924Board.org

[trey3670]

hypothetically,if you where going to build a frame for a car what steel would you use?

[emoore924]

Dude, I don't mean to bust your newbie chops but if you have to ask that question, you shouldn't be building a frame for a car...

I know I don't know the answer to that question, and therefore know enough to know I shouldn't be building car frames either

[trey3670]

no worry's just kicking an idea around with some friends. i agree with ya actually. we where thinking tube,but then someone brought up box then we got to thinking what kind,so we where curious how its really done then I googled it all I could find was like race cars or restore old frames none from scratch.

[Rattlinbone]

Titanium!
_________________
Fred- 1979 924

[avaconirl]

Always use round tubing it is torsionally stonger then square tubing. If you are looking for idea's go to your race track and look at the cars when they are naked.
I used to build single seater race cars with vw 1.6 beetle engines (formula vee) the tubing that was used was 1.5 inch.16 gauge for the main rails and 1 inch 18 gauge for the brace's. This worked very well in crash testing on the track. It's not easy and is not for the faint hearted.
P.s used steel it's easter to work with on the next one you could go with the exotic stuff.

[huckster]

You could build a frame out of anything! But if you are a steel fabricator you would build it out of mild steel. It can be easy to work with if you use Round HSS and have a tubing notcher and bender, square or rectangular HSS is workable with simpler tools but can be heaver depending on the design.


Morgans had wood frames and body parts!!?
_________________
77.5 project car have never driven. burgundy
79 parts car sea foam. blue new clutch and shifter bushings
79 driver yellow new shocks water pump shifter bushings
96 ford escort sw

[fiat22turbo]

There's a couple of great books on the subject of building your own car from scratch. Hit up Amazon for the Carroll Smith series of books:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Carroll+Smith&x=0&y=0

Also there are sites like Kimini:

http://kimini.com/Reference/index.html

Midlana:

http://midlana.com/

Dennis Palatov SportsCars:

http://www.dpcars.net/

Graber Cars:

http://www.grabercars.com/

MeerKat:

http://www.desicodesign.com/meerkat/

Some other resources:

http://www.amazon.com/Build-Cheap-Sports-Motorbooks-Workshop/dp/0760322872/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286991237&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Sports-Car/dp/1844253910/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286991237&sr=1-3

Many of the build sites above also have reference sections with supplier info, books, etc.

Personally, if I were designing and building my own chassis, I'd use material that I could easily get and work with. Some of the more exotic alloys and composite solutions sound great, but require specific welding and joining techniques as well as different design considerations.

Also, you need to be aware that any car you build by yourself will be subject to scrutiny by your local Department of Motor Vehicles (if driven on the street) the local track and sanctioning body inspectors (if driven on a track) and will need to have its design and construction based around those limitations or you'll have a vehicle that you can't really do much with without a lot of hassle. Besides it will be your butt in the seat, no reason to kill yourself because you decided that the thicker wall steel was too expensive.

Another group of people to talk with are the hardcore offroad folks, they have a lot of experience building tube-frame vehicles with very strong and safe chassis. Just make sure that you realize that they are usually building vehicles to survive the Baja 1000, etc. so they are likely a little heavier than you need.
_________________
Stefan
1979 924 Carrera GTS (clone-ish)
1988 944 Turbo S (Silver Rose)

[trey3670]

so how do find the dmv specs out?

[bnoon]

2"x3" mild steel .125" wall is used for the side rails and about anything you want can be used to make cross braces, 2x2 square, 2" round, 1.5 round... Just depends on what you're building it for. Racing classes have their own rules that will say what you can use, but for the street mild steel gets the job done safely.

My next build will either be a scratch built rat rod or a 70's truck with a NASCAR style frame. I've done quite a bit of fabrication to suspension/etc before, but this next one will be my first full chassis build. Should be fun!
_________________
'80 924 Turbo - SOLD!
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo - SOLD!
Porscheless

[trey3670]

that sounds cool! thanks for all the info guys,something may come of this after all. what I have figured out about the dmv is to have a donor car,lol,witch would mean not building the whole frame from scratch but part,and to use the title etc from said donor.

then its just a matter of meeting fed regs,seat belts,headlight height,markers etc..

thanks for all the useful info!

[Min]

chrome moly tubing, works for aircraft frames also.

Min
_________________
Custom means it didn't come from a box.
1980 n/a with EDIS and Megasquirt II Injection. 7 different colors and counting.

[Martijnus]

[Mike9311]

This guy sounds like he is starting out. Welding chrome moly can be tricky since the welds can be brittle depending on the rod used. Not to mention titanium....that is another issue unless he is a rich kid with deep pockets and time to keep trying to get that right.

He should get some mild steel and a wire feed and start practicing before building a car. I appreciate the enthusiasm but this is a daunting task. He'll need massive jigs welded and bolted up and so forth before even starting anything serious not to mention help and experience surrounding him.

I would start with something simple and start practicing.
_________________
1980 931 since 1989
1981 Ideola 931 Club Sport
1982 931 Entwicklungsfahrzeug
1979 924 NA ohne 650 mit 471
1982 931 Red Resurrection - 951 IC
1982 931 parts car / resurrection?
1980 924 NA (R&D lightweight)
1982 931 wana-be GTR race car

[Lizard]

For a car chassis/tube even just doing one end of a car, Chrome moly is the best thing to use for weight/strength.

Next best thing is DOM tubing. The weight will determine the size/wall thickness required.

Those are the only 2 things to use!
_________________
3 928s,

[bnoon]

http://www.killbillet.com/ is the best site I've ever come across for the DIY'er car sites. Esecially the under $3000 club.
_________________
'80 924 Turbo - SOLD!
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo - SOLD!
Porscheless