Projects Kent Fuller Top Fueler Recreated

When Fuller built this in 1961, 5'' radius out of 1.625 x .090 wall , it was never made for the drivers head to go inside the hoop. More of a skid "Roll" bar and it was laid back for that purpose. FYI

 

Yesterday Kackle Ken Riley came over with his Mig Welder to start tacking up the recreated 1961 Kent Fuller chassis. When ready, I'll haul it up to Robbie Morris to Tig weld it altogether.

The front axle is set at a preload position of 20 caster. when completed and all the weight is on, the caster will be at 25 degrees. Cackle cars are set up with less caster as the original had 45 degrees. It is easier to move around the pits.

The driveline angle has been set. Traditional way of building a dragtster chassis is to set the driveline and block on to the Fixture Jig first. Since I did a blueprint drawing of this chassis, I was able to build up the chassis, set the motorplate angle and rearend centerline.

Next thing to do is to scallop the rearaxle flanges, set the alignment bar in with the block bolted to the motorplate at it's set angle of 5 degrees of dump. The chassis will be supported on the Fixture Jig at the axle center lines, place 800 pound at the motor location to preload the chassis bow, drill holes for the motorplate tabs, bolt the tabs to the motorplate and weld them on the chassis tubes.

The Front Axle is 38'' kingpin centerline width. Kent Fuller said he built two cars this way. The simple reason was that the 1.500 x .120 4130 used was the only tubing that was in his shop at the time.

Kent said when ordering 4130 tubing, order random lengths, no Certs, no cutting charges and minimum lengths if need be. This should cut down on cost. There are no set full lengths. When being made at the mill, the lengths could range from 17 to 25 ft as I found out.

 

100% Awesome....

 

You make it look sooooo easy. Can't wait to see it with the engine in it.

 

I removed the old chassis bracket off the 8 3/4 Mopar rearend and did some clean up work on it. I made a small 6 x 6'' table for the portable bandsaw and clamped it into my vise and started hacking off sections. Once that was done, the disc grinder got a workout.

I then measured where to located the rearend housing and scribed the shape to the chassis flanges and axle brackets. It took multiple cuts to get close to the radius edges and then hand filed the cutout to the final shape.

4, 3/8-24 Grade 8 bolts per side with nylocs were installed after drilling the mounting holes. I use Irwin Colbalt Drills only. A sharp drill is a good drill and gets the job done.

 

Hey Riceman! Are we gonna be fortunate enuff to have it at NorCal KnockOut this year???

 

Sorry, I'll be out of town

 

Kackle Ken and I finished tacking the chassis. I cleaned up the Ross steering box, made the shaft support, pushbar, chute anchor attachment and shoulder belt mount. A good day for making a mess.

 

I just finished putting in the Ross Steering Box. This is one of those updates. The original mounting was to the aluminum clutch can...not good. Mucho better !

 

I took it slow today and decided to make the clutch pedal in a traditional style and not out of tubing.

The vertical pivot leg is made out of .190 4130 chrome moly sheet. I sawed it into a tapered shape with a slight small leg for the foot pad. I rounded off all the edges and polished it on a fine Scotch Brite Wheel. Slick !

The foot pad is .090 x 2 x 2 1/2'' 1020 cold roll sheet formed over a 3'' aluminum roll bar with a 2 x 4. That was the closest forming tool near. LOL. No dents either ! I then tacked it to the pivot leg.

Two pivot brackets were out of .125 4130 sheet, drilled a .382 holes into the brackets and pedal base, deburred, positioned and tacked on to the pinion support cross tube.

Later on when I get the rest of the clutch linkage assemby, I'll drill a location hole in the pedal leg to link everything up.

Even though this is just a small part, the finished look adds to the dragster Fuller Look.

 

Great work!

 

Way Cool Riceman. Now if i can talk you into putting a big bad ass Lincoln engine in it

 

Your attention to the little details are what makes it work. Beautiful car!

