give me time to figure out the build and use my large stash of leftover parts sitting in my yards. Any ideas on what you guys are thinking on cheap track car tech/specks? I do plan to have a cage welded in by a certified welder, so that part of the worries should be handled.

Are we talking LeMons/Chump Car type track car? I'd do it.

Cheap certainly is relative to the type of driving you intend. Specs are also highly dependent upon what you are doing and what rules books say is permissible and what is required.

If open track day events with potential high speeds on long straights, I'd go with the pictured Satellite. If cone dodging, Cuda would be better, although it looks like the roof is a bit mangled.

If you do need any body or structural parts, more are made for the Cuda than there is for that Satellite.

My suggestion, go with any a body, they are plentiful and best priced, spend money on engine last, after car is on the track, seat time is weakest link in the equation, so whatever gets you on the track first is best, safety is next, then tires, brakes, suspension, trans, then motor. A lot of above can be transferred to a Gurney clone, after you wad up the first A body.
Perfection is the enemy of success.

Those are some good ideas. I'm 6'3 and shoulders are pretty wide, so no a-bodies. Though he has about a dozen e-bodies there, I like the satellite due to: A. more head. room B. I have lots of b-body parts lying around. C. I perfer these type of cars. D. The car is cheaper than the cost of used rims. Don't think I will do a Lemon's race. There are races out here you can join for the whole day on open track day. There are at least 2 near enough me in California so I could trailer or drive it there for the races. Though they make more structural parts for e-bodies, those parts are expensive and and add up quickly. My goal for the satellite is clean it out, media blast it (or dip), swap doors, trunklid, hood and hood. Slather it with LOTS of bondo and add the cheapest white paint that can be sprayed without the use of a rattle can.

I hear, you, yes & no early a bodies, but the later ones IMO have as much or more headroom as the ebodys, further, in most track car settings, you will (?) and I do, mount the aftermarket drivers seat as low as possible, I'm not 6'3" but I like my head away from the roof just as a matter of comfort. The A bodies are my least favorite solution, other then their practicality.

Good Luck, have fun.

Wow...You CAN write in a manner that makes sense when you want to. Thank you.

I have a 70' Cuda, normally sitting in it and in my former 1968 Dart, I had a maximum of one inch head clearance. The worst part of this car is if I'm wearing a hat with that little button on top, & hit a speed bump, that would make contact with the roof and the hat button would bang the top of my head and be very painful! Then imagine trying to wear a helmet. Not safe for for me. Now my 1972 Charger and 1972 Roadrunner, I have 2. 5 inches of clearance. With the lower race seat I plan to put in, I am hoping to have enough clearance to clear to roof/bars with a full helmet. My problem isn't that just that I'm tall, but my torso is longer that most people. When I sit down, even next to tall people, I am still a full foot higher than anyone sitting in the same seat.

How to tell if you’re an A-body or B-body person?

Now I know how to spot you at Spring Fling

Yeah, except Miguel is tall, Hispanic and isn't married to an idiot.

When I built my Duster I put the seat on the floor and pushed it back a few inches and now I have plenty of head room and leg room. I don't fit in a Duster very well if I have to sit on the stock seat.

Maybe a "Gurney Bump" is right for you?

http://race-car-replicas.com/parts/gurney-bubble#:~:text=110.00,as%20the%20%22Gurney%20Bubble%22.

You can lower the floor under the seat by a good few inches without affecting ground clearance . I'm 6'4 with a long back and there is now plenty of height in my 'Cuda

LOL, that’s soo funny there. Sadly, that is what I look like in cargo shorts!

The lowering of the floor is a great idea. I could get a couple inches just from that, it would help greatly. A after market seat would probably save another inch or two, so it’s well worth considering. I was concerned with exhaust clearance as the car is going to be low, but that might not be an issue if I don’t run extra big pipes.

You have to approach the project as a "do what it takes" rather than "must preserve the Mopar". If you do what it takes then you cut the floor for extra head room and you cut the floor for more exhaust room and put tubs in it for more wheel room and stuff like that. Most Mopar guys won't cut stuff up which is why the projects take so long and cost so much. If you're willing to just cut the stuff up and move it around then you can make the car work for you.

Just don't be dumb about it like this guy.

That's a llama!

oval exhaust tubing works great for lowered cars.

What are you wanting to do? HPDE days or something like SCCA Vintage Racing. HPDE doesn't require a roll cage but any racing does. Granted always safer with a cage. At least Satellite is a 72 so aftermarket is better. I would do Hotchkis TVS, largest T Bars and about as 500 hp engine for HPDE and autocross. Vintage race car clone would be cool.

That seat lowering took a lot of effort, looks nice, what tranny are we seeing there?

