Exterior Ideas - just looking for input

[acclude]

OK, due to a comment made by J_Jay_B, I've been giving this a lot of thought.

It's not going to be cheap, but I think it would be super hot and server my purpose of looking good but mainly lowering the center of gravity and dropping the weight.

JDM ITR front conv.
Painted chanpionship or alpine white
CF hood
CF roof
CF hatch
CF front lip
CF sideskirts
CF rear lip/valance
polymer/lexan windows all the way around
all-red tails
shaved emblems, antenna, and side molding

Minus what I already have, it's about $4k worth of parts I have to buy and I'm doing all the body work and painting myself so basically $0 for labor.

Basically it would be white with CF panels for everything on the top and all around the bottom.

I'm really considering this and may actually go ahead and do it, but just wanted some general feedback of what you guys think. Keep in mind it will never be driven on a public road.

 

[JDMxDB8]

Will your Integra be used for road racing?

 

[acclude]

Nope. No public roads

I like all kinds of racing so it will be for mainly autoX and drag (yeah I know it's a bad combo but oh well).

 

[99sil-teg]

Nope. No public roads

I like all kinds of racing so it will be for mainly autoX and drag (yeah I know it's a bad combo but oh well).

He asked if it was going to be used for road racing... as in scca or something

 

[acclude]

No. The car will not meet most rules for a lot of sanctioned events. I read road races, but processed road rally's for some reason

 

[Samurai_Blue]

i think it will be worth it and it for sure meets your needs of lowering the center of gravity, but imo its a little too much for a DD

 

[99sil-teg]

i think it will be worth it and it for sure meets your needs of lowering the center of gravity, but imo its a little too much for a DD

He is buildling it just to race.

Anyways, yeah for a race car that should be a giant step to making it lighter... you could strip all the interior out too..

 

[acclude]

you could strip all the interior out too..

already done But the cage is gonna add some weight but worth it.


I am doing this car in stages.
Exterior including underhood frame reinforcements, fabrication and paint.
Then Interior - cage, seat(s), handmade CF dash for laptop and gages, sound deadening material removed and bed liner sprayed for easy cleaning
Then brakes / susp.
Then engine / trans

 

[Kuchtaboy]

cf roof would be pointless because you're just adding weight. a carbon roof sits on top of your existing roof. it's just cosmetic.

Same with carbon ground effects. if you're going to light weight, those won't do you any good. You'd be better off getting canards if you think the down force from a lip will help you at all

 

[acclude]

I would plan on removing the OEM roof (especially the heavy sunroof) and using the CF one instead. I figure if it can sit on top of the roof and fill that space, then it can fill the space on it's own with some ingenuity.

The CF lip/valance/skirts would be the only mods done for looks and I think a dead sexxi look would justify the few lbs of weight considering the rest of the car is going on a major diet. All CF up top and all CF below with a nice white paint job would be one of the nicest looking integras I can think of.

 

[Kuchtaboy]

I dunno... the stock roof has more structural support then you think. then when you cut it out, how are you going to get the carbon one to stick?

I've only seen one carbon roof, and it was just an insert for cars without a sunroof. I definitely understand if you want to loose the weight up top, but I don't think chopping out the metal is a way to get it to work.

maybe you could chop it, then get a different piece welded in, but that won't be cheap either.

 

[acclude]

I'm a welder with equipment. lol

What I was thinking is that the roof is like a piece of formed sheet metal. It has a "brace structure" below it that is what actually attaches to the unibody and ties the whole roof together while the sheet metal is mainly just for looks on the outside. The "brace" attaches to the sheet metal roof mainly by a strong adhesive but is only really welded in the corner rain gutters. If I can cut just the sheet metal out, and only enough to leave a lip for the CF roof to attach to without actually touching the "brace" then I should be able to attach the CF roof to the remaining lip with some screws or fasteners and tuck it under the rain gutter strips and use a good sealant to keep it from leaking and use some strong adhesive to attach it to the CF roof to the OE brace. The cage inside will strengthen up the whole body, but if need be, weld more to the roof brace to keep that from flexing too much. I hope that makes sense. I've got a good visual picture of how to do it but might not explain it well.

 

[Kuchtaboy]

i guess yeah it makes sense, but if you're using it as a DD, that really doesn't sound like a good idea. lol

also, then you're just deleting the small, light piece of sheet metal to replace it with Carbon fiber. you'd be saving at most probably less then 3 pounds.

 

[acclude]

It will never see a public road and will be covered/garage kept until I trailer it to/from the track.

Add the bulky sunroof and all the parts that go with that and it amounts to a significant amount of weigh saved at the highest point of the car. Worth it in my opinion.