Just got off the phone with the brass at a major titanium fabrication company. We are discussing possibilities in custom fabricated titanium jag body parts. This is a relatively new idea, and am curious if anybody would be interested in custom cut titanium Jag body parts?

I will update thread with CAD designs and dimensions as they become available.

 

I probably won't be interested, but in the interest of the forum, why would you think it would be a good idea? Wouldn't they be extremely expensive?

 

Sounds interesting. I would be interested in a titanium exhaust system for my F-Type V8S, and of course anything that is currently steel in the suspension/subframe. As for body parts, they are so intricately put together that it would not make sense to do anything other than doors/hood/deck lid.

 

Titanium is quite a bit more dense than aluminum so would generally make body parts heavier unless you could decrease the thickness by about 60%. It's hard to think you could realistically get the sheet metal to 1/3 its current thickness.

Anything that is currently steel may be a good candidate.

 

Good to know. I have a titanium exhaust on my motorcycle and I will agree the canisters are paper thin.

 

Right now we are discussing doors and hood/trunk, this will be an involved process...but changing out steel body parts with titanium (for mod, weight, strength, and heat resistance) is an interesting avenue to explore, I will also add some carbon fiber touches (carbon fiber door panel covers, lip, and custom made carbon fiber under the hood)

This will be an involved process, meeting with some engineers next week to discuss possibilities. I will keep you posted.

 

Exactly. Anything that is currently steel is a strong candidate. Titanium is an interesting avenue to explore.

 

Right now we believe that titanium is only feasible in body parts...need to account for 1/8 mm error...Have a lot of minds working on this.

 

If you are going for light weight, carbon fiber would make more sense for the hood and trunk...probably would be a lot more cost effective too.

The exhaust however is a great idea, you could probably free up a lot of weight by designing an all titanium system

 

It would be an upgrade over anything that is steel on the body. If you need a new paint job, or take body damage anyway...Need to consider the difference between paying labor and effort to never get good as new...or replace it with a custom fit titanium part and upgrading while you fix a need. Or just for mod purposes. Titanium is superior to steel in the purposes I discussed earlier in this thread.

The price is another obstacle. While, I am working on ways to lower cost, this option should only be considered by those with a need that are willing to pay a little extra to upgrade or those that want to make titanium body mods.

 

Carbon fiber is so famous now, its like the Elvis of automotive upgrades...price is still high, still 10 times as expensive as steel, hard to work, shops just hear the word carbon fiber they charge you a Premium to work with it...I am exploring both possibilities at the moment. So can update the thread with projected price comparison.

 

My 2014 XF SC AWD already seems to be an aluminum hood, so there isn't much gain to be made replacing that with titanium. Aluminum is 2.7 g/cc compared to 3.0 for titanium. Other body panels are magnetic, and here titanium might make sense, because titanium is about 40% the density of steel with about half the Young's modulus, so you dare not make it any thinner than steel. Titanium has its place, but for the same weight aluminum is stiffer than steel, much cheaper, and much easier to stamp and machine.

 

Really don't get the point......sorry!!

For me if you were talking upgrades and weight advantages how about plastics?? Imagine ABS plastic wings and boot lids....maybe even glass filled poly prop......coud use a soft aluminium tool as the volumes we would be talking about would be low and once the tool has been paid for the component price wound be cheap as chips........