Thread: Steel Specs
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Old 06-02-2009, 04:16 PM
strictlypersonl strictlypersonl is offline
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Location: New Britain, CT
Cobra Make, Engine: Size 10 Feet
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We use A500 and A512 structural steel tubing for the main rectangular chassis rails. Formed pieces are from 1020 cold-roll sheet. Neither is the pinnacle of steel alloys but nobody's ever bent one except in a major collision (where things bent, absorbing energy, not fractured). Because there are lots of welds in the overall design, I'd rather have weld-friendly alloys rather than something that explodes if something goes wrong.

Round tubing that is used in the suspension and in ancillary chassis pieces is all 1020-1025 DOM tubing. Same reason.

As I explain in the Chassis Design Page, it's the stiffness, not the strength that you notice on the road.
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