Sneak Peek: S13 Tube Chassis Drift Car, Part I

The center section is made of 1 ½ .095 and 1 ¼ .056 chromoly.  This chassis isn’t being built to follow any sort of rule book, but some SFI Pro Stock drag center section specifications along with FIA specifications for the upper section were used.  SFI and FIA have probably figured out some good baseline specifications for safety, so it’s a pretty good idea to use them for guidelines.  

To create the curved tubes in the chassis as seen in the previous picture, Gary has this mandrel bender.

The main hoop and diagonal bars were started after the floor section had been tacked together.  Again, the main hoop must be square to ensure the rest of the chassis is straight.  This is where the straightness of the jig comes into play.

The front cross bar of the chassis was rolled to match the curvature of the windshield.  This required time upfront, but the matched curvature makes creating the sheet metal between the tube chassis and the windshield’s sheet metal much easier and cleaner looking.

The super clean notches in the tubes are created using this belt sander rig.

After the tubes are notched, they are hit with this badass belt sander contraption.  Weld strength can be greatly compromised by impurities, so Gary makes sure the tubes are super clean by sanding the tubes at the weld joints to maximize weld strength.