How hard would it be to put together a K. Sissell type vehicle? If you had a choice between it and a falcon altered which would you choose and why? Costs involved?
Yeah, I really like the inline six and think there needs to be more of them. I just plain like the car. I am close enough to MoKan to put some time in there. People like them inspire me.
An altered or a small rail are so much fun and so little maintenance compared to a door slammer I would recommend you go that route. here are three I have been involved with . I built engines for both altered and both won so much money i am sure they actually paid for themselves. The black was a slant 6 turbo in the 1970s the yellow a Ford 300 . And of course my current ride is the third. Sixes are F>U>N>. Don
Mike Kirby at 1-626-331-2727 is the 6 Banger guy, He owns and manufactures all the Sissell heads, Injectors etc with complete dyno facility. Shop is in Covina Ca.
Of all the the ways to get into dedicated car drag racing, the open wheel, single seat car is the most cost effective--simple to build--easy to transport--and ohhh baby is it fun!!!!! Bill rinaldi
check out Marshall's thread: What can be done with $800 and some friends http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472505
I would answer your question with a full on Go for it. An altered is so much eaiser to maintain when it's so open as compaired to a full bodied car. And that's what you like. And it's really light so it's a lot more fun to drive. And lots of other stuff. Just my opinion.
I agree, an altered style racer is about the most bang for the buck out there. Thats why I'm surprised there are not more HA/GR's being built. Frank
This altered is actually the way I am leaning. In some respects the gasser wagon is neat...but, actually my real interest is in the Altered Drag or T bucket altered...Looks doable...I am just a few miles from MoKan so it is something I am really interested in. That is why it has been so difficult to decide what to do with the falcon. You see I am still a kid at heart and at 55. This altered thing is right where I wanna go. I was in automechanics as a kid and did a lot...Now, I want to do some things related to racing but, I am not so interested in the doorslammers....I have had enough fixing on the doorslammer for a life time. I want the fun aspect again.
I once worked with a guy named Steve Ambrose. He and a couple friends have been drag racing the in-line Ford 300 six for years. At one time they were welding together Boss 351 heads and making them work on the engine. Someone eventually began making an aluminum casting of essentially the same thing. They now use a billet head with far more potential than production based heads. Their original car was much like the one pictured, but they eventually went to what is essentially a dragster.
After building and driving several Ford six cylinder powered altereds I can agree with the comments above that it is the most cost-effective way to have fun. I would not race another door car because it is so much easier to work on my altereds. And they take up much less storage / trailer space than a dragster. To further answer your question it is possible to build a rolling chassis for as little as two grand, and if you want to get really sophisticated 20K is not hard to drop on one at all. Either way I think one with suspension in all four corners is the most versatile option. Resist the urge to make a rigid chassis car, even if you have to use only ladder bars in back and a buggy transverse spring up front. Good luck. And by the way it should be light enough to tow with your Falcon, so turn that bird into a killer tow car.
I wanna thank everyone who commented on this thread a while back. I lost my computer connection. Any other comments are gladly accepted. I will most likely go the route of the altered. Things have settled down in my life now and I believe I have the time to put more focus into this. Any ideas on frames and the odds and ends etc. How I get up to speed on the going all in drag format would be appreciated.
have you seen this ongoing thread? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=532331&page=59
Rusty, I have not seen this until you posted it. I will certainly look at it. I am definitely interested in it and any pointers others may have that will help me along with this "bucket list" item of my life. Thanks. Actually my second day back online.