Getting ready to buy some 2x3 rectangular tubing for my project. What wall thickness is best? Thanks for the help.
I think most go with .125 wall, my friend used that for his home made 37 chevy frame. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=285115
Depends. Tell us about the application! Model A? 50's truck? Something else? Engine? What type of driving??? We need to know more. Generally 1/8" wall is fine and it's easy to work with, but strategic bracing will be required. I.E..... PLANNING. I used 2x4x3/16" and it ****S to work with and is way overkill. On the flip side, I have a fairly hopped up Hemi going in my Model A, so I'm happy with the overkill.
Model A sedan Chevy 350 manual 3 speed with heavy cast truck bellhousing street rolling waht is the conversion .120 to inches and .125 to inches?
2x3 seems a little odd. Usually used is a mix of 2x4 and 2x6 with 3/16" thickness. If it is an older/lighter weight ride with a smaller engine 1/8" will be fine. My only ch***is work experience is with muscle cars and we always used 3/16". Ed
but that's tied in with a cage. totally different thing. Usually .125 (1/8") or .1875 (3/16") for a set of frame rails is what I do.
Frame strength is more dependent on section height than wall thickness. Unless you are tying a full roll cage into the frame I would use something taller than 3" in a V8 car. A stock A frame is 4". A 32 frame is 6" tall in the center where it is unsupported and tapers at the ends where strength isn't needed. I would duplicate that sort of shape.
Don't use 2" x3" on anything heavier than a T-bucket. And don't use a lighter wall thickness than 1/8" (0.125"). A good tubing for model A frames is 2" x 4" x 1/8" wall.--Brian Have a look at my thread ***led "how to build an early hotrod frame"--just plug that ***le into the "search" box.
You're going to get a ton of answers on this. I will start by saying you will be just fine with 1/8" wall (.125" or .120"). 3/16" (.1875") will be way overkill and you better have a hot welder to make nice welds with it. If it were me, I would go 2x4x1/8" for your application, but I've plenty of very clever frames made from 2x3x1/8". I would never recommend going with anything less than 1/8" for a car that you will be driving all the time. Why risk going with anything less for the minimal price difference...
2 X 4 X 3/16 is a safe bet until you get into a heavy car with a lot of horsepower. Why would you want to scrimp on somethig as important as the structure that the whole car is built around? Of course this is totally forgetting the angle iron, rebar and fish plate that is TRADITIONALLY used to shore up underbuilt hot rods. What was i thinking? Frank
My first small block powered A frame was 2 x 4 x 3/16ths...it was overkill. I would now use ~1/8th or similar thickness. A 50% increase in frame weight is significant. It will be plenty stiff unless you are carrying a cast iron big block and tall gears and slicks.
The corner radius of 3/16" wall is much better looking than 1/8" wall tubing. 1/8" has really square corners, but 3/16" has a nice round looking corner radius. Just a different thing to consider Dan .
These are two guys I would invite into my garage to build a car for my daughter. (if they would be seen over here) Translation: They know their ****. My frame came from here: http://www.streetrodderstuff.com/ 2x4 .120 mild steel Model A type perimiter frame made from plate, tig welded at the corners. I stretched it with 2x3 .120 mild steel and added several cross-members of 1 5/8 .083 wall chromemoly. I can still pick it up by myself to move it around. 3/16 would make that out of the question. I plan about 450 hp for it. Check my freinds below to see where I have learned most of my stuff. (I like to think I know my ****, sometimes)
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