'Shorty' '79 Aspen project

[IndyDave]

For the longest time I've wanted to build a stock car inspired street car and with the growth of the Pro-Touring movement I've been given the kick in the pants I needed to get serious about doing this. Now I absolutely have NO desire to build a street going stock car replica, rather a kick ass car that has been influenced by my past racing short track street stockers and current passion for autocross and road racing. I'm also a certified Mopar addict.

So earlier this year I sold my SCCA Improved Touring A Neon and went on the hunt for a car to start with. What I came up with is a 1979 Dodge Aspen R/T. Found the car on Craigslist sitting at a lot outside of Nashville Tn. It's a tired given up on drag car project that stopped after about half the work was done. The car was originally slant-six motivated but now has a mildly built early 80's 318, stout 727 TF, and a B-body 8 3/4 with sure grip and 4.10 gears. The car is a mixed bag of thoughtful and terrible modifications. The engine seems to be well built and quality if used parts were used in the build such as MSD ignition with a pro-billet distributor, Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, etc. while the exhaust system from headers back is stupendously bad hill-jack engineering at it's worst. Cheap aftermarket gauges were carefully installed in the radio cavity while household shag carpeting was on the floor and a dirty t-shirt served as a seat cover. Get the picture?


My plans for the car are to build a short track inspired street fighter that I can run at autocrosses, track days, and time trials while being able to also cruise it to Suds on Saturday night. To that end, my plans include ridding the car of the ill-thought out transverse torsion bar front suspension. I had looked at several posibilities: factory Chrysler longitudinal torsion bar suspension, RMS' Alterkation, and some form of fabricated front stub suspension. I decided to go with the third option. I'll be using a road race front frame from Howe with coil-overs. Pricing everything this seems to be the most cost effective solution and it will give me uncompromised geometry. It will take the same amount of fabrication as swapping the front subframe with a longitudinal sub from another Mopar and the options for arms, spindles and steering are endless as well as less expensive. The RMS solution was the first crossed off the list due to it's high cost and street rod Mustang II geometry but was considered for it's bolt-in ease. The rear suspension will remain leaf spring. A good number of short track cars to this day still use Mopar type rear leaf springs so the options there are plentiful and it makes the build a little less complicated. While I'm geting my fabricating freak on I'm going to twist up an SCCA / NASA legal cage and fabricated dash. Other stock car inspired touches will include low hung fuel cell, fabricated spoilers, flared fenders, shaved handles and markers, stainless mesh grille, window straps, etc. You get the picture. Brakes will be from Afco. The accessory Mopar hood scoop will probably stay. The paint will be a matte shade of green close to the factory color and I'm thinking of re-applying the factory stripes. The street wheels will be 15" x 10" Aero steel wheels and some big balonies that look the part. Competition wheels will either be 17" or 18" with Hoosier A6 or R6 rubber depending on the situation.

For now, here's the car as I got it.......





and some of my inspiration.......

[srh3trinity]

That is a cool starting point. Amazing how much some of these cars looked alike in the 70's. If you squint and hold your head just right, you would mistake it for a later Nova. I like the look of the Laguna you posted. It looks clean and mean. The widebody Aspen has been posted before and there is a whole thread about it.

[srh3trinity]

Here is the thread I was thinking about: http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=38504

[wellis77]

This is awesome! I am wanting to find an Aspen or Volare wagon to give the treatment, but using a C6 front stub and three or four-link in the rear. Looking forward to seeing this come together.

[High Plains Mopars]

That looks like a very clean start to the project. I'm a big fan of the Mopar F bodies.

[IndyDave]

This build just went nuclear! I was readying my order to Howe for a front frame, control arms, spindles, and hubs but Howe's website was having issues. While I was waiting for things to happen I opened another tab and went to E-Bay to browse race cars for sale when it happened. Call it karma, fate, a sign, or dumb luck but I stumbled upon this:



It's a complete Laughlin short track rolling chassis with a quick change rear end. It was a no reserve auction with the starting bid just $200 more than I was getting ready to drop at Howe for the few basic items listed above. So the Howe order went on hold and I bid on the roller and guess what, I won the auction! So, the Aspen will now be sporting a Laughlin NASCAR North series chassis.

[72D100]

Your build has indeed gone nuclear. i cant wait to see more

[NOT A TA]

This should be a really cool build! Will be watching for more updates.

[72BBSwinger]

Well I guess its gonna be a street themed NASCAR now huh Dave!

[IndyDave]

Well I guess its gonna be a street themed NASCAR now huh Dave!

Thanks everybody.

I wouldn't say that, the tone will still more reflect Saturday night short tracker, it'll just have a full boogie NASCAR North spec chassis under it. Can't wait to get it home and get started!

[High Plains Mopars]

That's going to be cool.

Almost a shame to cut up such a good starting point to skin the chassis.

[IndyDave]

Went and got the chassis this weekend. 1400 miles and 120 gallons worth of gas later it's sitting in the garage.

Here it is after being rolled onto the trailer......


and here it is safely tucked away in the garage.....

[4WardInv]

Cool project!

[IndyDave]

A quick update:

I've been busy with SCCA stuff, was elected President of the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Region SCCA so I've been getting up to speed with that position. I was able to get a little garage time so i got the trusty tape measure out and went to work. The chassis width is perfect! The chassis' width fits inside the rockers of the Aspen. Using the main hoop on the chassis and the b pillar on the body as a common reference point, I made all my length measurements. I was hoping to find that I would be able to fudge the wheel openings a little to make up for the difference in the wheelbase between the Aspen and the chassis (The Aspen is 108.7" and the chassis is 105"). Unfortunately that won't be the case. From the b pillar forward, everything works out perfectly, all the difference in length happens from the b pillar back. So what I'm going to have to do is lengthen the chassis behind the main hoop 3 3/4". That means moving the truck arm mount rearward as well as the entire rear clip. That will also mean that I will have re-do all the bars from the main hoop back. No biggie really. Now that the weather is getting better I'll be able to spend more time in the garage. The only stumbling block right now is I have to get our Mustang GT ready for the upcoming autocross season.

[danial]

HI awesome project .I own a 1977 volare and I'm trying to build it into a protouring car some day. I was wondering what you would recommend on front suspension. I'm looking for something that requires little to no fabrication.
Thanks

[High Plains Mopars]

Danial, I'd recommend you get in touch with Bill Reilly at RMS/Alterkation. Bill makes bolt in coil over conversions for classic mopars. He does not list the F body on his website, but he has made a couple of units for them in the past. I'm sure he still has the jigs to make these again on a custom order basis.

https://www.reillymotorsports.com/store/home.php

[xsboost90]

your already going to cut the body up pretty good. Could you just cut the wheel opening out and move it back a couple inches?