Total Cost
Now that all the parts are available to build a Pro Street or Pro Touring car, what are some ballpark costs to put these together? The Street Schwartz chassis got me thinking about the total cost to do a complete car. I'd bet your readers would have some interest.
Jim Smith
Balsam Lake, WI
That's hard to say. We've seen people claiming budget-oriented Pro Street or Pro Touring projects pieced together for as little as $10,000, depending on the quality. It may be possible, however; even the guys at our sister pub Popular Hot Rodding set a cap of $20,000 with their second-gen Camaro. On the upper end, we've seen people quoting ridiculous prices beyond $80,000-way too rich for our blood. On a positive note, the Schwartz chassis starts at only $2,995, and assuming you already have a body to drop on it, you could build a killer corner carver for relatively cheap. Keep your eye out-we may just disclose the exact details and costs in an upcoming issue, only it'll be based on a strict budget.-HD
One Guy's Opinion
In your Oct. '06 editorial, titled "The Possibilities Are Endless," you asked for our opinion on the perfect ride. Well here's mine. Right or wrong, you asked for it. I believe some of these so-called super cars being built today are too much, especially the '60s and '70s musclecars. I personally do not like all the air suspensions, the six-speed transmissions, and especially the wheels-15-inch is the biggest appropriate wheel size.
I am restoring a '70 Chevy Nova, and I am building to go straight, whether it is on the strip or street-that's what it was intended to do, not race a road course. It will have 15-inch Chevy rally wheels on big tires in the rear and small on the front, real tires, not those low-profile jobs! It is going to have a reasonable amount of horsepower from a small-block, and no power steering (it came that way!), no air conditioning, and no $5,000 stereo system. It will have a Muncie four-speed, not a six-speed overdrive! The only thing, as far as suspension, is going to be polyurethane bushings and disc brakes in front only (for safety reasons). To me, this is a super car.
I understand that everyone has different opinions, tastes, and creativity, but some of these cars are losing their allure when they are overdone. Again, just my opinion.
Clinton Kimble
St. Joseph, MO
Build This!
You said you'd like to hear what we'd like to see you build in the magazine, so here goes. I'd like to see a hard-core street/strip pump-gas BBC Rat motor with no turbo, no blower, no nitrous; just motor. The combo I'd like to see specifically is based off a Dart Big M block with a 9.800 standard deck, 4.500x 4.250 bore and stroke, making it a 540ci. Keep the compression at 10.75:1 and use a set of AFR 335cc CNC cylinder heads. For the cam, use a Comp Cams custom billet-steel, solid-roller 266/272 at 0.050 with 0.678/0.688 lift and a 108 lobe separation angle, based off its modern Extreme Energy lobes. After the primary build, come back the following month with a 108, 110, and 112 comparison in that motor. This would be great real-world info, and you guys are awesome enough to come up with it.
Also be sure to use a Victor Jr. intake that's been precision port-matched with the plenum-to-runner roofs blended. I'd also like to see a 1,000-cfm Holley HP carb, 211/48 primary long-tubes with with 311/42 collectors and a 2-inch open-carb spacer as a primary setup, then test with a 1-inch open spacer and, finally, no spacer at all. This would also give some great info.