Interesting project. I'd like to offer a few observations.
- While there's nothing wrong with wanting a bulletproof build, I think you're a little too concerned about a Carrington event. In the Youtube video below, Richard Hammond of Top Gear parked a car inside a Tesla Coil area, and the car was zapped directly for several minutes. Afterwards, he started it up and drove away. That will be far more intense than what the Sun is going to expose us to.
- On the interior being bubbled up, that would be heat damage. Some infrared blocking tint on all the glass including the windshield will help with that while also making the car interior a lot more comfortable. But, since you pitched it all anyway, the link below shows a mid-size pickup dash made of carbon fiber. I'm probably going to use one like it on my own project, and they make several different designs. These are meant for race cars so they are actual carbon fiber and not overlays.
https://www.fiberwerx.com/collection...11631156559919
- On the sunroof, I think you are making a mistake wanting to use wood. Wood and metal have different expansion rates, so I think you're setting yourself up for a leak here. Even in pickup beds where the're using quite thick pieces of wood, the wood is put in using spacers and overlaps to allow it to expand and contract with the temperature. A better solution would be to order a replacement roof panel for a non-sunroof car. If one is not available, a good body shop can graft a piece of steel in its place. You could also retain the sunroof, and have a scratch resistant plexiglas replacement made for the glass. It' the glass that has 90 percent of the weight anyway. If you don't mind not seeing through it when closed, you can also buy a carbon fiber sheet and make a glass replacement panel from it. Alternatively, the carbon fiber sheet could be used to just fill the hole if you don't want a sunroof at all.
- For the clutch pedal, I'd suggest getting all that out of a Camaro. The Camaro is roughly the same width as the Lexus, so the pedals should be spaced correctly. You would then just need to make an adapter to let the pedal assembly bolt in. And, Camaros came with T56 transmissions, so the pedals should work well with it. Cable fuel pedals are also not that hard to work up, it just needs to be screwed to the firewall then a hole drilled for the cable to pass through.
- I'd also rethink replacing the electric windows with manual. I have manual on my truck and they are a pain. I can't see them being more than a pound lighter than electrics anyway.
- Insulation, I wouldn't bother with the bubble wrap. That stuff only has an insulating value of R1, so it's like nothing at all. You'll also want to avoid a lot of the home insulation as that stuff puts out pretty toxic smoke when it burns. I'm kinda thinking Havelock wool or Thinsulate for my own project. If you have the money, there's also Aerogel but that's getting into high dollar stuff.
- Speaking of lightweight, consider using aircraft carpeting in the car. Some of that stuff only weighs 1100 grams per square meter or 33 oz per square yard, and it's fire rated for aircraft so a lot safer than ground based stuff.
Hope some of this helps.
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