Kinda build related in that the day job pays for the liner so here goes.
NIGHTMARE OF NOTE!!!!.
The deal was Kyle wanted to build a Pro Mod to replace his all steel Mazda 3 aka Snowflake.
The story is that my turbo guy called Nassen has held the class record for the fastest FWD drag car in the Southern Hemisphere
since 2009. Kyle was next quickest. Some newbie got hold of the rulebook and found a loophole.
He built a genuine Pro Mod and came out of nowhere on his first pass and destroyed Nassen's record with a NA motor.
The car is about 400lbs lighter than both Kyle's and Nassen's all steel modified road cars.
The guys went into panic stations. Nassen almost lost his hand trying to lop off about 10lbs of bodywork!. It wouldn't have helped even if he succeeded.
Kyle decided to go Pro Mod and asked me to build the bodywork. His option was to borrow molds made for a BMW M3 made buy Boet Budler's workers.
No experience with fiberglass!!!!!!!
I didn't want the job. My advice was for him to approach Mazda and ask to loan a body in white that I could pull molds from.
He did and Mazda agreed to give him the body but the car had to be running at the track on April 1, the day they launch the 2017 Mazda 6.
Kyle could not meet the deadline so he begged and offered me a fair amount of money to use the Budler tooling and turn a Bavarian Murder Weapon into a Mazda.
Some guys see Dollar signs but all I saw was shiny new Mickey Thompson tires. Big mistake maybe!!!!
There's also a Fueltech Ft 400 system sponsorship thrown in for good measure. I really like Kyle and he needs this so bad I couldn't say no.
The tooling was badly designed as far as rigidity and split lines go. Also no boxes built onto any of the six molds. I got motion sickness just laminating the door skins.
I asked my young genius Denny to draw some overlays of the BMW vs the Mazda. He did that and the shapes are pretty close save for the blunt nose on the Mazda and the rake
on the BMW windshield. Budler had chopped and raked the roof already so "All" I had to do was build the main body and change the shape of the slope on the rear window, build in more Mazda like
side window recesses and cut out the trunk lid.
It turned into a mission. Kyle's dream became my nightmare. Due to the mostly one piece mold design I had to cut the new body to demold it. Luckily I hadn't used a lot of material in the areas
that needed cutting. When I got it out after 6 hours of war it couldn't even stand on its own. It looked like a cow that slipped in mud. Spreadeagled all over the workshop floor. No frame work between
the A pillar and door sill?
?.
I built a steel frame and bolted it to the body just so I could move it around, flip it over and do my work.
Topic: Springfield Flyer. (Read 1458436 times)