Chassis Jig Frame Table discussion

[floydjer]

Or call these fine people  www.bluco.com

[Peckerwood]

  Floydjer

   My local steel dealer allows me to dumpster dive in his drops, small towns have some upside.

   On my all rectangular tube jig I bought one 20 ft 2/4 by 3/16 stick cut in half,jig is 10 ft by 4 ft, plus out riggers , the rest is made from drops,

   I have hundreds of of bits and pieces of steel,cost zero. Total cost of jig around 100 bucks.

   I go by the old adage measure 4 times cut once,then measure 5 times weld once.

   The jig is dead nuts in every plane and dimension plus or minus ten thousands and and virtually zero flex.

   I would also like to have a NASCAR style surface plate jig but .010 is close enough on a frame for us Georgia peckerwoods.

                    J Y/B

   

 

 

[javajoe79]

Ok so I have decided that I might as well go all out with this chassis table and build the table of my dreams. The guy who I am building the chassis of the firebird for will be buying me a piece of plate in exchange for building the chassis.

 From my research I have found alot of folks using A36 steel plate in 1/2".  This is what I am planning on doing. Any suggestions otherwise or in general?    I am using the frame I have so far shown in the pics, adding bracing then laying the plate on top, shimming as needed. Then I will be laying out a grid of threaded holes.

 Once it's done, I plan on making legs to put the table up to normal table height for use as a large fab table when there is not a car on it.


 The frame is currently about 19' long just because that is how long the I beam was that we got for real cheap. How long and how wide do you guys think is good? Keep in mind we are buidling a somewhat stretched version of this firebird and have plans for something along the lines of a lakester in the future.

[floydjer]

And be d*mn sure that any bracing between the legs is higher than your engine hoist legs.  Yes, I learned that the hard way.

[javajoe79]

And be d*mn sure that any bracing between the legs is higher than your engine hoist legs.  Yes, I learned that the hard way.

 That is an awesome point and something I have dealt with many times. Thanks for reminding me.

[javajoe79]

 So..... Much progress has been made on the chassis table. It even has a car on it now.























 I ended up with a 6'x20' piece of half inch plate. Large I beam down the center and at the ends and 2"x4" tubing for the outer frame rails. It has levelling feet every few feet as well.

 I bought a magnetic base drill press just for the job of drilling 490+ holes and tapping them to 3/8 coarse thread. Funny fact... a friend of mine ran the numbers on how much the material weighed that we drilled and tapped out of the plate and it came to 100lbs.  

 The first candidate is shown in the pics. The owner also just started a build diary as well. Should be one hell of a car.

[tauruck]

Joe, that's awesome.

Man, that's a lot of work there.

I hope it brings in lots of bucks for you. 

[Richard 2]

 

[javajoe79]

Joe, that's awesome.

Man, that's a lot of work there.

I hope it brings in lots of bucks for you. 

 Thanks man. I hope so too but for now I am happy having what I have always wanted. Once this firebird is off of the table I will be building legs to put it up to normal working height so I can use it as a huge fab table when there is no car on it. Then after that my Triuimph TR8 will go under the knife to begin it's transformation.

[wheelrdealer]

Chris:

I covet your chassis jig. I like the idea to make it convert to a large fab table.

BR

[Glen]

Having the veh elevated is a great idea. The 111 & 444 cars are on 18" rolling platforms at the shop, on the salt we work on them from the trailers,much easier on the back and/or with the cars on the ground.

[javajoe79]

Having the veh elevated is a great idea. The 111 & 444 cars are on 18" rolling platforms at the shop, on the salt we work on them from the trailers,much easier on the back and/or with the cars on the ground.

Yeah for the jig I wanted to be able to get under the car at all times during the build.

I am with you on taking it easy on the back. 

Chris:

I covet your chassis jig. I like the idea to make it convert to a large fab table.

BR

 Thanks Bill. I also have some really large casters that I will use so that I can move it around easily. This thing weighs over 4000lbs easy.

[Buickguy3]

  So, is the TR-8 going to become the next Black Salt front drive car?
     Doug 

[javajoe79]

 No the TR8 will be a road course car. I may take it to the Ohio Mile but not the salt. It will be all C5 suspension and cradles, dry sumped LS6, T101A dog box, ford 8.8 diff etc...  Just a project for me that will be fun on the track. The body will look something like the Group44 car in my avatar.