Humble begining of my front engine dragster

I was inspired by the thread Brian Fox of KingChassis wrote on building a FED so I decided to build one. It's 150 in. wheelbase,carburated gas smallblock with a powerglide. Piecrust slicks come this week, once mounted I'll narrow the rear and locate motor and trans. I am also going to section the pan for more dump in the motor. If you ever considered building one of these, just do it, it's a fun car to build. Thanks again to Brian for helping me get started and answering a bunch of stupid questions. He just might be the coolest dude on the planet. I'll post more pics as it progresses.

 

looks like an interesting project, keep us posted. Nice Merc in the background.

 

Congrats! Keep us posted!

 

Great project, keep the pictures coming.

 

Everytime I get on the HAMB I search the word "dragster" to see if there is something going on.

And WHAM!!!! Thanks alot. I would love to see 32 of these at the HAMB Drags in the next couple of years. Great lookin car.

Long live the front motor digger.

 

And what BMX bike is hangin in the right rear corner!???

 

Atta boy!

 

I like it when people build their desires.

Just a few hints tho,

When bringing the front rails down to the torsion, dont be so agressive with the taper. Say the torsion tube is 1 5/8 dia.--- The rails at the mid point of that tube should be at a combined hight of 2" and then once the torsion tube is tacked the rail tubes can be trimed and tapped down to fill the gap.
This will give you, --1) over a 180deg wrap around the torsion which is a highly stressed area and it makes that front section more stout due to increased size and allows the torsion bar to flex instead of the frame/joint--2) It reduce's the amount of grinding and fitting one has to do, It takes what appears to be about 21" and reduces it to about 10"or11" which also has the extra benifit of less welding in that area. Make sure that after a lot of tacks that you start the weld at the back and weld foward towards the torsion , this keeps the rails from heat/weld shrinking together.

 

dreracecar - thats great advice, makes a lot of sence, wish I had put a little more thought into fitting that torsion bar. Not really much I can do about it now, hope it doesn't cause me problems. I will for sure use your tip about welding it together. Any other tips would be greatly appretiated. Thank you.

 

What a cool beginning!!!, keep it up

 

I've said before, if I can get the scratch, I am building / restoring one of these. Don't know if I will ever drive it - minimally it would be a cackle car (especially if I can find one with history).

 

Thats a good start to a nice digger!!!
Any updates on this car? Also have a quick question- did you buy the tubing as a kit or did you bend it yourself? Thanks

 

Update: Got my slicks mounted, got some front wheels and a fuel tank(will cut it down a little bit). Rearend narrowed. Axles and brakes ordered. Next up, build front axle, machine spindles, section oil pan,and have motor plate cut so I can start locating everything. As far as the tubing, I bent it myself. Had to have a die custom made (7 1/2 inch radius) to get the cage to look just how I wanted. I'm a big dude so I had to build a 22 inch car.

 

Great project. Mine although a real shorty has provided me now with almost four years of real enjoyment. I hope you enjoy yours as much. All the best.
rdefabi (if I can get the scratch,) A FED or an altered is a lot less expensive than you might think. I am on #3 build in the shop . All metal including the front axles which i also make costs just under $400 Canadian with the average being $394 for all 3. If I had known earlier in my life how much fun and inexpensive these can be I would have built one first and forgot all the doorslammers. go fer it! You wont be sorry!
Don

 

Very nice!!!

 

looks like a great start on the build

 

thats awesome man. Looks like you got a real good start going for you. I asked about the tubing because I agree with you on making the roll bars look just right in order to make the car look right. I like your single bend bars very much. (I might be contacting you to bend me up a kit) Keep us updated!! Thanks.

 

Great start. I have always wanted to build one of those.Good Luck.
Tom (Tired Old Man)

 

FED'S are fun to drive and work on.Keep up the good work and keep us posted with your progress.

 

If you think it's fun now - just wait til you mash that gas pedal!!! I think it took me a couple weeks just to wipe the shit eating grin off my face!!!!

 

Just a few quick questions, what type of steering box are you using? and Where did you buy your front wire wheels?

Thanks
Troy

 

Bullit-Ray Calahan-Late Model ?? Dragster looks good !!! >>>>.

 

Another tip--
Before you weld the cage on , build the seat because it is much easier to lift it straight out than to twist and bend it through the cage and rear end housing.
Also since you are short coupled between trans and rear end, wait until you have the frame all welded up before you weld the mounting plates(or motorplate tabs)for the rear end, reason being that the tubing moves around a bunch and if you never welded a whole car like this before, you will lose the alignment and EVERTHING will be bound up. Cars with motors out farther can use multiple couplers and shafts and can be off by a bunch and get away with it --you cant, even frame sag will get you.

 

Real good tips here, had an original one break off at the torsion tube while on the trailer. Drilled the intresecting tubes with a holesaw,(shortening the wheelbase a couple of inches) and replaced the whole torsion bar assembly with one from Mark Williams. No problems after that, but was happy it broke on the trailer...

 

G'day Bruce

Roo

 

I built late models for Ray many years ago, In fact I still live next to the old shop.

Thanks for the tip, I need all the help I can get. I got a question about that coupler. How much end play do you suggest?
Thanks Christian

 

I am going to try to use a corvair box, if I don't like it I will buy a strange box. The wheels are just motorcycle wheels, spindles will be machined to fit.

 

Christian:
The coupler should have around 1/8" of free play. You might have to shorten the tailshaft to get enough movement.

Like Keith quoted Bruce for saying coupler alignment is one of the BIGGEST issues with this setup.

A way to make sure the alignment is good is to take the tail housing of the glide off and the snap ring out of the coupler and slide it in and out of the rear end coupler. and one of the biggest tips is to make sure that coupler slides. Because frame flex WILL affect the alignment. if you are lucky and catch it maybe you will only lose a tailshaft bushing and not the whole thing. (ask use how we know!)

Because once everything is put together you can only check alignment by the rotational feelin of the coupler and the rear end due to the 1/8" of play. and depending on how close your transmission is to the rear end you wont be able to get a finger on the coupler to slide it in and out.

Steve and Matt Morgan

PS: Roo is a super nice guy and will help you out if you need it. It is definately worth the trip up to his shop in Indy if you get the chance.
HI ROO! and thanks for checking out the ole digger a week ago. Got her figured out we think!)

 

Took some time to hammer out the tail section this weekend. First time building body panels out of aluminum, it's easier than steel.
Christian

 

I have been slowly getting this thing together. The body is roughed in, I got a little more work to do around the chute opening. Got the steering mocked up. Decided to go with a bell crank setup, but I'm unsure about the speed of the steering. It would still be easy to change but I need some input on that. Got the car sitting down on it's wheels the other day, very happy with it's stance. Going to build some headers today so I better get out there and get to work.