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Author: Subject: Chassis Refurb
Ron Lang

posted on 1/8/17 at 05:49 PM Reply With Quote
Chassis Refurb

Does anyone have a view on reconditioning an existing chassis. I have access to a zero chassis (powder coated) which has never been used but has been built up. The builder was a little overexcited with the drill in my opinion and I am thinking of having all the holes welded back up and repowdercoated (at the same time as having a lowered floor put in). The powder coat is also quite scratched in places so would benefit from a new coat. Would this be worth it or would you just scrap it and by a new chassis? Seems like an awful waste of material seeing as the chassis is straight and true.






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CosKev3

posted on 1/8/17 at 06:00 PM Reply With Quote
All depends how cheap the chassis is!

If you can buy it,get the holes welded up and re-powdercoat for a good saving compared to a new chassis then it's worth while

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Ron Lang

posted on 1/8/17 at 06:02 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by CosKev3
All depends how cheap the chassis is!

If you can buy it,get the holes welded up and re-powdercoat for a good saving compared to a new chassis then it's worth while


I'm unsure how much a new chassis is tbh.






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CosKev3

posted on 1/8/17 at 06:06 PM Reply With Quote
Drop GBS a email and find out
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Fatgadget

posted on 1/8/17 at 09:25 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lang
quote:
Originally posted by CosKev3
All depends how cheap the chassis is!

If you can buy it,get the holes welded up and re-powdercoat for a good saving compared to a new chassis then it's worth while


I'm unsure how much a new chassis is tbh.


How about posting some pictures!

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alfas

posted on 1/8/17 at 09:41 PM Reply With Quote
complete starter kit costs 2345,-

http://www.greatbritishsportscars.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/GBS_Zero_Ford.pdf

so the chassis might have a vlaue of 1000,- in the kit?



Tiger is asking around 850,- for the raw avon-chassis
MK around 1350,-


so not worth doing any effort on a 2nd hand chassis, especially as i would not trust a re-welded, formerly perforated, chassis.

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loggyboy

posted on 2/8/17 at 12:14 AM Reply With Quote
Expand on your 'over excited with the drill' observation. Most chassis' get extensively drilled for panel rivets. These in turn reinforce the chassis by filling the gaps with rigid panels. Consider each river as triangulation. How bad is it really?





Mistral Motorsport

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Ron Lang

posted on 2/8/17 at 06:26 AM Reply With Quote
Yes, mainly rivets for panels but I'd want to bond on the new panels so these would be left unfilled. There are also some rivnut holes which have been drilled in the wrong place for bonnet pins. I'm leaning towards building up an Indy now...if I could ever work out what's included in each of the kits they sell! Will have to make a trip down I think.

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
Expand on your 'over excited with the drill' observation. Most chassis' get extensively drilled for panel rivets. These in turn reinforce the chassis by filling the gaps with rigid panels. Consider each river as triangulation. How bad is it really?

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40inches

posted on 2/8/17 at 07:46 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lang
Yes, mainly rivets for panels but I'd want to bond on the new panels so these would be left unfilled. There are also some rivnut holes which have been drilled in the wrong place for bonnet pins. I'm leaning towards building up an Indy now...if I could ever work out what's included in each of the kits they sell! Will have to make a trip down I think.

quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
Expand on your 'over excited with the drill' observation. Most chassis' get extensively drilled for panel rivets. These in turn reinforce the chassis by filling the gaps with rigid panels. Consider each river as triangulation. How bad is it really?



As loggyboy said, if you are bonding on panels, the Sikaflex will fill any unused holes and the panels will add strength.
And GBS are not that far from you

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nick205

posted on 2/8/17 at 09:37 AM Reply With Quote
I'd have thought a new chassis would be a better option.

Surely resurrecting the old chassis will involve blasting off the powder coat, welding all the holes up (possibility of introducing heat distortion), blasting it clean again and then re-powder coating. Transporting the chassis around during this process will introduce further effort and potentially costs.

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filstu

posted on 2/8/17 at 07:12 PM Reply With Quote
If your bonding on the panels, you wont need to drill any additional holes. therefore there would be no reduction in strength as you would have the same holes you would have had anyway.
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ReMan

posted on 3/8/17 at 07:21 PM Reply With Quote
I'd just rattle can over it if its still sound Jd much cheapness





www.plusnine.co.uk
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Ron Lang

posted on 28/8/17 at 07:56 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by loggyboy
Expand on your 'over excited with the drill' observation. Most chassis' get extensively drilled for panel rivets. These in turn reinforce the chassis by filling the gaps with rigid panels. Consider each river as triangulation. How bad is it really?


