2026-01-27

Last modified: 2026-01-27 21:39:23

Car chassis

The new spool of welding wire arrived, but the spool was cracked.

I added the cable ties to prevent it from springing everywhere while I worked out what to do. I asked the seller on eBay what they suggest, no reply so far, will probably leave negative feedback.

And I 3d-printed a circle to go at the back of the spool, and the whole thing is held compressed once it's on the welder, and it worked! So, good, I don't have to wait for another spool to arrive.

I have tacked up the rear cross-members:

Mounts for the engine, reversing gearbox, and rear brake caliper will come off these.

The front cross-members are just dropped in place, not tacked, because I don't know where they'll go yet. I think the only things that will want mounting on them are the steering rack (or whatever I end up with) and the pedal box.

But I don't yet have a steering rack or whatever, so I don't know how long the throw is, so I don't know how far back it wants to be from the kingpin axis. Hmm.

In any event, I definitely want the one cross-member very close to the front so that it can react side-loads from the front mount of the leaf spring. And I probably want one close to the rear mount of the leaf spring. So potentially I'll just have to add a 3rd front cross-member once I know where the steering rack needs to go.

Unfortunately I only have enough steel to make 1 more full-width (rear of car) cross-member, or 2 for the front of the car, but I really want 1 more at the front of the car, and 1 near the middle, underneath the seat.

Actually, if it's just for the steering rack, I could get away with using a smaller piece of steel, of which I have plenty, because it won't be taking loads anywhere near as large as the suspension. So yes, I should weld these 2 front cross-members in the place that suits the suspension mounts. And place the other large one in whatever place defines the back edge of the "cockpit floor".