LamboClone - The Premier Site for Lamborghini Replica Builders
The Forum => New Member Introductions & Bio's => Topic started by: nivram on September 23, 2014, 05:36:07 AM
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Hey guys,
I've been lurking here for a while but I'm finally ready to get started on a project of my own.
I've been planning on doing an electric conversion on a convertible for a while now but my gf recently told me that she plans to have her own car no matter which car I choose for a frame, so now I can be as ostentatious as I'd like. If money were no object I would get an aventador with a blown engine and replace it with a bunch of batteries and a powerful electric motor. Unfortunately, I'm a student and money is actually quite a large constraint.
So with that introduction here's what I'm looking for:
- An aventador kit with emphasis on completeness and ease of assembly.
- I'm definitely willing to sacrifice exact adherence to OEM specs if it means I can save money on things like windshield etc.
- I'd like it to be convertible or at least have the roof panel be removable
I personally don't really care that you guys will be able to tell that my replica isn't an actual lamborghini. In fact I probably won't put any lamborghini logos on the car. I'm not copying the car because its a lamborghini, I'm copying it because I think the design is extremely aesthetically pleasing.
Inside the car, there will be no shifters/gears since its an electric car. I'm also going to throw in large touch screen on the dashboard like the Tesla.
As a gag, I was thinking of having settings for different engine noises that I could play based on acceleration and speed, even a setting for an electro sounding Tron light bike/ starwars pod racer engine noise.
I know its still pretty early for aventador kits so I was thinking of getting started on the frame before figuring out which kit to use. Is this a bad idea?
Should I do the stretching before I add any of the parts for the electric car? I was planning on using the larger engine bay of the aventador to fit more batteries in. I'm not sure if I should just wait until I get the kit to figure out the battery configuration.
I'm looking to spend 15-20k on the electric conversion parts and batteries and about the same on the frame. Is this reasonable?
How possible is it to keep it operational while building the replica kit. For example if I have a working electric fiero, how long will the car be inoperable while I add the kit? After I stretch the frame will the fiero body still fit for driving around town?
Which base should I use? A fiero? They seem to be pretty uncommon in San Diego, but I could go up to LA to get one.
Let me know if I should be posting in the aventador forum or somewhere else.
Thanks!
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You stated the you wanted "•An aventador kit with emphasis on completeness and ease of assembly."
To my knowledge, no one makes a "Kit" for any of the replicas of the Lamborghini cars. You can purchase a decent looking fiberglass body and the rest is up to you to make or have made for you. $$$$ That is what is so unique about our hobby. You build it yourself. No kit, no holes, no bolts, no brackets, etc. You might want to add another $15 to your budget. I always say that in reality we don't have a budget. This is a hobby that you can't know how much you will spend. It's an adventure for sure.
Jim
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Welcome to the forum!
I think Jim has offered some good info. There are no "kits" in the sense that most people think of them. There are body panels and even then a lot aren't complete.
Whichever way you go it won't be easy but if you like this sort of a challenge, it will be a lot of fun.
With that said, I'd love to see an electric build here. There has been some interest from other members but no build thread yet for an electric to my knowledge.
Make sure whatever body you get that there will be glass available that fits. I think you are going to want your body before you build the chassis. At the very least, you need to know the target wheelbase so you can stretch it correctly.
People have used the Fiero, MR2 and Porsche Boxster as donors. Since you are going electric, you may not care about mid-engine configuration which may open up your options for donors.
There is a thread on a Sound Racer product that does what you want for the gag sounds. It is pretty cheap and you can add your own sounds to it. I think it would be fun for an electric.
Whatever you think you'll spend, you'll likely spend more. ;)
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Again, Welcome to the forum ::wave
I like your idea, one day I want to build an electric Huayra looking car.
There are two kits around for your Aventador. Nate made his own CNC kit and a Mexico kit was made using a wood buck. The kits are not the same size; one is just ¾ of an inch shorter. Either way – that’s what’s out there so that’s what will be replicated for a long time to come.
Think of your donor first in terms of weight, size, safety, interior, options, etc.
