The Miura project begins (Page 13/84)
Archie MAY 12, 11:55 PM
The Miura gets a new HeartBeat.









I think those headers look way cool in there.



Archie
Fastback 86 MAY 13, 01:13 PM
I'm curious if the customer is concerned about their personal safety with this vehicle in the event of an accident. You've had to cut away a lot of the front and rear frame as well as much of the roof. I also notice that the frame you've rebuilt out of square tubing is not bent at all, it is instead comprised of many, many joints. I don't doubt your guys know how to weld, it's just that I've always been taught that when building a roll cage or tube frame, you want to have as few joints as possible as they are weaker than uninterrupted tubing. I'm also concerned about the small tubing you've used for the A pillars, it doesn't look like it would support the weight of the car in the event of a roll over. Over all, the vehicle looks solid and will look good with the body on, I'm just concerned it won't be safe in an accident. Of course, if it's going to be a show car and rarely driven in the street, it's probably not a big deal, but if it's going to be driven out there with Sally Soccer Mom yakking on her cell phone while piloting her Suburban with her knee, it could be a serious risk.
DeLorean00 MAY 13, 02:32 PM

quote
Originally posted by Fastback 86:

I'm curious if the customer is concerned about their personal safety with this vehicle in the event of an accident. You've had to cut away a lot of the front and rear frame as well as much of the roof. I also notice that the frame you've rebuilt out of square tubing is not bent at all, it is instead comprised of many, many joints. I don't doubt your guys know how to weld, it's just that I've always been taught that when building a roll cage or tube frame, you want to have as few joints as possible as they are weaker than uninterrupted tubing. I'm also concerned about the small tubing you've used for the A pillars, it doesn't look like it would support the weight of the car in the event of a roll over. Over all, the vehicle looks solid and will look good with the body on, I'm just concerned it won't be safe in an accident. Of course, if it's going to be a show car and rarely driven in the street, it's probably not a big deal, but if it's going to be driven out there with Sally Soccer Mom yakking on her cell phone while piloting her Suburban with her knee, it could be a serious risk.



Your points are valid, but what you need to keep in mind is that this is a "replica/kitcar" and being that, this is the best reenforced one I have ever seen. If you want to be scared about safety go crawl under one of those Lambo kitcars on ebay (not all of them, some are very nice) they have almost all the frame cut away and most builders put little to no solid reenforcements under there. Archie and his team have done a excellent job on this car, and it will be safer then most other kits out there. Also I'm sure this car will not be an everyday driver, and likely will never see any kind of accident.
madcurl MAY 13, 03:01 PM
Wasen't that one of the main reason why the owner took it to Archie's? The guys over the great pond didn't do a very good job at reinforcing the kit and it flexed badly on prior Muira kits?
Fastback 86 MAY 13, 04:22 PM

quote
Originally posted by DeLorean00:


Your points are valid, but what you need to keep in mind is that this is a "replica/kitcar" and being that, this is the best reenforced one I have ever seen. If you want to be scared about safety go crawl under one of those Lambo kitcars on ebay (not all of them, some are very nice) they have almost all the frame cut away and most builders put little to no solid reenforcements under there. Archie and his team have done a excellent job on this car, and it will be safer then most other kits out there. Also I'm sure this car will not be an everyday driver, and likely will never see any kind of accident.



That's nice to hear, but it's the same as saying this run down old house is a-ok because it hasn't been condemned yet. The mere fact that other people are building unsafe cars doesn't make this one safe, just safer by comparison. However, in comparison to a stock Fiero spaceframe, it's probably not as safe. And again, if it's never going to see a city street, it's a moot point.
Archie MAY 13, 04:55 PM

quote
Originally posted by Fastback 86:

I'm curious if the customer is concerned about their personal safety with this vehicle in the event of an accident. You've had to cut away a lot of the front and rear frame as well as much of the roof. I also notice that the frame you've rebuilt out of square tubing is not bent at all, it is instead comprised of many, many joints. I don't doubt your guys know how to weld, it's just that I've always been taught that when building a roll cage or tube frame, you want to have as few joints as possible as they are weaker than uninterrupted tubing. I'm also concerned about the small tubing you've used for the A pillars, it doesn't look like it would support the weight of the car in the event of a roll over. Over all, the vehicle looks solid and will look good with the body on, I'm just concerned it won't be safe in an accident. Of course, if it's going to be a show car and rarely driven in the street, it's probably not a big deal, but if it's going to be driven out there with Sally Soccer Mom yakking on her cell phone while piloting her Suburban with her knee, it could be a serious risk.



