10 second 1/4 for 10 grand?

I can confirm that I am a male, and I'm 16 well in a couple days. I used my dad's birthday cause I was worried this place might have had an age limit.

 

If u have never driven a car that is capable of 10 second quarters, I DON’T think u have any idea how wickedly fast 10 seconds in the quarter mile REALLY is and yet, you are anticipating not only a fast car,but ONE that is somewhat driveable daily and dependable. I hesitate to say u are a “dreamer” but u need lots of experience to actually be able to accomplish these “hard to accomplish” and somewhat lofty goals. Good luck to u in your endeavors with dealing with very quick cars, but be ready to deal with plenty of disappointments along the way. At 78 years of age with 64 years of legal driving under my belt, I would be thrilled with a car that is capable of 13 seconds and be a daily driver.

 

Logan, Don't give up on us. Lots of experienced minds available. 35 years ago I had a Pro Street Vega that ran a best of 10.49, and was streetable. Have you been to the drags, and spent time in the pits? After some time, you'll know what a 10 second car is typically about. It's totally possible these days, but for you, probably not realistic. If you low buck your way to that level of performance, the car will probably have a bunch of questionable used or chinese parts, and will probably be broken a lot. I'd bet you'd have a lot of fun shooting for a goal of about a 12.99 ET. Get the car running reliably, and refine it a little at a time, with quality parts and sound engineering. If you love the thing, and stick with it. it could evolve down to the 10's. Throwing a chinese turbo on it, without a lot of support stuff, is probably going to create a lot of heartache. I wish you all the luck!

 

Turbos are tricky because they need good fuel and spark controls to work well, so you would end up with EFI, and all it's complications. Roots blowers are very forgiving about this, you can get away with very basic stock carbs and distributor, with a few minor tweaks. Centrifugal blowers are more complicated, because boost changes with RPM, so controls such as on a turbo engine are really helpful, but you can work around it with some effort. The learning curve can be steep! Nitrous is really the simplest way to go, as it's mostly a stand alone system that you can add. You can build an NA setup and do pretty well, but the combination of running 10s and being a reliable daily driver is tough to make work on a budget, partly because to make that much power without help, you need to spin a lot of RPM, which kills low end torque, and the required gearing is not very street friendly.

But like they said, you might want to start small, especially if you're on your own. I know some younger folks in racing families that have started out with really quick cars, but they had a lot of guidance to help them develop their knowledge along the way, rather than just jumping in at the deep end.

 

@RodStRace he has posted a plausible explanation for his age saying that he is 48. I just questioned what was going on here and accept his explanation. I do know that you try to offer help to anyone and everyone on the HAMB and I applaude that. By the way, when I tried to like your post^ it says I don't have authorization to view your post!

 

it got deleted by me. I had not seen his reply, so it was moot.

 

My advise would be set your sights a little(a lot?) lower, and work you way up from that. Like said, the learning curve is steep, but you have plenty of time! Good luck.

 

Morning, woke up a bit late today. I just want to explain my want for that time, etc.
It's just I don't want to put money into a car setting it to a certain standard, when I know I may want it to go beyond that. Also I got a bit of help, not trying to add in my sob story but it's more of moral help. About every man in my family used to race and work on cars but all of them are disabled nowadays. Far better than nothing though!

 

I hope you have a VERY understanding insurance agent. Disclose all mods to them. It’s likely to raise an already substantial premium, but if you don’t, the insurance company can (read that as ‘will’) use it as a reason to deny any claim and probably cancel your policy. If you’re on your parent’s policy, it may affect them too.

 

Out of curiosity, why do you want a drag car? There are multiple ways to race a car and while circle track racing isn’t conducive to doubling as a street car circuit racing like solo II (parking lot timed courses) is. When I was younger I did both drag and road racing. The turns and shifting to me was a lot more challenging/fun. It also taught me how to really drive a car. The C3 corvettes were designed more for road racing than drag racing, not that they can’t do either. But your goal of 10s is more of a purpose built drag car that can be driven on the road as opposed to a daily driver that can go fast. It takes a lot of attention to detail and maintenance to keep a purpose built race car safe if you want to drive it daily. But can it be done? Absolutely. But why that platform as there are easier choices to make work? Why the 10 second goal? There are countless opportunities to challenge yourself drag racing without having to go that fast (reaction times, how close to your ET, 60 foot times, and the list goes on). Why is the question of the day. Helping people claim their goals is a great feeling. Finding out the goal claimed someone you were helping is one of the worst feelings. There is a lot of knowledge and experience on this site. Some are reading with skepticism, some with curiosity, and some with eager interest to help. Everyone has been there at some point, we were all 16 once. Some of us have lost friends doing things we didn’t think twice about, until it was too late. 10 second cars are fun. They can also be deadly. Knowing the whys will help some decide how deep they want to become involved in giving their advice and experience to your goal.

