new experiences - my 225" fed

[noslin]

thats a bitchn boat!

i wont weld to the motor plate, after thinking about this ill jsut trim the lip down a bit on the cowl and he will just have to trim more off the head. i dont want to mod anything.  just a hair has to be trimmed on head anyways.   

the pump fits so will be able to run with that. 

[glofria]

Yes, that is a bitchen boat. Unfortunately it took the life of Ray Castelli back in 1975.

Regarding trimming the heads, unless your running water, trim as much off as needed; less weight to carry. 

[noslin]

ok, been awhile since i posted on the thread.  been posting over on facebook but it doesnt do FED.org any good by not posting here.  im going to try IMGUR.com for hosting images.  will see how this works out. 

i got a few pics to post up, so ill be all over the board with no sequence but will try do better as time goes on.

so, here is a pic of what the body ended up looking like.  i like the way the windscreen came out.  i have to redo one little panel on left side under motor and i need to get a tipping die to put a slight angle on a few panels.



for the cowl issue at motor, i ended up with this and it fits tight. 



since i dont dare try to weld on the chassis, i tacked everything, tabs, etc and then took it to Bill Comstock the chassis builder to weld all those items on.  then i did final assembly with everything.  im finding though ill have to have a few more things welded. 

here is pic at his new shop.  he doesnt have all the equipment and tools in at the time the photo was taken so it looks empty but he is up and rolling now and ready for more biz. 



i set the credit card on fire recently and purchased the chutes, fire bottles, few cables, and soem other stuff.  cant remember, just know that im getting creative with top romen haha.

here is a few more pics of as it stands today. i think im going to do a full body as i really like the way they look. i think it is a great canvas for paint jobs to stand out.

[noslin]

so, word to the wise when getting third member.  i had no idea as this is first time for me and all new.  i have Strange third member and purchased Strange's magnetic sensor for it.  well as you can see in the pic, it does not fit.  so i called strange and they said that they dont sell that many coupler compared to normal u-joint style (dont know what its called).  anyways, these are made for the masses.  The help desk said usually when someone purchases third member they get the sensor at that time.  Strange machine shop then machines 'something' .  the guy told me they machine the collar but that cant happen as there isnt enough meat to cut for it to fit over the black non-machined area.   so, they would have to machine the black non-machined area. 

I sent it to a buddy who is a machinist for him to make it work.  he will machine the coupler same OD as finished surface where the seal rides and will all be good.

[noslin]

gas pedal.

when i go to the steel place in town, i peruse the scrap area for misc items.  i picked up some 4x4 square tubing .250 wall. figured id make the gas pedal and foot rest out of it.  then someone commented about the weight.  just bracket/index racing so what difference does weight make if you have enough power to cover the index. 



so, i was diggin around at work and we had some .125 wall perforated alum at work so bent a few 4" wide peices to make the pedals out of.

here is  piece i fabbed up.



here is rough cut.  as you can see the edges are real rough with the holes etc



i used .125 alum welding rod for the edges.  i have no idea about ratio or location to put the mounting hole for the pedal. so its trial and error i guess as this isnt mentioned in the 'how to build a FED manual' (joking)




 here is a pic of the pedals installed. 



i put the aluminum over the master cylinder so i wouldnt step on it getting in and out.

[GlennLever]

You should put a lope on the go pedal so that if the return spring ever breaks you can pull the pedal back with you toes?

 

[noslin]

You should put a lope on the go pedal so that if the return spring ever breaks you can pull the pedal back with you toes?

 

Thank you, there is one. The last pic is what's in there now.  I'm wondering though about return spring at pedal and at hat.  I feel pedal could use little help..  is that typical.  Do ppl put return springs both locations or just at hat?

[GlennLever]

Currently I have a double spring at the hat

[wideopen231]

If one in both locations make you more comfortable about set up do it. No such thing as over kill when its safety concern. One thing I have learned over years if gut says it maybe a problem it will be a problem.Now if gut would work on lottery.LMAO

[Paul New]

I run a double spring on the right side of my hat, but on he left side I run another single spring. Now at the last race an odd thing happened I crossed the finish line lifted and watched my throttle arm fall off...... well since I had a spring on both sides my butterflies closed.

[GlennLever]

 

I run a double spring on the right side of my hat, but on he left side I run another single spring. Now at the last race an odd thing happened I crossed the finish line lifted and watched my throttle arm fall off...... well since I had a spring on both sides my butterflies closed.

