I hate stepping on anyones thread. So if it's ok with you all we'll use this one for general questions about building. Maybe Roo and Brian and any other chassis guys will chime in and help the do it yourself guys. There are so many build threads it's hard to follow the questions and put it all together and process it all.But keep your own build thread also! Man there is such a wealth of knowledge here to help the little guy dragster builder. It does take basic tools and a few special ones. This FED deal is growing by leaps and bounds. Amazing. We have the opportunity to bring the do it yourselfer back into the picture. There are so many different types of dragsters, short cars, long cars in between cars, gas carbed, injected gas, alcohol, nitro, and each one seems to take a different set of parameters to build. Although they ALL take good workmanship and a thought towards safety. What do you think guys? Do we need this thread? If not, just tell me to buzz off. Lippy
Hey Lippy: Glad you said this. Was thinking about this also in a group. So here it is... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=475 What do you think??? Especially like when your on the road and your on a strange puter. This way you could still quickly check your favorite links. If you put your favorite stuff here it will always be accessible. Started a thread with FED links. Add to it, have more will add later. Like you said if Im all wet tell me to B off. see ya Luke .
I vote that we leave it up. I'm gathering parts for a FED as we speak. Plan on building the chassis( TE 440) and running a blown, gas 360 mopar. All the pics that I have seen of the 440 chassis, they all seem to be running ridgid frontends. Was this the norm back then? I plan on running some type of front suspension as some of the tracks down here are not exactly what you would call "smooth". Robert
Not a bad idea but,for the record there is already an FED group,,,,,,,,,, http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=414
Same but different http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=341 I think its a great idea,,only thing I see kinda off ( if off is the right word ) Is old style frames with newer running gear ,,and time lines jumping all over the place. There are also Chassis Research and Lyndwood Groups Rigid ?? All I see are sprung ,,cept ones with teh old biscuit front end,,and not many of those
Oh crap...didnt mean to step on anyone's toes.... Well thats cool. I will kill the FED group. I typed Dragster into the search not Dragsters Luke
I know I've got a half dozen or so different threads I'm watching about FEDs, so one more wont hurt. One thing I have noticed is that even when you step on someones FED thread they don't seen to mind because there is good info from most.
I want in on this. I'm already in the C.R. and Lyndwood groups, need to get in on the FED group. so, I have specific questions right off the bat-- first question- are the speed breaks 10.00 and slower (NHRA), and 7.50 and slower (SFI) ?? for a 1959 ish short car, say 100", what would need to be changed about the base frame, to make it legal, and would it have differences for 7.50 or 10.00 ? I have read that there has to be X bracing, and I see some reference to that in the NHRA book, but can't find any wording or specs.
I think your optomistic thinking about ronning 7.5 with a 100 in wb. we learned in the '60S that the quicker and faster you went the longer the wb needed to be.
not the point. Point is, in most places, if ya wanna run, ya gotta pass tech. Overbuilt is better than wasted time and materials ($$$). Planning ahead seems to be the smart thing to do, and there ain't much difference between 10.00 and 9.99.
I am all for it, would like to see more people in the Front Engine Dragster social group too. If you build it to run at any sanctioned track to go faster than 9.99 you are going to have to build it to meet specs to 7.50 and slower. The NHRA book is a good starting point but you have to have the SFI sheets too. This morning I had my car recertified to 7.50. This is the third sticker for this car and the inspector (who also did it last time) caught one of the uprights that was too small. He did go ahead and pass it but will not next time. Lesson here is that the inspector even missed it once, but this time was looking a little closer at the SFI book. By the way it has been the same spec since 2001 so no it did not change. There is a wealth of information here from the members. Many things that I asked racers about when I was building my car got different responses. Like ask 13 guys and get 12 different answers. Since no one told me I couldn't I tried a lot on my own and went with a best guess. My only advise to someone building their own is that your life may depend on the integrity of your cage. Make damn sure it is right and welded well. Most everything on my car I did, except the welding. That went to a pro.
A few memories, and it's not to good. All chassis were sprung, NHRA rules. Ran a 92" Chassis Research with an injected SBC, in the 9's at 150, no problem. Ran AA/FD with a home built 140", best, 7.44@208. Not the best or close at the time, 1966, but it was home built and went straight. 392. The long wheel bases of today use the spring in the long tubes for suspension. I wouldn't let a short wheelbase bother me. Art
Bearing Burner, Could you tell us a little about your car ? As you may have seen on some of the other threads there are a bunch of short old time cars being raced 1/8 th mile at several New England strips.
my point in asking my question wasn't to get hung up on the wheelbase, as the thread has seemed to. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned wheelbase at all. Let me re-ask the question-- If I were to build a short front engine dragster in a style that mimicked the diggers of the late fifties without copying any one particular brand or style, in an effort to build a ride that could pass tech and still reasonably reflect the feel of the era, with much emphasis on PASS TECH, either to 10.00 or 7.50, would the base rails in my picture pass muster as-is, or would they need changing?
as far as I know ( not being the NHRA ) yes the 3 " and the 1 3/4 are ok,,think what comes into play is the wall thickness of the tubes. I would also post the question on teh Dragster Frames thread
By your picture I'm guessing you're thinking like 2x3 framerails? The way I read it the rulebook doesn't make any provision for anything but round in the driver's/engine area. Don't remember at what point, maybe 3" ahead of front motor plate?, they don't care what you use. My question, yes I've searched, who's got dimensions of an Anglia spindle?
last post in the thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=225706&highlight=anglia+spindle+specs
no, 3" round main rails. In my opinion the large diameter main rails are prominent features of Chassis Reseach and Lyndwood specifically, and more generally, separate an earlier effort from more conventional or later efforts. Using the proper wall thickness (I thought) was a given. what I am trying to decipher is whether there's an issue with the WAY my main rail picture is layed out or constructed. Is it ok that the front crossmember meets the main tubes at 45 degree angles and is butt welded, or would it need gusseted in some way? Does there need to be some X bracing between the front crossmember and the engine? Is it ok to use the 1.75" rear tube welded as shown, or does it need gusseted in some way? I have read that the shoulder hoop has to make a continuous loop around the back of the car, do the lower main rails have to make a continuous loop also? I am going to order the SFI specs today.
MoparSled - you have lots of questions (which is a good thing) if I were YOU I would be contacting the local NHRA Chassis Inspector - it's HIS approval you're gonna need.
Does anybody have a copy of the SFI 2.6 cert. that they could email or fax me? I want to know what i have to change to go faster than 10.00 flat. Thanks
I went fishmouth with the same style frame,,and not really what was asked but check the frame out on this twin engine ,,,1953 no less 100 mph is just fine for having fun
"Is it ok that the front crossmember meets the main tubes at 45 degree angles and is butt welded, or would it need gusseted in some way?" While I'm sure there must have been frames built with mitered corners, just about everything I've seen and have photos of used fishmouthed front crossmembers welded to the 3" main rail. When the builder used 2 smaller diameter main rail tubes on each side, they were then fishmouthed into the front crossmember.
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