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Author: Subject: So I wanna build a batmobile....
blakep82

posted on 11/3/13 at 09:34 PM Reply With Quote
^ never seen that before, but in fact a perfect descrption of how it would look and work. No steering lock, ride height way too high. Custom chassis is the way to go in my opinion





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meathead316

posted on 11/3/13 at 09:37 PM Reply With Quote
Them wheels are massive O_O

I know have a side image of an mx5 without wings etc, gonna have another play using 17" wheels....

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trextr7monkey

posted on 11/3/13 at 11:44 PM Reply With Quote
Heh Blatman WTF is that thing we are travelling in today?


[img][/img]





http://www.flickr.com/photos/14016102@N00/ (cut and paste this dodgey link)

Our most recent pics are here:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p211/trextr7monkey/

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meathead316

posted on 13/3/13 at 03:03 AM Reply With Quote
Hhhmmm been doing some googling and reading up on how various car bits work.

I have decided that my best bet for a starting point would indeed be a kit car of some sort.

Could i then remove its body and then lenthgen and widen its chassis frame?

Then if i understand correctly to mount the stuff that holds each wheel on wont be to bad, but connecting it all up will be more of a challenge. So if i understand what i have read the steering would require longer track rods (can u not just lengthen standard ones?) a longer steering column (again, cant u just weld some metal on?) then the rears are pretty much just dead on the chassis so no problem, unless its rwd... Longer drive shaft (againt cant u just cut in half and weld a bit in the middle?)

If any of the above is at all possible then thats cool as it will give me a perfect base car. If the plan is crap please detail as to why

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clairetoo

posted on 13/3/13 at 06:57 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by meathead316
Hhhmmm been doing some googling and reading up on how various car bits work.

I have decided that my best bet for a starting point would indeed be a kit car of some sort.

Could i then remove its body and then lenthgen and widen its chassis frame?

Then if i understand correctly to mount the stuff that holds each wheel on wont be to bad, but connecting it all up will be more of a challenge. So if i understand what i have read the steering would require longer track rods (can u not just lengthen standard ones?) a longer steering column (again, cant u just weld some metal on?) then the rears are pretty much just dead on the chassis so no problem, unless its rwd... Longer drive shaft (againt cant u just cut in half and weld a bit in the middle?)

If any of the above is at all possible then thats cool as it will give me a perfect base car. If the plan is crap please detail as to why

I think there lies your answer.......................

Mind if I ask how old you are - my guess is in single digits..........





Its cuz I is blond , innit

Claire xx

Will weld for food......

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TAZZMAXX

posted on 13/3/13 at 09:10 AM Reply With Quote
Personally, I'd start with an old 7.5 ton, short wheelbase truck and work with that. It would be a lot easier as it has chassis rails and will take big back wheels, minor mods required for smaller front wheels. It won't be a cheap project whichever way it's done.
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Irony

posted on 13/3/13 at 12:50 PM Reply With Quote
What about an old Limo chassis?

Limo on t'bay

Honestly mate unless you put a lot of time, effort, thought and money into this you'll end up with some half hearted effort that will look crap. A thousand hours plus to do a good job. Thats 1 hour a day for three years nearly. The last thing you need is to be driving around in something like this




or this



or this



You see cars driving down the street all the time that someone has put a lot of effort into but they haven't been committed enough to do a proper job. Maybe it's just me but I just think 'bozo who's wasted his time'. But if I see a proper accurate replica of a movie car I am always impressed.




[Edited on 13/3/13 by Irony]

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Slimy38

posted on 13/3/13 at 01:20 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Irony

Honestly mate unless you put a lot of time, effort, thought and money into this you'll end up with some half hearted effort that will look crap. A thousand hours plus to do a good job. Thats 1 hour a day for three years nearly. The last thing you need is to be driving around in something like this






Now that one is the best I've seen, but it still looks bad!

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TAZZMAXX

posted on 13/3/13 at 01:26 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
quote:
Originally posted by Irony

Honestly mate unless you put a lot of time, effort, thought and money into this you'll end up with some half hearted effort that will look crap. A thousand hours plus to do a good job. Thats 1 hour a day for three years nearly. The last thing you need is to be driving around in something like this






Now that one is the best I've seen, but it still looks bad!


I think I'd rather be seen in the Punto to be honest.

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meathead316

posted on 13/3/13 at 03:43 PM Reply With Quote
No im not a silly little kid! Its just that cars are quite complex just like any piece of machinery, but as soon as you understand what everything is and does and how and why it does it, then its not complicated anymore.

