2b Chassis Cracking

[Guest Alan_builder]

No weld fillit, looks like a bad weld compounded by a lack of the angle bar seat belt beam. Our SVA tester (Yeading June 2005) looked for the bar for 2 reasons, seat belt & hand brake anchorage.

Adding the bar between the floor pads will stop them flexing due to changing ride load from the passenger / driver.

If the inner end of these pads has the seat back panel attached to them, this will also help.

The torque tube is also mounted to these pads.

A complex structure.

 

You will need to strip out the carpet to re-weld the bracket. At that stage you will be able to see the fixings or lack of them.

 

Good luck and keep us posted.

Alan

[Guest docter fox]

have you got it welded up yet?

[Guest chris brown]

Wonder what Chris Brown has done different to you as his is stainless & he has had no problems as far as I'm aware...

Nothing different to others, just a length of 25*30*3mm angle across. As Dave R says with the Ford rear end bolted hard down there should be no chance of movement. I have just got back from holiday but will check mine at the weekend.

[Guest alan rowe]

been anywhere nice

[Grim]

got it welded up again this morning, feels much better now I think it might have been broken for a while

 

I'll go to donnington, and have a look what others have done, but i think i'll just put a peice on 40mm square box section under the car, and invent something for the handbrake cable.

[Guest docter fox]

have fun testing it out

 

try not to get stuck so much

[Grim]

stuck? whaddayamean stuck?

[Guest docter fox]

At least if you get this new job you'll be able to raise it quickly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KABADADOOOM!

[Grim]

borrow some... 'spare material' from work... fabricate a new engine, it'll go like a bomb!

[Guest docter fox]

I wonder how many miles you'd get with a gallon

[Grim]

back on topic, i went to the garage today, and noticed the car was significantly lower on teh driver's side than teh passenger side (break was on passenger side).

 

This is due to the coil overs being set to different heights on either sides. Not rocket science eh? But it leads me to think it had been broken for a long time, and the previosu owner hadn't noticed, and had adjusted the heights to make the car level with the plate broken, or it had been adjusted when the rear suspension was changed (once from sierra springs to coilovers, and again to softer and longer coilovers).

Wether the difference caused the break, or the break caused an adjustment, i don't know. All i know now, is the car drives like it's on rails now! So much better over the bumps

Went for a drive today, got nearly back, and decided to go out again a different direction!!! much better!

 

Andy

[Guest Petemate]

Well done Andrew - nice feeling to have "licked" a problem. Despite my "Forth Bridge" plate across the back, I'll be keeping a watch on the handling....

Pete

[Guest ultima dreamer]

hi dave

just thought i'd reply and say that your not the only one with a cracked chassis

i found that mine has cracked on both sides and has led to some intresting road manners, like it tends to snake a bit (from one side of the road to the other)

it might have something to do with the age as mine was bought in 1999 and i've coverd 18,000 miles???

but the most frustating thing (and worrying) is that it past an mot with this fault with the examiner informed tha there was something wrong with it!!

have emailed the factory but got a reply telling me to ring the famous tech line (might it have something to do with not wanting to put their reply in wrighting??)

anyway just thought i'd let peps know that this is not an isolated problem and that i think that it is just another s**t rhe design!!

still waitng on rhe to give me a tech reply!!

[Guest ultima dreamer]

opps seems i can't read!! , i ment andy!

[Grim]

Both sides broken sounds a bit lively to me, not much holding it on!!!

 

Did you have a piece of angle iron going across the car for the handbrake cable mounting and seatbelt mounting that bolts into these plates?

 

I'm going to donnington tomorrow. If i see the new boss, i'll ask him what he thinks. To be honest, speaking to anyone else might be a waste of time, and i got a very good impression of him when he came to have a chat to owners at harrogate.

 

Mine passed at least 1 mot, if not more like this (the previous owner had mysteriously got bored of the car.... i wonder if that had anything to do with the terrible handling?).