Post by F3W on Jan 5, 2009 15:18:48 GMT -5
I wanted to share a little information about building a possible FWD RT kit or work with anyone on this site who has CAD knowledge...I have read David Ewing's design concept and wanted to touch on the subject a little...as we all know many of us would love to design and build a kit to help others enter the RT community...as many of these dreams do forgo to la la land, I am certain with a community investment this adventure could become a reality.
David's ideal was to build a FWD kit that would accept many different engine/trans options...while this is feasible, it would require many different frame configurations that would be very costly...I don't know anyone in this economy that has a spare $100K sitting around to make that kind of investment...I believe that a nominal investment of around $4K-6K could easily build both a jig and a concept vehicle for testing(minus the body), that is with no labor expense...after all, this would be an initial investment that I could supply the labor on and re-coop my investment on a later date...a jig would be required to build many frames of the same design but yet accept many different engine/trans options...I also feel that this same jig could be copied and shared with other members who have the knowledge to build an RT to the required kit form...this jig would allow people from all over the country to have access to an RT that would be affordable in many different kit forms.
I will start first by explaining how this one frame design could make it possible to build such a universal design...I will break this down into chassis, power train options and body and interior.
The frame design is one that will accept many different engine/trans configurations...these power plants vary from a gas sipping 63hp EFI all the way up to over 200hp!...this makes for a very flexible platform that will be to the buyers discretion on what kind of performance he wants from his RT...below is a link that will show all the different power options that this one platform could provide:
www.clubprotege.com/wil/tech/b-seriesengineswapfaq.htm
The info on the link above is very detailed but does not show the Ford Escort engine as an option...this power train will also fit with minor engine mount options as people have done this swap before...if having a V6 floats your boat, this as well could be easily swapped into this same platform...so you can see that this is a viable chassis with lots of flexibility for many different budgets...a FWD donor vehicle would provide all the electrical, gauges, steering and heating and A/C if wanted...basically it would provide 60% of the complete RT...the other 40% would be provided by the RT kit...this would include the frame, glass, body and interior components necessary to complete a unique RT that would be personalized by the buyer.
The exterior body would require a substantial amount of labor and cash and lots of room to build and design...my guess to build 2 bodies with interior with just material, no labor would be an investment somewhere around $4K...the body itself could be built and designed to have 2 completely different looks...this design would be voted upon by the core group of builders as well as the viewers to come up with 2 RT's that take the popular vote...the bodies glass would be from a vehicle that is popular to support the supply...the doors I was thinking would be gullwing in design due to the fact that it allows for tight spot parking and still be able to exit the vehicle...not to mention that the gullwing look makes it look more expensive and exotic...I also feel that the doors should have windows that function...the interior trim pieces can be designed to cover the remaining exposed frame pieces to have a complete professional look and can be covered in several different upholstery finishes to the buyers request...say offer 2 color options with a leather up grade...as for the dash, it would be built with a a hole big enough to house all the dash options according to the power train the buyer chooses...this would also come with a final trim piece that would finish off the surrounding area of the IP cluster...or we could utilize the dash from the donor vehicle that would also provide the safety air bags...now how many kits cars out there have air bags?...none that I know of...this feature alone would attract many buyers due to the increased safety that the RT would provide.
As you can see, this concept is feasible with the the right resources and financing...and I am sure there would be many other things to discuss before any building begins.
I would like anyone who would be interested in getting involved to reply to this thread...if you have CAD skills or can work with fiberglass, send me a PM...or if you have any suggestion, feel free to express yourself...if the T-Rex group can get their design and product to market...why can't we?...I am a single guy with just about any kind of fabrication tool you can imagine...I have a lot of time and am very motivated to helping others achieve their dreams...I am not here to profit off anyone...I would just like to work with a team of serious minded people with the same goal...to build a cost effective RT that doesn't drain the bank...to guess how much the kit would cost would be hard to say...I would say that would be up to the design of the final product.
Kits could be available in several ways:
Complete RT minus power train and rear tire assembly, builder installs his/her power option.
Chassis only would allow buyer to complete his/her RT and could drive it without body components.
Body could be bought at a different date and installed later
Interior could also be bought separately or the buyer could make his/her own.
