Rich, the "paint" was a very authentic bare metal look<G>. Check my post in the dragster frame thread to see more or look on dragracingonline.com in their March Meet coverage (I think that it is on the Saturday page). Oh, what the hell, here is a shot of it from the pits at Famoso and one back at the Van Nuys shop on Monday. Roo
Wow Roo! Just WOW! I'm just a wanna be. I'm really wishing I had set this car up with a direct drive now.
Ok guys and gals I've got one quick and dirty question. What welding process is the norm or required on these cars? Seems like I heard or read somewhere TIG only. Can it be a SCRATCH TIG setup used to weld them up? TIG is TIG right? I'm thinking something along these lines maybe a little tamer will come after my F100 is running.
Brian.... YES!!! I think the first go-round will be injected on Pop however... No blower at first. So the point of my mission is to have a either a proper J/F resto car from the day or a very close approximation. My main leader of guidance and wisdom is onboard after many e-mails this week and will be a key player on my team. He has recently finished the complete resto of the IKE IACONO '29 roadster as a cackle car and his next project will be just as, if not more, mind blowing than that one! I raced with him for many years in the current Nostalgia Drags deal but now we are both leaning towards a bit more fun in the sport. I will be making the trek to RiceMan's house hopefully this weekend to study his fine example of RCE- Woody Gilmore perfection and pick up the drawings for that type of frame. I want to review a few diff approaches before ordering pipe. I will also be checking in with some local Bay Area dudes to see about recreating their cars of old times... If it's a slam dunk then cool... If not then I'm gonna build what I want and be done with it. Key thing is this: I want to walk out into my shop and see a FED sitting there. Shinny paint and all... I just want to see the car... What happens after that will bring smiles for sure but I feel its required for one to sit in my little casa. Everything seems to be lining up at this point.... Cheers, Robert M.
My first FED was a "pull" hand brake. The next 2 FED's that I drove had foot brakes installed.... I hated the foot brakes I'm sorry to say. They just didn't seem natural? I would love to drive one with a "push" hand brake but I have yet to have the chance. The concept of pushing is interesting to me and I think it would be more natural in a panic situation. I always felt my "pull" handle would yield a bit more than I wanted when I really needed the brakes. It seemed like the handle was back at my chest when I really needed to hold the car back? Just my thoughts, Robert M.
Rooman..... Fuck'n awesome work...... Very clean. modern'ish, bitchin, deal....... Hear Hear!!!! Thank you for building a modern car that still looks "right"! Love it, Robert M.
Zorba's Ghost is a RULER, I will never forget the MO-KAN Donut!! What is a good source for plans or drawings/dimensions for these cars?
Foot VS Hand Brake? Guys I have never driven a car with a hand brake, but my thoughts are why would I want to have to drive my car with one hand? Especially in a panic situation I would like both hands on the butterfly. In clutch car I could understand the need, but in an auto I do not. Anyone have other thoughts?
Way back when, my first FED was 96", before I completed it to run I bought a new full bodied Fuller car at a distress sale for $400.00 w/rear, wheels and tires. It was a long car at 112". I put an injected sbc w/clutch and shortened 3 speed tranny using 2nd and 3rd gears. Ran with the junior gas circuit in So Cal with guys like Jerry Darien and Larry Sutton before econo dragsters were conceived. The quickest cars were the lightest/simplest cars w/direct drive and midget drivers as we were all just beginning to learn how to make horsepower. My car started in the high nines @ 160 plus mph and was like driving down the freeway with one hand on the wheel. Loved driving the car and it ended up being the car used in Heart Like a Wheel as Shirley's A/D (it was also the car her husband trashed in their yard). I still have the front body panels in my hobby shop and someday ............ Here are some things I learned running many different cars over the years. Hand brake over foot, pull over push (once the car starts to bounce you will understand the difference in controlability/touch), Rooman's cockpit layout is ideal, oil coolers for PGs mounted up front between frame rails with hard lines in the cockpit and engine area, NO Tachs or Shift Lights, learn to drive by using all your senses, you cannot look at the track while concentrating on a tach and in the end you will be a much better driver, build them safe as you only have one body and life, make it to look and run it the way that makes you happy, and have fun. Consider building a new replica chassis for the older cars as steel does fatigue and erode from the inside over years. And today's methods of construction are superior. The cost may seem too high until the time a mishap happens, and we don't wear all that safety gear because mishaps don't happen. Virgil
Hand Brake vs. Foot Brake.... Well I'm not really sure which is the BEST option but I just feel it's a drivers preference kinda thing??? I just know that all the times I was in a shitty situation I had both hands on the wheel and the brake was not going do me any good. It seemed to me like there wasn't much time for more than one hand on the wheel anyways? Shifting, then getting ready for the chute, then the fuel shut-off, and finally the MAG and always with my left hand on the grip. John S. used to like the push hand brake mainly for the staging process. You had the ability to hold the car against the drag of the pedal clutch but yet when you launched you hand was moving back, i.e. releasing the brake, and not having the tendency to tug on it while trying to get your hand off it and onto the next item of business. Food for thought!
