Building "Slingshot" rails......

It just occured to me how cool it would be to build a slingshot dragster. I cant do much until the roadster is done, but when it is I'll need something else to do. Where do you start when building one though? Should the chassis be entirely fabricated, or are there historically correct bases out there you can buy to start off with? Looks simple and boligerant enough to pull off. Late '50s, 4x2 Flathead, zoomies, slicks.........
-Dean

 

I would use previous designs for patterns. See what worked and what didn't. I have studied these things for a while, I dig em and I think a guy could fabricate one if he was somewhat talented as a fabricator. I would only buy one if you were gonna restore it. The rules now are far more stringent so you could modify the original design to be in the spirit of the old chassis and still pass tech.

 

Someone posted this link a little while back.
Full plans to build a slingshot.

http://www.armageddontopfuel.com/purgatory/chassisbook.html

 

By the late 50's, Flatties were aready dead in diggers. The Hemi was hot as well as the Early Olds, Nailheads, Pontiacs, SBC's (lower classes) and an occasional FE Ford. If you want to run a Flattie, you'd be correct to build a car circa '56 or earlier.

 

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ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM ESSE

 

i can say that this is a great article. they ran the same one in the MARCH 1965 hot rod magazine. (it has the new 396 semi hemi on the cover). This article is exactly how i built my f.e.d.. and it is really full of every thing you need to know. not so much the blue print but all the little photos and in the text(i am usually just look at the pictures kind of guy ) It is perfect.
As to my car it just needs a little final fitting of the body, chute mount clutch pedal and fuel tank mount. Before the car it self is ready for paint. I have just started on the 327 this weekend. but before paint everyone tells me that i should get it running incase i have to add a mount or a bracket somewhere. but once it is running i will have a hard time taking it back apart to "just" paint it. even thou you can take it appart really quick.
any way any one wanting to build a f.e.d. i do recomend this article.

 

my pop had told me once that Don Garlits used to make a kit for the humble guy who wanted to get into one. he sold them through magazines. i would just about bet if you contacted him he could possibly get you some sort of plans going.

 

Hey Krooser,

Isn't this Melvin Heaths old car?Where did you get the pic?I have a pic out in the shop of the car since it was restored,but this one looks like from back in the day.

Beleive it or not he and some of his partners in crime are still around.
At last years Duncan Highlifters reunion James Collier(R.I.P.) heard it mentioned that the body was aluminum and asked Melvin how the body was put together,rivets,screws or what and Melvin replied,"we didn't have any of that fancy stuff available back then,hell, we brazed it ,we didn't know any better".
I don't know about you,but brazing aluminum wouldn't have occured to me in a million years.One of these times when I'm bored and feeling curious I think I'm gonna have to give it a go just to see.LOL
Later,T.OUT

 

Melvin's first car is the the Petersen museum I believe.

 

Here is a link to a very small piece of the NHRA SFI T/F Chassis Spec.Can add the rest if there is any interest.

T.OUT

 

Hey Root,You're right.It was restored by the Stidham Brothers of the TA/FC and trailer outfit in Chickasa Ok.
Melvin said the car was 10 times nicer now than it ever was even when it was new.LOL
T.OUT

 

My dad was aking if he was still around the other day. We may have to make a trip to Rush Springs.

 

Got the pix @ www.wediditforlove.com. I'm not a member but I like to look at the pictures...

 

I think those old plans are cool if your gonna build a full scale model. I wanna see it raced and I'm sure you do too. The problem is if you wanna go any faster than a snail they are gonna tech you out. I'm not trying to be an a@#hole just don't want to see ya have to fix it later. Tube whether molly or D.O.M. aint cheap. I been down that road with my diggers in the past it aint fun. Some companies that come to mind are neal and parks, mark williams and race car products(RCP) all are a wealth of info including parts. I know that the new f.e.d.'s look funny with all that extra tube in the cage. But what ya gonna do? good luck and CH3 NO2 forever. Pool.

 

You are so right,this is a bitchin' and very informative article.
As to waiting for paint,it's a very good idea.A better idea is not to paint at all . Most serious modern chassis are not painted anyway.It's a bit more work to repair and much harder to find incidental damage before failure when painted.
Most guy's today just use WD40 and scotchbrite or steel wool.Give it a good once over after every outing and this serves 2 purposes,1 keeps the chassis rust free and 2 allows for close inspection after every outing.No matter how well built a car is you never know when an upright or diagonal or tab or some other item is gonna give it up .
Thanx for the article link,T.OUT

 

I don't ever recall Big Daddy marketing a slingshot dragster kit. The guys at Dragmaster marketed and sold a slingshot kit as well as a tubular roadster frame. The Mooneyes dragster with the Potvin front-mounted blower, Chevy-powered dragster was a Dragmaster chassis. It was a little on the heavy side and was soon out-classed by the Kent Fuller-built type cars.

