Composite chassis design questions

[Mongo]

What would it take for a hobbyist to design and construct a chassis for a road car (not race car) out of composites?  Note:  this chassis does not need to be crash tested.
What percentage of labor is spent on the computer designing and verifying vs. actually constructing the chassis?  

[John Kimball]

17 hours ago, Mongo said:

What would it take for a hobbyist to design and construct a chassis for a road car (not race car) out of composites?  Note:  this chassis does not need to be crash tested.
What percentage of labor is spent on the computer designing and verifying vs. actually constructing the chassis?  

An interesting question for sure. It really depends on how involved your chassis is. Most chassis are made from several pieces then welded or bonded together. In the case of a carbon fiber chassis, depending on the type of chassis, it may take 4 or more molds for the basic chassis, and possibly numerous stiffener molds,  and several bonding fixtures to get a complete chassis. My guess is that if you were doing it full time and had access to proper software  and design tools, you could expect to spend 6 months designing parts and then designing the molds and other tooling needed. Actually making the tooling could take even longer than that, as you would need to make a bunch of different molds. And to be clear, making molds also involves making master tools before you can make a mold. I just want you to understand the amount of time and dedication it will take to complete this undertaking.

[lo_0l]

It would absolutely take an extensive investment of time and financial resources@Mongo. Big names are just starting to get into composites where it makes sense. The bigger move currently lies in adhesives and bonding. As of now, composites are typically reserved for race cars, exotic sports cars, and motorcycles. Headway is certainly being made on bringing composites mainstream though!