Cav tig welded chassis

[mike kolesar]

I might be off base here so I am requesting your patience up front. Recently I came across a statement, whether it was in this forum, or an external advertisement I can't remember. Someone was selling their CAV GT40 and advertised the car as one of the last pre-100 vehicles to have a continuously TIG welded chassis. Did CAV change their welding process after the first 100 cars to shorter weldments or employ spot weldments? I'm not knowledgeable of welding, or material sciences, so I'm not being judgmental in any respect......I'm just curious.

Your answers, as usual, are appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike K.

[Ron Earp]

Color me confused but I thought the first 100 CAV chassis numbers were steel tube frame cars paneled with aluminum. This is in contrast to the later cars which were stainless steel monocoques.

[Pat Buckley]

I am not sure of the exact vin but they started the stainless monos well before my car - which is #80.

[mike kolesar]

The steel framed cars were GTD's built by CAV very early on. These cars have different VIN number formats with many numbers and the letter "S" which designates a steel framed car.

The monoque chassis cars have MONO in the VIN. I don't know how the steel framed cars were welded but the MONO chassis were apparently continuously TIG welded.

[Jimmy P]

Taken from the CAV (South African) web site. Hope this helps.....

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=347 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=body02>

"The CAV GT has a tig-welded, stainless-steel monocoque chassis designed for torsional stiffness. Its integrity is ensured through CNC punched and bent panels and laser cut parts.
The chassis is welded in jigs and its dimensional accuracy is superb. It features an integral roll over bar and side impact protection bars. Every CAV GT chassis is manufactured to accept a bolt-in roll cage for racing purposes."

</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[mike kolesar]

Jimmy,

Thanks for the excerpt from the web-site. What is not understood is whether the earlier MONO CAVs had continuous TIG welding and whether this has changed to the extent that it is no longer continuous weldments.......again, no judgements, just curious....

[mike kolesar]

Question answered. See attached link.

http://www.cav.co.za/pdf/know-component-p1.pdf

Mike K.

[Jimmy P]

Glad you were able to find your answer. Do you know if Auto Futura completed the series of articles? I'd like to read the rest of them. Thanks.

[Rich Roy]

Me too! #99 IS a stainless mono also.................Forever Ford! See Ya'll @ Monterey, but we'll be in the Daytona Cobra cause it's "The Cobra 50Th" ya-no!
Royal blue car with white stripes lic# BRE 064 (Brock Racing Ent. #64 chassie)

[mike kolesar]

Originally Posted by tractorboy

Glad you were able to find your answer. Do you know if Auto Futura completed the series of articles? I'd like to read the rest of them. Thanks.

This is about the 3rd article I've come across as a result of random searches on related subjects. Unfortunately there is no cental index which I have found to date. Take the link I have shared and play with it, you might hit more by dropping or changing characters in the address. I'm sure someone has the answer on how to locate all.

[czan]

Originally Posted by tractorboy

Glad you were able to find your answer. Do you know if Auto Futura completed the series of articles? I'd like to read the rest of them. Thanks.

Here you have the rest of them: Index of /pdf

enjoY