T-100 belly pan...

[freebeard]

Revamped the support structure fer the rear wheel strakes. All wood supports have been removed.

Grumpy Cat says good.

[BamZipPow]

Gap cover is completed. I reused the Coroplast piece fer now.

[aerohead]

Sweet! And won't lead to tooth decay.

[BamZipPow]

I think I should be able to make a single 4'x8' sheet of aluminum diamond plate work fer the main belly pan. The main belly pan is about 5' square. Cut the sheet into a 5' and 3' sections. Cut the 4'x5' section in half so I have two 2'x5' sections. Cut the 3'x4' section into two 1'x2.5' sections. Put the two smaller pieces in the middle and the two bigger pieces to the outside. Use two slotted angles to hold them together (attachment points to the crossbeams) and aluminum angle to brace them lengthwise. With this setup, I can fully disassemble it in the side of the road if it ever came to that and carry it in the truck bed or inside of Dark Aero.

I'll have to measure exact lengths to make sure of my estimations. Estimated costs fer the main belly pan will be close to $200 in materials.

[BamZipPow]

Finally got a chance to do my calculations...

Main belly pan
63.75" long
63 3/8" wide
+2.5" for width to account for side skirt studs
65.875" width total

48" wide x 96" long aluminum diamond plate sheet 1/8" thick

96" - 63.75 = 32.25 - 0.25" kerf = one panel at 32" x 48" and two panels at 63.75" long x 23.875" wide (48" / 2 = 24" - 0.25 kerf = 23.875" x 2 = 47.75")
65.875" - 47.75" = 18.125" wide x 32" long panels (48" - 36.25" + 0.25" kerf = 36.5" = 11.5" x 32" scrap left over)

Frame and stiffner support beams
2 slotted angle 1.25" x 72" (East/West) cut to width of crossbeams
3 aluminum 1" x 1" x 1/8" angle x 72" (North/South) cut to 63.5"

As I think about this, I may have to eventually redesign my crossbeams and how the engine bay belly pan attaches to the front crossbeam. If I rebuild the crossbeams with rubber attachment points to the truck frame, this will allow fer torsional flexing without damaging the crossbeams. I might be able to build the flex joints from conveyor belt material by stacking layers and bolting them together.

I'm also thinking about painting the inside part of the belly pan that runs along the exhaust with some high heat black paint to minimize the amount of heat being reflected back to the floorboard.

[teoman]

Looks like you have a lot of storage space down there...

If you decide to do water injection you have a perfect place to hide the tank.

Or if you do an alternator delete you have space to hide the deep cycle batteries.

[freebeard]

96" - 63.75 = 32.25 - 0.25" kerf = one panel at 32" x 48" and two panels at 63.75" long x 23.875" wide (48" / 2 = 24" - 0.25 kerf = 23.875" x 2 = 47.75")
65.875" - 47.75" = 18.125" wide x 32" long panels (48" - 36.25" + 0.25" kerf = 36.5" = 11.5" x 32" scrap left over)

Needs a picture, else punctuation. How do you put a 1/4" kerf in 1/8" plate?

Wouldn't it be more to the point to make the floorboard reflective?

[BamZipPow]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Needs a picture, else punctuation. How do you put a 1/4" kerf in 1/8" plate?

Wouldn't it be more to the point to make the floorboard reflective?

I have made allowances fer the width of the saw blade in my measurements. If not, then my cut panels will be shorter than they should be.

Basically I'm taking a 4'x8' sheet and making it fit in a measurement of 63.75" x 65.875". Cutting the 96" length into two pieces so I have a 63.75" x 48" panel and a 32.25" x 48" panel except that the width of the saw blade is estimated to be up to 0.25". This makes the 32.25" x 48" piece down to 32" x 48".

Taking the 63.75" x 48" piece and cutting it in half so it becomes two pieces of 63.75" x 24". I have to account fer the width of the saw blade again so each piece is diminished by 0.125" each which makes each piece 63.75" x 23.875". The width of the panels combined is now 47.75" wide. I need to fill in the gap between the two panels to make it to 65.875" wide so that will be constructed from the 32" x 48" piece. 65.875 - 47.75" = 18.125" required.

Since the remaining scrap piece is 32" x 48", I need to keep the 32" side to make the length of 63.75" and cut the 48" side into 2 pieces so it will fit into the remaining gap between the two bigger panels. So 48" / 2 = 24" - 0.25" = 23.1875" each. But cutting the 24" panel into two pieces first would require me to cut it again to 18.125" each with a smaller pieces leftover. So I will cut 18.125" off of the 48" panel which leaves me with 29.875" - 0.25" = 29.625". I will cut 18.125" off of this panel which leaves me with 11.25" - 0.25" = 11" x 32" panel leftover.

The two 18.125" x 32 panels are then fitted in between the two 65.75" x 23.875" panels. The slotted angle will hold the big panels to the outside and the two smaller panels to the inside. The aluminum angle will be fastened to keep the panels flat.

Keeping the floor reflective means more heat building up on the floorboard. If the aluminum diamond plate absorbs the heat, it can be dissipated into the air flowing underneath the panel and the road.

[gumby79]

Wow what a ride ....almost 5 years of R&D to this point.
Dam troll glad he went away
In post #18 pic #4
I noticed the doubled up hinges. And was thinking this would have the same effect as a Panhard Bar with too much angle, making it move forward and backward as the suspension cycles putting stress on the fixed front mount.. Causing causing the failure in post#21. In post #25 pic#2 the triple hinges is a nice solution.
Do you have any pictures of the flow visualization patterns on the belly, boat tail?
---
Hears a way not to have to wait for mother nature to make the marks.

Velox Motorsports Diffuser flow Visualization Testing
They used China white clay in water to make the juice .

Was there much of a difference between running the rear diffuser at 2° Vs 10°? Or was the angle change to better facilitate the boat tail trailer?

Keep on keeping on. I like the aluminum.

[freebeard]

So the kerf wasn't to join two pieces. Okay.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hidd...ts+and+the+law