The STEERING TUB...the steering tub, or driver's cock pit is the
most important part of your car. Beyond building a reasonable
location for the driver seat, the tub is the only defense your driver
has from racing perils that will eventually happen.
Design and build the driver's cockpit as if his life depended on it!!
Because it does!!
The tub has taken us more hours to build than we have applied to
any other part of the chassis. We have more time in this area than our
engine. We removed 16 gauge steel panels and fabricated 14 gauge
replacements. I personally replaced aluminum panels with steel
fabrications that are tied together with hardware and
spot welds, not just
rivets. The face of the tub is 3/16 steel and the lines from our brake
and clutch cylinders pass through this plate. The slave cylinders are
inside the tub where they remain clear of track debris.
The seat sits low in the cockpit and is surrounded by the crash bars
on the left and the all steel panels on the right. The rear of the tub
is another 3/16 steel plate and a 1/4 inch plate lays directly below
the driver seat, protecting him from a broken driveshaft, axle or any
other heavy items that may fall from another competitors racecar.
The diamond plate floor is 1/4 inch thick and protects the drivers legs
and feet. Another 12 gauge steel "access" panel is bolted to the front
of the chassis along side Gary's pedals. Fabrication of the tub includes
hardware, rivets and spot welds. Spot welds can easily be drilled out
if the tub needs fabrication adjustments. Note there are other images on the
fabrication pages that illustretes the body panels and how this all integrates
together.
The image below below
displays the actual design phase.
Church does this design work using poster paper. He then
transfers the design to the sheet metal, bends up the panel
and installs it in the car. Now he builds up from there. The
side panel will be .050 aluminum sheet, however the top
of the main tub panel will be fitted panels fabricated from
14 gauge steel. Why 14 gauge? It is easier to bend than 12
gauge and much stronger than 16 gauge. The possibility of
puncture through 14 gauge is almost 30% stronger than that
of 16 gauge. Bending and shaping is where sheet metal gets
its basic strength. Bead-rolling also adds strength. Your choice
in hardware and rivets is also important. The "exploding" rivets
insure a tighter fit. Steel rivets are used to fabricate panels
where steel contacts a steel face, not at angles, the exploding type
rivets allow a stronger bind between two similar or disimular
metals where angles meet or flex like the body. Remember, there are small,
medium and large heads. In some cases 1/4 inch flange rivets are required.
Most of the time he builds in way too much
"overkill" but don't tell him Gary said that..
The STEERING TUB...the steering tub, or driver's cock pit is the
