Cutting New GBX Chassis

[RobRacer]

I just purchased a new CustomWorks GBX. While building it, the chassis plate seems pretty thick and heavy. Has anyone taken one and cut off pieces of the chassis plate to make it lighter? It sems like about 1/2 inch could be taken off the whole right side bump out.

Thoughts?

[pamodfan]

I have my GBX all cut up to make it lighter. I've cut strips out from under both front and rear A-arm locations. I've also cut several holes on the right side of the chassis, similar to what is on the left side of the car. Becareful doing all of this. If you cut to much then the chassis gets pretty flexible. I went to far and you can bend the heck out of mine now.

[David Butts]

I have my GBX all cut up to make it lighter. I've cut strips out from under both front and rear A-arm locations. I've also cut several holes on the right side of the chassis, similar to what is on the left side of the car. Becareful doing all of this. If you cut to much then the chassis gets pretty flexible. I went to far and you can bend the heck out of mine now.

Now, Find you a really accurate scale and see just how little weight you actually did remove. I'll never cut another graphite chassis. I ruined an old Composite craft RC/10 chassis once a very long time ago. Cut out all the seemingly unneeded area under the battery pack and a little more here and there. On a fairly accurate postal scale there was no change and the chassis was a useless flexy flier after that. First hard hit and it broke in two places.

[pamodfan]

Actually, I did weigh all of the pieces that I cut out. I also cut the shock towers down to what was needed. Total weight cut out was 5 oz. Consider that a STOCK CW GBX car complete, ready to race with motor, battery, and body comes out to weight about 8-9 oz. more than the minimum weight, I think my method did me just fine. I admit that I did go a little far with the chassis, as I've found other areas to reduce weight. But even with these new areas I would be hard pressed to get my car to weigh the 50 oz. minimum.

[wade]

[size=2]I/m with David. I think the key here is "Brand new". Think about all the research and design efforts Custom Works put into that chassis. Then us Racers think we know a better way. Years and Years ago I also cut on chassis's. Then I came to my senses and realized the manufacturers were better at design then me.
Its like racers who put car kits together and don't use the instructions. Makes no sense to me. Just my 2 cents worth. flak jacket on :p
Wade
Racing Southern Style

[MWMOTORSPORTS21]

I have taken 1.5 ounces of chassis material from a Terminator with no ill effects on the car. You have to be creative about it so you don't destroy the integrity of the chassis. It can be done, and as with what I've seen with the new GBX kits it almost has to be done. I hear they are working on a new version of the chassis plate to help in this situation. The newly released ki8ts are extremely heavy for stock electric racing. I have seen quite a few chassis modified heavily to reduce weight and still come in quite heavy over the minimum requirements. You can do it, just be very aware of where and how much you cut away. It does make a big difference in weight. Trust me I have a lot of trial and error experience with this over the years.

[RobRacer]

Thanks for the Input. The standard chassis is pretty heavy. With a little work, I easily took off 20%.

[pumpkinfish]

Let's see some photos so we can get an idea of what works and what doesn't. I have thought about this, but the way I drive, I need some strength ;)

[beadle24]

i have done some cutting on my gbx i cut 1 1/2 inches of the front of my car and cut out in the front and rear of the battery so i could tape the battery in. But i can tell you this there is new lighter chassis on the way they are still being tested right now i seen both chassis this weekend at walts i im going to say that the will be the way to go expecially if you run edm bodies.

[DW]

We have been working on some new dirt oval products here at Leading Edge. One of them is a new chassis and shock towers for the GBX. We feel that we have made improvements along with being lighter. The new chassis plate will be a direct bolt on. These will be great for Edm style cars.

Dave
Leading Edge