Quarantine Build Thread - 71 Colorado 02

[danco_]

27 minutes ago, M3This said:

Amazing. Our cars are on very similar paths. Can’t wait to see more. 
 

Who’s doing your M10 stroker build?  I was considering going that direction with ITBs and FI.

Paul and I are doing mirror engine builds. We'll have Steve's Machine Shop in Covina do the machining and balancing. Paul and I will put the engines back together. 

 

We will set it up for EFI but run carbs at the beginning. It's been too long without the car as is and would like to break the engine in the old school way (carbs). 

 

 

I'm 95% sure I'll be installing your panels at the SOC shop. Which is to say, you will be in good hands. My cars served for many of the body panel molds required. It's gonna be fun. 

[danco_]

26 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Looking at the weights of the front fenders hood roof panel trunk and rear fender panels the total weight is 61 to 65 kg or under 150 lbs. so your weight savings using carbon fiber is under 60 Lbs.

I added an extra hundred pounds weight savings due to inflation 

 

 

 

 

Bumpers, seats, rear seat delete, lightweight battery, may go full carbon nose too. Everything adds up. Paul's car is 1800lbs wet and I should be within 80lbs of that as my car is less extreme. 

[M3This]

31 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Looking at the weights of the front fenders hood roof panel trunk and rear fender panels the total weight is 61 to 65 kg or under 150 lbs. so your weight savings using carbon fiber is under 60 Lbs.

Theres 24 lbs of savings in the hood alone not including extra saving if you remove the main latch and go with hood pins. 
 

Also the rear fenders involves cutting a large % of the rear quarters off. 
 

Paul’s car is under 2,000 lbs with a S14

[Son of Marty]

As Colin Chapman said add lightness, every OZ counts, just tiring to keep it real. Carry on Gents nothing to see here.

[M3This]

12 minutes ago, danco_ said:

Paul and I are doing mirror engine builds. We'll have Steve's Machine Shop in Covina do the machining and balancing. Paul and I will put the engines back together. 

 

We will set it up for EFI but run carbs at the beginning. It's been too long without the car as is and would like to break the engine in the old school way (carbs). 

 

 

I'm 95% sure I'll be installing your panels at the SOC shop. Which is to say, you will be in good hands. My cars served for many of the body panel molds required. It's gonna be fun. 

Oh very cool!  Should be down that way very soon. Just working out the details with the transportation guy. 

[danco_]

1 minute ago, M3This said:

Theres 24 lbs of savings in the hood alone not including extra saving if you remove the main latch and go with hood pins. 
 

Also the rear fenders involves cutting a large % of the rear quarters off. 
 

Paul’s car is under 2,000 lbs with a S14

I was anti hood pins for a while but Paul has designed a simple solution for the hood pin that uses the two existing hidden nuts for the hood locking bar and I'm going to go with it. I'm doing away with heat and hood latch, so there is more weight that can be removed.

 

 

And because both hood and trunk panels are lighter, we don't need the bulky, heavy steel hinges. So we can remake everything in aluminum as we are doing now. It all adds up. 

 

 

 

 

And you are right,  Paul is at 1800lbs wet with an s14/g265 trans. That's easily 50 lbs heavier than the m10/g245 equivalent. 

 

[1936spyder]

Will it remain Colorado or are you going with a different color?

[Tommy]

Highly appreciated! Blows my mind how much work all this, presented on last couple of pages, has taken ?

[irdave]

Looks awesome.  Really, it looks really cool.

 

I have a set of from the first group buy of carbon hoods and trunk lids.  I saved 30 pounds from the hood and 20 from the trunk.  Added gas struts front and rear.  The rear torsion spring was so stiff that you would start bending the trunk lid before it started closing.

 

AST; the ones to stay away from are the 4200.  I bet the 5100s will be great.  Nice that they made you a window to be able to adjust them.  And don't let anyone fool you, the rebound adjuster adjusts the compression more than the compression adjuster on a lot of shocks.  My mind was blown on the shock dyno a couple months ago.

[danco_]

9 hours ago, 1936spyder said:

Will it remain Colorado or are you going with a different color?

My car stays colorado. It's my favorite 2002 color.

 

 

8 hours ago, Tommy said:

Highly appreciated! Blows my mind how much work all this, presented on last couple of pages, has taken ?

Thank you Tommy. Work will pick up faster now that the ball is in my court. I want to drive this car by summer. 

Seems our biggest issues are ones we can't control by building in-house, such as door seals and rear quarter window seals. Those have gotten expensive through BMW and I still can't get a firm read on URO's current offering. Everything else is easy in comparison.

 

 

5 hours ago, irdave said:

Looks awesome.  Really, it looks really cool.

 

I have a set of from the first group buy of carbon hoods and trunk lids.  I saved 30 pounds from the hood and 20 from the trunk.  Added gas struts front and rear.  The rear torsion spring was so stiff that you would start bending the trunk lid before it started closing.

 

AST; the ones to stay away from are the 4200.  I bet the 5100s will be great.  Nice that they made you a window to be able to adjust them.  And don't let anyone fool you, the rebound adjuster adjusts the compression more than the compression adjuster on a lot of shocks.  My mind was blown on the shock dyno a couple months ago.

Thank you Dave! 

