Building the Cockpit

Posted by jjludemann on February 7, 2012

Time for a photo update showing how I built the cockpit, tube by tube.

: A complete set of tube drawings for one forumula 1000 cockpit. It’s a lot of work to generate these drawings, but it saves a lot of time in fabrication, and ensures the frame is accurate

: Test fitting the tubes for the cockpit floor

: Now we can see the main roll hoop was fabricated too narrow. The holes on the jigs don’t line up properly with the roll hoop

: Found the hidden stash of angle grinder shields removed by my Thai workers. In Thailand, workers just laugh at safety measures. I’ve even had one quit when I insisted he wear eye protection.

: Main roll hoop cut and bent to proper size. Sigh…

: Test fitting the revised roll hoop

: A new bottom member was fabricated for the main roll hoop

: Tack welding the revised main roll hoop

: Once again test fitting the main roll hoop

: Main roll hoop fully welded. Looks much better.

: Four outside cockpit frame rails in place

: Left side vertical tube in place

: Left front lower diagonal in place

: Left front middle horizontal and upper diagonal tubes in place

: Right side vertical in place

: Right front lower diagonal and middle horizontal tubes in place

: Left rear lower diagonal tube in place

: Right rear lower diagonal tube in place

: Two rear middle horizontal tubes in place

: Main roll hoop brace extensions in place. These are required by SCCA rules to be a minimum of 1″ diameter and 2 mm thickness.

: Two upper rear diagonal tubes in place

: Daughter Senna (yes, that’s her real name) tries out the driving position, reports that it “needs work.”