I'm a student at WTI (Wyotech) and I'm going into the chassis fabrication/high performance engines class in the beginning of July. I'm at my wits end on what to do for a project, seeing as how I don't have the cash to get an actual chassis. I was thinking that seeing as how its a 3 month class, I could probably get a good running start on a full tube frame chassis for something like the IDRC because we get ridiculous discounts on chromemoly and steel tubing. But this is where i ponder, is it easier to have a car to take measurements from and then do the full tube frame? or could i have enough of the critical angles on paper and just build from there? either way, I'm definetly building something wicked, I just need a guiding way to tell me which way to go with it. I have an EK chassis at my disposal for measurements ( other friends project that will probably never get finished ) to take the measurements from, but not for a B-series mount or anything such as that. If you have an opinion which I'm sure all of you do, please reply. thanks guys.

 

They teach you SolidWorks over at WTI? Take measurements of what your general dimensions will be, model it in 3D, and then cut and bend your tubing from the 3D model.

 

Any full time racecar chassis shop, before they even start bending any tubing or anything, ask you to either supply them with a steel body(if thats what you are going to use), or purchase a fiberglass body from them, and they can get there measurements from that. That being said, I would say get the shell first and take dims off of that.
GOOD LUCK!
Kyle