| Author | Message | ||
| Jim Muise (Writerguy)
Member Username: Writerguy Post Number: 297 Registered: 9-2003 |
We really need James G in here for an update on his car (cars) | ||
| Mfennell70 (Mfennell70)
Junior Member Username: Mfennell70 Post Number: 192 Registered: 7-2001 |
I built a Factory Five Cobra. Does that count? The details of *really* designing a clean sheet of paper car and doing it right make my head spin. So much math. | ||
| Nibblesworth (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 820 Registered: 11-2002 |
William - I LOVE that car! Honestly - that thing really pumps me up. Great aint, wonderful lines - so fluid and smooth. You did a fantastic job; drive happily! | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Advanced Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 3430 Registered: 2-2001 |
 Then of course theres my baby here. She started life as a 512TR but after a crash at Watkins Glen I rebuilt her using my vision & help from Koenig with the body. She is nearly 90% Ferrari but improved upon & I'll soon be rebuilding the engine, trans, & suspension to race quality. So its pretty much my own design of what a Ferrari race car should be at least | ||
| William H (Countachxx)
Advanced Member Username: Countachxx Post Number: 3429 Registered: 2-2001 |
I had the same idea, I actually did a semester at a design school. When a prof told me i'd probably spend 10 years at Ford designing hubcaps I sort of lost interest quickly. I designed 1 or 2 cars for school, just on paper. In the US auto design & manufacture is probably The single most litigious field there is, best bet is to set up a shop in the UK or better yet in S America where the labor is much cheaper & the laws much looser | ||
| Nibblesworth (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 817 Registered: 11-2002 |
Faisal - as for torsional rigidity numbers, who knows!  All I did was put the design on paper, then build scale models with balsa wood. When the model was done, I would twist it with my hands. If it flex like hell, i figured out where the weak spot was and then added more material. After about 10 attempts, I finally had a pretty damn rigid scale model. I have no idea how ridig it would be in full scale...never had the funds to put it together. I had designed one of my chassis to support a 6.8l DOHC V10. It was essentially a modular Ford 6.8l V10 with modified Cobra heads. I figured that engine would be capable of somewhere around 550hp and 550tq at the wheels. | ||
| Ben Cannon (Artherd)
Intermediate Member Username: Artherd Post Number: 1166 Registered: 6-2002 |
Always wanted to do my own ground-up car. Small 2.5-3litre Mid mounted V-12 bolted directly to the (carbon/nomex honeycomb tub) chassis, a simple carbon-tube pushrod suspension with Heim-ends (no bushings.) and a civilised interior somewhat like the F355's. Weight around 2300lbs WITH the retractable (scratch/break-proof polymer) hardtop. Streetable baby half-kart half-F355 monster you could take a date out in. A tad more realistically; Omar, I want to build a 757! Not exactly a Beoing, but an E38 7-series, but with a 575 Ferrari V-12 and of course it's 6-speed. {BIG GOOFY GRIN} Whole thing in a long wheelbase car painted Imola Red. (or black with black wheels.) Also want to put an actual 800hp IndyCar V8 engine into a lightened F355C and road drive it. And build a 2.6litre v8 out fo two 1300cc motorbike blocks, and stuff it into an Elise! With 350horsepower! Naw, never thought of anything like this before, it's just you! ;) Best! Ben. | ||
| Omar (Auraraptor)
Intermediate Member Username: Auraraptor Post Number: 1141 Registered: 9-2002 |
I always wanted to make a 650CSi using a M73 V12 from the E38 750/ later 850s. I have the host car...a 82 633..still (albeit 1/2 heartidly) looking for a rear ended 97+ E38 750 for a decent price (<10G with decent mileage) | ||
| '75 308 GT4 (Peter)
Advanced Member Username: Peter Post Number: 3186 Registered: 12-2000 |
Before buying my Ferrari, I had the INTENTION of building a car from scratch. Not of my own design, but of an interpretation of the Lotus Super Seven: Ron Champion's "Locost". More info here Bought the book, a welding machine, started pricing out the steel tubing for the frame and the aluminum sheet for the body, then... I saw an ad for a 308 and its low price and decided a person doesn't get many opportunities in their lifetime to own a Ferrari, so the rest is history. I'm glad I bought it, I will never regret it. But, one day I will build that "Locost". As soon as I get a bigger garage! | ||
