Short WB FED's

[fuel749]

Go to any Nostalgia meet and watch--the short cars all look cool but usually never make full hard passes--they are cool / fun but--- the long cars all stage up and rip it
Good Luck!

That statment is the biggest load of #### I have ever seen posted!!!

I'd have to agree with dre on this.


Not to mention the fact that if you don't know whats going on with the combination, you can't make a judgement on whats causing the issue. Part time nostalgia guys looking to have a little fun for a little cash may not have a well sorted combination. Even guys with good overall combination are known to make mistakes or cheap out on parts.

     There's also the driver equation, I've seen cars that can't seem to get down the track suddenly start making great runs after the car was sold or a new driver was installed.

[ricardo1967]

Alright guys, let’s watch the oil pressure here…

I’m not disputing that chassis tuning and driver experience are the biggest factors for a good pass, but wouldn’t you guys agree that, back in the days when diggers didn’t have traction, those short wheelbase chassis weren’t shocked as much during launch as they are now with sticky tires?

[fuel749]

Alright guys, let’s watch the oil pressure here…

I’m not disputing that chassis tuning and driver experience are the biggest factors for a good pass, but wouldn’t you guys agree that, back in the days when diggers didn’t have traction, those short wheelbase chassis weren’t shocked as much during launch as they are now with sticky tires?

They may not have been, but it brings us right back to your line about chassis tuning and driver experience. And we're not back in those days. We have good tires and prepped tracks so we build cars to run on them.   There's way more to the equation than the wheelbase. Is a 225" car better for some applications than a 175" car? Probably, but not for the vast majority of guys running for fun. Which brings up another point. If a car gets built to have a certain look, it's bound to be full of compromises on the performance end. A true race car is built with optimal component placement in mind, not worrying about whether or not that component looks good where it is.

[dreracecar]

Ricardo
 Apples an onions

 

[masracingtd1167]

Back to the original question about a 130 to 140 inch car . You should be just fine if you are planning on going out and having fun like a mid 8 second car . Your biggest problem will be finding the right tire that will work for your car . Most of us with the longer cars use the 12x31 Goodyears and I think that would be too much tire for your car . Like some one else posted earlier the tracks and tires are much better than they were . Back in the seventy's I ran a 140 inch car with 10 inch tires . We ran mid 8's with it and it handled very well . If you have plans on going faster like a mid 7 second car then I would go with the longer car . Bill 

[masracingtd1167]

This was my 140 inch car

[PSweeney]

I'm building a 138in car, it s a bracket car with period styling cues built ti run around 8.80's.  It'll have near 40lb of weight on the axle, 10" tyre and a 3.70 gear to tame the launch but still rev to 7k through the stripe.  No reason you can't build a build a short car for bracket / index racing

[retroboy]

This sounds exactly what your're talking about. 140"wheel base, very tired 302 windsor, solid camshaft, Enderle injection, C4 trans, 3.7 diff gears, 28.5 x10.5 tyre. Leaves from idle, runs 6.1 over the eigth @ 7,000 rpm in second gear. Has no added weight other than it runs a battery.

[masracingtd1167]

How is this!

[the shadow]

New to the site as a member, but been a  lurker on here for awhile.  just wanted to throw my $0.02 into the mix, how about a 98"wb!

 I personally watched another 98" wb sbc injected  Lyndwood (like mine pictured) rip off straight pass's in the 8.90's till the track said "no more" due to the style & age of the chassis.  his set up was a 355 injected ,PG. He also added wheelie bars  as these tend to stand up, but it hooked & went, later on he couldn't stop on a pass & hit a brick wall at 40-50 mph.

   Back in the day my dragster ran A/D till about 1964 and ran consistently in the high 8's with the technology of the time.

Paul

[LZ]

This was my 140 inch car

Bill that is the shot of the week there.. Love  it  love it.

[slingshot383]

Putting to large a tire on a FED seems to be a regular problem.  A 9X30 or 10.5X31 slick would work just fine on most FED's.

[Babor72]

I am new here and toying with the notion of fabricating an old style shorty f.e.d. using a 312 Interceptor coupled to a Warner Gear Velvet drive transmission without a clutch. I am aware that I would have to run a pretty skinny slick so it'd just lite em up on the line. I was thinking around 130-140" and about a 5.5-6:1 gear ratio with a 9 or 10 inch wide by 29" tire. That would put me around 95-100 in the 1/8 tops. This would only see occasional track duty at the local 1/8 mile strip ans mostly get trailered around making noise at the local car shows with the zoomies. I want it in the true to the day early 60s fashion as far as the style. The transmission is a 1:1 unit with reverse. My questions are 1: Has anyone ever run this type of setup? and 2: What about the front axle?? Torsion bar or fixed axle? Also working on a budget and trying to figure out what rim and tire combo for the front. Anybody running motorcycle rims???

[GlennLever]

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[GlennLever]

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