Million Dollar Skunksworks Kirkham

[David Kirkham]

Here is another view for you (I am starting to feel like Vanna White! )

This view always reminded me of FANGS! (Speaking of Fangs, that is one of my favorite shows on Discovery Channel! Along with Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs! Man that guy eats a LOT of poo!)

[David Kirkham]

And here we have one of the supports for the roll bar.

[saltytri]

David:

Of course, once you get all the details worked out and have the CAD/CNC files on your hard drive, It'll be a snap to turn these bad boys out one after another. So, can I make an appointment to bring my car in and have a shiny, new billet chassis slipped under the body? Shouldn't take los hermanos more than a half a day to knock it out, eh? Heck, at that point, it isn't even skilled labor - it's more like a big Lego set.

Let me know when you can fit me in.

Best regards as always,
David I.

[David Kirkham]

Yes, just push the button now...

I wish running a CNC were that easy!

As for slipping a "new chassis" under one of our earlier cars--not going to happen. Way too much work. It would be easier to just start over fresh and new. You are right on the Lego set thing. We did it that way on purpose. We were very careful when we made it so that it would be easy to put together. We spent a LOT of time programming the machines to do all of the hard work. When the parts come out, we pretty much just bolt it together.

If the customer doesn't care, then I think we may start making a few more of these. We won't know until delivery, however, what he wants to do. Of course, that depends on whether or not customers want a billet chassis instead of the original 4 inch chassis. Maybe I should post a poll???

David

[saltytri]

OK, my tongue is out of my cheek now.

Seriously, you (meaning the whole crowd at the Skunkworks) are truly da bomb. Who else could pull off a technological tour de force like this, or would have the audacity to try?

Please keep posting photos every so often - it's a fascinating project!

[David Kirkham]

If I keep posting pictures, your billable hours will go down! That may send you attorney types into cardiac arrest. Maybe in the interest of your health (and all the other lawyers on this site) I should suspend my photo posting so your deaths are not on my conscience.

David

[Lew Ledyard]

Originally Posted by David Kirkham

If I keep posting pictures, your billable hours will go down!

Don't worry, we'll just raise our billing rates to make up for it.

[saltytri]

You must have had complaints from my partners. OK, guys, I'll stop drooling over car porn and get back to work. Right after I raise my rates.

[David Kirkham]

Originally Posted by Lew Ledyard

Don't worry, we'll just raise our billing rates to make up for it.

Oh man, I should have seen that one coming a mile away!

David

[David Kirkham]

Next people to post here will be Jamo and Evan...raising their rates!

David

[David Kirkham]

I just opened a bill from an attorney. It was for $395.00 dollars but the .00 had an arrow underneath it pointing one decimal place to the right. There was a hand-written note underneath the arrow stating something about a CC surcharge...

Man, word travels fast among you attorneys!

David

[David Kirkham]

This is a picture of the front suspension box as it was being assembled.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a pic of the rear suspension box and bulkhead as it was being assembled.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a shot of the front uprights. Notice they are hollow. That is so air can flow through the upright to cool the rotors. That is a trick we took from F1. The bearings we are using are from a Lexus. They are double row angular contact bearings--the BEST choice for wheel bearings. Notice how in the top of the picture you can see we held the rod ends (where the control arms connect to the upright) in DOUBLE shear. That makes for a light and very strong part. The engineering was very, very hard, however, to get it all to package into a 15 inch wheel.

In the picture, the left side of the upright is solid--that is where the brake loads are carried in the upright.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a shot of the rear suspension box again. Notice the finned CV joints.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a shot of the rear uprights. Notice the area for the pushrod. We loaded the upright and NOT the control arm so the control arms could be made as light as possible by taking the bending load out of them. That is how the big boys do it. (See, I'm "borrowing" their ideas again).

[David Kirkham]

Here is where the push rod will bolt to the upright. Notice the rod end at the bottom of the upright is held in double shear.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a shot of the rear lower control arm. Notice how we even took into account the direction of the machining marks. That reduces stress raisers and makes the part look better. We didn't want any machining marks to stop and start in the crotch of the control arm. That would have been ugly.

[David Kirkham]

Rear lower control arm.

Notice how we milled the brake flex line holders directly into the arm. We didn't want ugly clamps to ruin the look. Also, you have to keep those brake lines out of the way of flying rocks, squirrels, politicians, etc.

[David Kirkham]

Here is a pic of the rear lower control arm.