Attempting to build the world's quickest UK road legal Elan

[nalesutol]

Gloss or Matt, that is the question.

I have been agonising over body colour and finish for a couple of years. When I broke it in 1984 it was gloss black and I still like black. Around 10 years ago I thought about doing it matt black, but then the 'murdered' look became all the rage so I couldn't do that. What? Follow the crowd? No way.

Since then I have been through every colour and effect there is, but keep coming back to black.

I thought that I had cracked it last year. I fancied a fade from dark grey to black from front to back. However, I didn't want any transition lines, it had to be a perfect continuous transition. A couple of painters have claimed that they could do it, for a king's ransom.

I looked into wraps, but no one that I have so far talked to can supply it. Another problem is that wrap comes 1.52m wide and my car, from the bottom of the wheel arches, is 1.7m with no panel lines.

The interior is going to be matt black so maybe I should do a matching exterior.

A quick and dirty rattle can trial:

[fer4l]

Shouldn't the pedals be mounted just a little further forward?

[nalesutol]

Nah, they get in the way of my slippers.

[blackpopracing]

I took nearly 25 years to finish my car, in that time I wanted different colours depending on passing styles.

But then I read an article on a hot rodder in the states who had just finished his 40th(?)car (he was in his 70's) and every car he built was black with flames.

When questioned about this he replied "styles come and go but black & flames is timeless, I've built cars for over 50 years and they still look as good today as they did 50 years ago"

After this I decided my car would be black with flames. (flames still a dream to be realised).



Paint it black.

[logicaluk]

I vote satin black

[blackpopracing]

Satin is sooooo last year.

[yoeddynz]

I think the colour should be a nice puce.

[nalesutol]

Jun 2, 2016 15:36:05 GMT blackpopracing said:

I took nearly 25 years to finish my car, in that time I wanted different colours depending on passing styles.

But then I read an article on a hot rodder in the states who had just finished his 40th(?)car (he was in his 70's) and every car he built was black with flames.

When questioned about this he replied "styles come and go but black & flames is timeless, I've built cars for over 50 years and they still look as good today as they did 50 years ago"

After this I decided my car would be black with flames. (flames still a dream to be realised).



Paint it black.

As long as the flames are the realistic type, not the 70s rubbish :-)

[nalesutol]

Jun 2, 2016 20:06:50 GMT blackpopracing said:

Satin is sooooo last year.

The problem is that everything is so last year :-) Gloss black is safe. Matt makes preparation a little easier :-)

In  find it strange that having spent years designing and making parts for the car I am having so much trouble deciding on the finish.

[blackpopracing]

This sort of flames

[fer4l]

Baby blue or pale Wedgwood green? I think Elans look great in pale hues

But it'll look awesome whatever you choose to go for:)

[nalesutol]

I like understated. It will be either black or dark grey.

[nalesutol]

Jun 2, 2016 22:24:07 GMT blackpopracing said:

This sort of flames

Nah, so 70s :-)


I much prefer authentic flames:

[varelse]

Jun 2, 2016 23:09:40 GMT nalesutol said:

Jun 2, 2016 22:24:07 GMT blackpopracing said:

This sort of flames

Nah, so 70s :-)


I much prefer authentic flames:

Fixed that for you.

[jonomisfit]

Satin black with gloss black detailing can look good.

[nalesutol]

Below are some rough and ready CFD screenshots. It is only 2D so is, in effect, the air flow over the centre of the car and anything below the bumpers can be ignored.

Confirms the location of low and high pressure areas (with the roof being particularly low) and that I need to redirect the flow from the rear of the roof downwards (vortex generators?), although there is a pressure increase above the wing. Angle of attack isn't zero, as stated on the graphs.

The effect of the splitter is obvious.

It looks like the roof is a good location for a cockpit vent.

If I could get hold of a 3D file of the Elan I would be in heaven :-)

Pressure baseline without rear wing:


Pressure with rear wing added:


Baseline airflow without rear wing:


Airflow with rear wing added:

[samta22]

Nothing really to add other than to say that's fascinating! Top stuff!

[07lilredwagon]

You could do black with charcoal grey stripes or vice versa. also, I do like the matt and glossy effect. gloss black with matt black stripes.

or, matt black with gloss black flames, or vice versa...

JP

[nalesutol]

I have thought about stripes. However, as there are no body creases or obvious lines, where to put them that looks right? The two tone sprints don't look too bad but they weren't exactly stripes.

I am also an adherent of the KISS philosophy, so not into pointless adornments :-)

[ndg]

Jun 8, 2016 13:03:01 GMT nalesutol said:

Airflow with rear wing added:

Could you go with a CSL style air director on the back? It would hopefully get some of that airflow down to the wing.


I'm quite surprised by the effect of the wing in the pressure map given the seperation of airflow at the back of the roof.