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  #31  
Old 11-27-2011, 10:53 PM
invision invision is offline
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Originally Posted by Kerry Pinkerton View Post
Structure building is something that is not widely documented anywhere that I can find. Where did you learn how to do it?
Thank you Kerry,

In regards to designing a vehicle's substructure, I have to give my dad most of the credit for teaching me how to design and fabricate. Since I was a kid, working along side him exposed me to many different subjects if you will. Such as cars, building construction, and carpentry. He would explain/show me an existing concept/issue and then where and how improvements can be made. I also learned about designing a vehicle's structure by walking though auto salvage yards to study existing cars and finally from creating Rhythm, the first sports car.

As you know, with R2, the body shape was designed on paper then a wire frame buck created. This buck is a little different than most ...since I designed it in such a way that both the exterior shell as well as the body's structural components could be fabricated simultaneously. For instance, I created the rear structure first knowing from the buck where the shell was, then ran the rear 1/4's and fascia in while the structural components were left in place. Later, after the buck is removed the inner and outer panels will mate with each other ...with minimal tweaking...hopefully

Sorry for the late reply...been pretty hectic these past couple days.

By the way, it was a pleasure to read your thread on creating your roadster. I spent several nights winding down after coming in from the shop in front of the monitor seeing your fabrication experiences.

Thanks
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  #32  
Old 11-27-2011, 11:06 PM
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JPMOSS JPMOSS is offline
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Nice work. I am impressed with how clean and well designed it is.
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  #33  
Old 11-27-2011, 11:34 PM
invision invision is offline
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Originally Posted by Paul Aitchison View Post
Nick,
I find your posts most interesting. Obviously well thought out, as your construction starts with the substructure, rather than the body, unlike most other hobbists do.
This build is quite different from your first build as it appears that you will be fabricating all the body panels, rather than adapting preexisting panel shapes.
Your bio and design criteria suggest that you are in business to create custom builds. Am I reading this correctly?
I am personally into building a sports bodied car myself and your door jams are very much on the order of what I have planned.
I like your supraleggra method of using steel rods for giving a visual as well as reference points for construction. Do you plan on any other type of pattern / mold for fabricating the body panels, or are you going only on feel and intuition?
Keep up the good work.
Olf Art
You're spot on with respect to R2's fabrication approach being totally different than Rhythm's. You could say I cut my teeth on Rhythm...and got hooked on design, metal shaping, body and paint, and final assembly/finishing. The only body panels on Rhythm that were borrowed and modified from existing vehicles were the hood and front roof area and front cowel for the HVAC and steering wheel mounts. When building a vehicle to this degree I learned from the first experience that most times it's easier to start from scratch than modifying existing.

All those rods you see are part of the buck. After all the panels have been fit they will be pulled from the buck and re-assembled on their own...with the buck moved and used for the next one... The buck's curvatures are sufficient to form the flat sheets to. Feel and intuition are good to have in your back pocket...but the buck is the ultimate pattern and doesn't lie....that and a few pieces of oak strips. There have been a few times were I have revised the design based on the fact that I wasn't pleased with a particular feature of feel. We are building the car...not the drawing. The drawing is only a guide. Adjusting the wire frame is relatively easy taking a few minutes while if we created the body using a wooden buck or foam...things would have been much more time consuming and complicated. I'm not suggesting that a wooden or foam buck is an incorrect approach to creating a body, it just doesn't meet our requirements.

Thanks for the thumbs up. Yes, you're reading correctly and welcome to drop by and check out the build if you're in the area. I'd like to see a few pictures of your project...could you PM me a link?

Cheers,
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  #34  
Old 11-27-2011, 11:44 PM
invision invision is offline
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Originally Posted by JPMOSS View Post
Nice work. I am impressed with how clean and well designed it is.
Thanks Johnny. We need to control the weight of the body very carefully so the cleaner the better. Once complete, it should come in around 2700 to 2800lbs.
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  #35  
Old 12-12-2011, 09:37 PM
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Firewall located and installed. The centre section which was temporarily removed needs to be trimmed before going back in.


Inner front fender mocked up for the first time after being created by the english wheel. A little tweaking here and there will have it sitting where it needs to be. Now onto the other one...only in reverse!


Fabricating the seat rail supports.

Last edited by invision; 08-31-2013 at 07:45 AM.
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  #36  
Old 12-13-2011, 12:41 PM
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123pugsy 123pugsy is offline
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Its really coming along nicely Nick.

Keep the pics coming please.
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  #37  
Old 12-13-2011, 08:12 PM
invision invision is offline
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Its really coming along nicely Nick.

Keep the pics coming please.
Thanks Pugsy! Pushin' to get er done

Lots more on the way Sir.
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  #38  
Old 12-25-2011, 09:23 AM
invision invision is offline
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Some work on the rear fascia as well as the roof support hoop.

Cardboard/pressed paper gets used a lot around our builds. Every piece is mocked up in cardboard first...then transposed onto sheet metal. Could probably build 1/2 of R2 if I wanted to :P

Rear exhaust scoop mocked up with cardboard.


Slip roll used to create the sheet metal inside piece for the rear exhaust scoop.


Front inner fenders are next

Last edited by invision; 08-31-2013 at 07:46 AM.
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  #39  
Old 01-04-2012, 09:53 PM
invision invision is offline
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I hope everyone had a great Christmas Holiday and a Happy New Year.

Had a great time over the holidays catching up with family, a bit/lot of eating , and working on some projects ... including R2

So here go the front inners. It's deceiving how much sheet metal these eat up out of a 4'x8' sheet.

What started as an almost straight piece of sheet metal had a lip created in the tipping wheel and now having this lip shrunk to create the curvature for the drivers side inner front fender splash. ... that was a mouth full.

A particular inner profile was required to create exterior joint that won't trap moisture down the line.


... and the shrinking continues...


... and some more... The distortion isn't an issue at the moment as it can easily be cleaned up later.


... almost there...tweaking the shape here and there to finalize the curvature.


Inner fender splash formed into a nice curve. Now just need to smooth out all the shrinking ripples and fit it into the vehicle.


Using the wheel to touch up the new piece. Then onto the other one...only in reverse.
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  #40  
Old 01-05-2012, 03:57 PM
Dale in aus Dale in aus is offline
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Your doijng a great job, I always like checking in and seeing what new peices you have been working on. looks great.
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