Converting a Pro-Street car into a Pro-Touring car?

[Bill Howell]

i would like to see what it would look like with a different tire and wheel combo on it but dont know anyone around that has anything i could mock up with.
I think 17x8 on front would be ok but not sure

Are you bringing this car to the Grand run in April? Between the camaro and the malibu, I have a couple different offset options in 17X8 we could try.



BTW Since you aint in a selling mood, if you like my wheels, maybe we could do some tradin
Seriously, we could try them on for size if you bring it.

[gauder]

I would think that a Pro Street car that has had its 4-link designed around a set of 31" tires would need some re-engineering to "work" as a Pro-Touring car. Sure it would be easy to pull off the look by just switching the tires and rims, but it would require a bit more work to actually have a great handling car. Just my 2 cents.

[63SW]

Actually Bill , i hope to bring the 69 camaro convert .
Have a few things slowing me down right now though...
Seems the FLU is attacking us all here.
Ive had it for a week so ,so no work has gotten done this week and the guy helping me with the work on the new rear end is sick now .

I hope to have the engine put together this week since i have the heads back from the engine builder but its so damn cold here i just dont want to go out to the pole building and work on it. ( NO HEAT OUT THERE YET)

Maybe i can get a friend to come and he can haul it down with my truck and trailer and i can drive the convert.

I would be interested in the wheels you have though , depending on what style they are , even for the convert.
At this time , i am going to use the Original 15" Mickey Thompson wheels i have, just for the Nastalgic purpose since i scored a NOS set of M/T caps on ebay last week and only $102 in the orig box.

I agree , being set up as a drag car , the rear suspenssion may not be the best suited for handling .
If i just use as a street cruiser with the PT look , I could enjoy it for the summer and TEAR INTO IT NEXT WINTER!

[Nine Ball]

Hmmm, if I can turn my Pro-Tour car into a Pro-Street looking ride, it should be just as easy to go the other direction too! lol

http://www.ls1tech.com/69Camaro/drag01.jpg

Tony

[USAZR1]

Hmmm, if I can turn my Pro-Tour car into a Pro-Street looking ride, it should be just as easy to go the other direction too! lol
http://www.ls1tech.com/69Camaro/drag01.jpg
Tony

Maybe,maybe not. Switching from a prostreet 48" wide 9" to a protouring Fab 9 with custom axles,Baer disc brakes,and Strange coilovers wasn't very easy nor cheap.

[rocketman]

i am looking to change my 37 ford in to a little more streetable ride not really pro touring just a better handling street car.33x19 mt dont handle that great.looking at 345 35 19's or 345 45 18 the new mt radial bigs look good too now.its the 632 and lenco i havent decide what to do with.

[ProdigyCustoms]

I am curious what is considered Pro Street on this board. To me, Pro Street is Steam rollers and 55 gallon barrel halves for tubs and the motor sticking through the hood like a Rat Fink Tee Shirt. It sounds like this group places mini tub 10, 11" tire cars running skinny's up front as Pro Street? like the nice blue Camaro earlier in the post.
If this is true, and these small tired cars are considered Pro Street, I have to say Florida is way behind the times because we have plenty of these projects around. There actually has been a push in the last few years for clean, 4" Cowl hooded, all Steel, mini tub 10 to 12" tire, stock wheel opening, type cars similar to our street racer. These type of cars continue to show up, especially Fox body mustangs, later model Mustangs, and of coarse early Camaro's. The current push is even more towards running these cars on pump gas and making them truly street cars that can travel somewhere without a tanker of race fuel in tow.
What we are seeing here is hardly any Drag only race cars popping up, and more and more very fast street cars. It is not uncommon to go to the track and see street cars that are much faster then gutted race only cars.
The days of wild full tube chassis, monster tired, 14/71 blown, glass bodied Pro Streeters do seem to be mostly behind us. I do not group the for mentioned cars into that class.
With Hot Rod doing the pump gas drags, Year One is doing something similar at their show, and PHR apparently has something going according to a blurb I read in the mag, I do not see this type of vehicle as dead. I also do not see Pro Street cars being selected to participate for these events.
G machines are hot no doubt, but I will bet for every (1) G machine project going on here in Florida, there are still at least (2) Street Racers being built.
Then again, you guy's out west are always so far ahead of us, LOL!

[Bill Howell]

Frank,
That is an excellent point. I have always felt Pro-Street was a car, usually a current or former race car that is barely street legal. While it has tag, lights and insurance, its real purpose is to race on a drag strip. Usually they have 4inch rims up front and just as much as you can possibly stuff under the rear fenders. Alot of so called Pro-Street cars may be not as radical but that is the look and certainly they are not known for their handling characterisics. Most are built with corners cut like cutting springs instead of buying the right ones. They are unsually built in a short period of time and last about as long. You will not see many actually driven to an event but trailered.
Like you said that is what I think of being from the south, but we have always been behind the curve so who knows?

Going back to this thread, I feel that converting one to Pro-Touring the right way would not save you much money from starting with an original car since much is not the same.

[63SW]

Hey Frank , im sure there are a million variations and idea's of what "Pro Street" is so i thought i would throw another one at you which is from a experience i had at INDY Super Chevy a few years back.

FIRST OFF , below is a picture of my car at the time - in 1994.
its a 1979 camaro with a 70 rs front clip , cowl hood with a BBC and STUFF sticking through the hood (Like Bill said ) and out back it has 31x18.5 Mickeys ( steamrollers) has wheelie bars , full cage , fuel cell , all the "PRO STREET" stuff .

