Ariel.Club Forum

I know this is an old post, but I am going to comment anyway.
I am concerned about water accumulation in the frame & suspension tubing, I think a small hole drilled in the bottom of each tube is a good idea then clean and touch up the hole with paint to prevent rust. While I doubt my Atom will ever be left out in freezing weather, my square tubing fence at my shop had a little interference with the sliding gate when opening, I noticed the 2" tubing had swollen from an accumulation of water that froze and caused the tubing to expand, I decided to drill a hole at the bottom only to be rewarded with a blast in the face with high pressure rusty water. The more likely problem with water accumulating in the tubing would  be rust that would weaken the metal.

[quote="silver"]
One area to look out for is at the bottom of the A-arm's it's an open well that water will rest in and rust it out.....at least there's nothing to drill but if you drive in rain or through a puddle you should check this area to make sure it's dry
[/quote]

For me, it looked like water went in that pocket (or somewhere else nearby), accumulated inside the tubing, and never drained out.  This was revealed to me by an abnormally rough off-track excursion that broke the A-Arm:

[img]http://www.evilatom.com/forum/susp_rust.jpg[/img]

This is probably at around 2 months of ownership, so it didn't take long for the water to find its way into the A-Arm somewhere.  In addition to what you see there, there was a ton of rusty water splashed on and around the chassis from when that broke open.  I still find myself wanting to drill holes at the lowest point in them in the underside otherwise I fear they will continue to rust themselves away from the inside out.

[quote="silver"]
water goes in a hole ..must come out a hole :)
[/quote]

demonstrated at 4:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTwdjqv7fsw

water goes in a hole ..must come out a hole :)

One area to look out for is at the bottom of the A-arm's it's an open well that water will rest in and rust it out.....at least there's nothing to drill but if you drive in rain or through a puddle you should check this area to make sure it's dry

Has anybody experience of condensed water in the chassis
I've been thinking about drilling drain holes in the chassis. ???