[John Boelte]

Hi folks! I was recently bitten by the "Let's build a race car" bug. I'm looking at a 3rd gen that's already gutted. I'm thinking about using a mild 350 (read inexpensive), TH350 trans, stock 9 bolt rear, and focus on suspension and brakes. Since it's already gutted, I was thinking about putting in a weld in roll cage and race seats. It's a T-Top car, would a cage help there? Would there be other issues related to T-Tops I should be concerned about?

It looks like this is the type of forum I was looking for. Are there any links to other build sites or forums where I can find more information on building up a race car? Thanks!

[sgarnett]

The T56 gears will handle a lot of power.

It's mainly shifting that causes problems, and half of that is due to brutal drag race power shifting, though the synchros are inherently a bit marginal. Building one usually involves replacing the aluminum 3-4 fork with the Viper-spec iron fork, replacing the stamped keys in the synchros with billet steel, and replacing the blocking rings.

Beyond that, there are various heavy duty parts available (Viper output shaft, etc) for people that are drag racing with a LOT of power and traction (and shock).

You can also get some polishing and setup work done to smooth things out a bit, but that's up to you.

Basically, a new, stock T56 will be fine if you take care of it and don't manhandle the shifter. OTOH, a used one has probably been powershifted a lot and should probably get at least the basic fork and keys build.

This post has been edited by sgarnett: Dec 26 2005, 05:54 PM