First timer- A lot of Questions

[newguy23]

Good evening, I am new here, I’ve always been big into watching derby’s, (my cousin used to run) but doesn’t anymore. I’ve got the itch to build one. Going to go with a stock car.. but seriously know nothing. Anyone have any advice, on what type of car to get for a beginner? Kinda late in the year, but my buddy and I wanna build one to get our feet wet and run this October. Then hopefully by next year have a better idea with what we’re doing. I can ask my cousin for more hands on help, but he quit cause he has a family and wife doesn’t want him wasting time building a car. If she won’t let him spend time working on his car, she isn’t going to let him help me much.

Anyways.
1. What kind of car do I need to look for?
2. What to look for?
3. How much am I going to spend? I know starting out I don’t wanna spend $15,000+ on a car, but for a first car.. what am I looking at to get my feet wet?

Cut me some slack, I’ll have a ton of questions. Thanks.

[demoboy333]

Do you know what show you plan to run? My advice is start with gut & go compacts/hobo. This will get your feet wet. Car wise depends on the class you plan to run.

[backwoodsboys707]

80s ford/lincoln is a good bone stock car that doesn't require alot of work to be somewhat competitive for a first timer. Main things you need to focus on is a reliable motor and trans then go from there

[noser23x]

Aug 8, 2021 21:46:36 GMT -5 newguy23 said:

Good evening, I am new here, I’ve always been big into watching derby’s, (my cousin used to run) but doesn’t anymore. I’ve got the itch to build one. Going to go with a stock car.. but seriously know nothing. Anyone have any advice, on what type of car to get for a beginner? Kinda late in the year, but my buddy and I wanna build one to get our feet wet and run this October. Then hopefully by next year have a better idea with what we’re doing. I can ask my cousin for more hands on help, but he quit cause he has a family and wife doesn’t want him wasting time building a car. If she won’t let him spend time working on his car, she isn’t going to let him help me much.

Anyways.
1. What kind of car do I need to look for?
2. What to look for?
3. How much am I going to spend? I know starting out I don’t wanna spend $15,000+ on a car, but for a first car.. what am I looking at to get my feet wet?

Cut me some slack, I’ll have a ton of questions. Thanks.

First off, great questions!

1.) Depending what class you are wanting to get into, FWD compact stuff is very easy, and if you are wanting to get into fullsize, then that's not a ton more work either. With the FWD stuff I would say starting with a Lumina or W-body is a great car, they are still cheap and easy to find, and there is a plethora of tips on here on building them. If you want to go fullsize, I would say either a metric GM or 79-97 crown vic/lincoln/grand marquis is a great start. Obviously certain years are better then others, with factory parts, but just getting started you can make them all work.
2.) When looking for a car, as always the cleaner the better. Once you get into it more, you start to know where rust matters more and less, but to start, look for clean on the frame. Sheetmetal is easy to patch.
3.) That depends on what you want to invest, jumping in to compact stuff, it really can cost as little as $500 or so if you know people, since all the running gear is already in the car. From there you just have to decide what you want to invest. Good stuff to have are a nice gas tank, pedals, shifter, some of the reusable stuff that you will use from car to car. That adds up, but you will have them for a long time if you take care of them. If you want to get into fullsize, having a nice reliable motor is a big key, and you don't need to drop 5k on an engine from a engine builder, but find a good SBC, go through it and put new gaskets in it, all that might run you a few dollars here and there.

Mostly, it's about what you want out of the sport, anyway you slice it, you can have fun, but few dollars here, few dollars there, can make it a little more fun.

And what I tell every younger driver, make it safe, make sure it runs and drives for more then 5 minutes, you will automatically do better then half the field.

[Punisher 66J]

A lot of your questions depend on what class it is going to be. First thing first you need to get the rules of where you plan on running in october. As far as compacts go I have only ever built rear wheel drive compacts so I am not much help. However if you are planning on a big car stock I think the vics are probably better cars but I'd go with a GM or a mopar from 79 to 88 or so because they will have a good drive line that you can keep and put from car to car. I just did this for three new guys this year. We found a 81 pontiac, a 83 caprice, and a 83 diplomat. All of them were bought for 400 or less with the drive line in them. We got them all running without pulling them out to do anything. Simple carb swap and a tune up and now they have a set up to put in the next car. Biggest thing is make it run good, and put a good cage in it and go from there. I have seen way too many "built" cars not be able to run for shit.

[newguy23]

Aug 9, 2021 7:59:29 GMT -5 noser23x said:

Aug 8, 2021 21:46:36 GMT -5 newguy23 said:

Good evening, I am new here, I’ve always been big into watching derby’s, (my cousin used to run) but doesn’t anymore. I’ve got the itch to build one. Going to go with a stock car.. but seriously know nothing. Anyone have any advice, on what type of car to get for a beginner? Kinda late in the year, but my buddy and I wanna build one to get our feet wet and run this October. Then hopefully by next year have a better idea with what we’re doing. I can ask my cousin for more hands on help, but he quit cause he has a family and wife doesn’t want him wasting time building a car. If she won’t let him spend time working on his car, she isn’t going to let him help me much.

Anyways.
1. What kind of car do I need to look for?
2. What to look for?
3. How much am I going to spend? I know starting out I don’t wanna spend $15,000+ on a car, but for a first car.. what am I looking at to get my feet wet?

Cut me some slack, I’ll have a ton of questions. Thanks.

First off, great questions!

