A simple question!

[Johan]

Are there any spaceframe chassie plans on the web somewhere that I can download or buy?

I'm the kind of guy that won't let anyone else do what I can do myself! But without drawings with measurements and such I'm kinda lost... :/

So does anyone know of any plans/drawings? Or are there maybe someone here who has built his/her own spaceframe chassie that I can talk to?

 

[Bill D]

A simple question, but not a simple answer.

I would venture the answer is "No". The current manufacturers have spent a lot of R&D money on their frames and aren't about to sell their designs to a potential competitor. You are probably not going to begin a business, but these manufacturers want you to buy their product. Not their blueprints.

Bill D

 

[Johan]

A simple question, but not a simple answer.

I would venture the answer is "No". The current manufacturers have spent a lot of R&D money on their frames and aren't about to sell their designs to a potential competitor. You are probably not going to begin a business, but these manufacturers want you to buy their product. Not their blueprints.

Bill D

That's what I were afraid of... but I was hoping that someone had made their own chassies and made som prints on it! Well, atleast I asked, and you never learn anything if you don't ask questions!

Thanks for the answear Bill!

 

[Lynn Larsen]

Johan,

If you are going to find what you are looking for, I can't think of a better place to do it than here. But, I might also suggest that, in light of the wise words that Bill has given you, you might want to tell the community a little about yourself.

While they would all applaud that a 19 year old want to tackle a non-trivial effort like this, where you are and why you want to do it this way would probably be helpful. A little about your automotive history would probably also be in order, especially given your age. No offense, but youngsters can get very hot on an idea and then run out of enthusiasm. Someone who has likely spent years putting together mechanical drawings of the sort required for a successful outcome, is not likely to take on the role of mentor when the likelyhood of success is not good. Again, no offense, but, even as self-reliant as you see yourself, you will have a million questions before completing the project and anyone who supplies plans/drawings knows who you will come to first for the answers. As the old adage goes, you'll need to sell yourself a little.

Regards,
Lynn

 

[Chris Martino]

Purchase a 1/10th scale Exoto, use a 3-D scanner and import using AutoCad or Dassault CAD software products.

Might get you close enough? (although the model/computer/software/scanner is probably worth one of the manufactuers chassis/body packages or more)


Chris

 

[Ian K]

Another thought - peruse the various manufacturers and build sites, and
grab the various pictures of the frames, and using good CAD software and
some math, piece the puzzle together.

Of course, don't try to sell your final product

Ian

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

Ian,

thats a great idea......undermine the companies that invest a fortune and work hard to build good products and good reputations,.....

Dont forget the companies product that you copy may also be the guys you need in the future to provide the hard to get GT40 specific items....

 

[Ian K]

Hence the final statement - don't try to sell it.

If someone wants to build their own chassis, and can spend the time and
money to reverse engineer someone else's chassis by looking at a ton of
photos, more power to them. As long as it is for their own personal use.
But, if you do choose that path, and have problems, you cannot run to the
manufacturer for support. And, unless someone were to do this and then
try to pass it off as an MDA/Tornado/GTD/RF/RCR chassis, I don't see
how it would impact those company's reputation. However, if they do
try to pass it off as something else, then that goes against what I said.

How different is it from, say, using an original (or some other company's)
body to take a mold from, or use pictures of originals/replicas as a basis
for creating your own buck, or suspension pieces, or whatever. This is the
replica business after all; if people were so concerned over protecting the
original GT40's IP, we wouldn't have any replicas of it today.

I hope you understand the point I am trying to make, because I do not wish
any manufacturers harm. But, when images are made publicly available (thank
god for the internet), protecting IP and such becomes a very difficult area
(as ole Carrol found out himself). Posting such images and info is a gamble -
do you do it for the good of the community and to attract potential customers,
or do you hold it tight against your body to protect your IP and hard earned
R&D money? Because those a re fairly mutually exclusive ideals.

Ian

 

[Scott Calabro]

Hi All,

I think Cassius ask's a good question. Somewhere, the original plans for the 40 monocoque (is that spelled correctly?) exist. I once knew an old timer A&P who built B-24's at Willow Run, and could fabricate anything out of sheet alclad just from pictures and measurements and what was in his head. Everything else for the car can be bought or somewhat easily fabricated. It would be way cool if someone manufactured a complete, build-it-yourself, correct tub. Like a small homebuilt aircraft kit. Being an A&P myself, I'd jump on that. Since I don't think anyone does, RCR gets my vote !

Regards,
Scott

 

[Mike Dozier]

Cassius

I'm unaware of any drawings on the Web for the ever popular Cobra,
and there are over 10,000 replicas of that car sold !
Chassis design/fab is not something you want to mess with if you don't know what you're doing. You're risking your life, your passenger, and maybe the guy you hit when something goes wrong.

I also suspect a reason is that there are so many affordable Cobra kits,
that it just doesn't pay in terms of risk vs cost. The problem with the GT40,
especially in the US, is that there was never a low cost accurate space frame kit available. In the UK, Tornado sells a nice affordable chassis/body starter kit, but with the US Dollar so weak, and transportation/import costs so high, it adds up to being an expensive proposition.

Being an ex-Factory Five Cobra owner, I had hoped they would do a GT40,
but they agreed not to as part of their settlement with Shelby.
That was a darn shame in my opinion, as I doubt anyone else has
the resources and will power to pull it off.

