Car Body Frame

As you may have guessed this is not an actual vehicle project but a frame work i'm going to build so that the car we are working on can be pushed around without the trouble of having any wheels attached.

These are the cars we are currently working on







The frame work i'm designing is going to use the rear axle mounts and front wishbone rear mount so that it can be bolted on. That way the engine can also be taken out/put in with out any obstructions. The good thing about this framework is that it wont be any bigger than the car so could easily fit in a single garage. The arms to the body will be telescopic so the height can be adjusted. Also I will put the framework on some wheels/casters with non steerable heavy duty ones at the front due to the weight of the engine and some steerable wheels/casters at the back. Something like this….


The picture is from one of regcheeseman's posts.

So far the metal has cost me about £70 is made up of 7.5m 50mm box section with a 5mm wall for the main frame. I have some smaller 40mm box (about 1 metre) for the telescopic arms which just fit inside the 50mm box. There is a seam weld on the inside of the box section so i have filed it out a bit and it seems to slide in and out ok, though more filing is required and a good coating in copper crest (wonderful stuff). I also got some 25cm wide 6mm plate which i will square off and use as gussets to support all corners. And finally some 12mm Nuts and Bolts for the telescopic arms.

So far i have cut all the metal by hand with a hacksaw to get the exact sizes i want so big arms are required here and a file to square the end off. The warehouse i got the metal from cut the 7.5m length down to a more managable size so i could fit it in the car.

Here is a pic of how far i have not gotten…..



Once i have got the correct size i want i will post the measurment up. I may even make a couple more if anyone fancies one?

Mate, have you seen the frames in my thread?

I've all the dimension for them, loads of sets have been made (quite a few with wheels), they've even crossed marques and been spotted on a vauxhall forum and in a magazine.

No way, lol. How funny is that? I will have a look for it now. Or would be quicker if you could give me a link. hint hint

Here





Here too!

Ahh thank you. I have saved the link in one of my favourites for later referencing and will probably have a go at making one in the future.

My design is to just act as a dolly for pushing around rather than rolling over. But rolling over could be pretty handy so long as the engine still hasn't got oil in it, lol, messy

WOW guys  8O  8O  8O  !!!

Good work. Its very practical and good to see something like this!  :cheer:

Good work mate. Love your projects

Some more work done today.

Have cut the horizontal pieces down to size and left the vertical ones for the time being until i have the rest attached to the car so i have their correct size.



Picture showing a horizontal piece, with triangle gussets tacked on (as i haven't currently got any gas in my MIG) and showing the front telescopic pieces with attaching plates tacked on.


Close up of the front telescopic upright



And showing the bracket. I worked out the holes on the front wishbone rear mount were 68mm apart with 10mm studs.



The rear bar with part of the telescopic struts. I best guessed the angle by eye. The holes are 10mm and 100mm apart.



More pictures on Monday

Well the wrong monday but here are a few more pics


Car in the air. I don't like it being this high just on axle stands


Close up of rear mount. I think the telescopic legs need taking down a bit. I tad too high and would be awkward transfering the car from trolley jack to this high position.


Front of the frame not yet welded.


Front strutts ready to be welded on

All the holes on the mounts were pretty near accurate considering the difficulty of measuring the ditances between the studs. They required a small amount filing to get them to line up properly, not a problem.

Looks to be well made, however looking at the state of the car - I think you should consider making a chassis roller!

I have thought about this and i think some 40mm cds tube will fit nicely into the end of the horizontal pieces shown. I can get my hands on a tube bender and with some extra bracing it should work quite nicely and hopefully have the option of being able to unbolt it on and off.

where are the drawings

Here too!

mrscratch, i have not drawn up any plans as yet but will measure them when i can find my measuring tape. I have yet to trim down the telescopic arms yet and I didn't want to cut them down too soon until i am fully happy what size i want them. I have done most measurments by eye at the moment.

Here are some more pics and as you can see it is nearly finished. I was teaching a mate to weld so some of the welds aren't brilliant but it is the best time to teach someone with nice thick metal. The wheels are from a dolly i had lying around, so hopefully they will be strong enough. I still have some welding to finish off around the base and make the gussets to strengthen the uprights.








Next to the car

I'll put some measurments up as soon as i have found a measuring device of some sort.

Well i finished welding it all up, chopped the telescopic legs to a more managable size and put the car on…….



only to find after attaching the rear mounts…..





and lowering the car onto the front mounts……





that the holes on the front mounts don't quite line up as expected so for the time being i have spun the front legs 90 degrees. I will make up some new brackets later on, attach them to the car and then weld them on. Also the legs at the back will need to be longer as you can see in the second pictures there is a bit of a gap in the leading edges of the car to the mount.