Re: Legal Body Panels Help Guide and Disscussion
Hey Guys,
This is my Rig. I read the rules pretty carefully and can not find anything in the rules that show it not being a legal bodiless chassis.
▪ 2.1.5 - Bodiless vehicles: Must be a self-supporting, structurally complete, rigid frame. The roof must be raised a minimum of 1” from the main chassis to resemble a cockpit. The frame sides must be an overall minimum of 1” tall (The cockpit & frame side are to be measured vertically from where the hood intersects the cab). Bodiless vehicles should resemble a 1:1 vehicle.
The cab/topper is a structuraly complete rigid frame. It has a roof that is raised 1" from the main chassis. It is 8.1" long, 3.1" wide, and 3.85" tall.
▪ 2.1.5.1 - Bodiless vehicles must have solid hood panel, solid roof panel and a minimum of 2 solid side-panels.
The 4 panels were cut out of a Redbull can, seen lots of people running beer cans so there should be no problem there.
▪ 2.1.5.1.1 - Hood, roof and side panels must be separate pieces of solid material installed onto the bodiless vehicle frame.
They are separate pieces and are installed onto the topper (bodiless frame)
▪ 2.1.5.1.2 - All body panels are to be separate pieces from the complete structural frame.
See above
▪ 2.1.5.1.3 - Body panels must be solidly installed in a manner that is representative of a 1:1 vehicle.
Using double sided tape, representative of 1:1 is iffy, never seen body panels attached to a real truck with zip ties. That being said i could easily use screws, rivets, or zip ties.
▪ 2.1.5.1.4 - All panels (roof, hood, and sides) must have at least 2x measurements greater than 1", and a minimum of 3.5 square inches of exposed solid surface area.
They are all the appropriate size.
▪ 2.1.5.1.5 - Body panels must be fitted to the vehicle, and not be exaggerated in size or shape that intentionally
distorts the vehicles legal measurements.
They are not exaggerated
So with all that being said, I do understand that this is taking advantage of some vagueness in the rules. But isn't that what it's all about.
Some other things to think about.
What if it was not Lexan? I can just as easily vacuum form Delrin.
What if it were thicker? It is around .030" but what if it was .080, thicker than most of the material cabs are currently made of.
Rob mentioned that it is attached with the 4 upper link screws. What if it were attached with more screws, or screws solely used to mount the cab.
I am curious to hear what people have to say but i can't find anything in the rules that specifically identifies this as an illegal approach.
Thanks
