The real costs of a slick ride
Most car enthusiasts hate 4-door sedans. I was one of those guys for many years.
I was looking for a Duster to build and somebody dropped this clean, rust-free, very-low-mileage (for its age) '72 Valiant UGLEEE 4-door 318/904 car into my lap for the princely sum of $100.00, in 1998.
I did some research and found out that it was 15 pounds lighter than a same-year Scamp, and only 25 pounds heavier than a same-year Duster, so I started trying to look past the aesthetics... toward performance potential.
I started driving it with the 318 and soon had a 360 Magnum lined up for it.
This car was the victim of "time." Everything on it that moves (and, I mean EVERYTHING) got replaced, including the rear axle assembly, the steering box, the entire drivetrain and all front-end components (LOVE the Firm-Feel box!!!), and of course, the engine.
Seems like the worst thing I have done is buy a lot of stuff twice.... sometimes, three times. Made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I'm getting there. I bought heavy-duty Moser axles for it recently, and just had a new driveshaft built (the third driveshaft in it since I've owned it; this one with 7290 u-joints), the crush sleeve in the 489 third member replaced by a solid spacer, and will be buying some $400.00 slicks very soon to replace the D.O.T. Drag radials I have on it that don't work very well for me.
I haven't kept tabs on the dollar figure, but the combination of the blow-thru Holley, the new Vortech supercharger itself, a complete TTI header-to-back-bumper exhaust system, and the half-inch fuel system MOST LIKELY have pushed the total spent to over 16K...maybe more.
Pretty absurd for a car that wouldn't bring $8K on its best day, in the marketplace.
But, hey, I didn't build it to sell (good thing!!!)
I built it to make me smile... laugh, even. When it runs 93+ in the eighth-mile, it does that, and as the guy said, that's "priceless!" :cheers:
Just another A-Body junkie...
Most car enthusiasts hate 4-door sedans. I was one of those guys for many years.
I was looking for a Duster to build and somebody dropped this clean, rust-free, very-low-mileage (for its age) '72 Valiant UGLEEE 4-door 318/904 car into my lap for the princely sum of $100.00, in 1998.
I did some research and found out that it was 15 pounds lighter than a same-year Scamp, and only 25 pounds heavier than a same-year Duster, so I started trying to look past the aesthetics... toward performance potential.
I started driving it with the 318 and soon had a 360 Magnum lined up for it.
This car was the victim of "time." Everything on it that moves (and, I mean EVERYTHING) got replaced, including the rear axle assembly, the steering box, the entire drivetrain and all front-end components (LOVE the Firm-Feel box!!!), and of course, the engine.
Seems like the worst thing I have done is buy a lot of stuff twice.... sometimes, three times. Made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I'm getting there. I bought heavy-duty Moser axles for it recently, and just had a new driveshaft built (the third driveshaft in it since I've owned it; this one with 7290 u-joints), the crush sleeve in the 489 third member replaced by a solid spacer, and will be buying some $400.00 slicks very soon to replace the D.O.T. Drag radials I have on it that don't work very well for me.
I haven't kept tabs on the dollar figure, but the combination of the blow-thru Holley, the new Vortech supercharger itself, a complete TTI header-to-back-bumper exhaust system, and the half-inch fuel system MOST LIKELY have pushed the total spent to over 16K...maybe more.
Pretty absurd for a car that wouldn't bring $8K on its best day, in the marketplace.
But, hey, I didn't build it to sell (good thing!!!)
I built it to make me smile... laugh, even. When it runs 93+ in the eighth-mile, it does that, and as the guy said, that's "priceless!" :cheers:
Just another A-Body junkie...