Million Dollar Skunksworks Kirkham

[David Kirkham]

One of the secrets of the stiffness of the chassis (300% stiffer than an original chassis) is the stressed tunnel. From this shot you can also see we integrated the ebrake handle mounting directly into the tunnel. This saves weight and makes a stiffer part.

[David Kirkham]

The tunnel is 1/2 inch thick aluminum. From this angle you can see we milled away everything we could to lighten up the chassis.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a close up of the milled out tunnel. The tunnel is loaded into the uprights that feed back into the chassis. They didn't line up and so we had to bridge the gap (another work-around). We had to do this because of the wheel base, original space, and original "look" we worked to preserve.

[David Kirkham]

Close up of the ebrake set up.

[David Kirkham]

This shot shows how we tied the tunnel into the rear bulkhead to help carry the loads forward in the chassis. The little bulge you see on the side is for clearance for the pinion flange on the differential! Yes, everything is extremely tight on the car and there is very little room to work with.

[David Kirkham]

This shot shows a little clearer how we had to bridge from the tunnel to the frame rails. We couldn't just splay the tunnel out further as the tunnel would have then intruded into the seats. As it is, you want as much room as possible for the driver and passenger.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a shot of the top of the tunnel.

[69boss429]

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

SP01715,

Thank you for your kind words!

We have put thousands of hours into the chassis--research, design, engineering, FEA, programming, proofing, checking, fitting, and tweaking. I told our customer I wanted to make him a "no excuse" car. So, I set the bar pretty high for myself.

"No excuse" means you don't need to explain anything to anyone if they ask you a question. "Oh, well we couldn't do this or that, or whatever, because of this or that or whatever." I didn't want any of that with this car. I just wanted to make a really cool car. Judging by the drool marks left on the car by customers who have seen it, I hope we have achieved our goal. (It is very, very hard for an artist to appreciate his own work so I DO appreciate the comments.) I would even appreciate negative comments so we could make the car even better.

David

Unfortunatly,most artists work is never appreciated until yhey have passed on.
You Mr Kirkham are now even more legendary and I wish you many more years to persue your artistic endeavors.
I would be happy to provide any negative feedback(but I doubt fault could be found) simply arrange a 2 week test drive for me when your masterpiece is complete.

[Hoofa]

Looks great, If it was mine, I'd "inside out" the side panels of the tranny tunnel to show off the machining. Only small creatures that you run over will appreciate all the work.

[David Kirkham]

69boss429,

Sometimes us "artist" types only see what we could have done better, smoother, stronger, lighter...I think it is an artistic defect. I do appreciate the kind words, however. The final judge of the car will be the customer. If he is happy, then I will pass out...and wake up happy.

hoofa,



I loved the bug comment. We did all that on the inside because it would be really hard to put carpet on those milled out pockets! We did, however, leave some cool billet parts bare in the interior. I will try to find some pics of them and post them soon.

David

[Hoofa]

It's sad that you have to put a body on it. Even if they are pretty cool, but carpet that tunnel???? Why don't you give me that I'll give you a carpeted Street Beast chassis.... Who would know? If ya got it Flaunt it!!!

[David Kirkham]

Hoofa,

I think there will be plenty of "flaunting" going on.

David

[David Kirkham]

Here we are fitting the differential into the chassis.

[David Kirkham]

Before anyone has a cow!!!

The differential is SUPPOSED to be offset like that. The pinion is exactly 1.000 inches set to the right in the car. As such, the engine is set 0.500 inches to the right to help straighten out the drive line. It is supposed to be like that. You would not believe the calls we have gotten over the years with people wondering why our engine is "crooked" in the car.

Trying to line the tunnel up and all the other parts and giving clearance for everything was a major challenge.

[David Kirkham]

This is a shot of the little bracket in the rear that holds the down tube. Everything on the car was milled at funny angles.

[RedBarchetta]

I wish I had your customer's money. I'd be driving my Kirkham by now.

I think it's neat that someone has the drive to create a one-off like this, and found the right manufacturer to pull it off. Too bad most who see it won't appreciate the engineering and effort required to make it all work.

-Dean

[David Kirkham]

Here is another view of the bracket.

[1ntCobra]

David,

Are you going to bringing this artwork to SAAC-33 so that thousands of us can check it out in person?

[David Kirkham]

Rear structure and supports for the gas tank straps, body, and jack hooks.

[David Kirkham]

Originally Posted by RedBarchetta

I wish I had your customer's money. I'd be driving my Kirkham by now.

I think it's neat that someone has the drive to create a one-off like this, and found the right manufacturer to pull it off. Too bad most who see it won't appreciate the engineering and effort required to make it all work.

-Dean

Dean,

I can say that I feel we are truly fortunate to have a customer who really let us go to create what we wanted. He is really saying that "I know you will come up with a cool car and here is the money to do it." It really put an enormous amount of pressure on us. I doubt many people will actually see the car once it is done. It will go and keep his other cars company. That may be sad on the one hand. On the other hand, he is really into engineering and such. He knows how much work this has been. If he is happy, then I will be happy and nothing else really matters.

David