 

The number of times my dad's lost friends or almost lost himself driving or riding dumb when he was a kid. Trust me I don't hear the end of safety, ever. And it's not really as if I only want or like drag cars. I think road racing, rally, baja, drift, oval track are all awesome. And as the why to the corvette, it's just my car yknow. It was a huge step buying it and took a couple years to find one I could afford, and if the situation allows it I don't really plan to get rid of it in the future. I can tell you I'd way rather exceed my budget than change cars, of course I want more cars in the future but just as a first car I feel like its kinda stuck with me.

 

Lots of good advise here. I would say small steps is the path I would take.
Get your Vette running and reliable. Get your licence and get used to driving in ALL situations. Then find someone to follow along with at the track. LOOK. LEARN AND LISTEN to everything you can.
Once you have the jest of it, try out a test and tune day and get the feel for what you are doing.
Some different classes require a licence pass and you have to prove that you can handle a car at certain speeds. You have to work your way up. Once you start going faster, you can figure out what needs to be done.
And let it be known. Right about there the sickness begins and before you know it you will want a track only car. And a Hot Rod. And a powerful truck to pull it. Maybe find yourself at a dirt track and liking a CHEAP hobby stock. Etc. Etc.
I think you can catch what I am pitchin.
Above all else. Have fun doing it.

 

Thanks for the advice, I completely get what your saying, as of right now it's not even running, plugs are fouled, need to rebuild part of my carb, put all of my interior back in. But just from a bare standpoint of a daily driven, streetcar that could have the ability of going tens in the future later on in the build. What would be a smart track to follow upgrade wise. Turn it into a stroker, sleeve it and put a load of boost, just build it up as a 462? Maybe don't even start with the engine, maybe do a solid axle swap, but then would it still be fine for daily driving? I just got a lot of questions yknow

 

A driver car has many related systems. A drag car shares many but not all of them. Concentrate on legal, safe, reliable. If you have more resources (time, money), then you can go faster.
Are the brakes ready for the street? Is the suspension up to daily driving? Do all the lights and gauges work? Is the battery in good shape and fully charged, along with a good starter and charging system?
Are there any leaks to be repaired? Will the cooling system handle normal driving and full throttle blasts?
These aren't glamorous but will keep you from driving the to car to the track, and will keep you from passing tech. They can also cause issues that will ruin the built engine you desire to start on.

 

Sorry if I put it wrong, but like I said I got a lot to do right now that doesn't involve going fast, and involves like you said, making it a driver. But I just wanted to know where to go from that, like would the stroker route be a good one to do going forward? Because trust me when i say it's got A LOT to do. no lights, my passenger door doesn't open, only gauges that work are my aftermarket oil pressure gauge etc etc

 

There's an old saying that goes "Fast, Cheap, Reliable. Choose two."

 

You can probably spend all your time and money getting the car completely functional...and ignoring how fast it is. But you'll learn a lot! then when you have a good handle on keeping everything working, you can work on modifications, then discover how you get to start over with getting everything working again.

 

Thanks, like I said earlier. I love this car way too much to throw too junky of parts in it and blow it up. In reality I'll probably tame it down a tad and go with something like a wet nitrous kit and then just go through the engine. Gives me the power I'd want at the strip while not battering my engine too much as a daily

 

The car wasn’t originally a big block car since they didn’t put big blocks in them that year. Did you or someone else swap it out? If it isn’t in the car yet, don’t do it. An LS is lighter, easier to get parts for, and way cheaper to build. Note that @squirrel has a breakdown of what he has in parts. He’s going to run 9s with a car that weighs about what yours does and for less money. The Big block and th400 are old school drag setup and not necessarily a better setup. You'd be money ahead to go LS or LT1 with an 700R4 behind it. It would be more economical, quicker, and more daily driver friendly. Big blocks are heavy. TH400s have no overdrive. Big blocks take money to turn RPMs and with no OD you'll be winding it up just to drive normal highway speeds. Sell the big block and TH400 to someone that wants to build a Nova or other old school hot rod. Start with the engine trans and make your car run and drive. The small blocks are much easier to add power to, you can add boost, NOS, or even fuel and RPMs. The Vette is close to 50/50 weight distribution as built with a small block and that makes it fun to handle. Build it and drive it, have some fun and see what you like about driving it and what you don't. Then plan the next set of modifications to make it more of what you want. Better brakes and handling might become more important that raw acceleration. 700R4s can be built to handle 700 HP and that would probably get you to your goal. Over drive on the road is a game changer when it comes to daily driving. You will need to look at the power steering assist system as they are notorious for leaking. You can't race it if it's bleeding fluids all over the place. Get to the track and see what others have done with Corvettes to race them. Figure out how that fits into keeping a daily driver.

 

I've definitely thought about it, big blocks aren't really any better till you get into pretty serious racing, and eventually it comes down a bit regardless. But I also am having troubles considering getting rid of a really badass sounding vette. And I know small blocks, or even smaller big blocks still sound awesome. I just don't see getting much money for it

 

I'm not sure why you guys want to talk this kid out of going fast, sounds like he has great parents and are backing his decisions.
I do agree with getting your feet wet at the track with the car before building a 10 second car, you gain both driving experience and wrenching experience. Get it reliable and hit test and tune night, most tracks have a program where you can go down track with your parent riding shotgun as long as you have a current drivers permit. Doing that will give you experience and a baseline to work off of, when doing engine mods think about the future and if those mods will continue to work while you upgrade other things, that way you're not spending the same money over and over.
These guys have a killer program that you could pick up a few things from by watching their videos, I know they mention rear upgrades in a few of the videos.