Slingshots are neat; but as said by pool, the rules are gonna get'cha. They are difficult to fabricate. A better place to start is the HAMBster style car where the guys here have been putting the rules together. They will be a whole lot safer, too. Slingshots can get real dangerous, real fast. The objective should be to have SAFE fun for little money.

 

Get the current NHRA rule book. Combine it and this Don Long chassis article, then consult an NHRA tech inspector. Watch out for lower chassis rail scrub lines and be sure to allow for a diaper if you plan to run nitro. Mark Williams also has F.E.D. plans. Join the other sites like wediditforlove.com, standard1320 and nitrogeezers.

Build it short enough to fit in your garage.

 

Garlits said he never wanted to build a chassis kit for others, because he didn't want them coming back at him if something broke and they got hurt.
-Brad

 

My uncle used to race them back when they were cutting edge technology. My favorite quote of all time is from him: "It's been my experience that if you're upside down and going backwards at 80 or 180 miles an hour, it's all about the same."
Not too many guys can start that sentence with "It's been my experience..."!!!
He went over in three of them. Got hurt real bad once--Coma for a few weeks in the early '70s.
I was just talking to him about his earlier this week, and he said it was a real testament to keeping current on safety equipment.
Of course, he also once told me how they used to mix metal filings in with the paint to paint their aluminum bellhousing so a magnet would stick to it and it looked like a scatter shield. "Well, that was good for 19 pounds!"
Yeah, I've already caught some flak for the 12-point cage I'm putting in my '57 gasser with the fiberglass front end and fiberglass doors. Guess I'm more concerned about about walking away from a wreck (or some idiot hitting me in the door on the street!) that looking "trad."
-Brad

 

i stand corrected. now its just a matter of convincing my old man he might actually be wrong about something.

 

Yes, I agree with you 100%!!! I'd just bet you'd learn a ton and have just as much fun too!!!!

 

Growing up around the '60s slingshots like I did, I've got no time for the look of the newstalgia FEDs. They're just a different animal. I do think you could build one that looked right and would pass tech if you used a fairing over the roll cage that enclosed the chute pack like was done on some of the '60s dragsters. I've looked at the available FED chassis and kits but I haven't seen a rulebook in 15 years or so but maybe it would be possible. If you look at the drivers head relative to the roll bar in the Old Master you can see those guys were never well protected and why the cage rules were changed.

 

Exactly how were those chute packs made? Did they build a buck and hamer em out? If you weren't real concerned about weight, you could build one out of a composite type material.....lay up some Kevlar?

 

Root, I've seen them in both aluminum (Hanna, etc.) and fibreglass. If I remember right you could buy the glass ones although that isn't any help today. I've skinned dragsters with aluminum but never built a tail, I'm sure hammering and welding would be involved. Bill

 

Did they have quick release fasteners on them?

 

As I remember they slid on from the back and Dzus buttoned up around the cowl and the rear end uprights. I think they were more for show cause guys would run them sometimes and leave them off others. I think it would disguise an ugly but safer cage.

 

You can still buy a fiberglass chutepack "tailpiece" today. I know there's at least 1 place still poping them out. AS I am told Hanna used to walk into a shop with a gym bag full of his tools and be able to pound you one out with what he brung - I assume minus the o/a troches of course! BTW Hanna would make a tailpiece out of many welded together pieces rather than apply huge forming efforts - at least back in the day anyways. Material of choice (I believe) was and still is 3003H14 aluminum.
Some use wooden bucks - some just flew by the seat of their pants - personally I do a little of both. ANYONE who finds themselves DETERMINED can build a aluminum body - dragster tail whatever - this I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE of. Why?? Because I did and I didn't have the benefit of taking a high buck class to learn it. Am I professing to be really good at it - no absolutely not - matter of fact I have seen Hanna's work - he makes me feel like a total HACK - but again he's done a gazzilion more than I have (Hanna - gazzilion - me 1). Hanna's TRUELY is inspiring!!!!! Heck of a nice guy too!!!!

 

HemiRambler, are you Jason from the metalshapers board? If you are then fellows you need to look at his BEAUTIFUL f.e.d. Don't let him fool ya the work that went into the body is second to none. Please post the web address to it as I seem to have lost it. Sorry if I have confused you with someone else. Pool

 

Hell build you one & drive it to town,They license dunebuggys,You will have to find a place to hide a radiator & larger fuel tank,I think it would be bad ass to look up & see one screaming down the street.You would have everyones attention at the local cruise nights.And nobody there would be or even look faster than you.

 

This was the "Factory" car in the movie "More American Graffiti". It was owned by Pierre Poncia in this picture. He ran it in open competition against all the NEWstalgia F.E.D.s a couple years ago. He nearly got into the 5's with it.

New legal frame with double hoop cage, full 'Chute tail. It was called the "Sniper".