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What's the name of the Lotus 23 Yahoo Group? I couldn't find it.
THX

Thumper,
Its called the L23Register.

i am in the process of redrawing the lotus 23 chassis drawing s.

various anomolies have come to light, especially with regard to the solo 2 rules,
it states in appendix C, section B, paragraph 1, material,
The roll bar hoop must be made of seamless ERW or DOM,
i have never seen seamless ERW, does this exist?

section G states that,
The roll bar must be designed in such a way as to be an extention of the frame itself, not simply attached to the frame.

does this mean i have to have the roll bar integral with the frame, this would cause another deviation from the original Chapman design, how do historic cars with original chassis cater for this requirement?

or are they just not permitted in solo 2?

comments please,

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

there used to be drawings in the GCR showing what they are looking for

on the 23 chassis the lower frame rails are 3/4" rectangular tube, by their nature they would be welded tube.

the upper chassis tubes are round tube would using dom for this, 1. place undue stress on the lower rails due to the rigidity of dom compaired to erw, or would they add support to the lower rails.

i intended to braise the chassis but it would appear from the solo 2 construction of the roll bar that they prefer electric welding, as the main hoop should be integral with the frame,this should be electric welded to the frame rails, so is there any point in braising the frame?

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

John,

I am not sure of your contention that DOM is 'more rigid' than ERW tube. If there is a difference it would be due to using a square section for one and round for the other - and in the plane of the principal axes the square should be stiffer than the round, although the round would be stiffer off-axis I think. Bottom line is that the modulus of elasticity should be the same for ERW or DOM as long as they are both the same material, therefore it is only the sectional properties that would differential stiffness. Ultimate strength would be another matter entirety: there the DOM should be much better.

_________________
Warren
Isuzu Pickup/SR20DE, +401 COLD frame
Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=11601

so maybe i should just use erw for everything, 1" square for the lower rails and 1"round for the upper rails all in 16ga.

make the main hoop of the roll bar in erw as well ,1 1/2" 120 wall and weld it to the frame not braise it as an integral part.










' "

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

made the bushes for the t-bird uprights to convert to 1/2" hiem joints

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.

I just saw this post...

cheapracer is right - my first suggestion would have been to use an Audi A4/Passat 5-speed manual transmission & a 1.8 turbo VW watercooled motor (or an N/A motor) - and use a Miata Rear suspension arrangement over the heavier Tbird bits.
Use Miata uprights for the front.

bryan

thankyou for your comments Bryan,

there are several reasons i have chosen the t-bird upright, they are aluminum and don't weigh much at all, and adapting the vw centers is a snap, this allows me to use vw shafts, stock length and vw aftermarket light weight brakes, i haven't spent $200.00 on the completed uprights

i would like to use the audi trans but i live in the middle of nowhere arizona where no one ever owned or knows what an audi is, the wrecking yards here are full of 70's cars and trucks and not much else, i could get you a good deal on a 1978 buick though, just pay the shipping, the power levels i will be using are below that which would break a type one vw trans so seeing that i have three and they cost nothing, thats what is going in.

with regard to the front, alford and alder are what lotus used and i have a set complete with brakes, upper ball joints and lower trunions so in the spirit of a lotus 23 that's what is going in.

a wrecked miata would set the build back by about $2000.00 which is the going price for one in northern arizona if you could find one, if i could find one within 200 miles of my location, i would still have to get it here.

the only reason i used a 2003 ranger for my last build was because the wrecking yard didn't know what to do with it, it had no value without the keys, hence the price of $300.00 scrap weight value.

i live in hicksville here, other than the people on this site, i don't know anyone who would ever consider building a car, let alone one that was computer controlled

i live 150 miles from las vegas, my nearest big city, the freight costs as much as a transmission if i were to buy it on line.

_________________
this story shall the good man teach his son,
and chrispin chrispian shall ne'er go by,
from this day to the end of the world.
but we in it shall be remembered.