Early 'DAX' chassis

[Russ-Notts]

I have a DAX which I believe was ordered around summer of 1984. The chassis was made for DAX at the time by Pat Hanson, Hanson Engineering. I'd like to find out anything anyone knows about these chassis', particularly:
- How many were made?
- Any characteristics to look out for (or fix)?
- Has anyone else got one?

Any help gratefully received as always,
Russ.

[JoMo]

Hi Russ, I have an early 85 Dax Toj with a Hanson chassis. It seems bullit proof to me. Like yours mine is fitted with a 3.5 RV8 with a Holley, a T5 box and a 3.31 diff. The chassis has anti dive top wishbone at the front and the rack has been remounted to get less bump steer. I am in the process of upgrading the front discs to 4 pot ( 3 pot fitted ) and this has meant new steering arms as the series 3 uprights have a different bolt layout. Mine is black with no air scoop. Do you know your chassis number? I tried to find out about chassis numbers from Dax and they said that their records do not go that far back. I hope to meet up with the owner of another Dax of this age at stoneleigh this year. Will you be there? Perhaps we could form a row!

regards

John

[dinosoar]

Hi,

I used to own one of these. I found that there was a tendancy for bumpsteer as well as a lot of brake dive.
This was cured by replicating the front chassis dimensions from the current standard dax chassis and replacing the steering rack.
I still have the jigs somewhere.
It transformed the car, particularly the brake performance.
Some pics attached.
My car had a triumph dolomite rack mounted above the main chassis rails.
One recommendation from Dax was to beef up the rear rails that support the boot and tank. Some early chassis had 40mm box welded to the 80mm box that is part of the diff frame. This would allow the wall to flex on the 800mm box and not give sufficient support to the rear end. Serious cases involved the doors flying open over bumps apparently!
My chassis had some triangulation in the form of angle cut 40mm box welded to cover the whole of the 80mm section at the top. This was a factory mod and indicates a later chassis, 1985 I think. I added an additional brace from top to bottom for good measure.
Another thing worth doing is bonding the bolt in scuttle hoop to the body. This would get rid of the scuttle shake. I never did get around to doing this one on my car though.

Andy

[tarmacscratcher]

I have a faxed copy of the original chassis receipt from Dax for my cob. Looks like it's dated 1984. I think Dax will have records but not necessarily relating to the actual chassis number. My Dax has a chassis number but there's no number on the receipt.

[427scr]

My chassis is a 1985, Ordered in Nov 84.

It has the chassis number M3R146, it is stamped into the top of the front upper cross member that runs between the two upper wishbones, with small 3mm characters, easy to miss if there is a couple of coats of paint on it.

I was told when I bought it that it was a Mark 3 chassis. No idea what that implies. The chassis number appears to back this up, I have always believed that it stands for Mark 3 RHD No. 146.

As far as I know it was built on site at DJ Sportscars in Harlow as I had a tour of the works when I bought it and all of the welding fixtures were there.

My car has a Dolomite rack mounted below the chassis rails with full XJ12 front running gear including 4 pot calipers.

I should be at Stoneleigh over the weekend, look me up.

[427scr]

Originally Posted by dinosoar

I used to own one of these.

My chassis is later than yours.

It already has the geometry that you have added

[oiler0]

as fair as i can remember i order my DAX chassis some time in 1987
the chassis number stamped on it is DAX M3 R 413 but it,s a bit hard to see a i remover the chassis plate for painting and lost it
but that's the number stamped on the chassis so must be the same and on the chassis plate,
DAX was still using the triumph steering rack with jag arms then ,but i think mine is under the chassis rails
so i hope no bump steer !

any one know when the standard mk 4 chassis came out ?

oiler0

[slogger]

Originally Posted by oiler0

as fair as i can remember i order my DAX chassis some time in 1987
the chassis number stamped on it is DAX M3 R 413 but it,s a bit hard to see a i remover the chassis plate for painting and lost it
but that's the number stamped on the chassis so must be the same and on the chassis plate,
DAX was still using the triumph steering rack with jag arms then ,but i think mine is under the chassis rails
so i hope no bump steer !

any one know when the standard mk 4 chassis came out ?

oiler0

oiler0, hi. Where is the Dax chassis number stamped? Mine is of the same age, possibly a bit later, but has the chassis plate removed and the Jag ID number stamped on the front cross member between the front suspension mounts. Mine was supposed to be 1988ish and that is still using the Dolly rack and E-Type brake master cylinder setup.

Dave Brooks may be the man to ask about the change from Mk3 to Mk4.

[demus]

My dax is, according to Dax dated around 1987, chassis DAX MR3379, they recoginsed the number about 3 years ago when I bought the car, it too has a Triumph steering rack below the chassis, four pot Jag calipers and has the plate fixed onto the top chassis member between the top suspension mounts.

[Russ-Notts]

Thanks everyone for their comments.
The Pat Hanson chassis numbers start BOP2, mine being BOP2 11 and is stamped on the cross member between the chassis rails. The steering rack is Dolomite and is clamped above the chassis rails. I'm not sure what, if any, modifications had been done before I bought the car. The shocks on the front have always been set very hard, I assume to counter the brake dive problems. I'll check out the rear end sections that Dinosoar recommended. I've not lost any passengers from the doors flying open yet.