sold the kevlar corolla shell

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:37 pm

As far as height goes, it just depends on how stiff your car is. We have never really had any issues running 1". Every once in a while, the car will scrape on a track (but its a REALLY bad track).

So far it looks like you are heading in the right direction. One suggestion though: the output sprocket is on the left side, and if you plan to use chain drive, then thats gonna be a PITA. Maybe put the engine and the driver in line? We do it all the time with CBR 600 f4i engines and 67" wheelbases. Our cars are usually 52% rear.

for reference. The engine goes in that big space behind the driver. The space under the seatback is reserved for the gas tank, which holds about 2 gallons of fuel.

mooreofmick · Post by **mooreofmick** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:08 am

man that make for a crazy tight fit

kevlar corolla · Post by **kevlar corolla** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 7:31 pm

Nope the last thing I want is a chain drive so thats why the engine is going on the left side turned 90 degrees and mounted as a normal 4 cyl front engine rwd car.Hawk adapters makes a driveshaft flange to mount in place of the counter sprocket so thats easy and cheap,the rest is a simple driveshaft to a miata diff and halfshafts.
Using miata parts as I picked up a parts car for free so that keeps the budget in check,hoping for under 5k all in ready to run for a build cost.Of course I could go nuts and spend that on dampers alone but I can't afford that so I'm researching damper options now as well.
Bike stuff is dirt cheap but a pretty big comprimise due to the short travel range,they'd need crazy stiff springs with the pushrods and bell cranks to not run out of travel and by then the damping won't match the spring.
I'm all ears if you have any advice there as well,truthfully(sadly actually)I'd like to spend less than 1k for all 4 corners-tall order I know.

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 2:08 pm

I dont know very much about suspension.

We use bike shocks and pull rods and bellcranks, but thats about all I can tell you.

I can give you the email of the guy who designed the suspension. I did the frame.

With such a limited budget, I STRONGLY suggest you download solidworks. Get your hands on it one way or another(you c. You can build the entire car electronically and then figure out what you need to buy and what you need to build, etc etc.

Heck, just building the car in cyberspace is just as much fun as building it in real life. AND the software is really easy to learn. It has tutorials for everything you need to do.

an ITB adapter I designed for Weber style ITB's. This took me about 6 hours and thats including the time taken to clean up the manifold so I could pull dimensions off of it.

You could probably get the gist of it down in 2 hours and you would probably get a REALLY good handle on it with 50 hours. The amount of time and money you will save will be well worth it.

kevlar corolla · Post by **kevlar corolla** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:44 pm

Thanks I'll look into a program but the truth is I'm old school(cause I'm actually old

)and prefer paper and pencil.I'm a licensed carpenter by trade and I do drawings for customers for design/build purposes all the time.
I'll be doing a full size drawings after the scale drawings are done,that should confirm all the space requirements are ok.I can then take that to the tube bender fellow I'm using and he can bend the pipe to fit,should keep mistakes to a minimum hopefully.
I have the suspension pivots nailed down I believe,to keep it simple I might just forego the pushrod set-up for conventional mounting of the dampers and springs.Ends up being a little more unsprung weight but the total weight is less so.....

mooreofit · Post by **mooreofit** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:45 pm

my dad was an old school guy cause he's so old school he's dead....

but he managed to build a formula v car in the middle of nowhere australia on the SIDE of our house!!! he built the frame and the suspension components then bought a tunnel race boat fiberglass chassis and cut the top to match his frame!

as far as the other input here its way out of my league as i have done 0 research here but i do plan on building my own car one day. i thought about the whole atom thing but i want to go a different direction not to seem like i'm coping anything but it will have cam type suspension and more of a gt car look and frame.maybe hopefully under the name moorecarriageworks. but this is deffenettly in the not so near future.

good luck with the venture kevlar! i know you do awesome work and i cant wait for this project to unfold!!!

kevlar corolla · Post by **kevlar corolla** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:48 am

Your dad sounded like an awesome guy,sorry to hear he isn't with you and your family any longer.

Good luck with your build down the road as well,for the record mine is nothing like an Atom other than the lack of panels,the engines from a bike mounted in the middle,its a 1 seater,won't use curved tubes and should be a minimum of 400lbs lighter. :D

mooreofit · Post by **mooreofit** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 3:08 pm

i wanna see build pics!!!

mexellent · Post by **mexellent** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 4:38 pm

kevlar corolla wrote:Good luck with your build down the road as well,for the record mine is nothing like an Atom other than the lack of panels,the engines from a bike mounted in the middle,its a 1 seater,won't use curved tubes and should be a minimum of 400lbs lighter. :D

So I guess you are aiming for 1000lbs? That should be do-able if youre using a motorcycle engine. Hell, It would be do-able with a 4ag.

I cant wait to see pics.

kevlar corolla · Post by **kevlar corolla** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 10:08 pm

Build pics will be awhile,just finishing up my wifes new ice race car right now,then I have to strip the miata donor for this build then prep my ice racer for the season and then I can really get going on the new car.
The target weight is 900lbs,actually I'm hoping to be in the 850lb range.Looking into some design options for the frame to save a little weight.