wondering if anyone runs a full tube chassis
mild steel/chrome moly ?

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

Dave Mueller's wagon. Probably Chrome Moly. I'll ask him.

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

will burns also.

the cox's 65-66 dart too.

I assure there are others too.

Greg

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http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

My Challenger is a mild steel tube chassis.

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Why were you asking Jon?

I am working through the process right now and some racers are telling me in this day and age, a chrome moly car will sell when you move along, mild steel, not so much.

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Hyper_pak

a friend in Reno had a mild steel tube chassis made for his 1968 Dodge Dart conv for $3500, I thought that was cheap.

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

The big reason for CM is weight. With CM you can run a thinner wall because it is uniform. MS tube will vary so you have to run a heavier wall to guarantee it will pass certification.

CM is a lot more expensive to work with because it has to be TIG welded to pass cert too.

You usually don't see a full CM chassis unless it is for a really fast class or a class with a low minimum weight. Bracket cars rarely have a CM chassis because of the cost.

As fas as resale, it still depends on the desirability of the car. CM by itself does not make a car sell better. Plus, you will have a ton more money in it to start with.

$3500 for a chassis is real cheap.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

There are some online companies that I've seen that will do the cad drawings for a tube chassis for any car. Been a while, but it wasn't too expensive.
At that point you could build a tube chassis in your home shop. Fopar borrowed my TIG welder to make his Chrome Moly chassis. I finally sat down with the TIG and got the hang of the thing. Pretty easy for anybody that's proficient with gas. Instead of varying heat with your torch, you drive with your foot. Torch distance stays constant. Easy Peasy. Once you have the dimensions, bender, and can do the prep work, cost of the material itself isn't that bad. Fopar built a mandrel bender for a few bucks in steel, a hydraulic jack and considerably more for the dies. But he is really good with math and bend angles. He designed his own chassis. Then built it. I think he spent $700ish for the materials. If I bend a piece of tubing nobody knows where it's going to end up, so I had it done. Considerably more expensive. I think he still has my tubing notcher.

Now Dave is a TIG welding Guru. For him it was a day in the park. He makes his own aluminum valve covers with the TIG. Give me a piece of aluminum, and I'll give you something to recycle!

Now to have a shop do it, that's a different animal. Still, a raw chassis, $3500 sounds like a deal. Are you getting away from torsion bars? To do a torsion bar chassis, yes, that sounds really cheap. With a Convertible, the thing needs to be stiff. Did he have a full roll cage put in it? Without a cage, structural integrity will require a lot of material. I'm not sure how much weight can be saved at that point.

If your looking to do this from scratch, Cr-Moly is the way to go from a weight standpoint, but at the same time, repairs or adjustments will be more expensive. Going as light as is legal will require checking the chassis at least annually, or every time there is an incident. Mild Steel is heavier, and more forgiving. Need a tab someplace, grab the MIG. Zap. Not so with Chrome Moly. It's a TIG job. And that takes time.
Richard built in Cr-Moly, but didn't build as light as legal, neither did I. We want to be able to drive the cars without having to take it someplace to check for cracks every time there's a bump in the track. We built our cages much heavier than required. If it goes on it's top, I want all I can get up there.
For a door car, you will need to powder coat or paint. Richard chose paint. I chose to leave it natural and oil it. Easier to see what's going on, but my chassis is out in the open. Yours won't be.

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

just called semi local chassis builder/talked for 20 mins. sent him an email with a build request.

basic cert 6 second chassis is $6K

350 lbs/no components axle/shocks/front struts/steering box et al.

said basically a pro stock chassis built to cert @ 6 seconds. stated he only builds c.moly and a 6 seconds cert has a few extra bars, but has a higher later resale car value then say a 9 second cert.

as of now we do not have funds for this..

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

What kind of a Slant 6 will need a 6 second chasis?

Unless you are running a blower, 2 turbos and Nitromethane I don't think you will need it.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

A pro Mod Smart Car with a Slant 6 and all of those goodies that You mentioned rick!



Greg

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http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

he stated that's a basic chassis in his shop, there are some extra bars added , and will help a resale with a cert 6 second chassis.I thing he buys kits then glues them together to your spects, the kits are 6 second cert chassis kits.

I talked to Keith/the owner/builder

http://www.xtremeoutlaw.com/

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

A 6 second cert chassis aids resale in a 6 second car. In anything else it is immaterial.

Worrying about resale in a race car is a Catch 22. Even if you happen to build a car somebody elsr wants, you're still going to be lucky to get 50¢ on the $.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

well those were his words

look at his work

he's a serious builder with real time experiences

when I die someone will sell my junk 4sure.

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slant six's RULE!
http://www.usajon.com

Yes, he is a builder. He is also a salesman.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.