This year I have been working on welding new battery mounts to the ’14 Dartmouth Formula Racing chassis. I am also adding a new front roll hoop as well as a few smaller mounts for the suspension and motor. I have been practicing my TIG welding since winter break, but have been a little bit rushed to begin on the car due to the time constraints of the projects.
Despite ultimately not getting to compete due to rule compliance issues, our car still was drivable and looked pretty damn good. Below you can see some shots of my welded aluminum gas tank, stainless exhaust pipe, and a few more 4130 mounts. I think overall I’ve spent 100+ hours on this project and finally feel fairly confident with my welding. Since I had to start working on the chassis before I felt fully prepared, you can really observe my learning process by looking at the welds on the car in chronological order. I hope to bring this knowledge towards building my own steel bike frames soon.
Nadav Hendel 