Retro fitting a dragster

I have a customer that purchased a current JR. Fuel car from Don Scot here i the Dallas area. He hired me to retro fit it with an wider axle ,torsion bar and shorten the wheel base so it would fit his trailer. Also he wanted an old stile body with a snake head nose.
The next thing I did was re fit it for a 426 aluminum block and change the roll bar from the modern large roll cage to a rounded cage.
I will post several photos to go through the changes that have taken place the last month and a half.
dwrfab Don Ross
www.donrossfab.com

 

The last shot above shows the new engine plate.
I also had to modify the left engine upright to clear the 426 oil pump. He wanted a new roll cage so I bent up two new hoops on an 8.5" radius and trimmed them to fit the old rear uprights.
The nose piece was started by bending and fitting the lower front panels. A bubble had to be welded to the left engine side panel to clear the oil pump. I made a new steering bell crank and tie rods for the wider axle.
dwrfab Don Ross

 

Nice work as always.

 

Then it was time ti make the 1/4" plastic steering slides. On the left engine side panel I formed and welded on a bubble for the 426 oil pump. I formed the top body panels in my pyramid bender I built a few wears back and formed a flair at the front of the engine cut out and welded a reinforcing lip on to that. dwrfab Don Ross

 

The snake head on the nose was next, it is made of several pieces of formed .040" aluminum sheet. the photos follow along as the nose came together.
dwrfab Don Ross

 

Great work Don, Amazeing how different those few changes make it look, Thanks for posting,,, Tim Jones

 

Excellent work!

 

Thanks , All that is left to do now is the finish welding. Then I start back on the Jim Nicoll recreation.
dwrfab Don Ross

 

Nice!

Never cared much for the modern looking FEDs . . . looks a lot better!

 

Looking good Don!

 

Cool!

 

Great looking work, Don...will you be at Ardmore 5/11?

 

Wow, looks much better. What 's the before and after wheelbase?

 

Yes we will be up to Ardmore but not with this car yet.
Don Ross

 

The wheel base was 225" and we shortened to 200" with torsion bar and 44" wide axle.
Don Ross

 

I got to see it today. I can say it is really nice! Great work Mr Ross

 

Group:
I picked up the blasted clean chassis this after noon. North Texas Customs in Wylie TX. 972 442 9793 or www.northtxcustoms.com. Genny was very nice to work with and also gave us the HAMB discount. A look over for any missed welds and we will be painting it gloss black.
dwrfab Don Ross www.donrossfab.com

 

Did he save any money by modifying as opposed to building a new chassis?

 

We don't calculate that we just do what the customer asks if it is within my capabilities.

I am sure that all that is there that was untouched he did.

We will know soon as I am building a complete car for him as well. It is a recreation of the Jim Nicill car that was cut in half on TV in 1970 while running Don prudhomme at the U.S. Nationals in Indy.
dwrfab Don Ross www.donrossfab.com

 

Now how would you like to have been sitting in that when it went BOOM!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder if he cleaned his pants or just threw them away

 

I am going to cut the original push bar and brake lever pivot off the old cage and use them on the new car. Doe's this make the project a restoration as opposed to a recreation?
dwrfab Don Ross

 

I was 15 and in early high school when I saw that car get cut in half! I can still remember very plainly how D.P. swore on national TV that he would quit. I had to pick up National Dragster at Fillip automotive in San Angelo,Texas to learn that things would return to normal and that Nicoll had not been badly hurt! Cool project!