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PostPosted: September 21, 2017, 3:04 pm 
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Location: No. Nevada
So now that I have a Miata donor I have to decide which body to eventually put on it.
The Dio Tipo wants a narrower track, a Devin SS needs it a little wider. :BH:
Prefer not to get into cutting and splicing bodies. :ack:

Narrowing has probably been covered here before, what about widening?
Seems either way I will need new rear axles.
Front might need a wider rack, or maybe modify the steering arms?

Not a rush project so plenty of time to sort it out in advance.
Leaning toward a new Devin SS body built as a sports car rather than another "Could'a-Should'a just built a Cobra".
Devin has decent aero and is still light so should work even better than a Miata based 7.

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PostPosted: September 21, 2017, 7:45 pm 
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Joined: July 29, 2006, 9:10 pm
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RichardSIA wrote:
Leaning toward a new Devin SS body...
Tell us more. Where does one get a new Devin SS body?

Also, I don't find cutting and splicing bodies too scary--indeed for a sideways symmetrical body like the Devin (or Lola Mk1, or Lotus 11, or dang near any sports car of that era) it's a piece of cake--but cutting and splicing suspensions is a different story. A possible alternative to different half axles on the rear would be different offset wheels.

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PostPosted: September 21, 2017, 7:49 pm 
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You can make the track width wider by adding wheel spacers if you are just looking to get the wheels to sit correctly in the wheel arches. I have a pair of 1.5" spacers that I need for my rain tires to clear the front fenders. They bolt onto the existing studs and have their own studs that the wheel mounts too. You could safely add about 4" to the width using that method.

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PostPosted: September 21, 2017, 8:04 pm 
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I've posted this before, but it's these guys. http://tlcmotorsport.com/#
Go to the "Parts for sale" tab, then "Fiberglass bodies".

Not just Devin. 8)
The Devin SS would probably be ideal for a cut-down 'Vette.
The Devin SS is $5K.
Some bodies are more, I doubt any are less.
They also have V8 capable transaxles for the deep pocket guys here. :lol:

Body list.
GT40
Cobra
Cheetah
Lola MK2 spider
Lola MK3 coupe
Lola MK3B coupe
Lola T163
Chevron B36
March 73S
Corvette GTP
Nissan GTP88,90
Nissan GTU,GTS
McLaren M6B
McLaren M6GT
Cobra Wilment coupe
Devin SS
Victress Roadster
Victress Coupe
Kellison Roadster
Porsche RSR
Porsche 934
Porsche 935
Many others also available. We can fix, fabricate, recreate anything in fiberglass.

I left out their phone so as to not make this an ad.
No relation but I am a fairly likely future customer.
I plan to visit their shop to check out the available bodies quality.

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PostPosted: September 21, 2017, 8:08 pm 
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wrightcomputing wrote:
You can make the track width wider by adding wheel spacers if you are just looking to get the wheels to sit correctly in the wheel arches. I have a pair of 1.5" spacers that I need for my rain tires to clear the front fenders. They bolt onto the existing studs and have their own studs that the wheel mounts too. You could safely add about 4" to the width using that method.


Doesn't that do horrible things to the front scrub radius in addition to placing a very heavy load on the original studs?
I was thinking more along the line of stretching the structure the A arms attach to, and longer axles.
Ideally would be able to retain stock A arms for easy replacement.

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PostPosted: September 21, 2017, 8:40 pm 
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Yes it will mess up you scrub radius, mess with the geometry and reduce effective wheel rate. However it is a $50 fix that takes 10 minutes. I wouldn't worry too much about the wheel studs there are 4 or 5 of them, you only have one in the suspension pieces and they can break... ask me how I know.

Building the front of the chassis wider is easy just use longer tubes. Same from the front suspension but you should use VSUP or similar to make sure everything works relatively well. The rack should be about as wide as the suspension mounting points so you can adjust the frame and control arm lengths to match you rack.
For the rear you will need customs axles to change the width in either direction.

What is your intended use for the car. Street, track, autocross everything?

Edit: Another thing you could do is custom wheels. You could change the offset and width of the wheels to match the body.

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PostPosted: September 21, 2017, 9:04 pm 
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Purpose?
For myself a hooligan "Street" car that might see some informal track time with a club weekend.

Also looking into a version that could be sold at a profit to buyers who like what I do. :roll:

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