Drilling The Zero Chassi

[Guest Roy P]

I am in the process of fitting a new lower dash panel to my Zero, the new panel has approx. 6mm holes in 4 places along the lower edges, these holes are too big to fit self tappers so it looks like I will need to fit 5mm rivnuts, my concern is that drilling the square tube along both sides of the tunnel will weaken the chassis, your comments would be appreciated,

 

Roy

[David S]

I have seen people use rivnuts for the complete tunnel top and side panels to give access so I don't think 4 rivnuts will have any impact on the structural strength at all. Just my opinion.

[Shaft]

Weld the now unused holes up if your concerned.

[knights_templar]

what do GBS do?

 

You can't go far wrong doing what the manufacture advises.

[agent_zed]

you will probably be doing this anyway but if the holes are central in the tube side then you will retain strength compared to drilling nearer to one edge. The top of the tube will be in compression and the bottom in tension so the center has roughly equal forces on it.

 

If you look at some RSJ steel beams in buildings they have holes cut in the center of the uprights to reduce weight.

 

which bars are you drilling into? is it the side rails? can't think which you mean for the dash.

 

If you can get to the rear of the tube you could put a bolt right through after welding a sleeve into the hole. Probably well overkill but you'll never have to worry about it again.