Electrathon America Forum

dfarning · Veteran Member

Wanted; rolling chassis or frame from the midwest.

Ron · Veteran Member

Too bad I'm Too far away...(and already cut up my extra frame) but I do have a little advice.

Be aware of how old the "old frame/chassis" is... there have been a couple of rule changes that might make the "old" car not pass tech. inspection...
I am specifically thinking of the rule on "frontal area of the nose" (avoid "pointy" noses for safety) also the couple of year old "ground clearance" rules..
(clear a 1 1/2 inch bar, as opposed to the old rule of no lower than wheel rim)

Also there is a possibility that the rule for roll bars will be changed this year to read
"the drivers head must stay under a line drawn from the roll bar to the highest "structural member" of the body of the car...

instead of "the highest point of the car" as it is now.
highest point now is often the wheels... and they can break off... leaving drivers head scraping on pavement....
( OUCH!! I'm sure you can see the reason for the proposed change there!)

So be aware that you may have to modify an "old" chassis a bit to meet present (and possible "soon to come") rules.

Good luck in your search, hope you have a good season next year..

Ron J car #13 Northwest region

dfarning · Veteran Member

Thanks for the advice.

Luckily, we are doing another complete build that complies with the local 2016 rules.

I am looking for a working chassis to test drivetrain components and data logging over the next couple of months until our chassis is working to keep my interest from fading :(

Dave

dmorgan · Member

meangreen builds a really competitive chassis. contact him, he might be able to ship one to you.

dfarning · Veteran Member

Seems things are going full circle:)

I got sucked into this project when my nephew and I were searching for an interesting project to keep us out of trouble last winter. Josh came across Jim's blog and off we went.

If anyone hasn't looked into Jim's work, it is very simple and elegant. Nothing fancy. He does so well because he has used an iterative process to work out a lot of kinks in his vehicles. They have few weaknesses so they perform well!

Dave

Nitoragro · Senior Member

I race against Jim (meangreen) and his many cars, he currently races 2 of his own cars and he has sold 2 to 2 other teams. They are all very competitive, and can all survive a crash (I found out they are stronger then my car). I'm assuming you're using this.
electrathonoftampabay.org/www/Documents/Jim%20Robinson's%20Build%20Process/
It has everything from start to finish.

dfarning · Veteran Member

Yes,

When I first saw that build thread. I flashed back to my first pinewood derby. In our small, mill town in the midwest, the pinewood derby was a 'big deal.

I remember the big day like it was yesterday. We got to the school. All my friends had carved their cars into cool shapes and given them fancy paint jobs. Dad and I had had a unpainted block of wood with slightly rounded corners. Our number scrawled in the top in green magic marker. I was so embarrassed. I cried and cried. My humiliation was so great that my eyes were still puffy and I had snot running out of my nose as I went up to collect the first place trophy at the end of the evening.

It turns out that dad might have been right. He said the only factor that mattered much was how well those little plastic wheels turned on the nails used as axles. While the other kids were carving and painting, dad had me spending all of my time making sure the nails were perfectly aligned in their slots. We made sure the nails stuck out just the right amount. Not enough and the wheels were sticky. Too much and they flopped around.

We spent a couple of evenings spinning the wheels with our fingers and pushing the car across the kitchen table. When we were satisfied the wheels were running true, we used little blobs of epoxy to everything in palace. Those blobs served as bushing to prevent the side of the wheels from rubbing against the side of the car.

Sadly, my five year old eyes were unable to tell the difference between ugly and engineering elegance :)

David

Zaine Stapleton · Senior Member

I'd say ask Mike Hodgert or Mark Bray in the Eugene, Oregon area.

Both teachers typically have their students cut up the frames before new cars are built.

You might be able to work something out from either or both of them into shipping a frame over.

These one will usually be in rule specifications.

Zaine

skwim · Newbie

This forum looks dead, but I have my high school's rolling chassis from 1995-1997 in my possession and decided to put it up for sale. It was built to fit a Clark Beasley fiberglass body purchased in 1994-1995 which I cut up and did away with a long time ago. It looked like this one: web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/library/extra4/sloan/EVonline/evaosc/9406/img71.gif