Chassis descision

[pptom]

Chassis 1

Chassis 1

Hello all, I've recently acquired an S3 project which has come with a spare chassis. Body is now off and I'm deciding which chassis to move forward with. Neither appear to be numbered.
Chassis 1 is powder coated I think. Quite pitted in places, I assume before blasting for powdercoat although is now sound metal except a strip in the middle box section which has rotted out under the saddle. I'd have to cuto out and replace approx 3" x 18".

[pptom]

Chassis 2 is hand painted black over red oxide, No obvious pitting, but has a couple of areas of reinforcement
First is around the bottom of the front turrets, seems like an extra skin has been wrapped around, it's been spot and seam welded. Metal inside the turrets seems good - doesn't look like it's hiding anything

The second area of an extra skin is on the bottom of the frame under the diff nose area

There is a stamping on this frame, but seems like nonsense to me

I'm undecided over which to go for, has anyone seen this reinforcement before? Obviously chassis 2 has had some weld heat into it and chassis 1 whill require welding.
For info, I measured between wishbone mounting lugs and both are the same dimensions.

[pptom]

By the way, that chassis number is upside down 'L' '32' upside down '1'

[Sadbrewer]

I'd be concerned about chassis 2....mine was repaired by plating around the towers in its past...when I removed the plating to really bottom the job the steel below the plate was thinner than tissue paper...the crossmember was holed and in places looked like a pepper pot.

[nmauduit]

if not already done to a fully saticfactory outcome what I would do first is carefully measure both for straightness and conformity to standard geometry (see. manual for dimensions) - that may help to steer the decision...

[pptom]

Thanks, Chassis 1 feels the best all round. I'll measure that and repair the saddle area I think.

As for Chassis 2, I was hoping that someone would say 'some chassis left Lotus with questionable reinforcement around the front turrets' but it's becoming clear that it's a later addition. I don't fancy stripping it off and knowing what can lurk between 2 pieces of steel like this I'll steer clear of the minefield.

[nmauduit]

as mentioned above, chances are the front turrets have had a repair or some sort of preventive fix (I would not be deterred from just just but this obviously requires scrutiny).

What I meant by geometry is in particular squareness: it can be assessed with careful cross measurements and with a pair of long rulers (e.g. 2m alloy ones like for masonry, cheap enough) and looking at parallelism from a distance when they are plac, say, on the suspension studs.

[JonB]

Perhaps I could interest you in a genuine Lotus galvanised chassis, unused.
PM me… thanks!