Front engine digger wheelie bars

[dreracecar]

Never relied on the bar to launch ,  I worked to get the balance right to get a 4" rise at the leave and carry it for 20', wheelie bar was just a safety backup that ha no influence till the front comes up 1 foot. Using .125 wall is a waste where .058 is what most normal builders use

[noslin]

Never relied on the bar to launch ,  I worked to get the balance right to get a 4" rise at the leave and carry it for 20', wheelie bar was just a safety backup that ha no influence till the front comes up 1 foot. Using .125 wall is a waste where .058 is what most normal builders use

my bad on the typo, it was supposed to be .058 wall not .125;  .058 wall; 1.125 dia; 5ft long

[gregm784]

I'd rather carry less weight on the nose and rely on the bar more.  Helps to tune for a variety of race tracks. Some of the tracks we race at are very questionable

[JrFuel Hayden]

Greg, I agree, we just carry 47 lbs of balast on the very front of our car.

[dreracecar]

No absolute answer, one just has to figure out what works best for their car

[THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER]

Here's mine. I set it about 2" up, but mine is spring loaded so I get a little more rise than rigid ones.

[Scottmech]

Heritage JrFuel is no allowed to run either a timed or RPM controlled shifter, driver controlled shifters only, also no delay or thottle controls.
I guess that's bracket racing, not heads-up racing.
Jon

The original never specified what class of racing he was in. 
Moot point anyhow.  Even if he wasn't allowed to use a shift timer in competition, he could us it in testing and work out to a point where the car launched well running it conventionally.....then remove/disconnect the timer.
No supposed to rely on the bar anyhow.

I'm not saying not to install one, just saying it's good way to gradually work your way up.

This method may not be for everyone, but I've had extremely good luck with this approach. 
When I first got my car (short 140", 420 hp), impossible to launch in first. Front would come straight up.
Put shift timer on .2, behaved perfectly.
Put 100# of weight on front.  Moved timer out .1 at a time.  Eventually got to a point where the front would come up 2-3" at the hit then immediately settle....and that's the worst it ever got no matter how long of a shift time was used.  Now I shift manually and run it out in 1st. No short shift. 

I plan on running 20% next time out.  Will set the timer back at .2 and work my way back out again. 

[janjon]

What I built.

[gregm784]

"Just keep the same amount of stuff on the right
as there is on the left. Seeing straight ahead is highly overrated...."

Best signature line ever.

i like the bar.

[mrmopartech]

We have learned a lot with the FED in respect to getting of the line and not trying to flip the car over in 2 seconds.Things not to do when you don,t have wheelie bars: 1)never launch a digger at full throttle on the trans brake when you have tons of compound on the track with hot temps and only a push bar to stop the car from flipping over.Make sure you have a driver that can pedal a digger properly from a 8 foot high wheelie.Set launch rpm correctly with correct chip,saves car and motor.As much as it,s great for the fans,they don,t come and give you some cash for the unreal wheelie after watching your wheels fly off,or help in the repair.PLease and in any thing I have missed,from some of the other digger drivers/owners,mrmopartech/scott

[PSweeney]

for those running bar 2", how are you raising the bar for towing etc ? we've killed a wheelie bar wheel due to rough pits etc, would like to be able to raise it up quickly

[JrFuel Hayden]

Since our car was built in 1997 we have used succesfully a quick-pin in the lower CM tube of our 3 tube WB. After each run on the turn-off road we pull the pin, place it a another hole to keep the WB high enough, like 2 feet , to keep it out of the way, while we also gather the chute, get the driver out of the car to tow to our pit. Of course we lower the WB when the driver is getting in the car in the staging lanes.
We have a crew member take care of the lowering and raising the WB, but of course, the driver can take on that job too, as our driver gathers up the chute while he's waithin for us the get him after the run. 
I hope this helps. Photo shows the WB with the quick pin.
Jon

[PSweeney]

thanks Jon, that's the solution we're thinking of.

[THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER]

Good solution.

I do want to point out that NHRA does not allow quick push-button pins to be used in this application. I am using "solid" farm implement pins for mine, the kind with a hair pin clip.

[JrFuel Hayden]

We have raced NHRA events for 18 years, GoodGuys, Heritage, Div 7 and National events, and no tech guy has said we can't or should not use the push button pins.
What I think is not allowed is the push button pins to attach the WB to the car. I'll check with the NHRA tech team when we race our next race, NHRA Calif Hot Rod Reunion, Oct 19-22
Thanks for asking.
Jon