Wanted to respond to this now I've stripped down a little more. Couple of examples:

Chassis Damage 2
Chassis Damage 2


Chassis Damage
Chassis Damage

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Ron Lang

posted on 30/8/17 at 07:51 PM Reply With Quote
I'm waiting with bated breath for someone to answer the "how bad is it really"...
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sebastiaan

posted on 30/8/17 at 07:56 PM Reply With Quote
That is repairable, but in steel almost anything is. If you can (learn how to) do the welding yourself, go for it. And 1k, that's 4 completed cars, right? ;-)
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Ron Lang

posted on 30/8/17 at 07:58 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by sebastiaan
That is repairable, but in steel almost anything is. If you can (learn how to) do the welding yourself, go for it. And 1k, that's 4 completed cars, right? ;-)


Ha! So we're led to believe!

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ianhurley20

posted on 30/8/17 at 09:44 PM Reply With Quote
IF - it is straight and true - AND - you can weld it up yourself then that is what I would do. As a friend of mine who rebuilds cars said - 'It's only metal' I do not like powder coat as you often want to add a bracket or change something on a sevenesque chassis as you develop the car and I think a decent paint job is better, easier to remove to weld, and easier to repaint.
And if you want to bin the chassis - let me know - I would fix it for myself






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Ron Lang

posted on 30/8/17 at 09:55 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by ianhurley20
IF - it is straight and true - AND - you can weld it up yourself then that is what I would do. As a friend of mine who rebuilds cars said - 'It's only metal' I do not like powder coat as you often want to add a bracket or change something on a sevenesque chassis as you develop the car and I think a decent paint job is better, easier to remove to weld, and easier to repaint.
And if you want to bin the chassis - let me know - I would fix it for myself


I certainly can't fix myself unfortunately as I can't weld - I will learn one day!

I think I'll be selling it but I have no idea what it's worth or how many parts to leave on it.

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ianhurley20

posted on 31/8/17 at 07:30 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lang
[
I certainly can't fix myself unfortunately as I can't weld - I will learn one day!

I think I'll be selling it but I have no idea what it's worth or how many parts to leave on it.



Perhaps now is the time to learn. get a mig welder, a bottle of hobbyweld gas (little ones are too expensive) watch a few videos on the web, practice on some scrap and have a go. Fill the small holes first then progress. You will surprise yourself, its not that difficult and you will learn how to weld properly by the end. If you are not happy with the result then sell it!

Oh - if you decide to sell I'll give you £20 and collect

[Edited on 31/8/17 by ianhurley20]






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Ron Lang

posted on 31/8/17 at 12:07 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by ianhurley20

Perhaps now is the time to learn. get a mig welder, a bottle of hobbyweld gas (little ones are too expensive) watch a few videos on the web, practice on some scrap and have a go. Fill the small holes first then progress. You will surprise yourself, its not that difficult and you will learn how to weld properly by the end. If you are not happy with the result then sell it!

Oh - if you decide to sell I'll give you £20 and collect




I think you're probably right on now being the time to try but unfortunately with work, two kids and a PhD to finish on the side, I'm forced into an assembly only role lol...although I have spent most of my time disassembling of late!

One of the questions I have outstanding is what would I do about the powdercoating. Once I had [theoretically] welded up all the holes, would I just paint over these bits...with me being so anal, it would be nice if it all matched.

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ianhurley20

posted on 31/8/17 at 12:20 PM Reply With Quote
Difficult one to answer but from the pictures it seems those parts needing welding will not normally be on show so I would simply paint them a matching colour and before doing so sand the powder coat so there are no steps and when painted these would hide reasonably well. Powder coating is not cheap and to prepare the chassis for a new coat would probably involve stripping it back to bare metal again - that would not be cheap either. Then again I am no expert and I am sure there are a few experts on this forum who will advise.

Are you sure you won't take £20






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jps

posted on 31/8/17 at 01:21 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Ron Lang
with me being so anal, it would be nice if it all matched.


Unless you've done this before - I suspect that the experience of building a kit car will sooner or later bash that attitude out of you! I started off with an impression of what quality of finish, etc would satisfy me - but have had to understand that there's a 'good enough' position which will allow me to actually finish the car within my life time!!!

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