After an enjoyable day at Stafford, I'd thought I'd show you a little picture,
Image deleted by owner

P.S. you're looking at what should be holding on the upper wishbone bracket.

Makes you wonder why some people think that kit cars and still bodged together, imagine finding this standard of work on a manufactures display stand.

(Can't say the name as there's enough lawsuits in the air at the mo anyway)

All the best Dan.

[Edited on 14/3/04 by scutter]

hm nice job

Can i ask whose stand? Or is it being kept quiet?

David

RS jigtec,

but there at the end of a long line of people who can't amke an MK chassis as good as the orginal.

Dan.

Ducking for cover.

I hope they at least glued the wheels on right!

Anyone prepared to ID the manufacturer, for those of us who couldn't make it?

the little dibby bit of weld just past the left side was a nice touch. obviously structutal




I once read that Colin Chapman was a genius cos amongst other things, he managed to hold about 5 suspension parts together with a single bolt, thus saving weight.

The original seven also only had two trailing arms to the rear axle - not four - and the axle regualrly broke.

I recon if this site had been around then, hed been slagged for poor design.

atb

steve

oh shit, thats awful !

someone's going for SPD's crown.

speaking of which, didn't RS jigtec adopt one of SPD's designs?

I went and had a look (after you suggested I should) and the rest of the (visible)chassis was just as bad!

Maybe we could do with a bigger picture tho Scutter.............

Cheers

Chris

1. To be fair there is a huge bit of plate attached to the RHS of the bracket.
2. But then again, this is probably to counteract their cockup of ending up with the wishbones brackets in THAT position.
3. AND ANOTHER THING...if the rest of their welding is that bad then the plate at para.1 isnt going to do much.
I went to stafford but didn't notice their stand - my eyes were too far out on storks looking at all the shiny things for sale.
Guy at Lolocost was particularly nice and knocked off loads of cash on a load of bits.
How did everybody enjoy the show...my first time so I can't compare to previous ones.

Chubby Brown has a saying for things like this i think!!!!!!

You just can't believe that people would put something like this on display at a show, the supposed pinnacle of what they can produce. Surely this would be an SVA fail under design and construction. Sad truth is I'm not really surprised any more... Just feel sorry for the poor mugs who get roped into buying these things from dodgy manufacturers who must be in it just for the money.

Cheers

I'll bet they used to be used car salesmen or even worse, estate agents.

This has to be a pre production mock up or...


They want something large and sharp shoving up their warm and moist part of their body

For me the big question is ..why?

It looks like the wishbone design has driven the the bracket placement...rather than the other way round...

I see no reason that the bracket could not have been on the tube fully and the wishbone designed accordingly...

Looks like they had existing wishbones and lashed up the chassis to suit..IMO

So that's what they mean by triangulation!!

The full horror is not fully shown by this picture. As has been discussed here before The Book design (strictly speaking) has the brackets an inch too far back- such that a lot of people gusset them. On this car though, all four brackets each side were an additional inch back than The Book so that none of them were mounted properly.
You can see this by the positioning of the lower rear bracket which is so far from the FU1/2 rail. It should be such that the end of the bolt nearly hits FU1/2.

In addition, the back of the bracket should be welded so it's 'flat' against the rail- instead, the back of this bracket was vertical! ie. literally only the corner of the bracket was on the rail!

As Madforfishing says- yes, there is a gusset but it really wasn't much good- it was welded only on the outside such that the bracket could have just been 'peeled' away from the chassis rail if the 'tack' weld failed.


I felt it was so unsafe I spoke to the guy there that was selling them and said I was concerned. He justified it to me (and memory forces me to paraphrase somewhat):

"... well, it's been built how our designer designed it..."

So that's all right then!!!

I then asked about the steering rack (which you can see from the bend in the bush is not in the right place) and was told it was not setup yet. It looked pretty setup to me- the mounts were fully welded in place!

In their defence: he told me that he'd only started building it 6 days ago. The implication being it would be sorted out. Read into this what you like. Although when I said the whole setup should be brought forward 2" he didn't know what I was on about so maybe that bit won't be fixed.

Scutter did you also take a picture of the top wishbone? The design and weld of the threaded bar for the Transit BJ was *interesting* to say the least.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Alan B
It looks like the wishbone design has driven the the bracket placement...rather than the other way round...

I see no reason that the bracket could not have been on the tube fully and the wishbone designed accordingly...

Looks like they had existing wishbones and lashed up the chassis to suit..IMO

---

James,

I do believe it was i that pointed this dodgy bracket out to you in the first place before scutter took the pic!

it is of course the ex-spd snake, now built by rs jigtec as mentioned above. i talked to the guy, but as the pic shows, wasn't impressed with the car..

allegedly!

Ned.

Sorry if that read as stealing your observational skills Ned!

Cheers for lift yesterday,

James

I don't claim to be a welding expert, by any means - but if I had produced that weld I would not show it to my friends, let alone display it at a show!

