Steel

[brainbug007]

I'm looking to start sourcing the steel for my build and came across this on ebay and was wondering if anyone else had used? Seems a good price to get 42.5m at £123 + delivery.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mild-Steel-ERW-Box-25mm-x-25mm-x-1-5mm-wall-2500mm-lg-/290482935206?pt=UK_BOI_Metalworking_Milling_Weldin g_Metalworking_Supplies_ET&hash=item43a221d5a6

[spud69]

Thats an awful lot BB, you still need 20m of 19mm box section on top of that to. Cheaper options would be to visit any local stockists, should be able to get it for half that price, or consider one of the pre-cut chassis packs where you will be able to get the full cut kit for not much more.

AndyH

[brainbug007]

Fair point, upon further digging I found I could get 42m of 25x25x1.5 erw and 24m of 20x20x1.5 erw from parkers for £150 including vat and delivery. Does it make a big difference though using 2mm over 1.5mm? Can't seem to find a clear answer about why 2mm would be better anywhere and I understand the book recommends 1.5mm? (still waiting for my amazon copy to turn up). For example if I want to upgrade to a zetec engine later will the 1.5mm be strong enough? Also never welded before and not sure what people mean by punch through?

[gingea1pom]

Just to give you another option!!!!:D

I am selling my completed chassis:D (less pedal box) £550 (build diary in my signature)

I fully understand you will probably want to build your own chassis I really enjoyed my build.

Just letting you know.:D

I think all my steel came to £115 delivered.(Parker steel)

Cheers Ginge

[baz-r]

go for a pre cut if your building your own (unless you work in a fabrication shop)
it saves so much time and trouble and you will be able to progress quickly
i would go for a handyandys "2mm" or 3ge(john) "1.6" both are on this forum and will be able to help if you have any probs and thats worth more than a few quid
plus you have to look at mistakes you might make and the cost of cutting discs saw blades and so on

also what do you plan to do with the chassis? racing and bike engines 1.6mm light.

big bhp and v6 motors go 2mm

[brainbug007]

I'm planning to just use my donor 1.8 CVH to get me through the IVA but then I'd like to put one of the 2.0 zetec's in and tune it up to a higher horse power and torque if possible. Would also like a shot at taking it out on a track but I wouldn't really want to properly "race" it. I want to order & cut the steel myself to save money as doing it by hand with a hacksaw sounds doable and will save me alot as I've not got a massive budget but have lots of time. Does anyone know of any other good steel stockholders that deliver? Parkers doesn't seem to do ERW at 20x20x2, only 20x20x1.5 and I take it you shouldn't mix it by doing 25x25x2 and 20x20x1.5?

[alga]

go for a pre cut if your building your own (unless you work in a fabrication shop)
it saves so much time and trouble and you will be able to progress quickly

By the same logic buying a complete chassis makes you able to progress even quicker. But then there's less of the "I made it" appeal. I had many hours of quiet happiness fettling the ends of tubes with a flat file.

[brainbug007]

Indeed, I'm quite looking forward to learning some metal working skills. Quite tempted to also build a trailer to move the locost around on :)

[brainbug007]

I'm trying to work out how much steel I should get and the book doesn't really give you too much help here. From what I've read I think I need 42m of 25x25 and 18m of 20x20. The book also metions some other bits which I'm not sure I need at this stage or not like 51x25x1.5 , round steel tube (19, 25, 28, & 33), seamless steel tube (25,19) , round steel bar stock (20,26,30), round steel pipe, steel sheet, steel strip, steel/aluminum pipe, aluminum sheet, aluminum capping strip. Can anyone help with a general idea what all these other bits go into and whether I should/need to buy them at the inital stage? Also any quantities would be appreciated too!

[alga]

50x25 can be substituted with two pieces of 25x25 welded together, they are for the seatback rails.

The 19 mm round tube is for the rear tub bends, you can skip it if you go for GRP rear end. Also, pieces of 19 mm are used in the rear uprights and the cable guides in the pedal box.

The 25 and 33 tube must be for the rollbar. 28, I believe, is for the pedal bushes, you need just 100 mm of that. 3ge do a nice set for pedal bushes -- outer, inner tubes plus oilite bearings.

33.7x2.6 are the suspension bush tubes, and 25 and 19 seamless is for the wishbones themselves.

You'll need 3 mm plates pretty soon in the build, either get a complete set from 3ge or find somewhere local that can laser the intricate parts and get some 3 mm strip and 3 mm plate for the simple parts. There are drawings of the 1, 3, 5, 10 mm plate pieces somewhere on the forum.

[brainbug007]

Thanks for that alga, helps loads! Any idea roughly how much 33.7x2.6, 25, 19, and 3mm strip/plate I'll need?

[shh120m]

I found it cheaper to buy chassis plates And brackets precut from Andy at Saturn, that way I didn't end up with tons of unneeded steel sheet. Also andys plates are laser cut so there spot on, there's no way to cut some of the plates with a hacksaw, believe me iv tried!

[alga]

brainbug007, just do the math. 22 bushe tubes 35 mm each. That's 770 mm. So, 1 m should be enough and you should have some room for error.

3 mm strip? Frankly, I'm not sure how much of it you need. There are many parts out of 25x3, 30x3, 40x3 strip. There is no 3 mm strip available here, so I just got a 1000x1200 mm sheet and still have about half of it left.

As for the wishbone tubes, it's also easy to do the sums: 3.92 m of 25 and 2 m of 20. Also, it's wise to have some extra in case you don't get it right the first time.

Hacksaw? That's indeed hard. You need an angle grinder!

http://fridge.pov.lt/~alga/pics/knigts2s.png

I got all the 10 and 5 mm plates laser cut, and some precise 3 mm plates: all of the rear upright parts, steering support. I also got all the suspension brackets laser cut and bent in an engineering shop. The rest of the plates are pretty easy to fabricate with an angle grinder. I'd say the hardest part is the larger holes: in the pedal box for the master cylinder, the bolt access holes in the rear damper mounts. Without the right instruments they are really tedious. Lots of drilling, filing, grinding and cursing.

Later I ended up buying another offcut of the 5 mm plate for the engine mounts.