Curious if any of you have heard about this stuff called structural foam. It evidently can be used to strengthen a chassis by simply spraying it into open cavities. Doesn't weigh much either from what I've heard.

Curious where I can buy some to try it out.

jason

Yep. Sport Compact Car even covered it in Project 300ZX. That car is owned by a very good friend of mine. I have other friends who have done it. I don't remember the SCC issue where it was done, but it was about 3 years ago. Some foams are better than others.

tests done? or qualitatively works?

how big a diference? small/medium/large

sounds very interesting names of good brands?:)

Originally posted by zenon
tests done? or qualitatively works?

how big a diference? small/medium/large

sounds very interesting names of good brands?:)

Well, the same guy who owns the 300ZXTT also had a Sentra SE-R race car that have the front half stuffed. He grafted on a new front and used the foam and it was far stiffer than uncut/grafted car w/o.

Bottom line is everyone I know who has done it has reported a big improvement. Of course, other than the 300ZXTT, all the others I personally know about are Sentra SE-Rs and those cars have very flexible chassis.

You could do some searches here for more info:

http://www.se-r-list.org

Search on: chassis foam kojima.

Oh, what the heck, here's some starters:

http://www.se-r-list.org/archives/2001/2001-01/msg01014.html

http://www.se-r-list.org/archives/2000/2000-05/msg01910.html

http://www.se-r-list.org/archives/2001/2001-01/msg00973.html

How's that for memory? Three years ago this month in SCC.

Originally posted by Geo31
Oh, what the heck, here's some starters:

http://www.se-r-list.org/archives/2001/2001-01/msg01014.html

http://www.se-r-list.org/archives/2000/2000-05/msg01910.html

http://www.se-r-list.org/archives/2001/2001-01/msg00973.html

How's that for memory? Three years ago this month in SCC.


:confused:




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Do our E36's have enough space in the unibody to effective use structural foam?

What kind of costs are we looking at?

The goop is expensive (then again I don't have enough money to buy an M3), around $36 per square foot. I dunno about M3's but my car is a floppy flex-o-matic karmann chassis that needs a hell of a lot of strengthening. especially if i want to crank the turbo & fuel management w/ nitrous up to around 450 whp. i've heard stories of 3.0 coupes puking both windshields simultaneously when the hammer was dropped. we've got no middle pillar though, just a four post hardtop.

i figure i may give it a shot. i'll do a full writeup if i do.

thus far i haven't heard anything bad about the stuff...some folks warn that it'll cause rust. bwahahahahahahah! well it can't do much better at that than the stock body configuration!! and if it's waterproof, i'd think it'd stop water from seeping into the pockets in the car where it cannot escape.

jason

Oops. Sorry. I forgot that you can't post links directly to the archives of the SE-R list (to combat spammers).

I'll post the info here.

From the SE-R List Archives:

It took me awhile, but i found the company online:

ITW Foam Seal
http://www.itwfoamseal.com/automotive_aftermarket.htm

they even show the SCC issue Mike used it in :)

> From our Mr. K. (Kojima):

> Yes, it is filling the chassis rails with catalyzed polyurethane
structural
> foam. Do not use hardware store foam, you must use the real thing.

Hope this helps
Andris Laivins


> I finally got my new issue of Sport Compact Car...
> on page 236 of the June 2000 issue they go into detail of how to add rigidity
> to a car's structure by injecting a polyurethane foam into the car's chassis.
> It looks like a great way to add stiffness easily. Has anyone tried this?
> Does anyone know where to get this type of foam?

Yeah, someone has done this, Mike Kojima. That is his car (I think) that he did it to in the article. He goes into specific details about how to do it and even tells where to get it.

Brad


>I am currently contemplating ways to increase the rigidity of my B13
>four-door without adding a lot of weight.
<snip>
>I am thinking more along the lines of the sub-frame
>connectors that Mustang guys use. Does the B13 chassis have any
>particularly flexible areas?

LOL! It's a bit of a flexi-flyer. OK, that's a *bit* of an exaggeration.

>If so, can they be stiffened without adding a lot of weight?

Yep.

From our Mr. K. (Kojima):

Yes, it is filling the chassis rails with catalyzed polyurethane structural foam. Do not use hardware store foam, you must use the real thing.

2 lb per square foot can make frame rails 40% stiffer. 10 pound per square foot foam makes 300% stiffer!

The Q45 uses foam as a stiffener.

***********

The company is called Foam Seal

***********

The cars unibody had hollow rails that give the chassis stiffness, you stick the foam in there. You can usually find plenty of holes to inject the foam by taking off interior panels, through the clip holes or removing bolts holding on brackets. In extreme cases you can drill some holes but I have never had to do that. There are always plenty of holes.

***********

It is really quite simple to do, It can be done for about $100 and a day of work.

***********

BTW, this will all be in the new FAQ at some point. :-)

George Roffe

sounds great to me. but where the heck can you get it aside from foamseal.com? they want around $36 per square foot and don't give the option for the 10#/SqFt foam. That would be pretty serious I'd think...might be interesting on my coupe.

know of any dealers?

jason

How many sqft would it take to completely do an E36? Just do the problem areas?

I don't recall alot of holes in the bottom of the unibody structure on my car, but my Integra had a ton of them(I always wanted to shoot that sucker with foam).

Just a basic run down, as I remember the SCC article, but as usual - they were extremely vague.

I'm guessing the 2#/sqft is a waste of time, and one should just go for the most dense foam possible?

Hello George Roffe! Nice to see you here.

Andy Radin
ex-SER junkie

what FAQ:dunno

Originally posted by fourfa
Hello George Roffe! Nice to see you here.

Andy Radin
ex-SER junkie

Hey Andy!!

It's been a long time.

I see Kit posts here too.

Hey, I will now be getting to NorCal on business from time to time (we are getting into a joint venture that has a location in Healdsburg). We'll have to get together sometime.

Originally posted by zenon
what FAQ:dunno

Oopsie. The SE-R FAQ. That post was pulled from the SE-R Mailing List.

The new FAQ does not exist in cyberland yet. I've been a naughty monkey and haven't finished it. It's still on my home computer 2/3 complete.

George - absolutely. We have M3 lunches pretty frequently actually, if that works.