Cheburator

We are getting to the point where we are beginning the build of the car's flat floor and rear diffuser. What do you think is the best material?

You may laugh but I have found this material

http://www.metalagencies.com/alumini...ite_panels.htm

Anyone else has any other suggestions? Carbon is out of the question, since it is not cheap... Steel and Aluminium weigh a lot more by the looks of it?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated,

Alex

dr bob

Alex

I fab'd a whole tub with aluminum/cf panels like those. Use good adhesive for the ribs/webs/joints and you should be fine.

Lizard928

Make sure you post up pictures!

My friend is using something similar for his rx7 track car.
I will try to find the name of it again.

Cheburator

So, you are telling me that what I have found is good?

jon928se

if you decide to use this kind of material similar products are

http://www.alucobond.com/alucobond-start.html

or

http://www.alpolic.com/alpolic-intl/product_alpolic.php

Not sure what I would use to glue it together though.

dr bob

Should be fine. Making the connecting pieces seemed to take the most time. You get to connect both sides of the sandwich evenly. Be sure to get the adhesive specs and instructions with the panels. The info I have is almost 30 years old now...

Updated:

The material I used had an aluminum honeycomb with CF wrap, and aluminum skins bonded to the faces for mechanical protection of the CF layers. Came from an aircraft materails supplier who is long out of business. We made the tub by bonding flat sections together with formed connecting pieces. Aluminum flanges were used at the joints, glued together. Since that time, more CF options are available. You can now form the honeycomb structure in a form, and vacuum-bag the CF skins in almost any shape. Curved sections are much more practical and rigid thatn our assembled tub, but adding bulkheads and reinforcing webs will be a separate challenge with compound-curved sections.

Biggest challenge from SCCA tech guys was getting agreement on where the roll hoops needed to attach. They weren't used to having the hoops attach to the upper sections of the tub rather than the floor.

Cheburator

List, I have sourced the material - etalbond - and had a dual 2.5" exhaust made in the meantime. This means that we can actually get on with making the flat floor, which immediately raises the question - what to do with exhaust heat? The headers are ceramic coated, so they would not be an issue, but I think the rest of the system would fry me alive.

The HVAC is gone and the windows have been replaced with lexan ones with sliders. There is no insulation inside the car - just paint Thus I fear for the temperature.

Can people like Carl or Greg Grey chime in and share ideas how to deal with this potential issue.

Paul Dortkamp

I use DEI Floor & Tunnel Shield on my race car. I used a roll of DEI 050503 on the firewall when I had the engine out. Has dropped the cabin temperature appreciably. Floor is still roasting so thinking of doing under my feet and the tunnel near me.

Lizard928

Ceramic coat the whole exhaust!