Titanium

[dugr]

vettepilot, or anyone,

Any chance of getting a copy of that tape from GM? I purchased my '94 used. I feel real fortunate to have received the original Owner's Manual with it. I did not know about these tapes. I would love to look at one.

dugr

 

[Colorado]

dugr - Here's a link to the real thing: http://www.helminc.com/helm/Result....word=&mscsid=VCG2VMH7DL2V9LREN84H453GBDJKAMA6

 

[dugr]

Thanks, Colorado,

BTW, nice picture!

dugr

 

[Colorado]

You are most welcome. And thank you !

- Colorado

One of these days I'll scan a real picture for that avatar ... maybe

 

[vettepilot]

Hi Colorado,
I didn't mean that the tires had very little tread, but was trying to get the point across that they actually had more tread depth than the guy was telling BullWinkle, but less than the standard Vette tires for the respective year.
I agree with you that the guy who said "they have very little tread" is full of it.
The F1 Supercar tires are the OEM tires for the ZO6, and they do have 3/32nds less tread depth.
Your right about the adjustments not being "mods" the way most people would think of "mods", but the fact that they actually talk about setting the car up for the track is a departure from the normal "car for the masses" thinking.

 

[Edmond]

He specifically said something about lowering the car. We all have different definitions of what a mod is but I consider lowering a mod so no confusion intended on my part.

Hell, I wouldn't be surprised that the car came with very little tread because the sales boys were probably out having a good time with the Z06.

 

[vettepilot]

I would consider lowering a modification also. I think most people think of Mods as a bolt on component, internal changes to the engine, drivetrain, or chassis component changes.
I guess technically, anything that departs from the pure factory stock specification(s), (not to include normal maintenance items) could be called a modification.

Re. the sales people driving the ZO6 cars in stock, see below...

:L

:L

:L

:L

 

[Colorado]

:L :L :L is right ... I can see the GMs rounding up all those sales boys for a little chat right now ... "Okay, boys, we have another report from the CAC that you guys are abusing the products. One more time, and you're all banned to selling Geo Metros - the previously driven ones ad".


- Colorado

 

[Edmond]

:L :L :L is right ... I can see the GMs rounding up all those sales boys for a little chat right now ... "Okay, boys, we have another report from the CAC that you guys are abusing the products. One more time, and you're all banned to selling Geo Metros - the previously driven ones ad".



- Colorado

Worse yet, they won't even let the sales boys drive the Metro's. I think God drives a Metro, not a Corvette.

 

[Colorado]

hoooo-boy...and all this time I thought He drove a Volkswagen bus.

 

[Bullitt]

From: Racecar Enginnering

These are a few quotes from an article titled Metal Guru by Charles Clarke, in the above mentioned magazine. He talks with John Bannard of B3 Technologies.

B3 Technologies, led by legendary F1 designer and materials pioneer John Bannard, is one of the few independant contractors confident and capable of working with titanium at high levels of complexity and in demanding application enviroments. This capability is hard won, and when most in Formula 1 were having second thoughts about the use of titanium, after some initial catastrophic failures, Bannard preservered and mastered the technigues required to work effectively with it, at low factors of safety.

B3 Technologies has evolved from Ferrari Design and Developement (FDD), Ferrari's Formula 1 design and R&D facility set up by Bannard in Guilford in the UK in 1992. There is a perception that Formula 1 is a "money no object" activity, but this is not always true. What is the case is "no compromise on quality" and this ethic remains at B3 Technologies today, as strongly as it did at FDD. John Bannard is the engineer who introduced the Formula 1 world to the carbon fibre monocoque chassis, semi-automatic gearboxes, fabricated titanium and carbon fibre gearboxes, as well as many other less recognised design features that people in Formula 1 circles simply take for granted.

...Titanium is very useful in lots of areas, but there are situations where is it inappriopiate. "It's affectively half as stiff as steel and it's a little under half the weight. Sometimes that works for you, sometimes it doesn't. If you're making torsion bars, it's unlikely that you'll make them lighter in titanium. In 1993/94 we started making uprights from titanium. This was after we had done some extensive work to perfect the welding. We had built purge tanks to exclude oxygen from the welding operation. By that time we could achieve completely non-contaminated welds."

"One of the major problems with titanium is that it is quite difficult to get any depth of hardness on the surface to allow for wear. The hard skin is inherently stiff and the titanium substarte is relatively flexible. It can be a problem unless it's relatively lowly stressed. With steel components you can case harden them, but titanium is much more difficult. However, they are more and more surface treatments coming , which provide hard skins. The problem is that these hard skins are not very thicjk- microns rather than millimetres. When someone comes along with the treatment that will produce a relatively thick hardened surface with a nice gradual transition in hardness to the metal substrate, then I will think the uses of titanium will open up even more. Generally you won't get away with it in titanium alone. You have to use a hardened steel sleeve or insert for a bearing."

"As far as price of titanium is concerned, it varies between four and six times the price of steel and depends on what you're buying. Smaller sizes are more expensive, relativley speaking. There is a skin on the surface which has to be removed after the smelting and the forging. As you get down to smaller bar stcock, the percentage that has to be removed is porportionately higher. It is so expensive mainly because it uses vast amounts of electricity in it's production."

"For the titanium upright we make, you have to start with a fairly massive billet for the centre. This is machined and wire-eroded to produce the finned bearing carrier, and the rest is welded to it. The material cost for the upright could come to about L700, but because of the amount of work involved, the final cost is something like L7000-L8000 each."

Most of the F1 teams have fairly substantial machine shops nowadays, but here is still a lot of work getting out-sourced. "Companies like us take the overflow, or the wortk that they can't handle from a capacity point of view or work that they can't do from a technical point of view," Bannard said. "In some cases we do things that the big teams don't want to because it might be very tricky or time consuming."

"We've got a lot of experience at doing these things- it takes time to gain experience. It's easier to do something that's been done before- it takes a lot more effort to be a pioneer."

"And we have the expertise to work in all knids of materials, particularly in carbon and titanium. Because of this wealth of expertise, we can look at a project and evaluate the best way of making it without being restricted to a narrow or limited set of possible solutions. Design is not just about making a fancy componenet, it's about making optimum choices, taking into account cost, time and manufacturability."

The article covers other parts of titanium manufacturing and it's uses, so pick it up if you are interested in learning more.

--Bullitt

 

[DkBG]

Will those Zo6 takeoffs fit regular c-5s ?

 

[Edmond]

Saw on the news yesterday about a man who has an artificial heart and one of it's components is titanium!