have recieved my plans for gts chassis from thier website and am a bit confused - it says on the item description on the website "chassis drawing pack describing construction of locost-gts chassis".

there was no description in my envelope!

all that was in the envelope were 8 a4 drawings of the chassis and no further information - especially wishbone dimensions!

does anyone know whether the chassis uses book wishbones or a revised size? (i think he expects me to buy pre-fabricated 'bones off him!)

does the chassis use a sierra steering rack? (even though the front dimensions are the same as the book and it states on the website that the gts has been designed to accept a single sierra donor vehicle)

do the sierra driveshafts need shortening because the rear of the chassis is mk2 axle size and sierra is approx 7" wider?

these are q's i shouldn't really have to be asking you but no other info was in with the plans - not even a reciept!

a tenner not well spent!

any info would be much appreciated.

hi matt,
if your plans are for the standard chassis (im not sure if they are, but i reckon theyd be the same as the pre-fab chassis that darren sells), the steering rack used is a mk2 escort std or quick rack[im sure there are companies out there who mod sierra racks though]. the sierra driveshafts dont need shortening (if your getting the bodywork of darren, the rear arches are wide to tke the de-dion setup, and standard sierra running gear.
it all depends on which supplier you choose, i reckon its best to stick with one, as you are more or less guaranteed that the parts fit together properly.
hope this is of help, if you have any more questions, drop me a line, and ill do my best to help.
also, try giving darren a call/email with any specific probs.
all the best,
Tom

Matt,

I had the chassis drawings from Darren and I recieved the same as you.

[rant on] At the end of the day it says 'chassis plans', if it had said 'chassis and suspension' plans then I could see what you are moaning about.

Companies are in the business to make money, you get the plans for a chassis from a certain manufacturer it definately will be designed to take their wishbones etc. Besides you say it says a 'single sierra donor' therefore the 'bones will not be book as the sierra ones need a different offset.

I cant see what description you are missing. You get provided engineering drawings which to a competent person should be all that are required to make the chassis. Obviously if you are making the chassis youself you can modify things like the steering rack mounts and wishbone mounting points to suit your purpose.

In all honesty the questions you ask above can be found out on this forum, or from Darren with a simple email. [/rant off]

Anyway rant over. Im just trying to see it from the other side. No connection to Darren etc etc.

In answer to you questions, steering rack is escort, though you could modify a sierra rack (MK engineering do this on an exchange basis), but you will then need rack extensions to make the steering arms long enough.

If you use sierra uprights the tapered hole for the bottom ball joint will need to be reamed out, and an adapter made/bought for the top joint.

The drive shafts dont need shortening if you use the GTS de dion, with wide bdy work.

I will say it again: you bought GTS plans, so it will be designed to specifically take GTS components....

Sorry for being , maybe i just woke up in a bad mood! But thats the way i see it...

Cheers,
David

[Edited on 22/1/05 by flak monkey]

Matt, a little bit of research always goes a long way. You could quite easily have phone Darren to check exactly what you would receive, and to answer all the questions you have asked here.

To buy something with zero knowledge of what you are going to recieve and then slag off the supplier on the public forum when it wasn't what you had assumed is well out of order.

Just by browsing the GTS web site you would see that the GTS Locost is designed to accept the GTS De-dion rear axle, Sierra uprights and Escort rack. The rear track is the same as the Sierra, the driveshafts do not need shortening.

You would do well to buy the wishbones from him, they are extremely high quality items. You'd be hard pressed to make anything as good as them unless you are a very experienced fabricator.

As for thinking that "chassis drawing pack describing construction of locost-gts chassis" was misleading, what do you think drawings do? They describe the construction. Had the description been "Chassis drawing pack with step by step build instructions" I could understand your confusion.

[Edited on 22/1/05 by MikeRJ]

sorry if i offended anyone by writing this post but was a bit annoyed when i opened the post. looking at it from your points of view, i can see where you are coming from.

couldn't get hold of darren after numerous phone calls before and after buying the plans so thats why i wrote this post.

couldn't see anywhere on the website saying the gts-locost uses mk2 escort rack.

I understand that getting hold of Darren can be difficult as I imagine he is a very busy man. I have emailed him a few times and have always had a reply the same day.

It used to say something about using an Escort rack on his old website, maybe he has changed that now. He does however sell Escort racks. AFAIK Its recommended you use an escort rack to avoid bump steer as the sierra rack is too wide in standard form. If you get it shortened there is no reason why you cant use a sierra one.

Cheers,
David

I'm still, after many long months, building my chassis and although I haven't yet bought anything from GTS I fully intend to. From the outset I'd planed to use GTS's wide track bones, brackets, De Dion axel and shocks, as well as the wider rear arches. I have mailed Darren several times and he's always replied very promptly.

[Edited on 22/1/05 by Chris_R]

Matt,
As a customer of GTS I can sympathise with your frustration when it comes to communication. I have bought a 7 piece bodywork set, a shock/spring kit and a full set of lights over the past 18 months or so and it can be hard work at times to get GTS to respond to emails. This is something I have constructively commented on to Darren on a couple of occasions and I'm sure he will get to grips with the growing pains of his company in due course. On the plus side, the quality of his components are very good and prices are excellent. On balance I am fairly happy with my purchases to date.

On the drawing pack I had ordered one with my lighting set but it never arrived. I chased it a couple of times but so far I've not heard anything. From what you are saying I too had misunderstood exactly what this "drawing pack" was and was expecting something more like a build manual. In fact I was hoping that the drawings would help me to attach my GTS bodywork and lighting kits with dimensions for placement etc. It sounds like the drawing pack is more along the lines of the McSorley chassis plans and it may be that Darren was confused about my references to the "build manual" in my emails, who knows.

Anyway, I don't want to appear to be moaning or slagging off GTS here as this is not in my nature but I felt that there was perhaps a valid point to be taken from this and felt compelled to voice my opinion. Maybe Darren could make it clearer on his website as to what the drawing pack contains to avoid "optimists" like myself and Matt assuming that it more than it in fact is.

Cheers,
Craig.