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!

[alan.barker]

Imho best is new Lotus galvanised Chassis.
Have a chat to Jonb.
Sell the other 2 Chassis.
Alan

[pptom]

Thanks for the replies. Chassis 1 is now repaired, painted and built back up, pending some new front shocks, diff output shafts and CV driveshafts.

[alanr]

Imho best is new Lotus galvanised Chassis.
Have a chat to Jonb.
Sell the other 2 Chassis.
Alan

As I understand it new chassis are no longer supplied galvanised, or is it even recommended now, due to the risk of warping/twisting in the galvanising process.

Alan

[Andy8421]

Imho best is new Lotus galvanised Chassis.
Have a chat to Jonb.
Sell the other 2 Chassis.
Alan

As I understand it new chassis are no longer supplied galvanised, or is it even recommended now, due to the risk of warping/twisting in the galvanising process.

Alan

I had thought this was an 'old wives tale', but a bit of googling brings up lots of links to the problems of hot-dip galvanising thin steel fabrications and their subsequent distortion. One recommendation was that sections should be at least 4mm thick to avoid distortion problems.

[alan.barker]

As i see it even non Galvanised they could need a little " Tweaking" the same as everytime you Weld something. A little gentle "Tweaking" never did any harm.
We were always "Tweaking" in H M Dockyard Portsmouth lol.
The Sprint i sold recently had a Lotus galvanised fitted by St Miles around 1985 so it must have been right.
It was still perfect when sold.
Alan

[tonyabacus]

Not really Lotus related but I recall going to our local Porsche Approved repairers some years ago for a talk on chassis alignments. The guys had set up a brand new unused car from the factory on the laser jig and after a preliminary talk on how they had to comply with the strict set up data provided by Porsche,took us to view the car.

The car in question was found not to be within the tolerances set by the facory, and was in fact distorted, how can that happen we asked, the company boss said he did not have an answer, but that this was not the first time they had found this type of issue, when asked to check a chassis following handling complaints by the owners of a new car. The company boss ended the demonstration by saying that when carrying out body repairs on the Porsche brand he was expected to produce a result that even the factory were not achieving, which raised a laugh or two.

As we know at one time Porsche were always proud to tell us they galvanised all their chassis' but was this part of the above issue, who knows.
Tony

[alan.barker]

Hi Tony,
Good reading thanks.
So before building up on new Chassis galvanised or not best to check out if not too twisted. Then invent a way to adjust or fit adjustable suspension. Then when attaching Body make Shims so you do not introduce a Twist.
Does that sound correct.
Alan