I finally finished milling the manifold. Lost track of time but I dont care. Improvements like this can really wake up a manifld. David Vizard has done a lot of research on this kind of stuff. Some of his results with Chevy stuff are astounding. I have milled several pounds of solid iron out to get a modern hi performance plenum. (See shot a few posts back for original layoput.) I has added a balance slot. Then next shot has the WCB (or narrow old AFB pattern) to Holley adapter I cast here on it. Next is the heat shield which will be run with it. I will be using a 750 Vac sec Holley but it would take an 850 as far as fit goes. When you realize that no matter what you may want to think the port sizes even on an aftermarket manifold are the same as this will be you begin to think of this type of effort differently. I believe this will be a good manifold and I think it will supply what I need to get the job done. I am thinking of calling the car :The Mad Parrot: in deference to the Poly motor. Don
Damn Don lookin good, both you and Tim are driving me nuts! I guess I need to get back out in the garage and get to work on the ol flat block need to put a few sleves in ( borrow a boring bar from a buddy) an and cast a manifold for the 4 71, oh the hell of it is......... remember surfacing a block with a flat file??????
I got a phne cl last night . Block is ready, all bored with new cam bearings. I have one piston (400 Ford which is also a poly BTW) I will fit it up with it. I need to push out the bushing in my rod for trial fitting and fool with resizing a bit but I can use his rod hone so no big deal. I had an awful timeme getting this piston. KBor silvolite held back sending it for 2 months because they were worried the wieght wouldnt match the engine I wanted it for. Theyw ere Ass uming it was to go as a single replacement in a 400 ford. Steve from summit phoned and told me all theyw anted to know. "Just tell them send the dang piston I said and he obviously did. Must have someone working there who is an engineer from three islands in the sea. I can hear it now. "Eya will naught be responsible bla bla bla. " Oh well that is behind me. It may not work anyway but I gotta start somewhere. Worst case I will have them forged. NO I arent gonna cast them. Fun but too much work. It is too cold here for shop work. it is heated but in my old age I need it warm and comfy. Another month should do that, In the meantime I have been playing at my other HAM stuff. Ham Radio. I love building stuff and have a 1920s style station put together since Christmas. I have done anything on the chassis lately. to be honest while I tinker at this project my absolute #1 goal is to get the Sr dragster in the 10s. If that is the only thing I accomplish this year it will be good. Re "foreign affair." Taint foriegn here. I must have missed something. Anyway Gotta go and get my block and pay the man. Don
Great thread. I'm starting a new front engine dragster myself. I have the jig built,well the part for back half anyway. I have the engine jigged and just finished fabricating a rearend housing for it. I've been waiting for sfi specs to start the chassis is self and they came in cpl days ago. Ordered enough tubing to get me started on diver and engine compartments. Man doing this with half the income I use to have is realy tough. Forunately I still have three motors from my Top Alcohol racing left over so now all I need is flaoter rearend,one ever priced transmission,1000.00 in tubing and about 400.00 in sheet metal. After I use all that up I can start on the electronics for it, since thius will bne bracket car thats no small piece of change either. Anyone wanting to send donations can(ha,ha,ha) and I heard about something new called a sponsor. Looking foward to finding plenty of good info on this site.
Block is bored 4 inches , Pistons have been secured. Birthday present from my Wife! Have a trans. Rear end is partially narrowed. Debating Aftermarket axk les or respline these. Am trying y to buy some 134 mild steel for roll bar proper. Local supllier says no. Lazy I think. Was looking for the company who used to sell the dragster roll bars in kits, both mild steel and Cm but cant fnd it now the google has preorganized everything to list as a 15 year old girl would want it. (Roll bar, = rollers = hair curlers= bar stool etc. etc ) Last one I had bent was a bust. Guy had not done one before but didnt say so. My other guy takes up to 90 days to do it but sits in his shop complaining he has no work. Mike got my homebrew bender working but if I have to ship the steel from far away I might as well ship it pre bent. Just waking up from winter here and just got back from Germany a week ago. Starting to work in the shop again just this week. Don
yea Don gettin the right tube is a pita specially since its now all offshore steel......... but thats another story..........
