Project Schism - another offbeat '23 Ford T

[toddshotrods]

Originally Posted by Garage Dog 65

Really enjoy watching your progress and creativeness Todd - Nice Stuff !...

Thanks Jim! Right back at ya, because I l-o-v-e your Porsche!

Originally Posted by Garage Dog 65

...What's the planned finish on the grill shell ?...

Black anodized, that's why it has to be some type of aluminum. We have a casting guy in house, but I'm not sure he's up for it. I will ask him. There are some other casting places in town, that I may try to work with. I'm really trying to do something different to experiment and to give my team a unique experience. I like to see them

I considered just cutting a mold and laying-up a composite shell, but that would be too easy!

Originally Posted by Garage Dog 65

...Hope ya figure out a cost effective solution - that's always the challenge for us guys...

We'll be watching. Best of luck !

Jim

Yup, it is. We'll figure something out. Thanks again!

[toddshotrods]

...and with my "Bat-T" logo emblem mounted. I still haven't decided how I'm going to float the "T" in the ring. The choices are a peg stand under the bottom of the T, tabs to the "wings" of the "T", or a clear or smoked resin center. It will most likely be 3D printed and cast in aluminum or bronze, and anodized or plated. Maybe something a little brighter to contrast with the black anodized shell and black grille.

[toddshotrods]

I have some CAD/CNC foam bucks to do for Schism, and still have to do a full CAD version of the Model E for CFD aero work, so I decided to hack out a rough draft of Schism's door-less body, from the Inhaler Project T-bucket body model I'm working on, and see what it looks like on the chassis, with the grille. Eventually this body model's kinks and wrinkles will be smoothed out, and the original Model T details incorporated.

A little balance will be added with the air intake system for the cooling and induction systems. It will be designed to look like twin luggage trunks, just behind the body. They should bulge out just enough to fill in the gap between the body and the ICE drivetrain, rear suspension, and rear wheels. That's the main foam cores I need.

[toddshotrods]

Finally got the S2 shell laid-up. I like these one-layer skins because I can bend and shape them very easily. When I get it set and braced, I am going to use canned foam to add beads and inner bracing, then make it rigid with more glass lay-up. When it's strong enough the outside with be straightened and detailed, then skinned with a layer of carbon fiber, that will be the final finish (with a satin clear top coat). One day, I hope to pull a mold from it and produce a lighter, stronger, perfect version of it, but for the foreseeable future this prototype will suffice.

I can't wait to show the details I have planned for this body.

[toddshotrods]

My single layer S2 body shell, without any means of support.


The reason I like these thin skins is I can subtly reshape them, without losing the basic identity of the Model T body. Because the skin actually has the compound curves of the original body, it can only be stretched and tweaked so far before it objects. In CAD, or with raw materials, I can make almost anything, and it's easier to lose the basic form. Those original curves reflect light to your eyes in a familiar pattern, that your mind identifies as a so-and-so...

A simple wooden inner structure props it up, and allows the process to begin.


Then I start sculpting. The main goal was to bow the back of the body, to give it a more upscale feel.



The dash is also going to be very unique, but the details won't be incorporated for a while. The bead that runs around the top edge of the body will seamlessly roll around the door openings, and up over the dash.

I stopped here to refresh and look at it again before starting the foam and structural reinforcements, because I don't want to do it twice. I can't wait to see it with the seats and dash.

[toddshotrods]

Hmmm, I didn't think it had been this long since I updated this thread.

The upper control arms are getting rod ends, and a little stretch, in place of the upper balljoint.


Some quick surfacing modeling to work out the shape of, and develop patterns for, the front crossmember.


More of the same to develop the electric motor mount. It's going to be "sculpted" out of .250" steel.





Starting on the roll cage. The main hoop will be replaced by retractable twin roll bars, and the cage will be tucked down inside the body. These are the stanchions for the roll bars.

[toddshotrods]

Working on the battery pack = 296v/33ah = 9.8kwh, good for about 30 miles all-electric. It'll provide 2145 amps at the conservative discharge rating and theoretically there are 850 horses in the pack, but I'm only looking for 200-300 from the motor. It's overkill that will last longer, because it isn't stressed a lot, but it fits in the floor.

The yellow shape is the fuel tank. I'm going to run it on E85 only.


More CAD to develop the rear crossmember/exhaust mount.



Then, starting to hash it out in steel.





Also working out my plans for the mufflers in CAD. It will normally follow the path of the pink line, through three chambers. The outlet tips are sized for proper flow through the ten of them. The butterfly will be boost activated, and permit straight-through flow via a, composite wrapped, perforated center tube - basically a glasspack.



Also getting ready to do the door bars, next week.

[toddshotrods]

Back to the motor mount. Because of the rather heavy electric motor's sudden, and relentless, torque I wanted to slot the crossmember into the frame rails, rather than it just being welded between them. The girl on the team was the only one that didn't flinch when I described it, and went right after it.



Steel plates all cut and ground close, ready to be hammered to fit the motor, finished up, and assembled.



The thing I am most proud of with this, is most of the people on my team have never done metal fabrication before, and have never even worked on a serious car project. We are purposely whittling this car of raw steel, by hand, as much as possible, so that they will be able to say "we did that!"

[toddshotrods]

I've been working on a basic setup for the suspension, so we can get the upper control arm mounts fabricated and installed. So far, I have a 1.88" (static) front roll center height, and 3.42" (static) rear roll center height (IRS). I've been using this free (sample) software just to plot the basic layout. I know, I need to pony up and buy something, so I can dig in deeper and see what it's really going to do. The suspension is based on MII street rod design, using Honda Accord and custom fabricated parts, for AWD capability.

This car is really just a toy. It's a street rod that I just want to be fun to drive and play with. All the big power numbers are just for kicks really, because who doesn't like to unleash hundreds of ponies on a lightweight chassis! In the end, whatever it does or doesn't do I will accept and be happy, as long as it is fun to play with. I do plan to try it on autocross, road course, drag strip, and maybe even a standing mile, but that's just to have more fun with it - not to be ultra competitive with anyone else. If it does happen to be competitive - it'll just be more fun!

For what it's worth, my current specs have less vertical roll center migration than the C5 specs I used to compare...

[toddshotrods]

The motor mount plates are coming along. A little more clean up, and a little fine-tuning on the fit, and these will be ready to tack together. Then, we start hammering that saddle, and twisting and curling the ends - I cannot wait to do that! The longitudinal cross brace needs more profile work, but we're waiting for the saddle to do that - it will be much easier to fine tune it to fit the saddle than re-hammer the saddle to fit it.