Chassis swap on a 300tdi

mick the builder said:

Richards I believe. ^

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Sorry, Mick. Have I missed that in an earlier post?

Al2O3 said:

Sorry, Mick. Have I missed that in an earlier post?

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He said in an earlier post he was under the impression that rc were the best so I assumed that's what he's got.

mick the builder said:

He said in an earlier post he was under the impression that rc were the best so I assumed that's what he's got.

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Ok, I'm going to use my age as an excuse

Al2O3 said:

Ok, I'm going to use my age as an excuse

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You should be tucked up in bed, fast asleep by now.

mick the builder said:

You should be tucked up in bed, fast asleep by now.

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You're absolutely right. I'm finishing this last pint, then I'm off.

@mick the builder

Home made real ale, Mick. It's gorgeous anorl

Al2O3 said:

What make of chassis did you buy?

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A Richards Chassis

Al2O3 said:

It's gonna take pictures. They paint a thousand worms.

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Turboman said:

At a guess, you havent got the bulkhead aligned properly, in which case none of the other body bits will fit properly.

Can you post pics of the various body parts, and their attachment to the chassis, especially where the bulkhead bottom irons attach?

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CassienLandy said:

I have started to bolt everything onto my new chassis, engine gearbox, bulkhead and wings. I have laid the rear tub in place and swung the doors to check everything is in line, its not! I have an 18mm gap between the rear tub and the seat belt transfer bracket on the chassis and i cant get the doors to come close to closing.
Anyone had any issues like this? I was under the impression that RC were the best out there?

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Ok, that picture from underneath, is that of the tubular outrigger that bolts to the front of the tub?

After trying the tub and bulkhead etc on mine, I found this dimension to be considerably out on my Richards chassis.

That's from the rear cross member to the tubular upright. I think it was 12 or 15mm too short. Can't remember which and would have to look back through my rebuild thread now, bloody age
It meant I had that gap between the upright on the tubular outrigger and the tub, here

Because of the angle of the picture, you can't see the gap here. I bought a block of mild steel. Drilled holes in it to match the two holes in the bracket, got it galvanised and bolted it all together. Caused an issue when I came to put the long side steps on anorl.
Is this the same issue with yours?

Al2O3 said:

Ok, that picture from underneath, is that of the tubular outrigger that bolts to the front of the tub?

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Yes mate, exactly.

Al2O3 said:

After trying the tub and bulkhead etc on mine, I found this dimension to be considerably out on my Richards chassis.
View attachment 141055
That's from the rear cross member to the tubular upright. I think it was 12 or 15mm too short. Can't remember which and would have to look back through my rebuild thread now, bloody age
It meant I had that gap between the upright on the tubular outrigger and the tub, here
View attachment 141056
Because of the angle of the picture, you can't see the gap here. I bought a block of mild steel. Drilled holes in it to match the two holes in the bracket, got it galvanised and bolted it all together. Caused an issue when I came to put the long side steps on anorl.
Is this the same issue with yours?

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Yes, thats the issue, I have had some 18mm plates made to fill the gap.
This has put doubt in my mind about other dimensions, how accurate is the rest of the chassis?

Ask Richards to supply the spacers if they have built it wrong, may also be worth letting them know you are not the first as they may not be aware of their error and then can connect it before I need a new Chassis

CassienLandy said:

Yes, thats the issue, I have had some 18mm plates made to fill the gap.
This has put doubt in my mind about other dimensions, how accurate is the rest of the chassis?

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The rest of my chassis was ok. Only the near side (passenger) was out on mine. The other tub outrigger was spot on. You'd think they would use a jig to get them spot on every time. Yours is miles out.
The rest of your set up you can't really tell until you get the sides and roof on loosely. At the minute, it looks like your bulkhead is leaning back slightly and so causing the narrow door gap towards the top. Hard to tell from pictures though. You need to play with the bulkhead to chassis brackets which bolt to the back of the footwell area of the bulkhead, as well as deciding if you need spacer washers where the big bulkhead bolts are.

Phone them and ask for the dimentions, I would be very unhappy with them and ask for a replacement if it were me, they obviousley need to be getting this right as its not just one, you shouldnt have to be using shims there and both sides should be exactly the same, did you check the chassis is square?

@CassienLandy
Just found this picture of my side step bracket attachment.

They're galvanised, square washers I found on t'internet. Above the washers you can see the galvanised steel plate I put in. It's got Dinitrol on it, so tricky to see.

Well, after a full day of adjusting this and that, the 18mm packers went in and the door gaps are far more agreeable.

Still worth getting on to Richards just to hear their response.

mick the builder said:

Still worth getting on to Richards just to hear their response.

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I think I should have now. Thought I was just unlucky, but it's obviously not unusual. Same tubular outrigger anorl.