burned up bullet

[navery]

I recently picked up a 2006 sand bullet from insurance auction, it caught fire in the trailer and burned to the ground. I believe the frame is probly to weak to us as a rebuild, but I was considering trying to use spindles and rear chaindrive unit for my kids desert kart, all 930 cv. I guess i want to know if any one sees any problem with trying to save the cv axles and housing assembly. The fire it was hot enough to melt every thing that was aluminum, none of the steel melted but the frame is twisted in some areas. I have also considered just straighting it out a little and building it but i worry it may bend to easily afterwards. Any input would be great.

[nutz4sand]

Welcome to the site.

If the kart was light weight and low power 20 horse industrial i would see no problem as it would not go fast enough to stress the parts. Heck the frame (if straight) would be good to for a 35 mph or less buggy. Some of the elcheapos from china that go that fast I can bend some of them by standing on them (I am 6'2" and 280 pounds.) I would not try to reuse the "fired" bullet with something that will do 50 plus though.

People who know metal better than me will pipe up soon. But thats my thoughts on it.

[navery]

thanks thats what i thought, at this point i am still wondering about the axles and all the hardend metal

[bdkw1]

If the metal got hot enough to sag, it's junk. As for the axles and anything else that was heat treated, not looking good for them either.

[dunerocket]

Originally Posted by bdkw1

If the metal got hot enough to sag, it's junk. As for the axles and anything else that was heat treated, not looking good for them either.

Curious why you say it is junk.

By the description it sounds like the metal was at or above the annealing point, so the metal itself should be fine (the frame tubing that is). Since it sagged however the geometry is off, so it won't bear loads properly and so I personally wouldn't use the frame. If it still has straight sections of tube however I'd be okay with re-using those pieces.

I am assuming sag means some tubes bent and so the frame isn't straight, but if the tubes changed shape and aren't round anymore, that's a bit different.

I completely agree that anything heat treated is junk.

[bdkw1]

When it gets hot enough to loose it's shape in a fire, some of the alloying elements have gone from the material. It's not like a heat treat oven with a controlled atmosphere.

[dunerocket]

True, but that takes us back to my question, what exactly is sag? Did it get hot and soft and bend due to residual stress from welding or the mass of components? Was it hot to the point that it sagged due to the weight of the tube and the cross section changed.

Personally I think there is a difference. Plenty of times people have heated low carbon steel with a torch in order to bend it.

[voodoochikin04]

sag... as in it got so hot that the weight of the tubing itself was enough to bring it down.... i wouldnt trust a fired frame.

[K-fab]

Originally Posted by dunerocket

True, but that takes us back to my question, what exactly is sag? Did it get hot and soft and bend due to residual stress from welding or the mass of components? Was it hot to the point that it sagged due to the weight of the tube and the cross section changed.

Personally I think there is a difference. Plenty of times people have heated low carbon steel with a torch in order to bend it.

If it got hot enough that the weight of the tubing along was enough to cause tube to sag - and since the entire car was subject to this heat - there's not a tube in there that I'd trust. It's to the point of deformation under it's own weight - that's right there at the plastic state before it goes ahead and melts.

Heating a tube up to hot enough to bend because of external force being applied versus heating up a tube to the point of plasticity are two different things. I wish I'd kept a couple of my materials books from school.

[dunerocket]

Originally Posted by K-fab

Heating a tube up to hot enough to bend because of external force being applied versus heating up a tube to the point of plasticity are two different things. I wish I'd kept a couple of my materials books from school.

I agree, however with the typical engine being 200+ lbs there is definitely external force being applied.

Eighter way it is most likely a total loss.