Summary for "Time to talk :) Mark Smith"

[kasm]

Before I start with my questions, I mean no offense with this post.

Can someone that has been following that post make a brief summary? I tried to keep up, but I fell way behind, and now it is too big to read. Plus the twitter links confuse me, I can't make heads or tails of twitter.

Anyone have a link to a official somewhat final picture of the car? The picture I am going by is
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._7287997_n.jpg
He is taking deposits now, so I assume he is selling them. Is this accurate? His facebook site says June 10 for $10,000.
What type of project is this? Is welding needed? I see pictures of part of the VW chassis being cut and used in the car, so this means it is not a tube frame car?

If anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be great. I love the idea of using a TDI for a nice little go fast car that has great mileage

P.S.
If the moderators feel this should be deleted, so be it, I just didn't want to change the direction of the original thread. I don't mean for this to grow like that one, just a few questions.

[dukegrad98]

My comments in bold below.

Cheers, John

Originally Posted by kasm

Before I start with my questions, I mean no offense with this post.

Can someone that has been following that post make a brief summary? I tried to keep up, but I fell way behind, and now it is too big to read. Plus the twitter links confuse me, I can't make heads or tails of twitter.

Ultimately, you'll have to read the big thread.

Anyone have a link to a official somewhat final picture of the car? The picture I am going by is
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._7287997_n.jpg

No, the car design isn't finalized.

He is taking deposits now, so I assume he is selling them. Is this accurate? His facebook site says June 10 for $10,000.

No. Refundable deposits are for beta build positions.

What type of project is this? Is welding needed? I see pictures of part of the VW chassis being cut and used in the car, so this means it is not a tube frame car?

No welding required. It's a cut unibody chassis with tubular subframes added (bolted on) front and rear. You get to keep the VW VIN number for registration, insurance, etc.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be great. I love the idea of using a TDI for a nice little go fast car that has great mileage

You already know where to go, it's just going to take some time! It will be worth the read, I promise. Addiction is a real risk.

P.S.
If the moderators feel this should be deleted, so be it, I just didn't want to change the direction of the original thread. I don't mean for this to grow like that one, just a few questions.

[RedJoker]

I understand your questions, kasm, as there isn't really a good polished website with this info. Unfortunately, that's exactly the point. We are getting a rare opportunity to watch as Mark figures all this out and provide input. Since nothing is complete yet, he doesn't have all the info or answers yet. The very open nature of the developement is both a blessing and a curse.

The thread you mentioned has almost all the info in it as well as the Facebook page. If the info isn't there, it's probably because no one knows it yet. Also, there probably isn't any point in putting out a concise summary yet as things are still evolving and changing.

Please don't take this the wrong way but I think you are faced with two options. If you want to be a beta builder, read the long thread and facebook page, see the plot twists and turns, and you'll see kind of where Mark is and where he's headed. If you don't want to be a beta builder, you can just wait a few months until everything gets more solidified and check back. I know that's probably not what you want to hear but that's kind of how I see things right now.

[Rob Burton]

This is the best summary I have read so far:

While I highly recommend reading the listed thread to get the details, I'll summarize briefly. Mark Smith (Dave's brother, who's responsible for the original roadster) has been dabbling in bio-diesel the last few years. He decided to market some kind of cool diesel project, and considered a boat, a motorcycle, and a VW TDI-based kit car. After presenting options to the forum last summer, the overwhelming majority showed interest in a new kit car.

After much evolution, the project as it now stands will be a rear wheel drive mid-engined car based on the 1999.5-2004 VW Jetta. The kit will include a new rear subframe to hold the engine and transaxle, as well as a new body and other required running gear. Unlike the other Smith kit cars, this one will re-use much of the Jetta unibody. This poses engineering difficulty, but also has real-world benefits. For example, all HVAC systems, pedals, steering column/wheel, and interior parts will be re-used, minus the back seat.

In a nod to those who want a gasoline build, all MkIV VW water cooled engines will work, as they share common motor mounts etc. While some are going for ultimate fuel economy with the diesel TDI, many are looking at 1.8T gas builds and VR6/VR6Turbo builds.

The builder supplies the Jetta, and the kit supplies the rest. Awesome, huh?

[lotus7]

I made 5 PDFs of 10 pages each for easier searching and offline reading.

I hope this helps some of you.

http://rapidshare.com/files/36860112...um_Archive.sit

[Don DePontee]

I tried to download the PDF and for some reason I can't view it, it comes up in a text editor in what looks like Chinese.
Don

[lotus7]

Hi Dom,

To read PDFs, you need to use Adobe Reader (free)

http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/

If you use a Mac, the photo program 'Preview' will also allow you to read them.

Hope this helps.

[Don DePontee]

I tried to open it with Preview but it won't let me, it keeps trying to open it with the text editor. Do I need to change any settings in the advanced section? Still coming up in a machine language and all my other PDF read fine. Looks like I will have to go back to the stone age with a PC and try that. Really looking forward to reading this.
Don

[ixlr8]

Don,
The file appears to be compressed, were you able to uncompress it to the PDF files? I haven't found a program to do even that... on a PC! I am just trying to keep up with the 50 page original thread rather then spend any time trying to get so I can read the PDF's.

[lotus7]

I can just send the uncompressed PDFs to you if you want, there are 5 at 1.1MB each. I just thought it would be easier to zip them.

If you or anyone else wants them PM me with your email addy.

[ixlr8]

Originally Posted by lotus7

I can just send the uncompressed PDFs to you if you want, there are 5 at 1.1MB each. I just thought it would be easier to zip them.

If you or anyone else wants them PM me with your email addy.

It would be quicker to download if they were ZIP'ed, but I just don't have the program necessary to unZIP them. My PC didn't recognize the file extension and couldn't figure out what program to unZIP them with and it went off to the internet to try and find the right program. I didn't want to download something I was not sure would do the job... so I stopped there.
What program did you use to ZIP them?

[lotus7]

Ah, just realized the problem for you PC guys- my apologies.

I used Stuffit Deluxe originally assuming it was a standard app.

So now it's on .zip and .RAR form. Sorry about that...


http://rapidshare.com/files/37363906...um_Archive.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/373639351/Smyth.zip

[Bill Shaw]

I stuck the summary to the top of the forum so it won't get lost. It'll give you an overview. For the latest updates you need to see the facebook page. If you want the whole story there's only one way to get it, Time to talk.



hth,