Unlike the good ole' U.S. of A, Australia actually cares whether or not you've done a good job engineering that contraption that just rolled out of your garage. To that end, there are special rigidity tests that a custom chassis (like our Se7en) must pass in order to get the official stamp of approval. This has forced our resourceful bretheren from the island continent to improve upon the standard Locost chassis -- and they've been nice enough to share their wisdom. There are many resources detailing these enhancements, and this website is one of them:
Today, I spent some time improving upon my chassis. Specifically, I paid attention to the area to which the front suspension attaches. Aside from the gaping hole of the engine bay, I feel that this is the area most in need of some additional rigidity. First, I added a triangulating tube to the trapezoidal "nose" of the chassis.
3/4" round tubing was used to match some of the other chassis tubes (and because it looks nicer). First each corner was cut and shaped to fit the wonky angles (chopsaw and sanding disk are most helpful), then held in place with magnets and tack welded. Finally, it was fully welded. Special care was taken so that the inlet/outlet pipes of the radiator (in this case, from a Suzuki Swift GTi) were not blocked by this new tube.
Next came the tubes that triangulate the suspension pickup points. Although the orientation does not seem to flow with the other round triangulating tube on the side of the chassis, the positioning is deliberate -- I wanted to leave plenty of room for the tie-rod ends of the steering rack. Thinking ahead is a necessity when building a Se7en.
The other side was then finished.
Future plans: welded-in 18 ga. steel floors, welded-in 20 ga. steel transmission tunnel, welded-in 20 ga. steel rear firewall, welded in 16 ga./18 ga. steel footbox paneling.
Potential additional bracing: engine bay diagonal, removable transmission tunnel lower brace, maybe more?? (I don't want to get too wild with bracing, so I may not do any of these things. These two items are easily added after the car is on the road, so I will probably wait for the first winter to perform these upgrades.)
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