I am laid off and have a bunch of spare parts. I am thinking of building me a HA/GR. I have a couple questions. Thanks 1. I would want to use 2x3 tubing, what thickness wall should I use? 2. What is the average wheelbase mat of you are building your cars at? 3. How wide are your frame rails? 4. Front brakes, yes or no? 5. Anyone running parallel leafs or 1/4 elliptics? 6. Anyone using r&p steering?
I don't know what the other guys are doing but I had a couple pieces of x-10 (the same type steel they make truck frames out of) 12 feet long broke at 4" in the back with a taper down to 3" in the front. It's 1/8 thick. Might be heavier than some but it will be strong. The cage is standard NHRA cage material. Good luck Dusty
2 ten ft sticks 118 wall tube mount ft/rear end you will have about a120 inch wb yes on use of 1/4 elliptics/parallel ,no on rack and pinion these cars are susposed repersent what was being run in the late 40s to mid 50s frame width we be controled by width of bellhousing and clutch linkage leave room for them .use 118 wall mild steel ,no chromemoly
11 gauge 2x3 tubing is what I used and two of them were plenty for the side rails and the front. My wheelbase was 126" and I just got through cutting it down. It is now 112" wheelbase. My frame rails taper from front to back and it starts out at 22" in the rear, down to 20" in the front. I'm only running rear brakes and have had no problem even on the 1/8 outlaw track that has a short shut down area. I think there is a build running parallel leafs and there are several running 1/4 ellipticles. Mine is running an old A front end. And I would agree on the rack/pinion as a no. Robert
I have a '59 Austin Healey Sprite. I am going to put a V8 into it so I was thinking of using the drivetrain out of it. It is the 4 cyl, 3 spd and rear end. I need to find a small front axle to match the size of the rear axle. I am thinking Crosley. If I go that route that would give me 1/4 elliptic on all 4 corners.
J-Man, you're dabbling in an area very near and dear to my heart...the little A series Austin engines, and the cars that they powered. However, anyone who attempts to use this stuff for anything other than it's intended purpose, needs to know what they're dealing with going in. Your engine is a 948 cc unit, rated at 43 horsepower, with 8.3 compression ratio. The gearbox is a four speed unit, with a non sychro first gear. The rear axle is from the baby Austin of the 1930s. It has a 4.22 ring and pinion, and full floating axles with single bearing hubs. The gearbox and rear end is strong enough for mild power outputs, but begin to fail in the 90-100 horsepower range, especialy when shock loaded. Since the engine red lines at about 5500 rpm, the stock sprite had about an 85 mph top speed, and wieghing around 1480 pounds, would go 0-60 in about twenty seconds. In other words, not a ball of fire.... The engines weigh just a bit over 260 pounds, and I doubt the rear axle assembly would weigh over about 70 pounds or so. Useing the right materials, I think you could build a somewhat down-scale HAMB dragster that could easily weigh around 900 pounds, perhaps a little less. Figuring the car and driver at 1050 pounds, with 38 rear wheel horsepower, you're looking at an ET of 17.61 at 77.40 mph under IDEAL conditions. You do have the advantage of not having any traction issues with the 6 inch tire rule. There are speed parts readily available for these little engines that will really wake them up, but they are relatively expensive. With a bit shaved off the cylinder head, a cam and rev kit, and tuned header and jetted up carbs with open stacks, you would probably see maybe 60 horsepower. A quick trip to my ET Calculator tells us that you're at around 16.07 ET at 84.5 mph. I think it would be great fun to develop a car such as this, provided you're satisfied with this level of performance. Later upgrades to bigger A series engines, rib case gear box, and a slightly sturdier rear axle, could gain a TON of performance. A radical 1275 could easily get you into the 12 second range. If you like the sound of all this, by all means DO IT! I just love these little engines, myself. I just wanted you to get a bit of a feel for what you're dealing with, before you dive it with both hands and feet.
Here is a picture of a Crossley engine on Gary's dyno friday. If you look at the 94 carb it gives you prespective of the small size of the engine. The engine can be picked up and carried around easly by one person. It is 44 cubes with a overhead cam and was made in 1950. It is screaming it's little heart out at 9000 rpm here and making 59 hp. The guy is putting it in a Crossley SS convertiable and is going to the east coast to try and set a flying mile record in the class. He has the world's largest collection of Crossleys. Roy
I ran one of those high winding little crosley's in a 98 in long chassis research frame in around 63 in X class dragster. I think in ran about 85 mph but I cant remember the et. It would wind up.
http://www.stripduster.co.uk/index.htm Even though it is not the same this was my inspiration for using the Healey stuff. It is supposed to be about the fun and experience, right? The only other motor I have that I could use is a I6 that weighs prob 2x as much and puts out close to the same hp. the motor is a little more rare and no performance parts exist for it. I figure it would be best for a restorer.
