LocostUSA.com

OK, before I begin, I am never going to build this, it is all hypothetical. I do however want to design it as accurately as possible in Sketchup.

I want to build a daily drivable supercar, meaning full interior, nav system, AC, a roof and power windows, everything you get in a real car. I find some of this stuff is the hardest to do well, its even hard when just building in Sketchup. What if you were to start with a 2nd Gen RX7, cut the front off at the firewall, and chop the back off behind the b-pillar, the build your mid engined supercar as seperate sub frames, attaching them all together using the remaining piece of Mazda as the middle subframe? With my limitless budget of dream money, I would power this thing with a 20b 3 rotor and a Porsche transaxle. I did the body in Sketchup, but I have to figure out how to post an image. O, there it is. So yeah. What do I do now?

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Save gas, date smaller women.

It could definitely work, google "tube frame fiero" for a very similar idea. The guy built a tube frame that the center section of the Fiero was attached to, rear engined V8 with a Porsche transaxle. Stretched the wheelbase a bit to fit it all in, but kept the front bodywork the same.

Your design looks interesting, but I've got to say that I don't like the headlight pod thing, looks too much like an old Porsche and not like a new supercar. Just my opinion, don't take it too seriously.

What now? You build it and document it here or you take it to a fantasy website where it belongs. Or you continue to burn our bandwidth to gratify your mustachination.

Really, I kid, it's a nice imaginary car, but let's not get carried away. Don't be tempted to misuse your powers.

Remember, "with great mustache comes great responsibility."- Peter Griffin

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

"Mustachination..." Heh, heh...that's funny.

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...nowadays people are so intellectually lazy and lethargic that they can't build ANYTHING with their hands. They'll spend hours watching whiny people marooned on an island, but won't spend a second adding anything to the world. -weconway
Visit my [Locost 7 build log]

LOL, I nearly shat. I do try to use my mustache responsibly. It only seems to have the power to repel women. I use it at my job where I am a security gaurd, and people have the impression that only someone with great authority would be so brave to rock the stache the way I do. Drunk people listen to anyone with a badge and a mustache.

More on topic though, I put it here because it seemed appropriate. I intend to build it completely in sketchup. I built a 442 with a duratech down to the last nut and bolt, you can find it in the 3d warehouse. I got all the books on suspension, rotary tuning, "the book", build your own supercar, I downloaded Mcsorely's plans. I have been lurking for like 3 years, and I am no closer today to owning a garage (let alone cutting steel) than I was then. The rendering above was one afternoon's worth of screwing around, the last one took me months and this should take longer not working with any plans to start with. I am poor, and this is as close as I get to playing with you guys, a group of people I have come to have a deep respect and admiration for over the last 4 years. If any of the mods think this is an inappropriate use of bandwidth, I'll take no offense to this thread closing. But it seemed this thread was all about the hypothetical, and this is what I'd do hypothetically if I had a garage. If no one is opposed, I'll continue to update as I design the frame and suspension, track down parts to measure and accurately model (I unfortunately sold my RX7 earlier this year), and maybe move closer to someday cutting a Mazda in half.

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Save gas, date smaller women.

I dunno, the bodywork looks do-able in Locost fashion. I see stock RX-7 doors and greenhouse, rear quarters crafted out of trimmed dually fenders, RX-7 rear clip. The front clip would require a bit of fiberglass fabrication, but nothing crazy, there might be a fiberglass 911 front clip that would trim to that shape. Maybe throw in some flying buttresses (tinted Lexan?) to lessen the 'El Camino' effect. Kennedy already has your Mazda/Porsche adaptor on the shelf http://www.kennedyeng.com/vw_por.htm. I have a fuzzy recollection that there were some factory 3 rotor cars sold in Japan.

Drape it all over a Lotus 23 style chassis and Bob's your mother's brother...

looks like a 911 nose on a dodge rampage to me. .. oh greeaaatt now i'll have daymares

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"There are times when a broken tool is better than a sound one, or a twisted personality more useful than a whole one.
For instance, a whole beer bottle isn't half the weapon that half a beer bottle is ..." Randall Garrett

Just think about how the company that gave us the Rampage is now partners with Fiat and you might not sleep for weeks....

The rear fenders are actually the stock ones, I moved them 429mm back and 100mm outboard to give it approximately the wheelbase and track width of the 787B. The front fenders started out the same way but they are moved as far back as possible. IIRC the passenger compartment of the RX7 didn't protrude past the windshield so the plan is to put a box in front of the firewall to hang an unequal A-arm set up instead of the stock macpherson stuff. It would be nice to put a fuel cell and the spare up front too.

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Save gas, date smaller women.

I also googled "tube frame Fiero", and found some cool stuff. I used to lurk fiero forums but gave up fantasizing about a kit car lambo a while ago. Definitely a different crowd than the locosters, though no less interesting.

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Save gas, date smaller women.

The long, flat rear deck reminds me more of a Lotus Europa than a Fiero. And that's a good thing!

Sorry man, it was just too tempting to have some fun with your username. Keep on rockin' that stache proudly. I had to shave all my facial hair when it turned grey and looked like bald patches.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Supercar or Super Pickup???

JR ok not J.R. so I will be JMR

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When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting -- Steve McQueen from LeMans

My build log viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10658&start=0 NOW NAMED =The Wycked 7

My other build log viewtopic.php?f=18&t=15162 The Skayt'R6

So, I took the super-truck comment to heart as well as the "butresses", and this is where I am now. In this second iteration I used the stock front and rear bumper covers. I want this thing to look distinctly Mazda and distinctly 90s. Hopefully I could get away with registering as a modified RX7. I think I may have to go with a rear clamshell instead of a trunk lid the way I have it now, I think I have seriously limited engine access. I put the model I started with in for comparison.

I think that I am going to attach the front and rear subframes with a "spine" down the center tunnel so the cabin area would just sit on top of the fram instead of being a stressed member of the frame sort of like the delorean or the miata to some extent. What do you guys think?

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Save gas, date smaller women.

Cool idea. I've done a fair bit of track time in cars with a chopped down rear window configuration; mostly the 2nd gen Toyota MR2 and some quick testing in a wingless Evo 8 and have a couple thoughts to share.

The vacuum pocket created behind the rear window by that design will noticeably hurt your car's ultimate performance at higher speeds. In the MR2s we found that while he design helped cooling he engine, it produced high speed lift that needed to be tuned out with additional aero changes. The basic design hurt both top speed and high speed stability. In the Evo, we put the oem wing back on to help with high speed stability, and even ended up adding a vortex generator across the top of the rear window to disrupt the airflow & shrink the vacuum bubble behind the rear window. That helped stability & top speed. The Evo is very stable with just the wing, but the vortex generator did create a small but measurable improvement in lap times.

Designing from scratch, I'd be tempted to do something more aero-friendly with the balk half. Although the original FD back aero is pretty good. The rear window had a nice gentle slope that promotes lamilar(sp?) air flow which helps to prevent both drag from separation and excessive lift. Some lift is pretty much inevitable in a conventional car design unless you you tune it out with wings or diffusers. Diffusers should be better if designed right, as they should have a more efficient downforce to drag ratio.

If you do add diffusers please remember that the center of pressure (where the downforce is applied to the car's chassis) is located at the very forward tip of the diffuser. It is generally considered important for high speed stability to locale the center of pressure at least slightly behind the car's fore/aft center of gravity.

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.. in the world