Re: Body on Frame or Unibody better platform?
That's my point... the solid gold Mammoth Car was completely implausible, it was out of character for the series as everything else was totally possible from an engineering aspect.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Bench Racing → Body on Frame or Unibody better platform?
That's my point... the solid gold Mammoth Car was completely implausible, it was out of character for the series as everything else was totally possible from an engineering aspect.
Two words...
Damnation Alley
All it takes to hold that thing back is a half block??
Is it a "Unibody" or a full frame?
Second coolest thread ever!
That said, after watching the twin VR6 engine video... I'm jonesin' to cram another SHO engine in the trunk of the Taurus.
Adding to my notes to make the rear of the cage easily reversable for future mods
LOL Scott... there's a reason this thread is in the "Bench Racing" forum... we'll be lucky to have the Taurasarus ready to compete by next year with the original drivetrain, much less adding a second.
That said... a few extra tabs and braces on rollcage... hmmm... maybe I'll send over an extra subframe for you to look at.
krek wrote:Spent a couple of hours scraping sound deadener out of the SHO today in preparation of the cage installation and we diluted the boredom by dreaming what could be done with the DOHC Yamaha V6.
Assuming one wanted to build a mid-engined vehicle using a fwd power train (on a Lemons budget), would one prefer to start with a unibody or body-on-frame donor?
Uni is lighter, but a full frame car doesn't use the body as a stressed structural member...so you can cut the roof off to build the cage and weld it back on. Very convenient. If you can, stay away from leaf springs...
done well and within a reasonable amount of time, many unibody cars will put up with decapitation and re-capitation with little to no ill effects.
my civic roadster has been missing its roof for almost a decade, and all the doors still work.
so far as the OP's question...it depends on what you are trying to do. i'd lean towards uni-body, since most body-on-frame vehicles don't really have enough space between the rails to fit a FWD drivetrain. this necessitates a back half'd frame, and once you are building new frame rails, you've lost whatever benefit the b-o-f gave you.
besides, you can always put new frame rails in a uni-body car.
this:
went here:
to make this:
If you weld the doors shut and/or add bracing, you can 'cap a unibody car....but with a full frame you can build a running chassis and then "drape" the body over top....very simple and no "ship in a bottle" welding.
If you weld the doors shut and/or add bracing, you can 'cap a unibody car....but with a full frame you can build a running chassis and then "drape" the body over top....very simple and no "ship in a bottle" welding.
let me repeat:
my 82 civic lost its head almost ten years ago; and after a few thousand miles and sitting outside for most of that time, all the doors still work as expected.
the only bracing i added was two tubes running the length of the tunnel:
(and that c-pillar bar in the foreground, which doesn't really do anything, we've found...and since we've pulled the left tunnel bar for seat clearance....it doesn't seem to do much either)
if this car can put up with almost a decade of this kind of treatment, i'm sure your uni-body car can put up with a weekend's worth of sitting on jack stands.
besides, it how all the dirt oval (full stock and mini stock) guys around here do their cages: cut the pillars, weld in the cage, weld up the pillars.
our MR2 is roofless and none the worse for wear. the cage provides a lot of structural rigidity. more than makes up for losing the roof, esp something flimsy like a t-top.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Bench Racing → Body on Frame or Unibody better platform?