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Theoretical and Street RacingUse this board to ask questions about street racing, discuss your street races, and "who would win?" questions. Keep it safe.
Howdy fellas, just bored at work on this beautiful Saturday morning so I thought I'd try and occupy myself with some forum hopping while I browse for parts on Summit Racing, Jegs, and Rock Auto for the Firebird since that's going to be the next project I work on. Now, I don't usually like to break out the ruler and start measuring, but I'm pretty confident that my first project car can hold it's own at the strip or maybe even a circle track . I'd wager in a wide field she'd probably come out somewhere in the bottom middle of the pack. Not too fast, but definitely not slow.
But here's what I got in my little grocery getter...
1980 Buick Century Estate Wagon
Blueprint 383 iron head crate motor (310hp/400ft.lb trq)
-summit racing dual plane intake
-summit racing rebuilt Q-Jet
-MSD streetfire
-full length headers going into a Pypes x-pipe dual exhaust
TCI Streetfighter TH700R4
Moser posi 12 bolt rear end, 3:43:1 ratio
4 Wheel Disc brake system (Pads, rotors, calipers, 2" drop steering knuckles, and hubs all borrowed from a 98-04 2WD S10/Blazer)
"Quick Ratio" steering box out of a Monte Carlo SS with a U-Joint steering intermediate shaft out of a 90's Cherokee.
235/60R15 front, 255/60R15 rear tires
No carpeting, insulation or sound deadener, so this car comes equipped with tinnitus causing deafening amounts of loud, ear-splitting noise, brow and shirt soaking amounts of interior heat, and the innate ability to make even the most hardened McDonald's drive-thru clerk admit that yes... the ice cream machine is in fact working and you can have that small token of sweet, delicious relief for a few seconds before it melts all over your fingers, and lap.
Engine runs on 93 Octane, but will probably accept small amounts of ****, Vinegar, Blood, Sweat, and Tears without a problem.
Front seat is, of course... a bench. Why? Because it's a wagon and I love driving around on a couch.
Thank you! Best part about G-Bodies is that they (according at least to what I've found online from manufacturer spec websites) don't weigh much more than F-Body cars. They're like 3,600lbs curb weight with the V8 option compared to what... 3,400lbs curb weight F-Bodies? That's a big deal. You get all that car for not a lot of weight thanks to smog and fuel economy standards of the time leaving most engines with absolutely pitiful power output forcing manufacturers to shed pounds by using thinner sheet metal and cheaper, smaller metric bolts on everything. It was a bad time then, but now that the technology has caught up and the fact that these cars (at least in my state) are no longer required to follow those standards, you can make some absolutely ridiculous street cars with them.
very cool. consider taking it out to a local 1/4 mile or 1/8th mile track to see what its really capable of too though. on the street is sure fun but some time-slips will give you a good indication about how well the car is setup. for a real good "thrashing" of the car consider signing up for one of the bigger AutoCross events like the UMI Motorsports Autocross (just happened in July though..) and that is where you will really really get to work the car hard. lots of people with fairly well setup street cars are smoked by some of veterans with the ultra performance cars there. it sure is humbling.
The only thing keeping me from driving it over my Caprice are two things:
1: It has no AC, no insulation, no nothin'... it gets HOT in that car even with the two front windows down and those pathetic little vents open in the back... when I get out of the car I have to peel myself off the vinyl bench seat lol
2: It keeps having some kind of starter grinding issue I can't figure out because I'm just a monkey with a wrench. First time the starter came loose, so I used blue locktite and lock washers... now it's on there solid, wasn't making any noise was working perfectly on the daily for a good solid 2 weeks and it started doing it again. Checked the starter and it's still on there solid. Gotta figure that out before I can drive it again.
I’ve been scoping on the G bodies myself lately. As much as I love the F bodies, my first car was an ‘81 Grand Prix. I loved that car. Had T-Tops, 403 Olds motor, and 2.29 gears to compliment its original Diesel engine. It was a bit of a dog but at 16 I thought I was John Force 😂
I've been saying this now for at least a couple of years, and I stand by it 100%
G-Bodies are our generation's Tri-Five cars. They're plentiful, cheap, and iconic to the era they came from. You can do just about ANYTHING to them, and they're a fantastic platform to build on. They can be made to be quick, responsive, and competent road cars with decent handling and acceleration with the right parts. They share some chassis components with newer platforms like the S10/Blazer from '98-04 and it's easy to modify or fabricate almost anything to work in them. Even if you get a lesser known, more lowly valued model like mine, you'll have a blast with it for relatively little money. F-Body, G-Body, and B-Body are the best platforms GM ever had.
That wagon is very cool! My uncle had one similar just as ratty with a ROWDY 406 in it he used to **** folks off with that thing. I love G-body's I've owned several 80s Grand Prixs and a Monte Carlo i daily drove 9years.
That wagon is very cool! My uncle had one similar just as ratty with a ROWDY 406 in it he used to **** folks off with that thing. I love G-body's I've owned several 80s Grand Prixs and a Monte Carlo i daily drove 9years.
Thanks! Yeah man, I love the G-Body. I've got another one in the driveway. An '83 Regal Limited 4 Door. Got a nice patina going on it and I just rubbed it down with linseed oil to keep it from getting worse. Only thing wrong with that car really is that it was in a front end accident where some bozo came up the passenger side of the car, caught the front bumper with their rear driver side wheel well on the trailing end, and pulled the bumper straight out, causing it to smash the driver side fender in and wreck the front clip. Got a new front clip (color mismatches slightly) but still have to get a new fender... bumper I just pounded out with a hammer. It's a little whacked but eh... whatever.
08-22-2020, 07:43 AM
