Quote:
Originally Posted by LT7A
That is very cool, all of it! I never had an interest in pre war cars but had reason to take a hiatus from this forum and spent a bunch of time on the HAMB. I decided I'd like to build a 31, piece by piece, like my dad could have done when he was in high school (if he was into cars - he wasn't). I just plan to pick up people's cast-off parts at swap meets and such, and try to build a rough roadster. Your 30 is much nicer than that and it's cool to read about all of the (mostly) period mods you've made and the friendship you've built. Feel free to drop as much info (and pics) here as you want, I'll read it avidly.
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I won't cut the Cabriolet up. It's as low as it can go as it sits so we're on the hunt for another body (coupe) as I want one a little lower & want more power.
Regarding the power, we went to the southwest clubs Model-A annual convention last year in Kerrville Tx where there was a presentation on the 'new' Burtz Model-A engine program. It visually looks like a stock block but internally has been updated so it's basically like a newer motor (better supported 5-main balanced crank, bearings & pressurized oil feed for improved reliability reducing the need to rebuild as often. They're pricy w/an initial investment of around $6500 - 8500 depending on how crazy you go w/options. The thing I learned though (& was disappointed with) was that the reliability didn't come w/a significant impact on power. I was hoping it bumped the power up as well. I'm not spending >$6500 & only getting stock HP levels. One of the other 'club' guys has a ~130hp banger but it cost him >10k to do it. I'm not spending that kind of money for someone else's stamp of approval or my own personal sense of accomplishment.
I'm a hot-rodder w/multiple styles of cars & trucks so my dollars have to be wisely spent. So just like they did back in the 50's when V8's became more common, I'm doing a coupe w/a sbc that has the early-era vibe & will utilize a fully synchronized 5spd trans w/better gearing. I can make 5x the OE power level of a banger w/a basic smallish cam'd sbc for <3k (using a '69 C10 350 & the trans is the NV3500 from my old 90obs thus free). I'll 'Z' the rails & cut/mod the trunk floor to get the drop w/ride quality I want. It will still appear like the Cabriolet externally but won't be just a modded stocker.