This is one for all you technical strucural type peeps out there.

I have a Triton Built book chassis and one of the styling elements i like on the indy (and my F27) is that the top chassis rail where you would rest your elbow if you were not haning on to the wheel for grim death, is lower at the back than at the front where the scuttle is mounted.

now what i need to know is,

Can i cut mine and lower the rear end of it a bit.

If so do i need to have the chassis in a prety much no external stress position so as not to bend / upset any other chassis tubes when i cut this one through?

And lastly will doing this give me any casue for concern with loss of strength issues etc?

Many thanks
Col

Col, I lowered mine to met the top of the M2 tube instead of being approx 1.5" above it. It does also affect the curved piece that surronds the rear wing.






I think this looks a little better than level, but the elbow is gettin closer to the scrape zone.

David

David?

Guess you have an understanding partner- you seem to be building in the dining room!

James

James, as much time as I spend down hre you would think so, but that is actually the "dirty" area of my shop...in the background you see a small lounge area complete with a fridge, where I sit and ponder the next step (maybe even drink a beer if it's after hours).

David.

The history lesson for to day is


The original design had this slope in round tube This shows the differances between them all including the turbo DSK with 180 brake!!!! that was a long time back! Rotary was also the fashion and broken tubes!

picked this up of the web sometime ago

My very personal thoughts:

Can i cut mine and lower the rear end of it a bit.

Cut it out completely and refit, don't cut rear end and bend it down.

If so do i need to have the chassis in a prety much no external stress position so as not to bend / upset any other chassis tubes when i cut this one through?

Have the chassis extremely well clamped down to something VERY rigid and cross measure before, and after each step.

And lastly will doing this give me any casue for concern with loss of strength issues etc?

There will be some loss of strength and some increase in loads but no real cause for concern if you move it just “a bit” and the welds are reasonable.

Cheers!

Just a note:

The MK chassis has the front upper rails 1" higher rather than the rear lower. This is to accomadate larger engines.

Now if only I'd thought of that before I started my chassis my Zetec might actually fit in...

my rail, to create the doors, is 4 inches lower......

in order to get stiffeness back, i made the tranny tunnel structural. Under the doors I doubled up with rhs, so its basically a rectangle of 1 x 2 tubes under the doors. then I welded a plate over the whole rectangle. Then, by the drivers legs section, I added X braces rather than the normal / style, and weleded another triangular gusset in there. At the back of the doors, I added 2 diagonals bracing into the rear bulkhead.

After 2 years as a built up rolling chassis, its dimensionally stable and hopefully will be on the road!

atb steve

quote:

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Originally posted by white130d
James, as much time as I spend down hre you would think so, but that is actually the "dirty" area of my shop...in the background you see a small lounge area complete with a fridge, where I sit and ponder the next step (maybe even drink a beer if it's after hours).

David.

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quote:

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Originally posted by garage19

Cool. What do you sell?

[Edited on 13/8/04 by garage19]

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I have a small independent Land Rover shop doing parts and service...and at the other end of this part of the building is a 10' X 10' sliding door so if I can get it of the table I can get it out of the building. I did once build a boat in the basement....that took a little effort to get out.

David