Kit cars based on the Fox chassis?

[Darkwriter77]

I've seen these things for years, and always wondered what else could be done with the ol' Fox body chassis. I've seen lots of those Factory Five Cobra replicas with the powertrain and rear end out of a 5.0 Fox Mustang, as well as a few other assorted 'rods, but does anyone actually make a kit that's based on the Fox Mustang chassis, itself? Like a total rebody kit, where you strip it all the way down to the frame, maybe cut this or trim that or whatever, and bolt up a whole new set of panels?

That wide-body kit I've seen before is friggin' hideous, but that's the only thing I've ever seen produced. I always thought it would be pretty slick if someone came up with a retro-ish rebody kit that made the whole thing a lot smoother - think of Boyd's Che-Zoom car - without involving the chopping/stretching of the unibody frame, itself. The boxy fenders and such of the stock body could be done away with and something a bit more round but still within proportion could be mated up to it. A hatchback would probably leave more room for creativity, but I'm sure even a notch body could be put to use with something. I dunno.

Anyone got some killer sheetmetal/fiberglass skills they wanna put to use for fun? I'd be willing to use my old notch here as a testbed ... mostly because it's so covered with minor dents n' dings that it pretty much needs an entirely new body, anyhow.

 

[1SLO306]

View attachment 414066 for makin this thread and wanting to cause someone else to not have a life like the guy that mad the 1:3 scale car







































j/k

 

[Darkwriter77]

Eh, well ... 'twas just an idea. I mean, at least you can actually DRIVE a kit car.

I dunno, may as well scratch the idea. Not really a whole lot you can do with the Fox unibody frame, the more I get to looking at it. You certainly can't make it look LIKE anything, and anything you try to do to make it look like something else would likely just result in people going, "Hey ... that kinda looks like a really screwed up Mustang." About the only rounding of edges that could be done was already accomplished by Ford when they released the SN95 Mustangs, so ... whatever.

Just a random idea I had floating in my head at the time.

 

[90mustangGT]

It would be awesome if there was an aftermarket kit based on the fox, but say you could get it in a alumimum or even composite chassis, and if your serious about breaking records, a complete carbon fiber chassis. Maby a mix of the three. I think it will be a possibility in the future because the fox is probally one of the best platforms for a drag car.

 

[Darkwriter77]

I dunno, I'm sure there could be some definite weight advantages to switching out all the detachable sheetmetal body panels with fiberglass, ABS, carbon fiber, or whatever ... but how much, really? I'm curious if anyone on here's had a chance to weigh a completely stripped-down but still driveable Fox Mustang (hatch or notch, doesn't matter), or at least to figure up how much those body panels weigh. I'm sure a bit of calculation of sheetmetal versus whatever alternate material would give some pretty close numbers, but I'm thinking that you might shave off 100 to 150 lbs. at best. (Those who've swapped out their hood with a fiberglass unit already can give a definite figure on that, I'm sure.)

How about making all of the panels easily detachable? I don't mean the whole body coming off of a tubular frame chassis - duh, not even a Fox anymore at that point, anyway - I just mean making all of the panels pin-on pieces like a hood would be?

Another weird thought: hollowing out and then smoothing/simplifying the interior as much as physically possible so that it has more of a simplistic Spartan-minded Ferrari F1 sort of theme going on (instead of a stripped down as-cheap-as-possible weekend drag track beast). I mean, getting rid of all the stupid cheap plastic crap interior bits as much as possible and replacing them with painted, smooth metal/fiberglass panels. No rear seats and no rear armrests, no center console or factory armrests, no carpet, no headliner, etc. ... just metal and 'glass, painted to match the rest of the overall color scheme. I'm thinking it could be done for very little cost at all (aside from time/effort) ... and if it's layered with adequate sound insulation and the replacement panels are securely mounted, it wouldn't really sound like a tin can on wheels, either (or maybe not ... although some folks dig that, anyway). Kind of getting away from the kit-car idea here, thinking more along the lines of basically reinventing the car's overall appearance...

 

[Bolt on 5.0]

I think body kits look real ugly. Ive seen the sn 95 style cars with the new edge bumpers and such and it looks like crap. I like them how the are with the addition of a hood.

 

[grey5.0beast]

I've always wanted to try the sn95 front clip on a fox, while smoothing the rest of the car out to mathc the front like that one yellow car that was in MM and FF a few years a go.