 

Tis dragster is bad ass. very cool

 

4:30 AM yesterday I left for Robbie Morris's house in Healdsburg, Ca. with the Masters & Richter Fuller Chassis inside my trailer to start the process of Tig Welding it altogether. At 7;00 AM I was in front of his house & shop.

The Morris Family welcoming commitee, Robbie, Erin, Max and Olive the Action Dog greeted me with a great cup of French Roast Coffee and off to work we go. Robbie and I untied the chassis from my fixture Jig and carried it into his well equipped shop. The Fixture Jig I-beam was placed on top of his now extended metal table, aligned and secured to it.

Robbie and I placed the tacked up Fuller replica back on my fixture Jig and rescured it like it was when it was in my garage. It lined up right on the money. With it clamped, and zipped tied in all the loading points, we were ready to almost start.

Robbie and I decided to start the welding in the driveline/driver's area. Max, Robbie and Erin's 4 yr. old son had to come out and give his official Go Ahead to start. Of course Olive the Action Dog gave her Paw of Approval.

The rear main upright that supports the pushbar, chute anchor and shoulder belt mount was first to get welded to the main top and bottom seat hoops. Robbie would lay in a few good beads around the Mig weld tacks. Being that Ken and I tacked the Chassis together with a Mig welder, those tacks would have to be ground away so Robbie could finish the welded area later on as we went along. A Riceman job.

Not to build up too much heat in a certain area, we would weld up different areas moving from the rear of the chassis going forward. Rear main upright, rearaxle uprights, motorplate uprights were done in that order going side to side and forward.

As this welding was done, we checked the motorplate fit as it was just sitting in position along with the fixture jig alignment tools I had made. Nothing moved and seem to be holding postion pretty good. Robbie and I did this many times after a few welds were done.

With the main tubes done, motorplate uprights to rear main upright, the diagonals were secured, the rearaxle chassis bracket were done. Fuller told me to postion then slightly inward so when the rearaxle brackets slide over them, there is alittle open sliding area for the two join together and with no interference while assembling.

The brackets for the chute anchor, pushbar, shoulder harness, clutch pedal, steering box support, and pinion supports were done while other areas were cooling. Side to side, up and down we went, welding, grinding off Mig tacks and checking the chassis movement from the welding which seem almost nil.

Robbie kept moving forward towards the torsion bar tube, alittle here and there as I followed him grinding off the Mig tacks. 6 hours of this will get your eyes tired and we called it a day at 5 PM. Max was ours also at 5 PM, so done for today.

We got alot done, but have a long way to go. Robbie was pretty happy as things turned out and did a good job. Max and Olive thought so too. Thank you Robbie.









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Great lookin' rig, riceman!

 

We're having fun.... Doctor Lee & Me!!!



~Robbie

 

A few more little shots of this and that from the weekend events! Such a cool project...

Cheers,

Robbie

 

More updates.... It's off the jig! Roger and I will plop the motor in tomorrow.... Too Cool...

 

Boom!!!!

 

Lots done today!

 

That first cackle outside the shop on 100% will be the shit!!!!! Damn good job!!

 

That Old Famous Chinese Saying.....I CAN'T SEE SHIT !

 

100% welded and ready to become a roller tomorrow!

 

Beautiful Roger! Amazing how they ever went straight welded on the floor huh? Keep after it man looks great! Lippy

 

Looks great!!!

 

I just love this build! Wish I was there for it's first start!

 

#114;
" 100% welded and ready to become a roller tomorrow! "

Be hell if the garbage man walked away with it !
Tom S. in Tn.

 

Or a scrapper lookin' for metal

 

Yeah no kidding....

I do feel that Waste Management was very kind to deliver these awesome Chassis Stands to us for working on the car. I seem to get so much more out of them besides just tossing out the trash!

Today was super productive.... I'll toss up a few pics here shortly but I'll let Roger catch up with the story!

More news soon,

Robbie