Roadkill: rat rod C4

Non-repair car talk
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kevm14
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Roadkill: rat rod C4

Post by kevm14 »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD3y7ylpqO8

This might be the coolest thing ever. New trend in the making?
bill25
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Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:20 pm

Re: Roadkill: rat rod C4

Post by bill25 »

Awesome episode, cool idea.

Unless you could still drive it on the road, probably not a trend.

It is gonna be tough for most people to rationalize shelling out 10K on something that can't drive anywhere. I am not knocking it, just have to figure out how to get a donor car real cheap, upgrade a few things and lighten it for the upgrades to really multiply, but still be able to register it. I am in for that all day.
Adam
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: Roadkill: rat rod C4

Post by Adam »

It wouldn't need too much to legally drive on the road:
- Exhaust, you could even add some catalytic converters for "smog"
- Turn signals
- Fenders and maybe some door panels?

It probably still has the VIN panel, so its still an '85 Vette for registration and insurance purposes. You wouldn't want to drive it in the rain, but they are in southern California so there isn't too much of that. People are already used to not driving their performance cars in the rain, so that isn't really a valid concern.

Even if you couldn't, it could still be a track day (bro) toy. There is already a market for track-only vehicles. Except this vehicle is really a production car so maintenance and repair would be reasonable. Plus it would be pretty cheap compared to some track-only cars (or even kit cars).
bill25
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Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:20 pm

Re: Roadkill: rat rod C4

Post by bill25 »

That is really cool. I guess I thought it would need more to be "street legal". A couple doors, fenders, cat and directionals aren't going to add too much weight.
kevm14
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Roadkill: rat rod C4

Post by kevm14 »

The hardest part would really be the roll cage.

Also, if you were serious about handling, you would need coil overs. The ride height and spring rate after all that weight loss is all wrong. They did alright but still. Oh, and brake bias, too. But people do those things on anything they actually track. I would run fuel injection, obviously, and that would work just fine.
kevm14
Posts: 15446
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Roadkill: rat rod C4

Post by kevm14 »

Adam wrote:It wouldn't need too much to legally drive on the road:
I think Finnigan said it best when he described the hypothetical conversation with a cop about the car. "Just close your eyes and let me list off all the equipment this car has." Doesn't look street legal but there's no reason it can't be.
Adam
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Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:50 pm

Re: Roadkill: rat rod C4

Post by Adam »

Coil overs wouldn't be that unrealistic. If you were to do this, you would start with the most neglected car you could find since you were going to remove most of it. That car would probably have worn out original everything from the 80's which is ripe for replacement.

The brake bias question is interesting, though. I wish the did before and after corner weights for the car. I would be interested to see how evenly distributed the original body was (or wasn't).
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