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Do detailed car manuals exist? If I wanted to recreate a car?

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FuzzyDunlop said:
oh my cow.
"I cant afford a car so Im just going to make one from scratch"... wtf

I also cant afford to buy a Ferrari 288GTO/Boeing 747/Skyscraper, but that doesnt mean I can just go make one from scratch in my garage.

Have you ever worked on cars before?

This thread is silly, and I love it.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup::biggrin:
 
michal1980 said:
naw it wouldn't be that long.

But no company is going to give away any drawings you could use to manufacture their parts.
Click to expand...

Really? And what, exactly, do you base that on?

Let me help you out. The documentation to assemble an engine where I work (big 3) is 600 pages. JUST for the engine. Each page has a detailed picture of the component with fasteners being inserted. Torque numbers + angles, part numbers etc. I'm holding in my hand a 6 inch thick 8.5x11 book for just the assembled engine.

For the complete vehicle, you'd be approaching 5000 pages. Just for the basically assembly illustrations. Note I say illustrations.

The control plan containing all the pertanent specs, depths, torques etc comes in at a very similar size.

Actual cad prints of JUST the engine block by itself approach 30 pages. That's one of thousands that go in the car, suggesting a good rough approximation of the cad may be on the order of 30,000 pages. Consevatively.

"Wouldn't be that long?"

ROFLOL.

Anyway, to answer the OP's question - nope.
 
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FuzzyDunlop said:
oh my cow.
"I cant afford a car so Im just going to make one from scratch"... wtf

I also cant afford to buy a Ferrari 288GTO/Boeing 747/Skyscraper, but that doesnt mean I can just go make one from scratch in my garage.

Have you ever worked on cars before?

This thread is silly, and I love it.
Click to expand...

Never once worked on a car. I actually had to have assistance putting on some window wipers about 6 months ago.

But that's what makes it awesome, I'm gung ho to try.
 
JMapleton said:
Never once worked on a car. I actually had to have assistance putting on some window wipers about 6 months ago.

But that's what makes it awesome, I'm gung ho to try.
Click to expand...

You also bought an Acura ILX, you're pretty much hopeless as far as this forum is concerned
 
Oh dang. The IL����������������
 
JMapleton said:
One day I'm going to do it and come back here and say.....told ya so!
Click to expand...

drunken rant removed

The red tape alone in getting automobiles approved by DOT, NHTSA, and IIMVS, leaves such a bitter taste that many established foreign manufacturers give it a pass.
 
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Metal fabrication in complex stressed Shapes, one off, is very expensive. Fiber glass ditto.
Given you would need oem blueprints and specifications you need to be a lottery winner.
Assembly jigs and tools .. motorcycles are bad enough, and "new old parts" involve quantity to control prices. And most motorcycle bits involve casting, machining, and or tube bending.
Pure machining, from billet, if you have specifications, dimensions, tolerances, materials, and heat treating is doable.
Drop forging one off complex frame or body parts, finishing to factory like appearance. Oh man. linkages, assembly order procedures.
Things like wire harnesses, and getting a certificate of origin, ..
 
infoiltrator said:
Metal fabrication in complex stressed Shapes, one off, is very expensive. Fiber glass ditto.
Given you would need oem blueprints and specifications you need to be a lottery winner.
Assembly jigs and tools .. motorcycles are bad enough, and "new old parts" involve quantity to control prices. And most motorcycle bits involve casting, machining, and or tube bending.
Pure machining, from billet, if you have specifications, dimensions, tolerances, materials, and heat treating is doable.
Drop forging one off complex frame or body parts, finishing to factory like appearance. Oh man. linkages, assembly order procedures.
Things like wire harnesses, and getting a certificate of origin, ..
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:

I have a true story for the OP. I used to work for a manufacturing company (well, I still do but a different one) and one of our products used a part we purchased that was basically an Igloo cooler (the small beer coolers you can buy at wallyworld for $40). Anyway, in order to reduce the cost of our product we decided to partner with a plastic injection molding company down in Tecate Mexico, (they actually make some of the plastic interior parts for Toyota cars and trucks coincidentally) but we needed to provide the tooling for them to make the coolers for us. We sourced the tooling in China and it cost $10,000 just for the tooling (nevermind the engineering cost). This was just for the molds to make one small square plastic box and lid to keep ice in. And you want to make engine blocks, dashboards, lights and other complex car parts? And you only want to make enough to make one car?

Please, for the love of God... try to do this. And document it! :biggrin:
 
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JMapleton said:
Never once worked on a car. I actually had to have assistance putting on some window wipers about 6 months ago.

But that's what makes it awesome, I'm gung ho to try.
Click to expand...

maybe you should try your hand at building a kit car (or plane for that matter) first before you jump headlong into a project such as designing your own just so you can see what is involved. there are plenty of kits out there based on other cars such as cobras, lotus 7, and even some original designs.

it's just foolish to think you could design a car without really knowing what goes int the basic mechanics of one.

I've been thinking about getting a lotus 7 kit for myself.
 
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JMapleton said:
Can't be that hard, it's a simply vehicle. Likely not a lot of electronics like cars today. Sure it would take a lot of money and a lot of time but likely far less money than buying an actual one. It's just a dream I have, I hope I can try one day.
Click to expand...

The average Ferrari factory cost $40 to build. I think if you want to smelt your own steel it'll run you another $15-$20. Go for it, man.
 
Rakehellion said:
The average Ferrari factory cost $40 to build. I think if you want to smelt your own steel it'll run you another $15-$20. Go for it, man.
Click to expand...

where have you been? ferrari doesn't use much steel anymore, it's all carbon fiber. he's going to need an autoclave for that which he can pick up for $20 -30.
 
