Strengthening Panels

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fetuhoe
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Strengthening Panels

Post by fetuhoe »

Image

We have been making strengthening panels for a while now and have decided to offer them for sale.

These are the first of the panels that we will be offering as we work our way along the car.

Wherever possible we have tried to reproduce RSR panels but we are using a very high strength steel which is Ympress S700MC.

We could claim that we have 'computer optimised' the design :) but instead we decided to use a very strong but weldable steel.

The tensile strength of this material is typically 900MPa which is around 3 x stronger than CR4.
Gary71
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Re: Strengthening Panels

Post by Gary71 »

Look very neat, just wondering why use high strength steel? Are they thinner than the originals?
smallspeed
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Re: Strengthening Panels

Post by smallspeed »

Hello.. not sure if you cut these yourselves or if you get someone outside to do them for you and then bend/sell-on.. if you have the capacity to cut these yourself in-house, then it might be worth looking at the BMW strengthening panels on the market, in particular E46 rear subframe reinforcement plates (which are bent/laser cut and fairly thin plate), E36 trailing arm pockets (thick flat plate), E36/46 front subframe reinforcement plates, E36/46 rear anti roll bar bracket reinforcement plates, E36/46 transmission mounting reinforcement plates, E36/46 rear damper reinforcement plates in both normal and off-set versions (all simple flat cut plates except the rear arb bracket plates which have one bend)

These all sell for a reasonable amount, but there's not many people in UK / Europe selling them - they're mostly imported from the US and sold on.. Might be a nice side-business for you if you can nest them around other things you're cutting out :)

Ben

PS.. There are also rear subframe reinforcements for e36 but these are thick stamped plates and they're only a few quid from the dealers, gearbox mounting plate reinforcements are available too (but not everyone knows about them), and front strut top-mount reinforcement plates, which are pressed - these are all probably too much of a pain in the butt to worry about
fetuhoe
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Re: Strengthening Panels

Post by fetuhoe »

Gary71 wrote:Look very neat, just wondering why use high strength steel? Are they thinner than the originals?

Not thinner, just something that adds little or no cost and should produce a stronger reinforcement.

We started using strong materials for our RSR Engine crossbars as these parts do tend to buckle and yield when used on track cars.

We did the same for our Tank Skids which are replicas of the early 'Sporting Purposes' Replicas and are used on a few Road Rally Cars. We just have carried on the same policy with these parts.

This type of steel forms just as well as weaker 'mild steels' and welds just as readily.

It is commonly used in Military vehicles and is less likely to crack or deform that weaker steels.
stwannabe
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Re: Strengthening Panels

Post by stwannabe »

Very pleased, these are super quality, thanks Chris. Don't forget to send me the invoice.

Best wishes, Sean
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