Now get busy chasing your dream and don't let these guys talk you out of it, you can have a daily driven C3 10 second car.

 

Free HP is a VERY good thing...!
Weight is speed (or lack of weight is speed!)
Go through that Vette and take EVERY BIT of un-needed weight out of it.
Ex. Can you take some weight out of those bumpers and still leave them looking stock ?
Sound dampening is HEAVY pull it out from under the floor covering and weigh it..
Move that battery to the back/trunk area...
Can you live with out AC...? Lotsa weight
Factory rims are HEAVY....
The more weight you lose..the faster you can go !
6sally6

 

You can have one. But can you hit the price point and have a true daily driver. The video car has a spool and they modified the rear end to be an IRS 12 bolt w/4:10 gears. Not daily driver friendly and definitely not cheap. The big block swap needs different front springs if they didn’t already do it on the OP car. As I said, it’s not that hard to get a small block to those numbers especially with boost and the car would be a lot more street friendly. And the car might be more fun trying some of the other race venues with more balance and the throttle response a hot small block lives for. I love big blocks and mostly that’s what I run. But if we’re being honest, a LS or LT1 will fit his stated goals better. Other than he has a BBC already. But we don’t know if his BBC has been built to get him there or not. And if it isn’t already built, I doubt anyone would debate which platform would hit his goal with the least cash outflow.

 

I believe you need to get the car to function before you think too far ahead. Get it together so you can drive it. A big block Corvette should be a fun car to drive, even if it isn't quarter mile fast.
Once its running, make that trip to the drag way and put in some runs to get a good base line. You will know what the car needs, and what you will know need to learn. With a few time slips in your hand, you have real information to base decisions on, currently, its all just speculation.
Speculation is great, after you have a running car, a bit of driving experience, and a factual base.

Way back when I was a teenager, my buddy had a Nova with what he called "all the trick fast stuff" in it. One day he took it to the drag strip and it barely broke into the 15 sec range (which wasn't really bad at the time), to say he was devastated would be an understatement! As soon as he turned 18, he put his name on the line for a new Camaro with "all the trick stuff". It wasn't much faster then the Nova was, but now he was too financially tied up to do anything about it. He quickly lost interest in drag racing, and in "all the trick stuff".

When we were just out of high school, my 4 buddies and I build a dirt track hobby stock car, and we put him behind the wheel of a big block Plymouth. He did pretty well with that old Plymouth. Because he had a good running car, with a bit of driving experience, and a factual base, the next season I arranged for him to drive a late model stock car. He did pretty well with that too.
As racing goes, life changes made an entrance the following year, and his racing carrier ended.

 

Gravity is free. The time it takes for an object to fall 1/4 of a mile is approximately 9.06 seconds.........

 

Another thank you to all the advice given today. this summer I'm gonna pull the engine go through every bit of it, once done I'll update the thread with what I'm working with. And I'll say this again for the people who didn't see, push comes to shove I have absolutely no problem spending more money. I just took this idea from squirrel because a fatter wallet is always better, but i'd rather not grenade my driveshaft going 80 on the highway or turn my engine into an 8 shot shotgun.

Another thank you to all the advice given today. this summer I'm gonna pull the engine go through every bit of it, once done I'll update the thread with what I'm working with. And I'll say this again for the people who didn't see, push comes to shove I have absolutely no problem spending more money. I just took this idea from squirrel because a fatter wallet is always better, but i'd rather not grenade my driveshaft going 80 on the highway or turn my engine into an 8 shot shotgun.

IF I get the job i'm looking at I'll make anywhere from 31-35 after taxes. that GIVES the opportunity for that much to go into it, unless a 65 gto roller happened to pop up. then maybe slightly less

 

I drive my car regularly with 4.57 gears and a full spool, lots of guys drive on the street with spools.
He already has a 454 that's 40 over with a non stock cam so that should mean it's a fresher build, th400 with a shift kit which is one of the toughest transmissions out there and he's got headers already.
He didn't mention carb, intake or ignition but that's a great platform to work off of, no need to go reinventing the wheel here.
A good set of aluminum heads, possibly intake, carb and cam swap and he could be making some decent power, the rear end is his weak link on it.
Like I said he needs to get it to the track in it's current state, turn some wrenches and optimize the current setup, which will help him learn to tune. Then throw a 150 shot on it that he can ease into once he's walked it off the line, that'll give him a good feel for what changing heads, cam and intake will do, then throw the 150 shot back onto the new combo.

 

It's got a street demon 750 and street demon intake. Also by ignition you're talking about like the distributor right?

 

yes, the distributor is part of the ignition system. Spark plugs, wires, coil, are the rest.

 

Thanks, just wanted to make sure I wasn't off track