In reply to TIGMOTORSPORTS:
eBay for 80 bucks shipped. The 5x5 pattern is only good for small, heavy Chevy truck wheels and rare, overpriced Impala SS wheels. 5x4.75 gives me far more options, such as Craigslist Vette rims. Plus stance, yo.
In reply to TIGMOTORSPORTS:
eBay for 80 bucks shipped. The 5x5 pattern is only good for small, heavy Chevy truck wheels and rare, overpriced Impala SS wheels. 5x4.75 gives me far more options, such as Craigslist Vette rims. Plus stance, yo.
$50 for a set of heavily used but surprisingly lightweight 15x10 drag wheels, with beadlock rims and bolts included. Got em off an old dirt track racer who restores Corvettes now. Nice guy.
I don't think these will fit without narrowing the rear or serious fender surgery, but it leaves that door open. The offset is completely wrong (way too negative) in order to tuck them under the low-hanging fender skirts. I will only go down this path if I can't launch hard enough on the autocross wheelset.
Now that I think about it, I can probably find a pair of 8.5"+ Vette wheels for cheap and put a decent radial on them.
Anyway here they are:
The 9.5'' C4 Vette wheels should be a bolt on. They're nice and wide. Guys on the Corvette forum are running 295 tires on these wheels. There seems to be some debate about the 305's...
I picked up a nice set on Craigslist for $150. It might be more cost effective to sell both your 8.5'' rear Vette wheels and your drag wheels, and pick up two 9.5'' Vette wheels, rather than continue down the road of spacers and modifying stuff...?
Plus, the Roadmaster looks so good sitting on the Vette wheels...
As for weight reduction, this might be too crazy, but did you think about chopping to top, El Camino style? you'd lose a ton of roof and glass, and it would be easier to haul your parts in the back...
Ideally I would have 6 9.5" Vette wheels. I just love the look. 4 for autocross tires, 2 for drag tires, all matching. For now, 4 8.5" wheels is good enough. I'll figure out drag tires later, if I even need them.
I don't think that's a crazy idea. My '72 El Camino is basically the same chassis. The suspensions are identical. Here's my even crazier weight reduction idea:
2 feet less of frame and body and two fewer doors could save a lot of weight, and the wheelbase reduction would help with cornering...
Do it!!!!!
Yesterday I autocross'd the Roadmaster. I was very pleased by the handling. Doesn't quite fit in with CAM-C, but took 6th of 12 in that class. Not too shabby.
This little outing gave me new motivation to actually work on the car now.
The six who fell before you...what were they driving?
In reply to Acme Lab Rat:
Usual array of late-model Camaros, Mustangs, and GTOs.
maschinenbau wrote:
WOW!!!
WaterfordMan wrote: Pretty cool! Can you find all the upgrade parts for these fairly easy? The 9C1 brake and suspension packages? I'm considering picking up won of these to replace my 04 Saturn Ion. Plus the 5,000 lb towing capacity would be pretty cool for hauling around my 71 Demon to different track events
Can these really do 5,000 lbs. towing with a tow package?
That honestly makes me really tempted to look for one! My 84 GTI is probably 2,300 lbs tops with a full tank of gas.
There's a place I've driven past by Milwaukee, WI that had a crap load of them on their property. I probably saw 20-30 cars when I drove by.
Very cool project BTW. Looking forward to seeing where this goes. I've always had a weird fascination with these cars for some reason. Definitely one of the last great RWD American V8s.
In reply to Contradiction:
I haven't towed with it yet, but supposedly they handle 5,000 lbs pretty well. The only thing the tow package buys you is a rear sway bar, extra oil cooler, and posi. They say load-assist air shocks are the way to go. The kind you air up like a tire. That's what mine has and I just pump them up with my bicycle pump to stiffen the rear as necessary, which I really felt during yesterdays runs.
Really needs more power and less weight though. I'm planning to pull the engine soon for an overall refresh, cam swap, and some mild DIY porting. Between this and the house I'm pretty busy though.
Over the weekend, I made one last drywall run before diving into the engine rebuild. Yes, she shuts the tailgate on a 4x8 stack if you scoot the seat up a bit.
All the lines, hoses, wires, etc are removed along with most of the front end accessories. This thing is an oily, grimy, rusty mess.
I'm trying to salvage the narrow-band O2 sensors. The rest of the exhaust, not so much. Planning to scrap the converters for extra budget $$$
Those have to be the most restrictive looking exhaust manifolds I've ever seen on a V-8.
they are actually a major upgrade over the tbi v8 manifolds of the era. especially the truck versions.
One of them has a massive and clearly visible/audible crack. I have a set of craigslist Camaro headers I will slice n dice to make fit.
Plans while the engine is out:
Plans for the engine:
Looking good!
This project is cracking me up!
So are you planning on honing the cylinders but leaving the existing rings in place?
I was just wondering, since I was planning on a similar rebuild to my LT-1 wagon someday.
Also, I don't know if it's in the budget or not (might be with an initial purchase price of tree-fitty) but everything I've seen said ARP con rod bolts are a worthy upgrade if you're going to push the engine at all. I would think they would stiffen up the whole bottom rod arrangement and keep your crank and rods in good shape for longer.
But that's just my supposition.
In reply to Jambo:
I'll take everything apart and look at the rings for wear and end-gap spec, replacing if necessary. Same with bearings. I work with these components at work, but purely from a theoretical/analytical perspective, so this will be kinda fun for me.
I haven't heard the ARP con rod bolt thing before, but definitely worth looking into. I should have plenty of room in the budget, even including the pile of parts in the garage. I have only sunk around a grand so far, and the car as it sits is around $500 with the wheels and replacement cylinder head installed. Gotta update my spreadsheet this weekend because...
...Finally, some real progress last night!
This thread is bringing back the lt1 want with a vengeance. Found a 6 speed lt1 ws6 locally for 1800 w bad headgaskets.....must not buy.
SEADave wrote:maschinenbau wrote:WOW!!!
Yeah, that looks amazing.
Love the build! Always wanted one of these and then wanted to drop the newer LS based truck engine in it (LQ4?) and a T56 manual trans if it would fit, I guess a 6 speed autobox would work to.
Im partial too ford but always happy to see someone saving another wagon from the scrap yard! My boss is a big fan of the lt1. Hes working on his 3rd lt1 swap if he ever finishes the body.
Great thread car looks killer on those C4 rims
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