sabiauto Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 (edited) Hey guys, I've been a long time lurker but just seeing if there would be any interest for a weld-in chassis strengthening kit. I couldn't find anything on the market, so I decided to make one myself. I'm located in Sydney, Australia and will happily ship these kits overseas if there is enough interest. To register your interest (no commitment or deposit required) just follow the group-buy format of e.g. 1. sabiauto 2. ... At the moment this is just to see if there is enough interest for me to mass produce it. This will be developed by myself, an ex-automotive engineer (I'm now in software of all places) and one of my ex-managers who is an ex-Prodrive rally engineer and ex-Holden engineer. The main priority for this kit is to: (i) Prevent cracks, tears and fatigue without loading up other areas (ii) Strengthen front and rear strut regions to retain car geometry (iii) Strengthen the floorpan and the tunnel. Naturally the tunnel will provide most of the cars mid-section strength, but we think it can be better tied in than just spot welded around the footwell. (iv) Maintain an OEM appearance after applying seam sealer. Anyone with a Z will know it's different, but otherwise it appears to be stock. Without a CAD model for the car, we cannot complete proper FEA modelling so in terms of how much hp or torque the chassis can support, it'll be up in the air. However in the past we've designed and engineered (for internal prototyping) engine swap and reinforcing kits to test different engine combinations in different chassis' for OEM manufacturers and we're also quite fond of the S2000 chassis as a benchmark design. If there is enough demand, I'll properly get it sorted with engineering drawings and work with a fab shop so each kit is toleranced, tested with a few Zs before mass production, professionally cut, bent and primed. Price-wise it will probably be in the range of $3000 AUD for a full kit. I have some light demand from a handful of fellow Aussies but we don't have that many Zs here. I spent a few hours inspecting the Z shell and it's probably going to end up as a 32-pc full kit. I've mocked out which areas I'd like to strengthen and did some calcs + impact considerations. This is not a replacement kit for a full roll-cage though, I am primarily looking to update the 240z chassis and ensure that it can adequately handle more power with spot welds popping off, chassis flexing, twisting and fatiguing. It will include: - 10 x square angle gussets (street: 8pc, performance: 10pc) - 4 x flat plates (street: 4pc, performance: 4pc) - 9 x rails / rail extensions (street: 6pc, performance: 9pc) - 6 x reinforcing structures (street: 2pc, performance: 6pc) - 2 x full sill length tubes (optional + performance only, this can only be installed if you have the outer sills removed) - 1x underbody butterfly brace (optional + performance only, bolt on part but requires you to drill through your floors) I'll probably make 2 kits with 2 optional extras: (a) Street kit (20-pc kit) (b) Performance kit (29-pc kit) (c) Options - 2x full sill length tubes - 1x underbody butterfly brace It will be something along the lines of this (NOTE: these are random photos we took off the internet of a kit for a mustang I think and an S2000 diagram as a guide); Edited September 20, 2020 by sabiauto 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewZed Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 7 hours ago, sabiauto said: The main priority for this kit is to: (i) Prevent cracks, tears and fatigue without loading up other areas (ii) Strengthen front and rear strut regions to retain car geometry (iii) Strengthen the floorpan and the tunnel. Naturally the tunnel will provide most of the cars mid-section strength, but we think it can be better tied in than just spot welded around the footwell. (iv) Maintain an OEM appearance after applying seam sealer. Anyone with a Z will know it's different, but otherwise it appears to be stock. Without a CAD model for the car, we cannot complete proper FEA modelling so in terms of how much hp or torque the chassis can support, it'll be up in the air. I spent a few hours inspecting the Z shell and it's probably going to end up as a 32-pc full kit. I've mocked out which areas I'd like to strengthen and did some calcs + impact considerations. People will probably compare what you're offering to the typical piece by piece mods that are done, on the way up to a cage. Here is a thread that covers much of those mods. Might get more response if you break your package up in to sub-kits. More affordable and people can choose between the curvy stuff and the straight line power stuff. https://forums.hybridz.org/topic/49036-suspension-modification-faq/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabiauto Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 Thanks for the advice. There seems to be enough interest so far from the Aussie guys that I'll get kits made up. Makes sense to sell it in sub-kits and then a discounted full-kit. I'm currently in the process of doing the engineering drawings and then I'll get a few quotes from fab shops to see where the costs land. At this stage, the earliest I think I can get everything done is the middle of next month if there are no issues with manufacturing and fitment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisted46 Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 I would agree with NewZed, for someone that has already started the reinforcement journey I would be very interested in select pieces but not the whole kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossman Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 Yup, agree with the above posts - select pieces would be good...I already have Baddog frame rails and sub-frame connectors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zetsaz Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 (edited) Depending on where they're placed I might be interested in some select pieces. My car already has sound deadening and some other things, so I'm pretty limited in how much more I can do for chassis reinforcement if it involves welding under areas that have material applied, Edited September 22, 2020 by Zetsaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube80z Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 On 9/21/2020 at 6:47 PM, Zetsaz said: Depending on where they're placed I might be interested in some select pieces. My car already has sound deadening and some other things, so I'm pretty limited in how much more I can do for chassis reinforcement if it involves welding under areas that have material applied, One thing I've played with is using some of the late model car epoxy bonding. If the parts have good fit this seems to work, ideally probably needs some rivets too, which might be another problem that interferes with the sound deadening. Cary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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