Recommended reading for chassis design

[Barchetta]

Can anyone recommend some good books on chassis design and construction?

[Dominik]

There are some books from Carrol Smith, Valkenburgh and Steve Smith, but they cover mostly things to do AFTER you bought a chassis.

C Smith goes very much into detail about suspension layout and setup. Once you understood all he says (I didn't!) you can design a chassis accordingly.

What is left open is i.e.: What material, thickness, cross bracing, gusseting. Look at as many chassis as you can, even (or especially) accident damages to get into it.

Road car chassis design follows more layout of components and passenger comfort, rather than race-ability. The result is mostly too heavy a chassis with many compromises.

The 300SL Mercedes and Porsche 908/910/917 were state of the art tubular spaceframes, but unlikely to be FEA tested these days.

A clever suspension layout can compensate for a lot.

You can't go wrong with unequal length double a-arms, front and rear. The longer the control arms are, the better (for less camber change). Once you understood the roll-center issue, you are on the right path. And even that is a bit over-valued.

Get the books and read. It's winter...

Dom

[strictlypersonl]

Look for Racing and Sports Car Chassis Design by Mike Costin and David Phipps. Written many years ago but still quite relevant. It deals with some old-style methods, which might be more appropriate to "home" construction.

Google it. There's now one for sale for only $50 on Alibris. Cheap. The guy on Amazon wants $146.

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by Barchetta

Can anyone recommend some good books on chassis design and construction?

I entered this message twice sorry

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by Barchetta

Can anyone recommend some good books on chassis design and construction?

Just my opinion but you cannot make a chassis too stiff, suspension is equally important but WILL NOT WORK if the chassis bends or twists. I built a formula car in the early 1980's that was "state of the art" in suspension geometry, aerodynamics and engine design but it was a disaster when run the first season.
The following year I built a new chassis that was better in torsion, bending and load distribution. This was accomplished by building an accurate scale model of the chassis with help from some friends and then manually stressing it to see where and how it flexed. We even measured it's stiffness with scales and a torque bar. We then added fixes in the form of shear plates, gussets and braces until it's strength was significantly improved. I then copied these improvements on the car. That car turned out to be the best formula car I ever owned, It was so tunable that you could move a sway bar setting by .25" and feel the change in response.

Most Cobras have a terrible chassis design from a stiffness and bending standpoint and anything you can do to improve it will help the handling immensely. All the books recommended are excellent especially the Carroll Smith books. I have seen a number of kit Cobras that have relatively good design at the suspension pick-ups but then they do not do a good job in the structural connection front to rear. Getting a proper chassis within a Cobra body shell is a challenge but can be done with careful planning. The Daytona coupes used a center structure to augment the tubular frame rails to good effect. I would think that a combination of improved rail design, center structure, adhesively bonded and riveted shear plates and proper roll bar structure would yield a great improvement in ride and handling. I know this doesn't address your question but when you do design your chassis it may help.

[Tom Kirkham]

All the books mentioned are great. Smith's four books in the "...to Win" series are the defacto text book for Formula SAE.

Some other books to look at are:

"The Racing Motorcycle
A technical guide for constructors"
by John Bradley

"Motorcycle Handling and Chassis Design
The art and science"
by Tony Foale

These two books I know are about motorcycles but a LOT transfers over to cars. Both books are well written and FULL of information.

"Racing Chassis and Suspension Design"
Carrol Smith published by SAE
This is a collection of SAE papers that Carrol Smith found interesting...

"The Race Car Chassis"
by Forbe Aird published by HP Books
Good place to get started.

"Race Car Vehicle Dynamics"
Millliken,
Published by SAE
The bible, also used as a engineering text book at many universities. A lot of information on suspension design.

"Build you own Sports Car for as Little as 250 -and Race it."
by Ron Champion This is the book that started the Locost cars in England.

"Kimini
How to design and build a mid engine sports car-from scratch"
Kurt W. Bilinski
published by www.lulu.com

"Chassis Engineering"
Herb Adams
Some info on the VSE Cobra design. Another great place to get started.

"Race Car Engineering"
Warren J. Rowley
This is a very good book for when you think you know everything...It is also a great book for those who don't.

"Race and Rally Car Source Book"
by Allan Staniforth published by Haynes

Hope this helps

[Dominik]

I like the idea of building a scale model. Kind of a poor man's FEA :-)

Smith's SAE papers as well as Milliken's books are over my top...
And it's summer here, not time to read!

Dom

[kris-kincaid]

I agree with Tom on Race Car Vehicle Dynamics. It is a very technical book, but is the only book I have read that really goes into design and development. Be warned though, it's not always easy to read and understand.

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Car-Vehic...1331306&sr=8-2

I have to assume that "Chassis Design: Principles and Analysis" by the same authors would be just as good.

http://www.amazon.com/Chassis-Design...331374&sr=8-10

[alfy65]

I picked up " Howto make your car handle" by Fred Puhn 1981, pretty basic but still good info.I built my frame from CR plans and all looks good so far. Too torn rotator cuffs ( on me not car) has slowed me down a bit.But ready to start again on installation of running gear, all components home built. Books listed appear a tad pricey? Are they worth it?

[Mark IV]

The Milliken book is very good, but way over my head. I know Doug and his late father Bill, and they are car guys, but with degrees that I can't even pronounce!! Not to mention the math is well beyond my 9th grade alegbra education.

If you find SAE pamphlets "lite reading" then Milliken's book is right up your alley.

[Barchetta]

Thanks guys, I have just ordered RACING AND SPORTS CAR CHASSIS DESIGN by Mike Costin and CHASSIS ENGINEERING by Herb Adams.

[Jay Little]

Lol, I made it as far as Advanced Trig and Geometry in College. So there is some hope for me to understand the book by Milliken?

Like Dominik, I too have been tossing around the idea of building some scale models, seems to be the more pleasurable route!