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Cordycord's epic tube frame build

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Old Mar 8, 2012 | 01:35 AM
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Default Cordycord's epic tube frame build

How about something COMPLETELY different? How about taking off all the usual stuff... and then remove the UNIBODY including doors, hood, trunk, interior, any of that sissy HVAC stuff and anything that doesn't make the car go, stop or turn?!

Then when you have the essentials just sitting there--nekkid--, you drop on a rigid, light tube frame and a beautiful composite body. I'm doing that now. The running frame complete with NA running gear and stock seats weighs in at 1,117lbs! When the body is complete, we'll hit 1,500lbs without trying.

Last, it will be street legal too.

How would your engine package respond in a 1,500lb car?
Attached Thumbnails Cordycord's epic tube frame build-catfish-2.jpg  
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Old Mar 8, 2012 | 01:49 AM
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Originally Posted by cordycord
How about something COMPLETELY different? How about taking off all the usual stuff... and then remove the UNIBODY including doors, hood, trunk, interior, any of that sissy HVAC stuff and anything that doesn't make the car go, stop or turn?!

Then when you have the essentials just sitting there--nekkid--, you drop on a rigid, light tube frame and a beautiful composite body. I'm doing that now. The running frame complete with NA running gear and stock seats weighs in at 1,117lbs! When the body is complete, we'll hit 1,500lbs without trying.

Last, it will be street legal too.

How would your engine package respond in a 1,500lb car?
Do you have a build thread.
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 02:01 AM
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Originally Posted by Gearhead_318
Do you have a build thread.

http://www.exocars.net/showthread.php?t=11293

I'll have a site up soon. I figure that I'll need to start supporting this site once the car is complete, so I'm just teasing a little now.

What do you think?!
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Old Mar 8, 2012 | 02:18 AM
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I think I like the sound of 1500lbs.
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 12:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Gearhead_318
I think I like the sound of 1500lbs.
At 1,117lbs it chirps the 949 Racing 15x9's in third gear. This is with a stock 1.6 with 177k miles. Light makes right.
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Old Mar 8, 2012 | 02:35 PM
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Default Tube frame exposed...

Here's the little chirper now...this is the first Youtube of the car.

Comments are appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6x9O...ature=youtu.be
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Old Mar 8, 2012 | 03:01 PM
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ssr . .
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 03:06 PM
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goldish bronze is nice
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 03:51 PM
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Is it going to be soooo much fun?
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 04:11 PM
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I don't blame you for your enthusiasm, it looks awesome. I am going to give this build it's own thread, it deserves it. And we're all going to screw up the weight savings thread with our fapfapfapfap comments.

Edit: feel free to suggest a new title.
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 04:21 PM
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OP, you better add some content to this thread....













please?
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 04:24 PM
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Wow, looks cool. Any more details yet? I know this forum, and we are all dying for the deets'
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 07:17 PM
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Default The Catfish

I had no idea that this car would start a new thread. That said, I probably shouldn't have hijacked the original thread with the video.

Even though we're half way through the build, I'll try to fill in some information. This is a car that I've wanted to build for a while, but needed to do some digging before choosing a donor. The design of the car, the sheer number of them and the strong aftermarket make this the perfect car for this type of build.

I worked with Tony Woodford of AWR to strip a tired old 1990 with 177k miles, and to basically re-engineer the car. A frame was built so that it can be dropped over the existing structure, while a flat aluminum sheet covers the entire floor. A diffuser at the back will give this car real ground effects. Anything that's not needed is not included, and anything that needs to be replaced to improve performance was replaced. That said, we've actually made some new parts for ALL Miatas by working on this custom car. I'll show those when they've been perfected.

More pics...

--the donor
--the donor shell
--complete as it sits now, 1,117lbs with stock seats
--Tony Woodford of AWR
--the frame during the early part of the design process

Once we had the basics of the minimalist frame down, we started to design the shell. More on that later.
Attached Thumbnails Cordycord's epic tube frame build-1.jpg   Cordycord's epic tube frame build-1-4-.jpg   Cordycord's epic tube frame build-4-3-.jpg   Cordycord's epic tube frame build-6-3-.jpg   Cordycord's epic tube frame build-252.jpg  

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Old Mar 8, 2012 | 08:04 PM
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Great Scott....
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 09:11 PM
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Attached Thumbnails Cordycord's epic tube frame build-go_on.jpg  
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 09:12 PM
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Do you have any more renderings?
p.s. that looks like Rhino3D
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 09:52 PM
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dear. gawd. you are my hero.
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 10:00 PM
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post #1 made me angry, post #13 made me ***
Old Mar 8, 2012 | 11:34 PM
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Just for my dream's sake, what would it cost to have the test drive chassis built? Obviously without any donor parts.

Everything looks doable to the very skilled average joe until you get to the shock towers, which look very nicely done.
Old Mar 9, 2012 | 01:11 AM
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This is a REAL car. Two mules have been made, and a third is being built as a dedicated race car. I'm really, really pushing to have the bodywork cnc machined this month. The final car WILL be finished this summer, and will put fear in the owners of Porsches and lesser race cars. This is the dream platform for a turbo application. 1,500lbs and 300bhp means 5:1 horsepower ratio, right? Who here is ready for that kind of performance? Giant killa.
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