What we continue seeing is replicas that look shiny but are a headache to operate. People keep on selling them to one another after owning them for less than a year. So, if you don’t want anti lock brakes, power steering, coil overs, air condition, etc. then you can use just about any older car but your car will not be a joy to drive.
So to answer your question, Yes; you should start on the frame before worrying about the fiberglass body.
The answer to your second question is No, you should not in theory stretch the car if it’s not complete an running already as an electric car. For several reasons, I will mention two of them here
1) you want to be able to register the car as electric before the kit installation because it will be almost impossible to get it approved via inspection after the body work.
2) You want to start with an operating roller so once you stretch it you know what to go back to in terms of putting the drive train components together as you had started.
Just assume that you will have 12” of extra space added onto the length of the car and use that in your calculations; that’s the only variant. You do not need the kit to figure out the battery configuration as you'd come to see that there is so much space.
SPENDING
You can spend $20K on the electric conversion depending on your preference of power.
However, for the replica YOU WILL SPEND MORE.
The Aventador has many grills/lights and other things on the exterior that will cost a lot. The 16 OEM grill set on my LP640 cost me $2k in total so I could see ur grill set costing you a lot more. Just an idea there..
Then I do not know what your interior idea is like…
I also want to warn you that the Aventador is a really large car
Again, for your donor you should think of the options especially comfort and interior variants. The Vast majority of the 40 lambo builds on this forum had to go through creating a new interior and adding some non-oem components to the donors’ option to have a pleasant experience. So, think of that as well…
Can you keep it operational while you work on it? In theory Yes.
You need a windshield, lights, and the car to be cohesive to keep the car on the road. If you install such items then you are okay to drive it but why would you want to drive it in such shape? The issue will be that you don’t have lights and a windshield for your aventador. So in practice NO.
It took me 6 weeks from the day I drove my MR2 one last time till the day I placed a kit on it and drove it around the block with the Murci Shell on.
Knowing what I know now, I could have mounted the body onto the car via a frame I prefabricate and then plug in my lights and glue my windshield on and drive the car within a week – but again, I had to design all that; and that took me weeks. There is so much for what’s under the skit of a replica (: it’s fun but get ready for a crazy ride.
If it were me, I would 1 buy a donor, 2 turn in into an electric car, 3 change the title to electric at dmv, and 4 drive it around for a while. If i am satisfied until that point then I will start thinking about making it an aventador.
That's my 2c ::salute
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I would love to see someone do this build. You should definitely have the body before the build. Theres a lot involved and many things to consider. Stretching the car and building a sub frame to mount the body to. I think fitting your batteries will really be easy and probably the least of your worries. Like everyone else said that there is no kit . Meaning you are gonna just get a fiberglass shell and panels. No hardware no hinges no latches no gauges , wheels ,tires and the list goes on and on. The fun is in picking these parts out of a salvage yard and getting creative. Everything is hand made. Ask yourself can i weld? buy a welder. Can i lay up fiberglass? better learn from someone. Can i do the wiring. Become a electrician. Can i do bodywork and paint. You need to make all of these things happen and much more. If not, you are paying someone else to do it and sometimes not even do it right. Everyone here on this sight will help you with any info you need to do a successful build. So go for it man life is short and you need to get going. :LL:
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Hey guys,
Thanks for all the quick responses, you guys are awesome.
I understand that there isn't a kit out yet, I guess I'm just kind of hoping for a complete set by the time I'm done with the electric conversion.
I definitely do plan on doing it all myself (with the help of my dad). My dad is a retired electrical engineer and has all the welding equipment, lathe's etc. He has built fiberglass boats, done body work and has/had (he might have sold them) all the equipment to do the painting and has always had several cars hes been working on. I don't think I'll be lacking in expertise and I'm definitely always willing to learn (which I guess is why I'm still in school at 25)
It seems like getting a complete working electric car working first is good plan. So I need to pick a chassis...
BigPines brings up a point I hadn't thought about. I can shift batteries around all I want to balance the weight so theoretically I can put the engine anywhere. Since the aventador is such a large car does that mean I can use any chassis I want?
I definitely do want anti lock brakes, power steering, coil overs, air condition, etc. and plan on using this as my daily driver eventually.
