Vintage Front Engine Dragster with a Six!
July 12, 2009 by pikesan
I bumped into Wayne and this cool front engine dragster at the Nostalgia Drags here in AZ at Speedworld. Always on the lookout for something different, I couldn’t help but notice the the six cylinder, a not-so-obvious choice for an engine, let alone in a vintage dragster.
Travelling into Arizona from Alamogordo, NM for the drags, here’s some info about Wayne’s digger:
I decided to build an inline car because I raced my Flathead car with the Denver Flathead Inline guys and saw there weren’t many “Late inline” dragsters and when there were, they all ran Chevys… so I thought about the best engineered inline and came up with the Ford. (12 port head and very Strong bottom end).
- Chassis: 1968 Race Car Engineering (Woody Gilmore) 182″ wheelbase.
- Engine: 1975 Ford 300 cu in, bored .030 with Weisco flat top forged pistons with zero deck clearance.
- Crankshaft: is out of an F-650 which is steel.
- Rods: Crower H- beam.
- Cam and lifters: Crower (flat tappet)
- Head: From a 240 cu in Ford (much smaller chamber than a 300) that I ported and put in Chev. 1.94 and 1.60 stainless valves and added some BBChev. Crower roller rockers.
- Injection: Hilborn which came off a 351 Winsdor. Modified, by me to work on the six.
- Exhust: zoomies I made and are 1 3/4 X 18″ long.
- Ignition: Vertex Magneto with rare earth magnets
- Transmission: Powerglide with 1.82 ratio gears and 3000 stall converter and trans brake.
- Rear: Chrysler 8 3/4 with 3.91 gears with 11 1/2 X 31″ tires.
- Weight: 1190 lb. without fuel and driver.
Cars best time was 9.34 @ 134.
I couldn’t run under 10 sec. this weekend at Speedworld because the Chassis certification had expired in Nov. 08.
Unfortunately, I did a dumb thing… when I built the car, I never took any pics, not until it was done. Looking back, I bought the chassis out of New Brunswick Canada in 2004 and had to replace the right top rail as they had bashed it out to fit a Big Block Chevy. After that, I ended up rebuilding everything on the chassis.
I don’t have any history on the car but through other Std. 1320 members we have pinned it down to a 1968 or 69. I found evidence of old Chrysler mounts and I’m sure it was high gear only with a double disc clutch. That Chrysler rear axle appears to be original.
I’m strictly into nostalgia cars and don’t like the looks of a RED.
Thanks for the info Wayne! The six looks great and a 9.34 ain’t slow! Good luck with future races…
Got a front engine dragster? Whether you know the history or not, let us know!
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That is wicked cool! Naturally aspirated 6 going 9′s?! Straight up Rad!
Great car. FEDs and 6 cylinders were meant to be.
Mine is on my website. Are there others?
Thanks for your reply Don! I dig the 6′s and will be keeping the one in my Falcon wagon. Your 6-powered, vintage styled digger is cool! For everyone else to see: Don’s “Senior Dragster” What did it run?
8.43 in the 1/8th . I am hoping to improve on that but it has just 4 passes on it so far. It sure is fun though for an old fart to feel the wind in his face one more time.
I guess the build was as much fun as driving it.
All the best on you Falcon BTW.
Don
We’ve just finished a 6 cylinder FED and ran 8.8 on our first pass.
Here’s a link to some info.
http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/127197-r-i-p-s-new-rb30-dragster-runs-under-nz-national-record-first-pass.html
Are there any other 6 cyl FEDs anywhere, whats the best time anyone knows of?
Hi from down under in Australia,Love your FED.I have one that runs a smaller version of the Chevy inline 6(in both internal & external dimensions) & mine is a 208 cube that runs in injected naturally aspirated or supercharged modes.Naturally aspirated I have run down to 9.01 for the quarter & supercharged 7.7 sec back in 2001. I have been playing around with the naturally aspirated motor & we should be into the 8 sec times before too long.Would love to hear how your car is progressing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWTkmVfqfsU
Just installed a new converter A Frank Lupo Dynamic 8 inch. I gained .44 seconds in Et on first solid pass. Car now pulls the wheels on the instant of launch. Yes that is the real Bob Beezer in the video in his original raindance Indian outfit from the Indy drags of the 60s and 70s. He also wore it a goodguys once or twice. Bob and I are old friends, he being much older than me. He was Grand Marshall this weekend.
This video is from Flatout weekend in Shannonville. It was the second annual and I am here to tell you this is a real fun deal. I ran so many time I got tired. You could just pull up anytime Fri or Saturday and run when you felt like it. First it was old school like with Beezer in the video but all afternoon itwas with lights and the timing system. No other changes just the converter netted me .44 drop in ET. Money well spent I would say. Franks converters are my choice anymore. No cheaper way to get Et than one of his little round jewels tween the engine and trans.
Don
We’re down to 7.26 @ 181mph with a 182ci 6 cyl with alot of traction problems.
Managed 1.10 60ft and 4.5s to the 8th @ 150 then wheelspin problems prevent us hitting it hard from there.
Hoping to see 6s this season with the baby 6, hopefully the new wings will give us the grip to do it,
Robbie.
Hi Robbie,That 4 valve rb motor sure has a big turbo.Congratulations on thinking outside of the square & fitting it to a FED.I am sure your combo has that 6 sec performance,so go for it.Great to see that us southern hemisphere guys are doing our bit for the inline 6 movement.
[...] Approx 300 horse at the flywheel, 5700 rpms at 134 mph. Does this look like a good truck engine? Front Engine Dragster with Six Cylinder Power rips 9.34! | MyRideisMe.com Horsepower Calculator from 1/4 mile ET and Trap Speed – [...]