"Armitage"... the Digibeam build area

[BigPines]

Good information Digibeam. I sure would like to see some pictures of everything. Part of the value of this site is to learn and part is to teach and give back to the community. How much more dangerous would all of our chassis' be if we tried to incorporate a few of your ideas based on nothing but pictures? Go ahead and post 'em. You may just save someone's life.

On the other hand, if you are not the owner of the intellectual property and you have some kind of restriction on what you can post, that is another thing entirely.

[Digibeam]

Alan,
The test was done at a destructive test facility, the car was mid weighted to represent the engine etc the mounts you have seen were similar to what had been used but I added additional material, which isn't always the answer as long as it has been put in the correct place.
The problem with showing the chassis is twofold, one my time and investment was for personal achievement more than to educate the populace freely, second, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing...
When people look at a picture and assume if they just do that without knowing why or if it is of any benefit at all then they creates a situation that is completely unknown... I am not about to promote that sort of information through random images, as I am not the sole designer of the present frame as it sits, in regards to the CW design it is the basis of my chassis but has long since been revised.
I am sure that is not the answer you are looking for but it is the one I am willing to give at this moment in time.

I was staying away from injection moulds just due to the cost of machining them and the small run potential, the black is not paint that I am using but excellent information just the same thank you

[SchulzeA]

Who tested the crush zones on your first chassis? How did they get accurate results without knowing what your finished car weight would be? Can you post some pics so others can add this additional safety aspect to their CW frame?

Your button process is basically the same as Oem from my research. Except they use injection molding. As for paint, Spray some adhesion promoter on the plastic to soften the outer layer a bit, then apply a good quality auto body paint with flex additive. That process will stand up to any abuse the buttons should see. Including fading from UV rays.

[Digibeam]

@Bigpines

The process involved 3d printing, a work in progress with String, then a mould and cast process, during casting an integral led is embedded then once set, that part is coated and dried.
I then made a jig to hold the part and using one of my lasers I etch the image into the top of the button, I then coat the entire part with a surface sealer and it should be good, I am destroying them in various ways to see the best finish that will resist wear.
Once I am happy with the final part I will see about progress images.

[Digibeam]

@01Lambiero
Yes you are very correct, nothing makes me more concerned than the thought of an F150 running a light and making for a lousy Tuesday afternoon.
I have not rebuilt my door frames as of yet, but they are space framed and along with a crushing impact Center the edges of the door mate to a further zone on the body itself to exert energy to the frame of the car and surrounding cab area which based on the weight and assuming it is not a sandwich condition will absorb and push the car, keeping in mind also I have 6 airbags , 4 that are from Lamborghini and two front that are from Porsche.
I build the outer door to match the inner door, not inner to outer.
If that makes sense....  There is plenty of room for the window assembly and includes a crash bar with welded crush inserts.
These cars at best are death traps to say the least, to attempt better, then one has to be willing to spend time, money and effort to achieve what will hopefully be less of a death trap than the other guys.
Nothing is certain, if your number is up then the big guy will be calling one way or another, at that moment is not a good time to wonder if you made the right choices in life or if you treated people fairly, at that time a bad weld or poor design choices will be the least of your concern also.
People need to stand back and look carefully at what they have and start to think about what if? If they think about that never happens around here...  Then may I introduce the concept of lightening and Murphy's law.
Thank you for bringing up this point, it is one of the most significant gaps in these builds.

[Digibeam]

@tallon,
The front assembly I needed to add 5" overall width but the rear assembly is a perfect fit, the rear arms fit with the corvette hub/bearing assembly.
My entire frame is .125 wall and several areas of seamless that and a SBC with the Porsche transaxle OEM seats, reservoirs, body panels, harness, radiators etc and still only a one inch drop in the rear I still have to build the stainless exhaust but even there a few hundred pounds tops with the Gallardo mufflers probably won't drop it much more.
In order to get the drop I need, I severely lose the horizontal alignment of the lower rear arms which tends to bring the wheels inwards more at the top.
Relocating the lower mounts and rotating the upper mounts will provide the geometry and the proper stance for the rear arm assembly on OEM rims.
I am thinking I will make offset parts first and just bolt in place to validate before cutting anything off.

[BigPines]

Looking forward to pics of those backlit buttons. Would you mind sharing the process you used to create them?

