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It can be welded, also epoxied, with rivets.
It also comes in cylindrical shapes.
The molten aluminum foam thermally bonds to stainless steel.
This can be welded to the steel rocker panels.
The compression tests are impressive.
Almost like shock absorbers.
how about just filling the complete rocker panel, seems would be lot less work?
molten aluminum might be hard to work with,like dangerous!
interesting idea, when money no object.
if platform stiffness is paramount, then use a double layer floor pan,with an air space between, made in aluminum, be quiet, insulated from heat or cold, and very stiff, and easy to weld or fasten to.
this ultimate car stuff gets more intriguing with each post.
That alu tube technology is interesting but not applicable to this project. I'm working with commonly available low cost materials and common low tech welding processes.
The best and most current chassis technology uses thick one piece rails that extend from the front to the back with out interruption. I've noticed this on the Aston Martin DB9 and Modern Corvette. I'm trying to replicate this as best as I can using the steel tubing. This is the reason I welded the tube to the sill end caps. I think Jag had the same idea because rear frame rail structure curves toward the sill. In the front there is a triangulated box formed that links the sill end cap to the front frame rail. These are good techniques that mimic modern chassis technology. The engineering is there however the metal is thin and the sill in an odd shape, 1/4 round on the out side an inverted J shape on the inside. I don't think that's an ideal shape for rigidity, thus the rational for supplemental the tube.
how about just filling the complete rocker panel, seems would be lot less work?
molten aluminum might be hard to work with,like dangerous!
interesting idea, when money no object.
if platform stiffness is paramount, then use a double layer floor pan,with an air space between, made in aluminum, be quiet, insulated from heat or cold, and very stiff, and easy to weld or fasten to.
this ultimate car stuff gets more intriguing with each post.
Aluminum foam blocks can be machined into any shape and it can be epoxied into the rocker panel but thermally bonded aluminum foam tubes have better progressive deformity.
I have a 100mm x 100mm x 9mm aluminum foam sandwich panel sample. It has 1mm faceplates on both sides and is so lightweight and buoyant, that it floats on water.
The faceplates can, also, be stainless steel.
Last edited by Giovanni LiCalsi; 02-28-2015 at 11:23 PM.
how about just filling the complete rocker panel, seems would be lot less work?
Ron that's a good idea and I did exactly that on a Nissan 300ZX twin turbo. I don't think the jag is a good candidate for foaming the complete rocker because water does find it's way into the rockers and the foam would trap it and it would rust through. Also my research on the foaming process leads me to believe for it to be effective and not crack the metal must be clean for good adhestion. No vintage Jag I would modify has clean rockers at this point and the inside of my rocker did have a noticeable amount of scale when I opened it up that would have prevented good adhesion.
When the car was finished it was super stiff and quieter. Eventually I hit the wall on the crack at about 100 MPH, air bag went poof but my head with helmet still went through the windshield. Luckily I opened the door and got out. Both doors were still in perfect alignment and I suspect the foamed rails made that possible because this year 300zx car is known for killing it occupants. In this year the seat belt attachment point is on the door and in serious crashes the chassis deforms and the door pops open leaving the occupant unrestrained. Nissan redesigned the belts and attached them to the body in later model years.
ok, found some rust in the rear 1/4 panels...Hey it's and XJC right? It was a bit worse than I expected so out came the air body saw.
Also had time to get some 255/50R17 tires mounted to the 9.5 inch rear wheels that I've chosen for this project....I just came to learn that the 275's I wanted to run require 18 inch wheels so 255's will have to due for now since I purchased the wheels long ago. They still rub the inside and out. I'm going to trim the bump stop on the inside and will have to fashion a new way to limit the suspension travel. On the out side...its going to require some sheet metal work. I don't know exactly how I'm going to do it yet but the rear fender wells will have to be widened at least 1 inch. I'll probably go 1.25 inches to be safe.
I did take the time to calculate correct offset so the center line of the wheel and thrust angle are as intended. That should ensure predictable handling under power and braking. 255's on 9.5 inch wheels is the biggest I can practically go. The next wheel size available with the proper offset was 18 x 11 inches wide and that would have been a bridge too far since both the inside and outside would have needed up fixing so 9.5's will have to do. I want to keep the looks close to original. I really don't appreciate the effective but goofy looking fender flares of the Broadspeed coupes. Anyone know what size rear tire Broadspeed coupes ran?
I'm really not looking forward to all the additional work required to fit these tires but my previous setup with 8 inch wheels and 235 series tires are not getting it done. Too much wheel spin on acceleration and the rear biased late XJS rear brakes have a tendency to lock too soon and activate the ABS. The wider tires should help both issues and they look mean too.
