She’s a tank

9secRR

9secRR

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I put the wagon on the scales, what a tank but I love the old girl.

I have a 416” R3 W9 engine ready to drop in. Be next year before it happens. This land yacht will get up and go next year.

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That's pretty much exactly what my Aspen weighs. Last it was weighed, 3.980 lbs with full tank of fuel.
 
Unfortunately, these cars had a whole host of safety features built into them that was consistent with the era that weighed a bunch of pounds.

When I built my Aspen drag car. I gutted the whole car, removed the bumper impact absorbers and replaced the steel bumpers with fiberglass, and took out the side impact beams in the doors. The rest of the car was steel. I was able to get it down around 3100# which certainly helped its e.t. However it was in no way street friendly to ride in anymore.
 
hpp said:
Unfortunately, these cars had a whole host of safety features built into them that was consistent with the era that weighed a bunch of pounds.

When I built my Aspen drag car. I gutted the whole car, removed the bumper impact absorbers and replaced the steel bumpers with fiberglass, and took out the side impact beams in the doors. The rest of the car was steel. I was able to get it down around 3100# which certainly helped its e.t. However it was in no way street friendly to ride in anymore.
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my RoadRunner is 2445 lbs without driver. if i went with a CM cage instead of MS, it would be another 75 lbs lighter. there is a little bit more weight i could take out of the car but i'll just add more power lol
 
well i'm diving off the deep end with the wagon. i know i shouldn't do it but i'm gonna do it anyway. i have a 416'' R3 block with W9 heads sitting here waiting to be put in. so my plan is to put pump gas flat top pistons in and drop it in the wagon. i have a PPP shifter and Cheetah valve body laying here also. rebuild the trans and go with a 9'' diff.

should be a fun street car, not a drag car like the RoadRunner but a nice woody wagon that will have a nasty rumble.
 
hpp said:
Unfortunately, these cars had a whole host of safety features built into them that was consistent with the era that weighed a bunch of pounds.
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Yes, for sure. The A bodies and earlier cars in general have much less extra metal and stuff in them.
The Frame rails on the A body, for example, are a "U" channel with the floor spot-welded to the top of the U. The F Bodies (and J/M, I would imagine too) have a Double "U" in the rails at some points. The K frames are heavy too, and the door bracing and the bumpers/bracing - All thicker metal plus impact absorbers and other things.

My drag car ('68 Valiant was about ~2800# factory weight) and I got it down to ~2113# without driver. There are still more areas to lighten on it.
It is challenging to build more horsepower with a 238Ci. six-cylinder, so the engineering has to be more thought out, in my opinion. And that is a good challenge for me and my mind.
 
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