But I digress. If you have the skill and brains and desire to do a home built
GT40, I'd first obtain a body and mock up the chassis underneath it in wood,
then make your drawings and duplicate in steel. You should check out the websites of some of the home-builts to see what's involved.
One of my favorites is The Kimini 2.2 car project.
Good luck.

MikeD

 

[Steve Briscoe]

If you have the talent to build something like this from the ground up, you are unique and should use your ability. If you do so, post pictures so we can see your progress. People who can build a safe\quality product are not only gifted craftsmen, but also artists. I miss not being able to work with my hands and hopefully, someday I will build a 40. However, I'll start with a good platform produced by one of the supporters of this forum who has spent countless hours and dollars in achieving what is safe. Of course, safe is a relative term. The 40 designs and race results have a fabulous history of great victory and stunning defeat. Sometimes, those defeats included death of the driver. Those lessons go into the platforms now being offered by supporters found on the forum.

My 2 cents worth.

 

[Johan]

Lynn: Yes I'am young and I do get carried away when I get an idea! But I'm extremely headstrong and if I start something, I WILL finish it! It's just a matter of time!

My history in automotive building is'nt that big.... I've customized an old Opel Omega (looked like this: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/jer0628/DSCN1254-1.jpg and the original: http://www.zkalni.lv/uploads/upl1605_Omega Caravan.jpg) I've keept the cars I've had running dispite some major problems.... had an 87 Celica GTi 2,0 that blew the headgasket twice, had to replace the clutch twice, engine blew and so on. I also have a Nissan 200SX -88 (S12) that I have tuned now to about 200bhp... nothing major but still I have spent alot of time in the garage! I know how to weld and how to fabricate new mounting points and such!

I have the passion, the space and the equipment to pull it of! I also have a couple of friends that know alot in the spaceframe construction area! One who is kind of a "pre-inspector" that has to clear heavily modified cars or amature built cars such as spaceframe kitcars before they go to the regular inspection!

Why the GT40? Well can anyone name one car that is more brute in any way? I saw a brittsh engine program on tv where an original 40 raced a Noble GTR which is one of the more "race"-like cars that you can buy for reasonble money! And the 40 with over 40 years older technology won with over 2 seconds If I remember correctly! It has always been my dream car and will always be! Another thing is that here in sweden there are only about ten cars total in the whole country!

Looking at pics and build my own drawings out of that could be one way to go! Or get a body and make a frame out of wood! The reason I want to do it this way is mostly the cost... the cheapest kit I can get is a "basic" kit for about 100 000SEK and 1USD is about 7SEK.. that's a lot of money for someone as young as me! building my own fram might take the cost down to half of that!

I'm still waiting to get the price on the body, but building a wooden frame wasn't a bad idea!

 

[Stefan Waumsley]

There is a man called paul john i think how some times lists a gt40 body and chassis CD on ebay uk. I have a copy and it looks good but i have not had time to even start yet, to many other projects. It has 14 drawings of the chassis with mesurements and scails of all the formers needed to make a body master

 

[Johan]

There is a man called paul john i think how some times lists a gt40 body and chassis CD on ebay uk. I have a copy and it looks good but i have not had time to even start yet, to many other projects. It has 14 drawings of the chassis with mesurements and scails of all the formers needed to make a body master

That's a great tip! Thanks! I'll look for it emediatly! And if I can't find it, maybe I can buy a copy from you?

 

[Stefan Waumsley]

It has a pass word that may stop you doing a copy but i would try if you carn't find it. I will have a look for his contact details. You will still need to get lots of things from the manufacturer but it may get you started

 

[Johan]

That would be great! Send me a PM if you find his contact details! Couse I can't find it right now...

 

[Rune]

Cassius as a member of the forum sportscar.se You should know better than this, You know that Gøran build the monocoque from the original .Why not ask him buy one from him!, he live not that far from You , then You know You get a hi quality product and You support a good project.
I do not think that people having original drawings will give them to anyone, they take them along when leaving this world. They will continue to build gt40 in their next life.

 

[Ardern Cars]

We're offering our ZSR Chassis as a stand alone package. We have a worksheet for you to fill out telling us the key dimensions you need. Wheelbase and bulkhead placement. We use all C5 Corvette Suspension. ZSR_Chassis
Chris
Active Power Inc.
440-392-9937

 

[Johan]

Rune: If I had the money, buying a kit from Göran is what I would do! Without even blinking twice! But I don't have the money and that's why I started this thread... allthough I am thinking more and more in the ways of taking a loan and buying myself a basickit from Sportscar.se... we'll see.. I have a couple of cars sitting around and If I can get them sold that would give me about 30-40 000SEK, and if I get the job that I almost have been promised now by the employer that would give me around 6000SEK a month to spend on my hobbies! BTW Rune, you wouldn't happen to know of anyone over there who's looking for a Kadett C? I have one in good condition that I'm thinkig of selling!

It's strange how everything can change over night...

 

[Ardern Cars]

Missed your call, Texas, inquiring about a Chassis

I was brain dead today when I checked my voice mail and deleted you instead of saving you. Lost your number. Please try again.
Thanks
Chris
Historic Race Car Replicas