I think this statement applies to 99% of the members here.... I'm the other 1%...I want that fucker in my LIVING ROOM....hahaha!!!! I'm loving all this FED talk......really good stuff, from everybody....
YES!!!! My Chica would not be Bueno with that..... I think there is only 1 picture of the car inside the house.... Right next to me on my night stand. Sweet Dreams! ~RM
H.G., usually in a panic situation I will be going for the chutes FIRST. If the car gets out of shape, a lot of times (more than not), the chute or chutes will straighten the car out so you CAN get ahold of it. Brakes at high speed will usually just get it bouncing or worse. So you will have just one hand on the wheel anyway while you go for the chutes. I can usually steer the car better with one hand. Two heavily gloved hands tend to get tangled up if your trying to oversteer. The steering is so light and easy, one hand with a butterfly is fine. Plus your arms have restraints and I don't have any room for my elbows to be flailing around like in a doorslammer. I have never driven a push brake either, but I tend to think in a situation where the car is bouncing that would be very hard to do. I have the chutes on the brake handle, it's a pull, one sweeping motion for both. Lippy
Lippy, that makes sense. I have been out of shape before and always hit the chute first. My car is set up so my left hand is on the butterfly and the right hits the shifter, fuel shut off, and chute so I do not have to change hands to steer.
My rail has a push brake, I feel the leverage is in my favor pushing while strapped into the seat then pulling against my restraints if it were a pull brake....guess thats why they make chocolate & vanilla...to each his own. as for steering a rail 2 hands is only needed to get to the turn off road (if it's sharp) with a butterfly wheel you can't do hand over hand actions like in a street car senerio. Paul
Gentleman, I just like a handbrake in open cockpit cars with butterfly steering. On the brakehandle, a bicycle brake handle used as chute release, off-on toggle switch mounted on inside of brake handle, with a pull handle, your 4 fingers compress the bicyle handle rearward, right thumb pushes down on toggle switch, shuting off mag, continue pulling on brakehandle as needed. I have seen cars with mag off-on mounted on butterfly under left thumb, with bicycle lever on brake handle used as fuel shutoff. ON this style of brake handle, you can kill mag, release chuteor shut off fuel pump, apply brake pressure with one hand-one motion. I know this is 1960's style. Growing up in Tampa, I copied the setups of the local cars: Garlits, Malone, Laporte, Richard Holcoumb, Starvin Marvin, Swingle. Use whatever setup you are the most comfortabe with.
So I've noticed you don't see many big blocks in FEDs. Suppose some of it's an era thing, but there had to be plenty of BBCs around by the late 60s. I'm under the impression that an aluminum-headed BBC weighs about the same as a small block??? Which I happen to have in a car I never drive. But then thinking about not wanting to be cookie cutter. Have a buddy that has a couple 500 Caddys. Don't know what they weigh. Was thinking a full-length turbo trans, maybe even a short driveshaft to get the engine forward. Comments?
Tony Nancy pretty much ran big block Mopar engines in his FED's during the 60's.... And there were quite a few BBC's in FED's, and Altereds, by 1967....
What's the word on chroming front axles, radius rods, drag links, ect. I was told NHRA wont let it pass tech because it weakens these points. Is this true? is there a good looking alternative?
I think that Virgil guy might know what he's talking about. Welcome Virgil. Kerry, I like chrome a lot. Chrome front end, chrome rearend, chrome everything in between. Oh and polished aluminum, lots of polished aluminum. I just don't like cleaning it. Lippy
Yes, I'd say Virgil Hartman just might know a little bit about drag racing. Great to have you here on the HAMB Virgil, and I'm looking foward to Rhonda having a great weekend at Z-Max in the fueler.
I can say it, but I don't want to. OK so what do I do if I want it shinny? What have you guys done? Should I just paint it?
I do not think I would be afraid of chrome front end on a dragster. (I have one on each of my dragsters) If it were a street car and subject to continuous cycling on the road perhaps it may be an issue. As far as NHRA I really doubt they would not certify a car with a chrome front end unless you are talking about a fuel or advanced ET cert? Mine both cert to 7.50 I know they do have restrictions on chrome on the cage itself.
As I remember when I had my axel chromed it was heat treated to remove any hydrogen remaining after chroming. Something like 2 hr in a 400*F oven.
After driving many FED's and RED's with a pedal clutch or a Crowerglide with hi-gear or with a B&J or a Lenco, all with either a pull or a push brake, I was asked by a friend to do some shake down runs on a new A/ED at a points race since I was licensed above that. The car had a powerglide and a foot brake, well can you imagine to my surprise after doing the burn out, like a complete dumbass stomping the brake pedal thinking it was a clutch pedal. The car came to a......... can you say really QUICK STOP. That had to be the most embarressing moment of my racing career. Whenever we get our old dragster geezers group together, someone always brings it up and everyone has a really good laugh again. Hand brakes are the only way to go wheather it is a push or a pull in my opinion. I always thought it was way cool to lay your hands in your lap at 200+ after the chute hit. Another fun time was looking at two flat front tires after a run, because someone did'nt think it was very important to put the caps back on the valve stems. Fond memories. 408 AA/D
The Jalopy Journal
