Hello,
In what order have you guys approached your builds?
I'm thinking of aqquiring a suitable donor first then doing all the strip and service work before going anywhere near construction. There are a couple of reasons;

1. I have no garage for building, but a fair sized shed to work in. Garage space with power is gonna be cadged/rented.

B. I'm hoping that having as much of the non-fabrication work done as possible, as early as possible, will result in a more simplistic build, with less re-hashing to accomodate this and that.

I would be interested to hear from folks who have maybe followed this approach, or from those who have built in small spaces!

Thanks for taking the time to read this, for those who are interested I'm hopefully gonna build roughly by the book, but sierra based, ie I don't plan to buy a kit. Undecided as to IRS or de-Dion...

quote:

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I don't plan to buy a kit

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Unless you have space I would forget making the chassis and buy a kit. The chassis comes together very quickly and you wonder what all the fuss is about and why the chassis cost over £600 .Then you start on wishbone mounts and rack mounts and the other small brackets, soon all becomes clear.

My idea was same, refurbish donor parts then build chassis and bolt together.

It doesn’t work like that!

You will be constantly stripping refurbished parts, making allowances for this and that and they WILL get marked.

One small example that’s peed me of recently, I had the front hubs/uprights fully reconditioned in a box for the last year .Bearings tightened and greased and ready to bolt up. Now I have had to strip them again so that I can tune the rack position. One step forward and then 2 back .

If I was doing the job again I would do a dry build then make the bits look pretty. OR buy a kit.


Just my opinion.

[Edited on 13/12/05 by big_wasa]

I know of a couple of builders that have not had a garage to build in and have built thier own chassis's outside . as long as you have a flat area it's possible but not ideal . Worth getting a donor first IF you have somewhere to put it while stripping . and keep all the bits , you never know until it's finished what to throw away. You often see in the wanted section ads
for parts that should have been kept .Best of luck

As a first time you'll never manage to do everything once. Some jobs end up taking a daft number of attempts ar have to be moved 3mm to the left.
I agree with a dry build. If I were builing my locost again I would aim for getting fully road going before looking at body panels.
Once you know the car works and all the welds are in the right place make the panels. Then take the whole thing to bits, get them powder coated.Then put them back together very carefully.
Or buy a kit.

I bought my chassis because a) I couldn't be arsed to build one b) haven't got the room/flat surface to build one on.
You don't need to buy as a kit. Most manufacturers will supply individual items as and when you need them. This will allow you to plan your build around your storage space and finances. For example, I haven't yet built up my rear suspension because of the restriction to space that it will cause.
Hope that helps

Thanks for the adv. guys.
I am truly on a budget, and there fore a little reluctant to splash out on a kit, especially as now it'll cost me an exrta fiver for donut!
Maybe i'll see how much mulah I can scrape while doing the strip and service. I don't plan (there it is again!) to make anything too pretty, just neat and working well.
But good answers folks will let you know

The order you do things in will depend, to a certain extent, on the donor vehicle (which I would acquire first).
If you're going live axle, buy an Escort / Capri / Cortina and strip it. Modify the axle first, and then start the chassis so you've got somewhere to put it. The rest of the recon work can take place as you need it (or when you're scratching your head over LA / LB)

Marcus