Building your own custom frame?

[Norm Peterson]

Hypothetically if one day I wanted to build a custom frame where do I start

At square 1. Deciding what you want the car to do, what competition rule requirements (if any) you'll need to satisfy, and what compromises you might be willing to make. Components and systems have to all fit, the body and sheetmetal needs places to be hung from, you do need to be able to get in and out at least reasonably easily, and you probably have to pass some sort of state inspection.

From a structural point of view, it's easier to make something strong enough than to make it stiff enough for truly hardcore PT driving or most forms of competition. It's also easy to overbuild the structure trying to make it stiff enough (read: heavy). Here is where a bit of structural analysis comes in, in addition to the modeling suggestions already posted.


Norm