I've been chewing on some custom fabrication ideas for a little while now and I wanted to run it by you honda-tech folk. You probably have some useful links and resources to boot.

I consider myself of the "Gordan Murray" school of thought (think McLaren F1) where weight reduction is of supreme importance. It is advantageous in all aspects of performance: accelerating, braking, turning, etc. Now for those purist, we've gutted the interior, sacrificed creature comforts, spent countless dollars on carbon fiber this and lexan that and ultimately reap the benefits of such labor.

But now I propose the next level of weight reduction. Remember when brainstorming, we are allowed to be as imaginative as possible before all ideas are thrown into the abyss of impracticality. Two ideas:

1) Replace the roof of the car with titanium alloy. An M.E. friend of mine says that you can order it in sheets (of varying thicknesses). Just some estimations showed that a 1 meter square sheet would cost about $800 and would weight in at ~12 lbs at 0.064" thickness. Ti-Alloy can be welded to steel, and would be of comparable strength to steel, just lighter so there shouldn't be a safety concern.

2) Replace the chassis from the firewall forward with a custom tube chassis made from Chromolly or possibly an aluminum variant. Obviously with aluminum there would be issues attaching it to the frame, but maybe a mechanical mechanism would suffice. Any links to custom chassis companies here would be appreciated.

In my personal application, the car needs to do everything, not just run 1/4 miles. So I wonder how practical 2) would be; however, there are companies like Ultima making custom chassis for their GTR and they seem to do just fine.

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to thrown some ideas out there.

 

Drill alot of holes. Use dimple dies in order to reinforce drilled areas that are of structural importance. Unsprung weight reduction is costly, but highly effective. Billet lower control arms, lighter braking components, lighter wheel/tire combo's, lug nuts, studs, etc.

The titanium roof replacement really doesn't sit too well with me. The weight reduction as a result versus the cost just doesn't seem appealing. If you were talking true structural members in titanium maybe, but simple sheet replacement isn't going to yeild you too much.

I'm sold on suspension component lightening, along with any drivetrain components you can lighten up (exhaust system, header, intake, etc).

Also you can go with a custom fuel cell...smaller in capacity and made of much lighter materials. Alot of weight savings to be had there.

 

64 thou Ti sheet is much much thicker than you're thinking it is. You could honestly get by with something much thinner.

I doubt you'd actually do this tough, as that's a lot of money to spend on a sheet of metal.

Why not just hit the obvious stuff like the guy above me posted...

 

Why not use composites and rivet/bond a replacement roof skin. It would be cheaper, lighter and just as stiff. Or if you really have to use metal use aluminum.

 

where around clemmons are you?

 

are you doing a cage? If not don't F w/ the roof. If so, fiberglass will be much easier cheaper, etc. Don't front half the car if it's going to be street driven, maybe just make Al bolt-on rad supports. I would fab up tubular suspension components with sphericals everywhere. Cut off every unused metal tab and non-structural metal (trunk, dash area and engine bay). Cut out spare well - replace with sheet metal or fg. Remove every cast iron bracket and replace with fabbed steel pieces (I'm thinking alternator - you wouldn't have ac or ps). Gut doors if caged. Seats, fuel cell, hollow NASCAR style anti-rool bars. Composite leaf springs. Al bumpers and Al non-structural bolts. One-piece fg front end. Solid engine mounts. Electric WP and smaller radiator. Cut off bosses and welded nuts that previous things were bolted to (ps on motor and frame)

out of ideas

it depends on far you want to go btw - I've seen a 69 vette with cage and 454 @ 2600lbs. wet @ 49/51% with hollow doors, one drilled and lightened hinge on each and one hollow Al bolt holding them on, hollow Al bolts and zip-ties everywhere

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by boosted94cx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">where around clemmons are you?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I live in Old Meadowbrook, about 1/2 a mile from the Papa John's / Harris Teeter.

 

do you have a project car there, or are you just purely thinking about stuff?

just asking, cause i'm up that way quite a bit visiting friends, and we're all into hondas...i've built quite a few myself. we could prob stob by and offer some help if wanted, or spare parts...i have PLENTY of them, lol

 

is this gran turismo?