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45K views 44 replies 13 participants last post by  Drew 
#1 ·
Almost all of my electric drive components (dual Kostov 11", 111X ThunderSky 100Ah, Zilla HV Z1K [searching for an Z2K], charger, BMS ect.) finally arrived after long months of waiting. My plan was to integrate those components in a Mazda RX-8 but I found some alternatives. I'm not really familiar with those kit cars so I would appreciate if someone has some info to share...

Superlite Coupe(SL-C)

Rolling Kit Package: $43,995





 
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#7 ·
I agree, the GTM supercar looks way more versatile and sleek looking. To me, the ultralight is way too busy looking and looks more like a racecar rather than a street legal car. I would much rather roll around in the GTM!
 
#9 ·
Personally i would take the SL-C though not really alot of space by the look of things - but its got a small frontal area and really hugs the ground. And space is something you are going to need alot of!
Before you buy get a test drive and get a feel for the cars. And take a tape measure and a few pieces of paper with measurements of your parts. Do some rough calcs as to what will fit... I did the stupid thing and worked out after i had made the transmission tunnel i could have moved the motor down further.

To me looking at the chassis the GTM looks to have some large open box's which is not good in space frames. This will result in chassis twisting when driven hard.

Really looking forward to this, even if you make my lotus 7 ev look like its a snail... if i ever finish it!
 
#12 ·
I would say the GTM. It looks better, it is half the price and I would bet that there are a lot more out there than the SL-C. Also FF has been around for a while and is a relatively successful company making road cars. I believe RCR mostly makes the cars for racing applications.
 
#13 ·
Yeah, but the problem is that they had in mind that everyone who's building a GTM has a Corvette donor. This is no problem since a normal customer would use almost the whole donor car

You need a lot of things to complete the car. Here's a list:

- Complete front and rear suspension (minus leaf springs and shocks)
- Front and rear hubs, calipers and rotors (outer CV joints on rear)
- Tilt steering column w/stalks
- E-brake handle/cables
- Fuel tanks with pump(s) and flexible lines uncut
- Radiator w/fans and plastic shroud
- Engine and computer
- Exhaust manifolds
- Wiring harness w/engine, throttle control, & ignition sections
- Wheels and tires
- Porsche Transaxle Parts from 1987-1998 2-wheel drive 911 models

And this is no problem for you guys in America, you probably have a lot Corvettes for some reasonable prices. I'm would have to pay a lot of money to use just a few parts from the donor.

Maybe I can get some new parts from my local Chevrolet dealer :confused:
 
#15 ·
I also forgot to point out that there are items on your list that can be removed for an EV setup:


- Fuel tanks with pump(s) and flexible lines uncut
- Radiator w/fans and plastic shroud
- Engine and computer
- Exhaust manifolds
- Wiring harness w/engine, throttle control, & ignition sections

and possibly you could use a much cheaper beefed up VW bug tranny instead of the Porsche transaxle, so this could be removed from the list as well:

- Porsche Transaxle Parts from 1987-1998 2-wheel drive 911 models


All the money for that stuff can now go toward your EV components.
 
#19 ·
I also forgot to point out that there are items on your list that can be removed for an EV setup:


- Fuel tanks with pump(s) and flexible lines uncut
- Radiator w/fans and plastic shroud
- Engine and computer
- Exhaust manifolds
- Wiring harness w/engine, throttle control, & ignition sections

and possibly you could use a much cheaper beefed up VW bug tranny instead of the Porsche transaxle, so this could be removed from the list as well:

- Porsche Transaxle Parts from 1987-1998 2-wheel drive 911 models


All the money for that stuff can now go toward your EV components.
Thank you. I found a supplier of GTM donor parts:

http://www.smcperformance.com/gtm.htm

The whole kit on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fact...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

There are a lot items that we don't need for our EV conversions but I can purchase separate parts.

CroDriver my good friend,

Why not make a Ferrari 355 or 360 or 430!

Or why not a Murcielago?

http://www.extreme-sportscars.com/

They are based in UK.

The 360 and 430 are based on Peugeot 406 coupe...

It would be awesome to see you with an Electric Sportscar that looks like this.....

The Murcielago is based on the MkII MR2 (the model before the MRS spider)

The 360 430 and Murci are VERY CLOSE 99% accurate on the exterior to the real thing..

The Peugoet is FWD however you can customize it with your own rear suspension..
Yeah, those cars look really great but I don't like fakes. I'm 90% sure that I will go with this GTM. :)
 
#16 ·
CroDriver my good friend,

Why not make a Ferrari 355 or 360 or 430!

Or why not a Murcielago?

http://www.extreme-sportscars.com/

They are based in UK.

The 360 and 430 are based on Peugeot 406 coupe...

It would be awesome to see you with an Electric Sportscar that looks like this.....



The Murcielago is based on the MkII MR2 (the model before the MRS spider)

The 360 430 and Murci are VERY CLOSE 99% accurate on the exterior to the real thing..

The Peugoet is FWD however you can customize it with your own rear suspension..
 
#17 ·
That would be a serious head turner. Though i have a feeling it might not go down so well if it looks stock. Possible Mod the shape so its more of an individual car?
I looked at making an extreme 360, though i am not happy with a V6 FWD set up.
How about a chassisworks chassis (DIY job) and a replica body from extreme?

A Peugeot 406 coupe EV would be a cool car, thought about it a few times.

Let us know what you decide, it sounds like there are alot of people who have tossed this idea around.
 
#24 ·
What would be nice is a ground up design for all electric. That way there would be large battery friendly spaces within a tubular space frame. One reason I like the Sunrise is it has a huge battery compartment. I would also like to see some frames made from carbon-graphite tube.
 