[01Lambiero]

Digi:  Between your shop, your skills, and your drive to build your parts and replica, you make the rest of us jealous.  Regarding the strength of your chassis for side impact,  I have found or noticed the lack of any protection for side impact in the door area.  If one realizes that fiberglass and a window regulator do not exactly provide any protection at all.  With so many SUVs and pickups on the roads these days, the height of the bumpers scare me especially when riding at 5.0" ground clearance.  I think that the inner door frame needs a lot more than a 1x1 frame tubing.  Is there enough space outboard of the door glass to incorporate a side guard door beam?  Just thinkin'.  (maybe more hp will get me out of harms way)

Jim

[Tallon]

Mine chassis is higher in the rear too but then doesn't it matter what you got in there?
I still have to shorten my arms anyway and that's the harder part. Did you just remake the arms?

[Digibeam]

Well.... I cut the entire body apart on my build, not getting anywhere with it as everyone is well aware,  I also just got let down on a deal for rear quarters that I had been waiting to purchase.

On another topic,
I have noted an emulation of sorts going on,  my blood type is B+. In case you would like to copy that also....(you know who you are)

I have been finally getting the rest of my 4128sqft shop in order, another few days will see all the work zones finalized.
Pleasantly fellow builder Linlor (Don) dropped by last week but the visit was brief unfortunately, due to 18 family members arriving to stay for several days.(we can catch up on that cold one next time Don)

I have found an issue with the mount positions for the lower arms with the CW plans,   The listed version in practice creates a rake that leaves the rear chassis an inch higher frame-wise, I was initially thinking I had to get shorter springs or less poundage as I drop one inch for every 1000 lbs and I needed one more inch lower.....thinking I had possibly mounted the lower brackets incorrectly, I remeasured everything and they are to spec. But in fact should be mounted higher as the top perch also needs to rotate and have its position altered to keep the formula intact.
Once I have relocated the lower mounts I will post the before and after change which I believe is of vital importance for builders of the chassis.

I also will have an opportunity to pull my engine and transaxle back out as I have an overhead gantry now with a 10k limit in my middle bay along with the hydraulic car lift...
And come to think of it I guess Don is the only person who has seen it already....
I have started back into the carbon fiber projects also, and presently I have a few parts in mid process, to further that, I have some 3d print parts to build and I have finally created the black, back lit buttons with white/green glowing icons.... News and pictures to follow ....
To friends and enemies everywhere....Persevere....
 

[Linlor]

Well said Digibeam.  I agree with everything you have typed.  Your car is already an incredible build on what you have changed up.  I look forward to dropping up soon for a beer and chat.... hopefully in my finished Ferrari 308 replica......

Talk to you soon as I also need to go mow my lawn now....(for real).... haha

Cheers
Don

[BigPines]

I would love to see the frame you settled on and any pointers you have for safety. It has been a concern of mine too. I will likely go with a NAERC chassis but the principals should be the same.

[satinta]

Nice post Digi
Anyone building cars as a hobby has certainly been where your at right now. It's easy to loose heart when parts are damaged or in my case stolen but sometimes you wake up in the morning and realize today is a good day to jump in and start again.
Always look for your updates and tips and I can't wait till it's done!!
Pete

[Digibeam]

