First things to put on new chassis? And rust prevention...

[ill_will]

Hi everyone,

I'm sure this has been covered before, but after half an hour of searching I can't find a comprehensive thread. Could anyone point me in the direction of a 'you will kick yourself if you don't put this or that bit on first when rebuilding a bare chassis' thread please?

Obvious candidates include brakelines, handbrake cable, fuel lines; I'm sure there'll be many other bits though!

Plan is to get a rolling chassis, then put engine/gearbox in, then propshaft, diff, calipers, driveshafts. It's a spyder chassis. In the long-term, once all the mechanical work is done on the chassis, do whatever glassing cannot easily be done with the body on, then prep and paint engine bay, underside, then replace body, check and adjust arch clearances and other body glassing, then after prep work blow over a primer coat. I'm assuming the body will be back to the gel coat before any of this starts.

Then do some shakedown tests at a track or similar (will require certain interior items to be replaced and ignition,starter and brakelights to be wired in, at the very least) to see if any more cracks appear in the body, before doing paintwork. The car was a basket case and I want to avoid the risk of messing up any new paintwork if the body has to come off the chassis again after the shake-down. I would love to hear your comments on this sequence (I'm sure someone has done something similar before.)

Finally, can anyone see a good reason not to wax-oyl (or similar) certain parts of the chassis particularly prone to rust? There are plenty of places where there are small gaps between bits of metal plate; these look like obvious candidates for dirt and moisture to sit and rot my shiny new chassis! Any advice as to what stage might be best to apply the waxoyl would also be great.

Many thanks in advance.

will
Cambridge, UK
1967 S3 FHC S/E

[enskr]

Will
You will kick yourself if.......you don't get a copy of Brian Buckland's book "The Rebuilding of a Lotus Elan" - there are hundreds of tips in here of exactly the kind you mention - way too much to reproduce here.

Kevin

[ill_will]

Re. the chassis protection comment, I should have said that I am building this car to be driven (hard) predominantly on the road, in all weather conditions. Preventing rot (and maximising reliability) are thus of paramount importance.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

You may want to give the chassis an extra coat of paint.
The original paint on my Spyder chassis was a bit thin & is something I wish I had done.
I used aerosol waxoil all over it prior to fitting anything.
Regarding those gaps you mentioned; perhaps forcing some silicone sealing compound into them would give you some peace of mind?
Prior to that maybe check the fit of the body on the chassis.
I had to remove a lot of metal from the oversized steel attachment bosses positioned where the front fork joins the backbone. That's where the body & dash lower bracket are fixed.
There was a very large foul to the transmission tunnel there.

Good luck.
John

[gerrym]

Will, my advice is:-

1/ Get the chassis shot-blasted, (insist on a proper specification for the surface roughness, SA3 always used to be a good guide) and then spend some money on a decent paint system. There are some good experience proven, systems documented on this website. Remember, this is the year 2009 and decent modern paint systems are available to make the car useable without fear of weather. There are a lot of gaps between square section tubing and "plating". These needs to be filled with seam sealer or equivalent.

2/ Write down on paper your chosen specs for wheels and tyres and suspension dampers/springs (eg are you using 2-1/2" rear springs and smaller platforms). Procure all these, build up front and rear suspension with cut-down springs. Install engine and gearbox.

3/ Trial mount chassis on body. Adjust ride to specification and test for clearance (bonnet to cam cover can be checked with plasticene or similar). Don't worry about radiator cap clearance to bonnet; this can be sorted by using remote filler.. see Clivey boy. Check wheel clearance with springs removed to allow for suspension travel and steering articulation. The type of wheels and tyres will make a big difference. Adjust your specification or components or the body depending on what you find.

4/ Think long and hard about the earthing through the chassis. I have posted suggestions in the past about how this can be vastly improved.

Regards

[512BB]

Will,

I have just this morning dropped my brand new chassis off to be professionally prepared and coated. I looked into this in great detail before deciding what and who to use. I chose a company in Royston, who carry out work for the MOD and British Rail and give a 7 year guarantee on their work to them. My chassis will be ready next week, and you are more than welcome to come and have a look at it. I would post up some pics, but the last time i tried to do this the site said that the pics were to large, whatever that means. I am in Cambs also.

Regards

Leslie

[mikealdren]

I echo all the comments on paint above, unfortunately Spyder's paint leaves a lot to be desired. It chips off far too easily.

On the +2, the front mounting brackets (infront of the rack) always seem too high, Spyder pack the body mounting bolts with washers to lift it all but several of us have either lowered the brackets or cut and moved the bobins in the front undertray a more satisfactory solution as it leaves the body bolted more securely to the chassis and helps avoid the body ride height (and hence the wheel clearance) appearing excessive.

Mike