#25 ·
I was thinking about the most economical way (cheapest) way to make a tube frame and I was thinking why couldnt you piece by piece cut out part of the unibody chassis and replace it with metal tubes welded in place...It would have a lot of welds but when you were done you would have a hybird-tube-unibody chassis which will likely be lighter weight and stronger than the original... it would look ugly but then again you are covering it with body panels so it wouldnt matter....
 
#28 ·
How about this: construct the battery box from the honeycomb panels suggested earlier, but with no bottom panel. The batteries are grouped and secured on top of another honeycomb panel, which comprises the battery pack. The battery pack is accessed by dropping it out the bottom of the box. When installed, the bottom perimeter of the battery pack floor panel is bolted to the bottom of the sides of the battery box, adding further strength and rigity to it. With sound insulation and carpet added, the top of the battery box honeycomb panel serves as the floor of the passenger compartment. A variety of body designs could then be merely bolted into place on this platform, much as been suggested with Volt variants.
 
#29 ·
The original frame that I had designed was for a friend who was interested in building a fairly high performance kit style car.

Basically what I'd pencilled out was a honeycomb tub in the center with bolt on front and rear space frames.

In the original design the front subframe started at around the dash area and fully enclosed the drivers legs, had front wishbones mounted off it and a front crash structure, then the rear had the engine mounted, which was intended to be a GM Gen4 V8 with a mid rear transaxle as that was easy and convenient to get our hands on at the time.

The original track for the vehicle was in the range of 1600mm with a tyre width of 245 or so, so total vehicle width of 1850+mm and the passenger compartment was approx 1100mm wide, so if you followed a similar pattern then you could have 425 per side available between the front and rear wheels to store batteries. You'd have to climb over them every time you got in or out, but a bit of chequer plate would sort that out if you're fairly mobile :D

That layout left a large amount of space available around the sides of the vehicle for body etc, which could easily be soaked up by batteries hung down the left and right of the passenger compartment.
 
#31 ·
the big problem you're going to find then is designing interfaces, almost all structure on a car is double skinned so it acts as a beam, meaning that you'll have to close each area in a method suitable to path loads in and out of the unibody structure without creating "hot spots" where you have excessive local loading. The other issue is going to be that most of the mass of a unibody structure is actually in the drivers compartment, so if you intend to maintain much of this structure you might end up with minimal weight loss and issues with rigidity.

Its usually very hard to modify somebody elses design, especially radically, and achieve something better than the original.
 
#32 ·
Hey Bowser,

This is not as simple as just welding a few tubes in (well in the end it is) but to lead up to doing that you will need examine suspension geometry and load paths. Should not be beyond anyone who can get there head around Op-Amps and circuit boards but still requires some thought. Look at the Herb Adams book i recommended.

I cant stress enough that doing this must very well planned. I did a mod to a race car to make it electric for my final year project and spent 3-4months doing FEA to find a solution and that was still a lot worse then the original. Not saying you need to do FEA, its an overrated as a tool for anyone but experts (which i am not!).


Drew that sounds like a fairly cool design, i thought about putting side pods on the lotus 7 but rejected it but coming back to it now. Any pics/sketches on a napkin of what you were planning?
 
#33 ·
both with good points..thanks..

So i guess a ground-up tube design will have to be done....

Is it right to assume that having a stock oem chassis to copy from will make it easier to make the tube frame chassis? I say this because all the connection points for suspension, subframes, body panels, etc can all be mapped based on the oem...

I will check out those books however I am thinking I might get the frame made for me...as you both have made clear, there is a lot to keep in mind...safety, geometry, etc...I wonder how much a Porsche 911 tube frame will cost, I have found no where online that makes them...any ideas...
 
#34 ·
As silly as it sounds generating a ground up frame design isn't actually that hard. Essentially all you have to do is keep in mind that you have to be able to follow any load from any wheel to any other wheel without running into dead ends.

There are a number of books on building Seven type chassis such as the Locost or similar which give you a good basic idea and then you can move on from there...

The only real thing to remember is to triangulate EVERYTHING :) The only exception to that being if you integrate the aircraft flooring panels which I linked to above, they are able to take bending and torsioning loads without problems so thats why they're such a great addition around the cockpit area, which unfortunately has to have great big holes in it to accomodate the driver/passenger :D



ftaffy, I only really have hand sketches around which I did a while ago, I might see if I can dig them out and scan them for you if you like. Otherwise I might have a quick crack at some CAD as I'm only working part time at the moment due to injury.

Also, I noticed that you're in Melbourne, if you're interested then I'd love to give you a hand if you want to do a build.
 
#37 ·
Also, I noticed that you're in Melbourne, if you're interested then I'd love to give you a hand if you want to do a build.
My build is currently in a slow down phase due to $$$ and an overseas trip coming up. Also working on the controller when the parts arrive and slowly just finishing some odds and ends.

Once its back running i will be searching for people who feel like a bbq, a few beers and alot wire installation!

If do find those designs please post, i am slowly making my entire car from frame up into solidworks.

Cheers
Taffy
 
#36 · (Edited)
To aid those seeking to find a specific car's hardpoint connections, try talking to a body shop. They have to have all those specs to be able to use hydraulics to pull a car straight after it has been wrecked. This is especially true of dealership body shops, if you want to reframe one of their vehicles with a tubular frame.

If anyone finds a good source of vehicles that have been entered into a CAD piece of software, let us all know. Or if you obtain a hard point spec book, let us know that too!
 
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