Sammio Spyder 550, VW based

carguy123 wrote: The formula V guys get their oomph from low weight. Someone famous once said "there's no replacement for displacement". NO wait, that's the wrong quote. I meant Weight = Power. They also specify pretty small tires which because it doesn't "challenge" the chassis.

Couple of points:

1 - FVs don't run any part of a VW chassis. The chassis is special built, and uses the king-pin front beam setup, and the swing-arm trans with custom trailing or leading arms and coilovers. Modern FVs use a zero-roll rear design.

2 - Small tires stem from the fact rules have dictated the use of 15x4" or 15x4.5" wide-5 wheels since the class was created.

Chris H. 1964 Autodynamics FV

carguy123 wrote:

mad_machine wrote: whomever thought the VW pan is floppy needs to take a good hard look at one.. they are a sturdy base with a strong central backbone and several sturdy outriggers.. the pans only add some to the strength. Most cars, if you pulled the body off and left just a chassis would be in the stratosphere.. Nothing reindexing the torsion bars and adding lowering adjusters to the front (or using drop spindles) can't cure.

The whole kit car industry and all buyers disagree with both you and weary microbe.

All the cars I have built and sold no has complained. Thick glass, some chassis reinforcement and roll bar that is triangulated well is all you really need.

http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2717

Hello, My name is John Chesnut. I am new to this forum. But, I am not new to scratch built cars. I have built a Beck Lister. Sold tha,t then designed and built my own cars. I have been using C5 Corvette suspension and power trains to build high performance Hot Rods, a Cobra, and a just finished Spyder. I purchased the Cobra body but I sculpted my others, made molds and then made my own bodies. I am getting ready to start my next project which I am basing on the 1990-97 Miata. I am going to build a version of my space frame and bolt the Miata parts in. My frames are similar to the Locost 7. I was going to sculpt my own body. But, a few days ago I came across pictures of the Sammio Spyder. I love the body shape and think that it would be great on my chassis. I am interested in going in and buying one of the 6 needed to fill a container. The Sammio has a slightly longer wheelbase and I think 6 inches narrower than the Miata. The question is to modify the body to fit the stock Miata wheelbase and track. Or, build the frame to fit the body. This would require moving the suspension pick up points inboard, narrowing the axles and steering rack. One idea to widen the body would be to cut the body in half and widen by 3 inches and then flaring the fenders by 1.5 inches each.
I believe that the finished weight could be kept under 1400lbs. My Vette based cars weigh under 1900lbs. Any thoughts? John