I have a newly finished Rat Rod that I just got. It's nice,fast, downright bas *** - but it needs an ls motor. It is a 34 ford pickup, chopped, with a custom bed built on the chassis of a circle track car, so its fully caged and all. Right now it has a stock 5.0 from a 95 mustang. At 1800lbs, it runs great as is. But, me being me, it WILL be ls powered. I'd like some opinions on what to put in it to come out best when its time to sell.

Option 1: I have a stock l92 6.2l longblock that I could cam, port/mill the heads, and call it a day and have ~480rwhp. I already have this engine,

Option 2: Someone is offering me a trade for a car I have for a built/forged ls7 427 with a NICE turbonetics TT setup that will be ~1000 on moderate boost. I will have a nice bit of money into this setup if I got it.

So, obviously a 1000rwhp 1800lb rat rod is cooler than a 480hp one, but I am wondering what you guys think - Would the TT car be worth enough more to justify the costs? What would you guys say each would be worth?

 

My buddy AJ Built that. Its sick!

 

Thanks! Yea I was fortunate to meet AJ and get this from him. Awesome guy and awesome car.

 

Yeah hes a good dude. Glad to see he got it finished. Looked like a beast and he put a lot of work into it!

 

Worth is a relative term, it's all about the right buyer for the project. There are a lot of people (including banks and insurance companies) who will say "if it isn't listed in NADA it has no value."

Is it worth your effort from a fun / bragging rights standpoint or are you looking to make a profit? If you are looking for profit, you are in the wrong business. I know from experience the farther customized a vehicle is the smaller the market.

If you are like me and several others on this forum who build cars for fun... carry on, make it how YOU want it, have a blast and don't look back. If you think changing engines will suddenly increase the value of a wild custom like you pictured, you may be disappointed.

Just my opinion...

 

I doubt you'd even come close to recouping the difference in costs. Adding the TT motor won't get you more when you sell, but going with the L92 you already have might help you lose less. Either way, it's spending dollars to hopefully make a few dimes.

 

I'm starting to think the route with the l92 motor I already have may be best as well.

 

Things are only worth what someone is willing to pay, and not a penny more. I have hot rod friends who think they have $75,000 cars. Yes, they're nice, but my guess is the max anyone would pay for them is $20,000. Really depends on who wants it and how bad.

 

From what I've seen, rat rods are not a good investment. Theyre fun sure, but as gofastwclass said, if you're trying to make money on it, or even really get all your money back at selling time, rat rods are not where the money is.

 

Put this into perspective. My brother in PA has a friend that bought a Nash wagon that is a magazine car. Chopped, air ride, custom interior, best of everything and perfect paint. He paid $48k for it 3 years ago with hopes of driving it for a few years and making a couple bux or break even to fund his next ride. Believe it or not, the street rod market has fallen apart. He struggled to get $21k for it after having it on the market for 1.5 years. Same thing with the muscle car market, unless it's a rare clean car, forget about getting Barrett Jackson prices. That's the problem with TV, it gives guys some false sense of worth.

 

Are those M/T Drag radials on the front ? I guess it don't matter when yer that light....

 

That would be a very difficult car to put a price on. All a matter of finding the right person. It will be a crap shoot whether you get your money back from either investment.

 

If it were mine, I would put good heads and cam on the 6.2L and put the money into a cool injection setup like a Kinsler-type with 8 throttle bodies and injector stacks... IMO, that would look awesome...

 

You would never be able to get traction with the tt motor in that light car.

 

That would not be a Rat Rod thing to do.. old and weird is what they look for in a RR..

I am not a person that likes the Rats much.. I do like it if I find one that is put together with some skills but just don't care for the un-finished look.

most of the Rats are unsafe to be on the road from what I have seen around here.. IMO.. but that is me. Sure some are well made. .but that is not what you usually find.

If you want to make money on a Rat Rod.. get paid to make one for someone else.. use his $$$...

But these are my opinions... and everyone has the right to have there own.

BC

 

I really dig the double wishbone front suspension!
And the quick change!
More pictures?

 

More pics please!
And I vote the L92 you currently have.

 

I'm gonna second this...

although the turbo stuff is awesome and would be a blast, the point of a rat is low cost and even lower maintenance right? going f.i is going to increase both of those things

plus... with the way it looks now I think it just begs for a set of ITBs and velocity stacks..

 

I'd buy a used blower off a Mustang and run it.

If your heart is all LS or nothing, I vote for the L92 you mentioned.

1800 lbs and twin turbo V8...sounds cool on paper.

 

i think key to getting best money out of it is advertisment , you see the parish build , turbo fairmont ? what that thing went for , after it got famous , either way , what ever motor you put into it , id perfer the tt motor , but id get a professional camera man , 1320 , etc , to get lots video of it , put it out there ,, someone will offer to buy it from you . .