Drag Racing Discussions > Front Engine Dragsters

Step 1 for a FED: Planning!

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slingshot383:
Before you buy, you need to know your dimensions. put on a fire suit, helmet proper shoes, gloves, and proper neck brace,  with aid of a friend and a dinner plate, sit against a wall with your knees drawn up about half way and holding the dinner plate in front of you with your elbows just cocked a little and your shoulders flat against the wall.  Get measurements for helmet to floor, plate to wall, width of shoulders and back to center of knees.  These are your starting points for fitting a car to you.  You have to fit the car to run it or you will never be comfortable.

longm1958:
There has been a lot of good advise given here.
My experiences with building a car is its quite a bit more expensive. I went through buying parts and putting them on the shelf until I had enough to build something. That cost me seemingly triple what buying a roller would have cost and will get about 1/3 return when I sell it.
My advise is buy a roller or a turn key car. Look at the "for sale" section here. There are 6 on the 1st page. Maybe one should consider that there ARE 6 on the 1st page before jumping in. I didn't and 10 years down the road and I still have never taken the car to the track.

dusterdave173:
I started with new tacked chassis bare--took 2 1/2 years--every friend I had chipping in his tallents, every dime i could scrape for 2 1/2 years--over $15k then you need trailer etc fire suit
Building my car was best thing I have ever done but--car worth lots less than $ spent  If i had built a legal class car would be worth every penny spent but this fun machine with limited appeal to the drag race market is not that way
Lots of folks Love a FED and will never race anything else--some make a few runs and decide no way not for me ( wimps :)  ) 
Buy a roller--drop in a CHEAP SBC and just try it--you mentioned you do not have time to crew etc so how will you have time to race? It takes HELP to run one of these--can't do it alone at the track--that is a big issue going forward
Without a dedicated dad, uncle, wife, etc it is hard
There is also limited events to run these--great for me I don't like to run every wk end--just run when I want to and weather is perfect
I would snag a roller--aim for 9.0 1/4 mile and you will be astonished how fast that is and how cheap it can be done  aiming for a 7.50 ride first time is fools errand IMO
asking price for every turn key car out there is $15k--they don't get that if they want it gone so....
There are LOTS of Cenpen chassis out there bought by dreamers and never touched--available tacked and ready to work on pretty darn cheap--they are safe and work OK and are easy to build out--they are wide in the seat so resale good --narrow older cars don't sell because the guys that have the funds will not fit

Tons of satisfaction building your car--Hard to Do and takes grit and way more $$$ than you can ever imagine
My $15K was after dozens of barter/trade/ flipping deals that saved me thousands so.....

Van:
I built my car from scratch, My friend Keven helped. The complete build working one to two days a week on it, took one year almost to the day. The NHRA tech inspected it and tagged it for TOP FUEL  5.99 & faster. Total cost was $5,000 as a roller less the safety gear.

wideopen231:
I will agree with Van on Cost.  I have right at 6500 in roller with  trans. I did look around for deals. Found a bunch of them mostly wheels ,tires and trans parts.  I will say get list of tubing needed and try to buy as much as possible in one order.For me its about 175 mile round trip to supplier for molly tubing. With tubing measure 3 times then cut,if in doubt allow little extra.

My build has taken longer to complete The main chassis went fairly quick.Getting stuff like New rear axles and other high ticket items did take a while.

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