Well in saying that,  I haven't had much luck working on my build as I have been waiting on parts, I can't work on my headers as I have no mufflers, can't work on my front hood and cowl area as I have no hood and I am presently looking into getting OEM quarters so it doesn't make a lot of sense to continue reshaping the ones I have.
So, I have been finishing up on Mr Lamboclones CF handle and a few other parts for Tallon as well I have been setting up the rest of the shop area for CF parts and as we bought a new larger 80watt laser I have the older 40 watt to use in the shop now also.
Another entertaining time waster has been trying to find parts that were set aside before the move.
When you get people to help you, it becomes a feeding frenzy of packing and mis direction, things get found in the strangest places along with OEM parts getting tossed in the garbage or mixed in with Christmas wrapping...
In the end I was grateful for assistance but the process cost me, one of the front rims was badly gouged by a length of metal put on the side skirt. Then the car was moved and turned with said metal poking into the spokes of the Hercules rim making a clanged sound and impeding the forward motion, but determination pushed through and they managed to push the car anyways thereby scratching the entire rim.... Another set of rims found their fate when the same person loaded a grinder on a stand into the truck without strapping it in thinking that it should be heavy enough to just stay in place... It tipped over during the trip and landed dead onto yet another otherwise perfect set of GT1 rims and gouged a chunk out of one of those. There by rendering their resale value to nothing. 
It didn't stop there, but in the end approx damage was $7000 and the help cost $1200 cause at the end of the day they wanted paid as it wasn't for the good of their health, guess that's what friends become...
So, in the end here I sit writing this because it's on my mind and as I watch everyone else get her done and think about the methods they invoked to get to where they are, I wonder to myself about getting mine done and the reasons why I have not.
Rome was not built in a day nor are these builds, hast makes waste is a little used term here, yet everyone wants to have their build done tomorrow... Myself included... But that is hardly realistic.
Recently on another thread comments have been made regarding the pride aspect of building a car.
Few people have the time and patience to do just that, we now live in a world full of people that demand instant gratification and heavy reward for mediocrity.
Foundation has been the key to long venture, if you build it well it will survive in the long run, this works in business and this works in fabrication.
I am always entertained by the high class in borrowed shoes approach, 1700 HP dual turbo fuel injected inter cooled half caff decaf no cup.
All in a chopped up 30 year old chassis that had its day 20 years ago.
Nothing against anyone who believes they can build that, to each there own, but the reality check comes quickly when unwilling to invest in proper suspension components or start to use spacers or "looks about right" should work okay...don't want to invest in quality or OEM but they want the top fuel dragster under the hood.
I have been toying with my build for what is coming up on 4 years now, I have been farther along than most then ripped it all out or apart because I felt I was skimping or short changing myself, this is a personal thing but I don't feel I am alone in this area as others have put several years into their build and although it could be deemed as over built, they probably will still keep touching it up for a bit yet....
The point I am getting at is the demand for speed, not just in a logistics manner but in a fabrication manner, time is nothing if it means you survive the next day, the desire to push the project on the road at little to no cost is just an invitation for disaster maybe not personally but maybe to someone else.
The reason I keep pulling my build apart is to incorporate a safer crumple zone or a new gusset array, maybe I over built my engine mounts but I know they will not fracture, they will not break and they will not release my engine transaxle assembly under impact.
I also know what my side impact results are along with front and rear.
I have built the same and improved frame for my car 3 times now, the first was based on the chassis works plans I had purchased, I then added and removed, modified required areas and along with a structural engineer redesigned several key areas, a new chassis was built based on that as the original had too many cut and weld points,
The second chassis was then sent for destructive testing and ... Well it was destroyed.
The chassis I have now was built from the second chassis design and a few improvements.
I am not saying anything against anyone I am just saying what I feel is important to me, and this procedure was important to me.
As I am building this car for the enjoyment of learning and fabricating I continue to find new things to think about and investigate better ways to create the same part with better and stronger results.
Cost is something I have yet to tally but I'm not a drug addict, I don't gamble, never smoked. Don't mind having a few beers mind you, so I maybe use what I have to finance this project because I don't have other vices, this also makes a difference, I am happy to say I have a wife that more than supports my project and has zero issues with my on going learning curve.
Well, if you made it this far then either you find what I have to say as interesting, entertaining or maybe it gets you out of cutting the grass for a little while longer...
My favourite place is this one, sure everyone has something bad to say about someone and I have had my fair share of mud slung at me but those people could also use a look in the mirror and see how dark their own reflection can be while they are thinking about themselves.
This place has been and should be a safe haven for all thoughts and all walks, no one has to agree with everyone it is easy to agree to disagree and move on, just because things are not in your favour doesn't mean you need to publicly lash out, honestly we are not 5 years old and meeting up in the playground at recess gets old fast.
I always look forward to what is happening each day unless a day happens that nothing else does... And that is always a strange day.
I am glad that a person like Chris exists to support our habits good or bad and perseveres our brash and harsh moments by seeing through the pointy words and allows the goodness that we all have to come out and exist in this one place.
This is a debt that can never be repaid other than respecting the place we all come to just be ourselves.
Thank you for your time,  I now must go cut the grass....
 

[Digibeam]

That's good to hear because the forum wouldn't be the same without you.....