My first drag project

My first drag project

Author
Discussion

drcox99

Original Poster:

55 posts

72 months

Friday 16th March 2018
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Hi everyone, im new to this forum but have run into a bit of a road block and would love some help.
ive recently purchased a reliant Scimitar SE6 with plans to turn it into a drag car, ive been going and watching drag racing at santapod since i was a kid and have always wanted to learn about it.
anyway the car comes with a 3l essex V6 with 140 bhp stock, its pretty beat up and would take a while and a fair bit of money to get it to be race able.
the question is, if the v6 isnt going to make the power i want on a limited budget, what should i swap in, im looking for around 500-600 Bhp to get me into the low 11s or high 10s, but living in the uk what engine should i be looking at getting, im willing to put in the elbow grease to get there and i dont expect this to happen quickly but im hearing about a 350 small block a lot, or at a higher budget an old 454 big block.

any advice on which V8s i should be looking at and how much i should expect to pay to get an engine to the 500-600 hp range would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

gusm2

131 posts

74 months

Saturday 17th March 2018
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There's a BBC for sale on Rod's N Sod's at the moment £4.5k complete or 2.5k bare engine, not saying it's for you but gives an idea of price, I'm sure there are lots of options out there

drcox99

Original Poster:

55 posts

72 months

Sunday 18th March 2018
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Thanks for the reply, I’m thinking I’ll do as much to the current engine as possible so I might try nitrous on it but I have no clue how much an Essex V6 could take anyone know?

gusm2

131 posts

74 months

Sunday 18th March 2018
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Lots of info on the Web, I do know the weak point is the fibre timing gears, I trashed a 3.0 in my Pop racing a Cavalier SRI back in the day cry
I believe steel upgraded replacements are fairly reasonable, are you just going to RWYB it?

drcox99

Original Poster:

55 posts

72 months

Sunday 18th March 2018
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Yea I mean that’s the plan, going for low weight more than power cuz from what I’ve read it’s the pistons that limit the power from nitrous or other power adders, and idk if I want to blow a thousand pounds on a forged set of pistons. And the timing gears will probably be one of the first things to go, I’d like to add nitrous as I’ll only use it for the drag strip but I have no clue how much it could take.

Flying Phil

1,578 posts

144 months

Monday 19th March 2018
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If you are serious about 500+ Hp then either a Chev small block with lots of good parts or a less tuned big block will give the most H.P. /£ or an alloy block to keep the weight down - but again £ up!
Whilst the V6 can take modest nitrous I would be tempted to have a learning season with the V6 before spending*

drcox99

Original Poster:

55 posts

72 months

Monday 19th March 2018
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Yeah I would prefer to have a big block but they’re not cheap, don’t have the money for a swap at the moment, and that’s going to be the plan I think, there’s a few things I can do for a relatively low price like camshaft and other small bits, and then maybe look at nitrous after a while. I’m in no rush I’d rather do little bits at a time and learn what I’m doing, having said that I’d love to be able to get down to 12 second E/T, any tips on getting there for the cheapest price would be appreciated, as far as I can see nitrous is the cheapest and easiest.

irocfan

40,152 posts

189 months

Monday 19th March 2018
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Flying Phil said:

Whilst the V6 can take modest nitrous I would be tempted to have a learning season with the V6 before spending*
this - have a season of fun learning before committing to £££

gusm2

131 posts

74 months

Monday 19th March 2018
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The other downside of a V8 is the weight which would require a bit of suspension work adding to expense, stick with the V6 and some sensible mods to it and maybe even a shot of nitrous , as mentioned earlier I'd concentrate on getting some seat time and learning the car and track etc.
Don't be too disappointed if your not running the numbers right away, it fun to chip away at it as you progress

drcox99

Original Poster:

55 posts

72 months

Monday 19th March 2018
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Thanks for the advice, I hadn’t thought about the strain the suspension would be under.
What are the sort of things I should be looking towards doing to the Essex V6?

