As an enthusiastic and ambitious noob, I've cooked up another idea; it's the soundest so far. I want to jump on my first car build more than ever now that I've gotten the beetle in a dailyable state. I've come across money from selling off a lot of old junk o our garage. How much money? Around enough to fund a build for challenge money. Whether or not I'll be able to make it to the challenge depends on next year's cross country schedule; I know right? Lame. Either way I enjoy a challenge and have a budget allows me to have a certain amount of self control and constraint. I'm not looking to build anything award winning or show-stopping, just something basic that would be fun to build and tool around in; ya know? teen stuff. I've been out with mono for the past week which has given me ample time to cook up this scheme. Sidenote: mono suuucks.
Build:
Jeep with a small-block chevy and a manual gearbox. I live in central Alabama so parts for both jeeps and SBCs couldn't be more plentiful and cheap. I was thinking a CJ7 or something of that era. IMO they look the best. However, I've also heard the tales that every time you go attempt around a corner they bomb a small African village, club a baby seal, and then flip over. Do people just blow that wayyy out of proportion or is there truth?
I'm admittedly super novice when it comes to jeeps and small-block chevys; however they both seem simple enough. Any suggestions / guidance / tips that the GRM minds can offer me would be awesome
You'd need to lower it a lot reduce rollover risk and pass tech, like possibly notched frame rails low. I have occasionally seen already swapped CJs in the <$2000 price range on CL.
would the hardest thing be the driveshaft and wiring? I also would be down to use a 302 of some variety, the flavor of v8 matters not to me.
Driveshafts aren't that hard, you find one that happens to fit or you pay the driveshaft shop to alter one. A carbed SBC with a HEI distributor takes like 4 wires to run (starter hot, ground, start, ignition). All the little gotchas and unforseen issues of putting an engine where it doesn't belong will be the difficulty. You can get mount kits for the Ford Windsor family but I think the Chevy ones are more common. You're probably going to need a welder.
Since nice older Jeeps are going for $10,000 and over, I want to say it'd be tough to find a decent Jeep for such low money. I reserve the right to be proven wrong though.
In my opinion, and if I were you, I'd enter the pickup class and keep it REALLY simple. It sounds like getting to the Challenge is 1/2 the battle, better to keep the build simple first time around and focus on getting it done and getting it there.
Disclaimer: I have no Challenge experience
In reply to ebonyandivory:
It seems like the pickup class is where most people are going doesn't it. 
A truck would definitely be easier to come up with on the tight budget.
In reply to ebonyandivory:
Yeah, all the solid(ish) jeeps in the price range are 90s cherokees; not CJs, TJs, YJs, or PB&Js. I'll just keep browsing the classifieds and clist.
FYI, I used "truck" and "$1,500" on my local Craigslist and was AMAZED at what was finding.
It is definitely easier to shove a 350 into a 4.3 S10 on the cheap, get a later one with a NV3500 manual transmission and you can even reuse the transmission.
I live just south of you in Wetumpka, I had no idea I had a fellow GRM'er near by
In reply to NoPermitNeeded:
Ah, young grasshopper....take the advice of your elders and build a small, simple 2wd truck for your first foray into the challenge.
BTW...your need to team up with some fellow gearheads at your school....GRM DOES GIVE A TROPHY for top build predominately constructed by high schoolers. Maybe if your school or community has auto shop class you could them involved. Point out that Ga Tech regularly fields a college team to the challenge. If you sell it right I bet a lot of the local performance oriented shops/mechanics would donate much of their time/tools/advice/shop resources to encourage aspiring gearheads
Good luck but keep it simple at first.
To paraphrase an old Porsche parable: "Race the car you have not the car you dream of having."
In reply to Ovid_and_Flem:
Y'all have sold me on the minitruck with a big engine; I've got two friends who would definitely help me, I'll run it by them.
In reply to Blitzed306:
Good to see another Alabama resident!
Is there a wheelbase limit in the rules for the challenge? I see a lot of LWB trucks and am wondering if those are
a) legal, and b) even worth trying to make handle. As I see it shorter wheel base is just less weight?
Yea, any CJ you're going to find for challenge money is going to be a rusted out POS. If you'd still rather build a Jeep than a truck, I'd suggest checking out the XJ-R Cherokee challenge build.
DrBoost
UltimaDork
11/22/16 7:16 a.m.
Do you mean you want to take a CJ or YJ and turn it into a auto-X vehicle?
If you want a jeep. Find an old postal jeep. You can swap an amc 360 in quick. They are 2wd and with some mods could be hilarious.
When I had a few extra G-body chassis sitting around I thought about shortening one, putting a three link in the rear and putting it under a Jeep. That's probably the cheapest way to make one turn especially if you can sell off the Jeep driveline bits.
I'm going to just leave this right here...
In reply to DrBoost:
Not really, If I do a CJ or YJ auto-x isn't really the goal. I just want something fun to work on and tool around in. The chances I can go to the challenge is low, schedule is hard to work around.
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine:
11/10 would do , there's a RHD postal jeep for sale near me....
I think you're headed down the right path with the truck. I had a yj back when. If you want a jeep I totally get it, if you want to go fast I totally get that too. But don't try to combine the two. Some cars are completely competent and composed at speed and inspire confidence in their driver, jeeps are the opposite of that. Don't get me wrong, jeeps are great, but not at being fast.
In reply to gearheadmb:
That makes sense, I regularly drive a beetle; I know all about not inspiring confidence at speed 
.