 

I had a hose get caught between the arm and the hat. Took a second to realize I was not slowing down

[noslin]

thanks all, ill put one on each side of hat if permissable and also i want to do one on the gas pedal too.

for power, just gonna run a dash logger and the transbrake.  so i picked up little 12v battery and made my own battery tray for it.  the solenoid is to provide power when master on/off is turned on. just will have little switch on dash panel.



this is half way down the frame.  i think since im going to do a full body, ill make a bracket to mount to tab and put that up in the foot box area.

the tab welded to the frame is for fuel line mount down the middle.  im waiting for the bigger return line to come in, i get 20' at local steel place and just put male bungs on the end.  ORB's would be nice but more money and idk if it matters.  just that the ID would be bigger too on the ORB type fittings then the bung.  i had 3/8 ID but since half the fuel will be returned i order 1/2" ID alum. tubing.

ill do something similar for hte c02 bottle and mount it on the back.  just need to add a couple tabs in to do this as there is no place to attach the billet clamp too.

[noslin]

parachute levers.   since the plan is to run 7.0 eventually, i went and put two chutes on anyways.  my delima was the handles and location.  This is what i ended up with for location.   i really would of like to stick this handle setup in but i think if your only pull/pushing one at a time, it might be challenging to do. 


so, here i what i ended up with.  I seen this in Bills A/F FED so i figured id do the same thing.  only will be able to tell how it feels is when you get to actually use them. they are on the left side, ill swipe with right arm.  the right arm is the do-everything arm.  stage, trans-brake, shift, etc



next was to how-to run the p-chute cables.  i ran them so a cable would approach from outside of each bag.  also, (like everything on my fed, i got ideas from others.. so nothing is original lol... disclaimer )  i seen this attachment for the cables on the bags and thought it was clean and neat. 

[noslin]

run stands.

i want/wanted some run stands. eventually ill get some pro-jacks.  but for now the runs stands i think will be clean and safe to use rather then jack stands.

i had some 1 1/8" 062 wall cm tubing from my old car.  i was going to make set of wheelie bars for the old car.  since this was laying around i figured no sense in spending money on say 1" OD tubing so i used it.  now, im a beggineer welder so i figured it would be good opportunity to warp some tubing.. that i did haha.

i made the front one, which didnt turn out too bad.  welds suck but i think it will last a while before they all start to crack.  now i ventured on to make the back one and said, i got this now.. well. i didnt.  my gaps were way to huge, they were grand canyon size.. but i said screw it and plundered on anyways.  well, the back one turned out like crap.  it moved on me and i got so much heat in it it literally warped the top bar.

so, i called up Bill Comstock (a professional) and asked him to make me one for the back haha.  at least no worries of that sucker crackin and causing damage or hurting someone if something did fail in the pits.

here is the front one.  for the back one.. just picture yard art or.... maybe an end table haha.

[noslin]

torque convertor.

when starting this venture, i knew i would have to buy a trans.  so, this was about black-friday time.  i was looking at a few sites and for what i wanted, the trans was going to run about 4300 to 5k depending on whom you purchased from.  its overkill for what im doing but, my thought is in the long run its cheaper to spend the money now instead of going back down the road and upgrading.  also, get something thats has some value, and or if i change my mind and build a door car i have something good to use. 

first i got the trans, i actually scored on it.  BTE runs a 20 percent off for Black Friday week.  at that time the Sportsman trans was like 3400 bucks. i picked it up for 2700 with the discount. same trans year later was 3995.  i dont know why it was 3400 at the time.. but hey, saved me prob 1500 bucks at least.  here is link to trans https://www.bteracing.com/products/BTE074473

so, torque convertor.  i want a bolt together torque convertor for a few reasons.  first, if something happens (blow up trans or ??) i can clean it myself and put it back together.  second, i can get different stators for different power levels or track conditions.. who knows.. and lastly, if i did purchase a TC and it wasnt right i would have to send it back.. spend more money.. then hopefully it would work.

black Friday comes around and im lookin at BTE again becuase of the 20 percent off.. so i get the bolt together torque convertor with additional stator for cost of the convertor if no discount.  stators are only 150 bucks.  the convertor was 2k. one side is aluminum.

i know there are good companies out there like A1 that are good with the info you provide adn setting up convertors for you  and being spot on but this is what i wanted.