gsand
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 posted on 11/12/03 at 02:42 AM |
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Engineer-built chassis'?
Anyone know roughly what sort of cost i'd be looking at for my chassis to be built by an enginering firm? I am perfectly capable of building a
chassis but i really dont have the time, space and tools needed 
4st Insanity
Maybee i should start wearing a Welding mask.....
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 11/12/03 at 08:23 AM |
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If you're looking for a standard chassis then you might as well buy a ready-made one from the usual suspects (Luego, MK or ST).
The quality will be higher than one from somebody who's building one for the first time, and the labour cost will be far, far lower - I
don't know how long MK takes to build a chassis on a jig, but I bet it's measured in hours, not days!
good hunting!
David
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Ben_Copeland
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| posted on 11/12/03 at 08:49 AM |
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UNfortunately, looks like gsand lives in australia. Which makes it difficult to buy from (MK, Luego, etc)
Dont know if their are any chassis suppliers in australia. It'll be pricy if you get an engineering company to do it tho!
Ben
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James
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| posted on 11/12/03 at 10:00 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
UNfortunately, looks like gsand lives in australia. Which makes it difficult to buy from (MK, Luego, etc)
Dont know if their are any chassis suppliers in australia. It'll be pricy if you get an engineering company to do it tho!
I've forgotten how much Martin told me it cost to ship a chassis and it was suprisingly little.
Gsand,
Give MK a call and see what they can do- they ship cars all over the place!
HTH,
James
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Hugh Paterson
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| posted on 11/12/03 at 10:02 AM |
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Oz chassis builder
If anyone can point u in the right direction I would think it might be Rorty, the shipping costs from here might be a bit prohibitive
Shug.
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 11/12/03 at 10:04 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
UNfortunately, looks like gsand lives in australia. Which makes it difficult to buy from (MK, Luego, etc)
Oops!
May find that UK-made chassis won't meet the strict ADR stiffness requirements.
Might be a good idea to post this question on the Yahoo Locost list for Australians (anyone remember the list name?). Perhaps they can suggest a
solution.
David
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Simon
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| posted on 11/12/03 at 03:28 PM |
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gsand,
Once you've got the chassis, you'll need somewhere to put it, so you might as well making it yourself, as you WILL find space
You should be able to build the chassis in a couple of days, quite easily.
As for not having the tools, all you'll need is a vice/hacksaw/file and some welding equipment - £200 tops.
ATB
Simon
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VinceGledhill
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| posted on 11/12/03 at 05:26 PM |
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May I recommend building it yourself. I did and followed the McSorley Drawings.
Take a look at http://mcsorley.net/locost/default.htm you can print out the drawings, follow these (acurate not with mistakes like the book)
You will feel much better about yourself and your car if you are building it. Also If you are going to buy a welder for the job get the best one
you can afford. It will (welder included) still be cheaper than buying one made by someone else.
Regards
Vince Gledhill
Time Served Auto Electrician
Lucas Leeds 1979-1983
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blueshift
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| posted on 11/12/03 at 06:51 PM |
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I have recently been CADing up the chassis myself with reference to the mcsorley plans.. I have noticed some of the dimensions are off by 1mm with
respect to each other, presumably rounding errors.
doubt anyone would notice this in a physical build, but thought I'd mention.. apart from that the mcsorley plans are top nutsack (australians,
this means good)
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gsand
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 12:52 AM |
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I want to built it myself.... But if i did id be frightened of giving up half way through. Well not 'giving up' but losing interest .
And hte fact that i dont have a MIG, only ARC .
And yes, the standard Locost chassis does NOT meet Australian design requirments (ADR), which is a bitch. But that said, it isnt difficult to modify a
MK chassis or the like with the extra bracing. One other thing, regarding ADR's. Our engine choices are cut down quite alot. Not only do we not
have such abumdant access to motors such as teh Pinto and XFlow, but if the engineer going over the car for what you call SVA decideds that an
emmisions test will be needed, you have to pay $2500 for that . The only alternative to this huge unecessary cost is to use an engine that is
manufatured in Australia after 1998 (I think) or get a nice laid-back person to do the testeng who wouldnt actually care..
4st Insanity
Maybee i should start wearing a Welding mask.....
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TheGecko
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 01:22 AM |
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Gsand (real name is?),
You really need to get onto the Locost_Oz mailing list and ask these questions. There are
at least 25 cars either under construction or on the road in Adelaide and plenty of helpful owners and builders who can point you in the right
direction.
Re buying vs building a chassis - I believe there are at least two different suppliers of Locost chassis' in Oz - one in Queensland and the
other somewhere in NSW. Once again ask on the Locost_Oz list.
