Building a Frame?

[dude4you]

I am thinking of buying the parts to build a Dax Cobra.

As I saw pictures on the internet of the chassis, I came up with the idea to build it by myself.
The chassis doesn't look fancy and difficult to build.

Has someone taken a look at any Chassis? Are there some kind of hiden difficult parts which will be tricky to build?

[richc]

I've built plenty of motorbike frames and helped a friend build a hot rod chassis. The advice I offer is:

• Get the geometry right by not deviating too much from a proven desigh
• Make yourself a jig, I have an adjustable steel one for bike frames, It doesn't have to be that strong just sturdy enough to hold the components in place. Despite what some people might have you believe the jig will not stop your frame twisting. It'll just spring when you release it (see below). A wooden frame to hold the main components would probably do for a one off car chassis.
• To stop your frame/chassis twisting and developing potentially lethal cracks at welds you must make all your preps/joints perfect. This means accurate cuts, and if you don't have the tooling, a lot of filing and grinding!
• If you can't weld, learn properly, or get someone who can to do it for you. Your life depends upon it.

Personally, I like the idea of a unique bike frame which is as much apart of the bike's styling as the engine, wheels and tank etc, and I love the feeling of stuffing Ducati's on a home made "bitsa"! :finger:

As for a car, in which the chassis is covered up, its a lot of work. I couldn't be arsed and bought a Dax! (tho I must admit if I were to build one it'd be more like a GD)

Good luck:thumb:

Rich

[dave]

Originally Posted by dude4you

I am thinking of buying the parts to build a Dax Cobra.

As I saw pictures on the internet of the chassis, I came up with the idea to build it by myself.
The chassis doesn't look fancy and difficult to build.

Has someone taken a look at any Chassis? Are there some kind of hiden difficult parts which will be tricky to build?

Hi Dude.
I have thought about doing this sort of thing many times and the only reason that I don't is because Dax is a brand name and if you build a car with no brand name it will be worth less....Usually by more that the cost of the branded chassis.
Just economics in my case.:thumb:

[dinosoar]

Hi,

My current project is a KD 289 that I purchased as an unstarted project. As I was not very impressed with the standard of the chassis design and I wished to use different running gear I basically remanufactured most of it into a backbone design. This took quite a lot of time nut has been worth it. You will need to do some research into suspension design so that you know what the critical factors and dimensions are.

It would be a good project but I suspect your time is worth more and the £1000 or so that Dax charge is quite good value and a small part of the overall cost and will of course add to the resale value.

I also agree with Rich and would build a chassis up in a similar fashion to a GD.

Goo luck.
Andy

[chesterak]

There is a certain satisfaction in building a project from scratch, whatever it is. My lad has built two offroad buggy chassis from a ruck of CDS tube However, he spent hours studying ackerman angles, anti-squat, anti-dive and other fairly important suspension geometry. The poular chassis for cobras are very well designed and look reletively simple - I think this may be deceptive. Build design (ladder, backbone etc) is a personal choice to be balanced with cost. Given that we have the tools and equipment to build from scratch, compared with what my AK cost, I wouldn't bother cleaning up my welding mask. One thing I am looking at though is using USA sourced independent front and rear suspension to graft onto an established chassis.
DB's point is well made if you want to recover any costs....

[dude4you]

Reason for building>the next kitcar store is about 8 houres away from my home. It also have to pay for the shipping and a lot more.
> I thought, I could just buy the body with all the parts which are unique like windshild, steering wheel, seats, tires.... and build the chassis at home since we are well prepared and steel is as good as for free for me.


When I saw the GD I was amazed but it seems very heavy, lots a steel and undestroyable.
Then I saw the Dax and I thought that a close copy of that chassis shouldn't be to hard and I still could adapt some ideas from the GD. But the whole SUSPENSION thing I would probably use from the DAX and a jaguar donner (Suspension,shoxs, steering, differential, brakes)

What I am concerned about is to get the suspension done the right way.

>>>ChesterAK> Do you have any good source like books, www, for me to learn something about Suspensions?

[Grease Monkey]

I think you'll find that the GD chassis is by far the lightest and because of the 3D spaceframe rather than ladder design is the strongest (least likely to flex and twist) of the lot.

You may be a way from the main manufacturers, but as long as you live on the mainland, or a short ferry trip away, you can always go collect the GD chassis on a roofrack.

For my money, the amount of hassle you'll have getting the geometry right, getting the shape right so the engine and box fit in etc (the GD chassis is officially not a 'tight fit' its 'precision engineered' :thumb: :thumb: ) and considering the resale value (i personally wouldn't buy a diy chassis with 400 bhp going through it) you'd be best shelling out a grand or two for a professional chassis.

just my pennys worth.

[dude4you]

Thats the problem. I live in switzerland and the nearest facorys are in the UK.
I probably have a good chance to get a Dax Body for the price of 2500 Pounds though.

I just thought that building myself would be the easiest way to spare some money (I'm not greedy) and could also be fun as long as I get the right geometry. The some of the chassis look very simple to me.

Well I think about it.

Anyone has an idea where I can get help, informations about the geometry of the chassis? Maybee someone has some meassurements of his chassis such as length, posistion of wheels, angels of suspension and and and.

Thanks anyway

[dave]

Hi Dude.

Get a copy of this it's brilliant. "How to make your car handle" from amazon.co.uk


http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...311984-9505241

:thumb:

[mylesdw]

If you are going to make your own chassis, and I can see the attraction in that, why not make it an exact copy of the original cobra chassis with the two big round tubes? This would surely have its own attraction as far as resale goes and is actually quite rare under replica bodies. Probably not the best handling chassis in the world but no worse than most of the replica efforts, looks quite simple and gives the car added authenticity.