Drag Racing Discussions > Front Engine Dragsters

Frame rail height on FED?

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Gypsy Flyer:
New member here. Thanks for having me. I have a couple questions. Looking at building a FED around 180",BBC, shorty glide, Ford 9", 30-32 tall tire. Just wanna know what height your frames might be and the oil pan height (my pan wet sump at 8"). Trying to put "dump" (3-5 degrees) in engine because I like that look with it back as far as possible, thinking 31-32" with 2" coupler. Any and all thoughts I'm open to, including abuse on not sticking engine out to 40 plus inches! LOL. Thanks everyone.

wideopen231:
Understand like the look. I also understand building a car that will work and handle the best you can, I more than understand building car low.

 On low part I do not suggest going to minimum .I am at 2.5" at mid plate and I have plans to lower rear end 1.25" this winter to gain about that much. I have to lower motor and trans same mount and will probably build new  shorter oil pan. In other words a slight miss calculation in actual tire size can be big deal. Stuff like this is where buying  a car can be move ahead. Then where is the fun in that? Running taller tire would help but not much and be easy way out and I just do not do easy. In case your momma didn't tell you. Don't do like Chris.

masracingtd1167:
I would think that 3 inches would be a good starting point ! Some one like Roo Man or Bruce could give you a better advice ! I wouldn't get too crazy on engine set back ! It will make it harder for you to get the car down the track with the motor that far back ! Mine is out 36 inches and I have been able to make it work for me ! the 3 most important things I have learned are 1 The right tire 2 The right air pressure and a nicely designed wheelie bar will get you from A to B !

afaulk:
if you put the engine that far back and you have decent power, you're making your life more difficult than it needs to be. Mine is out about 45 inches and i still had to add over 80 lbs to the nose to control the wheelie. my frame rails are at minimum and oil pan is about 1/4" above the bottom of the frame rail. I have a blown SBC with about 800+ hp. 60 ft times are 1.0 with a 10.5w x 33 inch tire. I'm more about the car working good than looking completely authentic. Tires and tracks are a lot better than they were 50+ years ago. Back then they had to set the engines back in order to get any traction. Good luck, whatever you do. Allan

Curly1:
My motor was down 3* and I had trouble getting it to work right. 225" FED.  I think it was trying to go "over" center of Gravity instead of transferring weight and hooking up rear tires. I took it back to chassis shop and had them move engine up to 1/2* down. That and some other changes now the car hooks up and works better.  Those old school dragsters that had the motor so far down at angle were also smoking tires all way down the track which is not the way to do it now. Of course they did not have the tires we do now but still I do not think the downward angle is a good idea from my experience.

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