Quote:
Originally Posted by Barchetta
Can anyone recommend some good books on chassis design and construction?
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Just my opinion but you cannot make a chassis too stiff, suspension is equally important but WILL NOT WORK if the chassis bends or twists. I built a formula car in the early 1980's that was "state of the art" in suspension geometry, aerodynamics and engine design but it was a disaster when run the first season.
The following year I built a new chassis that was better in torsion, bending and load distribution. This was accomplished by building an accurate scale model of the chassis with help from some friends and then manually stressing it to see where and how it flexed. We even measured it's stiffness with scales and a torque bar. We then added fixes in the form of shear plates, gussets and braces until it's strength was significantly improved. I then copied these improvements on the car. That car turned out to be the best formula car I ever owned, It was so tunable that you could move a sway bar setting by .25" and feel the change in response.
Most Cobras have a terrible chassis design from a stiffness and bending standpoint and anything you can do to improve it will help the handling immensely. All the books recommended are excellent especially the Carroll Smith books. I have seen a number of kit Cobras that have relatively good design at the suspension pick-ups but then they do not do a good job in the structural connection front to rear. Getting a proper chassis within a Cobra body shell is a challenge but can be done with careful planning. The Daytona coupes used a center structure to augment the tubular frame rails to good effect. I would think that a combination of improved rail design, center structure, adhesively bonded and riveted shear plates and proper roll bar structure would yield a great improvement in ride and handling. I know this doesn't address your question but when you do design your chassis it may help.