Greetings from a noob! Congratulations on an excellent forum. I only picked up Mr Champion's book last weekend, which inspired me enough to turn to the net to find out more. After reading this site for a few hours it was a struggle to stop myself from ordering some steel and a big engine and getting started. But one step at a time... First, some basic questions:

Dimensions: Is the book design accomodating enough to fit a nice big engine (Pinto/RV8) and a couple of 6'+ blokes? An extra 4" width on the book design seems to be common. Is a +4 chassis needed/suitable for a Sierra running gear?

Construction: I've read some topics on here about using a jig to align the suspension brackets, but what about building the rest of the chassis? Is it sufficient simply to use a flat surface as suggested in the book? Will my non-existent skills with a MIG be enough to do an accurate job?

[Edited on 3/7/04 by AdamR]

Adam you mug, take the book back & ask for your money back then find a sane hobbie that doesn`t consume most of your waking thoughts. Seriously though, I`m about 18months ahead of you & haven`t cut steel yet, got lots off bits though, others do it quicker, some may take longer, depends on how long I take.
A plus 4" width chassis is the right width for a sierra rear end & has the advantage of being able to use book wishbones to give matching front track, also able to use unmodified Escort steering rack & get minimal bump steer. plus easier to fit seats into etc. Don`t ask me why I`m building a book chassis, hard to explain!
As for building the chassis, I`ve seen a professional chassis constructor here in NZ use much the same method as the book & seems to work fine. Do lots of practise with your mig & lots of searches in the archives for info, most of your questions will have been asked before, just a matter of finding them. Welcome aboard. Cheers, Steve.

[Edited on 3/7/04 by Steve Hnz]

Adam I did a similar thing to you; after buying the book I was hooked. Straight away I was doing lots of research and looking for parts. I had extremely limited knowledge of welding but knew it can be very easy to get wrong. The only thing for it was to go on a welding course. I am so glad it did as I found that even if a weld looks good and strong it could actually be incredibly weak. Practice makes perfect but you still need to know basic techniques, so maybe get a welding book or go on a course.

I eventually changed my mind about building my own chassis, mainly because the cost of buying one is not too much more when you also have to buy a MIG welder.

After building my MK Indy I might have a go but thought I would get a few builds under my belt first.

Dave