Technical > Roo Man's Room
How do i know the cage will fit my size?
GlennLever:
--- Quote from: dusterdave173 on June 17, 2014, 03:40:03 PM ---Opinions are OK--and expert opinions are good too but...I thought when I found this forum that is would be to get all folks interested in and fond of FED's together and have a place to promote the love , racing, and enjoyment of FED's. Front engine dragsters and any type of Nostalgia racing is the only thing growing in our drag race world--it is growing leaps and bounds judging by the Bowling Green HRR this past wk end and the many other shows I have attended or read about in the last year or two. So it is disturbing that a few folks on here bash other builders --oh lets just say John Worm. Come on..no one has died in one because of some awful failing flaw---unlike Chevys as of late...No they are not near the car like others done by experienced custom builders that have devoted their entire lives to create--but...decent entry level machine that can be finished a little at a time and wind up getting more folks in our camp--Heck Yes!!! Do some turn out poor quality because of home builder inexperience and general lack of skill--sure--like all kit type deals--just look at Cobra kits--they sell 40 times more kits than are ever made road worthy and some are pure t dangerous from lack of builder skill, but others are fantastic fun machines--so to, the Worm cars.
Not bragging but mine has turned out pretty darn well and I feel like if you saw it up close you would think I did a fine job of building--As to some of the "problems" outlined by others ( with all due respect) I would say--yeo the seat area is big at the bottom--lets All kinds of buyers fit ( except Sasquatch size) and a simple soloution is a seat foam form AKA Bead seat kit will do nicely to make my car safe and comfortable for my size butt and back. The weight issue is only apparent to guys that really RACE and are born weight aware about every detail--Guys like me that will club race / match race/ and as you all know really know, just exhibition race couldn't give a poop about 50 lbs one way or the other--Burn alky and rubber and make us all smile is the real idea here not the Maximum effort or a serious hard core to the bone racer--which I was for 25 years --now I just want to have fun and not work at it so hard--I don't care if I go 8.00 or 9.00--could care less so weight? Big deal!
I could go on but in the words of Rodney King--Can't we all just get along??? Bashing Johns cars on the web and hurting the value of cars that many have instead of saying--yea it ain't a NHRA Jewel but I see how we can have more folks to play with--is not in the spirit of growing our beloved sport and if it does not do some growing you guys that are the experts will not have any new customers to build for.
--- End quote ---
I agree with your sediment.
remember the rules.
There are not may “Rules” that I would impose. However please no cussing, cussing just shows a lack of knowledge in the use of the English Language. You can express your feelings without cussing. Be respectful of other members. Everyone has a right to their opinions, and a right to do it differently then you might. No camping on. Think about making your userID something meaningfully or representative of what you stand for.
George:
Sharing information is what this forum is ALL about. I hope that never changes. Not all information is good news to all.
The advise I will give to all is"make an informed and educated decision on your race car purchase".
I personally made a bad decision on a FED purchase and it took more than a year to educate myself and fix all the problems. Professional advise is given on this forum. I wish Glen had put this together before we bought our car.
A good place to start :http://www.sfifoundation.com/drag-racing-chassis/
George
ricardo1967:
--- Quote from: dusterdave173 on June 17, 2014, 03:40:03 PM ---"...Can't we all just get along???..."
--- End quote ---
DusterDave,
I agree with you. Every story has two sides, and I only know very little of one side, but the tone of the comments earlier were inappropriate in my opinion. I don't follow the Facebook discussions, so I don't know if there's personal level disputes embedded in that car review. I met John Worm this weekend at HRR and based on half an hour experience he didn't seem out of touch, unless he's a very good actor (which does happen). I know the comment maker too and have nothing but positive things to say about him.
I am extremely grateful for this forum, knew some fine members before its beginning and met another bunch of fine people here. People are different, cars are different. If we were all the same the world would be a boring place.
GlennLever:
I have also met John Worm. Visited his shop when I first looked into building a dragster. He spent a lot of time with me, and is a nice guy.
I had Roo Man build my chassis. There are many reasons why I made this choice. SlingShot Dragsters certainly builds a capable chassis, and their price is cheaper then Roo Man. I felt the increase in price was well worth it for the difference in quality, the custom built chassis, and reputation that Keith has. I had two personal friends that know Keith and they both recommended him highly.
Here is a link to my visits to those two shops.
http://www.leverfamilysite.com/2010_Front_Engine_Dragster_Selection.htm
Note that I have stated my feelings without getting personal about it or knocking someones product, just passed information along.
rooman:
I agree that Worm has put a lot of people in dragsters that otherwise might not have been able to get to that point but as I stated my problem with his cars is the functionality and safety issue. When I look back at some of my early efforts from 45 years ago I cringe but right from the start I have made the effort to make each car better than the last one, listening to advice from more experienced builders and generally being observant as to what other constructors are doing. Every builder has their own idea of how to construct a car and the smart plan is to pick the best of those ideas to suit your own build. Every chassis builder looks at the opposition's product and at times thinks "Why did they do that?" but in the majority of cases it is not a safety issue.
fuel749 pointed out that the Cen-Pen car that he had in his shop had slugs in the steering cross member but the one that I am working on did not.
dusterdave173 points out that a bead seat insert will fix the seat problem but how many of the entry level guys buying these cars know about that option or even realize that they should be doing just that.
As dreracecar pointed out on Facebook, overbuilding with respect to tube size and wall thickness is not necessarily safer as part of the SFI spec involves some deformation to absorb impact without transferring it to the driver.
The fact that the motor plate is not aligned with an upright means that there is effectively a large gap for fire to get into the cockpit. Very unusual for one of these cars to catch fire but if it did your feet would get hot very quickly.
The loose fit at the step down is also a basic engineering issue that I have never seen in another "pro" built car.
I see some of these same issues in homebuilt cars but Worm is building these to sell and in that case there is a basic obligation to provide a safe, well engineered and designed product not just something that is easy for him to put together with a big profit margin.
As I stated when this furore started on Facebook, I hate to talk badly about another chassis builder but as stated above there are definite safety issues with the Cen-Pen cars and John does not appear to be doing anything to address them. Nobody has been hurt in one of them to my knowledge but lots of people have been driving their GM cars with no ignition switch issues for years and look what is happening there. I am not trying to sell more cars myself but am trying to make sure that the uninitiated have have some information to work with.
Roo
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version