I think I will be using fiberglass (I'm not sure what E-glass and S-Glass are?) and probably not vacuum bagging it. I'm thinking 2 layers at least inside and out, and yes mostly a monocoque structure with gusseted mounting points for a subframe in the front to hold the suspension and provide a crumple structure. The rear may have a very minimal subframe that cradles the back of the car. I'm thinking the rear suspension will be a double trailing arm, and a lateral link for side loads. The lateral links could be inside of the cross member on the cradle. I left a space in the battery cell bays in the floor for this.
I will be learning as I go, especially with the the fiberglass. I'm following 3-wheeler's lead by using waterproof wood glue rather than epoxy. Fiberglassing all over the inside of the hood area, and the inside of the battery cell bays and the inside of the car will be particularly interesting. I may well have to build various rails out of foam to hold the hold thing on it's sides and upside down, etc. and maybe even a scaffolding? I have to leave some areas uncovered until things like the suspension get designed and installed and then fiberglass those areas.
Here's some pictures of today's progress:
I added 6 more layers; minus two pieces that I have not cut yet. This happened because I was trying to pack pieces as efficiently as possible, and two pieces are on a sheet that is 7 ahead in the sequence... I'll buy more foam as soon as I can (I'm waiting to be paid) and I'll cut that far and then keep gluing. In the meantime, I need to help my brother finish rebuilding his bulkhead AND there is the small matter of emptying out my little 1 car garage to make space to build more that 3 feet of CarBEN -- otherwise it will be trapped on my screen porch...
The third picture is taken with the main piece "nose down" so the the additional pieces are on top and the dowel rods can be left in.
I also put together the pieces of the hood so far, but the final assembly of that will have to wait until the hood opening gets fully formed on the car. The hood doesn't have alignment pins, so it has to be done by fitting it. Next time I'll put in the alignment pin holes.
The main piece I've glued together is amazingly light and strong -- it will get significantly lighter after the shaping is done, though it will probably be less rigid. I think it weighs less than 8 pounds? I'll try to weight it tomorrow, as will as get a better picture. The fiberglass will obviously add both weight and strength.
This is going to be a lot of fun!