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Kiwi Wide Body Alpine

I saw this a couple days ago as well in my limited time surfing .. a different approach than the other one I remember seeing being done by? ..can't remember his name now. .. very interesting how this guy did the doors.

.... David
 
spmdr said:
This popped up on my limited web travel:


Already lots of episodes.

DW
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I have been watching this project since episode 1. He posts a new episode about every 7-10 days. A different approach to widening that I do not recall seeing previously. He is doing A LOT of fabrication to accomplish his end result, which can get some tweaks along the way. He is a Mustang guy, so that influences some of his plan, especially the front end. I am really enjoying it because he is quite entertaining and I am looking forward to the final product.

Rick
 
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Here's some Ai renderings of the Kiwi Wide Body
 

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As long as you're at it, I thought I'd throw out another one of my thoughts about the Alpine design versus final production car. On the original design, pictured below, the tires filled the wheel well arches, and the rear tire seems to tuck under the rear arch. But in the production model, there seems to be a larger gap on top of the front tires (too large to my eyes). I think I read once that they had to raise the front end to meet USA headlight height requirements. If you look at lots of Alpines, they vary in how big the gap is. The variation also changes how much the rear fins seem to point up. The original design also used 14" wheels.

1784647689035.png

I note also that they are "pointy" fins, not so much as high fins. They really don't point higher up than the later "flat fins." They just look that way because they go out further, and the flat fins do trim down at the end that adds to that impression. Of course, the smaller the gap in the front between the tire and arch, the higher the rear fins, unless the rear has been lowered (de-arching, or blocks).

In your AI pictures, they seem to drop down even further that real.
 
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Gotta' through this one out there ... strange!


... David
 

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Jay Laifman said:
As long as you're at it, I thought I'd throw out another one of my thoughts about the Alpine design versus final production car. On the original design, pictured below, the tires filled the wheel well arches, and the rear tire seems to tuck under the rear arch. But in the production model, there seems to be a larger gap on top of the front tires (too large to my eyes). I think I read once that they had to raise the front end to meet USA headlight height requirements. If you look at lots of Alpines, they vary in how big the gap is. The variation also changes how much the rear fins seem to point up. The original design also used 14" wheels.

View attachment 38714

I note also that they are "pointy" fins, not so much as high fins. They really don't point higher up than the later "flat fins." They just look that way because they go out further, and the flat fins do trim down at the end that adds to that impression. Of course, the smaller the gap in the front between the tire and arch, the higher the rear fins, unless the rear has been lowered (de-arching, or blocks).

In your AI pictures, they seem to drop down even further that real.
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My rendering is lowered by 2" and has 15" wheels. The actual car will need the wheel arches lifted some to work with the 225/50x15 tires
 
Well that's not quite accurate, there's no more width but the seats sit lower and further back now that the leaf springs have been deleted.
 
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Interesting for sure, but an enormous amount of fabrication to add a couple inches of fender width and door thickness on each side (with no increase in interior or engine bay width) and to lengthen the Alpine shell about 7" across the cowl so the Alpine body shell can be dropped on a Miata floor pan. I suspect that joining the top of an Alpine unibody to the bottom of a Miata unibody while maintaining adequate longitudinal and torsional stiffness will be challenging.
 
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Barry, are you talking about Chris's car or Belmateos? I think it is Belmateo that put Alpine body panels on a S2000 and Miata. I think Chris is swapping in a V8, but not putting another car underneath.
 
Barry said:
Interesting for sure, but an enormous amount of fabrication to add a couple inches of fender width and door thickness on each side (with no increase in interior or engine bay width) and to lengthen the Alpine shell about 7" across the cowl so the Alpine body shell can be dropped on a Miata floor pan. I suspect that joining the top of an Alpine unibody to the bottom of a Miata unibody while maintaining adequate longitudinal and torsional stiffness will be challenging.
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The widening is being done to gain room in the fenders for bigger wheels and tires without the need for fender flares. The engine bay is wide enough and the extra 6" length in the engine bay helps immensely and improves the weight split a lot with the entire engine now behind the front axle line
 

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kiwichris said:
Didn't say it did, actually I pointed out that it didn't. What's your point?
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Sorry, I didn't see it until now. After building an Alpine body on a S2000 and a Miata one of my goals was to increase passenger space (width) to make the car more comfortable. Your concept of lengthening the front makes a lot of sense and would solve many issues with the original design. Again, my apologies.
 
Jay Laifman said:
Barry, are you talking about Chris's car or Belmateos? I think it is 1:that put Alpine body panels on a S2000 and Miata. I think Chris is swapping in a V8, but not putting another car underneath.
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Watch at about the 11:00 minute mark of the video in the first post.
 
Barry said:
Watch at about the 11:00 minute mark of the video in the first post.
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I was originally going to put it into a Miata frame but several of the dimensions just don't suit the Alpine so I've built a custom chassis for it. If you watch a few more in the series you'll be able to see what I've done
 
belmateo said:
Sorry, I didn't see it until now. After building an Alpine body on a S2000 and a Miata one of my goals was to increase passenger space (width) to make the car more comfortable. Your concept of lengthening the front makes a lot of sense and would solve many issues with the original design. Again, my apologies.
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No problem, I'm up to episode 20 now so if you're really bored you could check out the progress
 
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