How did they build those early jnr fuel cars so light?

[retroboy]

I weighed my 155" car today. I have no excess bits and pieces, no battery, two wires, no suspension, the only concession is a little upholstery. 1190 lbs. I could save a little with a pair of lighter wheels some alloy heads analuminium diff centre. How did they build the early junior fuel cars under 1000 lbs?   

[wideopen231]

I think one of the member just finshed his and it weighed in at 1090. When you think about the weight of iron sbc ,powerglide( under 100 is lite) torque converter and the rest of the car has to be pretty lite to be around 1100.

They did have less bars and safety equipment back then . Push starts did away with starter even being on board. IMO you did pretty good getting it that lite.

[dreracecar]

.035 frame tubing, .095 front axles, magnezum was surplus and cheap, small olds rearends with mag centers. No burnouts so the tanks only had a couple gal, go-kart brakes, there was nothing on these cars that did not have a purpose

[rooman]

Aluminium clutch cans, magnesium quick change rear ends with open live axle and only one brake caliper/rotor, direct drive and Schwinn bicycle rims were also used.

Roo

[retroboy]

Just had a second look at my weights and I'm actually at 1160 LBS so I'm pretty happy really. Over the next few years I might look to some aluminium parts, motor cycle brake calipers etc.
Cheers
Tony

[BK]

You would think with bicycle wheels, aluminum can, .035 tubing. The Kahunas you needed to drive the thing would counter all of the weight savings.

[Mark Midler]

They didn't have the regulations we do. The tubing was thinner, the differential housings weren't reinforced, they race prepped the entire car, you get the picture.

[Keven]

In the early 1980s I drove then later owned an a/fuel dragster that was very well known under the original team. We were changing the rear end in the car and were astonished when we saw the housing was drilled with countless 1" to 2" holes and then covered in fiberglass. No wonder the car was originally around 900 lbs.

[BCOWANWHEELS]

MAIN REASON IS ALUMINUM CLUTCH CAN, HI-GEAR ONLY PLUS CARS FOR SBC WAS VERY NARROW. WE DIDNT EVEN RUN GEAR LUBE IN DIFF, JUST DRILLED A HOLE TO SQUIRT SOME LUBE ON RING GEAR FOR 1 PASS. CHASSIS WAS VERY THIN MATERIAL, 100% UNSAFE. ALSO WE RUN 8 3/4 MOPAR REARS.

[JrFuel Hayden]

Yes, my 1963 Hi-gear, alum bellhousing/ firewall, drilled early Ford rear-end, alum brake rotors,  push start 115" WB, 301 ci Nitro iron SBC weighed under 900 lb wet.
We could have made it lighter by removing the Tony Nancy interior, rear wrap-around body, run the motor dry, lighten the iron block, used a single caliper brake, and make a lighter chassis out of 1" dia top tube and 3/4" bottom tube, and of course gone to Schwinn front wheels. Crazy when you think we were running low 8's at 191 mph.

I drove this car for 5 years almost every week-end if there was no snow on the Great Lakes Dragway, Union Grove Wisc track.
Won allot of races, and set track records, and had a TON of Fun.

Jon Hansen, JrFuel Dragster Association, Hayden Wheels

[JrFuel Hayden]

Here is a color shot of our Parisey/ Hansen real nitro Jr Fuel dragster

Jon

[retroboy]

Hey Jon love the early ford rear end. How did they go from a duribility point of view. Looks cool with the drilled tubes - tell me that you ran diff oil and how you kept it in there. Cheers

[George]

Very cool old picture Jon ! Thanks for posting . George