JMapleton said:
Never once worked on a car. I actually had to have assistance putting on some window wipers about 6 months ago.

But that's what makes it awesome, I'm gung ho to try.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but requires some decades of experience and a sizable team. If you're that ballsy, you might as well design your own car from scratch and make yourself a billionaire.
 
Pulsar said:
Really? And what, exactly, do you base that on?

Let me help you out. The documentation to assemble an engine where I work (big 3) is 600 pages. JUST for the engine. Each page has a detailed picture of the component with fasteners being inserted. Torque numbers + angles, part numbers etc. I'm holding in my hand a 6 inch thick 8.5x11 book for just the assembled engine.

For the complete vehicle, you'd be approaching 5000 pages. Just for the basically assembly illustrations. Note I say illustrations.

The control plan containing all the pertanent specs, depths, torques etc comes in at a very similar size.

Actual cad prints of JUST the engine block by itself approach 30 pages. That's one of thousands that go in the car, suggesting a good rough approximation of the cad may be on the order of 30,000 pages. Consevatively.

"Wouldn't be that long?"

ROFLOL.

Anyway, to answer the OP's question - nope.
Click to expand...

I work as an engineer on very large machines. And yes it would approach thousands of pages. But each drawing would not come with a separate set of material specs, or machining tolerances, etc etc.

an engine block is a very unique piece. other pieces will have far fewer number of pages.


And no car company will just give away their cad data/drawings to anyone.
 
Pulsar said:
Really? And what, exactly, do you base that on?

Let me help you out. The documentation to assemble an engine where I work (big 3) is 600 pages. JUST for the engine. Each page has a detailed picture of the component with fasteners being inserted. Torque numbers + angles, part numbers etc. I'm holding in my hand a 6 inch thick 8.5x11 book for just the assembled engine.

For the complete vehicle, you'd be approaching 5000 pages. Just for the basically assembly illustrations. Note I say illustrations.

The control plan containing all the pertanent specs, depths, torques etc comes in at a very similar size.

Actual cad prints of JUST the engine block by itself approach 30 pages. That's one of thousands that go in the car, suggesting a good rough approximation of the cad may be on the order of 30,000 pages. Consevatively.

"Wouldn't be that long?"

ROFLOL.

Anyway, to answer the OP's question - nope.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
JMapleton said:
Somehow acquiring the specifications and hiring a metal fabricator to create it.
Click to expand...

Ok. Fair enough. Now then, your first goal should be to locate this metal fabricator. I mean, find and actually talk to him about your plans. You can start doing that now before you acquire the cad drawings from Ferrari. keep us posted! I'm curious to what you'll find out.
 
JMapleton said:
Somehow acquiring the specifications and hiring a metal fabricator to create it.
Click to expand...

You won't get the specifications. Ferrari keeps all the plans and tooling for all the cars they've ever built because they make a lot of money fixing and restoring customer cars to exacting detail and specification.

You might be able to reverse engineer the parts but you would need the original parts to begin with... which pretty much requires buying a complete car.

Back to square one.
 
boomerang said:
How many parts does it take to make a car? Google results vary but I'm seeing from 7,000 to 30,000. Piece of cake.
Click to expand...

And frankly, when it comes down to it the mechanical portion of the car is easy. Wait until he has to learn to program embedded microcontrollers to handle the engine. I wonder if he'll lay the individual transistors by hand.
 
I turned a 1985 Corvette into a race car to run SCCA events many moons ago. The class it was to run in pretty much allowed me to gut out everything in the interior short of the dashboard. I had to have a dash and a seat and everything else could go. The doors were gutted out, the rear hatch area, everything. Anything under the hood not required to make the car run could be removed. You get the picture.

You would not believe the size of the pile of parts that were removed. It was huge! Little tiny clips and brackets and electrical components up the ying-yang it was a bigger project than I imagined. Condenser, evaporator, compressor, wiring, accumulator, engine brackets, blower motor, blower housing, ductwork, etc., etc. Interior trim, headlamp assemblies, blinkers - I'll stop now.

It's OK to have a dream but it's best that it be based in reality.
 
boomerang said:
I turned a 1985 Corvette into a race car to run SCCA events many moons ago. The class it was to run in pretty much allowed me to gut out everything in the interior short of the dashboard. I had to have a dash and a seat and everything else could go. The doors were gutted out, the rear hatch area, everything. Anything under the hood not required to make the car run could be removed. You get the picture.

You would not believe the size of the pile of parts that were removed. It was huge! Little tiny clips and brackets and electrical components up the ying-yang it was a bigger project than I imagined. Condenser, evaporator, compressor, wiring, accumulator, engine brackets, blower motor, blower housing, ductwork, etc., etc. Interior trim, headlamp assemblies, blinkers - I'll stop now.

It's OK to have a dream but it's best that it be based in reality.
Click to expand...

I can sympathize, but do not apologize for my obsession with weight. I took a '91 Integra and applied similar trimming. Got it down to an instrument cluster and basic systems. Even started pulling up the sound deadening tar sheets. I never weighed it after all was said and done, but I am sure I was in the high 2500 lbs.

The point is, in that 8 or so months I drove that car with no interior, I had zero regrets because to me the art of driving easily trumped my comfort. I still feel that driving is a sport and should not be taken lightly. I know I am on the losing side of that argument, and hold no qualms about it, but I guess my generation is the one to turn it's cold shoulder on true driving.
 
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