At 12:25 PM 09/20/1999 -0400, Bowen, Patrick A wrote:
>
>Here is a question, has anyone ever tried to make an aluminum frame for a
>Spitfire?
SNIP
I'll let others answer that, but aluminum frames CAN be done. The Panoz
sports car uses one (actually a Mike Costin design...brother of the Costin
in COSworth). The body is aluminum also...too bad IMO they forgot to leave
out the Ugly...
> While the Spitfire is a light car it is actually a heavy design.
At 1600 - 1800 lbs total?
>As just a guess, you could probably shave more than 500 pounds just by
>switching some major components to aluminum, items such as frame,
>bellhousing, differential casing, tranny casing maybe, suspension components
>such as a-arms, I am sure the list could go on. ...Lotus uses
>it extensively for lightweight cars. Would cost, durability, strength, or
>anything else be an obstacle.
Actually, Pat, until the hydroformed aluminum Elise chassis came along, the
backbone chassis used on most Loti were steel...albeit very lightweight for
its strength. Much of the weight savings came from the (extra thin)
fiberglass bodies used by Lotus.
And FYI the Elise is about 1500 Lbs...about the same as a '60s Lotus Elan.
Atwell "Over the Edge" Haines
'79 Spitfire (at 1835 lbs, the one with all the road-hugging weight)
Succasunna, NJ USA
"A PBS mind in an MTV world."
>
>Pushing the edge,
>Patrick Bowen
>
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