Can altereds/dragsters sfi spec be upgraded easily?

[cutta]

Guys, I'm not sure that this is the best place to put this question but I figured that more people in the Top Sportsman and Top Dragster forum would be knowledgeable on this. I have plans to purchase a dragster or an altered. I had an opportunity to purchase an altered with a sfi 10.3 cert which is limited to a 7.50ET. That got me thinking about the possibilities of upgrading the chassis to 10.2 cert and alternatively, the ability to upgrade a dragster chassis from 2.7c to 2.5c. I know that this is something common in a car chassis like moving from a 25.5 to a 25.2 chassis. Thanks in advance for the responses.

[Alaskaracer]

I did the upgrade on an older dragster chassis from the 7.50 cert to a 2.5c advanced et cert. It was a lot of work because I had to completely remove and redo the cage, shoulder hoop, upper frame rails from the foot box to the shoulder hoop, redo the footbox completely, under seat bar, and several other parts. I haven't looked at what the requirements are for an altered, but I'm guessing they are just as involved. Mine required more than just adding tubes, I had to change the diameter and wall thickness of some tubes, add tubes where there wasn't any, and things like that. Also, there has to be rosette welds in certain areas and they have to be visible, roll cage uprights have to be at a certain angle from the bottom tubes, certain amount of vertical clearance above your HELMETED head, etc......

Honestly, after doing the work to make the conversion, I'd never buy another 7.50 chassis again and convert it. I'll spend my money on a 6.00 chassis instead. It's a lot of work and money, and not much room for error. If you're not proficient in Tig welding either, don't even attempt it. The chassis MUST be chromemoly tubing and MUST be tig welded. There are no exceptions.

On a door car, going from a 25.5 to a 25.2 is also difficult depending on the build. If they used the correct tubing in the correct areas, it does help as the upgrades will usually consist of adding more tubing in different locations. But if they used mild steel, no go. Again, MUST be moly tubing and MUST be tig welded. 7.50 and slower is easy...it's once you go faster that it gets more expensive. And FYI, an altered or dragster chassis can be mild steel or moly, and mig welded and pass 7.50 cert. After that it's moly and tig only. Be careful buying a 7.50 car because it could be mig welded mild steel or even mig welded moly in some cases. If it's a moly chassis, but the main chassis has been mig welded together, it WILL NOT pass the higher cert, even if all the required tubing is in place and it was tig welded.

[FC-Pilot]

I was going to jump in and comment, but he nailed it! Unless it is a smoking deal, and you know exactly what needs to be done before buying, I would not do it. Also, with a solid chassis if it is right, it is right. As soon as you start changing things it is easy to turn a good car into a pile of trash that is ill handling. Again, Colorado racer nailed it.

Paul

[Alaskaracer]

I forgot to add something. The age of the chassis is important too. If it's too old, it might require even more work to update due to spec changes over the years....something else to consider. It's always better to get a chassis that's rated for faster than you'll ever go, than to try to make one meet specs to go faster than you are......just like speed. Build to go faster than you want, it's easy to slow down, but a lot harder/more expensive to go faster....