Weight Reduction - Smart?

[Darkane]

And yet your base case stickers for <$50k, and you wish to use CF everywhere... Why not let's just make the whole car CF so it cuts down on manufacturing cost... Smh.

Exotic materials = Exotic pricing. Good luck with that.

If you wanna lose weight, go on a diet...

No way bro, perma-bulk getting to 300!

But seriously, why didn't they do the roof panel and trunk lid from aluminum? At least on the R. Add $500-1000 people would have still bought it and shaved another 50lbs off the car. And at least IRS aluminum pieces.

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[Darkane]

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe that both the GT350 & GT350R have aluminum bumper bars in the front but, the GT350 has a steel bumper bar in the rear and only the GT350R has an aluminum bumper bar in the rear.

Is that right? I'd love to see some info about that, might be a quick easy swap for some lbs.

 

[DrumReaper]

The R has aluminum bumper bars

 

[Stuntman]

A carbon roof is not going to cut 25lbs. MAYBE 10.

 

[krt22]

No way bro, perma-bulk getting to 300!

But seriously, why didn't they do the roof panel and trunk lid from aluminum? At least on the R. Add $500-1000 people would have still bought it and shaved another 50lbs off the car. And at least IRS aluminum pieces.

The same reason its steel instead of aluminum, its part of the unibody and shared with the regular mustang. Same with the trunk.

Its a 30k mustang with 25k extra in suspension, brakes, and driveline.

 

[Darkane]

A carbon roof is not going to cut 25lbs. MAYBE 10.

BMW cut 11lbs from their aluminum roof. Our roof is steel and has a larger surface area as well.

It's all guess work really, but those are the numbers apparently.

 

[Darkane]

The same reason its steel instead of aluminum, its part of the unibody and shared with the regular mustang. Same with the trunk.

Its a 30k mustang with 25k extra in suspension, brakes, and driveline.

I'm under the impression aluminum can replace steel structurally easy enough. The problem might have been re-certifying the crash testing.

Yes you're right it's still a stock mustang unibody, I was unaware the trunk was part of it.

 

[Chetly]

I run a battery tender battery in my c5z and it only weighs 3.75 lbs. 5 lbs if you count the mounting bracket. It has 480 CCA and is more than enough to start the vette. You could save more like 25-26lbs if you went that route.

 

[krt22]

I'm under the impression aluminum can replace steel structurally easy enough. The problem might have been re-certifying the crash testing.

Yes you're right it's still a stock mustang unibody, I was unaware the trunk was part of it.

The trunk is not, but if you look at the rear of the car, its essentially untoched minus the diffuser and wings

You are missing the point about the roof, its currently part of the unibody assembly, meaning they are all made exactly the same and its a welded in. So they would have to modify the unibody fabrication process and design it for a drop in panel, you can't weld aluminum to steel.

If you wanted to replace it, you would have to cut it out and design a custom roof and a proper way to seal/fasten it in place.

 

[Darkane]

The trunk is not, but if you look at the rear of the car, its essentially untoched minus the diffuser and wings

You are missing the point about the roof, its currently part of the unibody assembly, meaning they are all made exactly the same and its a welded in. So they would have to modify the unibody fabrication process and design it for a drop in panel, you can't weld aluminum to steel.

If you wanted to replace it, you would have to cut it out and design a custom roof and a proper way to seal/fasten it in place.

Honda currently does it. :shrug::shrug:


Automakers and part suppliers are focusing on new ways to join aluminum with tools and technology other than traditional resistance spot welding, which is prone to variability. Engineers at Honda Motor Co. recently developed a new, continuous process for joining aluminum and steel using friction stir welding.

The technology generates a stable metallic bond between steel and aluminum sheets by moving a rotating tool on the top of the aluminum, which is lapped over the steel with high pressure. As a result, the welding strength is superior to traditional metal inert gas (MIG) welding.
http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/91863-new-technology-for-welding-aluminum

 

[krt22]

Right, ford is going to developed a novel welding method for a low volume specialty car.

And yet you still are missing the main drive for using shared components... Cost.

 

[Darkane]

Right, ford is going to developed a novel welding method for a low volume specialty car.

And yet you still are missing the main drive for using shared components... Cost.

No don't get me wrong, I completely get what you're saying and you're right. In the end it boils down to cost which is fine.

In the Mustangs case, it's possible the aluminum is to expensive too use as a roof skin. Even according to that article the F-150 uses rivets and bonding to secure aluminum. Ford could have easily enough done this - mind you I'm just some guy on the internet stating my opinion.

I'm currently trying to figure out something regarding the GTR and an aftermarket carbon roof. The company states a 9lb weight drop from stock. Stock GTR roof is 16lbs and I think it's aluminum but I'm trying to confirm. Labour time for this project is 8-10 body shop hours they claim. GTR roof area is quite a bit smaller than ours.

EDIT: looks like the GTR roof is ultra high strength steel with a laser welding procedure. Rethinking this I'm going to say an aluminum roof would save 10lbs and we can cut 15-17 with a carbon replacement. Closest numbers I can figure based on research.


Good dialogue even though you guys think I'm nuts. For the price it's totally not worth it, but as a factory option Ford could have and should maybe think toward the GT500. People pay for carbon as options no problem. Case in point the corvette carbon roof.

 

[barstowpo]

I remember in the early Taurus SHO days, they built two entirely out of aluminum. I believe they were trimmed out as Sable SHO prototypes. One got donated to a school. I don't know what happened to the other one. It would be interesting to see that weight comparison.

 

[Darkane]

I remember in the early Taurus SHO days, they built two entirely out of aluminum. I believe they were trimmed out as Sable SHO prototypes. One got donated to a school. I don't know what happened to the other one. It would be interesting to see that weight comparison.

Here you go:

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/26/ultra-rare-sho-powered-aluminum-bodied-mercury-sable-aiv-spotted/

Coles notes: 360lbs saved

 

[Darkane]

On another note looks like Ford did in fact make most of the IRS from cast aluminum including the knuckles, and arms.

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