If you are worried about losing interest half way through building a chassis you shouldn't even be considering a build! Making the chassis is a
lot less than 50% of the job (less than 10% according to some builders). Don't have a MIG? Buy one. Even if you buy a pre-built chassis,
you're going to want to weld on brackets etc Look around for a quality used MIG and be surprised at how affordable they can be (I wish
I'd gone that route sometimes).
On the topic of engines - it is VERY unlikely that you'll find an engineer in Oz (except maybe for Tasmania) who'll pass anything less
than an ADR37/00 compliant engine. There's still a number of alternatives and more presenting themselves as times goes by eg one builder in
Sydney is using the 1ZZ-FE motor from a current model Corolla. This motor also has the advantage of being considerably lighter than the commonly used
4A-GE 20-valve.
I said it before but I'll say it again - join the Locost_Oz list (just click on the
link) and ask there.
Best regards,
Dominic
Brisbane, Australia
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pbura
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 04:27 AM |
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Building in Oz
Just passing along a couple of favorite links:
http://www.locost7.info/ - Look in the 'Files' section under 'Chassis'
http://au.geocities.com/phil1rowe4/ - Phil's chassis kicked butt on the torsion beam test.
Best of luck!
Pete
Pete
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gsand
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 05:46 AM |
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If there's one thing I hate, its html forums such as the Yahoo Lists. 
4st Insanity
Maybee i should start wearing a Welding mask.....
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TheGecko
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 06:24 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by gsand
If there's one thing I hate, its html forums such as the Yahoo Lists.
Hmmm, Dominic clicks right mouse button, selects 'View Page Source', sees lots of HTML. Damn, looks like this one is HTML as well 
I'm on both thread based forums like this one and email based ones like Yahoo and I like and dislike aspects of both. On an email based list, I
can see instantly what the 10 new messages in the last hour are because they're right at the top of the list. However, to see what's new
on a particular discussion thread, I have to do some mental gymnastics and sorting/searching.
The best thing about an email based list is that I can get up in the mrning and have 30 new messages sitting ready to be read quickly before I go to
work. On a threaded forum like this, I have to click on each section in turn if there's new messages in it; wait for that to load; click on any
threads that have new messages; wait for that to load; scroll to the bottom and read the new entries (remembering where I read up to the previous
day); click on [Page 2] if the threads gone more than 20 replies; wait for that to load; etc, etc, etc..... Can you tell I don't always like
it 
If you're staying off the Locost_Oz list because you don't like the format than you're doing yourself a huge diservice. I
don't think many of the builders of _conventional_ Locosts in Australia hang out on this list.
My recommendation? Get over your dislike of the Yahoo groups and ask for info in a place where you'll get answers to those particularly
Australian questions.
Best regards,
Dominic
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gsand
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 09:45 AM |
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Sorry to be geeky, but this whole forum is coded in .php
4st Insanity
Maybee i should start wearing a Welding mask.....
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gsand
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 09:47 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Simon
As for not having the tools, all you'll need is a vice/hacksaw/file and some welding equipment - £200 tops.
I have all the tools, but i really dont trust my ARC welds with steel so thin... Unless i spend lots and lots of time over my holidays now, i dont
think i can quite call my self a pro ARC welder
4st Insanity
Maybee i should start wearing a Welding mask.....
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Ben_Copeland
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 11:43 AM |
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It doesn't have to be done in 6 weeks you know.... you can take your time over it. Sh*t mines into its 5th year.
Learn to weld properly. Better sense of achievement!!!!
Ben
Locost Map on Google Maps
Z20LET Astra Turbo, into a Haynes
Roadster
Enter Your Details Here
http://www.facebook.com/EquinoxProducts for all your bodywork needs!
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ProjectLMP
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| posted on 12/12/03 at 04:32 PM |
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Why not just tack weld the chassis together using your setup and than get it professionally MIG welded. Probably easier to find someone who would do
this as opposed to totally building a chassis.
Home of the Astronomicalcost Mid engined LMP project
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gsand
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| posted on 13/12/03 at 12:06 AM |
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quote:
Why not just tack weld the chassis together using your setup and than get it professionally MIG welded. Probably easier to find someone who would do
this as opposed to totally building a chassis.
Well, that is a very good idea, but i've been told that you would have to completely grind off all the ARC weld so you can do a good Mig weld.
Apparently, they dont go together all that easily. But heh, Ill still probaly do that! Excellent idea buddy! BTW, one of me dad's mates has a
nice MIG i reckon i can do all the final welding in a day or two... Im purrdy good MIG'er
4st Insanity
Maybee i should start wearing a Welding mask.....
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