you sure about this? personally i'd prefer to be showered with carbon splinters (assuming they made it through the windshield) than decapitated by a 1.6mm sheet of steel ofcourse what i prefer doesnt always equate to what is legal

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

Think the splinters issue would come from cheap carbon which is quite brittle,
It is only britle if not woven properly, the stuff used in most pannels is from memory 4 or 5 ply, meaning there is 4 or 5 layers of weave at 45deg making it strong.

I also think this law is for pedestrian saftey.

If you join the suspension tops you couls even put in a carbon strut brace, just to look uber pimpy

another bonus is the carbon (lighter) doors would take a fair bit of weight off the poor old hinges...no more saggies for my mini

_________________
Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

You could make some lightweight hinges...

nah the hinges need to be big n heavy...so they can support the door...the prob is that the stock doors weigh so much that overtime the hinges (and therefore the door) start to sag a bit...hence...saggies you can get em repinned and what have you...but meh...better to just have lighter doors and avoid the problem all together i say

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

I reckon the plan is to get 850 doors, cut the buckets out and make the cage with CAMS style bolt-in door bars. Just forget to take them out for road use... You'll get a stiff, triangulated cage with the benefit of side intrusion and, if you got pinged you could just unbolt the door bar and say "sorry DOT guy, I forgot to remove them after my last track day"
It is meaningless to put an intrusion bar into a door that closes onto a catch that is not burst proof and would just shear away anyway.
Going for a Chrome Moly cage in a mini may be a bit OTT. Sure you can reduce the wall thickness for moly tube and save a bit of weight over the standard CDS 350 stuff but then you have to ensure you get the right grade of moly with known yeild and then you have to ensure you weld it properly (with the right pre-heat etc). Otherwise you'll just end up with cracked welds. Not worth the effort IMO, you are better off just taking a piss before you drive to save the kilos.
M

OTT is my middle name you know this whole project started with me saying to scott "hey what can i do to get more juice outta my 998?"

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

Just been reading some info on Carbon doors on another forum, the general trend was saying that they are flimsy and should only be on race cars, they apparently dont like being shut to much!
There is an alternative
http://www.minidoor.co.uk/

look rather good, nothing looks as good as carbon but these must be up there.

hmmm not bad...dunno why ya couldnt fit carbon skins to the outside of the frame...ie. instead of the aluminium ones...

PS. WHOOHOO! triple figures! 1000 baby YEAH!

_________________
Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

well unfortunately they no longer make mk1 door skins...so apparently they are no good

_________________
Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

bugger, how about using your old door skins as a mould and making your own fibre glass skins?

yeah...considering that now

_________________
Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

Why???
Unless you're bored and feel like doing something, i just dont see the point.

If youre going to try and get the same sort of stiffness/strength/something else as the door skin that's already there then i think the fibreglass is going to end up just as heavy if not heavier, as well as being thicker.

I've thought about doing if before for about 5secs and realised it was just a waste of time and money.

Its more about what you could do than actualy will.

Thing is you wont be 'showered', expect something closer to piercing.

Logically the weight saved with a carbon fibre skin would be lost with re-enforcement needed to strengthen it. Yeah you would save some weight with an alloy cage or something, but damn, it'd cost a fortune.

If it was a race car, i reckon consider it. But for a road car, it wouldnt be worth it....and you might agree if you got t-boned.

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No more Minis!......For now.