Ever Have A Mongrel Car?

[sailor55330]

Mine--
65 Mustang, 302 bored 30 thousanth's over, 10.5/1 pistons, sodium lifters, Holley 650 double pumper, Offenhauser aluminum intake manifold. Heads milled 40 thous to improve compression. Hand ground valves that did something. Only drawback was stock cam---Dad said no to the 3/4. Had a C6 from a Ford truck on the rear end to take the abuse. Hard to explain smoking the tires at 35mph. Yeah, it ran ok.


Best one I ever saw-----60's Ford Galaxy 500. Big Block 460 punched to 502. I know it had the 2 biggest Holley's you could get on it. Best part was the rear-end gears out of an International Harvester Farm Truck----it was the only rear end that would last more that 250ft.

[williwatt]

Really Odd Mongrel

A friend of mine came up with a really strange car. He married the rear end sheet metal including the trunk of a Mustang to a Gremlin. The rear window of the Gremlin still opened and the trunk was a nice feature. He called the car a GremStang. I wish I had taken a picture of it.

[twistsol]

My dad had a 72 Buick Electra that had been mounted on a modified chevy 4x4 frame. He bought it from a plumber that needed a 4x4 but didn't want to drive a truck all the time. It had pull out toolboxes in the trunk and sat only a little higher than the normal Buick of its time.

[dbhost]

You guys are bringing back TONS of memories of cars I remember from guys in High School...

The 1974 El Camino perched atop a modified in auto shop class K5 Blazer chassis rolling on 35" rubber..

The 351 4bbl 4 speed 1972 Mercury Comet "Granny mobile".

The myriad Toyota Land Cruisers with Chevy 350s in them...

and even more Vegas with 350s in them...

I miss fun cars...

[BobSch]

The 351 4bbl 4 speed 1972 Mercury Comet "Granny mobile".

Sounds like the little old lady from Pasadena.

[cabinetman]

I had another one. It was a '79 BMW 323i. For the models that were shipped to the US, they were a 320i, 4 banger. This model was gray market...a 6 cylinder (from the factory), with dual exhaust, fuel injection, and lightweight body panels, and glass. It made a great track car.
.


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[sscherin]

My 70 Firebird was somewhat pieced together..
It was a factory 350/TH-350 car with 2.76 gears
I picked up a 71 Grandville 455 for it but that turned out to have a cracked block so I salvaged the rods & crank and swapped the block back to the shop for a 73 Granville block.
Filled that with TRW Forged pictons.
put a baffeled pan on it from a 75 motor
Ported and milled 6X heads from a 78 400 motor
Ultradyne Solid lift cam
Harland Sharp roller rockers
HEI Distributor from a 80 Bonneville 301 engine with a Corvette vacuum advance can and Mallory coil.
Topped that with a Edelbrock Torquer single plane intake and a Holley 3310 carb modded with a rear jet block, milled air horn and 50cc pump.

Sourced a short shaft TH-400 trans from a 73 Gran Prix
Rear end was a factory HD 4 pinion 10 bolt w 3.73 gears from a 70 Chevy Z-28 plus a set of Cal-tracks.
Found a Factory Formula hood and rear spoiler set for it .

Then I had a shop take apart a set of stock Rally II steel rims, weld the centers into 15x10 blanks and hung 295-50-15's on em..

First time I put slicks on it it flexed the body hard enough to crack the paint at the tops of the side windows so it got sub frame connectors after that.

That was this car..


The last thing I did was a 87 Mustang Notch back 4 cyl auto car.. We swapped in a 5.0 from a Lincoln, converted to stick shift, swapped in a 8.8 rear axle, V8 fuel tank, fuel lines, front suspension, gauges, ECU and all the wiring past the firewall.

My buddy Wayne built the true mongrels..

One of em was a car we Called Little Green..
It was a Triumph Spitfire with a 350hp Chevy 4.3 V6 with bow-tie heads, cross ram intake, T-5 trans and a IRS built around a 280ZX 200mm rear pumpkin , shortened half shafts and axle carries with custom control arms and frame mounts.



Never mind his 67 RS/SS factory big block 4 speed Camaro in the background with a dual quad 502 in it.
That one is a fairly tame build



His last build before he passed was a 1971 240Z with a 480hp small block chevy and Trimec 5 speed. He tried the T-5 from Little green but it ate it after the first couple passes.
Best pass was 11.50's @ 128. He had a few traction issues to work out
All I have it pics of that tone while he was building it

[Pappy]

[QUOTE=sscherin;506877]My 70 Firebird was somewhat pieced together..
It was a factory 350/TH-350 car with 2.76 gears
I picked up a 71 Grandville 455 for it but that turned out to have a cracked block so I salvaged the rods & crank and swapped the block back to the shop for a 73 Granville block.
Filled that with TRW Forged pictons.
put a baffeled pan on it from a 75 motor
Ported and milled 6X heads from a 78 400 motor
Ultradyne Solid lift cam
Harland Sharp roller rockers
HEI Distributor from a 80 Bonneville 301 engine with a Corvette vacuum advance can and Mallory coil.
Topped that with a Edelbrock Torquer single plane intake and a Holley 3310 carb modded with a rear jet block, milled air horn and 50cc pump.

