I'm an ME Ph.D student now, haven't had a rig in a while, wont have one for a while, and tend to get caught up in thoughts of what I will build when I've got time again. So, this thread will just be to share some thoughts and throw ideas around?

So, day dreaming I've come up with an off the wall rig that I'd consider to be fun and attainable as a long term project. Something for moderate trail running, moderate desert blasting, rally cross style fun, an all around good time. It would be as much of an engineering project as a toy for playing. It wont be a crawler, it wont be a trophy truck, it wont be a rally car, but it could hold its own in most conditions.

Mostly, its just a dream to spend a little time off from the work every now and then planning and thinking about over the next few years. I'm working on some driver fitment ProE drawings and the basic parts outline now, before getting into the vehicle dynamics end.

Here's what I'm thinking so far...

Single Seater
~ 110" wheelbase
Independent double A arm front and rear
S2000 Engine (for long rev range and smooth operation at low rpm)
FWD Auto tranny mounted parallel to the chassis
Front and rear full hydraulic steering
Portal Hubs (its looking like completely custom on these ~1.6:1 reduction)
Ford 9" diffs (it needs a low numerical ratio ~ 2.91:1 reduction is the lowest I've found - anything lower out there? toyota maybe? suggestions?)
40" tire
~ 20" travel
~ 70" track width

With a 4 Speed Honda Auto Tranny 1st gear would yield about 2mph just off idle and 83mph at 9000 rpm in 4th gear. I'd like it to be able to hit 100mph comfortably, hence the need for a lower numerical diff ratio.

Its no coincidence that this came out after KOH, but there are certainly no hopes of getting anything done on it for a few years. But, I need a project to put a little time into to get the mind off of school entirely for at least a few minutes a day.