http://speedhunters.com/archive/2010...-progress.aspx

Any feedback is appreciated, I'm new to some of this so take it easy on me My first cage. I'm pretty happy with it, the nascar bars aren't quite aligned as much as I would like, I would have made the top bar bend out more but ran out of time and material and it was pretty decent as it was.

 

Looks great, but have you fitted the seat yet?

PaulC

 

Good to know you're on here! I've been following you project on SH. I was going to offer a suggestion: Have you thought about going as far as the Opera S2k? http://www.modified.com/features/061.../photo_33.html Lots of lightening and additional reenforcement. I think you mentioned something about gussets, but you may have just been talking about the roll cage itself.

 

Thanks Paul, we fitted a Sparco Pro 2000 seat in there and had just enough clearance, may need to recline the seat back slightly but I should be ok.

I'll be doing a lot of similar things as that S2000 did, probably doing more than that to reduce weight, some great ideas there for stiffening up the chassis though, thanks for that. I wonder if a lot of that is due to the fact it has no unibody roof structure..

Carl

 

I asked because in my car, we had to take the harness bar and bend it backwards to give my seat enough room to recline enough for head clearance, and I'm 5'10. You're 6'4 so I can't imagine it's going to be any easier for you there.

Keep us updated!

PaulC

 

I contemplated doing that, but it didnt feel like I needed any room fore/aft so left the harness bar straight. Hopefully I don't have to alter it, but it should be fine.

I'll keep you guys posted on the car as I build it, just need more time in the day!

 

Hey Carl,

Like the progress... Car looks like it'll be pretty serious. I can't seem to post in your speed hunters page but I wanted to answer a questions that you mentioned as you were going along. You asked something if anyone had numbers on heat differences in engine bay paint colors:

Short version: Color matters when we're dealing with visible light but not with radiant energy.

Long version: when dealing with radiant heat transfer you have two specs to be aware of: reflectivity and emissivity. (By definition R+E=1.0.) The more reflective a material the more it won't accept heat, but also the harder time it has shedding heat of its own. Highly emmissive surfaces both absorb and dump heat easily. The material properties and surface finish here matter, color pretty much doesn't. For example many painted surfaces are in the 0.90 range for emissivity. Hell, my PE reference lists laquer paint (white or black) as the same number, 0.95 IIRC). For comparison polished aluminum is something like a 0.05. There's a reason so many heat shields use foil as the outermost layer. The engine bay is still a relatively closed box for radiant energy to go bouncing around in so you end up mostly choosing what absorbs less.

Verdict: paint it whatever color you want and use exhaust wrap to help transport the heat out of the engine bay in the first place.

-Joel

PS Where are you in Vancouver? I'm working with a vendor in Port Coquitlam so I'm up your way fairly regularly.

 

Thanks for the tips Joel. I just picked up some epoxy primer to start painting the car this weekend, I think I'll just epoxy prime the whole car, paint it white, and do other things such as wrapping the headers to bring the heat down.

I'm in North Vancouver, how often do you come up this way?

 

Joel, what ever happened with the big brake kit? I'm looking for some options for my car and yours is up there for sure, I debated trying to figure it out for myself but looks like you did all that hard work