That seat lowering took a lot of effort, looks nice, what tranny are we seeing there? [/quote]

It's an SST Tremec TKO500

Be wise... determine your sanctioned racing club, etc., determine which class you favor to run in, as well as how much money you're willing spend on the ;project and the typical race season (travel costs, entyr fee costs, tires, etc.

I've seen many racers modify their car without ever considering any given club's rules in different classes, then only to find poor race class results. Go to the extreme of the class rules so that you can stay within that class on a competitive level, rather than not having the car modified to the max and having poor weekend results.

You may not finish in 1-2-3, but you don't want top be dead last all the time.

Drgas.com

And make your tires the last thing you buy. Use used tires for fitment

Not looking to compete in any races, more like if a track has a pay-to-play kind of thing. Heck, might even try to get plates for it so it can be on the streets! Thanks for the ideas again. Keep those ideas coming.

Cheap track car?

'old' 5.7 hemi lx platform (300c or Charger or Magnum)

replace the worn out suspension
gut the interior for weight
put sticky tires on it & don't touch the rest

done

It will be easier to build quickly, cheaper, more reliable, and faster on the track. The only downside is it won't look nearly as cool.

I'd suggest looking at the tracks nearby where you may be doing this and see what organizations put together open track days. In many cases, this will be done by NASA or SCCA. There may be some other freelance rentals or clubs that allow it, but the majority will probably be by a sanctioning body of some sort.

Look through these organizations sites to see what options they show for these track days. For NASA, they offer the HPDE events for simply bringing your car out and driving it on the track. These are primarily geared towards using street cars, not dedicated track cars, although those do show up on occasion. The next step up from that would be their Time Trials events. This is actual racing against the clock with several different brackets of cars and their mods that they use to determine classification. SCCA has their own set of classifications, as well as a set of new rules they have developed toget the pro-touring crowd involved with a slightly less regulated class called Classic American Muscle.

Since you may be years out before beginning this, find the organization, find out who the local contacts are, visit some events to see what they look like, and talk with some of the officials about how they deal with a track specific *race* car, decide if you want to formally join their group. This will give you the background to decide how you want to proceed with a build up of a car as well as possibly what car you want to pursue.

Maybe, maybe it is a Alpaca as well as some other animal that look similar to both
Oregon is full of ranches and people who raise those type of animals

Im more of an A body guy for this but there are plenty of B body cars running track days. I like the 71s. I plan on hitting some open track days this year. Problem now is the tires I run arent available till April or later Tire Rack dosent know when they will be available. Right now tires and some parts are back ordered so it makes planning a date tough.

Except maybe for newer/better shock upgrade, your suggestion is spot on IMO, except it ain't "cool" as mentioned, and nobody here will do it a

I Appreciate the interests, but you didn't read my post fully. I wanted to build a 'cheap' track car. I'm getting this Satellite for nearly free. Plus I have just about ALL the mechanical parts for it and just need a few other items to complete it (wiring harness, cage, seats, fuel cell, wheels). If I buy a late model car, that would be a higher cost, not to mention all the parts I have wouldn't work on it. Calculated out, it would be triple the cost of building the newer car. In the future, I would like to get a late model to lighten up for something like this, but it's not feasible cost wise at the moment. Plus the newer cars have soo much electronics, fixing/finding or working with a system I'm unfamiliar with would be an added burden. It's a good idea, it's just not something that I'm able to work with.

It isn't going to be cheap unless it is just a demo derby type of car. If you actually want to go fast around a road race course then it is going to cost money. Starting with a rusted shell of a car that you get for free might seem like the cheap way to go but I have my doubts. First step would be to pull one of those hulks out of the yard and have it blasted just to see what you have. You might find that you can't even work with the metal on those cars. Better figure that out first before you make too many plans.

I want the car to be fun, period. I have 4 years to figure it out, so anything can happen by then. In the mean time, just working with what I got and see where it goes from there.

We race Champ and Lemons. Lemons would be easier and much cheaper. All I can say is read the rules and read them again. Lemons would give no slack if you bring one of those. If you have never raced before Champ car would be a hard start. Since they have reduced the "points" structure everybody is fast. The cage is the most important thing, if you have never done one, hire somebody. Both are extremely fun.

When to retrieve the cars today and they were too rotten to use as builders for a track car. Sadly, I wanted to build something on a b-body platform, but the repair and welding required for the car is beyond my skill level and pay grade.
Will entertain ideas, but nothing will be coming home for the meantime.

That was the fear in looking at the pics. Fire does bad things. There are cars out there, but they won't be as cheap as that would have been for you. If I see something I'll let you know.

I liked that LX platform suggestion. Beater cop Charger, put it on a diet and add SRT brakes and suspension if the cop package doesn't have the equivalent.

Should get the job done for what would pass for cheap for a race car. You could even find a roller and go backwards with the engine technology and still have a blast.