If im gonna have to chop up a car i would rather it was a kit car than a normal car as a kit car is a lot simpler as its basically just a chassis and running gear (no aircon, elec windows, stereo system etc etc to faff with)

So would my plan i mentioned in my last post be viable?

Onto the pics of "batmobiles" posted O_O what a bunch of sheds!!! Well except the first one, quite an accurate replica of the car in the 90's animated series, still not to my taste but looks just like it.

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Irony

posted on 13/3/13 at 04:01 PM Reply With Quote
What about a UVA Fugitive? They look long and thin with huge wheels at the rear.
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Slimy38

posted on 13/3/13 at 05:23 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by meathead316

So would my plan i mentioned in my last post be viable?



So the three extensions you mention (track rods, propshafts and steering column) can all be done, although track rods have to be properly extended rather than cut and welded, and extending propshafts has some pretty major risks tied to it. But earlier you mentioned that you can't/won't build a car? All those jobs are quite critical parts of a car build, if you're not comfortable with building a car from scratch then these jobs will have to be passed on to people better suited to the task. And as soon as you pass jobs to others, the cost goes up.

But going for a kit car as a base (even a bog standard locost chassis) it will give you better options to get the dimensions right. And it's easier to extend a kit car than a street car.

If I were to look into doing this sort of work, I'd be more worried about the body. My limited experience with fibreglass is that it can get very challenging. See if you can make yourself a quarter sized bodyshell first, it might cost a couple of hundred in materials but at least you'll know if it's actually possible. I considered making my own bodyshell, but comparing a production GRP body to my own feeble attempts showed that I had no chance.

[Edited on 13/3/13 by Slimy38]

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TheGiantTribble

posted on 13/3/13 at 05:42 PM Reply With Quote
'Its just that cars are quite complex just like any piece of machinery, but as soon as you understand what everything is and does and how and why it does it, then its not complicated anymore.'

Oh if only this were true! We would have designed our own projects and built them, and made millions selling our own cars.

IMHO

You have put a lot of thought so far into this project, but, BUT if you want to end up with something you are proud of and is worthy of the time let alone the money that would be spent in doing this, and is seen through to the finish, you may like to consider this...

If it's worth doing it's worth doing properly.
The order of project approach then should be something like....

1. So first decide upon what wheels and tyres you want to use.
2. Design a suspension set up that will give the handling that you want (BTW even the professionals can't agree on this and it is a 'black art', look up 'string calculator'
3. Design a chassis to suite your suspension, and what forces will be going through said car.
4. Finally (sort of) bodywork, lights, and so on.
5. Start building, only be prepared to regularly go back a few steps and change things as things never go as planned. Also changing one thing tends to lead to changing lots of other bits.

Very best of luck with this, I do hope you end up with what you want, but I hope you are starting to realise the enormity of what your trying to achieve.

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meathead316

posted on 13/3/13 at 07:48 PM Reply With Quote
I did say earlier that i dont want to build a car, what i meant was i dont want to get metal, build a frame, then get suspension and wheel hubs, add them on..........

I wouls rather, to save time and money, get a kit car, anything, locost dutton fugitive, as they are all quite similar in their sumplicity (ie just basic running gear on a frame) then chop and extend the chassis to approx 120" wheelbase. As for the track rods etc so long as i can get longer ones (scrappie or made) then it will work right?

As for the bodywork i have no worries with this part besides mounting it to the frame as it has to be secure but mounting points hidden from view.

Does anyone have a pic of a kitcar frame and running gear (so just missing body) from the side view abd birds eye ( either photo or schematic)

Also are kit cars generally fwd or rwd?

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Slimy38

posted on 13/3/13 at 07:57 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by meathead316
I did say earlier that i dont want to build a car, what i meant was i dont want to get metal, build a frame, then get suspension and wheel hubs, add them on..........

I wouls rather, to save time and money, get a kit car, anything, locost dutton fugitive, as they are all quite similar in their sumplicity (ie just basic running gear on a frame) then chop and extend the chassis to approx 120" wheelbase. As for the track rods etc so long as i can get longer ones (scrappie or made) then it will work right?

As for the bodywork i have no worries with this part besides mounting it to the frame as it has to be secure but mounting points hidden from view.

Does anyone have a pic of a kitcar frame and running gear (so just missing body) from the side view abd birds eye ( either photo or schematic)

Also are kit cars generally fwd or rwd?