| Dan Gordon (Ferruccio)
Member Username: Ferruccio Post Number: 300 Registered: 2-2003 |
Allen you need to do it! Make the Canto! What Lamborghini should have made. Most of the time I am against tearing down an exotic to make something else. But this has got to be the exception. I think you should go with the later Canto versions like the artist version on Lambocars.com. But it needs to be done! | ||
| PeterS (Peters)
Intermediate Member Username: Peters Post Number: 1661 Registered: 1-2003 |
Neb..I have seen Arts van. It could tow a bridge!....My uncle built a '39 replica of a MBZ SSK on a '65 bug chassis. He put $17K into it, drove it for a year and sold it to me for $5K. I drove it for two years. It was a death trap, but people just about drove off the road checking it out! I think that an AC Cobra would be a great project. Its well supported with a bunch of companies that build the bodies and the frame is straight-forward welding, nothing tricky. | ||
| allan fiedler (Allanlambo)
Intermediate Member Username: Allanlambo Post Number: 1527 Registered: 6-2002 |
I have been toying with the idea of buying an early Diablo, and trying to re-body it to look like the original Diablo replacement called the Canto. Also, updating brakes, engine etc. Not a new car, but certainly something no one else would have.  | ||
| Nibblesworth (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 813 Registered: 11-2002 |
Art - it's criminal to put such an engine in a van! You need to put that sucker into a Fiat Spider or something...you know, torque twist a chassis or two. | ||
| Dan Gordon (Ferruccio)
Member Username: Ferruccio Post Number: 298 Registered: 2-2003 |
Nibblesworth (Nebulaclass, Thats a big dream. But thats what America is about big dreams. I think your main concern should be funding. After that the skies the limit. Good luck | ||
| arthur chambers (Art355)
Advanced Member Username: Art355 Post Number: 2813 Registered: 6-2001 |
Nebula: You won't be able to retire at 45 if you plan on becoming a lawyer. It's an awful lot of hard work, and at least intially, without a lot of money (unless you graduate from an A school, and are in the top 10, but that's another story). I just got done with my Van (1984 which I bought new) with a hot-rod engine, different interior, 4 wheel drive, and we're going to paint it. While it doesn't qualify as building a new car, its about as close as I want to get. The motor was the most fun: started as a 350, put in a 400 crank, overbored, new displacement 390, new HP 400+. Good luck with the design and building. You may have to do that while you're still working. Art | ||
| Faisal Khan (Tvrfreak)
Intermediate Member Username: Tvrfreak Post Number: 1023 Registered: 3-2003 |
I have numerous designs waiting to be executed. What kind of torsional strength/mass and lateral g figures are you up to? What suspension setups do you like and why? Anything different in your dream cars or are you going with steel chass/combustion engines? No, you are definitely not alone. TVRfreak. | ||
| Jim Muise (Writerguy)
Member Username: Writerguy Post Number: 276 Registered: 9-2003 |
I just interviewed Dan and Don Panoz. Dan Did just what you are talking about and he said the Coolest thing of all was the day a box arrived with a Hotwheels PANOZ car. Seeing his name on hotwheel ranks as one of the best things in his life. Now he had his fathers Billions to use.... hey shouldn't you be watering the roof? | ||
| Dom Vitarella (Dom)
Member Username: Dom Post Number: 519 Registered: 11-2002 |
I would love to do that, but frankly have no clue where to begin, or how to proceed. I have no engineering background. Are you back home now, or still evacuated? Dom | ||
| Nibblesworth (Nebulaclass)
Member Username: Nebulaclass Post Number: 809 Registered: 11-2002 |
I don't mean a restoration or rebuild of a motor. I mean the ground-up design of a suspension setup and chassis, the layout of the engine/tranny, the desing of the interior, the specs of the motor, and the design of the body? I want to go into law, but mainly because by 45, I want to be able to retire and build my own car. About three years ago, I started on my dream, and I have, since then, designed on paper and in scale models 3 different chassis' with suspension geometry. This is my passion, and has been since I was 9 or so. I'm just wondering if anyone else here has the same passion, not just for fast and beautiful cars like Ferrari, but for actually designing and building a fast and beautiful car. Am I the only freak here? |