XR Chassis mods

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:46 am

youngfg wrote:Yep, carbon fiber roof. The steel roof weighs 38lbs., the carbon roof will be around 6 lbs.
The only original XR body parts will be the A pillar/windshield support.

The last parts to be made are CF hatch, tailight panel, and cowl vent.

It looks like the car will come in under 2000 lbs. when it's finished, If I go with the 2.3 Duratec maybe only 1800 lbs.

so basically, you're going to have a car that is on par weight wise with an early rabbit, be RWD, high torque, extremely rigid chassis, and a fantastic suspension setup.

sounds to me like you've got a winner there, gene. amazing.

original target weight was 2500 lbs, right?

merkd-ya · Post by **merkd-ya** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:44 pm

um wow and this is my first post. wow again

youngfg · Post by **youngfg** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 5:34 am

I got the CF roof installed.
I also got molds done for the doors, B and C pillars, and the tail light panel.
Now I am working on making the CF parts from the molds so I can hang them on the car. I still need to make a mold of the hatch.

More recent pics here.
http://www.sirscca.org/gene/MoreCFparts/index.html

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:24 am

You're crazy Gene! (in a good way

)

When does Kentucky Karbon Fibre open for business?

Post by **anglin** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:30 am

Gene, you continue to be the sickest man alive. Every time this thread pops back to the top, I know that I'm going to open it and find some really crazy stuff.

Post by **PDenbigh** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 8:39 am

Nice Alternator system!

merkd-ya · Post by **merkd-ya** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:45 am

WOW

milehighXR · Post by **milehighXR** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 2:28 pm

DPDISXR4Ti wrote: On the Brat project, I'm going to be filling my A pillars with Terocore after stuffing some 1/4" rod down them, fed in from the top of the B pillar where the roof was cut off. B pillars will be filled in a similar manner.

Any way of stuffing the rod and foam in without cutting the roof off? I wouldn't mind strenghtening my XR, and the Scorpio since they are daily drivers, and well, adding rod and foams sounds way cheaper than buying a new car...

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:13 pm

milehighXR wrote:Any way of stuffing the rod and foam in without cutting the roof off? I wouldn't mind strenghtening my XR, and the Scorpio since they are daily drivers, and well, adding rod and foams sounds way cheaper than buying a new car...

You'd need to be Houdini to stuff a ~5 foot rod down a column without any means to get it in there!

But the reinforcing rod is optional - Ford certainly doesn't build their Explorers with a "floating" rod in the pillar - the Terocore alone is injected post body construction into the pillars, just as you and I can do.

While Terocore-ing the pillars may indeed be cheaper than buying a new car, I wouldn't want to suggest that it's a "cheap" solution. Depending on how extreme you want to go, you're probably looking at somewhere between $250 to $1000 in product cost.

milehighXR · Post by **milehighXR** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:35 pm

$1000 is nothing compared to the cost of a new car of equal fun and luxury. Just wondering if it was possible, won't happen soon, but it'l be on the list. How will it affect the roof drains for sunroof equiped cars?

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:46 pm

milehighXR wrote:How will it affect the roof drains for sunroof equiped cars?

You'd just bond them in place and never again even think about trying to remove them. You have the same issues with the wiring that goes up the A-pillars. I don't like the idea of permanently sinking the wiring in "cement" but that's what I intend to do with the couple wires I'll still be routing up there.

milehighXR · Post by **milehighXR** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:50 pm

So no mre roof drains or funtional sunroof?

Post by **DPDISXR4Ti** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:17 pm

I feel like we're cluttering up Gene's worthwhile thread with noise here, but there shouldn't be any reason why you couldn't fill the pillars and still have a fully functional sunroof.

Ray · Post by **Ray** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 12:32 am

Gene,

How much has the cost of carbon fiber gone up from when you started this project until now?

What are you going to do about "windows" (im assuming lexan or something)

youngfg · Post by **youngfg** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:32 am

When I started working with CF I think it as about $21.00 a yard for 50"W 5.7 oz. It got up to $40.00 a yard, then it was unavailable, now it down to about $28.00 a yard.

I plan on lexan for all the windows except the windshield which will be glass.