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By babor - 9 Years Ago
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I'm trying to decide whether to build a F.E.D. or an Altered. I am also thinking about what front axle setup I want to run and thinking about braking and parachutes. The best I can gather is this thing should lay down around a low 6 in the 1/8, this could be hard to stop with only rear brakes in a F.E.D. In an altered I would likely run a street/strip(more strip), but run front and rear brakes as well as possibly legalize it and run around town being a nuisance. I would like to see what everyone else is running and get some ideas. I also love to see others handiwork! It's inspiring to see the engineering of other people that have the same warped sense of reality that evolves around going fast... Looking forward to the pics folks!
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By RB - 9 Years Ago
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Here is my altered.. It started life as a Neil and Parks hard tail chassis. 175 inch WB It ran a BBF and a glide and turned 7's in 1/4 mile.. I wanted a more vintage look so I replace the strut front end with a solid Mark Williams axle. My car has no front brakes.. It would be nice to have some, but I would have to change a bunch of stuff around. I run 9.90's at about 133. So far braking is adequate. Only down side is that without front brakes it is hard to do a proper burnout. I have a tranny brake so staging and launch is no problem. My car weighs 1920 lb with me in it.. I have around 475 crank hp. 
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By Hollow Head - 9 Years Ago
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Our altered is done by Mark Williams Funny Car / Altered chassis drawings and has 125 inch wheel space. No front brakes, runs 8.644 at 1/4 mile, has Powerglide, trans brake, ALS and steers staight... To see more pics, go to www.hollowheads.net, remember to click the hole in the skulls forehead and from there go to projects and then to altered dragster from photo. Also check race photos and videos... Enjoy, if you can  .
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By LordMrFord - 9 Years Ago
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You cannot do the donuts without the front brakes. That is a big minus with the dragsters to me. 
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By babor - 9 Years Ago
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Great pics and info guys! That T-bird is awesome as is the altered. When you say solid axle, does it have suspension in the front??? This is also one of my debates. Seems like the frame would have enough bounce. I have seen them with all sorts of front axle setups from the typical torsion setups to even modified VW beams. Not sure if I will need a chute or not.
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By RB - 9 Years Ago
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My car now has a torsion suspension on the front axle. It was not a conscious decision based on any knowledge, but just happened to be the easiest way to attach it to the frame. This car originally had a strut front suspension which was solid..One thing to think about with a solid suspension car is that they DO transfer every bump right to your spine.. The guy I bought mine from sold it because his back could not take the pounding on his rough home track. I have been in some shut down areas and return roads where the rear wheels bounce off the ground. I have hit my head on the roll bar more than once LOL.. Because Altereds are shorter WB chassis and tend to be stiffer they do not dampen the bumps like a long dragster chassis would.. Another thing to consider is that hardtail chassis are made to take obscene horsepower and still hook the tires.. Lower power engines have a hard time hitting the tire violent enough to make them deform and hook like they are designed. What happens is that the tire acts like a spring winding and unwinding causing severe wheel hop.. Believe me in a soild chassis car that gets your attention! NHRA says you need a chute when you run 150.. With rear brakes only I would say 140. I have been on tracks with short shutdown areas where I had to get on the brakes really hard to slow down for the turn off
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By Hollow Head - 9 Years Ago
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Speaking of wheel hop... Here is a video about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np99s85e8WQ
We have had to set the rev limiter to 4800 rpm because of our converter stall speed being about 5000 rpm and turbos need to spool up. Little hard for the converter...
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By babor - 9 Years Ago
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That is definitely helpful info! My back is already wiped out! Looks like I'm going to be doing an altered after all. Thank you for the insight. This is what I have so far...lol 
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By babor - 9 Years Ago
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By babor - 9 Years Ago
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As well as the Warner Velvet Drive trans and the trailer that needs to be modified.
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By Ted - 9 Years Ago
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Here are a couple of pics of my roadster. The top picture is the older version with the iron headed 337” while the lower picture is the latest version with the aluminum heads.
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By MoonShadow - 9 Years Ago
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So you can measure the performance by altitude of the front wheels? Chuck
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By charliemccraney - 9 Years Ago
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looks like it.
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By babor - 9 Years Ago
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AWESOME!!! No zoomies??? I think I'm still gonna do a rail just because. I'll just pad that seat really well!!!
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By babor - 9 Years Ago
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I just hope I can get the Velvet drive trans to work!
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