So you can see how versatile this kit could be for someone who has a small budget and can only afford different stages...this process itself could make building and assembly of your own RT fun and challenging.
Even if I get no response from this thread, I had a lot of fun getting some ideals down for all to view.
Thanks for read 'n
Dave
David's ideal was to build a FWD kit that would accept many different engine/trans options...while this is feasible, it would require many different frame configurations that would be very costly...I don't know anyone in this economy that has a spare $100K sitting around to make that kind of investment...I believe that a nominal investment of around $4K-6K could easily build both a jig and a concept vehicle for testing(minus the body), that is with no labor expense...after all, this would be an initial investment that I could supply the labor on and re-coop my investment on a later date...a jig would be required to build many frames of the same design but yet accept many different engine/trans options...I also feel that this same jig could be copied and shared with other members who have the knowledge to build an RT to the required kit form...this jig would allow people from all over the country to have access to an RT that would be affordable in many different kit forms.
I will start first by explaining how this one frame design could make it possible to build such a universal design...I will break this down into chassis, power train options and body and interior.
The frame design is one that will accept many different engine/trans configurations...these power plants vary from a gas sipping 63hp EFI all the way up to over 200hp!...this makes for a very flexible platform that will be to the buyers discretion on what kind of performance he wants from his RT...below is a link that will show all the different power options that this one platform could provide:
www.clubprotege.com/wil/tech/b-seriesengineswapfaq.htm
The info on the link above is very detailed but does not show the Ford Escort engine as an option...this power train will also fit with minor engine mount options as people have done this swap before...if having a V6 floats your boat, this as well could be easily swapped into this same platform...so you can see that this is a viable chassis with lots of flexibility for many different budgets...a FWD donor vehicle would provide all the electrical, gauges, steering and heating and A/C if wanted...basically it would provide 60% of the complete RT...the other 40% would be provided by the RT kit...this would include the frame, glass, body and interior components necessary to complete a unique RT that would be personalized by the buyer.
The exterior body would require a substantial amount of labor and cash and lots of room to build and design...my guess to build 2 bodies with interior with just material, no labor would be an investment somewhere around $4K...the body itself could be built and designed to have 2 completely different looks...this design would be voted upon by the core group of builders as well as the viewers to come up with 2 RT's that take the popular vote...the bodies glass would be from a vehicle that is popular to support the supply...the doors I was thinking would be gullwing in design due to the fact that it allows for tight spot parking and still be able to exit the vehicle...not to mention that the gullwing look makes it look more expensive and exotic...I also feel that the doors should have windows that function...the interior trim pieces can be designed to cover the remaining exposed frame pieces to have a complete professional look and can be covered in several different upholstery finishes to the buyers request...say offer 2 color options with a leather up grade...as for the dash, it would be built with a a hole big enough to house all the dash options according to the power train the buyer chooses...this would also come with a final trim piece that would finish off the surrounding area of the IP cluster...or we could utilize the dash from the donor vehicle that would also provide the safety air bags...now how many kits cars out there have air bags?...none that I know of...this feature alone would attract many buyers due to the increased safety that the RT would provide.
As you can see, this concept is feasible with the the right resources and financing...and I am sure there would be many other things to discuss before any building begins.
I would like anyone who would be interested in getting involved to reply to this thread...if you have CAD skills or can work with fiberglass, send me a PM...or if you have any suggestion, feel free to express yourself...if the T-Rex group can get their design and product to market...why can't we?...I am a single guy with just about any kind of fabrication tool you can imagine...I have a lot of time and am very motivated to helping others achieve their dreams...I am not here to profit off anyone...I would just like to work with a team of serious minded people with the same goal...to build a cost effective RT that doesn't drain the bank...to guess how much the kit would cost would be hard to say...I would say that would be up to the design of the final product.
Kits could be available in several ways:
Complete RT minus power train and rear tire assembly, builder installs his/her power option.
Chassis only would allow buyer to complete his/her RT and could drive it without body components.
Body could be bought at a different date and installed later
Interior could also be bought separately or the buyer could make his/her own.
So you can see how versatile this kit could be for someone who has a small budget and can only afford different stages...this process itself could make building and assembly of your own RT fun and challenging.
Even if I get no response from this thread, I had a lot of fun getting some ideals down for all to view.
Thanks for read 'n
Dave