 

I don't have first hand experience with the group buy carbon hood and trunk lids I know a handful of people who run them and say that they are pretty good, but no one that says they are truly great. I can say for certain that we won't be using hood prop bars. Gas struts might work for the trunk lid but I like our current solution for the hood. It's hot rod style and very light. I'll post more on this. I expect SOC hoods and trunks to be considerably lighter than those of the group buy. We have done a few hoods and each lighter than the last. We found that we were using too much resin during infusion and we can get away with less and still achieve desired goals, which is lighter and more rigidity. We'll likely offer a hood for the all-stock guys who don't want to use hood pins. I don't care to see them either, but getting rid of the hood latch bar and the big metal pieces it attaches to is worth the weight savings and opens up the engine bay considerably. It's a good look and with regards to heat...we don't need it here in California. The weather here is truly the best all-around. 

 

I think the 5100s will be fine. I had them set up spring and shock valving for a 2000lb car. If it's better than a 250lb spring'd GC set up, I'm happy. 

[ray_]

Can't you just do a hologram of the hood?

 

Think of the weight savings!

 

?

[irdave]

21 hours ago, danco_ said:

My car stays colorado. It's my favorite 2002 color.

...

Thank you Dave! 

 

I don't have first hand experience with the group buy carbon hood and trunk lids I know a handful of people who run them and say that they are pretty good, but no one that says they are truly great. I can say for certain that we won't be using hood prop bars. Gas struts might work for the trunk lid but I like our current solution for the hood. It's hot rod style and very light. I'll post more on this. I expect SOC hoods and trunks to be considerably lighter than those of the group buy. We have done a few hoods and each lighter than the last. We found that we were using too much resin during infusion and we can get away with less and still achieve desired goals, which is lighter and more rigidity. We'll likely offer a hood for the all-stock guys who don't want to use hood pins. I don't care to see them either, but getting rid of the hood latch bar and the big metal pieces it attaches to is worth the weight savings and opens up the engine bay considerably. It's a good look and with regards to heat...we don't need it here in California. The weather here is truly the best all-around. 

 

I think the 5100s will be fine. I had them set up spring and shock valving for a 2000lb car. If it's better than a 250lb spring'd GC set up, I'm happy. 

 

They don't fit great.  They barely fit 'good.'  Really, they're good enough.  Especially the trunk lid.  I think using the waist trim can help hide some sins, but they came with a car I bought a while ago, so it's easy for me to complain because I didn't have to pay all the money for them.

 

I bought a damned Miata last fall.  Um, there's something to light cars.  My 2002 is 2500 on the scales, consisting mostly of e30m3 parts.  The weight savings to the Miata is very noticeable.  I've removed a little over 300 pounds from my car from when I got it, couldn't imagine getting another 500 out of it...  It'd be so nice.

[ray_]

The earliest iteration fits "pretty well." It seems most produced after that had considerably more issues.

 

Cheers,

[AceAndrew]

Absolutely awesome Ryan.  Looks like you and SOC are having way way way too much fun.  I’m obviously very jealous but excited for you guys.  You’re knocking it out of the park.

[danco_]

3 hours ago, irdave said:

 

They don't fit great.  They barely fit 'good.'  Really, they're good enough.  Especially the trunk lid.  I think using the waist trim can help hide some sins, but they came with a car I bought a while ago, so it's easy for me to complain because I didn't have to pay all the money for them.

 

I bought a damned Miata last fall.  Um, there's something to light cars.  My 2002 is 2500 on the scales, consisting mostly of e30m3 parts.  The weight savings to the Miata is very noticeable.  I've removed a little over 300 pounds from my car from when I got it, couldn't imagine getting another 500 out of it...  It'd be so nice.

I'd be fine with a 1900lb 2002 but I think that with the m10/g245 combo, i'd be right there. I've driven Paul's car and it is indeed quick, not just fast. The rigidity remains with the CF and his KW coilover suspension, and the acceleration his car can produce will stop you mid sentence. At 210whp and 190wtq, it's a screamer. 

 

I hear you on the CF panel fitment. Our trunk lids fit perfect and use factory hinges, but we won't be using the stock trunk spring system to hold the trunk open. It's way too much spring for the CF. Our hoods are perfect too, but we are still ironing out a few things (locking options).

 

We've decided that we won't sell quarter panels and fenders to the public unless we install them ourselves. It's one thing to bash a company's products because they don't fit correctly out of the box, but it's another entirely when you're car isn't straight and things don't fit because (insert 50 years of stories on abuse of your car). The issues are not our parts fitting incorrectly, it's the 2002s our panels are being bonded to. I've seen (and owned) so many cars that have been in accidents. Hell, even hard cornering and torque will tweak a front end pretty easily (look at where the nose bonds to the fender in the engine bay). I don't expect nearly any of them to be straight, so it's easier if we perform the necessary modifications to both body and panel for correct fitment. Not to mention years of tools and tricks on how to bond, seal, and smooth CF to metal. You really want SOC to do the work anyways. 

 

That and well, I'd give it 3 months before another manufacturer rips off the SOC fender and quarter panel shapes and offers ill-fitting fiberglass replicas for a quarter of the price. 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, AceAndrew said:

Absolutely awesome Ryan.  Looks like you and SOC are having way way way too much fun.  I’m obviously very jealous but excited for you guys.  You’re knocking it out of the park.

Thanks! Come by and check out the op some time. We'll have tacos and beer delivered by drone from the harbor. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by danco_