Demo-Derby guys are a strange bunch

[AlanCasida]

I saw a 460/C6 in the local facebook ads at a decent price so I contacted the guy. After asking some of the usual questions he said he pulled it out of a '78 Towncar he bought so he could put in a SBC in it's place for the demo-derby. I thought oookaaay and then "You did the right thing!" I couldn't think of a better use for a SBC than that.

[cjshaker]

A couple of years ago, I sold a 1989 Crown Victoria ex-police cruiser with a good running HO 302 roller motor. The guy wanted it for a demo derby car. Turns out the police cars have reinforcments in the frame that other cars don't have and are very desirable for derby cars. He didn't want the engine and said I could have it back if I wanted it. I said sure. He was going to drop a SBC in it that he had. I started to ask "why bother changing engines if you're going to trash the car" but decided to keep my mouth shut and just take the engine. I sold the engine and trans for another $250, which is what he bought the beat up car for. Guess Cheby guys ain't smart enuff to figure out he could have gotten his money back on the car. I am not the least bit surprised by your post..lol

[JERICOGTX]

Hate it all you want, but the SBScrub is a good engine for that stuff. Hone the cylinders way out to the point of the rings falling into place, and the thing will run very long time as it cooks the oil.

The thing to do now, is the old police Crown Vics with a LS swap...

[BattlestarGalactic]

Ya, I watch those demo events on Youtube as there are a few members that tape many of them.  Kinda interesting to watch and see what they do to these things.

Between SBC and LS, that is the most popular thing to do to any model car.  Some of them sound pretty wicked with those truck pull headers!  One guy puts an incar camera and you can watch the tach swing up to 8K rpm.

[gt350hr]

  In the case of the sbc replacing the 460 , I was told it lowers front end weight ( and total weight) for manuverability and increases "crush room" on front end impact because the engine is shorter . Locals do the same thing out here in the west.

[MeanGene]

There is also off the shelf stuff like headers and such for derby cars, I answered an ad for a 390 a while back and got there just after thy hacked up the CHERRY '62 500XL, including hacking slots in the perfect hood for the derby zoomies. The guy ran a 360 Mopar, and that was the fourth car the engine had been in. There were a bunch of clean 62-64 Galaxies and Bulletbirds that got parted out and then off to the derbies by that kid in Woodland, CA

[Katz427]

A couple of young guys bought a 1990 CV  locally to enter in a demo derby. One good hit and the CV was dead. They got the car back. Decided to trouble shoot and get it going again. They asked me , what could have happened. I told them about the fuel safety shut off and that it was designed to shut off power to the fuel pump in the event of a crash. Ford's were about the only cars with that feature, back then, but they found the shut off, jumped the wiring and entered another demo derby, with much better results.

[TomP]

The local derby champ runs LS engines in Crown Vics. And the LS has a tubing cage around it so an impact can't hit the crank or break the bellhousing. It also has no distributor to knock off but they use an Edelbrock intake for a 4 barrel carb. They had a bunch of tricks like driveshaft with slip splines and  a metal box with battery, electric fuel pump and small gas tank all in one.

[BigBlueIron]

They reuse the same engine and trans multiple times. They also have these massive cages to protect the engine and trans, like 1/2 steel plate way over kill. Some of the serious guys will spend a decent amount of money on just an engine, many run E85 as well. Motor runs cooler will less or for a little longer with no radiator. Synthetic oil helps quite a bit too https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bb/57/8a/bb578a868af2e0b07d121a33b33a5ff4.jpg idea of a cradle.

Demo is huge in my area but not for me. One very competitive guy years ago had an 80's Thunderbird with a hot running Cleveland, that thing sounded awesome it would drown out all the other cars when he stood on it. He was being tag teamed badly by 3 other guys but he had enough power to evade and out maneuver them for quite awhile. He beat that engine with no mercy to the point he eventually hurt it.

[TomP]

Wow, that engine cage is way overkill. The Cap'n Crunch guys have what looks like 1 3/4" roll bar tubing that goes around the engine and tranny at the lower sides and an upright loop over the front ujoint and an upright loop ahead of the balancer. The engine mounts to it like a sled and the whole "sled" is clamped into the car. The driveshaft has two set of splines so it can compress around 8".

I was impressed because i'd always figured the demo derby guys were hillbilly rednecks... sure they are, but with some high tech advances to ensure beer money after the derby.