In the early 90's when I was bracket racing a 1979 Camaro 305cid, stock heads- couldn't afford decent heads back then bagging groceries Lol, Lunati Cam & lifters, long tube headers 3" exhaust flowmasters. Edelbrock performer RPM intake and 1" spacer 600cfm Carter AFB Competition series carb. Stock HEI with accel internals. TH350 auto trans with Ford Type F fluid, man it would shift hard chirp the tires, stock converter.. It would run best time 13.1sec 1/4. Point is all that information came from old timers and their used parts some given to me, and turned probably a 17sec 1/4 into a 13sec 1/4 that I was proud of. If I had decent heads, stall converter a gears probably would have been in the 11's which was pretty fast in the late 80's early 90's for a daily driven street car. I think it was fast running 13sec. It was just as fast as the fox body Mustangs which were the ultimate enemy lol. When we were street racing when someone brought out their Grand National, Typhoon or Cyclone.. forget it time to go home. Lol. Miss those days. I guess what I'm saying is us young guys need to listen to the old timers as much as possible because if we don't learn from them that info dies with them and forever lost.. just something I was thinking about this morning.
That's as fast as I've ever heard anyone turning with a 305 V8 Camaro. Most guys around here replaced their 305's with a 350 or a 383 stroker. I have a younger friend who owns a '78 Nova with factory 305 V8 and 4 speed. It's what he called a "Rally Pack" option, which has the full gauge cluster I've never seen on a later Nova? He said only 300 were built out of the 255,000 Novas built that year. It has 22k original miles on it, and had sat dormant for 13 yrs. until I got it back on the road for him last week. We took it for a spin and I was impressed that it was fairly quick feeling for a small V8. It has a 570 cfm Holley Avenger series carb, Edelbrock Performer intake, headers, and 2.5" dual exhaust. Otherwise stock. He wants the pegleg changed to a posi rear axle, so next spring I'm planning on putting a Richmond Porwer Trax locker in the rear for him.
My tire and wheel combination, I don't like but, using what I have until I can afford what I want. The offset is completely wrong for the rear and have ALOT of tire sticking out. I didn't want to shorten the 12bolt rear end, I may later on but, I think I can find an offset where there is 2-3" of tire sticking out. The front runners are chrome 15x4 rallys which are not my first choice but were cheap to get it in roller status and don't look too bad.. Wheels are EXPENSIVE, the ones I want anyways. Lol. Right now the hot rod is sitting, ground to bottom of rocker 13" rear 17" front and on the rear I have about 1.5" top of slick to fender lip. The front fender wheel opening will need to sit fairly high over front tire due to AWB, front tire outer most edge will be about even with front outer edge of fender this is also to make room for header exit clearance. I could have centered front wheel in wheel opening putting it at almost stock WB, for a street car that's fine but this Morris will have alot of track time eventually. So it's kinda function over looks but that doesn't mean I don't care if it looks like SH!T. If I had money to by wheels I wanted.. these would work. Or Cragar SS.
The 4" difference front to rear on rockers wouldn't be as steep an angle on a full sized old car as it is on a Morris or other short wheelbase cars. So that's part of what makes it more of a nose high stance. I personally wouldn't have any issues with opening up the leading edge of the front fender openings for tire clearance if needed to lower it some. You're doing enough body mods already, that I doubt anyone would care that the front openings were relieved for clearance if needed? Wheels and tires are crazy high for original vintage, and fairly high for new vintage looking too. But there are some fairly inexpensive options still that look good on a old school type build. I went with American Torq Thrust TTO's on my '39 Chev and got all four delivered to my door for $520 with new chrome lugnuts. I talked with Moser about narrowing axle shafts, and was quoted $175 a pair if I sent mine in. I can do the tubes myself, so that's not an issue or added cost.
Plus, I don't think there would be enough clearance between frame and axle running axle on top of springs. Not without re-ngineering front frame section. I just don't see how to get it lower other than cutting front frame section off then run a kick up. When I get the BBC sitting in the frame it'll bring it down enough for my taste. I guess some will like it some won't. It's my first major build and am learning what not to do next time.. lol.