The placement looks like a clear case of doing something to make it fit, without any thought or knowledge of engineering principles. Scary!

I wonder what a switched-on SVA inspector would say about it... there is a 'catch-all' provision in the SVA regarding chassis design and weld quality.

rgds,

David

i am not an sva inspector, but if i was i would be worried for the occupants life if i was to pass it. it would be a fail imho.

Ned.

my brackets are like a bit like that, but they hang off the front of the upright rather than the rear. I decided not to use a short diagonal to hold it because braking force would lead to a twist in the upright, instead i welded an inch square tube from on bracket to the opposite one, hence helping to hold them together and also welded that bar to both uprights. That worked for me, but i cant see how a 'professional' company can explain not just moving the upright bar.

Was that the stand where they had on display the results from crash testing a Cobra into the back of a "7"!

Horace

that would be pretty crap

Guess it's only fair to point out that RSJigtech had sorted the bracket problem on the car shown at Detling.

Well done guys.

James

th ought id better corect this before it gets out of hand,the kit on show at the show before detling was the chassis by spd and was used to display the kit ONLY
as the previous post says this was all sorted at the detling show the reason it was sorted was that a entirly new chassis was made for this car and the quality of it is amazing so amazing in fact i bought one on the spot,it was far better than any other manufacturer on display it certainly put the large manufacturers to shame
i hope this has cleared it up once and for all
people can do alot of damage to a growing company if they dont get all the info available

Congrats to RS jigtech for hopefully losing that SPD chassis.

Love the look of the Snake bonnet and scuttle shame it's a one piece moulding.

P.S. welcome to the fold it'll only go down hill from here

All the best Dan.

[Edited on 19/4/04 by scutter]

[Edited on 19/4/04 by scutter]

reads like an Ad to me.....

quote:

---

Originally posted by rizla
th ought id better corect this before it gets out of hand,the kit on show at the show before detling was the chassis by spd and was used to display the kit ONLY
as the previous post says this was all sorted at the detling show the reason it was sorted was that a entirly new chassis was made for this car and the quality of it is amazing so amazing in fact i bought one on the spot,it was far better than any other manufacturer on display it certainly put the large manufacturers to shame
i hope this has cleared it up once and for all
people can do alot of damage to a growing company if they dont get all the info available

---

ever the sceptic

quote:

---

Originally posted by SparkyPups
ever the sceptic

---

sorry if it reads like an add,but i have been involved with this company in one way or another since december 03 and at thier new premises they have only the best people and equipment and are totaly dedicated in giving the best both in quality and value,in my opinion they are one of the best companies around in the kit car industry,no job is to small for them they are ever helpfull
Rescued attachment car 2.jpg

Now why'd you go and ruin a nice day by showing that image

Just remember it's down to taste

How much does a seperate body cost( Giving chance for free advertising)

All the best Dan.

[Edited on 21/4/04 by scutter]

body is 995 + vat
i chose this car due to every other seven type car being basicly the same,the idea of a small boot and a much better looking rear and wider track swung it for me.
it wieghs the same as a mk for instance,and as for the apeal it was the buisyest stand at detling all weekend,i think this speaks for itself,and people are looking for things slightly different,after all thats what kit cars are about

quote:

---

Originally posted by rizla

it wieghs the same as a mk for instance,

---

havnt seen the car in real life, but from the picture I like the rear end style - bit jennifer lopez - but then my wifes car is a new megane

atb

steve

I like the rear too.

And the more kit manufacturers, the more competition the lower the prices

I'd agree that the more kit car builders the more choice for everyone, but I think we'd all agree that there has to be an acceptable level of quality otherwise manufacturers could do more harm than good to the industry.

I've owned several kit cars from a jago, through a westy and a robin hood, so i dont really care for the sense i get at times from some message boards that "ours are better than yours" where any other make of car is dismissed. (though i'd admit its pretty rare on here) We've all made choices, and like was correctly pointed out in this thread its a matter of taste anyway. I always think I've got more in common with a Gardener Douglas owner, or a Mini Moke owner than with your average tin top owner, because we've both got a common interest in driving and or building for fun.

personally I feel that RS Jigtec's decision to display that awful old chassis was a mistake, and doesnt do them many favours. however, the work that they have recently completed for me has been excellent. Without sounding like an advert the quality of their work has been of a very high standard (I used to be an engineering inspector in my previous life!)
maybe their keeness to get the snake body to the show got the better of them on that occasion, it might have been better if there'd been a big sign saying "we wont ever sell anything as crappy as this" which i suspect would be a fair assessment of their feelings on that chassis, hence the apparent major changes.

looking forward to lots of postings, to while away the working day!

Phil

quote:

---

Originally posted by stephen_gusterson
havnt seen the car in real life, but from the picture I like the rear end style - bit jennifer lopez -

I agree I like both rear ends but I dont like the name .... i mean SNAKE not jennifer ......... SNAKE > slippppy , slimmmmy , lower than !!!!

woodster

---