Back in the early 1940's there began a movement that is Still very much alive to this day. The quest for speed was an appetite that couldn't be quenched. No matter how fast you went yo ualways looked for more ways to have "just a little more". The most popular platform to start with in that era were the Ford Model A's and Model T's. It was easy to understand why these cars were so popular. They were readily available and you could pick them up for a little of nothing.
The Hobby Really took off and went to the next level in the Late 50's. Chevrolet intoroduced the legendary Small block V8. True it wasn't the first V8 available but it made good power and proved to be somewhat more reliable than the earlier flathead motors. The Automotive aftermarket started porducing speed parts and it was only a matter of time before the speed junkies realized that the Lightweight Model A was a perfect canidate for the well performing Small block Chevy. Immeidately you hade the die-hard Ford followers forming lynch mobs, but at the same time you had the hardcore racers looking to strap a seat to a bare frame just to make the "car" lighter. I tend to side with the 'rodder and have a broader perspective, looking to take great ideas and make them better.
The quest for speed is still thriving and has been magnified to a whole new level. All out race cars in the day performed as well as a Mustang GT off the showroom floor. I too have been bitten by the "speed bug" and decided to build a car to feed my appetite. Like many before hand I looked for a solid platform to start with which hands down would be the Foxbody Mustang. There are tons of them out there, you can pick them up for practically nothing, there is a huge aftermarket following, plus in my mind they are just plain cool.
I found an 86 LX Coupe that was laid to rest in a field and picked it up for $250.00 It wasn't pretty but it was exactly what I wanted to start with. I have a special place in my heart for 4 eye cars, you either love them or hate them. I chose a 4 eye coupe because #1 coupes are lighter and more sound than a hatchback, # the 4 eyes are lighter than the 87-93 cars. Keeping with the "Lighter is faster" theme I completely stripped the car down to begin the transformation.
Since it's introduction in 1997 I have been researching the LS1 platform. They come from the factory in 97-08 Corvettes, 98-02 Camaros/Firebirds, and 99-08 GM Trucks/SUVs. Though each motors has it's individual charachteristics the core design remains relatively the same. So no matter what style you find the same result can be accomplished. Earlier this year GM performance parts released a front distributor drive conversion for their NASCAR LS motor. Since they can't use Coil packs they have to use a conventional distributor setup. The best part about it is they designed it based off of the Ford Distributor. That was the the last straw... I knew I had to build one. I picked up a GM Crate motor locally from Greg May Chevrolet and began my LS1 transformation. After I un-crated the long block I pulled the Factory front cover off to install the Front mount distributor cover. While it was off I went ahead and took advantage of the situation and installed a "GTP series 4" cam which specs out at .568" lift and 232 duration on a 112 LSA. Needless to say the cam will really wake up the motor and move the little car down the 1320 pretty quickly. I've got more to come and should have some updated pics and info next week.
