Amphibious kit car project

[Jonty355]

Ive been thinking about creating my own amphibious car for a few years now, and I'm now in a better financial position to have a go.

I'd like to be able to convert a car rather than crate one up from scratch, and kitcars are lightweight to begin with. I know this all sounds very Top Gear, but with a little extra thought, there were some good, inexpensive ideas on there.

The other part is for it to look as much as an original car as possible. I like the Dutton Mariner, but its so damn ugly, and obviously amphibious.

Does any body know if anyone has done a project similar to this before, or have any suggestions on which car to use?

[Ozzie Dave]

I believe Lotus used to do an Esprit Conversion (Sic)

[Davi]

no specific kit comes to mind, but I'd suggest paying most attention to the shape of the front - the more undercut and curvature of the front valance the better, you may not want it to look obviously amphibious but I doubt you want the front cutting in and making like a submarine either...

[Jonty355]

like a yellow submarine? I had originally thought of this, but as you say the front shape would struggle to cut through. Also, is it too low?

[Davi]

Jonty355 said:

like a yellow submarine? I had originally thought of this, but as you say the front shape would struggle to cut through. Also, is it too low?

You are going to need to start doing some displacement calc's I think

Something like that would be fairly easy to make more aqua friendly - you could extend and re-shape the nosecone, it's already curved under at the bottom, could be a bit of a bitch sealing it all up but anything is doable! Of course it would still suffer the same problems that the car suffers in the air - serious drag.

[Jonty355]

Actually thinking about it, with the shape underneath the nosecone, it would be decent enough. And the actual body of the car is tapered to the front. I'd just be more worried about how low it would sit in the water. Would it flood in at the door?

[Davi]

extending the door sill height with a GF door and sealing it would be the least of the problems with getting an amphibious car watertight.

Get a bilge pump just in case

[Jonty355]

Thats probably a very good idea. Thinking back to my old Locust 7, you could have just sealed the bottom off with a smooth plate, all bar where the sump was. But then the panel fit isn't too great on a super 7.

[Ozzie Dave]

Ok, from todays paper- how did you know http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/licence-to-swim/2...
and what sis I say, its another lotus, having said that, surely the ideal car to choose would be an old MK1/2 Charger or something along that shape
Dave

[Jonty355]

That is quite a scary coincidence! That looks amazing though, yet I think a little expensive and ambitious!

Just realised the similarities in the words Ambitious and Amphibious!!!!

[V8 GRF]

Not a kitcar but probably the best amphibious vehicle around Argocat

[X-man]

V8 GRF said:

Not a kitcar but probably the best amphibious vehicle around Argocat

As soon as i saw this thread i thought Argo, after all - the Banana splits rock, and you can't combine a good road/amphibious car or can you?

[Jonty355]

Its not car-like enough. It needs to be more of a shock to people when it goes in the water.

[Davi]

If you do the Caterham, you'll have to work out a way that the front wheel arches can be pivoted to be underneath the wheels when on water so they can be got up on step

[Dave Dax builder]

X-man said:

As soon as i saw this thread i thought Argo, after all - the Banana splits rock, and you can't combine a good road/amphibious car or can you?

Oh happy days:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2se2I70CJ0&fea...