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Top Fuel Front Engine Dragster Buildup

108K views 205 replies 44 participants last post by  Paul Kane 
#1 ·
This is the buildup of a Nostalgia Top Fuel Front Engine Dragster.

Van has decided to build one or two funny cars for drag racing (NFC). Before building the funny cars, he thought it would be nice to have a car for us to play with while the funny cars are under construction. Ultimately, it was decided to have a front engine dragster for play time.

At first, he acquired a rear engine dragster chassis that appeared to be an old Top Fuel car from the early 1970's that was built by Mike Case. That chassis was to be updated so that we had our "interim toy." Instead, the old Top Fuel chassis got cut up and its engine cradle was retained for a new front engine dragster which will be built up from scratch around the Top Fuel dragster's engine cradle.

So starting from scratch, there's a big pile of chromoly tubing gathered on the floor:



There is also an overwhelming collection of race car hardware (not pictured) in the form of Dana 60's, B&J transmissions, TH400's, etc, etc, etc. Most everything collected is really for the funny car program. So while some of those parts may not be "ideal" for the front engine dragster, they will be used and allow us to have a blast.

The dragster chassis itself is being built around a Mark Willliams blueprint and will receive the highest possible NHRA certification for Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragster.



Based on the above blueprint, slight changes will be made as noted in this thread, including the latest NHRA updates. Also, relative to the blueprint much of the tubing used in this build will be either, A) one diameter larger, or B) one wall thickness greater. This car is being built with safety in mind, and the weight difference is slight enough (in the Front Engine Dragster field) that it is of little-to-no concern and the car will remain as fast as the NHRA allows.

Next is to secure the tube bender to the concrete and start going to town:



Below, the Top Fuel dragster's engine cradle is secured to the chassis jig and the first pieces of tubing are bent and welded to the engine cradle:

 

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#183 ·
Hi paul, great to see this project coming along. To bad about some of the big ford engine specs getting a bit out out of step but hey, still great times with the melted plugs.!! any how..... whats the blown replacement engine? dodge? Ford? tell me its a FORD paul. ! Anyway if it's a chevroooleet...........well ok I forgive you guys..just a bit..nice to see it on the strip and most important it handles good and stops. keep the updates coming man... because we here in OZ just love this project. all the best ..marko. ps blown ford on fuel would be better but hey do what ya gotta do. cheers!
 
#184 ·
Hello Marko, nice to hear from you.

Early in the car's construction the engine plates were drilled to accomodate BBF, BBC, SBC engines, but that was mostly for resale value of the car. The next engine to go into the race car will indeed be a blown 385 Series Ford, and as far as I know the car will always have a Ford engine for as long as Vandy owns the car.

Paul
 
#185 ·
Ford Boss 500

I see that the Boss 500 developed by Force and Ford Racing is being criticized because it is so similar to the Chrysler design. The pundits complain that Ford is copying the 60s Chrysler design. Given these rules, we're seeing what they call a Catch-22 situation.
Nonetheless, Force racing is doing well in Funny Car and is now entering Top Fuel. Sour grapes.
 
#189 ·
Since at least the 1980s, Van has run aluminum rods exclusively in all his personal racing engines, and this includes the injected nitro engine currently installed in the Front Engine Dragster, the recently completed blown alcohol engine, and the upcoming blown nitro engine (which is primarily intended for gasser196's Altered).

It may be possible that a near-future racing engine build will get a set of top-of-the-line billet steel rods, but that engine will not have the horsepower of the blown alcohol/blown nitro engines, and the steel rods basically being used only because they are sitting around in the shop and the engine in which they may be used will be unblown and less than 1500 hp....but usually the norm is for all of his engines use aluminum rods.
 
#198 · (Edited)
Yes, the dome top pistons have been acquired to replace the incorrectly made (and resultingly low compression) flat-tops in the injected engine. And we have a piston pin that enables us to perfectly match the weight of the pin/flat top pistons that are coming out, so rebalance isn't really necessary.

I calculated the new compression ratio for the injected engine with the dome tops, and as I recall it's around 15:1 static. With this upped compression and (finally) the 292@050 camshaft, the engine should really wake up now. :) (The custom cam down the road will probably be even bigger yet.) At 15:1, it will be primarily an injected alcohol engine with nitro used essentially as a tuning tool (small percentages).


P.S.: With the addition of the new hat injector that is replacing the 8-port injector, I also recommended some intake manifold mods that should dramatically help the engine to breathe a lot better.
 
#203 · (Edited)
STEPPING IT UP: Updates & Changes

First, some closure for the CJ Head Program:



With the above 528 cubic inch Cobra Jet headed engine, the Front Engine Dragster ran a best of 7.11@190 mph. This engine barely got a tune since it was entered in 7.0 Pro, and breaking into the 6s (via more tune-up) would have knocked the car out of the 7-Second class in which it was entered. We do feel the wedge-headed engine could have propelled the car into the 6s with a more aggressive tune-up, but this just wasn't something to do in the 7-Second class it was running.

Think about that: the blown alcohol engine pictured above is built using a dome-a-dozen passenger car block (D0VE-A), bored 0.060" over, is run bone dry/water jackets unfilled (no Hardblock), has little ol' aluminum Cobra Jet heads, a very tiny 276*@0.050" camshaft, and was running low 7s at 190 mph...with the possibility of taking it into the 6's. In the meanwhile, just about every other car running in the 6's has a billet block, billet heads, really huge camshaft, etc!

But now the CJ head program is officially over, the CJ headed engines have been retired and torn down, and a new engine program/trans program, etc, has begun. The dragster will now be entered into A Fuel, which is the next fastest class. A Fuel is the fastest class that the 385 Series Ford can legally be entered into. So...here we go. :)

Details to come...
 
#206 ·
Yes, Walt Austin and son Pat (driver) are running their Ford Hemi in A Fuel. This is the Ford Hemi engine design that the NHRA banned before Walt Austin Racing (W.A.R.) even finished its development. The A Fuel rules allow Blown Alcohol engines or (unblown) Injected Nitro engines. The Austin Boss Hemi is running as an Injected Nitro engine; Van's will be a Blown Alcohol engine. As far as I know, Van's entry and the Austin's entry are the only Ford 385 Series engines in the field.

I like it!
 
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