This was my Austin when I first built it. The car didn't sit too bad, but I felt the whole thing was a little higher than I wanted. The rear was easy to fix as it's coilovers with ladder bars. So I simply raised my upper mounting point and that let the rear down. But then it got more of an uphill nose high stance, and I didn't like that much. The car looks a little nose up even with rockers level, just because the front fender openings are larger. So I dropped more leafs from the front, and also made shorter shackles to further lower the front. Eventually it's sitting just where I wanted it, and actually rides a little softer too.
Let me be clear.........I have NEVER built an Altered Morris Minor or ANY Altered for that matter. I've just been 'spouting-off' stuff that I personally like and think would like trick on YOUR build.....Some of these other guys HAVE built them and KNOW what the heck they're talking about. I HAVE seen a bunch of gassers and altered "back-in-the-day" and the SEGA cars too. That's where I'm coming from. One option you might try (to get LESS rear tire stick-out) would be to reverse the rims and weld them up with more rim on the inside portion of the rim. IF it still sits too high in the front for you.........what about a dropped axle?! Might be an expense you just don't wanna incur ........just to make some internet jockeys happy!! I'm liking your build and hope to hear/see a video soon with the engine in and running. 6sally6
To me and this is just my opinion. Firstly I absolutely love both. But I think when you first built it when it was black looks more like a race car.. when you changed the stance it looks more street, but it might just be the outlaw black that makes it look more like a track car.
I like all the comments and suggestions. I have really thick skin and yall can't hurt my feelings.. definitely learning a lot from everyone. As far as drop axles, I don't like them on altered or gasser. I actually have a 1950 Chevrolet truck axle and a Model A and another I can't identify, but think it's a horse drawn carriage axle lol. I prefer more of a nose up look but not extreme. To me it just screams weight transfer and drag strip. I also like a little more tire hanging out the fender maybe 3.5" and absolutely hate when rear axles are shortened to the point where they are all tucked under the body like a prostreet.. looks good on a prostreet but not on a altered or gasser. Also in the pictures it looks a lot higher than it really is. Alot of the cars back in the day like in the pits pictures where they are standing next to the car. The bottom of the rocker is at their knees and mine at it's highest point is below my knee.. and I can look down on to the roof so it's not very high. I think weight of engine will bring it down to my taste, but I do like them to sit a little higher. I'm also more interested in performance & keeping it straight down the track with tires planted. Also on the SEGA thing, I think it's really Awesome, but don't care for the NO Automatic transmission rule because it's just not realistic. I understand why they have the rule but if you're trying to pass off Nostalgia drag racing, and the way drag racing use to be to spectators, it's just not realistic.. Some of SEGA's Gassers are actually Altereds by some of the rule books I've read, but I love watching it, could do without some of the commentary though. But that's just my opinion. I really appreciate everyone's suggestions and comments.
I think the black made it look more like a survivor old race car. But I doubt anyone back in the 60's would look at any of the nicely finished gassers and say they didn't look like race cars. I wanted more of a finished, high end gasser look like the top gassers in the 60's had. Not the survivor gasser look that is popular with some people today. Not that my Austin is in the same class as Mazmanian's cars, but if you look at Big John's Willys posted above in the same color paint, and similar lettering; I doubt it would look more of a gasser if it was crappy old black paint.
I like the crappy black paint.. And they both looked finished to me. Although I know they really never are. It's all about stance, to me. The Hotrod could be Blue, Purple, Orange, Flat, Satin Glossy, Bare Metal or Rust. As long as it has the right stance which could be high or low, I like both. I also like the high end finished hotrod and the ones that are not These are just opinions & you know what they say about opinions. Everyone has one. Lol There are not many hotrods I don't like. Hotrods are like art to me, some art I like, some I don't, but I still appreciate it, because it's starts inside someones head, a dream and they bring it to life.
I am OK with some cars not being new paint, but just very few that look good that way, or few I feel should be left in poor paint. The whole patina hotrod thing is way overdone to me, and the vast majority of the cars aren't really patina. Just paint and bodies that are rusty, rotted or well beyond the patina phase. I have a friend who owns an old Nova that still has it's original factory red paint, and it's so thin in spots you can see the primer through it. But the car is rock solid, with zero rust, and a factory V8 4 speed car. Now that car should never be painted, and as he and I discussed, it just needs the oxidation removed, and a good waxing to keep it from going further bad. That's my idea of good patina, that should be saved.
The Jalopy Journal