Will the SRT stuff fit the V6 chassis? Should be able to find a refugee from Hertz with a blown up 2.7 for about 12 bucks.

Kevin

IMO, for the kind of open track day you are looking at, you don't need an exclusively built track car. Take whatever you have now and drive it. Good tires, good brakes, basic safety and working seat belts are all you need for this type of activity. Heck, even a daily driver can do this in a lot of instances. There is absolutely no reason to build a track day specific car if you desire is to simply turn laps. Once you try it and see if its something you want to continue with, then you can evaluate activity specific vehicle builds.

Drag racing has really dialed this in with E.T. brackets. The road course and cone bashers haven't done as good a job of getting this message out.

Thanks for the advice. Hope to find something. Was really hoping to get at least the 70' Charger for a MAD MAXX build along with the satellite as a track car. Guess I'll go with another idea on my 72' Roadrunner unless one-in-along-shot Coronet might come into for a possible build. Will see what happens.

Just for fun, what about a 74 to 78 Monaco? Get rid of the extra rubber in the chassis, lose some weight, paint it white.

Don't forget the light bar and sheriff stickers!

Occasionally I ponder getting a used road-course chassis and maybe putting a "new" body on it.
Should be plenty of used but still decent stuff out there.
Wheelbase, upper cage would be the limiting factors in that build, of course.

Problem with that is you could still end up with an expensive track day only car that isn't legal for anything beyond casual laps.

But Racing Junk is full of older, non-competitive chassis that could be converted.

I know the feeling (see pic). Lol, just kidding



Was that burned up ‘Cuda salvageable? I’m trying to decide if I should either modernize my 72 (to include swapping to a Magnum T-56, convert to 70 tail panel and quarters) that is pretty much an already complete car, or start over with a shell that I won’t feel bad cutting up

If you decide to pursue going to a road course in the future, look into hosting groups that do High Performance Driving Events (HPDE). I usually go with OnGrid and have taken my mostly stock Super Bee out. OnGrid is typically cheap ($150-250) for a day, depending on the track and date. I typically get 5, 20 minute sessions out on the track. My go to track is Thunder Hill which is only a couple hours from you in Willows Ca, but there are several good tracks in Northern Ca.. Thunder Hill is very forgiving with ample room to make mistakes. I run in group 2 where the drivers are typically more experienced and have better track etiquette. I encourage you to take whatever car you have, not just a dedicated track car. Shoot, some even get rental cars from Enterprise and show up for the day. If you have questions about any of it, I'm happy to help.

Mike

Well said.

Another place to locate clubs, track events, etc... www.motorsportreg.com

That pic made me laugh!

Yes, that burned CUDA body was good, but I already have a 70', so it was not to my need. I did set a buddy up with a 73' cuda 'burner' and he has already been approached my AMD and HOTROD Magazine!

I think the only logical thing to do is use to use the 7' Roadrunner Survivor as a track car and mod it out with no care for originality and focus on safety, speed, handling, braking and performance. There are some rust issues that need to be taken care of first, but this car should look awesome with a new approach.

Chiming in again...FWIW 24 hours of Lemons is the best bang for the buck. You can race all weekend for about $400 a team mate plus the cost of gas and parts. It is real racing, not dodging parking lot cones, or driving solo on a closed course. If you show up with an old mopar, as long as it meets safety you'll be good to go.

Problem with lemons racing:
Their requirements may make the car les desirable to enjoy like driving with 80 import cars dressed as gender confused vehicles.
Dates and location are limited out here in California.
Would prefer to race with cars in a similar appearance and class of racing.
Driving with that many cars increases chances of an accident.
Good to see it's still nice way to race, just not one for me.

Racing, much like restoration, can have considerably different meanings to different people.

Personally, any car I was concerned with damaging, I would not put on a track, at all. Whether its solo, with a few cars, or a whole gaggle of other drivers. While certainly the risk of damage goes up with the numbers of cars and drivers present at one time, the opportunity for mechanical failure and/or driver error, means anything, even a solo car dodging cones, could potentially be damaging or deadly to the car or the occupants.

Champcar races in Cali, we race in a few series. Also there sometimes is a "practice day" on Fridays, open to all. You just have to meet the track standards. Build it and go have fun.

you got that right. We did a practice day with our 84 Trans Am along side AER cars, some were worth well north of 60k... door handle to door handle. If you don't want to wreck it/break it, don't race it. We totaled that car...onto build No. 2.

Wow, hope whomever was driving was ok. Accidents are not something you want and safety should always be 1st priority.

he was fine...shaken. He was all alone, was going into 4th, but went to 2nd, acted like pulling up the e-brake, car came right around and hit the entrance to pit road....my advice if you are doing any kind of racing, even "track days" you need a good cage and seat. Unless you have a track that has no concrete or guardrails.

Like Pikes Peak?