I like the BRG color.

BRG good. Black awesome.

Tomorrow I'll show my favorite--white. White is a very difficult color for car design, IMO. While a white paint job is better at hiding minor dirt and dust than a dark paint job, it makes the body design stand out. And bad designs stick out like a sore thumb in white.

Conversely, some car designs can look good in a dark color, but just can't pull off white.

White with red rendering
 

And here it is...

I think white needs to be coupled with Mazda blue wheels and frame as the ultimate racing colors for the CF. ;)

Do not like the white. The black even less. I think a subdued orange, a bright green or BRG would suit it best.

Choice is what keeps PPG in business...

True. I think a copper/gold, in keeping with the catfish theme, would work well.

Needs a passenger seat and a low blowjob friendly center console.

This might be an option... ;)

looks awesome, not really feeling the catfish name

not get off the computer and back in the shop so we can seem some new progress pics.

Gotta see if we can get a steering wheel shifter or something. :rofl:

Black and tan! Looks good. Now more nakid pictures. Of the car.

"Catfish" will probably be shortened to CF16, CF18, and you can tell all your friends that "CF" stands for "Carbon Fiber". :)

I just had surgery--I won't be doing any serious development personally with the car for the next three weeks, although we should be starting on some of the body panels this week. They'll be cnc-cut in a HUGE machine that used to belong to NASA. Schweet.

I wish you a speedy recovery. I hope it was nothing too serious....not that any surgery is not serious. take your time and get well soon.

+1 to above. Speedy recovery above all else.

...and if you have time, pics of body panel production!!!

I'm not fixing up any bodywork yet, except the one in the picture. :)

Eww, herniated disk? Weak sauce :/

I agree, maybe a catfish logo would suit the interior more than the name.

Ok these are awesome... when will they become available for purchase?

Just got a batch this week by air;

M5, M6, 1/4-20 in Chrome, Silver, Black, Blue, Gold or Red. I'll take some pictures tomorrow. Not sure If I should show you guys the cnc-machined throttle body yet or not...

As for the "Catfish" name, I'm not a big fan either. Here's the deal--the car was drawn using a picture of a catfish for inspiration. It IS a Catfish. I can't call it a "Viper" or "Really Fast Bird" or the "SRTXTRX", because that's not what it is. So for now, it's the CF/CFR and the engine size designation.

It will always have the tie in to "catfish". And that's good, because there will always be the guy who says "the front looks like an Aston", or "the tail looks like a Z4", or "that's a lot like a Miata". I do that too. And anyway, Miata drivers don't drive a car for its name.

Today's pictures
 

I won't have much to show on the car until Saturday, but I shot a few pictures from the home garage.

Included are the new HeadLites LED windscreen screws that were made mainly for motorcycles, but could be used as accents or tell-tale lighting on cars. For example, they could be mounted above and wired into a toggle to show if it's on or off.

The black light is an M6 license plate screw.

AE101 ITB's with ill-fitting horns. They've been completely disassembled, cleaned, and the bodies powder coated and the silver parts zinc plated. Just gotta figure out where to put 'em.

SLA rear view mirror--This is a stereolithographic sample of our rear view mirror. The design was created in a CAD program, was "drawn" out in a 3D stereo machine as a sample, and will be used a buck for a mold. It can then be made in carbon, fiberglass, casting, etceteras.

Forgot the ITB's
 

Don't know if it's okay to post ITB's on a turbo forum... :)

It's ok if you like to live on the edge.

I personally like IRTB's.

What did those come off of? Do i see four knock sensors? ITB noob.

Im really diggin the white with black and tan interior. Is the CATFISH emblem going to look like that in the final product? I vote for a lil smaller. Or maybe in the door panel.

Wish you the best in recovery. Hope you stashed some of those painkillers from yourself. ;)

Did you mean fuel injectors instead of knock sensors by any chance?

The ITB's came off the ground at the 949 Racing garage sale, cheap. But they needed LOTS of work. Pinch a penny, spend a dollar.

I think they originally came off a Japan Domestic Market Toyota Levin, AKA "Black Top" for the black cover they had over the throttle bodies. There are also some larger I.D. "Silver Tops", but they don't seem as preferable.

The "sensors" you see are probably the fuel injectors--tan tops, just like NA Miata.

Finally, the "Catfish" emblem is going away. If anything takes its place, it will be "CF" or "CFR" followed by the engine size.

