TIGON Diesel Hybrid

[GreenHornet]

Ok so currently I am planning to use marine board for my formers it is far lighter, does not rot, and is fire resistant compared to inexpensive plywood on the market. The cabin I plan to use Aluminum Honeycomb as it is extremely light and strong. Limiting the aluminum honeycomb to only the cabin will help keep the costs down a bit yet still create an extremely strong and safe vehicle cabin.

Once I have built the formers and constructed the cabin I will shape the body out of polyurethane 2lb density board stock. The majority of the composite material will be fiberglass. However one could also use carbon fiber and kevlar as a substitute but costs will be much more. I may use a CF/Kevlar hybrid material in the floor boards and around other key reinforcement areas of the cabin for added strength and safety. The majority of the composite will be out of fiberglass to keep costs down and to use for the prototype body kit. This way if I need to make changes I can do so without crying cuz I just destroyed an expensive piece of Carbon fiber or Kevlar composite piece lol :-)

The plan is to use 2 layups of 5.7 oz fiberglass in all areas other than around the cabin and in key joints that need added strength. In these areas I will utilize an additional 2 layups at least 4" wide. This material like I said may be CF/Kevlar composite rather than fiberglass for the additional strength and safety factor. The material I would prefer to orient in a weave configuration running across each other. I think I will most likely go with a satin weave vs a plain weave.

I hope this gives you a little better idea of how I plan to create the cabin and body shell. This will not be a quick process at all but hopefully when I am finished it will be something that will be of great satisfaction and something others can gain some kind of insight into and or advantage if they would like there own.

Feel free to ask me any other questions you have. Take car and have a nice week :-)

GH..

[GreenHornet]

I started to dig into the first crate this evening and go through the parts. I have been taking pics of them all and documenting them. So I figured I would share some of them with you all.

GH

[GreenHornet]

Just got my other crate in the other day. I still have not busted it open yet but plan to this weekend. I am going to have to make some room in the garage as I can not walk anywhere after digging into the large crate lol :-)

It is nice to see all the Polo parts finally sitting in my garage. I can not wait to start getting all the parts cleaned up and put back together.

I will post a lot more pics here really soon so stay tuned.

GH

[GreenHornet]

Oh I just noticed that this is my 1 year anniversary joining the forum LOL :-)

Looking forward to many more years on the forum. I am excited to help spark interest and to help others where I can with all there ecomodder goals.

Thanks to everyone for there interest and comments thus far.

To the future and to ecomodder!

Cheers everyone

GH

[GreenHornet]

Hey gang,

Just wanted to give update on the design. I have what direction I am going to take with in regards to the rear suspension issue with the GT6/Spitfire chassis. We all know that this was the achilles heel of these cars. I was well aware of this going into the project. I did not think it would take me this long to figure out how I was going to go about fixing it lol :-)

A lot of head scratching has gone into it I can say that! After a lot of self debate and discussing it with others I have decided to go with a De Dion rear axle. These types of axles have been used in all types of cars from high fuel economy like in the VW XL1 prototype to the very popular and fast Caterham cars. Other car manufacturers such Lotus and TVR have used them in the past and I believe TVR still does presently.

I think the De Dion will be a great rear suspension for the car and much easier to implement and dial in than an IRS. I could go into all the benefits of this type of suspension but for those that are unfamiliar all you have to do a quick internet search and tons of useful info is available.

The keys are that its cheap to produce, keeps unsprung weight to a minimum, easy to dial in only needing shims, and less complex than an IRS. For those that are into drag racing you also retain the same benefits as you would with a live axle setup compared to an IRS!

So we do away with the GT6/Spit flawed and dangerous swing axle with a reliable and proven De Dion setup. The De Dion design will be able to handle the torque of the 1.9L 4 cylinder TDI without issue and give us a very comfortable and stable ride in most all conditions comparable to what we would expect from a fully independent rear suspension.

GH

[GreenHornet]

So to catch everyone up here on major chosen components and design I will do a quick list here!

