Gatornationals

[Topfuel386]

When I said the teams might not want thicker what I meant is they might not want to do .065 when .058 is legal. I was assuming Ted was asking if you had to stick with .058

 

[Slowpoke96z28]

Of course McAmis is the first thing that shows up lol.

 

[Ramjet]

I understand the need for a minimum thickness. But can it be thicker, say 0.060”, so as to avoid the metal being stretched too thin in any bends?

Tubing comes in specific sizes. In other words the next wall thickness from .058”is .065”. The other thing is let’s say you have some 1 1/2” tubing you want to step down to 1 3/8”. 1 3/8” will slip into 1 1/2 .058 and not be loose but not into .065 so you have to do what works. The reason for using 4130 condition N is that it has “Memory” or the ability to flex and return to where it started, but there is just so many times you can bend something. They tried using 4130 that was not “normalized” years ago and it was a disaster. You have to weld it with a TIG welder using a specific “wire”and draw it back or stress relieve it. The whole front of the chassis is actually the “suspension” and for weight transfer. Uprights and verticals are very critical as to their placement - spacing and direction. It is also critical in the welding of the chassis. You don’t just start at one end and keep going until you get to the other end on the opposite side. That would build stress into the chassis that you don’t want and you might as well leave the steering wheel off because the car will do what IT wants and you will have cracked welds or even tubing. You will notice that there is NO plating or paint on the chassis because of Hydrogen embrittlement or in the case of paint or powder coating it will hide cracks.