I was looking at the pic from my phone. They look like little round knock sens:bowrofl:ors.

boom.

https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/a...e-body-adapter

now I need to know your secret. how do you keep your hands so manicured working on cars all the time. I must be doing it wrong because despite cleaning with the best hand cleaner I know of my hands always look... well used. impressive

the parts look amazing and i cant wait to see your next set.

EXACTLY. This car is retro-modern, so injected ITB's to take the place of independent carburetors seems fitting. Plus you can't beat the sound. :)

HeadLites
 

These new HeadLites come two different ways--one has a side hole milled in it so that the light can pass through the thickness of a windscreen and light it up, or any type of logo, sticker, or etching it might have.

For cars, I want to use these as indicator lights for toggle switches that aren't lit. This could include everything from the turn signal indicator, to the power toggle for your start switch. I think if used properly they could look pretty cool.

Hand cleaner, cooking oil and dish washliquid, use the oil first, then the dish wash detergent.

Best, gentlest, cheapest cleaner ever!!!

Unfortunately most of my time is on a keyboard. Dirt/grime on Saturday! You also might have noticed the nitrile gloves in the background of one of the pictures. That helps....

so im guessing its ok to put up some of my shity photoshop colour changes.

Sadly I lose too much quality going to a nice dark purple so I wont post but I think it is the colour I would have it in. that or the copperish orange ive posted.

I've always liked that Laguna Seca Blue on the Bimmer's. The CF would take nicely to it, I suspect.

so something more like this?

I think that's as close as you can get without using a high-dollar rendering program. It will be fun to experiment in real life. :)

tow vehicle
 

Every track car needs a cool tow vehicle, right? We're putting together a 1977 Chevy Blazer with a 350 tbi and 700h trans installed. No, not enough muscle to pull a race team trailer, but more than enough for the CF.

How a re-spray turned into a body-off restoration, I will never know. BTW, you can see mule #2 peeking out from behind the Blazer engine in picture #1.

You, sir, do ---- right.

Thank you sir!

It's got what no 1977 Blazer ever had: a 350ci TBI (Throttle Body Injection) engine with a T700 four speed transmission (not three speed). Injection will add 50hp and about +10mpg, while making the car easy to start.

The body got treated to all new paint and mostly new body panels. New panels are actually much cheaper than trying to fix the old ones. The bottom paint is like a hard bed liner and prevents rust. We mixed in some glass microspheres in with the paint, which acts as a thermal barrier. The interior will get full soundproofing, and everything is pretty much new. I can't imagine how much fun we'll have taking this down to the beach with our four and six year old boys. :)

Any likelihood of a coupe version? I realize there will be a weight penalty, but as sick as this thing looks now, leads me to believe it could be better than a ginetta g50.. or whatever the heck the new one is

hard top
 

I'm just trying to get past this week. The first step is the base car. We'll then take the interior from Lola T-70 style race interior (lightweight aluminum dimple die panels) to a more complete, road-going interior seen in the renderings. We'll probably have four rollbar options (single hoop, double hoop, single cage, double cage) which will keep us busy. The next step after that is a proper windscreen. By "proper", I mean it's not the plexiglass knuckle protector in the renderings, but still would not be tall. At all.

THEN maybe we can talk about a top...

This being mt.net, I have one thing to say.

Megasquirt that ----.

body build
 

Long time no post. It looks like in the next 10-14 days the bodywork will be made. Once upon a time this meant hammering steel or aluminum over wooden and leather bucks. No longer. Here's the process:

a) Female master--A cnc machine once owned by NASA will machine out each individual part in female. Another option would be to machine the whole car in male, set up wax sheet partitions for body panels and make a female part. Our method is a bit more complex, but should yield a better part.

b) Male plug--The female master will be sanded, epoxied and prepared to make a part. This part will become the male plug. The resulting part can be pulled from the master and put directly on the car. This is where we do fitment, final changes to the shape, and clean the male plug up to perfection.

This is an important step--the bodywork and the frame are basically two different software files. They've been combined so we can see where the bodywork is supposed to go around. As we didn't have a Miata engine drawing to drop in the frame file, we had to take general dimension. In other words, we have clearance of as little as 1/2" for some critical parts, and WE DON'T KNOW yet if they really will fit! Stressful? You bet! This is the MOST EXPENSIVE part of the build, and to screw up means a lot of money lost.

c) Final mold--The male plug will be used to make the final molds. Many of the molds will require 2 and 3 pieces to make one body part, as otherwise some of the body curves would lock a part in the mold. Not good. Did I mention EXPENSIVE?

