As I had mentioned in my previous post, my first project car was being discussed days after exiting the womb. My dad’s a car nut, and I had no choice in the matter. It’s always been a part of me, and unlike many men, I’m proud to say it’s an AMC Pacer. Of course, it didn’t start as that. I always envisioned a boss Mustang, rad Camaro or sick Challenger. However, the thing about me is that I don’t really go for convention (yea, that and those three cars cost more than triple what the Pacer did). Having gotten the idea from Wayne’s World and finding a V8 coupe just days after it was almost fate that brought us together.

Beginning with a full rotisserie resto, we stripped our ugly grey Pacer into all of its unique AMC parts. From the beginning, my dad and I were building a car that would be a safe reliable driver for a first timer. I rebuilt my first engine (304, later to be replaced with my second built engine, a 401), and learned the ins and outs of body work, paint, suspension, wiring, you name it. It was a valuable experience, and what you see in this post and the accompanying gallery is the result. This is a fanatic job through and through considering that 99% of the work on the car was performed by us or friends in or their garages. This isn’t a 1800 hotrod. No sir, a lot of home-built blood sweat and tears are manifested in one of the most unique hot rods on the road.

So, most people thought we were crazy.  Telling people what we were working on during the resto got a lot of confused looks, but we had visions that nobody else did.  What do you think?  Did we actually build a Pacer you’d consider cool?  For further consideration, below are the technical specs of the car. While performance numbers have yet to be tested…they will be coming with this years Hot Rod Power Tour. In fact, we’ll be covering the whole tour from the Pacer this year with live updates at the end of each day! We’re hoping to both drag and autocross the Pacer as well as scout some great fanatic cars…all on a 7-day rolling car show. But that’s still a month away so for now, check out the beastly Pacer’s specs and let us know what you think.

Powertrain:

• AMC 401 V8
• Bored 30 Over
• 9.5:1 KB Pistons
• Mild Engle Cam
• Stock heads port matched on the intake side
• Edelbrock Performer Intake
• 725 Demon Carb
• GM Style HEI Distributor
• Custom headers
• Dual 3″ Mandrel Bend exhaust with 40 Series Flowmasters

Drivetrain:

• Borg Warner Z-Spec World Class T5 5-Speed
• Steeda Triax Shifter
• Centerforce Clutch
• AMC 20 with 3.50 gears and Trutrac limited slip dif

Rolling Stock:

• American Racing 200s 17×8 (Front) 17×9.5(Rear)
• Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31 Tires

Suspension:

• Front:  Stock coil springs with one coil removed
• Rear: Stock leaf springs dearched 3″ with air shocks

More pics here

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