I showed up at super chevy to show but this car made a BIG STINK with other people in differnt catagories " its pro street , its not pro street " - I didnt care , i wanted to show and have fun.

Finally , after 3 hrs of SUPER CHEVY BS , and being changed to 3 different classes , Roger Guston comes over and has the 'BOOK" and shows me and a few other people why i am in the MODIFIED CLASS , not the pro street class.
BY there standards , a pro street car MUST have a ACTUAL NARROWED REAR END in it.
I didnt , i had a set of rallys cut and widened to 15 in but were DEEP on the inside and i had used the FACTORY length rear ( i was being cheap at the time ) but because of the rear end , I WASNT PRO STREET .
OH WELL , i got a 1st palce in MY CLASS , and did get a shot in the Mag from that show so i was happy .


My blue camaro does have a narrowed rear , tubs , so forth but does have the stock rear frame in it so i dont know if its pro street or not , i just know ITS FUN.


HEY BILL , you going to be around this comming week ?
I'll be down there on Monday and leaving wednesday so maybe i can swing by and check out the wheels ?
Just going down to check on the house and pick up a few things.

[Steve1968LS2]

Finally , after 3 hrs of SUPER CHEVY BS , and being changed to 3 different classes....

Been there done that.. I had a very small factory looking black stripe on the hood of my 2000 SS.. since it was painted on and not a sticker I was put in modified class against trailered cars with candy paint jobs..

Some SC shows I was in street.. some in modified.. with the same car..

Still fun though and the jackets were nice while they lasted..

[Bill Howell]

HEY BILL , you going to be around this comming week ?
I'll be down there on Monday and leaving wednesday so maybe i can swing by and check out the wheels ?
Just going down to check on the house and pick up a few things.

I will be here, in fact we are working on a house on Boyd's creek so just give me a shout eight 6 five eight five zero eight22eight.
Bill

[USAZR1]

Going back to this thread, I feel that converting one to Pro-Touring the right way would not save you much money from starting with an original car since much is not the same.

I kinda tend to agree with this too,Bill. The main reason I bought my El Camino was it had a nice body & decent paint job for $8K. It has a very solid engine and since I wanted to run ZR-1/Viper sized rubber under the car,the narrowed frame rails and tubs made it a bargain,,for me. For an extra $3500,the seller had a brand new BDS 6-71 set-up sitting on the workbench that was going to go on the car. I passed on the deal because I didn't have the extra funds at the time and also didn't want a Roots-type blower on my streetcar.
Some people buy a project,then decide what to do with it. My 69 El Camino had been planned in my head for over five years before I found it.

[Restomod]

My point was that a cheap Pro Streeter can be had that most if not all the chassis work has been done. Why buy a 20/30K car and change EVERYTHING?? I for one cant afford that!! If I have over 12-15K in my Mustang I will be shocked,and it will have super nice paint,sharp interior,cell,turbos(maybe),big wheels/tires and handle/stop very well. I drove that Pro Street Camaro every day for a year and it was not to bad to live with...but gas was not $2 a gal.!! and it was a small block then to.

[Steve1968LS2]

I am curious what is considered Pro Street on this board. To me, Pro Street is Steam rollers and 55 gallon barrel halves for tubs and the motor sticking through the hood like a Rat Fink Tee Shirt. It sounds like this group places mini tub 10, 11" tire cars running skinny's up front as Pro Street? like the nice blue Camaro earlier in the post.
If this is true, and these small tired cars are considered Pro Street, I have to say Florida is way behind the times because we have plenty of these projects around. There actually has been a push in the last few years for clean, 4" Cowl hooded, all Steel, mini tub 10 to 12" tire, stock wheel opening, type cars similar to our street racer. These type of cars continue to show up, especially Fox body mustangs, later model Mustangs, and of coarse early Camaro's. The current push is even more towards running these cars on pump gas and making them truly street cars that can travel somewhere without a tanker of race fuel in tow.
What we are seeing here is hardly any Drag only race cars popping up, and more and more very fast street cars. It is not uncommon to go to the track and see street cars that are much faster then gutted race only cars.
The days of wild full tube chassis, monster tired, 14/71 blown, glass bodied Pro Streeters do seem to be mostly behind us. I do not group the for mentioned cars into that class.
With Hot Rod doing the pump gas drags, Year One is doing something similar at their show, and PHR apparently has something going according to a blurb I read in the mag, I do not see this type of vehicle as dead. I also do not see Pro Street cars being selected to participate for these events.
G machines are hot no doubt, but I will bet for every (1) G machine project going on here in Florida, there are still at least (2) Street Racers being built.
Then again, you guy's out west are always so far ahead of us, LOL!

Pro-Street like Pro-Touring has many levels.. I consider it truly Pro-Street if it has tubs, a cage and high hp motor.. oh, and skinny wheels up front. The drag car look.

For purposes of this discussion I would say any car that has a cage and some sort of tub out back.

Yep, the west coast posse is always on the leading edge.. ;)

When people say Pro-Touring is "dead" I think they are mostly refering to the cars that look like they can run 8's but run 12's instead.. and that suck to drive over any distance or that can't corner over 15mph..

I think we need a new Hybrid name for cars in between pro-street and pro-touring..