#1. GT6/Spit chassis
#2. VW 1.4L 3 cylinder pump deuse direct injected TDI from a VW Polo donor
#3. GT6/Spit front suspension with performance upgrades
#4. T5 World Class (WC) Transmission 5 speed manual 300+ torque capacity
#5. Ford Aluminum racing driveshaft
#6. Ford 8.8" Aluminum rear differential from Lincoln Mark VIII donor
#7. GT6/Spit manual steering rack and pinion with optional EPS
#8. De Dion rear suspension
#9. Wheels/Tire combo still up for debate kicked around many options.
#10. Brakes = Front GT6 performance big brake kit 10" vented disc, Rear most likely will be stock Lincoln Mark VIII since they are 10" disc like what will be up front. This will minimize customization and sourcing from another donor!
#11. Interior = leather racing seats, racing steering wheel, infotainment system with navigation, back up camera, and everything else you would expect and wish for out of a modern system.
#12. Scan gauge for system monitoring and hypermiling
#13. Water Methanol Injection system for greater TDI performance
#14. Optional hybrid drive for overall greater performance
#15. Body design in line with what you would expect from the Opel Eco Speedster but with a slight bias toward ecomodding :-)

So there is a quick run down of the major car components being used and its overall design moving forward at this point. Currently I am working on number 8 of the above list. numbers 1-7 are complete and parts purchased just waiting for all to arrive. After rear suspension fabrication is complete I can than get the chassis rolling for all to see :-)

Here is the revised list as of 3/5/14:-)

After much thought and debate on this I decided to just do away with the front mid engine design for a more efficient and light weight rear mid engined layout. The advantages here are numerous. First I can use a VW transmission from a Passat. This transmission code has the tallest differential gearing of all the VW boxes. Next the transmission will bolt right up to my little 1.4L 3 cylinder so there is no need for a custom transmission to engine adapter! Next the Polo clutch is notoriously week when the engine power is boosted so by using the Passat box we can also use a clutch kit with 228mm 28 spline disc. This upgrade takes care of the Polo clutch issue and is plug and play. Another benefit is we get rid of the Aluminum driveshaft. This gives us more interior space to play with as well as gives us a more efficient drivetrain layout. By moving the engine to the rear mid engined layout we now give ourselves many advantages.

Here are some of the other advantages: less exhaust piping reduces weight and if done correctly can reduce EGT, Less parts less complex i.e getting rid of driveshaft and trans/engine adapter, TDI engine/trans closer to cars center of gravity (CG) creates better handling and low polor moment of inertia (PMOI) This gives us better cornering response time, Can now use off the shelf VW parts for the rear suspension creating a fully independent rear suspension opportunity that is cost effective rather than trying to design a De Dion rear using costly heavy Lincoln Mark VIII parts, Again saves weight using stock Golf/Jetta/Passat parts rather than heavy Lincoln bits, now that the engine is in the rear we can easily reduce the frontal area of the car for better aerodynamics performance, and we can now even possibly move the front seat location forward for increased occupant area.

#1. GT6/Spit chassis
#2. VW 1.4L 3 cylinder pump deuse direct injected TDI from a VW Polo donor
#3. VW O2A CTN Gearbox with 6 spd conversion
#4. GT6/Spit front suspension with performance upgrades
#5. GT6/Spit manual steering rack and pinion with optional EPS
#6. IRS with Golf/Jetta coilovers and bits
#7. Wheels/Tire combo still up for debate kicked around many options.
#8. Brakes = Front GT6 performance big brake kit 10" vented disc, Rear Golf/Jetta stock 10" disc with single piston calipers.
#9. Interior = leather racing seats, racing steering wheel, infotainment system with navigation, back up camera, and everything else you would expect and wish for out of a modern system.
#10. Scan gauge for system monitoring and hypermiling
#11. Water Methanol Injection system for greater TDI performance
#12. Optional hybrid drive for overall greater performance
#13. Body design in line with what you would expect from the Opel Eco Speedster but with a slight bias toward ecomodding :-)

GH

[GreenHornet]

Hey Gang,

To expand a bit on the above post. The brakes I think will be honestly overkill for the 1.4L TDI output and such a light weight car. However it gives me the piece of mind knowing that even if someone wanted to upgrade the engine to the 1.9L 4 cylinder bigger brother they could handle it. The brakes would still be more than adequate even if the 4 banger was modded for say 280hp and 400 ft/lbs of low end torque. Imagine that in a car weighing under 1,500lbs :-) I can not stop grinning thinking about it While I definitely prefer the smaller more fuel efficient 1.4L and hopefully down the road a .8L 2 cylinder TDI :-) The 1.9L would be really interesting and be really fun to test out for a few days LOL.

So getting back on topic again using the stock Lincoln Mark VIII brakes complete will eliminate custom fabrication and help free up time to speed up the work needed on the rear end suspension.

#11 the interior I will expand on here. The interior will be designed in a way that is modular and highly customizable. Color selection, Seats, Trim, gauge cluster, and carpeting will all be able to be tweaked to your individual likes among other things.