Would it be reasonable for me to do an electric conversion of a miata and using that as the chassis? Getting something like a 97 miata would give me a lot more of the amenities of modern cars for pretty cheap and the adapter plates for the electric conversion are pretty fleshed out and I've already done quite a bit of research on on an electric conversion for a miata.
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Glad you are not deterred. There likely never will be a true kit available so you may as well jump in.
A couple of things you want to keep in mind about your chassis donor are:
1) The strut towers' height. If they are too tall, you may not be able to fit the body over them.
2) The cab placement on the Aventador is very forward (toward the front wheels). To get things right may be a bit of a challenge for a car not originally engineered as mid-engine. Not impossible mind you, but another hurdle.
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I'm not sure where to find measurements for the strut towers height, or what the maximum height would be for an aventador. In total, the miata is 4 inches taller than the aventador but looking at the height of the windshield I can't imagine that the strut height would be too tall.
The miata is 33 inches less long than the aventador, can I just stretch the back wheel location to move my cab more forward?
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nivram,
bigpines stated it perfectly; the strut towers need to tuck in under the body shell. A miata is short enough for that - I owned one. However, as bigpines mentioned you need to see where the driver seat is in relation to the wheelbase (forward positioned cabin) or you will have to rearrange the entire dash area. Think MR-S instead of Miata http://www.madmechanics.com/forum/consumer-opinions/15662-lamborghini-aventador-2.html (http://www.madmechanics.com/forum/consumer-opinions/15662-lamborghini-aventador-2.html) its a modern car that is inexpensive. I don't like that it's not wide enough though. Also important to mention is that you can easily modify your body shell or the windshield to host a - I did a bit of both on my build here last year http://lamboclone.com/index.php?topic=971.120 (http://lamboclone.com/index.php?topic=971.120)
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nivram,
The wheelbase on an Aventador is 106". The Miata wheelbase is 89". That is a difference of 17". That is a lot of difference!
The tread width of the Miata is 56" front and rear. The Aventador tread is 67.72" front and 66.93" rear. That is a difference of 11.72" front and 10.93" rear.
A Miata used as a base for the Aventador is just not easy or practical and that doesn't even take into account the engine placement and weight bias difference that dictates the spring rates for the suspension and loading on the chassis.
Please find a better donor.
RT
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I was looking for a salvaged tesla model s for a while to use as a chassis for an aventador. The track is almost perfect. The wheel base is about ten inches too long and the struts would probably need some modification. I finally realized that it would be a project that was beyond my capabilities, both talent wise and financially. If someone else would do it I might try to copy their project.
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RT is right, the Miata just doesn't make sense for this application. It is a very small car while the Aventador is a very large car.
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It's best to do something that has been done before so you can have help along the way..
there's a lot of research going in to this and you will be the one to have to do a lot of it
There is still nothing close to a full kit for a muricelago and there's a thousand things you need to learn to build it but at least this place has most of that knowledge and trial & error worked out for it
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A slavaged Tesla would be pretty awesome but I don't even know where to look for something like that.
I like the idea of an MR-S. I've found the specs for 2 separate electric conversions based on the MR-S so I should be able to figure it out. After I finish the electric conversion then I'll decide which kit to go for. If more people haven't done an aventador by then I might resort to a muricelago but I expect the electric conversion to take me at least a year so maybe more people will have done an aventador by then.
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Teslas come up on Copart and Insurance Auto Auctions pretty often but they don't sell cheap (30K or so depending on damage). They also have a safety feature in them which shuts the battery system off when a substantial accident occurs. Not sure how it works exactly. Tesla has officially denied parts or service to any salvaged titled car so it would be an adventure to get one going again. http://cafeelectric.com/stretchla/2014/07/14/pariah/ (http://cafeelectric.com/stretchla/2014/07/14/pariah/)
I hope someone pulls it off someday.
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If you end up with some form of MR2 or MR-S and a Murcielago or LP type replica then browse over my build as it's close to OEM exterior-wise (minus mirrors choice, headlight upgrades, or door handles) while retaining the MR2 interior but modernizing it. It also is very close to being a lego build as I bought most things and only fabricated some metal at best.
Best of luck man
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Thanks for all the help guys. I think I'll try to get an MR-S now. I'll be back once I finish my electric conversion.