Sourced a short shaft TH-400 trans from a 73 Gran Prix
Rear end was a factory HD 4 pinion 10 bolt w 3.73 gears from a 70 Chevy Z-28 plus a set of Cal-tracks.
Found a Factory Formula hood and rear spoiler set for it .

Then I had a shop take apart a set of stock Rally II steel rims, weld the centers into 15x10 blanks and hung 295-50-15's on em..

First time I put slicks on it it flexed the body hard enough to crack the paint at the tops of the side windows so it got sub frame connectors after that.

That was this car..


That brought back memories! I had a '71 Formula 350/350. Body was stock down to the honeycomb wheels. The only mod was to open up the scoops. All the body work was done and the rust cut out and replaced but I never got beyound the primer stage. Found a ram air breather but it got away before I could get back with the $$$. Bought it in CA from a kid that couldn't get it running after changing the timing chain. Opened the cover and rotated the cam so both alignment marks were at the top, buttoned up the engine and fired her up. (He had the cam mark at the bottom, ala Chevy) While I was on recruiting in Stillwater, OK the engine started knocking. Found a '71 Grandville under a barn lean-to. Brought out a battery, and drove it to the house. Swapped the motor into my Formula and junked the rest. Traded that hot rod for a roof job on the house.

[thiggy]

Phrog, your comment is surprising in that when I was in high school in the early 60's I had an old Crosley frame with an old Ford flathead 60hp motor in it. I had a Crosley station wagon body, but never did get them mated. I just drove the bodyless vehicle around in the woods (until one day that I spun out while going around a tree and caught the rear axle with the tree, yanking the axle out and breaking the front engine mounts.

[JimD]

I only dreamed of these sort of cars when I was younger. I always had something I needed worse (and motorcycles were quicker up to slightly above legal speeds anyway). Now that I could afford something like this, I am not sure that is what I want to drive. I've gotten spoiled by dual climate control, auto headlights, auto wipers, etc..

If I build one, the ideas that intrigue me are a miata with a LS engine or a Fiero with a LS or possible small cadilac V8. The miata is the most probable. I don't like the looks of the ones you can get inexpensively at the moment. The current new model looks better but is pretty expensive to buy to throw the drivetrain away. With even a "mild" LS motor, this would be quite a quick vehicle. There are kits for both the LS series and for a Ford small block (a mustang drivetrain, for instance).

Jim

[Pappy]

If I build one, the ideas that intrigue me are a miata with a LS engine or a Fiero with a LS or possible small cadilac V8. The miata is the most probable. I don't like the looks of the ones you can get inexpensively at the moment. The current new model looks better but is pretty expensive to buy to throw the drivetrain away. With even a "mild" LS motor, this would be quite a quick vehicle. There are kits for both the LS series and for a Ford small block (a mustang drivetrain, for instance).

Jim

Both my sons had Fieros at one time. We talked about converting the youngest's GT for the drag strip. There are a lot of conversion set ups available that include an Olds Quad 4, Northstar, and small block Chevys. The problem with mating the 350 to to the original trans axle was that the axle wasn't strong enough to handle the extra power and torque so you had to drive them carefully.

Haven't seen it around in a while, but there was a guy running aroud south Austin in a Corvair with a twin turbo small block Chevy in the back seat.

[Pappy]

After I quit racing drag bikes I toyed with the idea of building a bracket car. Had my eye on a Bradley GT2 / Corvair set up that was going to go pretty cheap. My idea was to have a custom tube frame built, retain the gull wing doors and hinge the whole body Funny Car style. Mate a small block Chevy and auto to a NARROWED Ford 9" with the motor set as far back as possible. Should have been able to pull the front end up on launch but, as narrow as the car would be, I think it had the potential of getting real squirrely to handle.

[cabinetman]

I remember back in the 60's, on a new car purchase, the upgrded engine was dirt cheap...something usually less than $1K. In todays market the hot rods, like the Camaro and Mustang, that window sticker $30K to $35K, opt out with the engine and performance package to way over $50K.

Building that sleeper, or mongrel, could get up there in price too. By the time it gets equipped with the same amenities, like A/C, etc. There's also finding all the parts needed and ones that will work for the changeover. I've gotta say I've seen some very nice conversions, like SBC's in a 240Z, or in a BMW 630-635. The little roadster cars need to be beefed up. The Cobra replica's are pretty fairly priced IMO, for what you get.

.

[sscherin]

Both my sons had Fieros at one time. We talked about converting the youngest's GT for the drag strip. There are a lot of conversion set ups available that include an Olds Quad 4, Northstar, and small block Chevys. The problem with mating the 350 to to the original trans axle was that the axle wasn't strong enough to handle the extra power and torque so you had to drive them carefully.

Haven't seen it around in a while, but there was a guy running aroud south Austin in a Corvair with a twin turbo small block Chevy in the back seat.

They make a kit to drop an LS1 in the Fiero now and they also have a kit to swap in a 6 speed trans from a Pontiac G6


Motor kit
http://www.v8archie.com/v8Archie/home.htm
6 speed Tranks kit
http://www.v8archie.com/v8Archie/Prod3.htm

[Pappy]

V8Archie is the one I remember as offering the small block Chevy kits.