I hope you are all sitting down but I was back on this project this afternoon. Not the engine but the actual chassis. My friend Bill Vilneff took the day off and drove down from Keene to help me wrestle with the narrowed diff. I need to get the diff mounted and a set of wheels on it so I can roll it around. We got a lot done. Now that I have the /6 rail about where I want it except for finishing the headers for the tunnel ram I have turned back to this project. I beleive I have all the roll cage tubing bent right, now as well. So once I get it on its feet I will go at tacking it all in place. It simply time to get back at it. Don
Cut axles to length. installed and welded the shortened housing all the way at a rate of about an inch at a time alternating side to side so to keep extreme heat down. Axles go in and out so it is probably as good a stock was. I know if they are off much axles will not go in. I have fixed a few for those who had to have them done by an expert with a fixture and then couldnt get the axle to go in the housing so I have decided rightly or wrongly that is the definative check. This is I think the 4th or 5th I have narrowed myself. Alxes are not replined ,just sitting in a pipe fixture to keep them straight in relation to each other. I did experiment with resplining and indexing. It was not a problem but you need a lot better tool bit then I have to endure the process. I am leaning toward Aftermarkets anyway. $ difference is not great between having these resplined and buying an approved set. With an approved set you are done once and for all. Might be the way to go. We shall see. Right now I want to get this thing rolling around. Don
I was just measuring. Engine, 727 trans and drivehsaft stub with one u-joint measure a combined length of 62 inches. Engine minimum width allowing for about a 1/2 inch bewteen the block and the rails on each side is 12 inches. I located this width on the chassis and measred back 62 inches. Right at the pinion U joint flange so that will work, I measured the SR dragster sitting right beside it. Engine and trans combined plus drveshaft stub and U jont 62 inches EXACTLY. Even though the trans (904) is shorter the 6 cly engine is slightly longer so lengths are identical. So I kow for sure ths will work. If I want I can use a 4WD trans output which gives a much shorter trans length or a 60s motorhome trans which is very short and comes with all the 5 pack clutches etc. OR I could use a 904. I have built them to survive 600+ hp so that is not a problem. Since this is a budget build I will use what I have for now. Don
Wow Don - I just read thru this entire thread. Question - wouldn't it be advantageous to use a 904 so you could move the engine back for more weight on the rear tires? A 904 could easily handle 500HP in a FED.
I have been out measuring and wondering the same thing but for a different reason. I was working on it today for a hour or so. I need to get the engine back in the chassis so it will fit easily between the rails. Yes I have built some super duty 904s . I add some clutches and steel in both forward and direct clutch by machining and do restictor in the direct clutch circuit to give the Kickdown band a split second more release time before the direct is on full apply.. I also change the kickdown lever to a 4.2 . Some stainless or teflon front stator support seal between the stator support and the direct clutch drum and a couple of gallons of Mobil ! synthetic makes for a tuff tuff trans. If manual it is always a Cheetah valvebody. Call Frank Lupo for some launch and put it together and hang on!. If I need auto shift A&As govenor kit makes a perfect solution. Don
Re weight on rear tires. I weigh 306 so it hasnt been a problem ;>) Dummied up the diff to the chassis while supporting it at an even height. Made rear end brackets from cardboard. I cheated here and had a pal plasma cut them. Today I tacked them in place . So far looks good. I made the plates from 3/8th steel. Maybe a bit thick but better too thick then too thin. Lots of tacking looking and thinking happening right now. Easier to fix when tacked then after it is fully welded. . Don Oh yeah. I forgot to say Wheelbase will be 134 inches..
"Re weight on rear tires. I weigh 306 so it hasnt been a problem ;>)" ...maybe you'll need to move it forward so the front isn't too light?
It is raining here and cooler. I spent the morning in the shop finishing up a couple of things on the Sr Dragster and then went back on the new FED mounting the diff. First I should mention the diff is shortened so it is offset to the eye. The reason is so the driveshaft will be in the middle and the wheels exactly the same distance from the body. I drew some lines to make it more visable. This gives one long and one short axle. I then put a set of wheels on the diff and supported the chassis on the floor at the proper height which I figured from measuring my other dragster and also the front end of this one minus its tires. I clamped the brackets and drilled the top hole through but only a pilot hole. I will bolt it through here with two small bolts and then recheck everything. If all is well I can scribe the position on the plates to make sure they go exactly back in the same spot, then remove the diff assembly , clamp and bolt the plates back together and then drill the most bottom holes in the plates. I will drill a pilot hole and then recheck. if all iswell I will drill them to size (1/2") and bolt them up tight. Then I will drill the two sets of holes to size close to the axle tubes , bolt them with 1/2" bolts and finally remove my two small bolts in the top brackets and drill them to final size. Then for reassembly with the diff and start the fianl measurments before taking the housing to its brackets and then removing it for final weld and clean up and paint. If I encounter an error now by only using small bolts I at this point I can correct anything like that and still have the final product perfect as possible. There are times in previous builds I wish I had done so. Live and learn I guess. Don
Speaking of homebrew FEDs I was going through pictures of the early days looking for a photo and I came accross this one I took on my honeymoon over 42 years ago. (Yes , I actually did go to the drags on my honeymoon. Eat yer heart out!) These fellows had put this together and were running it at Cayuga just for fun. It was a small Chev six. Seems to me it was a 230, not a 250 they said. They had three SU carbs on a homebrew manifold. Despite the cool looking wire wheeled front axle I will not tell you how they said they made that lest someone try to copy it and get hurt. It actually worked very well, this little car. These guys had it figured out way back in 1970 (june 7th to be exact) it is cars like this that inspired my current ride and this car too. I wonder if anyone knows who these fellows were? Don
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