Best lightweight car for the money

[tarsman013]

Hey guys,

as some of you know, i am building my electric car as a senior project in college...  I am looking at doing better than 11.2 sec in the 1/8th mile (yes eighth mile)
i have about 5k to spend on a vehicle (thats before selling parts like motor)  but i am willing to spend more if when i part it out i can get it back down to 5k.
i am looking for the lightest weight vehicle possible (preferably that seats 4... but i think im too picky for that... the only issue is that its me and my twin brother's project so thats already 2 of us haha)
i am would like to do a dune buggy/sand rail because of the ease of the trans axle and the abundance of parts for them. but i am open for suggestions cause i am not a fan of having everything in the open to retards at my school (one of them would be dumb enough to arc a battery... i will be running over 500amps of current... .08amps across the heart kills you) and i dont want to have to protect everything cause as we all know if we can git rid of 5lbs of crap, we are 5lbs faster :-D  i threw around the idea of just doing fiberglass/CF panels on it (worked with both no problem... besides the itching later) which may help with areo and may offset its weight.

the vehicle will be under 1ton in weight

it will have to have the surface to have about 1kw of solar panels (building them from scratch, so round edges are not too bad but a flat roof is preferred)

i have looked into lotus 7 kit cars (i know im sorry...) and i can get one for about 9k. though every company i have looked at is here in florida so i am hoping for some type of sponsorship.  my only problem with that is there are only 2 seats and limited space for the batteries (though i am looking at a possible lithium route so battery size wouldnt be a problem they are just expensive)

i really dont care how cool it looks (im a nerd and everyone knows it) and there is no possible way to weld (i will be doing this in my school's parking lot, video taping everything... may do a youtube series

you all will be the first to know what happens with it
thanks in advance



Jonathan.

[silver]

4 seater Mule?

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... CCsQ9QEwBA

[tarsman013]

[quote="silver"]
4 seater Mule?

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... CCsQ9QEwBA
[/quote]

trying for street legal (and that wont do it LOL).. forgot mention that sorry 

[silver]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ok


wait


you're in FL

that's the easiest state to get legal, hell someone registered an old Formula car................are you sure you can get it street legal, check first!!!!

[tarsman013]

ya i have checked it is possible but there are a lot of hoops to jump through (like regulations about doors vs no doors and seat height...)
florida is easy to make it street legal but to make something that  is sold as an "off road vehicle" into a street legal vehicle is hell because the people look at them and say... "isnt that a mule (or whatever), thats sold as an off road vehicle" thats an automatic no for road legality...

to do anything like that it would have to be modified to either make it look like i built it (in other words strip off panels and strip off the off road vin among other things)  stuff like a windshield, full seatbelt, and a windshield wiper are needed (then road legal tired/hubs) correct lights, turn signals.  its crazy some of the stupid stuff they want....  its all easy, but its also that if factor of them finding out that they arent supposed to be road legal, and I am just modifying one to be.

im working with some local cops (good cops... friends) who are checking in on laws because one of them has a lifted gold cart with a harley motor in it (probably the most unsafe vehicle ever) and its legal... but he explained that he also went to get it legalized in his uniform and had the cart decked out in plice stuff 

the rules here are just very vague and can be read in a couple of ways to mean different things.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

Try this site; http://www.joyner-atv-utv.com/

I have one of their Joyner Sand Viper 800cc sand rails and really enjoy it.Weighs about 1200lbs fully gassed.  It's street legal..in Az...so Fla ca't be much harder to register...

You can take off some of the silly body panels and light bars and do your own thing....

They have 4 seater versions...

[tarsman013]

[quote="MadMaxAtom and company"]
Try this site; http://www.joyner-atv-utv.com/

I have one of their Joyner Sand Viper 800cc sand rails and really enjoy it.Weighs about 1200lbs fully gassed.  It's street legal..in Az...so Fla ca't be much harder to register...

You can take off some of the silly body panels and light bars and do your own thing....

They have 4 seater versions...
[/quote]

sweet stuff i like that one...
im gonna have to throw it by my local drag track to see if its ok to race there too (need the time to be on a track of course)
hopefully all is good

[Mr.Woolery]

If you want light/practical/4-seats/cheap/easy to convert/room for solar panels....then I'd suggest a junker Geo Metro:


Not glamorous, but it'll work famously for all of your needs.

[silver]

some friends of mine did just race a metro at the local 24 hours of lemons race.

pretty cool

[tarsman013]

thought about the metro
i would do it... my bro hates it haha

he thinks by some act of god when this is done that it will look cool... 

the nice thing about the metro is that i would be replacing its 50hp motor with the same hp in electric (just 110 ftlb torque)
and have a windshield and be water proof (hes still stuck on a rail... we will see)

thanks again all!

[macpdx]

Look at pre 1975 german/euro cars (Opel,Capri,Dalphine...).
Should be @ or under 2000 lb.

[tarsman013]

Just wanted to update you all... we bought a sand rail based off of a vw beetle for a freaking steal.  And it seats 4 somewhat comfortably.  We did it because no one else in nedra has a record for a tube frame vehicle at 96 volts.  so no matter how fast/slow we go we have a record... time to get building  will post updates and pics when I can

[tarsman013]

UPDATE:

Vehicle is going great...
Currently at a NHRA welder getting the roll cage cut off and redone to NHRA specs
we have ordered 2 of 4 Corbeau Forza seats all to have 5 point racing harnesses

motor has been chosen as a 50hp 110ftlbs of torque (ALL AT 1-3000 rpm) modified to get top rpm to 7500

some sponsors are in the works ;-)
i will be posting pictures when i can (it currently looks like crap)

[benyeats]

Glad to hear you have made progress.  Pictures showing build progress would be cool