J-Man, That's what I'm talking about!!! Build a light chassis, and start tweaking stuff! I was just looking in my Victoria British catalog, and Kent Cams sells complete cam kits for $241, and adjustable timing gears sets for $189. Mallory makes a really nice dual point mechanical distributer for $229. Oh, and you GOTTA have the finned aluminum valve cover for $55!!!! This could be great fun, and unlike ANYTHING anyone else is doing.
Ooops....It's egg on face time! I just noticed that the Victoria British catalog I randomly picked up is a few years old! The prices may be a wee bit off....sorry. Nonetheless, I still think your idea is too much fun to pass up. Go for it, and march to a different drummer!
I personally think that would be a kick-ass car, regardless of how fast it was. When I first got interested in the HA/GR project I really wanted to build a big (200 + inch) 4 cylinder but couldn't find an engine that lit my fire. That's when I decided to build the GMC. About 3 weeks ago I dynoed a 1966 (?) 1800 cc, MG engine with an aftermarket aluminum head, Magneson roots type blower, SU carb, Kent "H" beam rods, Kent cam, etc. It made 137 HP and 143lb/ft of TQ. It was one of the cutest engines I've had the privelage to work on....actually a hell of a lot more fun that the 1000 HP monsters I usually dyno. Build the Crosley and keep us up to date on the progress. Ron
The only thing crosley will be the front suspension and that is assuming I can find it. The rest will be all Austin or custom built.
I gave a Crosley front axle assembly away last summer. I'll check and see if the guy is going to use it. He wanted it for a King Midget. Shipping could be a little pricey though.
Hey J Man there is a crosley dual carb intake on the ebay now. Might be worth looking into? Cool concept Dusty
J man, Sorry...had a senior moment. I should have said, "built the Sprite engine". I guess I had Crosley on the mind. Ron
Hey J Man, something you might consider if you can't source a Crosley axle, would be to fab your own spindles, and use some inexpensice motorcycle wheels, like Honda 750 19 inchers, or something. I'm thinking something like a go kart spindle, only built a bit more stout. Considering the very light weight of the front end of such a car, you could use a piece of 2 inch .120 wall tubing for the axle itself and end up really light. The rear lever shocks off your Sprite would be really cool on the front end, too! This lind of stuff really gets my juices flowing!
I used mini-sprint/midget spindles and made my own hubs to mount some old Ansen slots and for the feds we used spindles from BRP and machined the spindle to 3/4" on the first car to accept Harley spoked wire wheels the second one used aluminum frt wheels from a Japanese bike changed the bearings to cone and cup style to make them easier to mount and the Japanese wheels were alot cheaper.
If you built that car to scale, You'd have a "Midget HA/GR" and that would be so frikin cool.. Speaking of Crosley. Did you know that the original Crosley blocks were pieced together, And furnace brazed. And that was during WW2. They were starter motors from ships. After the war, Cast blocks were used...I had a 47 Crosley station wagon..I wouldn't be able to get in it today..
We could allow the sling shot chassis for a four banger rail? This decision wouldn't be taken lightly. Would have to be well thought-out, as to not open a big can of worms.
I have a friend that has a FLAThead 4 banger. in a "T" roadster. Goes 107mph 1/4 mile.. I'll bet my Chev 6 won't do that....
J Man, the main advantage of a slingshot type setup is weight transfer. With the driver behind the rear axle, it gives a fulcrum effect on weight transfer, increasing traction. It also usualy allows the engine to be mounted further rearward, placing more static weight on the rear tires. In a small displacement low torque application such as yours, there would probably be no real advantage.
Does anyone have a frame blueprint I could look at to see how their chassis is built for their dragster? Thanks
Lots of pictures here in the various build threads, but I don't think anyone has drawn any plans or blueprints of the chassis construction. Most just seem to start with a couple of axles and the engine and trans sitting on the floor and fill in the spaces between. The cars seem to "grow" more than be designed.
Firstly, that car you posted is AWESOME, and is outright cool, without any need to fit in any class. As far as fitting HA/GR....of two minds, to the point that if we have porch dog, yard dog, this would be your greyhound dishlicker... Cheers, Drewfus
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