Pictures to come...

so what your saying is no v8 swaps without bodywork modification...

I want one that makes this sound:

hopefully my business starts to pickup (early days) and I can start saving for your kit.

If you want a v8 kit car you have tons of options so personally I don't think that should be a priority here. That said, if the v8 can fit in the Miata I would think you should be able to make it fit in a car based on the miata. I'm sure a crafty person could make it fit but it is all speculation at this point.

I don't think many people will spend a crap load of money on a car like this but I bet people would spend a moderate amount of money to buy a tube frame that a DIY guy could assemble in a garage and transplant miata parts on to and have a working, super light weight car. they they could upgrade items as they fit going forward. to reduce expense I would use stock miata pretty much everything, including body panels and use Carbon fiber or fiberglass to mold rear fenders or any body part that is not easily removed from the tub. Perhaps the catfish frame can be built to accommodate either by adding or subtracting or moving a couple pieces.

I don't know what the weight would be but I can only assume people would get very excited about loosing 500 pounds and have a car that looks stock from a distance. I would get in line right away for this and I think others would too. it would be sooo sweet, like a mini GT1 car on a budget and no one offers anything like this that I know of.

I would like a v8 for the sound of the one posted about and the reliable power with great torque curve...

the v8 might not fit in the bodywork as cordy stated above clearance was as little as 1/2" in places.

the reason I want this kit car is I like it.

the v8 isnt a priority but it would be fricken awesome to have that much hp in something so light

yeah i get it, and you are right, a v8 in a light body is always a good idea, just sayin, plenty of competition. a commercially available tube frame to fit a stock looking body would really be a new concept and open doors for the diy track guy. who knows perhaps I can just get him to make me one.

The new Porsche 911S has 400HP and weighs a svelte 3,075lbs. Power to weight 7.6:1

The Catfish with a nice low psi turbo will give 225hp at 1,500lbs. Power to weight 6.66:1

As you all know, this is the number of "The Beast", and this car will be a BEAST to drive. :) Porsche has spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing brakes, suspension and electronic devices to make a bad driver better. The Catfish has NONE of this. It will be a 'driver's car', and reward those with talent one of the most fun experiences out there. That's what we're shooting for.

That said, we've already fit an LS2 V8 into our frame. Unlike the Miata, we were able to change the firewall shape and allow for the width of the larger transmission via the tube frame.

A little creativity should get 'er done, but 400hp in a car weighing an estimated 1,800-1,900lbs with an 89" wheelbase will be a crazy drive.

Will you take a check? :P

can you ball park estimate the difference in weight between a stock stripped Miata tub with all body work and the catfish with tube frame, w/ tunnel , floor, fire wall, bodywork?

from your previous post, I'm guessing it would be in the range 300- 400 lbs lighter than a miata, that sound about right?

A v8 in something like this is just plain excessive.
I mean seriously, where do you draw the line? lol
Might as well get one of these too:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1335728009

Loving the progress of this thread though, its always nice to see someone who has a plan and knows how to execute it go about their business: every update is full of win.

Only if it's post-dated and from a Nigerian bank. :)

I frankly still don't know what this car will cost, but I'm doing everything I can to offer a base car that's affordable. It's really hard to do when considering the cost and expense of starting from scratch with a new concept, a new frame, and basically new everything. It all needs to be documented, tested, and essentially created from zero, but within a set framework. It ain't easy to do it right.

The target weight of 1,500lbs will be with racing seats and without the extra trappings. A full cage will take the weight up, along with fire suppression and other requirements of a race car. Then again, other parts may come out, like the passenger seat. If I remember, stock Miata weight is 2,100 - 2,350lbs, so I think people could see a minimum weight drop of 500-600lbs, or two football players.

Included is Mule #1 with the LS2. Frankly the V8 would be crazy, but for some "crazy" is just right.

omg

I am speechless. LS2 v8 in a 1500lb car.

Unless it's a Hartley V8 the weight will creep up to 1,800 - 1,900lbs, so you'll need all that extra horsepower to push that heavy car around.:)

BUT, the fact you mocked one up and adjusted to suit must mean some crazy still leaves here right? :)

We cater to "crazy".

That could be your business' motto. Or signature, whatever.

dear god cordy the way you think is amazing.

cmon money....

I'm a little bit crazy for starting this project in the first place...

Purely out of curiosity, I wonder what one of these would weigh with a Hayabusa motor?