Quote:
Originally Posted by Kerry Pinkerton
Joel, do I understand that the chassis is put together with adhesives????
If so, I'd be interested in what they use. I have some of the 3M panel bonding stuff and the special gun that mixes the two parts as it squeezes out but I don't think I'd trust that on a chassis.
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Kerry,
This is called structural adhesive, although there is no formal definition or specifications for any glue to be called that. They fall into three general types, this one is methacrolate (spelling?). I am using Loctite AA-H8000 Aluminum Bonder with a 15 minute open time. It is a two part bonder with a special gun. This is the same stuff that Rolls-Royce puts their aluminum chassis together with. Loctite is a Trademark of the parent company Henkel, which is based in Germany. Their engineers have been here and given help and approved the application and the project. In future picture you will be able to see how their engineers and I made sure there are no butt joints, each connection is supported in at least two planes and in shear, compression, and expansion. This assembly is quite adequate but there has been a new development within the last few months. In preparing a chassis for the Chupacabra, it has come to our attention that one Federal Requirement is that the chassis welds must be inspected. If 27 years in Nascar has taught me anything, it is to not give them an opportunity to have a problem, so we will put a few welds on it for them to inspect. While making that revision, it occurred to us that if we were going to place welds, we might as well do it to our construction advantage, but they are still more requirement oriented than necessary.