Flying Phil

1,578 posts

144 months

Monday 19th March 2018
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The other factor to consider is that, for safety running 11's or under you should seriously think about a roll cage - and the chassis of an old Scimitar may not have too much strength left so you could be looking at a complete tube chassis - Drag racing is addictive...... but rapidly becomes expensive - to get really rapid!

drcox99

Original Poster:

55 posts

72 months

Monday 19th March 2018
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Yeah a role cage has been a topic I’ve been thinking about, luckily my dad has a friend that makes his own role cage so when the time comes I know where I’ll be going, don’t want to do it too early who’ll im still in the 15 second range tho cuz of the weight. The chassis of this one looks surprisingly good but I plan on replacing any rusted parts. My goal of 12 seconds is mainly so that I can acc get into a class, I could get into pro et, and then further down the like super street. But obviously getting to 12 seconds with a 900kg car and fairly low go motor isn’t gonna be easy.

irocfan

40,152 posts

189 months

Tuesday 20th March 2018
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another thing to try is, maybe, see if you can crew a little with some bods who do this (semi)seriously, you could view it as an apprenticeship?

carlgoldsmith

9 posts

101 months

Tuesday 20th March 2018
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sounds like a cool project, a couple of points if you are getting a cage put in make sure it meets the drag specs (availible here http://www.eurodragster.com/sprc/2018forms/ruleboo... )and have a chat to a few people at the track most people are approachable if they are not busy, i will be racing at festival of power if you are there and want to pick my brains you are welcome. I race a mk2 golf with about 500 hp and weighing 930 odd kg pb of 10.73 @129

drcox99

Original Poster:

55 posts

72 months

Wednesday 21st March 2018
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That is a good idea, I’m going a few times this year so I’ll definantly spend more time in the sportsman area of the pits. Also thanks for the link, I found it like a week ago and lost it lol, your golf being that light is making me wonder how light I can actually get my car, I mean it’s almost 1300 kgs stock.

Ranger 6

7,040 posts

248 months

Wednesday 21st March 2018
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carlgoldsmith said:
...I race a mk2 golf with about 500 hp and weighing 930 odd kg pb of 10.73 @129
I'd be interested to see more on that? Any build thread on-line?

funnycar

43 posts

208 months

Thursday 22nd March 2018
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Talk to Keith Ridley at Elitemotoristcentre (He's on Facebook)
Keith ran a Scimitar with Essex V6 (& maybe NOS I think) back in the 90's & it ran fairly stout.
Runs a bbc in something more modern currently but everything you're thinking about doing now, he already did back in the day.
Billy

carlgoldsmith

9 posts

101 months

Thursday 22nd March 2018
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Ranger 6 said:
I'd be interested to see more on that? Any build thread on-line?
Hi here is a build thread that i haven't updated for a while http://clubgti.com/showthread.php?274775-VW-PRO-54...

carlgoldsmith

9 posts

101 months

Thursday 22nd March 2018
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drcox99 said:
That is a good idea, I’m going a few times this year so I’ll definantly spend more time in the sportsman area of the pits. Also thanks for the link, I found it like a week ago and lost it lol, your golf being that light is making me wonder how light I can actually get my car, I mean it’s almost 1300 kgs stock.
that is quite heavy but you need to be a bit careful going too crazy on the weight loss, I would be tempted to get the car working and enter sportsman ET just to give it a go as long as your car can do a sub 30 second quarter you can enter. I have raced my camper a couple of times in VW sportsman and it can be good fun.

Camaro

1,415 posts

174 months

Friday 23rd March 2018
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Hi Drcox99

Definitely worth having a chat with racers when up at the track, like Carl I shall be at the Festival of Power competing in Sportsman ET. It's a great class to get your foot in the door of competition drag racing. If you're wandering the pits and spot my cars, just drop by and I'd be more than happy to talk you through the class and what's involved.



www.50shadesofracing.com