Projects Dragster update - Front end stuff

After I got the required stuff out of the way today I got busy. Notched the axle and tacked the kinpin bosses in. Made the mounting tabs for the spring arms and tacked them on. Made the mounting tabs for the wishbone. Made the wishbone. Made a mount for the tie rod end on the wishbone and tacked it in place. She's starting to look like something.

The tube bending the other evening didn't turn out as planned. We were going to use the tubing roller my friend had. Problem was it couldn't handle the material thickness. We ended up walking the tube in a normal bender with a 6.5 die. It turned out ok but not awesome. Now only four more to do. Monday night we're going to have another crack at it.

 

Nice! That's a neat wishbone set up too.

 

Coming along nicely>>>>.

 

Looking good Kerry,cant wait to see this one done.

 

Thanks for the kind words guys. I need to get the rear hoops bent and installed next.

 

Looking great man!!!

 

Your pics have helped a bunch, especially on this wishbone. Thanks!!!

 

Wow Dude lookin good, ya know ya keep that up and you'll have a racecar some day!!

 

cool man! is the front spring adjustable? what will happen to the ride height when you drop the engine on it.

 

You are so welcome.

 

Looks cool to me.

 

There's no adjustment on the spring but I can move the wishbone in and out to adjust caster. Anybodies guess where it will land with the hemi but the springs are plenty stiff.

 

Kerry
looks good! what is the story on the front wheels? did you make the setup your self? i was looking for info on building a low buck set up and couldnt find it in the tech section. any help would be appreciated!
keep up the good work.

 

Yeah, I whipped them up myself.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=248684&highlight=lathe+hubs+wheels
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=277674&highlight=lathe+dragster+wheels

 

Cool stuff, Kerry. We're still in the collecting mode for Dave's.

 

Thanks. The collecting never stops.

 

BTW Chris, did you have Hilborn do your pumps or is there another place to service them?

 

I just bit the bullet and bought a new one. I had one rebuilt as a spare by Hilborn.

 

Wow- wow- wow!!!!

 

Keep Rollin

Rusty

 

Well tonight I had another go at bending the rear hoops. Long story short it's kicking my but. All I've done is mess up some very expensive DOM. I'm going to check into some other options tomorrow. Heavy sigh.

I did spend a bit more time and fixed a couple of glaring issues with the front end. Tweaked it some so the chassis would sit lower. Helped make me feel better.

 

Looking good .

 

Kerry, Look for someone with a "Hossfeld" type bender. I bent 90% of the tubing on my digger and my cheapy hossfeld knockoff did/does a sweat job.


Keep up the good work!!!

 

Thanks again for the kind words guys.


That's what I've been using when trying bend. Problem is nobody makes dies with the 9.5" radius I need. 6.5 is about the biggest I can find.

I did find a local fab place that has a big roller. He can't roll in the center of a long piece so I'll be getting 180 degree bends 19" diameter and weld the needed straight pieces on to length. The issue is that his dies are for sched 40 pipe but he thinks it's doable. It's worth a shot. I'm tired of destroying my own stuff. ;-)

 

Kerry, this car is gonna rule man, really lookin awesome

if the dies are for pipe, the bends are going to be flattened out a bit before the walls of the tube contact the sides of the die. unless i am very wrong, they'll kinda look sickly.

 

look like it should be fun

 

Call H&L Metals in CALI. That is who bent my Dragmaster tubing. Number is 562 426 7388 ask for Ray. As to the ride height on the front end. When I did mine, I tacked it to where I needed it then if when the motor was put in and it sagged, I could take off the arms and flip up side down and it would raise ride height. Or could be done vise versa. Brian

 

Looking good Kerry! Can't wait to see you pop that chute in the lights. Still in the gathering phase on mine. Money and tinme keep getting in the way of progress. How wide is your front axle, spindle to spindle? Those wheels you laced up came out nice. I won't make it this year, but I'm calling you out for next year.

 

I understand that Fuller still bends his tubing via the sand method.
AV8 posted a tech piece on this about a year ago.
Worth a look.

Far as dry sand goes, sand blast sand at the lumberyard oughta do it.

SamIyam also did a tubing bend around a wooden jig.
Aside from the little fire, it worked out ok.

An old 19" wheel may make an ok jig for you if you opt for the sand and torch bit.


I found that a 1" pipe bender die worked ok bending 7/8" x .156 wall for my radius rods.
Harbor Freight pipe bender, but that was the only die that fit well.
I didn't make too much of a bend, but it come out without collapsing the tubing or doing the muffler shop scrunch up the tubing bit.

You may find a pipe die in the larger sizes does ok.


(Looks like next Wednesday for shipping the aluminum piece.)

 

Well, the local guy I found with the roller has my tube now so we'll see how it turns out. I've talked with a couple of locals who have done the sand thing and I'm not wild about trying that. If this doesn't work H&L are my next stop.

Yeah Brian, I've been thinking of reclocking if I need to adjust height. I've dialed in some preload so we're just going to have to see what the hemi does to it.

There's no way I'm going to be done this year either Prop Strike. You're on for next year! Oh, the front axle is about 42" kingpin to kinpin at the top.