Hello all! I am new to this forum and I'm in the reading/planning stage, not even designing anything yet really. I plan on using a 3.0 liter 89-95 Taurus SHO 5 speed as my donor. It's on the porky side but they are 220 HP, 222 lbs torque stock and are EVERYWHERE (cheap and plentiful). I will try to concentrate on making the design simple, like using Fords suspension geometry in the front. I will not make a composite body, probably aluminum with simple curves. I will try to attach a concept version that I made a while back.

Instead of painting a chassis why can't I just put on a layer of carbon fiber? Benefits would include a rust free chassis, increased torsional and bending strength/stiffness, cool look, high strength/weight ratio, etc. The drawbacks: it would be impossible to inspect for cracks (although the metal would see less loads imposed, meaning cracks would be less likely), cost, it would be MUCH harder to relocate a bracket or repair something.

It would cost more, but not that much. The surface area of the entire chassis isn't too high. Also, you can subtract the cost of paint and use larger gauge (cheaper) metal for your chassis to achieve the same strength.

I may just be overlooking something. Opinions?

Hi Scuzzer and welcome!

An SHO is a mighty fine choice. That is a Yamaha designed engine and is very sophisticated from waht I understand. You can find those with a 5 speed? I don't follow sedan specifications too closely so I am just curious.

Regarding covering steel tube with carbon fiber. I think that the effort to result ratio would be mighty high on a chassis. Items I would think about would be pinholes that allow moisture to penetrate and subsequently eat away the steel tube from inside (hidden from inspection). Not good. Moisture trapped inside during construction phase, causing bubbling and delamination... Bending stresses on tubes causing cracks with subsequent moisture penetration and rust... I can just think of too many reasons not to do it. However.... Carbon fiber panels (or better yet Kevlar) in lieu of ali-or steel panels might be doable, but I would NOT want to be in a crash where C.F. panels were in use. Have you seen the shattering of those things in F1? Whew! I'll stick to materials with some plasticity that deform rather than shatter on impact thanks!

This of course is the opinion of a Carbon Fiber Neophyte. Never touched the stuff. But I have a canoe that's made of Kevlar and it is incredible!

i do not think that coating the chassis with carbon will help much at all and will be a hell of a job to do. unless you are very good at laminating carbon then it will probably end up looking like a mess.

to laminate something like a chassis you will need to vacuum bag it otherwise you will end up with too much excess resin and loads of air trapped in the laminate.

to make a difference in the structural strength you are going to have to use several layers of carbon without having any excess resin. excess resin is simply excess weight and a weaker structure.

over time the carbon laminate will absorb water and this will encourage corrosion of the chassis and not protect it. if you weighed a canoe as new and compare it to now, then you will find it is heavy now. this is water absorbsion.

carbon chassis are great for high performance race cars, but the work and technology that goes into producing them isn't achievable in a standard workshop.

just use paint or power coat the chassis. it will look much better and will not rust.

Basically agree with the others.....first paragraph sounds great, but I'd forget the rest....IMO


Alan B

http://www.desicodesign.com/meerkat/

Thanks for setting me straight. I tried attaching a microsoft paint image but it didn't work!?