Last edited by icsamerica; 03-06-2015 at 04:21 PM.
ok, found some rust in the rear 1/4 panels...Hey it's and XJC right? It was a bit worse than I expected so out came the air body saw.
Also had time to get some 255/50R17 tires mounted to the 9.5 inch rear wheels that I've chosen for this project....I just came to learn that the 275's I wanted to run require 18 inch wheels so 255's will have to due for now since I purchased the wheels long ago. They still rub the inside and out. I'm going to trim the bump stop on the inside and will have to fashion a new way to limit the suspension travel. On the out side...its going to require some sheet metal work. I don't know exactly how I'm going to do it yet but the rear fender wells will have to be widened at least 1 inch. I'll probably go 1.25 inches to be safe.
I did take the time to calculate correct offset so the center line of the wheel and thrust angle are as intended. That should ensure predictable handling under power and braking. 255's on 9.5 inch wheels is the biggest I can practically go. The next wheel size available with the proper offset was 18 x 11 inches wide and that would have been a bridge too far since both the inside and outside would have needed up fixing so 9.5's will have to do. I want to keep the looks close to original. I really don't appreciate the effective but goofy looking fender flares of the Broadspeed coupes. Anyone know what size rear tire Broadspeed coupes ran?
I'm really not looking forward to all the additional work required to fit these tires but my previous setup with 8 inch wheels and 235 series tires are not getting it done. Too much wheel spin on acceleration and the rear biased late XJS rear brakes have a tendency to lock too soon and activate the ABS. The wider tires should help both issues and they look mean too.
nice work ICS, i had same problem with the 10" wide Enkei for the rear XJS,
seein as car had rusted fender edges anyway, you see what i did, smooth rounded flares, really looks wide from the *** end,295/18/35.
car could be lower to fit a better stance,but lately ground huggin is going away.
anyway love your project, i had back few yrs, a 1975 XJ12C coupe, with manual trans, spline drive factory wire wheels, great car but full of rust, to much for me at my age, sold it to a guy in hawiai/
More progress on the coupe over the last few months. Rear fenders have been flared and paint is going on Today. I've been prepping for paint for two weeks.
Massaging all the body lines and panel gaps took quite some time to get right. Every panel was not actually flat. The roof and just about every other panel needed significant work to take out the ripples.
With the Chassis reinforcements, complete brakes system upgrade, Lingenfelter and AFR headed SBC 406, 700R4, Bilsteins, and 3:54 Auburn locker... The driving dynamics are amazing.
In primer
In colored guide coat and sanded to identify imperfections.
Here you can see the widen read, subtle, widened 1 1/4 inches.
Last edited by icsamerica; 07-12-2016 at 01:39 PM.
I've always been frustrated with the operation of Coupe rear windows so I set out to fix it. I tried cleaned up the tracks and applied new grease. That helped noticeably but the movement was still not great.
Then I fitted early XJS / XJ6 front window motors which are a bolt on. They work much better so this is one good solution.
It was clear the coupe rear window motors were taxed because the armature was dark and smelled slightly burnt. When opening up the motors to check the brushes I observed that the armature is much bigger on the XJS front window motor.
I was still not satisfied with this solution because the original mechanism had play in the pivot point and it clunked as the window changed direction. The pivot was just a large pressed rivet with no bushing so it was worn.
I had some series 3 windows mechanism around because I save lots of things. It became clear in my mind's eye that they could be chopped and welded and thus re-purposed into new and better coupe rear window mechanisms. So out came the cut off wheel and welder.
With the Series 3 motors and pivots, the movement is considerably better than the even the XJS motored original. The series 3 mechanism has no play in the pivot so no more clunk. Now the window moves up and down briskly too. The balance spring is wound tigher on the new mechanism so the windows go up affirmatively and slighty quicker than down. And the whole new mechanism is 2.5 LBS lighter which is important since this coupe is on a major diet.
You can see the window move at the end of this project preview video.
I'd would have liked to have made instructions but I kind-of make it up as I go along and I had no idea it was going to work out so well. Many of the other things I try have failed to work out as intended. This one was a success. If someone else wants to do this I guess knowing it is possible alone can help.
Last edited by icsamerica; 10-22-2016 at 11:50 PM.
Your car is giving a whole new meaning to the term "Customized!"
I'm finding the electric door mirrors especially fascinating.
(';')
Thanks LnrB, they dip in when the shifter is in reverse too! The XJS transplant netted lots of modern features like that. Others are a modern door chime, variable intermittent wipers, and memory seats and mirror position.
02-28-2015, 10:15 AM
