chassis problem

[whitstella]

hi i was after some info from all you locost builders. i have welded my chassis and it has moved a little due to the welding. there is a 5mm gap under the frame near the transmission tunnel. will i counter any problem if i carry on with the build??

cheers steve

Best you check it all over then as any twist in the chassis will lead to problems trying to set the car up.

[greasemonkey]

my chassis has a rock in it due to the transmission tube bowing downwards which made my chassis lift a little and rock,if a peice of angle is placed in all four corner's the chassis is straight with a spirit level on my build table
i have an old friend who built sports cars for formula junior cars and clubmans car's and he said 5mm will be ok and even if you clamp your chassis tube's down soon as you unclamp it it can ping due to the heat

[HandyAndy]

As Fabby has said, best to check the whole chassis, do the diagonal checks on the base rails too,

where is the 5mm lift? fore to aft or side to side ? & how far have you got with the chassis build? sorry for all the questions just trying to picture the situation.

cheers
andy

[whitstella]

the chassis is greasemonkey's he has told me the transmisson tunnel dropped abit see the post above. i was just lookin at what the experts had to say about it, as i've not done 1 of these before.

If it's only the trans tunnel a bit pissed you may well be ok but check corner to corner and how level the whole plot is side to side front to back. If it's welded up it's not a good idea to go cutting tubes out as that will bugger things as it will move even if you don't notice it...

[MikeB]

the built table can sag in the middle causing the tranny tunnel to 5 mm lower, the rest of the chass corner to corner could well be nice and straight.

[flyerncle]

If you do decide to cut a part out and repair anything weld a brace over it first before cutting as the chassis will move a hell of a lot as I found out when I made the over all length of the chassis 30mm too long with the front frame,I had to use body hydraulic jacks to re-align it and it was welded on a car jig bed and it still has a very slight twist to it.

The book says to cut out the section of BR1 after welding, I wouldn't do that i I was you. Much better and safer to cut this out prior to welding as it's this section that will lead to the tunnel section being twisted.
Better still is to cut the tubes that form the tunnel opening with 45 degree angles so you don't have any open ends....doing it this way you could fully weld and dress this up before tacking it into the chassis...simples

[whitstella]

thanks for the reply guys and i will take it all on board.