Track rods cannot be 'made', they're an instant IVA/MOT fail. The best you can do is screw in extenders, although I suspect a steering rack from a suitably wide car (or even van?) would also suffice.

You have no worries about bodywork? Good man!

Do a Google search for Haynes Roadster images. There's a lot of three quarter views but there is an occasional side or front view. A couple of CAD drawings as well.

I'm not 'worldly wise' in terms of kit cars, but I have noticed a preference for rear wheel drive. I guess that comes from the thought that sports cars are traditionally rear wheel drive?

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meathead316

posted on 13/3/13 at 08:58 PM Reply With Quote
Thanks, i too would have assumed a kit car to be rwd as its a sports/track car.

Good plan with the track rods. What about steering column? Can u make the rods/poles or watever they are called longer?

So to get the dimensions i want from a kit car and have it functional i need to:

Extend chassis (cut and weld)
Longer track rods
Longer steering column
Longer drive shaft
Extend plumbing for front brakes
Extend wires for head lights

Is that it?? Sounds pretty simple.... (In theory)

Also us a kit car road legal without a body shell?

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parkiboy

posted on 13/3/13 at 09:09 PM Reply With Quote
I'd abandon the project before you start, I think you underestimate the cost and complexity of the project, saves wastin your hard earned on an abandoned project once you realise you are out of your depth.
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meathead316

posted on 13/3/13 at 10:08 PM Reply With Quote
Give up.... No way!

Yes its true i dont know how to achieve what i want right now, but thats why im asking questions, to broaden my knowledge!

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richardm6994

posted on 13/3/13 at 10:23 PM Reply With Quote
From the sounds of it, it appears that you don't have much mechanical or engineering experience behind you. I'm not holding that against you as we all must start somewhere.

My advice would be to put th BM on hold and have go at building a kitcar (which someone else has done the hard work in designing) and put it through an iva. By the end of this, you'll have something you can sell and you'll have built up your knowledge and experience to have a go at the bm.

Even some of the best designed kit cars like the roadrunner sr2 can still be tricky to get through an iva if you don't what you're doing so you stand no chance with the bm being your first attempt (that's even if you'd ever get it finished).

You can ask all the questions you want but one thing you'll never gain is experience.






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Irony

posted on 13/3/13 at 10:38 PM Reply With Quote
The above is good advice. I have learned more building a kit car than I did doing a degree. The kit car was cheaper, just.
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meathead316

posted on 13/3/13 at 11:05 PM Reply With Quote
It is indeed good advice, how much would it cost to build a kit car, from scratch?
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meathead316

posted on 13/3/13 at 11:10 PM Reply With Quote
Also whats the cheapest i could buy a complete kit car, that way i can feel what its like to drive one and be able to have a good nose around to see whats what, and it wud be great in the summer!
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Slimy38

posted on 14/3/13 at 06:18 AM Reply With Quote
To build a kit car from scratch? £250 'apparently'.... Although that's what the very first book quoted, it's not possible anymore. I'm planning on getting a build done for under 5k, but that is only a plan and not a definite. To buy one you could probably spend about the same, although Locost/Haynes cars don't seem to hold their value unless they're absolutely mint or have some behemoth under the bonnet.

If you want to see how a kit car feels, rent yourself a Westfield or Caterham for the day. I think it's a couple of hundred quid, but it's better than thousands. Although that will limit the 'nosing about' you can do, Westfield won't want their car dismantled just so you can see how the steering works for example!

[Edited on 14/3/13 by Slimy38]

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richardm6994

posted on 14/3/13 at 06:57 AM Reply With Quote
I'd suggest a Mev Exocet would be a good car for you to begin with. It's cheap, not compicated and uses an mx5 donor which the knowledge you gain would come in handy for you bm project.

After that I'd say eithr a gbs zero or a mev rocket. these are Much more of a proper build than the Exocet but also costs more to build.






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Slimy38

posted on 14/3/13 at 08:39 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by richardm6994
I'd suggest a Mev Exocet would be a good car for you to begin with. It's cheap, not compicated and uses an mx5 donor which the knowledge you gain would come in handy for you bm project.

After that I'd say eithr a gbs zero or a mev rocket. these are Much more of a proper build than the Exocet but also costs more to build.


See, I wouldn't go for the Exocet. Nothing against the car, but it's specifically designed to make things easier and the scope for learning how a car goes together is a bit limited. The rocket is much more involved as you say.

Then again, perhaps uncomplicated would be good as a first build to ease into it?

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