Unofficial: Titanium stuff and interests thread
 

Alrighty, so we dont clutter up Marc's (mark?) thread here's a place we can chat about Ti bits and whatnots.

What could we use that is titanium, how are people getting proper pricing on Ti tubes, bars, and plates, and who do we know that can work with it?

Ive never machined any Ti, but I have been looking for an appropriate project to take that on. But for the most part, the things we machine dont suffer from space constraints which tend to make Aluminum a more economical solution. Does this just leave us with tubing for the thin wall Ti's durability and drivetrain internal components?

Im sure we'd all love uber cheap Ti parts just for the hell of it but where does it REALLY make sense to use?

There's very few places in a car that aluminum can't get it done cheaper and at similar or less weight.

Really the only places are critically stressed components and components that see extreme heat.

Short of connecting rods and exhaust stuff Ti is pretty much just a novelty for the show car crowd.

Its Marc ; )

Also im in for light weight bits. You make, I buy!

Weight is weight. EvoDan has had some success selling Ti bolts. Strutbars, brackets, mounts, shields, covers are good places to start. Also you underestimate some peoples budget when it comes to weight haha.

Bolts definitely seem like the right application for Ti alloys. Highly stressed but very controlled in their loading and space constrained.

But to do them right you really need to roll the threads which seems not as many do.

Pretty much all of that is lighter and cheaper to make out of Al except the bolts (Al would be a bad idea lol). I'm always down to design stuff, there just has to be a want for it and a good enough business case.

Has anyone seen strain gauge data for strut tower braces? On any platform?

I'd be really curious to see some estimates for the compression and tension forces that go into a basic strut tower bar on track. Obviously the Evo front bar is complicated due to the triangulated design, but to be honest I don't even know the order of magnitude here.

I'm guessing whatever forces are seen on track are still less than what I can generate by jacking up one corner of the car in my garage. :)

Ive wondered the same. Who wants to get all sciency on this?

On one hand, I really do enjoy a ridiculous over-engineered car project.

On the other hand... it's still just a strut bar. :)

But its ~5lbs to replace or ~7lbs to remove and front weight is getting harder and harder to find to pull!

Just put the engine in the back... :lol:

In for sure. At the very obvious is a IC pipe/intake setup that actually recirculates like most of us still use. I'd love a Ti downpipe too cause these steel ones are heavy as sh*t, exhaust manifold maybe if it wasn't 4k bucks, unless there's a reason those aren't made already beyond price.

I have the DC Ti strut bar still from way back so I'm good there ;)

Bumper support stuff, basically anything forward of the firewall I'll go in on lol.

I need some Ti or at least Aluminum IC piping, the steel stuff is starting to get a bit rusty (its like 07 vintage from ETS). I know the alum is more prone to crushing though so would have to be careful. Maybe switch from T-bolt to dual worm drive.

Im also planning my own motor mounts that do things a little different than the available mounts. Slightly lowering the motor also. Have hear theres room to lower and move it back a small bit, need to get my head in there and see if thats a thing.

https://www.bulletproofr.com/shop

Alex is a local guy here that owns that company. They make billet mounts that save some weight.

Ive talked to Alex a bit and have had his mount in my hand when I bundled it with my parts to head to Greece. But Im looking to do something a fair bit different. I may not even make it for anyone else, will just be my exclusive awesomeness {thumbup}