This off season is revving up to be a busy one. Along with Matt finishing up his Concord Project, doing some freshening on his Spirit, & me working on the Car Craft Engine Build we are taking on another huge task of building another car to add to the fleet. We will be pulling our resources together & making a long time dream of mine come true.

The plan is to transform my 1971 AMC Hornet into a competitive NHRA Class legal Stocker. Stock Eliminator is reserved for American Factory-Production & some foreign & domestic sports cars. There are 56 or so individual classes that make up Stock Eliminator. The class is called Stock but is far from it in some ways. There are many rules that regulate this class. Some of the rules mandate stock parts while other rules allow for approved upgraded parts due to lack of availability, reliability, or safety.

The 71 Hornet will be run as kind of a rare AMC model known as a SC 360. This was a limited production car for AMC & only 784 were ever constructed.  The Hornet were starting with is an original 71 but NOT an original SC 360. This part does not matter as long as everything on the car trim wise matches the SC car. If the SC had a certain spoiler my “Clone” would have to have that same spoiler etc… The SC 360 was the only Hornet available with a 360. All others had the 304 V8 or a 6 cylinder. The SC 360 combo allows me to use an engine that has a ton of potential to make horsepower to be competitive in Stock Eliminator.

Every step of this build will be constructed around the rules, special attention paid to weight, & every effort to obtain horsepower out of everything possible. The car is classified by the factor issued by NHRA to the particular combination used. The 71 SC 360 has a factor number of 10.91. The performance factor of 10.91 puts the car in the “F” category. The class designation would be F/SA. The “F” being the individual class, “S” designates Stock Eliminator & “A” designates that I will be using an automatic transmission.  The class ET index for F/SA is 11.85. That means that old Project Hornet needs to run faster than 11.85 to qualify for a race.That is asking a lot for the engine & drive train modifications allowed.

The first step in the process has begun. The Hornet was in a flood before I purchased it so it will need completely disassembled & cleaned. As the car comes apart anything that is not needed by rules will be removed. Things like undercoating & sound deadener add up weight that is not needed. The interior has been removed revealing how clean of a car I really have. Not one rust hole in the over 40 year old gem.

This will be a learning process for us & your more than welcome to learn with us. Keep stopping by to see how the project is going.

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