1.) Depending what class you are wanting to get into, FWD compact stuff is very easy, and if you are wanting to get into fullsize, then that's not a ton more work either. With the FWD stuff I would say starting with a Lumina or W-body is a great car, they are still cheap and easy to find, and there is a plethora of tips on here on building them. If you want to go fullsize, I would say either a metric GM or 79-97 crown vic/lincoln/grand marquis is a great start. Obviously certain years are better then others, with factory parts, but just getting started you can make them all work.
2.) When looking for a car, as always the cleaner the better. Once you get into it more, you start to know where rust matters more and less, but to start, look for clean on the frame. Sheetmetal is easy to patch.
3.) That depends on what you want to invest, jumping in to compact stuff, it really can cost as little as $500 or so if you know people, since all the running gear is already in the car. From there you just have to decide what you want to invest. Good stuff to have are a nice gas tank, pedals, shifter, some of the reusable stuff that you will use from car to car. That adds up, but you will have them for a long time if you take care of them. If you want to get into fullsize, having a nice reliable motor is a big key, and you don't need to drop 5k on an engine from a engine builder, but find a good SBC, go through it and put new gaskets in it, all that might run you a few dollars here and there.

Mostly, it's about what you want out of the sport, anyway you slice it, you can have fun, but few dollars here, few dollars there, can make it a little more fun.

And what I tell every younger driver, make it safe, make sure it runs and drives for more then 5 minutes, you will automatically do better then half the field.

Thank you all for the responses.


If I go with a compact, I’m worried about just making the car safe. It never fails, I feel compacts seem to be where more of the incidents occur. I would agree with your statement about guys not building them safe. I feel the reason is those are the “cheap cars” and anyone that gets a wild hair to build a derby car builds a compact, and doesn’t make it safe. I’ll admit, I have “a wild hair” and considering the compacts as well because they are cheaper.. but I don’t want to be the person doing it wrong, and not being in a car safe to run. That leads me to:

Gas Tank: Do you guys recommend building or buying? I’m sure money can be saved building, but also more risk. What’s your thoughts for building, and if I do buy, where from?

Compact cars: what years do I need to stop looking at? Pre 99? When did most of the cars really go to unibody vs body on frame?

[Punisher 66J]

Every compact that I know is a unibody, there isn't really a cut off it is just what you are comfortable with and what skills you have. Are you used to working on fuel injected vehicles? Also Building a gas tank can be just as safe as buying one depending on your skills.

[newguy23]

No, I don’t have a ton of experience working on fuel injected.

[noser23x]

Aug 9, 2021 11:55:43 GMT -5 newguy23 said:

Aug 9, 2021 7:59:29 GMT -5 noser23x said:

First off, great questions!

1.) Depending what class you are wanting to get into, FWD compact stuff is very easy, and if you are wanting to get into fullsize, then that's not a ton more work either. With the FWD stuff I would say starting with a Lumina or W-body is a great car, they are still cheap and easy to find, and there is a plethora of tips on here on building them. If you want to go fullsize, I would say either a metric GM or 79-97 crown vic/lincoln/grand marquis is a great start. Obviously certain years are better then others, with factory parts, but just getting started you can make them all work.
2.) When looking for a car, as always the cleaner the better. Once you get into it more, you start to know where rust matters more and less, but to start, look for clean on the frame. Sheetmetal is easy to patch.
3.) That depends on what you want to invest, jumping in to compact stuff, it really can cost as little as $500 or so if you know people, since all the running gear is already in the car. From there you just have to decide what you want to invest. Good stuff to have are a nice gas tank, pedals, shifter, some of the reusable stuff that you will use from car to car. That adds up, but you will have them for a long time if you take care of them. If you want to get into fullsize, having a nice reliable motor is a big key, and you don't need to drop 5k on an engine from a engine builder, but find a good SBC, go through it and put new gaskets in it, all that might run you a few dollars here and there.

Mostly, it's about what you want out of the sport, anyway you slice it, you can have fun, but few dollars here, few dollars there, can make it a little more fun.

And what I tell every younger driver, make it safe, make sure it runs and drives for more then 5 minutes, you will automatically do better then half the field.

Thank you all for the responses.


If I go with a compact, I’m worried about just making the car safe. It never fails, I feel compacts seem to be where more of the incidents occur. I would agree with your statement about guys not building them safe. I feel the reason is those are the “cheap cars” and anyone that gets a wild hair to build a derby car builds a compact, and doesn’t make it safe. I’ll admit, I have “a wild hair” and considering the compacts as well because they are cheaper.. but I don’t want to be the person doing it wrong, and not being in a car safe to run. That leads me to:

Gas Tank: Do you guys recommend building or buying? I’m sure money can be saved building, but also more risk. What’s your thoughts for building, and if I do buy, where from?

Compact cars: what years do I need to stop looking at? Pre 99? When did most of the cars really go to unibody vs body on frame?

Personally, with gas tank's you can usually find someone selling something, or a new one cheap enough to save yourself alot of headache.

On a Lumina, with fuel injection I recccomend, you need a Tank with 3 outlets, 1 on the bottom that feeds fuel, and 2 on top, 1 is a vent, the other is a return. I then get an E2000 pump ($40 on summit or local parts store), run a new feed, run the return back, run a vent up, easy peasy and running like factory.

[cheezwhiz31]

I think 2001 was the last year of steel sub-frame in a W body...FYI

[Landshark007]

This is my gas tank made from old air tank saves a lot of work and everyone has one of these laying around

[demoboy333]

In all my fwds I always just used factory tanks. It's easier with a smaller tank for show. But I slowly bend fuel lines about 6ft section to go through one of the drain holes in floor. Compacts basically everyone around me is camrys, w body and accords.

[amkear613]

If you can get ahold of them or better yet buy used get an m and m boys universal tank. Can use in full size and compacts. Issue is ya order one off him and it’ll take him months to get it to ya.

[demoboy333]

Looks like he got a bubble buick century to tune with 3.1