#12. The Scan gauge I will make standard as I think its a great tool for everyone even if they are not hardcore ecomodders like some of us :-) You can not beat it for the cost. So I will build this tool right into our gauge cluster for a more permanent finished look.

#13. Water?Methanol Injection I will make this standard also as I think the benefits of a properly set up and designed system for the TDI is of great benefit not only for performance but also efficiency. Another benefit is that water/Meth injection gives your internal engine a steam cleaning which helps promote engine longevity. The biggest benefit to me however is that it reduces emissions across the entire RPM band. Whenever I can gain performance, efficiency, and decrease engine wear and emissions in one modification it is a no brainer decision. Another plus is that it can help reduce EGT and that is always a good thing as well!

#14. The hybrid drive system I could write an entire article about it so here I will keep it short. This component really should be standard because of all its benefits it brings us but the added costs for some are not worth it considering the car equipped with diesel only will see over 100mpg :-)

#15. The body design will start as soon as the rolling chassis is completed and dialed in :-) For me this is the one part of the project that I am actually most excited about. This is the one part of the project that can really have some positive effects on performance and fuel efficiency if done properly and care is taken. Things we will incorporate will be optimized front grille blocking for the 1.4L TDI engine that can also be modified easily if engine upgrade (1.9) is desired. We will give it a nice rounded shape for aero benefit. The headlights and taillights I am currently looking into are the Audi TT units. The front bonnet will incorporate full frontal wheel skirt.

The Bonnet will be of a one piece design that folds forward like you would be used to in the Triumph GT6! For engine overhaul and major work the bonnet will be able to be easily removed by a single person due to its feather light weight and small size. So access to the engine compartment bay will be really nice. The Bonnet will hide the windshield wipers internally for better aero. There will be no visible antenna as the car utilizes an internal antenna for infotainment system. The front windshield has not yet been decided on. This part I will update as we move further along. As far as as the overall design I am leaning toward the forward folding canopy design as you would see in the Chevy Corvair Monza GT Concept. I will style it more inline like the XR3 hybrid but the difference will be roll down window potential which neither the XR3 or Monza GT had. I think its important to have a manual window roll down option for safety during a roll over situation. So this will be incorporated into the forward canopy design. Another benefit of the single forward canopy design is the easy access to the cabin as well as when parking in tight urban environments.

The back of the car will taper for better aero benefit and also incorporate full wheel skirts. We will also incorporate a boat tail design into the equation similar to what the VW XL1 looks like. The rear section will fold upwards like the front bonnet as one piece for easy wheel and trunk access.

This is the basic strategy and game plan for the body design. I think now at this point I have written enough details to my body plans that people can get a good idea of what I am shooting for style and looks wise. Everyone should also have a basic understanding of the materials I will use to create the aero body shell and interior cabin.

So now it is time to get on with the rolling chassis I will update the thread with pics as the process continues on. I hope everyone still stay with me on this as its about to get much more exciting.

GH :-)

[GreenHornet]

Hey Everyone,

There is something really quick that I want to add to the above post. A lot of my body design fabrication game plan I got from various plan sets I purchased from RQ Riley. I have just about all of them purchased from many years of compiling. My father also had some that I inherited after his passing many years ago.

I stumbled onto this youtube channel sometime ago and thought I would share. These guys are building the new XR3. However they have upgraded the Kubota engine as well as the exterior styling. INMHO the exterior design is a drastic improvement and really makes the XR3 exciting to look at. Crap if they ever pulled molds from there body design I may just purchase it LOL and build my own XR3 since I also have the plans :-)

Anyways the techniques they are using to build there body is the same I will be doing to complete my kit car design which is why I decided to include this youtube channel in my project log here. So study this and it will give you all a good basic idea as to how I will be doing the exterior composite construction.

Here is the channel link = http://www.youtube.com/user/palkan22?feature=watch

Enjoy gang

GH

[GreenHornet]

Here are a few links to give you all a good idea of the process of working with the foam pre fiberglass!

#1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr6bXqzclFI

#2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg32_2QdZ84

#3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClWliVS6tZs

GH

[GreenHornet]

Building the car design out of foam is inexpensive and very forgiving. This is the trade off for being very time intensive. However if you have nothing but time to get it correct well then you can do some really amazing things with it on a tight budget :-)

The other benefits to being cost effective and forgiving is it gives you a core material that is extremely light weight. This core when sandwiched between composite material acts to greatly strengthen the total structure. This helps to create a safe and very comfortable ride.

Road and engine compartment noise is also reduced due to the foams insulative properties.

Many benefits and many things can be created out of foam for people with little to no prior experience!