Research Mode

Hi guys, I'm glad to be a part of this journey with all of you. Thank you in advance for all the help you will all provide! I have no clue what I'm doing, I've only done a couple of car repairs thanks to you tube. My boys (both under 6) are really into fast cars. They love building stuff so I started learning to build stuff for and with them. I found factory five just browsing thru the net looking for a project. I fell in love with the 35 truck and my boys each chose which one they want for themselves. Of course its going to be a while before we build theirs but I cant wait to get started on mine! My very first question is...what are the specs I need on this truck to eat corvettes for breakfast? It's not going to be a daily driver but I'm also not going to use it for drag racing. Just a weekend cruiser here but I still want the power. More than likely I'll go with a complete blue print engine and transmission since I know nothing about any of this and I feel like building the truck is enough work for now. I seen the Chevy 400 has 508hp and it seems like plenty for this light vehicle. Spill some knowledge if yall can please!

Welcome! Building a FF is a lot of fun but not necessarily for everyone. You didnt mention anything about budget so we're all going to assume that cost is no objective ;) - something to think about though. As for power, there is POWER and then there is usable power. You're not going to eat Corvette's for breakfast just sitting there spinning yer wheels. Something in the 350 to 450 hp range might be easier to control. As you already noted, these puppies are light so it doesn't take much but you have to have traction.

Enjoy the planning, it's part of the journey.
Steve

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Originally Posted by FF33rod

Welcome! Building a FF is a lot of fun but not necessarily for everyone. You didnt mention anything about budget so we're all going to assume that cost is no objective ;) - something to think about though. As for power, there is POWER and then there is usable power. You're not going to eat Corvette's for breakfast just sitting there spinning yer wheels. Something in the 350 to 450 hp range might be easier to control. As you already noted, these puppies are light so it doesn't take much but you have to have traction.

Enjoy the planning, it's part of the journey.
Steve

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Thank you for the input steve!! Well noted. Yes, there is no budget here!

I read that the 2019 Corvette ZR1 does the 1/4-mile in 10.6-seconds. It's gonna take much more than 450 HP to match that. And as for spinning the tires -- that's easy to do with 450 HP but it's also not that difficult to make 600 HP hook on asphalt with DOT tires. So I fall into the camp that believes it's very difficult to have too much HP. Remember, that skinny pedal on the right is used to modulate the power. If you want old fashioned hot rod straight line performance that requires HP and HP requires $$. So buy as much as you can afford up front but leave some of the budget for good brakes too. I have 550HP + up to 300-shot of nitrous if needed and that still ain't enough. Got my eye on a 710HP replacement and with that same 300-shot of nitrous that puts the power just north of 1000 which should satisfy me for awhile.

Have fun.

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Originally Posted by NAZ

I read that the 2019 Corvette ZR1 does the 1/4-mile in 10.6-seconds. It's gonna take much more than 450 HP to match that. And as for spinning the tires -- that's easy to do with 450 HP but it's also not that difficult to make 600 HP hook on asphalt with DOT tires. So I fall into the camp that believes it's very difficult to have too much HP. Remember, that skinny pedal on the right is used to modulate the power. If you want old fashioned hot rod straight line performance that requires HP and HP requires $$. So buy as much as you can afford up front but leave some of the budget for good brakes too. I have 550HP + up to 300-shot of nitrous if needed and that still ain't enough. Got my eye on a 710HP replacement and with that same 300-shot of nitrous that puts the power just north of 1000 which should satisfy me for awhile.

Have fun.

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Yep I looked into the zr1, the ls9 is pushing 638 hp. I thought about buying that setup but Chevrolet says it's for competition vehicles only. I'm not trying to compete, I just want to be able to smoke regular corvettes lol.

At 550HP naturally aspirated, there's not many street cars that can keep up with my little hot rod. 500HP pump gas crate engines are easy to find and are mild mannered enough you can drive them anywhere. As for traction, I've launched mine on the street with 100-shot and DOT tires off the trans brake with a 5000 RPM stall converter and the car hooks hard and goes straight. So don't be afraid of running a bit more power than most here will suggest -- there's nothing like that feeling of being pushed back into the seat under a couple of G's.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NAZ

At 550HP naturally aspirated, there's not many street cars that can keep up with my little hot rod. 500HP pump gas crate engines are easy to find and are mild mannered enough you can drive them anywhere. As for traction, I've launched mine on the street with 100-shot and DOT tires off the trans brake with a 5000 RPM stall converter and the car hooks hard and goes straight. So don't be afraid of running a bit more power than most here will suggest -- there's nothing like that feeling of being pushed back into the seat under a couple of G's.

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Awesome, thank you for the info Naz!!