[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [New Search]
I would not be surprised to find the thickness of the metal reduced on the later cars. Thickness reduction is a very effective way of reducing the weight of a panel. Fuel economy was getting to be importmant in 72-73 and as more safety and emissions equipment was added the cars tended to get heavier and reducing metal thickness from 1.0mm to 0.8mm would give you a 20% weight reduction for that panel. Do that to enough panels and you have some real weight savings which translates to better fuel economy. Ford is still doing it today, most body panels are 0.8mm instead of the 1.0 to 1.2mm they were in the 60's. BTW, Ford specifies panel thickness in mm, not gage. Panel thickness are constantly being evaluated using computer simulation (FEA) to try to reduce the overall gage and use local reinforcements. The latest trend is to go to "tailor-welded" blanks for stamped parts. These blanks have different thickness sheets laser welded together prior to stamping the part into shape. This way the top half of the blank for a door skin can be 1.0mm so that that the frame around the windows is stiffer and the bottom half can be 0.8mm thick where it is just the large solid panel. Pretty neat stuff.... All to try to save weight.....They also use a bunch of aluminum (aluminium for those across the pond), fiberglass composites, and plastics to save weight. Just some thoughts. John Jaranson 71 FI Auto Fastback (and former Ford Motor Company engineer) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe? mailto:type3-request@vwtype3.org, Subject: unsubscribe