[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!

[trackbird]

The only way (I can see) you could spend $3k to put a manual trans in one of these cars is if you had a built T56 or TKO put in, which you don't need unless you're making a lot more power. If you don't mind used, it's saved me a lot of money.

When I did my 5 speed swap in my 3rd gen (which was in 1993 or 94 when it wasn't too common, at least not where I lived), I went to the dealer and ordered everything but the flywheel (found a deal on a GMPP 16 lb unit), the gearbox ($500 from a salvage yard) and the clutch. I had very nearly $2k in my swap (1LE driveshaft, bought new and all the assorted parts). Maybe not quite $2k, but I was something over $1500 total (for a T5 swap.....there were really no T56's yet, at least none that I could afford).