I appreciate your concern however we're not really done with the steel work yet.

The customer sent it to us because he had seen the chassis work we had done with the GT40 we built & he felt that chassis would be a good base for building the Miura. The chassis on my GT40 was very stiff & strong with no flex.

The framework up inside the roof & "A" pillars is not ment to be a roll cage. It's there to help keep the shape of the roof & "A" pillars. Otherwise the roof & windshield would have no support.

He does intend on driving this not necessarly as a DD but it's not going to be a show only car.

In the rear, there are 2 arms coming out to form hinging points for the rear clip, that's where you see the angle joints. They're not finished yet but they're shaped the way they are to clear the exhaust & because there's going to be a trunk mounted in that area too.

Once we have most of the welding done we will be pulling the body off of the chassis. Then we're going to finish some steel work on parts of the chassis that we can't get to right now. Then the complete chassis is going to be sent out for powdercoating. I'll take some detailed pics of the chassis at that point & you can form an opinion based on those pics.

The chassis used on the Miura in the U.K. was known for a lot of flex. IMHO, that's why the Miura kits were never really very popular over there & that's why the customer didn't want to use one of those chassis.

Archie

edited to add....... The customer is a Fiero fan who's into Fieros. He's doing something to his Fiero that no one else has done, so he is one of us. & not some kit car guy looking for the cheapest way to build something.

A

[This message has been edited by Archie (edited 05-13-2008).]

TRiAD MAY 13, 05:42 PM
Two thumbs, WAY up, Arch man!



~M
myfierogt MAY 13, 07:17 PM
Wow, that square "tubing" does look scary. I wouldnt want to be involved in a crash in any fiero so that doesnt say much.
30+mpg MAY 13, 07:29 PM

quote
myfierogt:Wow, that square "tubing" does look scary. I wouldnt want to be involved in a crash in any fiero so that doesnt say much.



If you want to see something scary, figure the payments you'd be making if you bought a real Miura!
Fastback 86 MAY 13, 09:59 PM

quote
Originally posted by Archie:


I appreciate your concern however we're not really done with the steel work yet.

The customer sent it to us because he had seen the chassis work we had done with the GT40 we built & he felt that chassis would be a good base for building the Miura. The chassis on my GT40 was very stiff & strong with no flex.

The framework up inside the roof & "A" pillars is not ment to be a roll cage. It's there to help keep the shape of the roof & "A" pillars. Otherwise the roof & windshield would have no support.

He does intend on driving this not necessarly as a DD but it's not going to be a show only car.

In the rear, there are 2 arms coming out to form hinging points for the rear clip, that's where you see the angle joints. They're not finished yet but they're shaped the way they are to clear the exhaust & because there's going to be a trunk mounted in that area too.

Once we have most of the welding done we will be pulling the body off of the chassis. Then we're going to finish some steel work on parts of the chassis that we can't get to right now. Then the complete chassis is going to be sent out for powdercoating. I'll take some detailed pics of the chassis at that point & you can form an opinion based on those pics.

The chassis used on the Miura in the U.K. was known for a lot of flex. IMHO, that's why the Miura kits were never really very popular over there & that's why the customer didn't want to use one of those chassis.

Archie

edited to add....... The customer is a Fiero fan who's into Fieros. He's doing something to his Fiero that no one else has done, so he is one of us. & not some kit car guy looking for the cheapest way to build something.

A




Good deal, I was just curious.