Titainium Susp parts??

[Shopower400]

I was wondering if there was such a thing as this? Say sway-bars? That could easily trim 30+lbs and be stiffer.. Would it be a custom thing that wouldn't be worth the money? Is there a sway-bar set from another car that has ever been tried on a SHO for weight savings?

 

[St Louis SHO]

Holy $$$ Batman

 

[32MTX]

buy a miata

best weight savings u can do to a SHO

 

[Shopower400]

Holy $$$ Batman

I guess that answers my question.. This would be something a machine shop would charge top dollar for??

I got the idea from a local mechanic. He liked my car, we get to talking and he starts telling me about titanium suspention parts he used on a 300ZX build. After he elaborated on all the +'s, I figured i'd at least ask.

Nothing poped up on the search.., I must be crazy for even thinking of wasting that much precious metal on a SHO!

 

[SHOspazz92]

You've seen my car, rip everything out.

-Sam

 

[Ocnaj]

You've seen my car, rip everything out.

-Sam

Monkey see monkey do.

 

[SHOspazz92]

Monkey see monkey do.

I'm telling you, more comfort then a Bentley.

-Sam

 

[frosho]

I guess that answers my question.. This would be something a machine shop would charge top dollar for??

I got the idea from a local mechanic. He liked my car, we get to talking and he starts telling me about titanium suspention parts he used on a 300ZX build. After he elaborated on all the +'s, I figured i'd at least ask.

Nothing poped up on the search.., I must be crazy for even thinking of wasting that much precious metal on a SHO!

It's the material itself that's big money, not just the machining. Titanium is hugely expensive compared to aluminum or steel. It's also tougher to work, so machining would be more expensive as well.

 

[zach44102]

If you are concered that much with weight and dont care about the money, yank everything out, revalve koni's and run a ground control coilover set up with a insane spring rate and just pull the swaybars out.
Not to mention the coilovers are about 40 pounds lighter than a spring strut set up IIRC

 

[kevinspann]

If you're that concerned about weight, don't choose a Taurus.

 

[typhoon5000]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but since sway bars act as cross car springs, they have to be made of a spring steel or at least some percentage of it so that it can last over many cycles without fracturing?

I don't think Ti could even be used for a sway bar that well because even though it may have high tensile and compressive strength, I don't think it has much torsional rigidity, which is what a sway bar needs. On top of that, when Ti fails, it fractures quickly instead of yielding slowly like steel, meaning the steel will twist and show signs of imminent failure by necking so that you could catch it, where as the Ti would just snap going down the road/track.

Doing a quick search about them lead me to find a comment by a rep of Stillen motorsports on a Nissan Z forum when someone asked the same question:

Titanium is extremely expensive and is not an ideal metal for use on an application like a sway bar. To get titanium as strong as it needs to be for the torsional load, the weight savings is minimal, and there is some real concerns for longevity.

A strut tower brace in titanium is the usual aesthetic option people go for, offering plenty of additional stiffness in that configuration.

Now, Ti control arms would work great. In fact, all of the suspension arms we used on the Formula SAE car I worked on were Ti. But again, VERY expensive. We had a college budget and sponsors to pay for the FSAE car

 

[AREA 91]

The only thing available in Titanium for the sho is an external color.

 

[firebat45]

I don't think Ti swaybars is a ridiculous idea. There are different alloys of Ti, just like any metal, and some are more springy than others. I've worked with some Ti in my job, it was extremely springy. If you used a tube instead of a solid bar, you could keep the amount of Ti ($$$) minimal. If you shop around, $300 for materials isn't that hard to achieve.

However, saving such small amounts of weight on a Taurus is almost always a waste, unless you've gutted everything else available. You'd be raising the car's CG by dropping weight that low in the car, as well.

 

[SuperHO]

if you're REALLY concerned with weight reduction and have already gutted the car, added polycarb windows, removed any unnecessary parts and lost 20lbs yourself, then you need a honda.

 

[yamahaSHO]

If you are concered that much with weight and dont care about the comfort, yank everything out, revalve koni's and run a ground control coilover set up with a insane spring rate and just pull the swaybars out.
Not to mention the coilovers are about 40 pounds lighter than a spring strut set up IIRC

Fixt...

What coilover are you finding that will drop 40lbs off the car?

 

[grailgolf]

Fixt...

What coilover are you finding that will drop 40lbs off the car?

I had thought about this the other night, if the new shosource coilovers that are on the way to me are lighter than my current Intrax/Tociko - and if they are by how much? My GL only weighs 3012lbs so I don't worry about weight too much.

 

[Toolman]

A coilover setup, utilizing koni inserts, is a solid 50 lbs lighter than the average koni/eibach setup. Besides the much lighter springs, the spring perches save weight.
I would assume that the ss setup experiences similar savings.

 

[rubydist]

the stiffness of Titanium is roughly half that of steel, so your Titanium sway bar would have to be significantly larger than the steel one to have the same stiffness.

 

[somedude_001]

Get a tubular subframe made. quite a bit of weight can be lost there + it would be much smaller than the stock one.

 

[19sho90]

Step one: Buy Aluminum or Steel Susp. components.
Step Two: Paint them to look like Titanium
Step Three: Claim they are Titanium